Arriving at the hospital,  Marlena headed for the emergency, John followed her when she stopped him "honey, I've got this. I'll meet you at the Cafeteria for breakfast when I'm done?" she turned completely toward him, the spark from last night was still in her eyes and he couldn't wait to have her in their big bed again, giving her a quick kiss on the lips he nodded. Turning to bolt into the E.R, she stumbled into Mike Horton.

"Mike, where is she?" her expression was almost frozen, her medical side took over, "she's at 11th. Marlena, I have to warn you, she's in a very bad shape. She was found in an alley, by her wounds, I can say she's been there for about 4 hours." he spoke quietly,  lowering his eyes to the floor. He too knew what Marlena has been through under the hands of Stefano. He wished he could shelter her from this, she was a dear friend and upsetting her was never apart of the plan. Marlena simply nodded, "take me to her".Always a professional, she swallowed hard as she followed him.

Upon entering the cubicle, she saw her, the curtain was slightly open, her hands reached to her mouth with horror,  the poor girl looked like she was ran over by a truck, her face filled with blue, purple bruises, her hands had the same marks as her face, blood covered her top garment. "Oh my God", was all she could utter. Marlena was shocked to see how badly beaten this young woman was. What kind of monster could do this?  was all she could think of while she walked to the side of the bed, taking a seat on the stool.

Placing her hands on her knees she looked at the young girl, smiling into her sad eyes, " Hi, I’m doctor Evans I'm a psychiatrist at this hospital. I've heard you have had a very rough night. Would you like to talk about it?" Marlena noticed that the girl's knuckles were bruised, possibly from trying to fight off her attacker, the woman's eyes were black and blue, swollen, mostly shut. From what she could see her arms were covered with bruises and bitmarks, glancing at her wrists she saw deep bruises as if she had been bound. This made her shutter.

 

The young lady looked at Marlena with eyes slightly open, the pain was evident on her face, she spoke in a raspy voice,“I don't even know how to start..”

Marlena exhaled,“take a deep breath” she instructed the girl, her eyes never leaving the girl’s bruised face, although it was so difficult for her, seeing someone in this condition.

The girl complied.

“There’s no rush, you just take your time….” pausing for a mere second, she continued,  “Now, I was told you were...raped tonight...I’m here to listen..do you want to tell me what happened?”

 

"It was terrible.... he was so evil”, the girl started, as though,  she was waiting for someone to ask her that all night, "I don’t know what I did to provoke him, I was sweet and..." her voice broke, sending her long fingers to cover her mouth, Marlena's heart flinched in response, this was hard on her too but she took a deep breath "It's ok, take your time..",the girl wiped her tears, looking at the sweet woman who was sitting next to her, she was beautiful and the young lady thought to herself that Marlena was a woman, that no one could ever hurt, she wanted to be her at that exact moment.

 

Taking a long deep breath, she continued "...I tried to give him what he wanted...I did.. but..but he was mad. He went on and on about how I was not 'her', how I could never be 'her'.

I didn’t know what he was talking about". Tears glided on her puffy cheeks, Marlena laid a comforting hand on top of hers, as she continued "He... bit me...and.. hi-hit me ... I begged for him to stop" her eyes grew a little wider, wider as she could possibly muster in her condition,"What kind of a monster gets off on hurting someone like this?"

Marlena stroked her hand. Her mind was full of her own demons, she had to hold herself from crying by that girl's horrible descriptions, "Listen now, it’s not your fault. Whoever did this is a sick individual, in high need of some kind of help."  

“Can you call it..... a rape when you're a... a hooker”? she gasped

״Yes, sweetie, what this man did to you was not consensual, therefore it is rape״

Leaning forward she stroked the young girl's hair a little, somehow she reminded her of Sami and her heart came out to her, "did you know this man?"

"No", she replied, "he was just a trick that the agency sent me to. I never met him before."

 

״Agency?״

"Yes, I’m a call girl...." the girl looked down at her hands, ashamed.

Marlena reached up to brush a stray hair from her eye, "Hey, I’m not here to judge you, I’m here to try and help you. Please don’t feel ashamed of anything. Now tell me, did he do or say anything else that you remember?"

Crying silently, tears falling down her face, she described the vicious attack and the way he beat and raped her.

She looked up at Dr. Evans, saw the genuine concern in her eyes, it's been a while since someone looked at her like that and it warmed her heart some.

"He kept repeating how I was not like her...what was the name.." looking at the ceiling she squinted her eyes, trying to remember his dreadful words.

"..Melissa or Margie... no, Marlena."Marlena's eyes nearly popped out when that girl mentioned her name.

