Joan of Arc (closed)

"This isn't a date." Joan said a little too quickly, her eyes showing an unnamed emotion deep down in their clear depths. "Guys don't take me on dates."

Even her boyfriend had quit trying to get her to go out at night. She never enjoyed going to clubs or mingling with people. She was always so awkward and painfully shy around new people. Sitting there with Grimes in that diner was one of the first times in years that she had gone anywhere with another person. She preferred being at home where everything was safe and normal.

As if summoned by the thought of him, her phone started to ring, Michael's name flashing on the screen. She picked up the flip phone and stared at it for a long moment before she decided to answer it. Pulling the top open, she pressed it against her ear and muttered a soft hello. She was asking where she was and why she wasn't at home when he woke up. Her eyes would flick towards Grimes every so often, uncomfortable that she was getting the third degree from Michael about her whereabouts.

"I came to campus early today. God knows I need all the help I can get." She said in a soft tone as she was lectured about not telling him anything about it. "Michael, listen, I'll talk to you tonight. I have to go right now."

She hung up on him, a deep sigh issuing from her lips. He had been getting more clingy lately, a little more possessive of knowing where she was and what she was doing when she wasn't with him. Most of the time it meant nothing because she would just stay at home all the time. However, sometimes there would be arguments.

Trevor was just about to try and clarify what he had meant by using the word "date" when her phone rang. He watched as she picked it up and stared at the small display window, before opening it up and lifting it to her ear. IN a split second her whole demeanor seemed to change. She seemed to become instantly withdrawn and quiet. Trevor looked away from her and stared at his notes. He didn't want her to think he was eavesdropping even though in their close proximity it would be almost impossible not to.

She lied. Without even trying Trevor began drawing conclusions about who was on the other end of the call. It was the boyfriend. He could understand her not wanting to say that she was having breakfast with another man, but to create and alibi for her whereabouts caused Trevor to question everything he had thought he knew about her. Why couldn't she tell him where she was? She could have said that she saw the crowd gathering and got caught up in all of the excitement. She could have said she heard about it on the radio. She could have made up a myriad of excuses, but she hadn't. Instead, she said she was somewhere else completely.

Still, as he glanced at her again, she hadn't looked comfortable in her deception. For that he was thankful. He was going to have to go over all of his notes again, and get Skins digging around for what she could find. He wanted to get going on the case, but he wanted to find out more about Joan and her family even more. There was something about her, something that he couldn't put his finger on. It was like he was drawn to her. He didn't want to try and help or save her. He wasn't hoping that he could change her. No, reasons that he couldn't reconcile even to himself because of the short time he had even known her, he just wanted to be near her.

"Well, I suppose we should both get going." Trevor said after a short awkward silence. "is there somewhere that I can drop you off?"

Joan glanced up at the detective as he mentioned that they had better get going. She nodded in agreement, thinking about where she needed to go. She could have him drop her off on campus and she could go to class. If she missed anymore, she very well might fail. Still, all she wanted to do right then and there was go home and go back to bed.

"Could you take me home?" She asked him softly, the decision made the moment that the words rolled off her tongue.

She would go home and hide from the world. She could take her meds, zone out, and be awake by the time Michael got back from work. The voices would be gone for a brief, blissful amount of time and she could simply be Joan again. Perhaps if she was feeling particularly studious, she would email in her assignments and feign illness.

"If it's on your way. I can always walk." She offered him.

She walked everywhere, especially since some asshole had stolen her bike. Driving was nearly impossible since she had a hard time concentrating on the road. There was also no one around to teach her how. Her sister didn't have the time, her father didn't have the patience, and she didn't have the courage.

"No, I can drop you anywhere you want to go." Trevor said looking for the waitress.

When he'd caught her eye, he made a writing motion with his hand signaling that they were ready for the check.

"It's the least I could do really. You have given me a lot of information to sort through and may have possibly been instrumental in breaking a serial case wide open."

