Hours later, after making it back to the station, Jamie sat in front of one of the many computers and began to research. Since he couldn't find out much on Noelle before, he decided to take his investigation another way. He knew the name of the man she feared, meaning he could search for Jimmie Jenkins and maybe find some pieces to the puzzle that way.

He had to find the answers somehow. He wasn't giving up on helping her no matter what she said.

After a quick search on Jimmie, he found out he was a twenty-eight-year-old man who spent most of his life in mental hospitals. Over a year ago, around the time Noelle was living in Florida, Jimmie was finally out of one of the many institutions and was living with a younger brother, named Jacob.

With another puzzle piece, he searched the brother's name and found a small news article about Jacob committing suicide at twenty-three. Another search revealed that Noelle was the one who did the autopsy on Jacob, meaning she was probably on the scene to pick up the body and that was probably how the two met.

He tried to research more but had to leave to respond to a call. For the rest of his tour, he was in the patrol car, meaning his little investigation had to wait until later.

He hated that he had to do this behind her back, but she didn't leave him any other choice. He remembered the advice Melissa gave him, to find the reason she was so terrified and maybe he could find a way in, and that was what he was going to do- somehow he had to find a way in.

After his tour was over, he changed out of his uniform and into a pair of jeans and a button-down shirt with a t-shirt under it, then headed for her place. He didn't have much, but he hoped with the little bit of information he had he could get through to her.

He also just wanted to see her, especially after what happened at the gym- it still bothered him that he couldn't go after her and had to watch her walk away. He never liked watching her walk away, it had always crushed his heart.

It started when she first revealed to him that she was moving to Florida years ago. He still remembered that day like it was yesterday, and he remembered how for a moment his heart dropped and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

From a young age, the two had been inseparable, they did everything together; they even went to the same college because they couldn't stand the thought of being separated, then in a flash, she was gone. They talked some while she was in Florida and she even visited a few times, but in the end, she always left again. He tried not to take it personally, but at times it did feel like she had left him.

Now that she was back, he tried not to think of those bad memories, she was in his life again and that was all that mattered, but he would be damned if he let her walk away again. He cared about her too much to let this go.

He usually wasn't so confrontational- especially with her- but he couldn't shake this feeling of urgency, if he didn't do something soon, he feared something bad could happen to her. Whoever this Jimmie was, he had no doubt he was bad news, and whatever he did to her, he was going to make sure it never happened again.

Before arriving at her building, he stopped by the burger place nearby to grab some of her favorites, hoping that would smooth things over. He knew the best way to get back on her good side was food. If he had the time he would have went to the bakery she liked to grab a dozen of her favorite cupcakes, but he hoped the cheeseburger, order of onion rings and chicken nuggets would be good enough for now.

Pulling into the parking lot, he pulled into a spot beside her car, then grabbed his cell phone to call her. The phone rung several times, making him think for a minute she was going to ignore him, but finally, he heard a click on the other end, followed by a quiet greeting from her.

"Hey," Jamie whispered back, matching her tone. He wasn't sure what her reaction would be after earlier that day, but he was glad he at least got a word from her.

He blew out a breath. "Look, Nol-"

"Don't," she cut him off. "I don't want to fight with you, Jamie." She sounded incredibly tired, which wasn't surprising after the stressful day she had.

She spent most of the day staring at the rose and note left on her car, trying to convince herself that the handwriting didn't look familiar to her. She picked apart the two letters, telling herself it had to be from someone else, it had to mean something else, but she knew who it really was- it was Jimmie.

"I don't either. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is fight with you," he said back. "I'm outside your building right now; if I came to the door, will you let me in?" He was a little scared of what her answer would be. If she said no, this whole conversation would take a turn for the worst.

"Jamie, I don't know-"

"I'm sorry, what was that?" he questioned. "I think this connection is bad."

She couldn't stop a small chuckle from escaping from her lips when she realized what he was doing. He was doing what he usually did if they were having a disagreement- he was pretending he couldn't hear her, knowing she could never stay mad at him when he did that.

