A few days later Amber was still covered in bruises but they were bothering her less and less. She woke up once again next to Susan who now had a fever from the infection in her ankle and even though Amber was doing everything she possibly could it just wasn’t enough. She climbed out of bed and stretched for a moment before heading out of the room towards the bedroom where Kerry was sleeping. She knew it was still rather early in the morning so when she saw that Kerry was asleep she didn’t bother to wake her. Instead she climbed into the bed next to her and curled up, she began to cry softly, and soon she came to a decision, one that would end this madness for good.

When Weaver finally awoke with Amber at her side she was a little startled but she decided not to wake Amber up, until that point she had no idea what Abby had done to Amber in the days before but when she saw the beaten woman sleeping she couldn’t bring herself to be angry. She reached over and started to stroke Amber’s hair softly, humming a song softly to herself as she did. She assumed that Romano was the one who had hurt her, and it made her wonder how Amber could love a man who treated her so badly. A few moments later Amber’s eyes fluttered open and she gasped in surprise and moved back a few inches.

“I’m really sorry Kerry you were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you and…”

“It’s okay,” Weaver whispered to her and then sighed, “Did Romano do this to you?” She motioned to the large bruise that nearly covered Amber’s thigh. Amber lifted her head slightly to look at what Kerry was pointing at.

“No, Abby beat me with your crutch.” Amber muttered not even sure that Weaver was going to believe that. Weaver sort of laughed but when she saw that Amber was being completely serious she shut her mouth. “Kerry I’m sorry but…I have a fool proof plan that is going to get us all out of here and fast.”

“Yeah that’s what Abby said to me a week ago…and we are still here.” Weaver replied half heartedly as she gazed out of the window into the morning sun. Amber sat up and pulled her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, she shook her head slightly.

“No, I know this is going to get us out of here…” She whispered as she walked over to the window and rested her head on the cold glass, “If it doesn’t work then feel free to kill me.” Weaver rolled her eyes slightly before getting up and joining Amber by the window. It over looked the gardens in the back yard of the estate, and in the morning glow of the sun it looked like absolute paradise.

“Amber, everyone makes bad decisions and everyone deserves a second chance. No matter how hard I tried over the past few days, I couldn’t bring myself to hate you.” She put her hand on Amber’s and squeezed it slightly, “I love you…I think we were meant for each other.” Amber’s lower lip trembled slightly and she moved away from Kerry as she tried to hold back her tears.

“I love you too Kerry.” She whispered but she continued to keep her back in Weaver’s direction, “And I’m so sorry about all of this I could have stopped it but…”

“Don’t…” Weaver came up behind her and put her hand on Amber’s shoulder, Amber turned her head to look at Weaver. They stood there like that for a moment before joining in a passionate kiss, it was one of the most loving kisses she had ever had, even Romano couldn’t make her heart swell like that. From there things escalated, clothes were removed and hands started roaming, and before long they were both on the bed expressing their deepest love for one another in only a physical way can. When everything was said and done and Weaver had drifted off to sleep in Amber’s arms, Amber laid her down gently on the bed and proceeded to get dressed. She had a few things she was going to have to do to put her plan in motion, and laying by Kerry’s side was just convincing her not to do it.

That night Romano, Carter, Corday, Weaver, Susan, Abby, and Amber were joined in the same room, Romano had called a meeting and he was saying something to all of them but Amber wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on. She slowly reached down into her boot, making it look like she was scratching her leg but in actual reality she was reaching for the pistol she had stolen from Romano. It was rather small but a bullet aimed at the right part of the human body could do major damage no matter how small it was.

“And that is why I don’t give two shits about anyone in this room except for myself or Amber.” Romano concluded his little lecture, “So if you have any complaints keep them to your damn self or you’ll regret it, any questions?”

“Yeah, I have one.” Amber whispered before standing up and pulling the gun out aiming it at Romano’s head. In the past she had been trained with various guns and ammunition and now that training was going to pay off, “Will you still love me if I kill you?”

“What?”

Amber shot up in bed in a cold sweat, she was still laying next to Weaver which confirmed to her that their love making was most certainly not a dream but getting a gun and planning to kill Romano was. Kerry still had her arms wrapped around Amber but she was sound asleep, and even though Amber was shaking like a leaf it didn’t seem to bother Weaver one bit. She blinked a few tears out of her eyes and then got out of bed and walked into the bathroom where she splashed some cold water on her face and took a few deep breaths.

Another two days passed rather uneventfully, Amber would return to Kerry when Romano couldn’t please her in all the ways she needed and Susan was getting more and more out of it as time went on. It wasn’t just because she was sick it was because Romano and Carter had taken it upon them selves to use the girl who couldn’t run away or struggle as their own personal sex toy. It was late at night when Amber saw Susan again, she was laying on the bed mumbling things incoherently, and her fever had spiked to almost 103 degrees. Amber walked over and sat down by Susan, and she ran a cool damp cloth over her forehead, wondering what the hell she was going to do next.

“Amber?” Susan whispered, she didn’t open her eyes or even turn her head in Amber’s direction, her voice was so soft, so weak, “That’s you right?” Amber sighed softly and helped her sit up, even though she didn’t want to, and placed a glass of water to her lips.

“Yeah it’s me.” She replied softly but Susan refused to drink the water and she turned her head away from the glass, “Please…you have to drink something.”