A few moments later the waitress brought the check and Trevor laid the cash and tip on the table before standing and grabbing his coat. Once his jacket was on he moved to the back of Joan's chair ready to slide it out when she went to stand. Within moments they were making their way toward the door and Trevor waved and thanked the young woman who had served them.

The cold air of the morning was like a shot to the face and burned as it entered his nostrils. The sun was higher now and except for the biting chill of the air, it was a nice morning. He unlocked the doors with his key fob and opened the passenger door; extending his hand to offer her help in sitting. Somewhere in the back of his mind he could almost hear his mother's praise for acting like such a gentleman. When she was settled, he made his way to the driver's side and in minutes, the engine was running and they were ready to go.

"So where to?" he asked casually.

He was trying to maintain an air of calm, but on the inside he was almost giddy with curiosity at finding out where she lived. He wasn't sure why exactly. There was a good chance that he would never be there again. He guessed that it was more about finding out just one more thing about the woman he had spent the morning with.

Joan was reaching for her wallet when he suddenly placed cash on the table to pay their bill. She looked up at him with a slightly startled gaze. She was so use to paying for things on her own, but it seemed that he had made up his mind that this was a treat.

"Thank you." She murmured softly as she put her wallet, phone, and journal back into her leather satchel and started to put on her coat.

When she stood, she noticed that Grimes was there to pull her chair back for her. She gave him a soft smile as she pulled on her hat, scarf, and finally her gloves to allow her to brave the cold. Grimes was a perfect gentleman as he held open the door for her on the way out and opened the door for her when they made it to the car. She wondered why he was being so nice to her for the briefest of moments, but she decided not to think about it too much.

'I told you that he liked you.' Mary murmured, Joan shaking her head to rid herself of the constant voice.

It had been a nice reprieve to not have to listen to what she said, but it seemed that Mary was back in full force now. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she almost didn't hear him ask where they were going.

"Crowne Heights." She said softly as she looked over at him while she buckled her seatbelt. "Just a few blocks away from the crime scene."

Trevor nodded and put the car in reverse. A moment later and they were on their way down the street to where she lived. Grimes had lived in this city for quite a number of years, but still there were areas that he had never been in. Crowne Heights was one of those. As he thought about it, he realized that over the last several years, he hadn't really been anywhere unless it was work related. For some reason this made him smile. If he hadn't been there for work, then he presumed that it was a relatively safe place to live, and as he glanced over at Joan, that made him happy.

"So, how long have you lived there?" he asked trying to start some sort of line of conversation.

He didn't like the moments of silence when they were together. He spent the majority of his time alone, and he liked that way. He liked being able to focus on the facts of the case. He liked that he could let his thoughts continue on, analyzing and comparing, making deductions based on what he knew, and drawing conclusions that would help him keep moving and making progress on a case.

It was different with her though. The silent times with her felt empty, and probably the most disturbing to him, lonely. He couldn't remember the last time that he really felt alone, but for some reason as they sat there together, looking out to the street ahead, the silence made him feel just that.

He also wondered about the boyfriend. Would he come out to meet her when they arrived. Was he tall or short? Was he thin or bigger built? How old was he? Trevor supposed that he was the most interested in the last of the questions he had. He wasn't sure why, but the age of the man she was sharing her life with seemed abundantly important.

Joan glanced towards Grimes as he tried to make small talk as he drove her back home. She didn't know why men always felt the need to fill the silence of moments with lots of talk. She had always gotten her fill of chattering voices from those that were in her head. Being with Grimes was perhaps the only time in her life when it was all silent except for when she was on her meds.

"I've lived there about two years now. It's a small apartment, but I like it." She said softly as she turned her attentions back out the windshield. "I like having a space of my own. It's quiet and no one else is there to mess things up and throw things out of order."

Order was so incredibly important to her. Without order, she was sure that she would go completely insane. Michael threw off that order from time to time, but she had always found a way to overcome it. He took away the loneliness that was always heavy in her chest. She believed that she was in love...perhaps for the first time in her life.

