"Oh my fuck, Kelsey, my love," Kiki murmured, setting her bag down and embracing her friend. Her dog, the yellow lab mix Mike, hovered around their legs, tail waving but sensing that it wasn't a happy reunion.

Kelsey just hugged Kiki as Ray and Jack stood back and watched.

Raymond had blown in the night before, and the three of them had talked for a few hours. Ray was in agreement with Kelsey regarding not notifying the police.

"Nothing good can come of police involvement, especially now," he'd said. "If it were a stranger, under different circumstances, possibly, but the publicity from something like this could destroy her career."

"Hold on a minute!" Jack was up, pacing around the living room like a curly-haired panther, an image only enhanced by the scratches on his face. "What about her life?" He glared at Ray, who sat on the sofa with a glass of wine and looked up at him impassively. "What about her health? I mean, she's on the pill, so pregnancy's not an issue, but that animal didn't use a condom. What about STIs? She needs--"

"I'm not saying she shouldn't see a doctor, Jack," Raymond interrupted. "On the contrary, she definitely needs to be examined as soon as possible. In fact, Doctor Shapiro is coming by tomorrow." He looked over at Kelsey, who sat in the corner of the love seat Jack had recently vacated, looking very small and vulnerable in Jack's clothes. "I'm just saying the less publicity there is about this, especially in official channels, the better."

Jack looked slightly mollified when he heard this information, and they'd gone to bed shortly after this, with not much else resolved.

Now, though, with Kiki there, perhaps some more decisions could be made.

"I'm so glad you're here," Kelsey said, finally releasing Kiki to give her a tremulous smile.

"Me too, girlfriend, though I wish it were under different circumstances, if I'm being honest," Kiki replied.

Kiki put her stuff in the spare bedroom and came downstairs, taking a seat in the family room.

"Thank you, Jack, for contacting me," she said, smiling at him, nodding, making her curls bounce.

He nodded back at her as he sat next to Kelsey and put an arm around her.

"So, is there any possibility that this asshole will be arrested?" Kiki asked, looking around. "Or does he just get away with this, like he does everything else in his miserable, slimy life?"

Kelsey looked at Kiki in surprise. "I thought you liked Don!" she said, eyebrows raised.

"I've never liked that snake," Kiki replied with spirit. "And I can tell you now that you know what he's really like that he's come on to me too many times to count."

Kelsey sat up. "What? Why didn't you tell me, Kiki?"

Kiki shrugged. "Honestly? I'm used to it, and you didn't seem really serious about him. He seemed to be more good than bad for you, and I didn't want to take that away from you." Her expression got serious. "I wish I had, now, though, I really wish I had."

Dr. Shapiro, Kelsey's doctor, arrived just then, and Kelsey rose to go upstairs with her.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Kiki asked, looking at Kelsey's face.

Kelsey swallowed and nodded, and the three of them left the room, leaving Jack and Ray alone. Mike wanted to go with them, but Kiki ordered him to stay, and he flopped down by Jack's feet, watching his mistress go upstairs with sad eyes.

"Now, you might have some 'knight in shining armor' complex about avenging her honor or some such romantic shit," Raymond began as soon as the women had left.

Jack turned narrowed eyes to Ray.

"But I'm telling you that something like that won't help her at all, are you listening?" Raymond kept a steady gaze on Jack as he spoke. "I can tell that you have deep feelings for her, and I can tell that she returns those feelings. I know her better than anyone on the planet, probably, and I can read her like a book." He sat back, rubbing his balding head with his hand meditatively as he spoke. "I've known her since she was thirteen years old, and at this point I've probably spent more time with her than her own parents."

"Just because you've known her a long time doesn't mean you know or even want what's best for her," Jack returned evenly.

Ray looked at Jack in surprise, eyebrows raised. "Well, well, you're not the gee-whiz-kid I thought you were, I guess. I thought you'd be a bit of a pushover, so excuse me all to hell." He nodded. "Okay, fair enough, kid. You don't know me very well, and I can't force you to like me or trust me." He leaned forward. "But Kelsey does. She's had every opportunity to fire me, and she never has, so pay attention."

"You seem to have captured her heart. Good for you. And, more importantly, good for her. Poor thing's had her heart stomped on too many times to count. I don't think you'll do that to her." He smiled, and Jack couldn't see any insincerity in it, only cautious, hopeful joy.

"But I'm still in charge of her career. And even though she's already been in the business for so long, she still has a hell of a long career left, if certain things can be avoided. And this kind of mess is one of them. The kind of publicity and scandal a trial and all that garbage would cause would ruin her, make no mistake," Raymond said. He kept his voice low, even though there wasn't much likelihood of the three people upstairs being able to hear them. "And, whether you'd want to acknowledge it or not, her career matters to her. If it didn't, she would've gone back to Iowa a long time ago."