“Let me die…please just let me die.” She whimpered before letting herself slide back down onto the bed, she was so weak she couldn’t curl up or even pull the blanket back over her body. Amber sighed again and put the glass of water down on the bedside table that was nearest to her and pulled the blanket up over Susan’s body.

“No I’m not going to let you die, I promised you I would get you out of here…” Amber said as she felt tears beginning to sting her eyes, she felt that if anyone of these women died it would be her fault, and it would be her fault because instead of leaving when Romano handed her the car keys she decided to stay and she could have gotten them all help.

“Get me out of here? Amber what kind of life will I have after this I know my foot is gone and the infection is spreading up my leg.” She groaned and once again turned her head so she was looking at Amber, her eyes were completely blood shot and she was incredibly pale. She had refused to eat anything over the past few days so Amber had been giving her protein shakes but then her body started to reject those and Amber was running out of options. “Every morning it’s Carter, then it’s Romano, then it’s Carter, then Romano…even if I got out of here alive I don’t think I could live with myself…and you and I both know that I only have a few days left, don’t let me suffer any more.” She blinked a few times and tears started to streak down her face, Amber felt like she was going to cry but she didn’t want to do it in front of Susan, she had to remain strong.

“Susan just hang on one more day…I promise…”

“Amber…” She closed her eyes again letting more tears spill down her cheeks, “In that box by the bed you have enough morphine…enough to send me into a peaceful death, and wouldn’t you rather that then watch me waste away for two or three more days?” Amber looked away from her for a moment, towards the box that was on the floor by the bed and she angrily wiped her tears away.

“Are you asking me to kill you Susan?” She whispered still not looking back in the other woman’s direction. There was a pause and she heard Susan start to cry even harder then she had been before, Amber bit her lip and tried so hard not to break down over this.

“Yes…I’m asking you to kill me…please…I can’t live like this any more.” with great effort she brought her hands to her face and wiped away the tears the continued to fall despite her best effort, “If you were me…wouldn’t you want me to do the same? I mean at least this way you’ll know that I went peacefully at the hands of someone I care about, and not some one like Romano.” Amber swallowed hard and picked up the box of medication and put it on her lap. She removed one of the syringes and a full vial of morphine and started to load the needle up slowly but she still wasn’t sure she could actually do this.

“This is how you want it to end? I mean…before I do this…is there anything I could do to make you more comfortable?” Amber was on the verge of tears but she wasn’t going to let them fall, and she was willing to complete any task to sooth Susan as much as she could.

“Music, Joni Mitchell, Paved Paradise…can you play that for me?” She whispered and this time when she closed her eyes she kept them closed. Amber knew she had the song on one of the CDS somewhere in the house but she didn’t think it was performed by Joni Mitchell.

“I have that song but it’s done by the…”

“Fine I don’t care if it’s a cover band I just want to hear that song okay?” She interrupted Amber’s explanation. Amber nodded and told Susan she would be right back with the CD, since it was rather late she knew that everyone would be asleep, well at least Romano and Carter would be. She then thought of something and stopped at the door and turned to look at Susan.

“Do you want me to bring anyone else in here to be with you when I do this?” She asked thinking it might be better if she didn’t have to deal with this on her own.

“No, I don’t want anyone to know until it’s finished.” She muttered and weakly pulled the blanket up to her neck, she started to shake slightly. Amber nodded and left the room to find the CD, as she headed down the hall her tears flowed more and more freely until she could barely see the floor in front of her and so she stopped. She backed into the wall and slid down it where she curled up on the floor and began to sob.

After she had composed herself she got up and quietly retrieved the CD from Romano’s room and came back in. Susan looked like she was asleep but in actuality she was just too weak to keep her eyes open for longer then she had to. Amber put the CD in the player that she had set down by the bed and started the track putting it on repeat so it would play over and over until Susan was actually gone.

“Thank you…”Susan whispered and again with great effort she moved her arm over the cover so Amber could inject her, “Will you…uh…hold my hand until I…”

“Yeah…I can do that.” Amber whispered and she put her hand over Susan’s and squeezed it gently the music playing softly in the background.

“…Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone?”

“Are you sure you want me to do this Susan?” Amber asked her once more after she picked up the needle and lowered it to Susan’s arm.

“Yes…I’m sure.” She whispered, Amber nodded and with shaky hands she pressed the needle into Susan’s skin and injected the lethal dose as fast as she could bring herself to do. Susan took in a deep breath and her face went from tortured to extremely peaceful in a matter of seconds, “Tell them…tell them I’m sorry…I’m sorry that I gave up.” Susan whispered Amber nodded and promised her that she would tell everyone what had happened. Slowly the grip that Susan had on Amber’s hand got more relaxed until it finally fell away at it’s own accord. Amber started to cry softly, she didn’t have to check for a pulse to know that Susan was gone. She laid down and took Susan’s hand once more and started to pray, pray for her soul, pray for Susan’s soul, pray for everyone else’s soul, and she also prayed for guidance…because she had no idea how she was going to break this news to the rest of the staff.

“Late last night I heard the screen door slam, and a big yellow taxi took my girl away, now don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone…they paved paradise and put up a parking lot…” Were the last few lines of the song Amber heard before drifting off into a restless sleep, forever now that song would have one hell of a terrible meaning to her, and she didn’t think she would ever want to hear it again.