Which, I thought, she had a very good chance of doing.

The air was cool once I hit the outside air, and it was extra dark due to the storm still ravaging the night sky.

Opening my flimsy umbrella, I made my way to my car cursing myself for not bringing my good umbrella that spanned about four feet.

"Hey, you got a light?" A man said from his car as I pa.s.sed.

I shook my head. "Nope. Sorry."

A fat droplet of rain hit me in the face just as I reached the car, and I opened the door without looking, dropping down into the opening.

I lost the grasp I had on the umbrella as the wind gusted particularly hard, and I slammed my car door shut.

"I should just go home," I grumbled as I watched my pretty pink umbrella tumble down the parking lot.

Sighing, I reached for my bag, digging down to the very bottom.

"There you are, you slippery little b.a.s.t.a.r.d," I murmured.

Clicking the center b.u.t.ton, my phone lit up.

Four missed calls.

"Oops," I said as I opened the phone app.

It wasn't who I'd thought it was, though. It was Audrey telling me she was running a few minutes late.

Clicking Audrey's name, I listened to the phone as it rang and rang, finally being picked up by her voicemail. "Hey, it's me. I was just returning your call. I'm not going to be at the bar. I think I'm just going to go home."

My next call was to Cody.

"h.e.l.lo?" He answered on the fourth ring.

"Hey," I hesitated. "I might have accidentally lost my umbrella...and I'm wearing white scrubs, so there's no way I'm coming back in there."

"It's okay," he laughed. "Dooley walked in right after you left. It works out. Be careful driving home. Text me when you get there so I know you're safe."

I felt warmed by his concern.

It'd been just me taking care of the world so long that it felt nice to be cared after.

"Okay, thanks Cody. I'll see you in two days," I said just before hanging up.

Starting my car, I pulled through the parking s.p.a.ce and straight into the street.

My drive home was luckily short, but I knew as soon as I got out of the car that I'd be soaked.

I stuffed my phone down deep into my bag, followed by my jacket before I zipped it up, perused the distance to my door, opened the car door, and flung myself out.

I slammed the door shut behind me, but the sound was lost in the howl of the wind.

I started running up the stairs two at a time, and finally came to a stop under my awning, soaked through and through.

"f.u.c.k me in the a.s.s," I groaned as I missed the lock twice, before finally sliding it all the way in.

I turned it quickly, and had just turned the front light on when my pager went off in the bottom of the bag.

My state pager.

The one that told me when I had a case.

I slapped my hand against my forehead.

Dropping my things down on the couch, I dried off my arm with the afghan laying over the back of the couch before I dug for my phone and called into work.

"Christus Health, this is Erma," a voice answered cheerfully "Hi, this is Rue Loden. I was just paged for a s.e.xual a.s.sault. May I speak to the supervisor please?" I asked Erma.

Erma was one of the ER's newest nurses, and hadn't yet gotten that jadedness that most of the nurses got once they'd worked in the ER environment for a long time.

"Sure," Erma said sadly. "I'll get her now."

It took less than two minutes before Mona was on the line. "This is Mona speaking."

"Hi, Mona. This is Rue. I was paged," I went straight to the point.

"Yes, dear. I have a case for you. I know you're not on call, but...I need you. I don't trust anybody else for this," Mona said softly.

I stopped for a heartbeat, waiting for her to explain, but she never did. "Mona...what's going on?"

"Just...get here. The sooner the better," she replied quietly.

I blinked.

"I had a drink a little over thirty minutes ago. Only one though. I'll need some coffee and some water. Maybe about thirty minutes for my head to be on straight again," I explained.

"You got it. She only wants you," Mona said before hanging up.

I blinked rapidly. She only wanted me?

"Tell me what's going on," I demanded.

Mona sat down at the table with me and handed me a cup of coffee that was so strong I'd probably see hair on my chest in the morning.

Then all my joking took a flying leap out a fifteen story window when I heard what she had to say next.

"Audrey was s.e.xually a.s.saulted on the way to her car today. She's okay, physically, other than the obvious, and she only wants you," Mona said softly.

I closed my eyes, trying in vain to shut out the infuriated scream that threatened to burst free of my lips.

"Rue, sweetheart. I know it's rough. Believe me, I do. But you need to drink your coffee and get it together. Now," Mona said authoritatively.

I opened my eyes, cleared my mind, and stood.

The coffee came with me as I walked into the hall. "Which room?"

They had two designated rooms that we normally used for these types of cases.

Collecting evidence on rape victims could take upwards to six hours, and they wanted the room to be private and as comfortable as could be.

"She's in the blue room," Mona said quietly.

I nodded. The blue room was good.

It was the furthest away from the main ER as it could be without actually being off the floor.

"Are the things I need already in the room?" I asked.

Mona nodded. "I put them in there myself. Let me know if you need me, okay?"

I nodded. "Absolutely."

I walked into the room not knowing what to expect, but the defeated, beaten woman in no way, shape, or form resembled the Audrey I knew.

"Audrey?" I asked.

The beaten woman looked up, and I met Audrey's beautiful green eyes.

They were on fire.

Rage. Turmoil. Helplessness. Sadness. Disgust.

Those were only a few of the emotions playing in her eyes, and I knew that she'd fight.

She'd never give up.

Not our Audrey.

"Hey, sweet girl. Are you ready?" I asked softly.

I gave her room, knowing that was one of the things that a.s.sault victims had trouble with: invasion of their territory.

She nodded and croaked, "I'm ready."

I closed the door softly behind me, locked it, and moved closer to her at an extremely slow pace.

"You just tell me if I do anything you don't want me to. I'll try my best to explain each and everything that I'm doing, and if at any point you get uncomfortable, just let me know, okay?" I told her.

Her eyes never left mine. "Yes."

"Okay, sweet girl. Let's get started. What I want you to do is leave your clothes on. I'm going to start on the outside and work my way inside, okay?" I asked.

She nodded but didn't say anything.

Part of a SANE nurse's job was to collect evidence, collect the statement, and doc.u.ment the injuries that he or she observes.

SANE exam protocols were set in place for the safety and comfort of the patient. We didn't want to make them any more nervous than they already were. The rule was that there was only one person collecting the evidence and doing the invasive procedures, which made it more tolerable for the patient.

The only good thing that came out of this was that Audrey knew me. She trusted me. She cared for me.

Otherwise, I'd have spent a lot longer trying to calm her down.

I was doing well, too, until I got to the point where I was uncovering Audrey.

The ma.s.s of purple bruises on her legs made her flinch from the sight.

"I'm going to start taking pictures again, okay?" I asked.

I wanted to hug her so badly, but I knew there wasn't a place for that right now. She needed me to do my job, and that was what I was going to do.

Four hours later, I helped Audrey to the shower.

"Okay, honey. You're welcome to shower and wash whatever you want. Do you need any help?" I asked softly.

She shook her head. "No ... but will you stay? In that seat right there? Don't leave me yet, okay?"

I nodded. "I'll stay right here and start on my paperwork, okay?"

She nodded gratefully. "Thank you."