"Yeah, I'm sure the signal is so much worse out there," she said sarcastically. She thought about it for a moment, then sighed. "Jamie, I'm sorry, but I just...it's been a long day and I'm in my pjs, and all I want to do for the rest of the night is distract myself with a movie and a lot of snacks-"

"I picked up some dinner." He glanced over at the paper bag beside him in the passenger seat. "I have cheeseburgers and onion rings from the place that you love down the street."

"Chicken nuggets too?" she asked.

"Chicken nuggets too," he repeated. "I even grabbed bbq and honey mustard sauce." He knew she liked to dip in both.

"Okay," she softly said. "I'll open the door."

Jamie smiled, then grabbed the bag of food beside him and exited the car. He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket as he walked over to the building and waited a minute until she buzzed him in. He went down the narrow hallway, then knocked on the door of her ground floor apartment.

He waited a few minutes and was beginning to think she was going back on her word until he finally heard the sound of locks turning and the chains being removed.

His eyebrows lowered in concern when she opened the door and leaned against it, wearing an oversized long sleeve shirt and loose fitted pajama bottoms. The clothes looked like they were about to swallow her whole, but he had a feeling she picked the outfit out on purpose to hide away from the world.

He couldn't help but notice how drained and tired she looked. He wouldn't be surprised if she had driven herself crazy all day with the ghost of her past.

Jamie held up the bag of food and saw a small smile appear on her face for a moment, then in a flash, it was gone before she reached out to take the bag for him.

When she didn't make a move to let him in, he questioned, "Can I come in or are you just going to take the food then slam the door in my face?"

Noelle looked at him for a minute in thought, making him think she was going to do just that, until she gave him a short nod and stepped aside, opening the door wider to let him in.

He entered her apartment, then turned to shut the door and turn all the locks for her. He knew it made her feel better. When he turned back to face her, she was standing in the same spot looking lost and confused, completely breaking his heart because he hated seeing her this way and there was nothing he could do.

"I'm sorry." He slipped his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching out for her. He had a feeling how she would react if he did.

When he saw her mouth open to speak, he shook his head to stop her. "No, wait, let me finish. I'm sorry for pushing you so much lately, but you know me, Nol, and you know if there's something going on with you, I can't let it go. We've always been a team- you and me- and there was nothing we couldn't handle together.

"Like that day at the park. The day you fell off of the merry-go-round and broke your arm? I was there, Nol, I dried your tears and carried you all the way home, and I would do that time and time again if I had to."

"I remember," she softly said, her tone matching his. "But this is different."

"And what about the bullies? The ones from middle school?" he continued like he didn't hear her. "Do you remember what you told me when you finally admitted what was going on? You told me that they were making your life a living hell every day, but I was right there again. I walked you to all of your classes and I never left your side."

He took a step closer and laid his hands on either side of her face, his eyes scanned over her face before catching her eyes. "I'll always be by your side, Nol, always. It's you and me against the world, remember? We're the dynamic duo."

He thought he saw a ghost of a smile on her face when he brought up their childhood phrases- back when they use to pretend they were superheroes and ran around with capes her mother had sewed for them.

Back then they went around their neighborhood solving crimes; like rescuing Mrs. Appleton's cat from a tree or the case of the missing garden gnome for Mr. Wayne. Back when they were J-Boy and Kid Kelley, they were the dynamic duo and no one could stop them. They swore they could overcome anything together, they believed nothing in the world could bring them down as long as they had each other's back.

"I'm sorry for pushing you, Nol," he apologized again. "But I need you to tell me about Jimmie."

"Jamie..." she groaned as she took a step back from him.

He grabbed her arm to stop her. "No, don't do this again, don't walk away from me. Talk to me, Nol."

When she didn't say anything and lowered her head, he swallowed hard, knowing she was about to blow up at him for what he was about to say. "Was it the case?"

"What case?" She raised her head to look at him, a confused look on her face.

"The one about his brother; Jacob."

