OKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY, now it's getting good. Rewriting this has been a bitch and a half LOL

_________________

Time slowed, moving objects into Nina's vision as blobs of blurred nothing. She felt numb, unable to feel or hear the first responders around her, asking her questions as another treated her wound. 

She had just watched Carter be put into the back of a police car, wrists cuffed behind his back like a criminal. He didn't look her way once as his gaze looked empty and lost. The SUV drove away with him inside it, blue and white lights flashing in her vision as a reminder that for the first time since her nightmares started, she was actually living in one. 

Carter had tried to hurt her.

A deep sting spread over the left side of her face as the EMT cleaned the cartilage that had been sliced through at the tip of her ear and the nick the blade made across her upper cheek.

A haunting reminder that he didn't try to hurt her, he did hurt her. 

She watched the man tending to her wound, reach over and throw away the gauze he had used to clean up the blood that covered her neck. 

"Nina," a man with shoulder-length curly hair stood in front of her, dismissing the EMT. His olive green button-down shirt was tightly pressed to his body and his slacks were freshly ironed. He couldn't have been any older than her father and even though he was seemingly young, he looked tired from age, "I'm Detective Daniel Kelly," his voice was deep and stern, "You think you're okay enough to tell me what happened here tonight?"

Sitting down on the edge of the ambulance, Nina looked to the ground. Trying to find a way to somehow explain what did in fact happen, it seemed impossible to spit the details of her own boyfriend trying to hurt her. 

The confusion was making it difficult to speak. 

"She's my daughter god dammit," a voice penetrated from beyond the driveway. Gavin forced his way through a few police officers, whom were subtly told to stand down by the detective.

"Dad," Nina chocked out, the only word easily escaping her dry throat. 

Gavin rushed to her, colliding her trembling body. His arms wrapped around her, making Nina to sob into his hard chest as he stroked her hair. 

For a moment, Nina felt his tight chest buckle under the pressure the reality that she could have been seriously injured, and soon a small cry escaped his lips. A brief break she hadn't seen since her mother died. 

Detective Kelly introduced himself after letting them embrace for a few moments and moved back to his questioning, not letting too much time pass.

"Were there any drugs or alcohol involved tonight?"

Wiping her wet nose, Nina shook her head, "I wasn't drinking, he might have had a little. But I'm not sure. He got into a fight with his dad."

"She's on antipsychotics, to suppress symptoms from narcolepsy. She's only been on it for a few weeks," Gavin blurted, being as honest as possible. 

Antipsychotics sounded so terrifying, evident in the fact that the detective looked to Nina, then back at her father with more questions on the tip of his tongue. At that moment, she knew he would judge her every answer moving forward.  

"And you're taking this medication regularly?" Kelly followed. 

She didn't want to lie, but she also did not want to tell her father or the police that she had not been taking her medication for some time.

But that didn't matter, not now. This was not a nightmare, she wasn't seeing things, this happened.

And they were not going to make her feel crazy, she did that enough for herself. 

"Is it possible you were having hallucinations, delusions maybe?" Kelly inquired again. Although she knew he was just doing his job, his questions were becoming offensive.

Gavin shook his head, "She was having night terrors. The meds help prevent them, that's why she was taking them. Yes, she is taking them as prescribed. So it's not possible this was psychosis, just look at her fucking face." 

"Is there any reason you would want to hurt yourself Nina?" Detective Kelly eyes moved from her fathers offended gaze, searching hers for the answers he wasn't getting.

"Are you asking if she did this to herself?" Gavin's voice rose above the chatter of first responders.

Nina was impressed though, detective Kelly kept his composure as others around reacted to outburst, "We have to cover all possible scenarios Mr. Wood," he assured, still looking at Nina, "And you being on heavy medication like that could effect this investigation. I'm just trying to do my job."

"A few weeks back she mentioned to me that someone might be following her," her father added.

"Have you reported any of this to the police?" Kelly pried. 

She hadn't hardly spoken for herself all night and it was clear that he took notice, "I've never actually seen anyone," she added, at least not since she started her new meds, "It's more of a feeling of being watched I guess, and once in the locker room I thought someone might have followed me in, but I could have been wrong. I've never really had a reason to report anything." 

Nina watched as Kelly took note of her admission, also noticing it was the only thing he had written down all night.

"Did your boyfriend have any reason to hurt you? Did you get into a fight? Maybe something made him jealous? Any reason at all as to why he would lash out like this?"

The questions felt more as if she were the one being interrogated, as if she committed the act upon herself. The words were becoming hard to form once again, a lump catching in her throat knowing she hardly knew what even happened.

Nina didn't even see Carters face. She just knew he was the only one home and was on the other side of the door, trying to get in after she was attacked. 

Did she give him a reason to do this? Perhaps something had made him jealous. Maybe her friendship with Jax set him off in a way Nina had never seen before. 

"Carter did this to you?" Gavin asked, slowly pulling away from Nina in disbelief. His confusion on the verge of anger, clearly realizing someone he trusted with his daughter was the same one who might have hurt her. 

