Next morning, the sun began to peek into the room and landed on Jamie's face. He let out a tired groan and threw an arm over his eyes. As he began to come out of deep sleep, the first thing he noticed was his pounding headache.

He smacked his lips, the next thing coming to mind was how dry his mouth was. As much as he didn't want to, he slowly opened his eyes, staring up at a ceiling that looked nothing like his, which quickly reminded him that he was in Noelle's living room sleeping on her couch. When the night before came rushing back, he let out another groan as he sat up and laid his head in his hands.

He had kissed her. He kissed Noelle.

He blew out a chuckle as a smile appeared on his face. He had wanted to kiss her that way for a while. He just wished he wasn't so drunk when he did it. He didn't want her to think that was the only reason that he did it. All the liquor did was give him the chance to turn his brain off for the night and gave him the courage to make the move.

He ran his hands over his face, willing himself to wake up, then dropped them, his eyes landing on the engagement ring still laid on the coffee table. He let out a sigh, then reached forward to grab the ring as he was hit with guilt.

When Sydney ended things last night, she brought up his feelings for Noelle, she was convinced he had more than friendly feelings for her. He had opened his mouth to argue with her but realized he couldn't. The truth was he did have more than friendly feelings for his best friend. They have been there since he was eleven, he just learned how to push them aside through the years, but since she came back into his life, it got harder.

At his silence, tears had filled Sydney's eyes as she realized it was over between them. Early in their relationship, if she accused him of having feelings for Noelle, he would deny it and she believed him. Because of that, she always felt confident in letting Noelle know her place, reminding her that she was just a friend while she was the fiancée, but lately there was a shift between them all and she didn't feel like his fiancée anymore; she barely felt like a friend to him. So when her boss came to her with an incredible job opportunity, she saw it as a blessing.

Jamie continued to look down at the ring as he wondered if the break up was the right thing to do. Regardless of the strong feelings for Noelle, the feelings he had for Sydney were still present. What they had was good, she was the first one since Noelle he could see a future with, and he was throwing that away for a chance to see if there was something between him and Noelle.

He couldn't help but think back to the warning his brother Joe gave him as a teenager when he came to him about his growing feelings for his best friend; he told him to always follow his heart, but to also proceed with caution. If things went wrong, he could lose his best friend.

Before he could think any further on it, he heard his cell phone beep with a new message. He slipped the ring into his pants pocket, then reached into his other pocket to pull out his phone, seeing he had a message from his brother Danny.

He was wondering if he could meet him, he had good news about the case against him. Jamie texted him back, naming a small diner near her apartment and told him he would meet him there in about ten minutes. If Danny recognized that as her neighborhood, he was nice enough not to call him out on it.

After texting with his brother, Jamie stood up from the couch and stretched. He was thankful that her couch was so comfortable, if it had been his own he would have woke up with a backache to go along with his hangover. He made his way down the small hall and into the bathroom.

After using the bathroom, he washed his hands, then splashed some cold water on his face. He turned away from the sink to open the cabinet door and grab a towel to dry his hands and face.

He lowered his eyebrows and let out a soft chuckle when he noticed the towels were stacked by color. He knew she was picky with how she decorated, but he never knew she was that bad about it. To joke around, he rearranged them, then made a note to himself to tease her about it later, if she didn't fuss at him first for changing them around.

He tossed the towel into the hamper, then went back out into the hall. He turned his head, seeing her open bedroom door and walked toward it. He peeked his head inside, seeing her curled up in the middle of the bed, surrounded by pillows like they were a barrier. He hated to leave without saying anything, but he didn't want to wake her up either.

Spying a notepad on top of the dresser, he grabbed it as well as a pen, then spent the next few minutes trying to figure out what to say.

Finally, he decided on thanking her for letting him crash on her couch and told her they would talk about what happened soon. He didn't want to ignore that it happened and have her overanalyze everything, which he knew would drive her crazy. There was stuff they needed to talk about, things they needed to figure out. Regardless of what happens, after that kiss, there was no turning back. Things have changed and they needed to acknowledge that.

He stood the note up and laid it against her cell phone, knowing she would see it when she woke up, then he turned his head to look at her. He couldn't stop himself from reaching out and brushing some hair from her face, his fingertips lightly grazing her cheek, causing her to let out a content sigh as pleasant dreams filled her head.