"How do you..." she began to ask until she realized how he knew. The confusion turned to anger as she quietly swore, then pulled away from him. She walked into the kitchen and set the bag of food down on the counter, then turned to face him when he walked into the room.

She folded her arms across her chest. "You were researching again."

"I know his brother committed suicide and I know you were the ME assigned to the case," he began to say. "Is that how you two met? You were on the scene to pick up the body?"

Noelle bit her bottom lip and gave him a short nod as that day came flooding back to her. It was like any other day, she had gotten an early morning text of an address for a pick-up. She had quickly changed, then grabbed her bag and arrived at the scene minutes later.

When she exited her car, she saw a man a couple of years older than her sitting on the top porch steps. He looked devastated and lost, and she quickly realized he must be the deceased brother, and her heart went out to him- having a brother herself, she knew how much it would destroy her to lose him.

- Flashback -

"Hey," Noelle softly said as she came to a stop in front of the tearful man sitting on the porch steps. While wrapping the body and loading it, she noticed he never moved, he never looked up and no one spoke to him- it was like no one cared enough to even speak to him.

When he didn't look up at her voice or even acknowledge her, she glanced around for a moment to see that most of the cops were leaving since they got everything they needed. She looked back at the man, she didn't want to make things worse for him by annoying him, but she also didn't want to leave someone if they needed help. Jamie would say it was because she had a big heart, she couldn't help herself.

She wiped her hands on her pant legs, then took a step toward him before sitting beside him on the steps. She turned her head to look over at him as she spoke up, "My name's Noelle Kelley. What's yours?"

"Jimmie," he mumbled as he kept his head down and messed with a cell phone that was in his hands.

Noelle looked down at his hands, noticing how he would unlock the phone, but never made a move to call anyone. Instead, he would tap the back of the phone twice, pause for a couple of seconds then tap it again before locking the phone back.

"Did you need to call someone?" she questioned.

"I have no one. Jacob is all I have..." he paused briefly, then corrected himself, "I mean- had."

"You don't have any more family?" When he shook his head to answer, she added, "What about friends?"

Jimmie blew out a bitter chuckle. "I don't have friends, most people find me creepy."

He finally raised his head, getting his first glimpse of her and felt his heart beating in his chest. He had always heard stories about people falling in love at first sight, he just never thought it would happen for him, but here he was sitting beside a beautiful girl and falling madly in love.

He smiled and imagined her reaching out to lay a hand on his arm, her soft touch setting his skin on fire. She shot him a flirty look, then said in a sultry voice, 'I don't find you creepy, Jimmie. In fact, I find you very handsome.'

Noelle remained quiet while Jimmie stared at her with an eerie look on his face. She had no idea what he was thinking, she didn't know that at the moment he was imagining her coming on to him and that moment is what started the whole obsession. It all happened just that quickly.

She shifted uncomfortably, starting to regret sitting down beside him. She reached into her bag and pulled out a business card, then laid it on the step beside him. "That's the ME's office. If you have any questions feel free to call."

"You want me to call you?" Jimmie asked with a surprised tone as she stood up from the porch.

"No, I mean- well I mean, I work there, but so do others," Noelle stuttered, trying not to give him the wrong idea. "Any of us can answer your questions and I'm sure the police will make themselves available to you as well if you need anything."

"Thank you, Noelle," he said with a menacing smile.

She gave him a small nod, then turned to hurriedly walk away until he called out her name, causing her to slowly turn around to see what he wanted.

"You got a nice voice. Very soft and calming. I look forward to hearing it again."

- End Flashback -

That was the moment she thought about a lot, she went over it in her head a million times and tried to figure out what she did wrong.

All she wanted was to reach out and help, but he took advantage of her niceness, and no matter how many times she told him it wasn't acceptable to send her gifts or ask him to leave her alone, nothing worked. He kept coming at her.

She finally stopped talking to him and stopped trying to reason with him. She had hoped he would leave her alone, but it only made things worse. Once he found her cell phone number and home address things had escalated.

