"You better watch your back, bitch. Or I'll come for ya and you'll be sorry." Bremer scowled, but he was smart enough to just whisper it in her ear.

Andy looked around, Leo and the detective were nowhere to be seen. "Do your worst, asshole!" She wasn't going to be cowed down.

"Oh, I will, and Mary will suffer because of you, you red-haired bitch." The asshole had the gall to actually smile, so anyone seeing them would probably think they were having a polite conversation.

Andy scowled at him. "Oh, I can bet that you won't be taking her home with you. She's coming with me." Andy tried to look confident, but internally she was feeling anything but. She had no claim on Mary and if she continued acting flaky, Bremer was Mary's legal guardian and he could use that to his advantage.

Oh, if she could only somehow prove that Bremer was responsible for the attack on Mary! But Mary had chosen the worst time to be tight-lipped and obtuse. She prayed that Leo's charm would somehow work in their favor.

"You're on, bitch." Bremer turned to the hospital room door. Andy watched stupified as his features, even his body language changed. His shoulders slumped and he slouched as he walked to the hospital door.

"Oh God, is Mary in there?" The bastard even had a catch in his voice as he addressed a nurse standing at the door. "Please nurse, I need to see my wife. I-I've been going crazy with worry for her!"

Andy's mouth dropped open with disbelief. The nurse, a straight-laced woman with her hair in a tight bun and a grim smile on her face, well, grim when she'd looked at Andy at least, actually melted at his request. "Oh, you poor man, of course!"

"Wait! You need Detective Hayden's permission to open that door. Mary's case is still sub judice. I mean, we had filed a missing person's report for her and her husband is under suspicion."

The nurse lifted panicky eyebrows. "Maybe we should wait, oh thank god, the detective's here." She hastily beat a retreat as soon as Leo and Detective Randall Hayden arrived on the scene. Leo's hair was pulled back as if he had been running fingers through his hair. He exchanged a grim glance with Andy. And shook hands with Bremer! "I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Bremer, I'm sure we'll get this sorted in a jiffy. I hope you don't mind us coming in with you?"

"Sure, be my guest. I just want to make sure that she's ok." Bremer's eyes actually misted over. Andy made a gagging sound. Leo suppressed a smile.

In the hospital room, Bremer made a fuss over Mary, crooning over her and holding her close in his arms. "Oh Sweety, I missed you. Why do you forget to take your medicines? It makes you all loopy."

"Medicines?" Detective Randall crossed his arms as Leo and Andy exchanged a look.

"Yes, she gets disoriented without those. Has been known to run off and leave me all desolate like."

"Are you sure those medicines have been given by a medical professional? And not something that you are giving her to keep her with you?" Andy crossed her arms and scowled at Bremer. She was so fed up with Mary, like a child, she was allowing Bremer to fuss over her.

Bremer raised a disbelieving brow at the detective. "Is this chick for real?"

"Oh you bet, Bremer! Mary came to me, not you when she was in trouble. And you know why? Because you've abused and ill-treated her!"

"Really? And you have conclusive proof, I gather?" Bremer's smile was smug.

"Actually, Mr. Bremer, - " Leo cut in a placating tone.

"I would never hurt my wife, Officer." Bremer turned to the detective. "My mama raised me better than that. I'm incapable of hurting anyone, please, let me take Mary home, she gets paranoid and she needs my care and attention." He turned to kiss Mary's hand. "I love my wife, Officer."

God, the bastard was laying it on thick!

"That's not what Mary told me, Bremer." Andy sat next to Mary and held her hand. "She told me that you'd tried to kill her. Oh, and you have got a small dick."

"Andy-" Leo began in a warning tone.

"My Mary would never say that!" Banked anger simmered in Bremer's profile.

"I can assure you she did. After we showered together and she was tucked in bed with me. You know, she rather be with another woman then be with a selfish bastard like you."

Bremer's fingers tightened around Mary's till she flinched and took her hand away. Bremer's mask fell off and was replaced with features twisted by pure rage. "God, you disgust me. You used a defenseless woman and turned her as depraved as you."

"Oh, it was her idea. She couldn't bear looking at another shriveled dick-" The next moment was a blur. Andy had been sitting on the bed and the next thing she knew, she was flung across the floor. Her face was numb and she actually saw stars.

"Andy, are you ok?" Leo's concerned face swam into her vision. She nodded and he helped her sit up.

"Mr. Knight, I assume you want to press charges?" Bremer's hands were held behind his back as invective after invective hurled out of his mouth. Andy's ears were ringing, so she didn't register most of the insults. The detective looked grim-faced.

"Yes, of course. And I would want Mary to be released in Andy's custody." Andy shot a triumphant look at Bremer, blew him a kiss and a wiggled her fingers in a goodbye. Finally, the devil had been unmasked.

Leo hurried home in the waning light to his room in a Howard Johnson in Phoenix. He had convinced Andy to rest as he finished up the formalities with Detective Hayden. He hoped that she was well rested.

Because he was going to wring her neck.