He leaned down to press his lips against her forehead, catching a whiff of her vanilla scented shampoo, the scent reminded him of cake, which in his opinion was perfect for her.

Hearing the small beep from his phone, he pulled back from her and slipped his phone out, seeing that it was past the time he was supposed to be meeting Danny, which is what he pointed out in the text message when he asked where he was. He texted back to say he was on his way, then glanced over at her one more time as he slipped the phone back into his pocket.

A soft smile appeared on his face as he backed out of the room and made his way toward the front door. The night before flooded his mind and he relived the feel of his lips against hers over and over again.

•••

After laying in bed most of the night wide awake thinking of the kiss, Noelle finally drifted off to sleep, her dreams were actually good for once. She was in the middle of one of those good dreams, starring her best friend in his blue uniform when she heard her phone chime with a new text message.

Without opening her eyes, her hand shot out from the comforter, knocking several things from the top of the bedside table, including the note Jamie left her, which floated down to the floor and under the bed.

When her hand found the cell phone, she picked it up and brought it close to her face, then finally cracked an eye open. She squinted her eyes as the bright light hit it, then blinked both eyes for a minute before opening them to read the text message from a co-worker giving her a heads-up when she arrives at work later.

Recently, she heard rumors around work about there were problems with some of the DNA test in older trials and there was a chance some of the criminals would be released- apparently it wasn't a rumor anymore and now a lot of her co-workers were in a panic.

She tossed the comforter aside and jumped out of bed, then raced over to the closet to grab a dark pencil skirt, a button down blouse and a pair of boots. She tossed the clothes on to the bed, then began to walk out of the bedroom, calling out Jamie's name.

"Okay, drunkie, time to wake up." Noelle walked into the living room, then came to a stop, her face falling when she saw the empty couch.

She glanced around the room- like she thought he was suddenly going to appear, it was better than accepting the truth...he left without saying a word.

"So much for meaning it in the morning," she quietly said to herself, remembering when he said that he did know what he was saying and that he did mean it. She told him if he did, he would mean it in the morning, but the empty couch told her that it was just the liquor talking. She couldn't help but think this meant he did remember the kiss, but quickly regretted it when he woke up.

She blew out a breath, then turned around to walk back down the hall to get ready for work.

After she showered and dressed, she left the apartment and glanced down at the silent cell phone in her hand. She wasn't going to lie, she had hoped in the time she got ready for work, that he would have texted her, but there was no new message waiting for her. She shook her head and slipped the phone into her bag as she lectured herself for even getting her hopes up.

She tried her best to push Jamie and the kiss from her mind as she drove to work. She wouldn't think about how his eyes flutter shut before he leaned toward her or how gently he held her face in his hands. And she definitely wouldn't think about how soft his lips were or the tingle she felt from head to toe when those lips were against hers. She was also not going to think about the heated dreams she had afterward because of that kiss.

No, for now, she just needed to think about work and the drama she was about to step into once she arrived. Thankfully, none of the tests were done by her, all of this happened before she started working there, but she was worried about a few co-workers she had befriended since working there. Plus she knew all of this would just create more work for the ones who got to keep their job, and they were already short-staffed.

As soon as she walked into the building she could feel the tension in the air. Everyone was nervous and on edge, not only did some have to worry about their jobs, but the real bad thing was because of an error some really mean and dangerous criminals were being released that morning; one of them was a convicted serial killer who tortured four women and killed three of them. One survived by holding the bindings on her wrist above the burning bed she was tied to and escaped.

She could imagine what that poor woman was feeling right now knowing the man who hurt her was walking free. She knew she would be terrified if Jimmie was released, even if he was states away, she would still be looking over her shoulders and jumping at shadows- hell she did things like that now. Just because you survived hell, doesn't mean you forget it. Those memories were always fresh in your mind.

While deep in thought, she didn't hear one of her co-workers walk up behind her, causing her to gasp and spin around when she felt someone touch her shoulder. She was seconds away from swinging her bag and hitting the person until she recognized him, causing her to let out a small chuckle.