"Nol..." Jamie softly said, seeing tears fill her eyes. He took a step toward her, hesitant to touch her for a moment. He feared she was lost in a memory again and didn't want to spook her. "Nol, baby, look at me..." he added, using the same tone as before until she finally locked eyes with him.

Without a word, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, then pulled her toward him. She laid her hands on his sides and buried her face in his shirt, while he tightened his hold around her and kissed the top of her head.

The two stood silently in the middle of her kitchen, drawing strength from each other- like they've done since they were young. He moved a hand up to intertwin his fingers in her hair, then pulled her head back slightly to look at her.

Raising his other hand, he wiped the moisture from her face, then laid the hand on the side of her neck. The two stared at each other for a moment as he lightly ran his thumb over her bottom lip. He kept his eyes on her, then slowly began to lean closer to her, making sure he wasn't making her uncomfortable or pressuring her.

When she didn't pull back he took that as a good sign and lightly brushed his lips against hers. He did that a couple more time, then pulled back to look at her to see what she would do next. She looked up at him, her breathing labored before she fell forward into his arms and her lips crashed against his.

He kept a hand in her hair as her fist clenched the front of his shirt to pull him closer to her when the kisses began to turn rough and she lost herself in him. He lowered his other arm to rest under her butt, then lifted her up and felt her wrap her legs around his waist.

He held her in place, then took a few steps forward to set her down on the counter- neither one noticing the bag of food hitting the floor, all they noticed at the moment was each other.

Gripping her hair tighter, he pulled her head back to expose her neck, then pressed his lips against her skin, causing her to let out a moan. He felt her fumbling with the buttons on the front of his shirt, then felt her slip a hand under the t-shirt he had on under it.

He nibbled her neck and moaned against her skin when he felt her lightly run her fingernails down his chest and to the front of his blue jeans. She grabbed onto the waistband and pulled him closer to her, feeling the bulge through his pants pressing against her.

With her legs wrapped tightly around him, she shifted her hips forward to rub against him and breathed out a chuckle when she heard him let out a deep groan. His mouth left her neck and captured her lips for a heated kiss.

The two continued to heavily make-out until she felt something vibrating in his pocket, causing her to pull back, his name slipping from her lips to stop him.

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't," she cut off his apology. "Don't you dare apologize for that. I only stopped you because of your phone."

"My phone? Wha-" he breathed out in confusion. He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, seeing that he had a new text message. He quickly read the text from Melissa, informing him that someone was in her apartment now.

"What's wrong?" she asked when she saw the look on his face.

"It's Melissa." Knowing she had questions, he explained, "Melissa Samuels. It's this case me and Renzulli responded to, she's convinced someone is breaking into her place and moving things around."

"What?" she breathed out, feeling her mouth go dry. "What-What kind of things?"

"She mentioned books and silverware being messed with," he said. "Then today she called again because her furniture had been moved and framed pictures were turned upside down. Renzulli's not convinced since she has no proof."

"There are certain ones smart enough not to leave proof," she pointed out. "Plus it's not about leaving a mark, it's not even about being noticed by everyone. It's about being noticed by one person. They make subtle little changes for just that person to notice. It's all for that one person."

He looked at her closely, feeling like she was speaking from personal experience. He had a feeling if he asked her, she would just avoid the question, but at least the comment was another clue about her Florida past.

"What does she look like?" she asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"I-I don't know, I didn't really pay attention." Worried she was getting the wrong idea, he added, "I only gave her my number in case something happened and she needed help-"

"No, it's fine, I figured that's why." She jumped down from the counter. "But, Jamie, this is serious; what did she look like? I mean, does she resemble me?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, I mean, you are both brunettes."

"We need to go," she suddenly announced as she fled from the kitchen. She rushed through the living room and down the small hallway to her bedroom to change into a pair of jeans and slip on a pair of shoes.

Maybe she was being paranoid for nothing, she knew there was no proof it was Jimmie breaking into this girl's place, but what if it was? What if he had fixated on someone else?

When she walked back into the living room, Jamie left the kitchen with his shirt buttoned again, and a confused look on his face as he wondered what had her racing around and looking scared out of her mind.

