Sophia dissolved into full on sobs, so Steve gathered her up and sat back down with her in his lap.

All he wanted to do was hold her.

Unfortunately, he knew they were only just beginning the hell they would have to get through that night, but for now, he would hold her until she was strong enough to tell him more.

She sniffed. "Next thing I knew, I was in some warehouse and he was there."

Mancini Steve thought grimly. This was where it was going to get rough. Steve remained quiet hoping she would continue and not shut down on him.

"He asked me about the cameras memory card, and I asked him why he wanted it so bad."

Steve couldn't hide his smirk. Even under pressure, she had sass. "What did he say to that?"

Sophia subconsciously reached up to touch the cheek that was still tender. "It wasn't what he said….It was what he did. He slapped me across the face and told me to tell him where it was or I would regret it. I told him you had it and that was all I knew. I also told him there was no way he was going to get away with taking me. You would come for me."

"Then what?"

"He said he was counting on that, so he was going to make it worth his while. Then he and the other goons left the room, but I could still make out some of what they were saying."

Steve held his breath as she continued.

"Mancini told them to leave…..and then said something about calling Gabriel Waincroft to tell him they had everything under control. Once they were gone, he came back in to me." Sophia started shaking so Steve tightened his hold on her. He knew it was going to get rough and he needed to be strong for her no matter how difficult it was for him to hear about the hours she'd been away from him.

"It's okay, baby. You're safe now, okay?" He coaxed softly. "Tell me what happened next."

"Well….He…..um…."

Sophia dropped her head down to his shoulder and he felt her begin to quietly cry against him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and willed himself to encourage her to go on. He started running his fingers through her hair in soothing motions until her cries began to subside.

She sniffed against him and fought to gain back control of her emotions. "I don't want to tell you this, Steve. Please don't make me do this." She sounded so lost and broken, but it had to be done.

He gently pushed her up so he could look at her. He wiped away the tears that were streaming down her beautiful face and moved a lock of hair behind her ear so he could see her more clearly.

"Honey, I know you don't want to do this. I know how hard this is for you, but we need to know what happened, okay? If you tell me now, it will make it easier to do so with Ellie tomorrow."

"But you're going to….." Her bottom lip trembled again.

"I'm going to what?" he asked gently.

"I don't want you to know…..because…..I know you…and you're gonna want to kill him."

She was right, of course, but that wasn't the point. Steve may put another hurt on Mancini but there was too much at stake for him to lose it completely and lose the best lead they'd had in a long time in getting to Gabriel Waincroft.

"You're right," he admitted. "But you have to trust me, Soph. We have a lot at stake here with Waincroft being involved….. so even though I may want to cut they guys dick off and shove it down his throat, I won't do that. Okay? I AM going to make sure he gets what's coming to him, though. And he's never going to hurt you again. Understand?"

Sophia shook her head.

Steve took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking again. "So tell me what happened next…..After the others were gone. "

He saw her swallow and take a calming breath before she put her head back down onto his chest and continued.

"He took the ties off my hands and feet…and told me to get undressed."

She heard Steve's heartbeat pick up under her cheek, but she gathered her strength to keep going.

"I told him 'No'….So he forced me down to the floor and did it for me. That floor was cold…..It was so damn cold…." Her voice wandered off as if she was getting lost in the nightmare.

"And then he…." She stopped again.

"He raped you," Steve finished for her.

"Yes," she whispered.

Steve could barely contain the rage he was feeling. He gathered every bit of willpower he had to get it under control.

"Then what happened?"

"He told me to get dressed….and told me it was time to call you."

Son of a bitch, Steve thought. So he had already raped her when they talked on the phone the first time? No wonder Mancini had been such a smug bastard when they talked.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Steve asked her. "Or tell the doctors at the hospital? We should've had a rape kit done." He knew it sounded callous, but the investigator in him was upset that she'd held that bit of information from all of them. They needed anything they could get to keep Mancini behind bars or give them leverage to negotiate for more from him.

Not to mention the fact that he would have killed Dominic Mancini had he known beforehand what the SOB had done to his girl.

Sophia's voice was barely above a whisper when she answered, "I did have one done...I mean, I told the nurse…..and they got one. "

Steve sat up and leaned her up again so he could see her. "You did?"

She shook her head affirmatively. "Yes, but I swore them to secrecy and told them I would only do it if they would not tell you or Brian about it. I don't want to have to go through that unless it's a last resort. Steve…..rape cases are terrible…..and they attack the victim at trial rather than the perpetrator….and….."

Steve couldn't hold back the huge sigh of relief. "Shhhhhhhh….."

He understood her trepidation at not wanting to have to face Mancini against rape charges, but he was also immensely relieved that she'd been strong enough to go ahead with a rape test kit in case they needed it.

Steve wasn't going to push her anymore. She'd had enough. "Okay, Soph. That's great, honey. I'm SO glad you had the forethought to have it done. Sooooo…..Let's not talk about it anymore tonight. Okay?"

He felt her relax against him. The two of them sat together in silence…Steve holding Sophia on his lap as they both listened to the waves softly rolling in and felt the light breeze around them. It wasn't long before he heard a light snore escape her and he grinned.

She was exhausted.

Looking at Eddie, he decided to call it a night. "Come on, boy. Time for bed."

