Ali didn't bother knocking this time, she opened the door and walked right in.

Victoria stood in the middle of the living room, a fuchsia coloured kimono wrapped tightly around her. "Ali," she blurted. "I didn't mean for you to find out this way."

"Oh shut it Victoria. Enough with the lies."

Victoria's mouth opened and closed a few times. Then she turned to Sam. "You're not going to let her talk to me like that are you, Sammy?"

Ali cringed at the saccharine way Victoria pronounced the childish version of Sam's name. It was like this woman was stuck in the past. They were not kids anymore.

Sam, for his part, didn't come to his old friend's defences. Nor did he denounce her pleas. Instead, he gripped Ali's hand tighter.

"I'm not leaving you," Ali told Sam and his hold loosened slightly. Then, turning back to Victoria, she added, "Where's Sam's stuff?"

"What...I don't..."

"Victoria," Ali demanded. "Where?"

The brunette tilted her head slightly and purred, "In my bedroom."

Tugging Sam along with her, Ali made her way towards the darkened room down the hall. She dreaded what she would find as she pushed open the door. Searching she flicked a switch on the wall and the room was flooded with light.

It was by no means large, but it had enough space for the usual furniture one expected of a bedroom - bed, side tables, dressing table, wardrobe. A full-length mirror and an old-fashioned wooden chair were stuffed into a corner. On that chair, lay Sam's shirt and black leather jacket, neatly folded. On the floor in front sat his shoes, with the socks placed one inside each. Not exactly the scene of a passionate escapade. Scanning the room, Ali noticed Sam's wallet and phone on the bedside table.

Ali dropped Sam's hand and beelined to his phone. Picking it up, she gave a sigh of relief when it lit up with notifications of all her unread incoming texts on the locked screen. It was proof he wasn't lying. He hadn't seen her texts.

Then Ali looked at the one item in the room she had been avoiding. The bed. Ali expected the worst, but Victoria couldn't even stage the scene properly. The bed was still made, rumpled here and there on one side as if someone had been lying there. But otherwise, there was no evidence anything untoward had happened in this room.

Ali wiped away a tear threatening to escape. The time for crying was over. It was time to get out of here. But, first, she wanted answers.

Looking at Sam, who stood mute in the doorway, Ali knew he needed answers as well.

"Sam, get dressed." He seemed to need directions, as if not knowing what to do. "Meet me out in the living room."

"Ali, I didn't..."

Ali placed a hand on his shoulder as she moved towards the door. "I know."

Sam put his hand over hers. Gently removing it, he brought her palm to his lips. "I love you."

Squeezing his hand, Ali gave him the reply she thought he was looking for. "I love you more."

Sam's face softened, the crinkle weakening. Ali gave him a feeble smile, told him to dress quickly and pulled away.

When Ali returned to the main part of the house, Victoria was in the kitchen pouring herself a glass of something brown from a short stout bottle. "Sam find his stuff okay?" The woman spoke as if this was a perfectly natural situation.

It was time to get down to business. "What did you give him Victoria?"

"Give him?" Victoria's nose crinkled as if she smelt something sour. "I didn't give him anything." She raised the glass to her lips and attempted to take a sip.

Once when Ali had been in university, before she had left the dorms and moved in with Jack off campus, she and a group of girls had gone out drinking at a local dive bar famous for its cheap martini's. They had all been having a great time, dancing and drinking until one of the girls started stumbling around. At first, everyone thought she had simply had too much to drink, but when she was quickly incapable of standing up, they knew something else was at work.

The university campus was littered with posts spouting the dangers and effects of date rape drugs. This was a textbook case of the symptoms. They had quickly left the bar, getting the girl home. After a few hours of sleeping it off, the girl had awoken, clearly confused and with barely any recollection of what had happened.

Sam was acting like that girl.

Ali tore the tumbler from Victoria's hands and slammed it on the counter between them. "Cut the crap. We both know you drugged Sam to get him here." Victoria's eyes widened at the accusation. It was a good act, but Ali wasn't buying it. Not any more. "Tell me what you used."

