Disclaimer: I don't own WWE or the Superstars or the songs i use as titles.

Chapter 8

You Are Not Alone

"Trish honey, you don't have to do this if you feel uncomfortable," Candice squeezed her friend's hand lightly as the other's nodded in agreement. "It's okay if you're not ready…"

"No," Trish whispered softly, drawing in a deep breath. "I want to." She glanced around her small hospital room at each of her friends. All of them unable to keep their eyes off her dishevelled appearance. "Detective Benson said it would help if I talked about it."

John placed a soft kiss into her hair for comfort. "You can stop at any time you feel like it, baby." He reminded her.

Trish nodded nervously as she prepared herself to relive her experience on again. Although she was scared, she felt that it would in fact help in the long run, even if it didn't feel like it at that moment. She trusted her friends and knew that somehow it would help if they knew.

"I-I don't really know where to start," She said softly as she fiddled with the material of her hospital gown.

"How about after the robbery," Paul piped up from the other side of the room where he sat on a chair in the corner. "I mean, after you left the store…could it be possible that the guy who raided the place did this?"

All heads turned from Paul back to Trish in hope that she could identify her attacker. Unfortunately she shook her head. "No." She replied, sniffling. "There were two guys at the store," She glanced up with a shrug. "And they weren't that big; the…he was pretty big. Broad, tall, strong…" she recalled quietly.

"Son of a bitch…" Stacy murmured with disgust as Randy pulled her closer into his chest.

"When he grabbed me, I didn't even realise what was going on." Trish continued. "It's like it all happened so fast, and before I knew it I was in the warehouse." She looked up at John as he stroked her hair and told it her was alright over and over again.

"Do you remember anything about him or where you were?" Randy asked softly, trying to be as sincere as possible…if it were possible.

Trish hesitated for a moment as she tried her best to recall that night. "I…I don't know," She bit her lip as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Oh Trish, it's okay honey." Candice gave her hand another light squeeze as tears threatened to form in hers and everyone else's eyes.

"It was dark and cold," Trish said as sobbed. "He had me blindfolded; I just couldn't bear to watch him do that anyway." Wiping the tears from her eyes, she shook her head in annoyance. "I don't even remember him taking photos, or undressing me, or tying me up!" John clenched his jaw as Trish spoke. All he wanted to do was find the bastard that hurt her and kill him. Trish sighed deeply, composing herself before continuing. "The only time I was conscious was the last time he raped me. I don't even know how many times he did; I don't know whether I should be glad or not. Maybe if I were at least awake I could have told you a lot more about him and he could be behind bars already…" She said with a hint of blame towards herself.

"Trish," Candice said as the blonde turned her attention to her friend. "None of this is your fault, don't ever think that."

"He said he had fun, and thanked me like I was some sort of cheap hooker." Trish said bluntly through her tears. "I was so terrified that I couldn't even pay attention to his voice, or his scent. All I could think about was the way his rough hands touched me, and how much it hurt and how he would tell me how much I'm turning him on by crying."

"Shit…" Randy breathed out as he clutched onto Stacy tighter. "What kind of a sick fuck does that?" He asked no one in particular.

"This is fucked," Paul spat out in disgust as he got up and left the room.

"I agree," Stacy shook her head and turned her head to lean into Randy's chest.

John held Trish close as she cried, the ordeal finally catching up with her once again. "What if tries to do it again, he said we should do it again sometime." She sobbed in fear. "What if he comes back!?"

Stephanie finally couldn't take it anymore. She had decided she'd be brave for Trish and let her speak without her emotions getting in the way. But, seeing her best friend so terrified and vulnerable and hurt made her hurt and upset and angry. Getting up from her seat she sat on the bed beside the sobbing blonde, before pulling her into a hug.

"He won't come back," She said adamantly. "He can't because we're all here, and the cops are here to protect you," she assured as John and Candice lent their hands, rubbing Trish's back to comfort her. Stephanie pulled away, wiping a few stray tears before facing Trish again. "None of us will ever let anything happen to you again."

"Damn straight we won't," Randy and Stacy approached Trish's side, taking a seat on the foot of the bed. "You're brave, Trish. I admire that. We all admire that." He gave her a small smile. "It's hard to talk about it, but you did and I'm positive that they'll catch this guy."

"Thank you Randy," Trish forced a smile, sniffling back a few tears. "Thank you all. I don't know what I'd do without any of you."

JxT

"Release him," Captain Donald Cragen informed his detectives as they stepped out of the interrogation room.

"Why?" Elliot Stabler questioned. "We just got started, we'll crack him soon."

Cragen sighed with a shrug. "We got nothin' on him; no i.d from the victim, no witnesses, no motive."

"No motive?" Olivia Benson threw her hands up in disbelief. "He's an ex boyfriend that attempted to kill our victim three years ago! Is it just coincidental that he's in New York 12 days after his release and that just so happens to be where our victim and her boyfriend live?"

"Precisely. It may as just be coincidental, we know nothing yet. And the attempted murder happened three years ago, and he hasn't tried to make any further contact with the victim during his time in prison or since he's been released."