"Where are you going?" he questioned as she began to walk toward the front door.

"To Melissa's," she simply stated.

"What? No!" He walked behind her to stop her. "This is a police matter."

"I don't care!" She spun around to face him, a terrified look on her face.

"Nol, what aren't you telling me?"

"I think he's here. In New York," she quietly admitted, worried if she said it much louder it would make it true.

"Jimmie?" he questioned, earning a nod in response. "What does that have to do Melissa?"

"I hope nothing, but if it does and he's after her too, then we have to hurry..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, flashes of what happened to her raced through her mind like a flipbook. "...before we're too late."

•••

After arriving at Melissa's, the two jumped out of the car and raced over toward her apartment building. He reached into his pocket to pull out the keys that Melissa had given him earlier that day. He unlocked the door, the glanced behind him at Noelle and whispered for her to stay behind him. She gave him a nod, then slowly walked in behind him as they made their way inside.

As they neared the living room, he called out to Melissa, then felt Noelle tap him on the back. He glanced at her from over his shoulder, making sure she was okay and saw her nod her head to the side- at the same time he saw someone running across the room from the corner of his eye. He yelled for Noelle to stay put as he ran after the man and tackled him to the floor.

Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Noelle turned her head and saw a woman run down them. Assuming it was Melissa, she walked over to the frightened girl and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hoping to offer her some comfort.

The two girls jumped in surprise when Jamie punched the guy, then slapped handcuffs on him. As he rolled the man over, Noelle lowered her eyebrows in confusion and mumbled quietly to herself, "It's not Jimmie."

She blew out a breath, honestly not knowing if she should be relieved or not. She was glad he wasn't after Melissa, she knew first hand how dangerous he could be, but this meant there was a chance he was still out there waiting for her.

When she heard Melissa let out a cry, she tightened her hold on her, telling her everything was okay now. Melissa shook her head against the words and cried, "It's my brother. My own brother?"

Noelle pulled her closer to her and turned them away from her brother as she whispered words of comfort. She knew what it was like to have a brother betray you- her own brother had his own faults, but she didn't think he would ever do something like this to her. She couldn't imagine how it felt to find out a family member was doing something like this to mess with you. You were supposed to be able to trust your family, not be suspicious of them.

Minutes later, while Jamie walked her brother outside when more cops showed up, Noelle walked over to Melissa sitting silently at the kitchen table. Earlier she spoke to Noelle long enough to tell her where she kept the coffee, then went silent again while Noelle brewed it.

Now the two girls were sitting across from each other with steaming cups of coffee in front of them.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Noelle softly said.

"I just- I can't believe he would do this to me." Melissa wrapped her hands around the warm coffee cup. "My own brother? I mean, I knew we weren't that close before, but I thought..."

"You thought what?" Noelle asked when she paused.

The other girl raised her head to look at her. "I thought things were getting better. When everything started, he was the one who pushed me to call the police, of course, now I understand why he did."

"Why is that?" Noelle questioned, even though she was starting to put the pieces together herself.

"My brother was always troubled," Melissa explained. "He had every opportunity in the world, but with every chance he had, he screwed it up. My parents tried everything to help him when they were alive, but nothing worked. He got involved with a bad crowd, got into drugs real bad, so my parents had him cut out of the will."

When she heard the girl across from her let out a bitter chuckle, she asked her what that was for.

"Maybe you and I aren't so different after all," Noelle said, then explained, "I have an older brother who's been in trouble basically his whole life. He has proven time and time again that drugs are more important than his own family.

"All I basically remember growing up are the fights...he was always fighting with my parents about something. Of course, that's when he was around, the rest of the time we had no idea where he was or if he was even alive."

Melissa nodded her head in agreement. "And with a troubled sibling like that, sometimes it makes it hard to reach out for help because you don't want to be a bother with everything else going on. You don't want to make any trouble and make things worse for your loved ones."

She saw Noelle look down at the coffee cup in front of her, her words getting to her.

