This chapter is dedicated to Kittens_Reads for all the votes and awesome comments. Thank you!

Song: Daylight dies- Lies that bind

"FBI? FBI! Are you kidding me?" I yelled at him and immediately winced when my head pounded angrily in response.

"Em you've got to calm down please," Kyle or Detective Kyle or whoever the hell he really was pleaded with me. I lay back slowly on the hospital bed and shut my eyes, willing the pain to go away.

"Please let me explain," Kyle asked quietly. I remained quiet, eyes still firmly shut and heard him sigh.

"We've been watching Michael for a while now. Before he moved here, he lived in San Ped with his fiancé Barbra Thompson. Rumor had it he was abusive but Barbra never reported him. The neighbors would call the police to report domestic violence whenever they would hear them fighting and things crashing or Barbra screaming but whenever the cops got there she would refuse to open the door and insist that she was fine or make up some story. Their hands were tied. They couldn't do anything unless she stepped forward. And then one day, Michael showed up at the station looking distraught and reported his wife missing. Of course the police had to wait the standard 48 hours before they could take action but it was too late by then. Barbra was found dead in a cabin in the woods."

My eyes sprang open in shock and landed on Kyle standing a few feet away from me. I still didn't say anything so he carried on.

"All evidence pointed to the owner of the cabin, Peter Crain and Michael said he suspected Barbra was having an affair with the man. The police were skeptical but then you can't argue with the evidence so Peter was arrested. Michael moved after the funeral to "get a fresh start and recover" and that's when he moved here. The cops were still not fully convinced of his innocence so the investigation continued without Michael's knowledge and the F.B.I was brought in. Some new evidence came to light that may prove that he had something to do with Barbra's death. We contacted the Pinehive police department and they told us that a young woman had reported Michael for harassment but they couldn't make the charges stick without solid evidence so they let him go with a warning. We decided that someone from the F.B.I should come here and watch him and make sure he doesn't kill anyone else or at least find some evidence against him and lock him up for good. So I volunteered. The police told me about you and I went undercover to get close to you-"

"You used me as bait," I interrupted him. He stopped pacing and came and stood by my bed.

"No Emily. I went undercover to be close to you so I could keep you safe in case he tried anything," he argued.

I shook my head. "All you cared about was busting your guy. You knew if he saw me with another man it would trigger his irrational behavior then he'd do something rash and then you could arrest him. Never mind that I could get hurt in the process as long as you got your guy."

"No Emily. Listen to me. You were not bait. I genuinely cared about your safety. I even had cops from the local P.D watching your house especially after the phone call you got from Michael at the park and I pushed so hard for that 7 day deal with you so I could have an excuse to be around you all the time and keep you safe," he explained. My heart shattered into a million pieces from his words. "That came out wrong, I meant..."

"None of it was real, was it?" I asked heartbroken. A look of guilt flashed in his eyes. "All of it, saying you like me and you couldn't wait to fall in love with me. It was all just an act so I would let you into my life."

"Em, please-"

"You sat there while I poured my heart out to you about Craig and Michael and all along you knew." My voice was rising higher as my anger returned. "You knew Michael was a murderer and you didn't say anything. You deliberately put me in danger. I was just a means to an end."

"You're getting yourself worked up. The doctor said you need to take it easy and relax," he tried to soothe me but I was having none of it.

"Was sleeping with me part of the act too?" I fired at him. He froze and his silence urged me on. "You were going to keep the stupid bait distracted in bed while your partners watched waiting to catch the bad guy when he showed up?"

"You must have all had a laugh about it. Poor insecure girl so gullible, falling for all the lies you told me!"

"Emily. Stop." He held my arms and I wrenched them out of his grasp.

"I don't ever want to see you again," I bit out.

He groaned in frustration. "If you would only just listen to me Em..."

I lost it then and screamed at him. "Get out! Get out of my room. Get out of my life! Just. Go. Away!"

A doctor came rushing in with a nurse hot on her heels. The EKG by my bed was beeping furiously and the pounding in my head just increased in its ferocity.

"I told you not to upset my patient Detective," she said sternly as she injected something into my I.V bag. My heart rate immediately began to slow down and a sense of calmness washed over me.

"I'm sorry. I'll go," Kyle said sullenly. He threw one last glance at me, his expression one of desperation but I turned my head and looked away from him. A second later he was gone.

"How are you feeling Miss Troth?" the doctor asked me picking up my file from the foot of my bed.