"Jeez, Will, you scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry." He held up his hands, then nodded toward her oversized bag. "Although I kinda got that when you were about to pound me with your purse. Have you been taking self-defense from old women?"

Noelle shook her head at his joke, another laugh escaping her lips. "Hey, swinging bags is harder than it looks." She lightly patted the side of the bag. "Plus, with as much crap as I keep in here, I probably could do some damage."

"Maybe those little, old ladies are onto something." Will tapped his chin with a finger, pretending he was deep in thought.

"Don't knock it until you try it." She walked into her office with Will on her heels.

In the comfort of her office, the mood shifted and he turned serious. "Did you watch the press conference this morning?"

"No." She sat her bag down on top of the desk in the corner, then turned to face him. "After I got your text, I got ready then came here."

"Well, you didn't miss much," he told her. "The mayor made sure people remembered this happened before he came into office, but he'll be sure to get the ones responsible."

"Of course. Can't have anyone blaming him, so he has to point fingers elsewhere," she said sarcastically. "You know, maybe if we weren't so short-staffed around here and had more resources and funding, mistakes like this wouldn't happen."

"That's basically what Councilwoman Collins said," he said. "Well, before she threw the Commissioner and entire police department under the bus."

"That's crazy." She scoffed. After being raised around cops and knowing a few now, she was easily offended when someone badmouthed cops. "They are the ones risking their lives to catch these criminals!"

"Hey, you don't have to tell me," he said. The comment from Collins had pissed him off too, one of his siblings was a cop as well.

"This is all such a nightmare." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "And the sad thing is, there isn't anything any of us can do until one of them steps out of line, but you know they are going to be extra careful."

"I don't know about anyone else, but the one I'm worried about the most is Richard Reed." He shook his head, feeling a chill down his spine as he thought about the terror he had caused before. "My younger sister was still in college when all of that was going on. I made her move in with me until he was caught, I was too scared for her, even though she was living on campus."

"Sounds like you're a pretty good big brother, Will," she said with a kind smile. She couldn't count on her own brother when she was growing up, but in a way, she still had protective brothers, thanks to Danny, Joe, and Jamie.

"Yeah, she wasn't a fan of my overprotectiveness growing up, but in that moment, she was grateful for it," he stated. "I think the worst part is, I heard Reed is pretty charismatic. No one even realized he was doing this at first. He was just out there...doing all of this and getting away with it. How is that even possible?"

"It's hard to know who to avoid when the monsters don't look like monsters," she softly said, even though she knew his question was rhetorical.

She knew this first hand, Jimmie wasn't the charismatic type, but he didn't look like he was capable to do the things he did either. The first time she laid eyes on him, he just looked devastated and a little lost, had she known the truth about him, she never would have spoken to him.

"I just hope they find a way to lock him back up before he gets his hands on someone else," Will said, bringing her out of her thoughts.

Noelle nodded her head in agreement, she had no doubt that Danny was on the case and would keep an eye out, while Erin worked around the clock to find a legal way to get him back into jail. Will spoke to her for a few more minutes, until he got a call to go pick up a body.

Once he was gone, she sat down at her desk, grabbing the first folder sitting off to the side and tried to fill out a report, but her mind began to wander. All it took was one mistake and few dangerous criminals were released, it didn't matter if they tortured, raped or killed someone, they were able to freely walk away and possibly hurt someone again.

She couldn't stop a chill from running down her spine as she thought about some of the things that have happened to her lately, things that Jimmie had done before, was it possible that a little mistake has set him free as well?

With that question on her mind, she reached out to grab her cell phone, sending Spencer a text message, begging him to call the institution Jimmie was being held at. It's not that she didn't trust his word when he told her repeatedly that Jimmie was there, she just needed that confirmation. She needed to make sure her worst nightmare wasn't coming true.

•••

Jamie let out a sigh and laid his head back against the headrest while he waited for Renzulli to eat his lunch inside a small diner. Since he didn't have much of an appetite he passed on lunch and instead stayed in the car and let his mind wander to Noelle for the millionth time that day.

He had told her in a note that they would talk about things, but he honestly didn't know what to say. He knew the things he was feeling and a part of him wanted to go for it, but the other part of him was terrified of things going wrong and losing her from his life completely. Plus, even if they were over now, there was still Sydney to think about. He didn't want to hurt her, but he felt like he already did.