'I don't fit anywhere else,' Jack remembered her saying.

Yes, this was true, he knew that.

"But she needs for him to be punished to get through this, don't you think, sir?" Jack asked. He was shocked to hear himself call Raymond "sir." The man wasn't that much older than Jack's father, was he? Where did that title come from, then? "Don't you think she needs to see him tried and sent away?"

"She needs it, or you do, son?" Ray asked shrewdly.

Jack looked away, swallowing.

"I'm going to recommend a therapist for Kelsey, someone who can come right to the house to talk to her about all this mess," Ray continued. "It might not be a bad idea for you to talk to her too, you know?"

Jack looked back at Ray, blinking in surprise.

"I can't afford anything like that," he began, embarrassed.

"You won't have to worry about anything like that," Ray said. He shifted his gaze to look out the window. "I've been doing this crazy job for thirty-seven years, and it's cost me two marriages and a hell of a lot of alimony. No kids, thankfully. That child upstairs is the closest I'll ever have, probably."

He looked back at Jack.

"So, like I said, no heroics, no stupid testosterone moves," he said. "Am I making myself clear?"

Reluctantly, Jack nodded, bending over to scratch Mike's ears for something to do with his hands.

"You need to take care of her heart, her spirit, help her heal, get over this horror," Ray continued. "I should've known something like this would happen, I never should've arranged for her to be seen with that pig. I knew what he was." Ray shook his head. "I honestly didn't think even he would do this."

Jack wanted to tell Ray not to blame himself, that it was his, Jack's fault, that he was the one who'd fought with her and sent her, practically running, straight into Don's arms.

He took a deep breath, but he heard footsteps on the stairs and closed his mouth.

Ray went out in the hall to talk to Dr. Shapiro, and Kelsey came straight to Jack to sit, practically in his lap. Kelsey moved Jack's knees apart with her legs and sat sideways between them, leaning into his body, pulling his arms around her. Kiki looked surprised by this.

"You okay?" he asked, and those words were enough to turn on the floodgates.

Kelsey shook her head and Jack could feel her turn her body even further into his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder as all of her shook with silent sobs.

Jack looked over at Kiki in alarm.

"Did the doctor say something?" he asked her. "Is something wrong with her that requires--" He didn't know what words to use, what to ask.

Kiki shook her head. "She gave her some injections, and left some prescriptions for antibiotics and stuff, but because of who he is, and how careful Kelsey said he is about--stuff, and because she's on the pill and everything, she's in okay shape as far as, um, all that.

"But the exam was pretty invasive," Kiki continued. "And traumatic," she finished, basically mouthing the last word at Jack. "She threw up," Kiki pantomimed, brows drawn together in sympathy and concern.

Jack nodded. "Okay, shh, shh. It's finished now, all the poking and prodding's over, sweetheart." He kissed the crown of her head as she hung on to him. She was still crying silently.

Raymond returned and sat down, holding some prescriptions in his hand. Kiki held her hand out for them, and pulled out her phone to call them in.

Then she and Raymond went to the kitchen, leaving Jack holding Kelsey, rocking her gently. They heard clinking and chopping noises, and a little later the mellow cooking smells of garlic, onions, and wine.

Good. Maybe Kelsey would eat something. Jack heard the low tones of Ray and Kiki talking in the kitchen, and reflected that they were nice people, that Kelsey had good people in her life. People who would drop everything and come when you needed them, crossing oceans and continents to be with you, to cook for you, must mean something.

Finally, Kelsey sat up, sniffing. She looked at Jack with reddened eyes, her glance automatically going to the scratches on his face, the scratches she'd put there.

"You look like an Indian," she said with a straight face.

Jack shrugged. "Hey, at least they're kind of symmetrical," he replied with a grin. "I was thinking I might get them tattooed on, make them permanent? Don't you think they make me look kind of, uh, gangster? Like street cred or whatever?"

Kelsey actually laughed. "Oh, Jack, you're as wholesome as an apple pie on a Wheaties box! At the very least you have to say 'gangsta', okay?" She shook her head. "Gangster," she repeated, over enunciating the second syllable.

"I love you, Jack," she said, looking at him. "Thank you for sticking by me."

Jack took a deep breath and shook his head. "Oh god, don't thank me for that. I love you, Kelsey, I wouldn't even know where else to be but by you." And he knew that he shouldn't try to kiss her, not yet, so he just looked at her steadily and nodded.