Hearing someone enter the room, the two girls turned their heads to see Jamie walk in with another officer to take Melissa's statement. Noelle and Jamie sat with her as she recounted everything that had happened to her recently. Once she was done, she reassured the couple several times that she would be okay, she had a distant cousin she could call, but she thanked them both for their help.

As Noelle went to walk away, Melissa reached out to grab her arm to stop her for a moment. Noelle looked over at Jamie as he paused outside the front door to wait for her. She held up a finger, asking him to wait a minute, then turned her head to look at Melissa to see what she wanted.

"There is one big way we differ..." Melissa gave a short nod toward Jamie, who was now talking to an officer who was sticking around until her family arrived. "You have someone who cares about you, who will do anything for you."

Choosing her words carefully, not wanting to offend or upset her, she added, "I don't pretend to know what you have been through, but I do know how it feels not to have people believe in you. When you're lucky enough to find someone who does, hold on to that, and let that person be there for you."

Noelle turned to look at Jamie for a moment, knowing how lucky she was to have him by her side and all he wanted was for her to let him in and to let him help her. Usually, she would have no problem doing just that, but this time was a lot more dire than times before.

Melissa watched how the couple looked at each other, even from across a room you could tell how much they cared for each other.

She smiled at the other girl. "He spoke about you earlier today."

"Really?" Noelle turned her head to look at the brunette in front of her, a surprised look on her face.

"Mm-hm." Melissa nodded. "I don't mean to stick my nose in your business, but he's worried about you."

"I know." Noelle sighed as she lowered her head. "I know he is and all I want is to open up to him. It's what I've always done growing up, but this time-"

"You're scared," Melissa stated, cutting her off.

"Yeah," Noelle breathed out.

"I get scared, trust me...but do you know what's even scarier than knowing what you're running from?"

When Noelle shook her head, she answered, "Not knowing what you're running from. He wants to help you and he wants to save you, but he doesn't know what he is protecting you from, and that makes him feel helpless. You can't fight the monster you don't know."

"I know, I do." Noelle nodded, then softly added, "But this is a monster I don't want him to ever know."

"He looks like he can handle a monster or two." Melissa looked over at Jamie for a moment, then looked back at Noelle. "Especially if it meant protecting you."

"I have no doubt he would do whatever to protect me...he always has and that's the problem. I'm not worried about what Jamie would do to him, I'm worried what he'll do to Jamie," Noelle softly said.

She turned her head to look at Jamie, feeling tears fill her eyes as she imagined different, horrible scenarios of Jimmie hurting him or worse. It wasn't about him protecting her from a monster, it was about her protecting him.

•••

Arriving at her apartment building, Jamie parked his car beside hers, then turned the car off. The two sat in silence for a moment, he could see her from the corner of his eye, she had her legs pulled up with her arms wrapped around them. He could tell from the look on her face that she had a lot on her mind, a lot that was weighing her down, making that helpless feeling he felt often came flooding back.

He blew out a breath, grabbing her attention. "You ready to go in?"

"Actually, can we stay here a little longer?" she asked back, causing him to look over at her in surprise. He had assumed as soon as he turned the car off she would have rushed inside to get away from him and his many questions.

"Of course we can." Jamie gave her a short nod.

"You remember when Joe took us to that away basketball game of yours?" she questioned after a few moments of silence.

When he nodded his head, she continued, "It was late when we were coming home and somehow we got lost-"

"Even though Joe would never admit that we were actually lost," he cut in with a laugh.

"Right." A chuckle escaped her lips, then she turned in the seat to see him better. "I remember it started raining, and I don't mean a small drizzle or something, I mean the bottom dropped and it began to pour down around us."

He nodded his head, knowing exactly what she was talking about. "We tried to talk him into pulling over."

"But he wouldn't do it, he said he had it under control." A sad smile appeared on her face as she laid her head back against the seat. "And just like that, we trusted him."

As he nodded his head to agree with her, she added, "I remember sitting in the back of this car with you, looking out the windshield and seeing nothing but darkness and rain and I could never figure out how the hell he could see, but I trusted that he could. As long as we were with him, and especially in this car, I always felt safe."