When Grimes turned the corner, she pointed him in the direction of apartment 2B. It was a lower level apartment that faced out onto a well kept courtyard. The managers took good care of the units and expected the same from those that lived there.

"You'd love my place then. I bet there are things in my house that I haven't laid a hand or eye on in better than five years." he said with a bit a chuckle.

He'd wanted it to be funny, but as he said it again in his head to himself, he realized that it sounded more pathetic than anything. Even worse was the fact that for the most part it was probably true.

Trevor owned a small three bedroom rancher in a suburb on the west side of town. He had bought the place just after he had made detective. It had a small yard that he paid one of the neighborhood kids to keep mown. That was about all of the effort he had put into the landscaping of the place. He had a cleaning service that came into the place to spruce it things up once a week or else the whole space would become covered in a thick layer of dust. He had given the young woman that showed up a key of her own eventually because he was rarely there to let her in to do the work. In the beginning, he had misgivings about letting her in there when he wasn't around, but he had asked Skins to check her out thoroughly as well as the company she worked for and both seemed legitimate. In the end he had decided that he didn't have much of a choice because other than to shower and change clothes, he was rarely there. It wasn't like there was anything there of substantial value anyway. If Grimes were to be completely honest, he couldn't be sure that the television in his entertainment center actually worked.

"I'm hardly ever there." he finished as she pointed him to the entrance of her building.

Grimes put the car in park and then turned to her reaching into the inside of his jacket.

"Thank you for your help today, it will be put to good use I promise. If you think of anything else..." he said handing her a small card that he had retrieved from an inside pocket. "...don't hesitate to give me a call."

'Workaholic...alcoholic...never home..' Mary murmured, stating her opinion of the man that was sitting beside her in the idling car 'He likes you...be careful...'

Joan was staring at him as he thanked her for her help and passed her a business card from the inside of his jacket. She took it with her gloved hand, staring down at the name. Trevor Grimes. He didn't really look like a Trevor, she thought to herself as she placed it away in her satchel.

"I'm sure there will be others." She said in a tone that told him that this wouldn't just stop overnight because the police had a lead. "If I hear anything, I'll give you a call."

With that, she opened the door and stepped out into the freezing cold breeze. "And...um...thanks for breakfast. It was nice."

Her clear gaze stared at him for a long moment, struggling to come up with something else to say before she closed the car door and started to walk towards her apartment.

"It was my pleasure." Grimes said beaming with a smile. "I really enjoyed it."

There was an awkward pause, as he looked at her looking back at him. He was sure that there was more that he wanted to say, though he wasn't sure what. It seemed to him that she wanted to say more too, but she said nothing. Instead, she closed the door and started walking toward the gray building. His eyes followed her gate as she strode away. Images of what she might look like without the coat, or anything on for that matter flashed through his imagination. As she entered the first floor door, he wondered if he would see her again.

Her warning that there would be other victims, snapped him back into focus and he put the car into gear. He needed to meet up with Skins and get her started on her search for what he hoped would be evidence that led to the capture of a killer. She worked at a club across town. Once he got there, he could go over his notes and get a drink. Things had definitely taken a turn for the weird and interesting and he needed something familiar to him to help put things into perspective. A drink would fit that bill nicely.

Joan pulled out her keys and unlocked her front door, shutting the door of the apartment securely behind her. It was quiet for the moment, which meant that Michael was out. She let out a long sigh of relief for that small miracle. She didn't think she could stand the constant questioning of where she had been and why she had been doing it.

She turned and peeked out the window next to the front door. She watched as Grimes sat there in his car, the motor idling as he seemed to be thinking over something. What was he thinking about, she asked herself. Was he going to call the hospital and have them come for again? That thought squeezed her heart tightly for a moment before she shrank back from the window.

She had made a mistake in going to see him. She should have kept her mouth shut and she would have been safe. Now...now she didn't know what was going to happen. Still, why had all of the voices stopped when she was with Grimes? What kind of power did he have that could remove the constant sounds that had plagued her for years?