After his meeting with Danny, who informed him that he had solved the case, he had gone home to change for work and came across a note from Sydney. She told him she was staying with a friend for a few days until she left for London so he wouldn't have to leave the apartment late at night and crash somewhere else. Then she told him she hoped he and Noelle would be very happy together- which on paper sounded nice, but he had no doubt she didn't mean it in a nice way.

In her mind, he had already moved on and that hurt her more than she wanted to admit, and the sad thing is, she was right in a way. As soon as she ended things he ran to Noelle and kissed her- what did that say about him?

He didn't stay and fight, he didn't try to talk her out of it or beg her not to leave; instead he accepted it, left and knocked on his best friend's door. He should have thought about Sydney's feelings more, maybe then he wouldn't feel so guilty now.

Hearing the passenger door open, he turned his head to the side and saw Renzulli sitting down. He patted his full stomach, then reached back to grab the seat belt. Looking over at Jamie behind the wheel, he said, "You missed a good lunch, rookie. This place has the best meatball hero you'll ever find."

"I'll take your word on it." Jamie cranked the car, then glanced over his training officer before pulling out into traffic. "If it was so good, you should have got more in your mouth than your uniform."

Renzulli quickly looked down at his blue button-up shirt, worried he had spilled sauce on it until he heard Jamie trying to hold back a laugh and realized he was teasing him.

"Just for that, I should make you do my laundry," he joked back.

Jamie chuckled at his comment, then grew silent as he drove down the road, his mind going back to his thoughts from earlier. Renzulli glanced over at his silent partner, seeing that something was weighing heavily on his mind.

"What's going on with you today?" Renzulli questioned after a few minutes of silence.

"Nothing." Jamie shook his head.

"You're quiet," Renzulli pointed out.

"You're just talking more than usual, so it seems like I'm quiet," Jamie joked.

"Watch it, rookie," Renzulli playfully warned, making him laugh. "Is something going on with the pretty doctor who's out of your league?"

"She's a medical examiner," Jamie corrected him.

"Close enough," Renzulli said. "But I noticed you avoided the question. So I'm taking that to mean something did happen."

"How do you do that?" Jamie looked over at him for a moment before looking back at the road.

"I've told you before, I'm observant," Renzulli said.

Jamie blew out a breath. "Okay, something happened, but it's not as bad as what you're probably thinking." The last thing he wanted was his partner to get the wrong idea about him. "Sydney's got the opportunity to go to London to work on a big case for the next six months, and she's taking it and she called off the engagement."

Renzulli nodded his head but didn't say anything. He could have pointed out that couples have done long distance before, but he had a feeling the engagement was called off for more than just the job. With the way he talked about his best friend, then meeting her and seeing how they were around each other, it was clear to see something was there between them. He was observant after all.

"Afterwards, I went to Nol's and we were drinking and..." He cleared his throat, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. "And I kissed her."

Renzulli remained silent, making Jamie wonder for a moment if he was ever going to comment until he finally spoke. "Did I ever tell you how my wife almost didn't go out with me?"

"I can't imagine why," Jamie sarcastically said as he shot him a smile to let him know he was joking. Truthfully, he was a little curious what this had to do with his problem, he didn't have to wait long to find out though.

"Haha," Renzulli said back, matching his tone, before continuing his story. "The reason she said no was because a friend of hers had a crush on me and she felt like she would betray her by saying yes to me. Something to do with girl code, whatever that is."

After Jamie chuckled at his comment, he added, "She explained to me many times that she would like to go out with me but she would feel guilty taking me from her friend, but I explained to her that I was never her friend's to take. In the end, she agreed to go out with me and it was one of the best dates I ever been on."

A smile appeared on his face as he thought about his wife. "I think about that sometimes though, if she never would have followed her heart, we wouldn't be where we are now." He turned his head to look at Jamie. "You can't help who you fall for, you know what I mean, kid?"

Jamie turned to look at him for a moment, a half-smile on his lips. "Yeah."

Turning back to look at the road, he thought about the story he told him, then asked, "Whatever happened to your wife and the friend?"