Jamie turned his head to look at her, seeing her chin quiver as she tried to hold back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. He reached out to grab one of her hands, locking their fingers together to let her know she wasn't alone. She was never alone.

"Growing up, I had a lot of safe places; like this car, my bedroom, our snow fort, your porch swing, and the list goes on, but now, there aren't many places I do feel safe anymore and I hate that," she tearfully admitted. "I hate that he has taken so much from me and one of my greatest fears, is that he'll take the biggest source of comfort I have; the one thing that never fails to make me feel safe."

Seeing the confused look on his face, she gave him a small smile. "It's you, Jamie. You're my safe place and I'm terrified of him taking that away from me."

He shook his head as he raised their hands, bringing it up to his mouth to press his lips against the inside of her wrist. His eyes locked with hers as he promised, "I'm not going anywhere, Nol. No one can chase me away from you." He thought she was worried Jimmie could say something to turn him against her, but he swore that would never happen.

"It's not about him chasing you away... Jamie, I'm scared of what he'll do to you," she said, explaining one of the many reasons she was scared to confide in him.

"I'm not scared of him, Nol," he said confidently.

"That's because you don't know him," she argued. "You don't know what he's capable of."

He reached up with his other hand to wipe away a few tears that rolled down her cheek- tears she didn't even notice had fallen. He kept his hand near her face, softly caressing her cheek as he whispered, "Tell me."

"You were right earlier...I did meet him on a case when I was called in to pick up his brother's body," Noelle began to say as she thought about that day again. "Afterwards, I saw him sitting there looking so sad and...I dunno, I felt bad for him. He just lost his brother and all I could think about was-"

"Baylor," he finished for her, then gave her a small smile. "You and that big heart of yours."

"Yeah, well, this time my big heart got me in trouble," she said with a bitter chuckle. "I didn't know it at the time, but he has a whole bunch of mental problems. I don't even know what all he does have, but one thing I was told he has is something called erotomania. Basically, he would have these delusions and was convinced we were carrying out this grand love affair.

"It started small, and a bit innocent, he would send things to me at work or he would call just to talk to me. I told him countless of times that he had to stop, that this was getting out of control, but nothing I said made a difference."

"The cupcake," he quietly said. "That time you got one at work and then got upset when you found out it wasn't from me. That was from him?"

Noelle gave him a shrug. "I don't know for sure, because there was no proof, he was always good about that. He was always smart about that...he was careful."

"What did he do when you told him to stop bothering you at work?"

"He did. He quit sending me things and he stopped calling. I stupidly thought meant it was over."

Jamie looked at her closely, knowing there was more to the story and had a feeling it was going to get worse.

She blew out a breath. "But that's only because somehow he got my cell phone number and address, then the harassment escalated."

She looked down at their joined hands and tightened her hold on his hand to give herself strength. "He began to leave gifts outside my door and call my number all hours of the night. At first, I ignored him. I was stupid enough to believe if I did, he would get bored and move on, but that only made things worse; then after that, he started breaking into my apartment."

"Subtly moving things around, but leaving no proof behind?" he guessed, remembering her comments earlier when he told her about what was happening to Melissa.

When she nodded her head, he scoffed. "And let me guess, you went to the police and no one believed you?"

He knew he shouldn't be mad at the police, they were just doing what they were trained and without proof, there wasn't much they could do. He remembered how even Renzulli commented that Melissa could have moved things herself.

The cops in Florida probably thought the same about Noelle, but he knew if it was him, he would have listened, he would have believed and he would have helped her. Just knowing that she tried to reach out for help and someone turned her away set him off. He didn't lose his temper often, unless it involved someone he cares about, like in this instance.

"Nope," she mumbled. "You know the rules; no proof, no crime."

"Nol, I'm sorry..." he breathed out as he laid a hand on the back of her neck and pulled her toward him. He softly pecked her lips, then rested his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry you had to go through that alone."