Twenty minutes after dropping off Joan, Grimes pulled into the lot at his precinct. He wanted to meet up with Skins, but he also wanted to check the departments database for the names that she had Joan had given him. He could give this information to Skins as well and she would be able to narrow her search for the stuff that might not show up in a routine investigation. There was no reason to have her waste valuable time looking for intel that he already had access to.

He walked to his desk and looked around for Simmons. He hadn't forgotten about that bastard. Trevor was already planning to have a word with Joan's sister to try and sort our what had happened, but he wanted to let that piece of shit know that there was a reckoning coming. Not seeing him immediately, he went about his search. He found files on all three of he names that Joan had provided. He smiled to himself at the confirmation of her having useful info. His gut had told him that he could trust her, but as he usually did in instances like this where there are so many unknowns, he fell back to a strategy that had served him well for a lot of years; trust, but verify.

A few hours later and he pulled in front of Tattle Tails, the bar where Skins made the bulk of her income. It was a bit of a dive, but Grimes had never come here for the entertainment or ambience anyway. Their beer was always cold and their liquor wasn't watered down and that made it as good as the velvet rope clubs in the city.

"Double SoCo neat." Trevor said to the man behind the bar over the thumping bass of the music filling every inch of the small dark space.

Joan woke with a start, looking around her apartment as she tried to figure out where the deep thumping noise was coming from. She glanced at the clock in her kitchen, seeing that it was only a few hours since she had been dropped off at her home by Grimes. She had taken some of her meds, zoned out on her couch with the TV on mute. Her cup of Ramen noodles sat on the side table untouched and cold.

'Door...door...door...door...' Mary droned over and over again as Joan's eyes turned towards the front door, watching as it shook under the force of someone knocking.

She stood and shuffled towards it, not even looking through the eye hole was she opened it. She immediately went to slam it back shut, the color draining from her face as Derek stood there, his face dark like a summer storm. His hand slapped against the surface of the door, shoving it open before she could get it closed.

"What the fuck did you tell him?" Derek asked, his eyes fiery as he looked down at her nearly cowering figure.

"Nothing." Joan croaked out, wondering what she was going to do as he stood looming over her.

She almost wished that Grimes would show up then. Michael could show up for all that she cared. Just someone so that she wasn't alone with this man.

"I talked to Janey and your father. They know where you were this morning. Pull that shit again and I'll personally haul you back to the hospital. Understand?" Derek hissed, watching as she nodded meekly, almost cowed by the fact that he had talked to her family about being at the crime scene that morning. "Don't fuck with me, Joan. Stay the hell away."

With that, he turned and left. She stood shivering in the middle of the door, the cold air carrying thick flakes as she sought the courage to shut the front door.

Trevor lifted the glass and emptied it with one swallow, before setting back on the bar. He reached for the badge clipped to his belt and held it up between his thumb and fingers for the bartender to see.

"Hit me again, and tell Skins that Grimes is here." he said as he refastened the shield to his waist and straightened his coat.

'Sure thing boss.' the man grumbled, unimpressed as he refilled the small glass with the sweet amber liquid before heading toward the dressing rooms.

Again with one gulp, he downed the liquid and sat the glass back down. He reached for his wallet and removed a twenty, laying it on top of the tumbler in the universal way of saying he was finished. Grimes turned and surveyed the room, before settling his gaze on an unoccupied table in a dark corner of the bar. He walked to it, shed his coat and hung it on the back of his chair, before loosening his tie and taking a seat.

He had only been seated a few minutes when he saw Meghan Foster, known to him and a select few others as Skins sauntering across the room. Her slender 5' 8" inch body was elevated to impossible heights from the shoes she was wearing. Thin black strings criss crossed the front and back of her calves as they flexed and moved toward him. Her hips swayed seductively in a mesmerizing cadence as each foot crossed in front of the other to land on the opposite side of her body. She had an easy smile, like that of the cat that had just ate the canary, and the fingertips of her right hand traced her voluptuous curves as she drew nearer to him.