"He said I was not Marlena and I would never be. I was paying for not being her. Maybe she was an ex or something."

Marlena froze, her eyes grew wide. "What?"  she whispered, as fear filled her mind, her body shook with chills. Could it be Stefano? she thought. No, that was not his style, if he wanted a woman he wouldn’t have to call an escort service for one. Her mind was racing, there could be another Marlena’s out there, it could be just a coincidence. But her name wasn’t a common one, the thought made her reel with an unknown feeling of unease, of darkness and evil. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this was something more than coincidence. Get it together Marlena, she thought, this is about this young victim, not you, Marlena chided to herself.

She pulled herself together as much as she could.

Leaving that girl's hospital bed was both the hardest and easiest thing she had to do in weeks. After prescribing her with some sedatives, and holding her hand throughout the physical examination, Marlena was undone.

The girl finally fell asleep however she promised her she'll come over tonight, to see her again.

 

Walking down the hospital's white corridors, Marlena was shaken to her very core. This was the toughest case she's seen in weeks. Although she was used to treating many sexual violence cases, this one felt different.  Hearing that girl utters her name drove the fear right into her heart, knowing that she couldn’t face John for breakfast, not in this state of mind, she called down to the cafeteria, explaining she couldn't meet him due to that horrible emergency. She hated lying to him, but he would start asking a lot of questions, she has no answer to,  besides, she was probably making too much of it anyway.

Lowering herself to the softness of her office's sofa, Marlena placed her elbows on her knees, leaning forward, the tears rushed in as she began to cry.  Wasn't sure if she was crying for that poor girl in that emergency bed, or the dread and Irrational fear that seemed to have a grip on her heart at this moment.

She should be on top of the world, the love of her life just ask her to marry him. They made passionate love into the wee hours of the morning, falling into blissful dreamless sleep. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she put what Stefano had done to her behind her? She had to shake this feeling, and she would.

 

 

Trying to forget, distract her mind from that dreadful feeling, she decided to look into some of her new patient's files, she was delighted Kit was running late today. Having him at her office most of the time was nice but she needed to sort this one out, without him there.

 

A light tap on the door broke the silence in the room, inviting the person in, she was pleased to see a friendly face, Laura's face.

Seeing her warm smile, something inside of her snapped as tears began to flash down her cheeks.

Wiping them with the back of her hand, Marlena stood up, shaking her head like she was asked something.

"Honey..." Laura got closer, hugging her friend tight,"I saw you leaving the E.R. and thought that you looked like you might need a friend. Are you all right?"

Never leaving her hug, she spoke "Oh, Laura, it was awful. This poor girl was brutally raped and beaten within an inch of her life. She was so scared that she wouldn’t even give the police a description of the man that did this to her. "

Breaking the hug, Laura held her hands. Marlena's eyebrows frowned, her wet eyes quivered. Laura has never seen her taking a case that personally. Yes, she was a compassionate woman but she always knew how to separate herself from her patients.

"Oh, honey, I know how that must have upset you, but all you can do for her is listen and let her know that you are here for her. I know you did that."

Laura was trying to calm her friend down. leaving her hands, Marlena couldn't stand still, she began roaming the room. Laura's eyes followed.

"Yes, yes I did but there was something else" Marlena paused, trying to gather her thoughts. "This seemed different somehow... like it was happening to me on some level. I don’t know, I can’t explain it. When she was telling me what had happened, I was overcome with fear and dread and very deep emotions for her."

"Oh, Marlena", Laura didn't move, she wanted to give her the space she obviously needed right now,"perhaps this is hitting a little close to home, I mean with what you went through with Stefano...you never talked about it. Would it ease you some, to talk about it with me?"

Closing her wet, hazel eyes, her mind rushed a few months back...it was something she kept well hidden, even from herself.

"Yes, I guess that could help..", she spoke, "I haven’t really been able to speak about what happened with Stefano and maybe that’s why this case upsets me so. Oh, Laura, it was awful." turning to face her friend, her hands clutched together with a tight grip against her chest, as though she was still trying to protect her body. Laura waited for her to continue, knowing how difficult it was for her, to talk about all that had happened with that evil man.

"Stefano had John and me prisoner in that wretched place... John was chained to the wall in a dingy dungeon, starving to death because he was afraid to eat the poisoned food that Stefano served him." shutting her eyes, the memories flushed right in, " Stefano was slowly killing him and I just couldn’t let that happen...Oh, Laura, I had to save him." She cried.