"They're still friends to this day. We're godparents to their oldest," Renzulli said. "They realized their friendship was more important than any childish drama. Then a couple of years later, the friend met this guy and fell for him. They are still together to this day and she says she's never been happier. Sometimes when you think something is ending and you'll never survive it, it's really just life setting you up for something better; a new beginning."

Jamie nodded his head at the comment, if he wasn't thinking about his problems so much, he would have cracked a joke about him sounding like a fortune cookie, but instead, he took what he said to heart. Things might seem confusing for now, but hopefully, in the end, this would set them all up for a new beginning and they all would end up happy.

Before the two could talk about the matter any further, they got a call over the radio, causing Jamie to flip the siren to get through the traffic and arrive on the scene.

One of the criminals who was released earlier that day was basically stalking his ex-wife, even though she had a restraining order against him. He was smart enough to keep the legal distance, between that and the fact that he already left, there wasn't much they can do at the moment. All they could do was tell her to call 911 like before if he showed up again.

"I freaking hate these bastards terrorizing their women, roughing 'em up," Renzulli said as they began to walk away from the apartment building. "And it's not just East Harlem. It's the West Village, the Upper East Side. They're a bunch of animals."

"Yeah," Jamie breathed out, then came to a quick stop as he realized what he said. He was right, there were men like that out there, ones who thought they owned their women. They would become obsessed with them, stalk them and, unfortunately, for some women there was no escape and most of those only got away because they fled the state.

He briefly wondered for a moment if that is what happened to Noelle. It was clear to see that something happened to her in Florida, something had her on edge and scared, could it be an ex not knowing when to let go? Could one of those animals Renzulli just spoke of have hurt her?

If she was having problems with someone, he didn't know why she wouldn't just tell him, but maybe it was for the same reason he hadn't told her about the Blue Templar; maybe she wanted to protect him from whoever it was. Maybe she feared for his safety as well as her own. She didn't need to do that though, he could take care of himself, and he could take care of her as well if she just let him.

"What's wrong?" Renzulli turned to look at him when he stopped.

"Nothing." Jamie shook his head. He wasn't sure if there was anything wrong yet. He needed to do a little investigating and hopefully, he would find the answer to his question.

•••

That afternoon, instead of grabbing some lunch, Noelle walked a few blocks down from her work building to reach the district attorney's office. She entered the building and asked for Erin, then followed the directions from the helpful girl at the front. She came to a stop in front of the door with her name written on it. She lightly tapped on the door, then pushed it open when she heard Erin call out to come in.

"Hey, busy bee, how's it going?" Noelle poked her head into the room.

"Hey, you!" Erin turned to smile at the younger girl, then held out her arms when Noelle walked further into the room to hug her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"I just thought it was time to visit your office," Noelle said, glancing around nervously. She was a little unsure of how to bring up the real reason for the visit, which was to talk about Jamie.

"Uh-huh," Erin said, looking at her closely. She wasn't buying the excuse. "I have a feeling there is more to it than that. You have the same look on your face as you did years ago when you asked me those very awkward sex questions."

"Oh, god, I'll never forget that day." Noelle chuckled. "I was so embarrassed to ask but too curious not to."

"How do you think I felt?" Erin questioned with a laugh of her own as she sank down to sit in her desk chair. "You're like a little sister to me and there you were, sitting in front of me on my bed, and asking me about different positions and how babies are made. I also remember the words 'dry lump' came out of your mouth."

Noelle burst out laughing at how misinformed she was back then. It was fun remembering the younger version of herself, the one who was naïve and innocent- the little girl who had not been touched yet by any of the badness of the world.

"That'll teach me to listen to those mean girls. They gave me all this wrong information just to mess with me." She sat down in the chair in front of the desk. "They're also the ones who told me 'The Wizard of Oz' was based on a true story, which probably explains my hatred for it."

They were the same girls who used to tease her about Jamie, telling her that he would never see her as anything more than a tomboy and the thought of touching her would repulse him. They would call her all kinds of names and even ran into her countless of times to knock her into stuff, then act innocent when a teacher asked what happened.

She remembered one day when one of the girls shoved her too hard against a bank of lockers and her head slammed against it. Jamie found her later in an empty classroom holding her head in her hands with tears in her eyes. He held her close as she rested her head against his chest while he ran his fingers through her hair, trying to calm her down as she told him about the bullying.