Grimes knew this show wasn't for him. She was playing the role for the other patrons who might find it uncomfortable for a woman they might slip information to during an intense couch dance, to be talking to a cop about anything other than the cost of her time per song.

"Hello Skins." Trevor said with a sly smile as she approached the table.

"Grimes." She said as she took a seat opposite him, giving him a wide smile as she saw him already downing a drink. "Starting early tonight? You better slow it down because I'm not hauling your sorry ass home again. Last time you got a little too handsy for my liking."

Trevor had been nothing but a gentleman to her during their odd relationship. There were a few times, however, that he had forgotten himself when he was deep in his cups and had gotten in a feel or two while she was holding him upright. Personally, besides a few hits from a joint, she didn't partake in mind altering substances. It kept her sharp and ready for anything that came her way.

"You look relaxed. Have a good day? Meet anyone interesting?" She asked him, the grin on her lips tilting the right side of her mouth as she surveyed everything from the way that he sat to the way that he brought his drink to his lips.

"It's never too early. When you work at all hours, there is no early or late, it's just now." Grimes said with a broad smile. And from what I remember hearing from some of the other patrons in here, there isn't much that isn't to your liking."

It was often this way with the two of them. She had found her way back from the brink and now it seemed that she was always trying to do the same for him. Grimes took it in stride though. The two of them had been through a lot and she was the closest thing to a best friend that he had had since childhood.

"I met Joan Archer, and you could say she is the personification of interesting." Grimes said as he reached into his coat pocket and retrieved the list of names that he had written down from his notes. "I want to know everything about her and her family. I want you to go deep with her. I want to know everything from her GPA to her favorite color and style of lingerie."

He slid the list across the table to her, looking around to make sure they were unnoticed.

"These are the other names I phoned you about earlier. All dead, all seemingly random. I want you to rip their lives apart. Get emails, texts, movie rentals, favorite websites, everything that you can find. There has to be something connecting all of the victims."

"I don't mind either people putting their hands on me. You, however, you're like my brother and that doesn't sound appealing." She said, laughing softly at the look on his face as she made that comment. "Come on, Grimes. You didn't really think that there was something between us, did you?"

She took the list of names as he offered it to her, listening as he described Joan Archer. He rarely talked about women in anything other than clinical terms. She had never known him to even slow down long enough to find a woman that he wanted to be with. The way he talked about this woman told Skins that there was something more going on in his mind.

"Lingerie? Thinking of buying her something?" She asked him as her eyes flicked over the list of names of victims that he had compiled.

It would be a simple search, she thought to herself. It wouldn't take long and she might come up with some pretty interesting information for him

"The only thing between us is air and opportunity..." Grimes said with a smile and a wink that he hoped she could see in the darkness. "...but I care for you too much to ruin what we already have by searching for more."

Trevor sat back in his chair and looked at her. He had meant what he said. He did care about her. In fact, if he was completely honest with himself, he would probably have to admit that he loved her. He didn't love her romantically, though in the beginning it had been hard for him to look past her beauty. It was like she had said, like family. Trevor had been an only child and his parents had died in an auto accident a few years after he had made Detective. He had been on his own for quite a while when fate and his job had brought him to the house where he first lay eyes on the wafer thin, strung out, tweaker turned tattooed sexy goddess that sat across from him.

Trevor had felt protective over her from the moment he helped her to his feet. She had looked at him with those hollow lifeless eyes of a soul that had given up and whispered the words, 'Help me.' He had picked her up, taken her to his car, and straight to the hospital. He enrolled her in a drug rehab program and spent every free moment that he had checking on her. When she had finished the program she had crashed on his couch. There had been an evening, when things could have went differently. He had been drinking with the guys, he came home late and she greeted him at the door wearing only a neatly tied tie. She had apparently been feeling lonely and grateful and vulnerable and wanted to thank Grimes for taking her in. There was a passionate round of kissing, and fumbling hands groping and tearing at clothing, but Grimes had stopped it. They spent the rest of the night talking and nothing like that had ever come close to happening again. Over the years, he had began to think of her as family, and she had been there for him whenever he had needed help brainstorming, or just needed to vent about some of the awful things he had seen over the years.

