As he rolled off her, he pulled her with him, rolling her body onto his as he wrapped his arms around her. She pressed her cheek to his sweaty chest and hid her face in the space between his shoulder and his neck, breathing in before she hugged him tight. He rubbed her back, his fingers feeling every bone in her body, under her skin and became worried again. "Em..." he whispered. "are you okay? Do you need some more water?" he asked, afraid that the intensity of their lovemaking would have had a negative effect on her health, she was so thin and so close to dehydrating earlier. "No, Zac.." she sighed into his neck. "I'm fine." she said sleepily. "Okay." he kissed the top of her head and pulled the blanket out from underneath them, and covered them loosely with it. "Sleep some more." he said softly and rolled them on their sides, keeping her close, his face in her hair. "I love you, Em." he breathed as he began to doze off himself. "I love you, Zac. I'm so sorry, baby.." she sighed as she began to drift off. "All over now." he told her. "Don't worry. Sleep." he yawned. "Mmmhmm...love you." she sighed again and was asleep. "Love you.." he breathed back and sunk into a deep sleep himself. Once Zac and Emma had slept again, a deep contented sleep this time, they got up and dressed, then Zac called Taylor's cell number to make sure he was still good without his truck. Tay assured him he was fine, Jen had driven him home when she had finished work and that he found Zac's keys and would just drive his vehicle if he needed to. Zac then took Emma to a place on the beach that she could get a decent meal. He watched worriedly as she ate slowly, taking small bites and sipping slowly on her water. "Emma, aren't you hungry, baby?" he asked. It seemed to be taking her forever and it was like she was choking her food down. She smiled up at him after taking another sip of water. "Please stop worrying, Zac. I'm fine. I just don't want to shock my system and start getting sick all over the place again, okay?" she told him. "I haven't had more than crackers and water, or small amounts of greasy fast food all week." "Why, Em?" he asked, wanting to be sure he'd heard her right back at the motel. She shuddered and sighed heavily. "Because. Danny deserves to be in some kind of jail cell with the most evil inmates imaginable. Whatever date-rape shit he put in my bottle was waaaaay too much. I only took two shots straight from the bottle, Zac. I was trying to keep my promise about not drinking too much, but I couldn't make myself get up there without it." she picked at the food on her plate with her fork and took another small drink of water. "Fucker must have switched dealers and got some bad stuff.." she sighed. "Yeah, they were bigger than normal shots, but I shouldn't have been that sick." "Date-rape drugs, Em?" Zac asked, "How do you know? I mean maybe he just gave you too much of whatever his drug of choice was for the evening?" "Because the slimy..." she sighed heavily. "I don't like talking about this Zac." she looked at her plate and pushed the food around a little more. "You're gonna have to tell me, Em." Zac told her, his voice forceful. "I want to hear what happened from you." "Oh..god..." she choked. "Tay told you the truth, Zac. And to tell you the truth, I don't remember how I got off-stage and in the dressing room. I just remember dancing, taking large amounts of money and stuffing it in my..well..where I usually do, then I got dizzy. I finished my number, not the way I normally do and then...nothing until Danny had me shoved against a wall, being all slimy and...I think he was trying to undress me and take the money I made at the same time." she shuddered violently, gripping her water glass until her knuckles were white. Zac saw her distress and took her other hand, squeezing it. "Then what?" he urged gently. "I remember fighting him, but not being able to hit him in a spot that would drop him, because I was dizzy." her breathing became labored and shallow. "I could feel him, though.." she lowered her voice and swallowed repeatedly, trying to keep the contents of her stomach down. "And I was afraid he'd get to me, because I was drugged and not able to protect myself." she took another deep breath. "The next thing I knew, Tay kicked the door open and broke a bottle on his head. I was so pissed that Danny even had the nerve to lay a finger on me AFTER.." she stopped herself. "Anyway," she shuddered again, "I took the broken bottle and shoved it where I though it would do the most damage. Then Tay dragged me outta there like a sack of potatoes." she let out a huge sigh. "He was in the process of giving me his sweater to cover up with, and walk me somewhere until the drugs wore off. That's what you saw, Zac. He was only trying to help. I couldn't even walk straight." she said, unable to look at him.

Zac kept a firm grip on her hand. "I understand that, NOW." he told her. "But what was I supposed to think, Em?" "I KNOW, Zac. I would have thought the same thing. And I AM sorry. I hope you're not still angry at Tay..I'd hate to think I screwed you out fo your best friend, too.." she sighed. "Oh I'm still pissed at Tay. But not for that. He should have told me, same as you. But I'll get over it." he grinned at her to take the sting out. And what do you mean you were pissed that Danny had the nerve to touch you after? After what baby?" he asked, inwardly seething that Tay and Ike didn't let him do more damage to the scum. "The thing in school, Zac. Even Jen doesn't know the whole story and I'd like to keep it that way." she said, her voice so low he almost didn't hear the whole comment. "Tell me.." he urged. She shook her head and shoved her half eaten dinner away from her. "Let's go, if you're finished." she told him. "Why won't you tell me?" Zac asked. "I don't know if I can, Zac. I get violently ill every time the memory comes into my head." she said. "If I COULD talk about it, it'd be with you." "Okay. Another time then. Let's go." he sighed and led her out to the truck. He drove straight back to the motel and insisted they stay there for the night, wanting to make sure she rested before she dove into finding a place to live, a job arrange make up exams. Also he wanted time to talk her into calling Jack, arranging something with him. If he couldn't keep her dancing, he knew he could get her other high paying work, modeling maybe. That would leave her able to accompany him on the road a little, when they finished this album and booked the tour. He couldn't imagine going a whole three or four months without seeing her, let alone without touching her. The wheels turned silently in his head as Emma silently mulled over what she was going to do with her life now.

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