He held her face in his hand, hoping that was the end of the story, but he feared that it wasn't. He had a bad feeling the next words out of her mouth was going to shatter his heart.

When he heard her breathing pick up, he pulled back slightly to look at her, a pained look on his face when he saw how upset she was getting. He swallowed hard, then quietly asked, "What happened next?"

"I never- I never saw him coming," she choked out. "I was leaving work and I felt someone grab me from behind and pull me into a dark corner of the parking garage I was walking through. I tried- I tried to hit him, I kicked...I did everything I could, but it wasn't enough. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out and that's when I realized he had placed a washcloth over my mouth. Next thing I knew I blacked out."

"He abducted you?" he questioned, even though he already knew the answer.

She nodded her head. "He told me that he didn't mean to scare me, he only wanted to surprise me, but when I fought him, he had to knock me out. In his mind he was being romantic, I guess. He thought I did want to go with him, but everyone in my life- my co-workers and friends- were trying to stop us. He was convinced if we ran away together then everything will be okay.

"The first time I came to, I was in the back of his van, which is when he told me his plan. He told me he was taking us to a special place. At first, I just kinda laid there, because I was still out of it, but once I realized what was going on, I lost it. I tried to scream for help and escape, I just knew if he took me somewhere, no one would ever find me. I remember reaching out for the door handle, I was trying to slide the door open when I felt an electric shock and blacked out again. He had tasered me while my back was turned, and between being chloroformed earlier and the pain, that's what knocked me out. It was like my body shut down, I guess."

As she told her story, he turned to look out the windshield, his breathing quicken as he tried to get control of his own emotions. While she held onto one of his hands, he laid the other on the steering wheel and leaned forward to rest his forehead against it. He squeezed his eyes shut and could swear he could see what she said playing out in his mind. He could see her fighting so hard to get away, but her smaller frame was overpowered by someone bigger. Honestly, she never stood a chance.

"He took me- I dunno, just somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, that was his special place, I guess. I don't even know how he knew about the place, I never asked, but when I woke up again I was...I was chained to a wall. There-There was this heavy chain attached from my ankle to the wall and I was in some dark and damp basement. I could only walk about halfway across the room, that was as far as I could go."

She paused for a minute, seeing how all of this was affecting him. She knew this would be hard for him to hear, and a part of her wanted to stop, until he gave her hand a squeeze, almost like he was telling her to keep going.

"While I stuck there..." she softly said as tears filled her eyes. "All I could think about was moments like this; being home, being with you, and I was starting to think I would never get back here. I was terrified that I would never see my family again or see yours. I was devastated at the thought of never seeing you again, Jamie. I thought- I thought I was going to lose you forever."

Her voice broke off in a sob and she lowered her head. He turned to look at her, then pulled her toward him and held her in his arms. He kissed the side of her head and whispered words of comfort, telling her it was okay, that she did make it home and that she was okay.

"Shh, it's okay, baby it's okay, I got you. You'll never lose me, okay?" he whispered in her ear, then kissed her head again. "No matter what, I'm here, and I won't let him near you again. I promise, Nol, you're safe now."

She nodded her head at his words as she latched onto him. She wanted to believe his claim, but she knew how persistent Jimmie was. He took her once and she was terrified he would do it again.

She wanted to tell Jamie there was more to the story. She wanted to tell him the worst details, as well as all of her fears, but she was too drained to say a word- for now, she just wanted to stay in his arms where she felt safe.

For a moment she wanted to believe this was it and that everything was going to be okay; for a moment she wanted to believe that good did overcome evil, she wanted to believe she made it to the end of the story and this was her happily ever after, but in the corner of her mind, she knew this wasn't over. She knew the darkness was still out there waiting for her and she was terrified it was going to win.

She knew this was only the beginning.

•••

A/N; Not gonna lie, this chapter took a lot out of me and her story is not over. The rest of what happened to her will be revealed in the next chapter. Also, let me just say, I don't know much about mental illnesses, so anything I use, it's not meant to be offensive or upset anyone, it's just for drama purposes.

Thank you to everyone reading!

Happy reading!
xx