"No, the part about the lingerie is just for me." Trevor said with a mischievous glance around the room. "There is something different about her, I just can't put my finger on it."

Looking across the table, she didn't miss the look that crossed his features when he talked about the woman that he wanted her to look into. He had never talked about loves with her, but she knew that look. She knew it very well. He had met someone that he could be interested in, that he could spend some good quality time with.

"Can't put your finger on? Grimes, you're absolutely smitten." Skins said, grinning at the look that was on his features. "So...are you going to tell me about her? How did you meet her? What's she like?"

Well, she would know all of those answers soon enough, but she really wanted to hear it from his lips. She wanted to hear what made him fall for this mystery woman so that she could know what to include in her final report. It would give him an edge when it came time for him to make a move...if he ever worked up the courage to do that.

Trevor looked down at the tabletop when she pressed him about Joan. He didn't know why, but he felt a bit embarrassed by his interest in her. They had just met for Christ's sake. That along with never having been one to discuss his personal life, not that he had much of one. Still, he had always kept things like that to himself.

"I wouldn't say smitten exactly, I just..." he paused, for a moment to meet her gaze before looking away again. "We had breakfast this morning, and there is just something about her."

He was frantically searching for the words to describe the situation. He didn't want to sound like it was more than it was, but there had been a few moments, when they were talking, that he could have sworn she was thinking the same thing.

"When you do your search, you will find things; things that say she is troubled, maybe even batshit crazy. But I swear, there is something about the way she looked at me, like she knew things about me that no one possibly could. I just want to find out more about her."

Skins watched him struggle with immense interest. He was a man that didn't mince words, but there he was searching for the right thing to say. He had taken her to breakfast. This was obviously a little more than just a case he was working. He didn't share meals with anyone unless a glass of booze was involved. Hell, even when she had been living with him after rehab their breakfasts together usually consisted of eggs and a Bud Light.

"I know batshit crazy won't frighten you. If it did, you wouldn't have come near me with a ten foot pole." She commented, giving him that lazy grin that they both shared. "I'll do the searching for my standard fee, of course. A little extra on the side and I'll even tell you her favorite flower."

She pushed herself back from the table, standing up and straightened her skimpy outfit for a moment. Moving to his side, she leaned down and kissed his cheek with a gentle fondness. He was her only family and she cared about him deeply.

"Be careful out there, Grimes. I don't want to get a call saying that they scraped your brains off a brick wall." She murmured against his ear. "And give the booze a rest for a while. It's starting to seep through your pores."

"I'll take it under advisement...Mom." he said with a chuckle as he watched her saunter away.

Even though he teased, he liked that she worried about him. He liked feeling that he wasn't alone. He liked thinking that if the unthinkable ever did happen, that there would be someone to mourn him, miss him, and accept the flag handed to the surviving family member by the department. Skins was listed as his emergency contact and was the beneficiary of his life insurance. He had joked once that the two of them should marry so that she would be entitled to his pension when he was gone.

Trevor stood and grabbed his jacket. He thought about grabbing another drink for the road, but decided against it fearing that somehow he might actually disappoint Skins. He shielded and closed his eyes from the afternoon sun. It was such a stark contrast to the dark bar, that he had to stand there a brief moment to readjust to the light. With a deep breath and a shrug against the cold, he headed toward his car. He needed to head back to his desk and do some research of his own. If in fact there was a serial on the loose, he needed to stop them from claiming another victim.

The light snow that had started to fall was still swirling in the air, sparkling in the sunlight around her. Joan should have found it beautiful, but instead, she watched the flakes fall with a thousand yard stare. She was cold, shivering, her socks soaked through and her bare arms turning red in the freezing wind. She slowly rocked back and forth on the stone curb outside of her apartment building, glancing towards the open door of her apartment every so often.