He wanted to say something to them or at least a teacher, but she begged him not to because she was too scared it would make things worse. Instead, he basically became her shadow for the rest of that school year. He would walk her to all of her classes- even the ones he wasn't in so he could protect her.

At first, she never knew why they picked on her so badly, until she discovered that her dad had arrested one of the girl's father on a drug charge, and they decided to take that out on her. Luckily the following year that girl moved and the rest of the girls left her alone.

"You hate 'The Wizard of Oz'?" Erin asked, getting back to her earlier comment and pulling her out of her thoughts. "Out of all the times I put that movie on for you and Jamie to watch, you never told me you hated it."

"I didn't want to make you mad." Noelle shrugged. "Plus, let's be honest, back then you wouldn't have really cared. You were just trying to distract us so you could sneak out and hang with your friends."

"You two knew I was sneaking out?" she asked surprised. Apparently, she wasn't as sneaky as she thought back in her wild days.

"We were young, but we weren't stupid," Noelle pointed out with a chuckle.

"Well, thankfully, those days are behind us. And you now have my promise, I will never make you watch that movie again." Erin laughed.

"That is music to my ears," Noelle joked, not watching the movie again would make her very happy.

Erin laughed at her comment, then glanced at her watch, seeing that she had to leave soon for court. She stood up from her desk and began to gather her files. "I'm sorry to rush you along, but I got a case coming up."

"It's okay. I should get back to work, my lunch break will be over soon." Noelle stood up.

"But, don't think I am going to let you off easy though," Erin warned as she turned to look at her. "I know there is something you want to talk to me about."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal," she said back, trying to brush it off as she began to chicken out.

"It was a big enough deal for you to come to my work," Erin pointed out. "I'll check my schedule later and set up a time for us to talk, okay?"

"Thanks, Erin." She smiled.

"It'll be my pleasure." Erin grabbed another file and placed it into her bag. "Although I hope whatever my brother has done, he has fixed it by then."

"Believe it or not, Danny hasn't done anything," Noelle said, playing dumb.

"We both know I am not talking about Danny."

"We both do not know that..." She tried to say until Erin stopped what she was doing to shoot her a look. "Okay, fine, we both do know that."

"Just remember...whatever is going on between you and Jamie, he cares about you and your friendship means the world to him. He's just a little confused right now," Erin said, offering a quick tidbit of advice before she had to leave. She didn't know exactly what happened to leave Noelle troubled, but she could guess what it was.

"How do you do that?" Noelle asked in awe.

"I grew up with you two, remember?" Erin said, stating the obvious. "Plus I read people for a living."

"I bet you're hell in the courtroom." Noelle smiled.

"I do pretty well," she said coyly. "Although it'll help if I get there on time," she joked, before she called out to her assistant, asking her to bring her a file she needed.

Hearing someone walk into the office, both girls turned their heads to look at Rachel, the assistant. "I know you're running late, but I have another visitor for you." She handed the case file to Erin. "Becky Watalski?"

"Becky's here?" Erin asked, surprised but relieved. She had tried to get in touch with the girl since it was revealed that Reed was being released.

"Becky as in-"

"Yeah, that Becky," Erin said, interrupting Noelle, knowing what she was going to ask. "The only girl to survive Reed."

"That poor girl," Noelle softly said with a concerned look. She knew what it was like to stare into the eyes of a monster and fearing it would be the last thing you saw.

"Is it a... Is it a bad time?" Becky nervously asked as she poked her head into the room.

"No. No, not at all. I'm happy to see you. Come in." Erin motioned for her to come in and her assistant exited the room.

"This is a friend of mine, Noelle Kelley, she works at the medical examiner's office," Erin said, introducing the brunette standing off to the side.

"It's nice to meet you, Becky." Noelle stepped forward to shake her hand.

"Are you one of the ones responsible for him getting out?" Becky asked.

"No, that was before I started there," Noelle answered. "But, I am so sorry this has happened to you. Trust me, none of us wanted him out on the streets."

Becky gave her a small smile, as if to thank her, then turned her attention to Erin, who began to move things out of a chair for her to sit down.