Laura sat down as Marlena came back and sat on the couch beside her friend. Placing her hand on Marlena's hand, she squeezed lightly. Not saying a word she waited for Marlena to gather her thoughts.

Marlena started to talk again, "I went to him..to Stefano.. tried to seduce him..", shaking her head in disbelief" what the hell was I thinking?... I just had to come up with a way to save John... When the drug failed to put Stefano out I knew I was in trouble. I had to offer myself in order for us to be free, there was no other way. " Marlena was sobbing at this point.

"Go on" Laura whispered squeezing Marlena’s hand a little tighter for encouragement.

Her voice was ragged when she spoke and upon closing her eyes, she could see Stefano, it made her shudder,"I agreed to his demands...I agreed to give myself to him in order to save John’s life. I was sure that neither John nor Roman would ever forgive me, but I had no choice. Oh god, Laura, it was torture. "

Laura’s own tears began to fall for her dear sweet friend. She hated Stefano for what he had done to her and to John. She wanted to kill the bastard for all the pain he had caused.

Marlena looked up at Laura, through watery eyes  “it was horrible... That p-pig was all over me, kissing and touching me in the most intimate ways. My skin crawled at his every touch... I was physically sickened by him... My mind was screaming for him to stop but I..." her voice broke "I knew that this was the only way out... Oh god, Laura, he took such pleasure in the emotional and physical pain he was causing me." she spoke, her voice choked, "He was so delusional, he actually thought that I would enjoy what he was doing. I could hear his sickening grunts and moans and felt his vile breath on my nape as he dived into me... over and... over. It was hell. I prayed that I would just pass out but that didn’t happen."

Taking her time between each gasp, Marlena just wanted to let it all out, she needed the horrible images in her mind to subside. She didn't rush her, she just sat there, shocked. Laura knew Marlena needed this time to deal with her emotions so she kept quiet. Marlena spoke again, after a minute of silence that felt like a lifetime.

"When he was finally finished I couldn’t move, but I couldn't stay there one more minute. I took the keys and rushed out of the room, it wasn't easy, my legs were shaking so hard... I have never felt that low before in my life. I felt as if I had sold my soul to the devil himself. I felt as if I would never be clean again."

"And now..." she stood up, wiping her wet cheeks, " I have the most beautiful, caring, loving man in the world who loves me beyond words and I can’t even give all of me to him. What the hell is wrong with me??"

Laura stood up to hug her friend tight, "Sweetie, you just need a break and some time to clear your head. You can’t just forget all that has happened... but, you do need to stop blaming yourself and feeling guilty over something that was out of your hands. It was a no-win situation and you did the only thing you could do. Anyone else would have done the same thing in this case." placing her palms on Marlena's shoulders she offered her half a smile.

"Would they Laura? I’m not so sure." Wiping more of the tears that seemed to be falling freely, Marlena walked to her desk. "I just don’t know." she shook her head, looking to the floor.

Laura crossed the room, getting closer to her again, she took her by the shoulders and looked into her tearful eyes.

"You will get through this my sweet friend and I’ll be right here to help,  every step of the way." Laura tilted her head slightly and smiled, now it was a big smile.

"You're right", Marlena countered, taking her friend's hands in her own.

Laura looked down at Marlena's hands and squealed. "What is this??? Are you and John engaged?"

"Yes, he asked me last night. Oh, Laura, it was the sweetest thing. He set the living room up with candles and wine and popped the question. His eyes were so full of love for me", memories from last night filled her mind and heart and it eased her aching soul.

"Oh, sweetie, I am so happy for you both. It’s about time. See, I told you things were going to look up for you. So, when’s the wedding?" Laura grinned, happy to see her friend smiling again.

"Well, we haven’t gotten that far yet, he just asked last night. But we won’t wait too long. I’m anxious to marry the love of my life. " looking at her ring again, a warm fuzzy, feeling wave washed her and she forgot about the girl and Stefano for a few seconds.

"Oh, I couldn’t be happier if it was my own wedding!", Laura squealed

"but, unfortunately, I have to get going", she said, squeezing Marlena’s hand.

Walking her to the door, Marlena hugged her tight "Thank you" she smiled.

 

As the day progressed, she couldn't rest her mind. Her thoughts were with the poor unfortunate soul that laid in E.R. promising her she’ll visit, later on, Marlena couldn't concentrate. She needed to see her again, somehow she felt a deep connection with that woman.

Standing up, she walked towards the office's entrance, her hand tugged the handle and was about to open the door , when a steady hand grabbed the handle from the outside, pulling it open, “Hello, Marlena” Kit smiled

"going somewhere?".