"The home was locked. No signs of forced entry or exit. So unless someone knew how to get in and get out, unnoticed, Carter is our only suspect at the moment," Kelly mentioned, settling her fathers question before he could come up with anymore.

After what felt like hours, he advised both Gavin and Nina that he needed them at the station.  

Soon the pair followed him down a long, cinder block hallway with low fluorescent lighting that flickered with warning of an outage. Kelly looked back at them a few times, likely checking to see that they weren't too frightened by their surroundings. 

Nina was indeed startled by the situation she found herself in. 

All of this, because of someone she though loved her.

A single door at the end of the hall opened and another officer exited to stand guard outside. 

Inside, it was empty and dark. Nestled on the back wall, was a large viewing window. On the other side of it, was another room, brighter than the one she stood in. The light however was harsh and invading, making her squint as she looked through the glass. 

A large metal table rested in the middle of the room, with Carter seated in one of its chairs.

His hands were folded  in front of him, head low so that his eyes were hidden. He no longer wore handcuffs, a sight Nina was slightly relived by.  Seeing the metal clamped to his wrists this up close would make the fight with the ache in her stomach almost impossible.

"He can't see you," Kelly reassured her, as he too examined Carter from beyond the glass, "but I am going to go in and talk with him. If at any point you feel uneasy, just have the officer turn off the mic and it'll cut the audio from inside. Sometimes, depending on what's said, it can be difficult to listen to."

Nina wasn't sure if she was supposed to answer or even acknowledge the statement, but she decided not to do either. Instead, just stared as her boyfriend, unable to from any logic. 

Gavin shifted and ran a hand over his face, it was evident he was having a hard time coming to terms with the situation around him, much like his daughter. 

He had known Carter for years, even before Nina and he got together. Gavin was on the school board which monitored all the extra curriculars, including sports. Carter happened to be the star on most of the teams. Her father watched him turn into a bright and polite young man with potential for great success, in whatever he decided to chase in life, which is why he was so laxed with his relationship with Nina.

He trust him with her life. 

But now, under the dim lighting and prison cell like walls, he watched Carter sit aimlessly, hunched over like a criminal.

"Carter Hastings," Detective Kelly rolled out, pulling out the metal chair opposite of him, Nina hadn't even noticed him leave one room to enter the other, "Would you like an attorney present?" 

Carter finally looked up, frowning and shaking his head at his interrogator, "I don't need one, I didn't do anything wrong," his eyes scanned Kelly's face, almost searching for a reason as to why he was being detained. 

He looked frightened and insulted by his holding. 

Kelly placed a manila folder on the table in front of Carter, flipping it to a picture of the knife that cut Nina's ear.

"Okay, so how about you tell me your version of tonight's events, because your girlfriend is singing a different tune," his eyes settled into a challenging stare, almost as if he was expecting a confession in that instant.

"I would never do anything to hurt Nina, she knows that," his words sounded angry, he must have realized it, when he adjusted himself to a calm composer. Sitting up, Carter slid the information towards the detective, "Whatever happened, I wasn't involved. I woke up to some noises. I was pretty out of it so I wasn't sure if I was still sleeping. But when I rolled over, I noticed she wasn't in bed. I know she's having issues with her sleep so I got up and looked for her. By the time I got to my dads study, the door was open, there was blood on the floor and she was locked in the bathroom. Next thing I know, the cops show up and I'm in handcuffs in the back of a squad car."

Carters eyes flickered to the window, likely only to star back at his own reflection. Still, Nina held her breath for a moment, knowing that he couldn't see her, but realizing how betrayed he felt as he gave his statement. 

"Could you at least tell me if she's okay?" He breathed out, looking away as he ran a hand over his tired face.

Detective Kelly sat back, watching his movements, "She's a little banged up, but she'll be okay," briefly, he looked over the folder he presented to Carter earlier and read allowed from it, "Friends went home a little after 11:30pm, so no traffic in or out after midnight. No unlocked windows or doors. No signs of forced entry or exit," he finished, closing the folder back up and crossing his legs as he sat back, "It's almost like no one else was in the house." 

His statement was condescending. 

Carter shook his head, "No," he spoke soft, but firmly, "I told you, I had nothing to do with this. I don't know what else you want me to say. You're telling me I hurt her and I'm telling you I didn't. There had to be someone in that house man. I would have no reason to ever lay a hand on her," he breathed out in a frustrated laugh as the words cracked with desperation. His eyes glazed as if there were tears pushing from the back of them. 

Kelly raised his eyebrows, leaning in and resting his elbows on the metal table, "Nasty bruise you got there," he pitched, eyeing Carters cheek. It was begging to turn purple as his fathers hit from earlier in the day lingered, "What's the saying again? Like father like son?"

It was clear detective Kelly was crossing a line by bringing up Ellis's abuse, using Nina's statement against her as she was the one to tell him of the fight they had.

Carter stiffened, looking down for a slight second, ashamed. Exhaling through his nose roughly as his jaw clenched under the pressure, he sat back, "I changed my mind, I do want a lawyer. I want my father."