"This is B-S." Stabler scoffed. "He's our only lead."

"Maybe not." Cragen said with a nod. "We still have the victim's missing phone from the store robbery." He said as he began to back out of the room. "Find that phone; maybe the victim and the attacker know each other and that phone can tell us something," He said with a point of a finger. "Oh and interview everyone in their apartment building, see if anyone knows anything."

Olivia shook her head as she glanced at her partner. "We better go tell Mister 'I loved my ex but tried to kill her' the good news."

Stabler nodded as they both entered the interrogation room, Chris immediately standing from his seat in annoyance. "Sit down," Elliot instructed harshly with a wave of his hand.

"This is menace, I haven't done anything wrong!" Chris yelled in frustration. "Let me go."

"Well you're in luck." Olivia said disappointedly as she picked up his file off the table. "Get out of here."

Chris' head shot up as he eyed her cautiously. "I can go?" Elliot and Olivia nodded. "You don't think I did it?" Chris asked with a relieved grin.

Elliot let out a small chuckled as he exchanged glances with his amused partner. "Just because we're letting you go, doesn't mean we don't think you did it." He smiled slyly. "It doesn't mean we don't know that you're not guilty either, so don't leave town."

Chris snarled at the detective's arrogance as he stood up from his seat and straightened his jacket. His evil glare turned into a sly grin. "Well good luck with your investigation," he said as Olivia held the door open for him. "Tell Trish I said hi," he smirked before turning around and making his way out of the precinct.

"What an ass." Elliot folded his arms across his chest and scoffed. "I'm sure he did it, why else would he follow them here as soon as he got out of jail?"

"I don't know, but we better find some hard evidence and we better find it quick," Olivia reminded him. "Then we can send his confident ass on a one way ticket to Riker's."

JxT

"I better go find Paul," Steph said, breaking the silence in the room. "I'll be back," she gave Trish a reassuring smile before getting up to go find her boyfriend.

As she exited Trish's room, she saw Paul leaning against a nearby wall, staring intently at the floor. She approached him cautiously, standing beside him. "Paul? Honey, are you alright?" She asked softly, stroking his arm lightly.

"Yeah yeah I'm fine, Steph," He said without looking up. "Trish's story just got to me; hearing her describe it like that…just made me think, what if it was you?"

Stephanie bit her lip before embracing him. "Oh Paul, I know it's hard to hear stuff like that." She said, her head laying in the crook of his neck. "But Trish is safe, thank god, and I'm safe too so don't worry."

Paul rubbed her back in circles as he nodded against the top of her head. "I know, but it just scares me…I just don't know what I would do if Trish didn't make it," he sighed. "What would any of us do?"

"I know." Stephanie nodded. "I hope we'll never have to find out."

"Hey guys," John's voice interrupted them as they turned to see him approaching. "Hope I'm not interrupting, I just wanted to talk to you both about something."

"Sure John, what is it?" Stephanie pulled away from Paul and turned to him.

"Well the thing is, I promised Trish that I'd find the fuck that did this to her," He began. "I'm hoping the NYPD will let me, if not I'll do it myself," he said with determination as he dug his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

"Oh John, we'll all be happy to help, this is Trish we're talking about." Stephanie said eagerly. "We all want to help."

"I know, and that's great," John nodded. "But if I do this I won't be able to be with her 24/7, so I was hoping that you two could keep an eye on her when we get back home."

"Well definitely," Paul agreed, placing his hands firmly on Stephanie's shoulders as she nodded.

"Don't forget we'll be there too, John." Randy added as he and Candice joined them in the hallway. "Stace is with Trish, don't worry," he waved a hand back at the room.

"I told Trish that since you guys have only one spare bedroom, I can stay in there, if that's okay with you John," Candice said. "That way I can be with her so she's not alone when you're out…"

"Oh and Randy, you and Stacy can stay with us in our spare," Stephanie offered. "Instead of staying in a hotel or something. It's nothing 5 star, but it'll be free!" she laughed softly.

"Thanks Steph," Randy gave her a nudge. "Being so close, Trish will probably get sick of Stacy by the end of tomorrow," he joked. "Don't tell her I said that though," he cringed with a smile.

"Awesome, then it's settled!" Candice clapped her hands together.

John gave all his friends a once over. "Thanks guys, I really, really appreciate all your effort," he nodded in gratitude. "And I'm sure Trish would too."

Updation! Yewww!

Not a great chapter, but it's something...right? It's just to show friendships and stuff, that I didn't want to skip...also to keep the timeline of events. It get's better, promise once there are other suspects and Trish goes home.

There is absolutely no excuse for my lack of updating, I just got pure lazy and in actual fact, I was considering just abandoning the story because I was that lazy. But I'm not going to, coz that's mean and I have my whole story plan that needs to be written and would be a waste if I didn't.
Updates will try to be better though...

Thanks to all that reviewed the last chapter from like 3 billion years ago. Much appreciated.
pierzynskifan12, Trishrocks, superficialcynic, Waves Of Rage (aka Little Big Planet). You're all cool.

x Peace.