Andy opened the door before Leo could use his keycard. She was wrapped in a white bathrobe, her hair tied up in a small ponytail. She looked freshly scrubbed and clean and a fragrance of vanilla drifted to his nose. Her left eye had a huge purple bruise. She gave him a beatific smile.

She came over and hugged him. Her freshly bathed body draped in just a thin bathrobe made him instinctively react to her, so he cursed and pushed her away.

"What's wrong, Leo?" Leo couldn't believe it. She had the gall to ask him what the hell was wrong? After she gave him a heart attack when he saw her splayed on the hospital floor? The grim reminder of which was evidenced by the bruise on her face. The only consolation was that he had helped the detective grab Bremer before he could hit her further. Now that he wasn't scared for her life, he was almost blind with rage.

He took a deep breath. "I really think you should go back to bed. I'm really not in the mood for conversation."

He opened the mini-fridge and hunted for a beer. He downed its contents in a few gulps. He was on his second beer when he felt her hand on his shoulder. He fought back a shudder as Andy turned him around.

She took the beer from his hand and placed it on the side table. Then she moved into his arms and let him simply hold her. Leo let out a breath and hugged her, almost too tightly. After a few minutes of their embrace, he pulled her back and gave her a tight smile.

"If you pull another stunt like that, I swear to God, I'm not responsible for my actions."

He gave Andy a stern look as the little pixie bit back a grin. "I'm not a fool, I was just goading him. He was putting on a ridiculous act in front of the detective, and I knew if I incensed him enough, his violent nature will soon reveal itself."

"And that was the only way to goad him? By using you as a bait?" Leo moved away angrily. "Have you seen his size? He is strong enough to kill you with just one punch." Leo swore.

"And must you go around telling people that you're gay? It's really not funny anymore. Detective Hayden actually asked me if I had had a threesome with you and Mary! Can you imagine that?"

Leo turned angrily as he heard Andy's snort of laughter. God, that woman could really push his buttons! He stormed away to the bathroom and banged the bathroom door so hard that it shook.

After a bath which helped him calm down sufficiently, he emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He scowled at Andy, she was sitting demurely with her ankles crossed, a picture of innocence. But she ruined the effect with the lace lingerie which rode up her thigh to reveal an expanse of smooth skin. Leo's nostrils flared. She was a witch. A siren, a banshee. Or maybe a ghost that haunted him constantly. Life wasn't fair.

"Are you hungry? I was starving and I ordered some room service." Andy shook a bottle of ketchup that she had ordered with her fries. Leo, who was still turned from her, scowled at her reflection in the dressing table mirror. "C'mon, I'm sorry, ok? I really didn't think he was so stupid to attack me in front of the detective."

Leo shot her a telling glance and focussed on getting dressed. He was furious and - and so guilty. The purple bruise on Andy's face made him furious. And it didn't help when Detective Hayden told Leo to take better care of Andy. The bastard Bremer would apply for bail soon. There was every chance that he would come after Mary and Andy. He had let it drop in front of Bremer that he would take Andy and Mary to his home in LA. Thank God for the relative obscurity of his town Prescott. Hopefully, Bremer would never trace them there. Andy had made a very dangerous enemy for life and was unconcernedly licking ketchup off her fingers. Leo's grip on the dressing table tightened. She was doing it with slow deliberation on purpose! She was licking her fingertips and sucking off her fingers. She moaned and licked her lips and Leo reacted with a primal instinct.

He almost turned to grab her but again held onto the dressing table for dear life. He narrowed his eyes and gave Andy the most stern expression he could garner. "Stop that!"

In response, Andy spilled some ketchup on her creamy exposed thigh. "Oops, how clumsy of me!"

She rubbed her fingers in the ketchup and licked each finger clean. Leo was after her in an instant. "For God's sake Andy, you're hurt. And I'm extremely volatile. Don't tempt me." His voice sounded husky and desperate to his own ears.

"Oh Leo, I was so scared, please make love to me and make me feel alive." The little minx wasn't done taunting him!

With a muttered oath, Leo buried his nose in her neck. He rained kisses on her neck and his hands moved of their own volition to expose her creamy skin. Andy moaned and in response, her hands moved on his torso and back making him shudder.

In a flash, Leo had her pinned down on the bed. The previous times they made love, he had been patient, but now he couldn't hold back. And Andy urged him on, matching his urgency and moving under him, driving him crazy. After his blood-lust cooled down, he looked down at Andy. She looked satisfied and gave him a sweet smile.

"Did I hurt you?" Leo moved to dispose of the condom that he had barely remember to slide on.

"Not at all. Come to bed." Leo turned. He was weak and tired and could barely ignore her blatant invitation when she sat naked in bed and extended her arms out to him.

They made love again, slowly this time. Before Andy drifted off to sleep, she said, "Thanks for taking care of Mary, Leo. She can come back with us, tomorrow, I hope?"

Leo looked at her. The bruise on her eye looked slightly faded, but she would sport a shiner for probably weeks.

"Yes, the detective said we can take her home tomorrow. He also wished you, me and Mary a good life together."

Andy chuckled. "Don't forget Washington!"

Leo groaned.