Victoria pushed back on her heels and crossed her arms in front of her. "We just had a few drinks honey. It's not my fault he wanted a taste of the good ole times. Seems you couldn't keep him satisfied so I thought I would give it a try."

Gripping the sides of the counter, Ali forced herself not to punch this woman. She wanted to wipe the satisfied grin off of Victoria's face so badly. But she had a suspicion this was exactly what Victoria wanted. At best, if Ali did hurt her, she would have a reason to plea with Sam to see her side. Sam was always defending the helpless and this would play right into Victoria's hands.

Besides, Ali was not going to be distracted from her mission. Instead of her face, spotting Victoria's purse on the counter before her, Ali took out her frustrations on it. Turning it upside down, Ali spilled the contents of the bag. A burgundy wallet plopped on the counter, followed by a smattering of little items, a few lipsticks, a ring of keys, her work pass. Nothing resembling drugs.

Victoria gave Ali a smug shoulder shrug. "Told you."

Ali slammed the purse down on the counter. As she did so, she felt a bulge of something hard under her thumb. Picking the purse up again, Ali looked inside to find a small pocket closed by a zipper.

As she reached in for it, Victoria lunged at her, trying to grab the purse out of her hands. All smiles were now wiped off the mad woman's face, replaced by a look of sheer panic.

Stepping back, Ali ripped open the pocket and pulled out its contents. In her hand was a small vial about a quarter full with a clear liquid. It looked almost like a perfume sample, except the only identifying marks on it were three little stars on a plain white label.

"What is it?"

Victoria was on the move, bounding out of the kitchen towards Ali. "Give that back." She swiped at Ali's hand but Ali pulled it back out of her reach, dropping the woman's purse at the same time.

Suddenly there were a pair of strong arms, pushing Ali away from Victoria's flailing limbs.

"Vicky, Vicky, stop." Sam firmly grasped the woman's shoulders, stepping between her and Ali. "Answer the question. Did you drug me?" Victoria gazed at Sam like he was her personal saviour. Sam repeated the question, shaking her slightly. It was the smallest of moves but the other woman nodded.

Ali thought she would feel better with the confirmation that none of this was Sam's fault. Instead, she felt sick. Sick at the thought of what this woman had done for what purpose? To hurt Ali? Break them up? Seduce Sam? Each assumption turned her stomach even more.

Sam let go of Victoria and stepped back. He glanced at Ali. "Let's go."

As they made their way to the door, Victoria became agitated. "No, no, you can't leave." Her voice was high with hysterics. "Sam, you wanted to come here. You told me so. To be with me."

Sam hung his head. "Vicky, what are you talking about. I never wanted that. Maybe you did. You wanted..." Sam's voice trailed off as he looked back at the now wide-open bedroom door.

"I swear, nothing happened this time." Victoria squealed desperately.

Ali stopped and spun around, glaring at Victoria. "This time?" Victoria averted her eyes, all the validation Ali needed. "Are you saying there have been other times you drugged Sam." Ali could not keep the panic out of her voice.

Victoria blubbered something incoherent.

Sam heaved his shoulders. "Yes. In high school. I remember this feeling... after spending a night drinking with her." He glared sideways, as it looks straight at Victoria hurt too much. "But I wasn't drunk, was I?"

Victoria moved towards Sam. "I..I just wanted you to relax." Continuing her trajectory, she reached for Sam's hand.

Ali stepped forward and slapped it away. "Don't even think about it."

Victoria continued talking, trying desperately to explain but Ali wasn't listening anymore. It was time to leave. Placing a hand on Sam's shoulder, they started walking towards the door again. They were almost there when Sam suddenly became immovable, like a stone monolith. Very slowly he turned around, looking back at Victoria.

"Sam, let's just leave." Ali pleaded.

"That night," Sam spoke quietly but there was an edge to his voice scaring Ali a little bit. "you drugged me that night, didn't you?"

