"Oh, Frank," she said softly, as she caught sight of her engagement ring again. "I hope we make it." For the first time since her engagement, her ring began to feel too heavy for her, as if the weight of the world, and all of her problems, would be released if she took it off.

"But would it?" she asked herself, and had to stop when she felt tears spring to her eyes again. How was it possible to love someone so much- more, even, than herself- and not feel right being with him? Was Frank’s choice telling her that he didn’t love her enough to be with her; that he wasn’t worthy of her? Or, she thought with a shudder, the much more likely scenario was that SHE wasn’t worthy to be with him.

Despite Frank’s words of comfort and reassurance, she couldn’t quite believe him. How could he NOT blame her for what had happened to Joe? How could that NOT be the reason for his decision? And Joe. She loved him, too; as they grew older, he had become almost a brother figure to her as well. That’s why…kissing him… had felt so…

Callie couldn’t even finish the thought, as she felt sick to her stomach. If Frank found out about that, she couldn’t even fathom what he’d do. It was all her fault! Still, she should tell him, even though Joe thought it was a bad idea. Shaking her head to clear it, Callie realized that she couldn’t deal with all of this right now. She had to be there for Joe—and for Vanessa as well.

As she was checking in her purse for the cell phone, Callie opened the door to leave. Since Frank had the car, she’d have to take a cab, and she wanted to make sure that her phone was charged and that she had enough money. That’s why she didn’t notice immediately that someone was standing outside her door. Instead, she felt it.

Jenkins rushed into the room, grabbing Callie around the waist with one arm and covering her mouth with the other, so that she was unable to scream or to make a sound. Terrified, Callie tried to struggle against Jenkins, but the more she struggled, the tighter his hold became. Nash followed Jenkins into the room, an evil smile on his face, making sure to tear the phone out of the jack on his way in.

Jenkins quickly placed a gag in Callie’s mouth, preventing her from making any noise. She was thrown harshly back onto the bed, hitting her head against the backboard. For a moment, blackness swam in front of her eyes, but she recovered quickly enough to watch both men staring down at her. She began to cry as she became almost paralyzed with terror.

"Well, well, Callie. So nice to see you again," Nash began, with a small smile. "How have you been?"

Callie, being held down by Jenkins, could only shrink back in fear.

"We just wanted to come and see how you’ve been! I understand that your friend Joe is in pretty bad shape. Hmmmm… too bad. Well, let’s just say that I’m surprised he made it this far."

Looking down at Callie’s terrified face, Nash gave Jenkins a small wink. With a smile, Jenkins let his hand rest on Callie's leg a moment before he slowly began to move his hand upward, dragging his fingers along her skin increasing the intensity and pressure of his touch as he went. Stopping when he reached the hem of her shorts, he let his fingers rest against her inner thigh, his smile widening in anticipation.

"Oh, God, NO!" Callie screamed silently to herself.

Realizing their intentions, she struggled harder, trying to break free. That caused Jenkins to move his body so he was kneeling over Callie, straddling her legs. She felt sick to her stomach, shaking in fear. Looking directly into her eyes, Jenkins let his hands roam wherever they pleased.

"Now, Callie. There’s no need to be afraid now, is there? I mean, we just wanted to come here today to remind you of everything you’ve done. How does it feel to know you almost killed your future brother-in-law? Then again, he’s a little more to you than that, isn’t he? Clearly, you’ve shared a lot together. Tell me- is Joe as good as his brother at kissing? At other things?"

Tears streaming down her face, Callie could only shake her head in protest.

"Surely you remember, Callie? We do have the videotape as evidence."

Callie wanted to scream. I told Frank, you bastard!, she wanted to tell him. He KNOWS it didn’t happen. But she couldn’t scream. Not now.

"Goodbye, dear," Nash said with a small grin. "Jenkins here will be sure to give you some of that love you so desperately crave. Make him happy. Obviously, you’re experienced in this area."

With that, he gave her a small wink and slipped nonchalantly out of the room.

On his way out of the hotel, he made sure to make a quick stop at the mail delivery center.

"May I help you?" the concierge asked, bored.

"Yes. Please make sure this special delivery gets sent to one Frank Hardy- second floor- sometime after seven this evening."

"Yes, sir," was the response.

With that, Nash dropped off the videotape, and headed out of the hotel to freedom. Only a matter of moments prevented him from coming in contact with Frank Hardy.

Frank, meanwhile, rushed through the hotel lobby, taking the stairs two at a time when he realized that the elevator was backed up. Behind him, several officers, whom he had called, begging for assistance, followed him. They had arrived only moments before Frank. Heart pounding in his chest, he could only pray that they reached Callie in time….

*****

Terrified, Callie strained against Jenkins, pushing him off her, but was forcefully pulled back onto the bed. Jenkins now straddled Callie's hips, letting his full weight rest on her completely, more effectively pinning her down.

Grabbing Callie's arms, Jenkins pulled them over her head using one hand to hold her wrists together and pushing down hard, making any further chance of escape impossible. Reaching down with his free hand, Jenkins fingered the button on Callie's shorts. In a last ditch effort to escape, Callie tried to kick out at him resulting in a slap across the face. Dazed and helpless, Callie finally gave up her struggle and gave in. Jenkins pressed his body hard against her, an involuntary groan escaping his lips.

