The police team sent to house 07 at Asher Street found Harold's dead body as well as signs of a fight that had taken place; the broken mirror, a toppled table, and multiple items were thrown around as if someone had wrecked the house in a rage.

Garrett was nowhere to be found though and an investigation started to find out the murderer as well as the other people involved in the case.

Sarah and Marc had submitted a missing report for Valerie to the area's police station and as her records were connected to Harold, it didn't take long for the police to reach the conclusion that both Valerie's disappearance and Harold's murder were connected.

Jason had managed to keep Valerie's name out of the investigation upon her insistence but that missing report made the police look into her background as well.

Her bag was found in the dumpster near her apartment building, indicating that she had been abducted from there. Now all that was needed was finding out where Garrett was and recording Val's statement on what had happened that night at house 07.

Jason had bought some time for Valerie by using his contacts to persuade the police to delay her statement until she recovered and keep looking for Garrett instead. However, deep down he had already made a plan on how to track the guy out and make him pay for his crimes.

Sarah and Marc had been very worried for Valerie and wanted to meet her but he refused them to visit her. He couldn't reveal the location of his safe house to many people. However, he talked to them and told them he would bring her to her apartment himself the day Garrett got caught. So for the time being, they had no other option but to talk to Valerie on call.

Valerie had been at Jason's safehouse ever since and Kori had stayed over for company. That morning, she slept deeply due to the effects of heavy medication while Jay was busy with the investigation going on.

Kori was waiting for her to wake up and it was past evening when she finally came out of the room.

"Valerie, hi," she smiled to see her, checking if she needed any help in walking.

"Hi," Val checked the time as well as the fact that Kori was there alone, "did Jason go somewhere?"

"Yeah. He had some work to tend to," she told her, patting the spot beside her on the couch, "come sit. You must be hungry, I'll bring something to eat."

"Thank you..."

She felt awkward around her, probably because Kori had so easily gotten friendly with her. She didn't doubt the woman's intentions as she knew Kori was Jason's friend and if he had let her stay there with her, that definitely meant he trusted her.

Shortly after, Kori had returned with a bowl of pasta that she told her she had ordered for both of them but as Valerie hadn't woken up earlier, she hadn't eaten it either.

"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have waited for me," she felt bad but Kori smiled softly.

"It's alright. I prefer eating with company so I didn't want to eat on my own."

"Right..."

Kori watched her curiously as if waiting for her to speak up. She knew Valerie had questions and so did she but neither of them had brought them up.

But then she stood up as if she had just remembered something and left the living room. She returned shortly after with a package in hand.

"I almost forgot; Jay told me to give you this," she handed her the box and Valerie saw that it contained a cell phone. "You might want to talk to your family and tell them you're okay."

"Yeah... Um, thanks."

After finishing the pasta along with Kori, Valerie dialed Sarah's number, knowing full well that her friend would be anxious for her. She also had to find out what Jason had been arguing with her about because she had never seen him that angry earlier.

Kori had taken the bowl to the kitchen and stayed there, intending to give her enough privacy to talk. But at the same time, she was wondering about a lot of things.

She could hear Valerie's soft voice in the background and it seemed as if she was trying her best to reassure the person on the other end of the call that she was okay and would come back home soon.

As she washed the dishes, Kori was thinking that Valerie was indeed someone very important to Jason. She had never seen him get so worried for someone else before even though she had known him for quite a considerable time by then.

There could be a very obvious explanation as to why Jason was reacting as such but Kori didn't know whether it was true or not.

She had often tried to ask him whether he liked someone enough to be in a relationship with and he always changed the topic whenever she mentioned it. She felt that Valerie was his secret relationship that he didn't want them to know about but couldn't do anything given the current circumstances.

Jason had many secrets but Valerie felt like the most treasured of them all.

By the time she came back to the living room, Valerie had put the phone down and looked somewhat worried. She managed to give Kori a slight smile but her eyes held a troubled look.

"Is everything okay?"

"Kind of," she replied, letting out a soft sigh, "my friends are worried for me. That's all."

"Did you not talk to them?"

"I did. And they want me to come home. But Jason..."

Valerie left the sentence incomplete but Kori somewhat understood what was going through her head.

"So how do you know Jason?" Kori changed the topic slightly, feeling that it would be better to distract Valerie until Jay came back and then they could decide whether she should go home or not.

"Well, we met at a bar. And both of us were having a really bad time so... Um... We ended up spending the night together," Val's cheeks shaded slightly and Kori laughed, understanding the situation.

"Oh, I see. And then it probably became a routine ever since."

"Uh yeah..."

"I don't blame him, you're gorgeous," she winked, a playful smile playing upon her lips.

Valerie's blush deepened once again, not being able to tell whether Kori was flirting or just messing around with her.

That woman had such a striking aura that she often found her too brilliant to just be an ordinary human. And her assumption was correct because even if she wasn't aware of it, Kori was indeed from Tamaran and nothing close to an ordinary human.

"I've never seen him so concerned for someone else before," Kori's voice shook her out of her thoughts that had started to deviate, "I think he genuinely cares for you. Jason might seem a very closed-off person but he's very different to the people he cares about. And I feel like you're one of them."

Those words made Valerie think about a conversation she and Jason had had a few months back. One of my loved ones... Jay's words resonated around her and the shade on her cheeks deepened.

However, she didn't want Kori to point out more things like that so she asked, "how long have you known Jason then?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, "it's been a few years. Roy has known him for much longer, he was his brother's friend."

"He has a brother?"

"He has a whole family back in Gotham. They are all good people," a soft smile flickered on Kori's face thinking about one specific member of that family, "I knew his brother too, even dated him for a while."

"Oh... Then why doesn't he live with them?"

"That's something he doesn't like to talk about so we don't ever bring it up," Kori replied and Valerie nodded, keeping in mind not to bring that topic in front of Jason either if he wasn't comfortable talking about it. "What about your family?"

She shook her head, "my parents died in a car crash years ago. I now live with my friend Sarah."

Kori nodded, "so it was Sarah you were talking to earlier?"

"Yeah, she's very anxious for me," she mumbled, a slightly sad look taking over her face, "you know I didn't want to end up in this situation either. I feel like I'm being a burden on you guys as well as my friends..."

"Valerie, you shouldn't think like that," she tried to reassure her, "you're important to Jason and I like to think we're on friendly terms too now. You're definitely not a burden on us."

"That's nice of you but still... I want to go home."

Kori thought about it for a while then nodded, "alright. I will talk to Jason and make him agree."

A soft smile flickered on her face to hear that, "thank you so much, Kori. I owe you."

She smiled as well, gently squeezing her hand, "you're welcome."

***