Victoria blanched. "I didn't know what would happen!"

Ali tried to catch up. What night were they talking about? These two had such a rich past, there were so many possible nights when this wench could have slipped Sam a drug.

"How could you? All these years?" Sam's voice was still so low and emotionless. "I thought it was my fault."

The pieces of a horrible puzzle came together before her with those words. It hit Ali what night Sam meant. Events that changed Sam's life forever, racking him with guilt to this day. The call to his brother to pick him up. Thomas on the road because of him. The night Sam's brother was killed by a drunk driver.

But if Sam was drugged, then how could he make a phone call? Ali glared at Victoria. "You made the call to Thomas." Sam flinched beside her at the sound of his brother's name.

"I just wanted to get you in trouble." Victoria avoided looking at Ali. Sam placed one hand on the wall beside him as if he needed the support to stay standing. Victoria was rushing her words. "I knew if...if your family thought you were drinking again; they would stop you from going on that ski trip with Julie. I saw how you looked at her. I was losing you."

"You never had me." Sam spat at her. "You manipulated me, you drugged me, no wonder I didn't want to sleep with you anymore."

"Don't say that," cried Victoria. "We are destined to be together. You love me."

"I could never love you," growled Sam.

"No, it's not true. Everything I've ever done has been for you."

This time it was Ali who flinched as Sam exploded, yelling "You let me think I killed my brother."

To her credit, Victoria shrank into herself and stepped back from Sam.

Ali had had enough. "That's it. I'm calling the police." Pulling out her phone Ali wondered what to dial. 911 didn't seem right, this wasn't an emergency. Her thoughts were interrupted as a hand covered the phone.

"No." Sam peered down at her, his chest rising and falling slowly like he was trying to catch his breath. The pain Ali saw in his jade irises with the dilated pupils from the drug still swimming in his system, stabbed at her heart. Ali placed her hand in Sam's. "I want to leave."

Ali nodded. "Come with me." She drew them away and Sam allowed her to lead him out of the house.

Once outside, Sam lunged for the porches railing, bending over it and retching. Ali felt so helpless, not knowing how to begin to make this situation more bearable. Reaching out, she gently rubbed Sam's back to at least offer some comfort. After a few moments of dry heaving, Sam straightened and reached for Ali's hand, mumbling. "Let's get out of here."

Ali only let go of Sam's hand briefly, when she ran around to get into the driver's seat of her car. After starting the engine and shifting into drive, she found his fingers and held them in her grasp. Sam sat mute, staring out the window, presumably watching the swiftly gliding by landscape. Once Ali thought she saw Sam, out of the corner of her eye, raise his free hand and wipe away something from his cheek. Ali couldn't stop herself from squeezing his hand and asking if he was okay.

"No," was his honest answer. Followed by "Where are we going?"

To the police station to report a crime was what Ali wanted to say. Maybe they could take his blood and test it for the drug Victoria had used on him. The thought of Victoria rotting in jail for years sounded good right about now. But that is not what she said. "Where ever you want."

When Sam didn't answer, Ali nudged. "Shouldn't you report this?" More silence. "It's a crime, Sam. She has to pay for it."

"I don't want...I can't..." Sam's voice broke with emotion. He couldn't seem to get the words out.

"Okay, Okay," she soothed, tracing circles with her thumb against the back of his hand. "We won't go to the police right now."

Ali knew from her experiences at the Liberty Clinic the longer they waited the worse it was for the victim, but she could not force Sam to deal with that on top of everything else. "How about I take you home."

Sam nodded. "Home."

Hi there.  D. L. Croisette here. Many people assume only women can be the victims of sexual assault and date rape drugs.  Men are victims as well.  However, cases are under reported (only about 5%) and many men feel there is a stigma associated with the situation.  

If you or anyone you know needs help or to just talk with someone, there are resources available online.  Many are anonymous. You are not alone and you deserve to be heard.