"I'll let you two talk." Noelle took a few steps backward toward the door. "I'll talk to you later, Erin," she said to her friend, then turned to Becky, telling her again how sorry she was before she walked out of the office.

She gave a short wave to Rachel as she walked past her desk, then made her way down a long hallway to head for the exit.

Once outside, she stood still on the sidewalk for a moment as several people walked past her, going on with their busy lives. One of the great things about New York was how busy and crowded it was; it was called the city that never sleeps for a reason.

It was easy to get lost in a crowd, to be ignored, but in this moment she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She wrapped her arms around herself as she glanced around and rubbed her hands up and down her arms.

Maybe it was just with everything going on lately, the blotched test that resulted in a few dangerous criminals to be released had her on edge. Maybe it was meeting Becky briefly and being able to relate to her. Maybe it was a hundred different reasons than the one she was thinking, which was that Jimmie was here.

She blew out a breath, hoping to calm her racing heart as she slipped her hand into her bag and pulled out her cell phone. She felt disappointed when she didn't have a text back from Spencer yet. She just needed that confirmation from him.

She slipped the phone back into her bag, then turned to walk down the sidewalk, but instead collided into someone. She raised her head to apologize and froze when she noticed it was Richard Reed. She had seen his smug smile in the papers and had recognized him immediately.

"I'm sorry," Richard apologized. His eyes traveled down her body and back up, before a smirked appeared on his face, making her skin crawl. "Or maybe I'm not."

"Touch me or anyone else again...and you will be," Noelle hissed as she brushed past him to walk away, but his next words caused her steps to falter.

"Sassy. I like that." When she turned to look at him, he added, "Reminds me a lot of my second victim, Katie Snow."

He paused for a moment in thought, before making a sound of pleasure. "Ooh, did she have a mouth on her."

"You're sick." Noelle looked at him with a look of disgust on her face.

"Hm, now that look on your face reminds me of my last girl... Becky," he said, a chuckle escaped his lips.

"Becky," she quietly repeated to herself, ignoring the rest of what he said as she remembered where they were and that Becky was right inside the building. She quickly reached into her bag to pull out her cell phone to warn Erin not to bring Becky outside, but before she could, she heard a loud scream and jerked her head up, seeing that she was too late.

Noelle slipped the phone back into her bag and rushed over to the hysterical woman as she began to hit Richard's chest with her fist and screaming at him.

After she and Erin were able to pull her away from Reed, Erin asked her to take Becky back inside. Noelle nodded, then wrapped an arm around Becky, speaking quietly to her as she began to lead her back inside as Danny pulled up and arrested him.

The two went back into Erin's office and she had asked Rachel to bring Becky some water. After Rachel appeared in the doorway with a bottle, Noelle took it from her and thanked her, then walked over to Becky and handed it to her while Rachel walked away to give them privacy.

She sat down in the chair beside her and turned it to face her better, she didn't say anything to her, she just sat beside her in silence until she was ready to talk.

"I'm sorry," Becky breathed out minutes later.

"You don't have anything to apologize for," Noelle told her.

"I told myself I could do this. That I could- I could testify against him," she began to say. "And I figured I would have time, you know, time to build to see him. But just now...I wasn't expecting him to be there. I mean, I knew he was free, I had seen his smug face on tv, but I never thought he would just be there, you know?"

"You are the only one who survived him, Becky, and now you are the one who holds his life in your hands," Noelle said. "When you testify against him, you're going to send him back to prison and he hates that. He hates knowing you have all the control now."

"If I testify," Becky softly said as she looked down at her hands and nervously began to mess with her fingers.

Hearing the comment, Noelle scooted to the edge of the seat and leaned closer to her. She reached out to lay a hand on top of hers, then quietly said, "I know this is hard, Becky. I know how hard it is to stare the person in the eyes that hurt you so badly and almost took your life, but you can't let him get away with it. You can't let him win."

Becky raised her head, seeing the look on her face and knew it was the same look she had seen on herself, causing her to say, "You really do, don't you? You do understand because something happened to you too."

Noelle slowly nodded her head, her voice dropping down to barely a whisper, "Close to a year ago."

"It's been five years for me," Becky said back as tears filled her eyes. "And it never gets easy."