Shaking violently and sobbing, Callie could only think, ‘Frank, Frank! I’m so sorry! Please God, help me!’ as she realized she couldn’t possibly escape the inevitable.

As she felt Jenkins breath on her neck, she suddenly heard the door slam open and Jenkins, startled, recoiled back from Callie in surprise.

Callie gasped as she watched Frank’s face change from red to white as it dawned on him what had been about to happen.

"What the hell?!" Jenkins shouted, as officers came rushing in behind Frank. As they struggled to contain Jenkins, Frank rushed over to Callie and removed her gag at once.

"Callie! Are you okay?! I’m so sorry I wasn’t here, baby…" Frank could barely speak as he held onto Callie for dear life, burying his face in her neck. "It’s okay; it’s okay," was all he could say, again and again.

Jenkins fought violently against the police, but was soon restrained. He was led out of the room at once, while an officer said to Frank, "We’ll be back in a few minutes, Frank. Take your time." He added the last phrase after looking at the couple’s terrified embrace.

After a few minutes, Callie and Frank broke apart, still clinging firmly to one another’s hand.

"Callie," Frank whispered. He met her eyes, and saw her pain reflected there. "Are you… I mean, he didn’t…" Frank heard his voice trembling, and realized he couldn’t bear to hear Callie’s answer. He felt nauseated even thinking about it. If… if…

"No," Callie said softly back to him, still feeling Jenkins' hands roaming freely over her body. "N…nothing happened."

Frank pulled Callie into his arms again, afraid to let go. "I should have been here sooner…" he said remorsefully to her.

"No," Callie said, into his shoulder. Weakly, she looked up at him, and felt a clarity suddenly that hit her so intensely it made her eyes fill with tears again.

Frank saw the tears, and touched her cheek. "What? What is it?" he asked.

"Frank," she said, looking into his eyes. "You saved me! You got to me in time. I…" She felt herself trembling again, and Frank’s reassuring arm around her.

"What is it, baby?"

"I think everything is going to be okay," she said at last. Although Frank’s choice still remained in the back of her mind, all she could concentrate on was how close she had come to losing … everything.

Callie gave Frank another hug, and then kissed his cheek.

"I love you," they said simultaneously to one another, and then they smiled together as they realized that they appeared to be in sync once again.

For the moment, the choice, the torture, the kiss, the video, and the fact that Nash had gotten away was the last thing on their minds.

Standing up shakily, Callie spoke up. "Frank, I… I think I need to get out of here."

"Of course," Frank said gently, wrapping an arm around Callie’s slim shoulders and pulling her close. "I just need to talk to the police first. They need me as a witness, and to tell them why I thought Nash or Jenkins would be here. It’s going to take a little while. This is kind of a big mess."

Callie looked down at the bed, where she had just been held captive, and instinctively moved closer to Frank. "I… I can’t, baby. I need to go now."

Frank froze. Callie’s safety and comfort was the most important thing in the world to him, but he DID have to talk to the police. There was no way out of it.

Callie sensed Frank’s dilemma at once. "Tell ya what," she said, trying to get her bearings. "I can’t talk to the police now. Tell them that I’ll talk to them tomorrow."

Frank squeezed her shoulders. "Okay, hon. Whatever you want."

"AND," Callie continued, "I’ll go to the hospital in the meantime. It shouldn’t be hard to get a ride with the police- they’ll probably want me to go there anyway, even though I have no intention of getting checked out." She gave Frank a weak smile. "But, I DO want to see Vanessa- tell her what happened, and how she has to be careful… with Nash still out there…" Callie tried to control her voice from trembling.

"And I need to see Joe. We… we still need to talk." Callie knew that she had to make sure that Joe was okay, and that she WOULD have to discuss the kiss with him, again. She just needed to make sure HE didn’t blame her, and ask him again if he thought it was a bad idea to tell Frank about it. Through all this, she had learned how crucial complete and total honesty was.

"I… I don’t want to leave you," Frank said to her, sincerely.

"You’re not, Frank," she replied. "I’ll be fine with the police, and then at the hospital. Really. Things couldn’t get worse than what already happened."

"Are you sure?" he asked her, again.

"Positive," she said, as she buried her face in his shoulder for one last embrace.

*****

Several hours later, Frank finished up his conversations with the police, and was about to head out to the hospital to see Joe and Callie when he heard a knock on his door. After looking to make sure it wasn’t Nash, he opened it.

Looking at the package on the floor, he bent down and noticed it was unmarked. He saw immediately what it was- the videotape Callie had told him about.

Frank held it in his hands for a few minutes, his words to Callie rushing back at him; his promise to disregard it if it came to him, and to throw it away before he would look at it. He remembered the terrible pain and guilt in her eyes when she had told him about it, and the anger he had felt realizing what Callie and Joe had been put through because of it.

With a smile, Frank tossed it on the bed, fully intending to throw it out later. Right now, he couldn’t wait to get to the hospital to see his brother, and to tell his fiancée that he had honored her request.

For once, it looked like everything would finally be all right.