"I feel fine except for the headache," I replied.

"Yes. Well screaming at the top of your lungs will do that. Doesn't help that you hit your head pretty badly last night," she said scribbling something in the file.

"When can I leave?" I asked her.

"The bullet barely grazed you and the swelling on your head seems to be going down so your injuries aren't too much of a cause of concern. But we would like to keep you here at least for one more day just to make sure everything is in order."

"Oh okay."

"You were unconscious for most of the night last night from the time you were brought in. Do you remember what happened last night?"

An overwhelming feeling of fear gripped my chest and squeezed till I couldn't breathe as my mind served up the memory of last night.

'If I can't have you, no-one will'

'Michael I will shoot you if you take a single step more'

Then shots were fired and everything became a blur.

'Emily! Emily! I need help in here she's been shot! Hurry!

I gulped and nodded. I remembered everything alright. A little too well for my liking.

"You're safe now, okay. The police are right outside your door keeping watch and I was told your family would be here soon," the Doctor re-assured me. "Try to get some rest and no more screaming matches?" I nodded again and she left, giving the nurse some instructions on her way out.

A little while later, Laura showed up carrying a huge box of chocolates.

"Oh Em!" she burst out when she found me sitting up in bed. She rushed over to me and wrapped her arms lightly around me, crying on my shoulder. I rubbed her back comfortingly and she chuckled after sobbing for a good five minutes.

"Trust us to get the roles reversed. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who's supposed to be doing the comforting here!" she said finally releasing me and wiping away her tears.

"It's okay. I'm used to you being the baby," I teased her.

"I can't believe I almost lost you," she said suddenly serious again.

"My injuries aren't serious. I'm fine see," I re-assured her.

"It didn't seem like that last night. You were just lying there unconscious and I was so scared..." she trailed off, tears springing to her eyes again.

"I'm okay Laura, okay. I'm not going anywhere."

She shook her head. "You're right. I need to get out of this funk!" She made a more genuine attempt at a smile and I smiled back at her.

"Chocolate huh? Did you forget that I don't really like those?" I poked her lightly in the ribs with my finger as she sat on the edge of my bed.

"Oh these are for me. Comfort food," she said excitedly tearing into the box. I folded my arms and gave her a questioning look.

"Don't worry I didn't forget about you," she laughed and handed me a plastic bag from her bag. Upon opening it I found a container of my favorite food in the entire world, french fries.

"You're the best!" I exclaimed and dug in. I felt really hungry and the tray of hospital food that had been wheeled in a while ago had not been enticing enough for me to attempt tasting it despite how hungry I was.

"Hungry pig is not an attractive look on you," Laura said as she watched me eat the fries, five at a time.

"Whatever. You love me anyway," I retorted. "The doctor said my family was on the way. Did you call them?"

"I thought you were dying. I wasn't thinking straight. Please don't be mad," Laura begged. I waved her apology off with my hand.

"I'm not. Just surprised you managed to reach my mom."

"Yeah that wasn't easy. I couldn't find your dad though," she said biting her lip.

"You couldn't have found him no matter how hard you tried," I said dismissively.

"He still won't get help?"

I shook my head. "He'd rather not stay in a hospital hooked up to machines. He said he feels like he won't have any control over his life anymore so he moves around, goes mountain climbing and when he's in pain he drinks until he can't feel anything. Then he starts all over again."

"There has to be some way you can convince him," Laura said sadly.

"I try every time he shows up. Short of having him tied up and forcing him into a hospital there's nothing I can do." Laura must have seen that the direction our conversation was going was depressing because she changed the subject then. Only, the new subject wasn't any better.

"So I met Kyle last night," she said winking at me.

"Good for you," I said turning my attention back to my fries.

"You didn't tell me he was a detective," she persisted.

"That would probably be because I didn't know either," I answered. Her face wore an expression of bewilderment.

"Huh?"

I sighed, not really wanting to get into the whole story about Kyle's betrayal. "He was working undercover on some case involving Michael and he basically used me as bait to get to Michael. So the whole 'I'm in love with you. I just need seven days to convince you' was all an act to provoke Michael into striking so they could catch him in the act."

Laura's mouth hung open as I told her the sordid details.

"I'm so sorry Em! This is so horrible. After you put yourself out there for the first time then this happens," she said hugging me again. "Good thing there wasn't anything serious between you two."

"That's the thing," I sniffled. "I lied to you." She held me away from her, looking at me inquisitively.

"I'd fallen in love with Kyle."