Seeing Derek had terrified her beyond reason. Instead of shutting her door like a sane person, she had run out into the winter afternoon in her pajamas, sitting on the curb as she tried to gather her fractured self back together. She wasn't even really sure how long she had been out there as the voices in her head howled like the wind that was swirling around her. She couldn't feel her fingers or toes any longer. Her cheeks and lips were chapped from the tears that had come forth. Yet, no one had stopped to ask if she were alright and there had been people that had walked past.

'Call Grimes. You need Grimes.' Mary chirped over and over again as Joan shook her head no.

She didn't want him to see her like this. He didn't need to see how crazy she really was and how out of her mind the smallest things made her. She didn't want him to see how she could barely cope with the real world. That thought terrified her more than anything else.

'If you won't....I will....I'll call him....' That damned voice said over and over again, her fingers playing with the folded up phone in her lap, his business card fumbling around in the mess somewhere as well.

'If you don't, I'll kill you.' The dark voice hissed and Joan let out a sob of fright. 'We'll walk into traffic...he'll come then...'

Joan let out a whimper and shook her head no, opening the phone immediately and pressing the numbers hard. When she pressed the green send button, her heart was hammering in her chest, her panic making her shake even harder.

"Grimes?" She asked him in a soft, terrified voice before he had even spoken. "I...I need you to come to my house."

She couldn't say anymore as she closed the phone, ended the call and threw it into the gutter next to her. She then covered her ears with her hands, rocking more violently in an effort to soothe herself before he actually did show up. She had time to change her mind and run away. There was still time.

Trevor had just curled his fingers under the driver's side door handle of his car when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He reached into his inside pocket and retrieved it. The bright sun obscured the screen just enough that all he could see was the green phone symbol at the bottom that he would slide to unlock and answer the call. In a swift motion he completed the call and looked around the way people always do when they re talking on a phone outdoors. He hadn't even gotten the chance to say hello, when he heard Joan's troubled voice.

A moment later he was in his seat, yanking the car into gear and smashing the accelerator to the floor. I need youhad been all that he had heard, even though he was sure that there had been more after. He didn't know why, and at the moment he didn't care why he had been overcome with such a sense of urgency. All he did know was that she had called for him, and said that she needed him.

Twenty tense moments passed as he thought of every possible scenario. Was Simmons there? Had he come to threaten, or intimidate her? Was the killer there? Had he or she gotten wind that Joan was helping the police and decided to take her out to keep from being discovered? Had her boyfriend discovered that she had been out with another man and become violent? All of these things played through his mind as he weaved in and out of traffic trying close the distance between him and her.

He came to a screeching stop in the circle drive in front of her apartment. In a practiced motion, Grimes kicked open the door at the same time he was putting the transmission into park. He saw her sitting there on the stoop, soaked, arms wrapped around herself in just thin night clothes. He noticed that the door to her apartment was open. His right hand swept his jacket aside and went to his sidearm.

"Joan...what's going on?" he said cautiously as he moved steadily toward her.

Her hands were clamped so tightly over her ears that Joan didn't hear the car pull to a stop nor did she heard Grimes asking her what had happened. She didn't even notice that he was there until she caught sight of his shoes standing in front of her. Her head snapped up, her clear eyes nearly wild with the thoughts and voices that were swirling in her head. Slowly, she lowered her hands, wrapping her arms back around her knees as she rocked back and forth on the cold, hard ground.

"He came here." She murmured softly, trembling from her to toe from a combination of cold and fear. "He called my family. He said they would take me back to the hospital..."

On the word hospital her voice cracked, tears welling up in her gaze yet again as the panic rose. It was thick in her throat, choking her words away until she could only make unintelligible noises. She wasn't in control of herself in that moment and that fear showed in every sense of her being. She feared going back where doctors would drug her, make her feel less than human. She had fought hard for her freedom and she would fight even harder to keep it.

"I don't want to go back." She finally managed to whisper, her voice forlorn and much like a frightened child.