Eddie stood up with tail wagging and didn't take his eyes off Sophia as Steve took her inside, up the steps and laid her into bed.

"You stay with her," Steve told Eddie. "I'll be right back."

Steve walked quietly back downstairs to lock up and set the house alarm before picking up the phone to call Brian.

************H50**************H50***************H50

"Hey…..how is she?" Brian answered sleepily.

"I think she's okay," Steve answered. "She's sleeping now."

"So what did you find out?"

"More than you want to know," Steve said as he tried to control his anger at Dominic Mancini for what he'd done to Sophia. "BUT…..I did find out that she had a rape kit done at the hospital."

Brian let go a string of curses before saying, "Why didn't she tell us?-Dammit, why didn't she tell ME?"

Steve grimaced, "Because she knew, between the two of us, we would've strung the guy up by his balls before killing him…..and then we would be the ones in jail."

"Would've totally been worth it," Brian answered.

"I agree," Steve said. "But she's right. So now, we have the evidence if we need it. At this point, I'm going to let her tell Ellie everything that happened. Then we'll talk about charges against him, but I'm going to ask Ellie to keep rape off the table if she can. I mean, hell…We have the man on kidnapping, theft, larceny, evading arrest, and a slew of other things. I'm only going to bring the sexual assault into it as a last resort."

Brian knew he was doing it for Sophia…As an expert who had dealt with countless sexual assault cases, he knew what Sophia would have if they had to go to trial. It was even more proof to him of how much Steve loved her.

"Thank you," he said.

Steve knew what he meant. "You're welcome." There was a slight pause before he spoke again, "I'll take care of her Brian, I promise."

Brian couldn't help but smile. "I know you will."

"So let's get together tomorrow. I think it will help her to have you there when we meet with Ellie. Recalling all of these details isn't going to be easy."

"I will be there," Brian promised.

Then, they hung up and Steve dialed Danny. Nights like this, he needed his partner (though he would never admit it to Danno!)

Danny picked up on the third ring:

"Hey, buddy. What's up? How's our girl?"

Steve sighed and stayed quiet. Danny had known him long enough to know he needed a minute before he would answer.

"She's not good, Danny."

Danny's heart sank. "We'll get her through this. The main thing is that Dominic Mancini is in custody. Right?"

"Yeah, but you know as well as I do that she's not out of danger," Steve answered.

"Right…You're talking about Gabriel."

"Yes…..So if he knows we have Mancini in custody and Sophia can identify them, that puts her in even more danger. We need to find out what's on that damn memory card that they want so bad!"

"Jerry's working on it," Danny confirmed. "He wants to get this guy as much as we do. We'll figure it out."

Steve was silent so Danny continued.

"You take care of her tonight, okay? We'll get back to it tomorrow."

After ending the call with Danny, Steve made his way back up to Sophia. He watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. She was laying on her back with her hair fanned out across the pillow. The way the moonlight was shining through the window made her look like an angel. Steve couldn't help but think…for the thousandth time…how lucky he was to have her back in his life.

He'd done a crappy job of protecting her, though. Gio would kick his ass for that if he was still alive, and truthfully, Steve may never forgive himself for it either. He vowed to do better from then on.

He removed his shirt and sweats and quietly moved into bed beside her. For tonight, he would be grateful just to hold her. As soon as Steve put his arms around her, she turned towards him sleepily as she draped one leg over his. Then she released a contented, sweet little sigh. She snuggled into him and Steve couldn't help but think how this was quite possibly heaven and hell at the same time.

Heaven to hold her…

And hell because he needed to be inside of her making her forget everything.

He knew what she needed at the moment, though, and that was for him to hold her and chase the nightmares away.

It wasn't long before he fell into a restless sleep with Sophia tucked closely into him.

Two hours later…..

Steve awakened when Sophia's grip on him tightened and he heard her soft cries. She was restless and obviously under distress. Eddie woke up at the foot of the bed and gave a soft bark.

Steve looked at him first. "I got it, boy. It's just a bad dream."

Then he pulled Sophia closer and began talking to her softly.

"It's okay, Soph….Just a bad dream."

She twisted again as if in pain. "DON'T! Get away!" she said in her sleep. "I want STEVE!"

Steve kissed her head….her cheek….her neck…..as he continued to hold her. "I'm right here, Soph. Wake up, baby. You're safe now."

After talking soothingly to her a few more minutes and Eddie's consistent….but quiet…..barks, Sophia sat up suddenly in a full sweat.

Not caring what his master thought, Eddie jumped up on the bed to lick her face. Sophia put her arms around him and snuggled into his neck. When she started to cry, Steve pulled her away so she could rest on his chest. Eddie settled down beside her so that she was cradled with Steve on one side and Eddie on the other.

"I'm sorry," she told Steve.

"Honey, you don't have to apologize," Steve admonished. "Are you okay?"

After a moment, Sophia responded. "I think so….but maybe I should take a shower."

"No!" Steve said as he stood up from the bed. She sat up to look at him curiously as he took off the shirt she was wearing before also removing her sleep shorts and panties. He opened his drawer and got out one of his shirts. He draped it over her head before gently pushing her back down onto the bed and pulling her close again.

"Go back to sleep. I've gotcha."