"Unfortunately for us, it's probably never going to get easy," Noelle said.

Becky nodded her head in agreement. "All I have to do is close my eyes and he's there." She took in a shaky breath, then released it. "And if I pass by a mirror or a window and see the scars..."

She paused for a moment to motioned toward the marks on her face. "It's like I'm right back there again. It's a constant reminder."

"I do that too," Noelle quietly said as she wrapped her arms around herself and self-consciously pulled her top down, talking about scars made her paranoid that hers was showing.

"Where are yours?" Becky questioned.

"Hidden," Noelle answered vaguely. "Well, hidden to everyone but me. I always see them, even when I'm not looking."

Becky nodded her head, knowing exactly what she meant. "How did you do it? How did you stare down the one who hurt you?" she questioned.

"I didn't have to," Noelle answered with a small shake of the head. "He was offered a plea so it never made it to court."

"If you didn't do it, why should I?" Becky questioned.

"For the ones who couldn't do it," Noelle answered. "For the ones who aren't as brave as you, for the ones who didn't survive."

She paused for a moment, trying to get control of her emotions. "Do it for all of us, Becky," she tearfully whispered.

Hearing the click of high heels coming toward them, Noelle quickly wiped at her face, then turned to look at the door as Erin walked in. She rushed over to Becky, asking her if she was okay while Noelle stood up from the chair with her heart in her throat.

All of this was hitting a little too close to home for her. Their situations might be different, but they were also similar. They both almost lost their lives to a madman; who would come after them again if given the chance. They both fought and escaped death, but lost a part of themselves that day, a part they would never get back. They were both a part of a club that no one wanted to be a part of; a survivors club.

"Are you okay?" Erin questioned her when she noticed the down look on her face.

"Yeah," Noelle lied. She nodded toward the door, asking Erin to follow her before the two walked over to it. "Becky's on the fence about testifying now. I tried to talk to her, but I don't know if it did any good or not."

"Thank you," Erin said with a half-smile, appreciating her for trying.

"Is there a chance she won't have to now? I mean he was here while she was-"

"Unfortunately we can't prove that," Erin interrupted. "He was on a public sidewalk, which just happened to be in front of the building, but there is no proof he actually knew she was here at the time. Which mean, Danny's going to have to release him."

"That's what I was afraid of." Noelle sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"All they can do for now is watch him."

"Let's hope that's enough." Noelle glanced over at Becky and hated that she had to go through this.

"You know Danny is not going to give up on this. And neither am I," Erin said.

"I know," Noelle said back. "But guys like Reed, they don't give up easily either."

Erin looked over at Becky, then back at Noelle, seeing similar expressions on their faces. She was suddenly very curious about what the two were talking about before she came into the room. Like she told Noelle earlier, she knew how to read people, she did it for a living, and from reading Noelle now, she was beginning to think something traumatic has happened to her.

Could she have come across her own version of Reed? Was there something terrible she was relieving every time she shut her eyes?

Only one person could answer those questions, but Erin knew now was not the time to ask. Not knowing what else to do, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Noelle, hoping, for now, that would be enough.

"What was that for?" Noelle asked curiously afterward as she pulled back to look at the older woman; who had always been like a big sister to her.

"Just 'cause." Erin shrugged.

"Okay, well, thank you, I guess?" Noelle laughed, then gestured over her shoulder with a thumb. "I should get back to work and I know you have a lot going on."

"Yeah, but we'll still get together very soon, okay?"

"Okay." Noelle nodded. She glanced over at Becky, waving bye to her before she turned and walked out the door.

Erin glanced out the doorway, watching her as she walked down the hall, then stepped back into her office. She looked over at Becky, apologizing to her for everything, and asking her if she minded if she made a quick call before they talked.

Becky nodded her head saying it was okay. Erin shot her a smile to thank her as she reached into her coat pocket to pull out her cell phone.

After clicking on someone in her contacts, she placed the phone against her ear, hearing it ring a few times before there was a click on the other end, followed by a friendly voice saying, "Hey, sis."

"Jamie..." she responded, then added, "I think we should talk. It's about Noelle."

•••

A/N; Thank you to everyone reading!

Happy reading!
xx