Lisa Ch. 09a

"Jessica." Riley said through clenched teeth, "we saw everything."

"What?" Jessica gasped.

"We persuaded Paul to put us in touch with Earl. Before he negotiated with us he sent a video feed and we saw what he did to you. To Mark. He had to keep streaming video to us as part of the deal even after Angus got here." Riley said.

"Especially after I got here." Angus mumbled, "I had to know you were okay or I wouldn't co-operate."

"We know what you did for us." Chris said.

"And it was no walk in the park." Scott added.

"Why would you lie about that?" Josh demanded.

"She's still protecting us." Jim said quietly.

"Well, stop it Jessica. Please." Rick said. "I want to know that you're telling me the truth because I can count on it, not because you can't lie worth shit. Okay?"

Jessica nodded.

"We'd better get cleaned up." Riley said. "We still have some work to do before we go home."

Jim squeezed Jessica's hand, got up, kissed her on the top of the head and left. Everyone else followed Jim's lead.

When they were gone Jessica turned back to Angus and Mark. Angus was as pale as a ghost, clearly suffering.

"Doc, please give him some medication." Jessica begged.

"I can't." Doc said obviously not happy about it. "I promised him I wouldn't. Angus has assured me that everything I saw done to him tonight, he did to you and worse. I guess we're in agreement that this is a small step toward making amends."

"So, everyone saw it? The video?" Jessica asked quietly. She didn't know why but it embarrassed her. And when Angus and Mark groaned she realized that she wasn't the only one featured in the video. Her heart broke for Angus. Not only had his worst nightmares come true, but they came true in front of everyone he knew.

Doc nodded, "Except the kids. They heard it I'm sure, leaving the room wouldn't have prevented that, but they didn't see it."

"And if you saw it..." Jessica said to Doc, "then Paul..."

"Paul and many of his clan saw it. But it's probably a good thing." Doc said, "The video, probably more than any of the other tactics employed," Doc continued while giving Angus an accusatory look, "got Paul's co-operation."

"Tactics?" Jessica asked.

"We did some things we're not too proud of." Angus said, "But desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Yes, I'm sure that will comfort Stasia as she nurses her bruised neck." Doc said.

"Stasia?" Jessica gasped, "Angus you didn't..."

"No they didn't, but it was pretty close." Doc said. "Given what was at stake, I don't think I can blame them." He added and forced a smile at Jessica.

"Are you cold?" Angus asked when Jessica shivered against him.

"No." Jessica said, "It's this place. It's gross."

"Sorry Jess." Riley said, returning. "You were supposed to be four sheets to the wind for this. Doc, why isn't she sedated?" When Jessica turned to look at him and did a double take, Riley couldn't help but smile. "We didn't bring a change of clothes."

"So you're going home in your underwear?" Doc asked.

"I'm sure as hell not wearing those assholes' clothes." Riley said.

"Same here." Don said coming in the room. Jessica couldn't help but laugh when she looked at him and Riley standing together, freshly scrubbed and with nothing on but underwear.

The others started drifting into the room in the same attire as Riley and Don.

"We still have some clean-up to do Jess." Riley said, "And then we've gotta burn this place to the ground. You don't have to see anything if you let Doc put you to sleep."

"I'm okay Riley, honest." Jessica said.

"Same thing she told me earlier." Doc said.

"Jess..." Riley said.

"I don't really like being sedated." Jessica added, "It makes me feel weird. I'll just focus on something else that's all. Really." She said when Riley narrowed his eyes at her.

"Why don't you keep Jess, Angus and Mark company Leah." Corey suggested, "I think you've done your fair share tonight too."

"Okay." Leah said crouching down in front of Jessica. She was studying Jessica's face while she spoke. "Jess, how'd you get those scratches on your face?" Leah raised her hand to gently touch her Jessica's face. "I don't remember seeing Earl or his men do that."

"They must have." Jessica said with a shrug, "But I don't remember."

"Those were self-inflicted." Doc said, "She has skin under her nail." He added when people looked at him with doubt. Jessica looked down at her nails and blanched.

"We must have missed it." Angus mumbled, "They didn't touch her after I got here. You saw that, right?" he asked Riley.

"Right." Riley agreed tilting Jessica's head up for a closer look.

"But Riley, didn't you hear me yelling at you? I didn't want Angus to let them do those things to him. I was yelling for you to tell him that." Jessica said, sliding onto her knees so she could lean into Riley's arms. She wanted so badly to bury her face in his chest, but Riley cradled her face, still studying the scratches. She wanted him to hold her, instead Riley's face froze.

"No you weren't. You were passed out on the floor. They'd Tasered you."

"No..." Jessica said confused by the fury suddenly evident on Riley's face.

"Those bastards looped the video." Don growled.

"You mean..." Riley began.

"Did they hurt you?" Scott demanded having moved next to Riley and grasping Jessica's arm.

"I never saw them again except on the TV." Jessica said nodding her head at the television that still displayed the empty room where Angus and Mark had been tortured.

"You saw everything..." Angus said in horror.

Jessica nodded and started crying. She sank back down between Angus and Mark.

"When they streamed the video to us they must have streamed it to this TV too." Quinn said.

"If you didn't see them again, who did that to your face?" Jim asked.

Jessica was sobbing, rocking back and forth while running her fingers through both Angus and Mark's hair, "You shouldn't have done that Angus. I said no sauce, no sauce. You were supposed to run." Jessica wailed and lowered her head against Angus', who was now crying too.

"I told you, self-inflicted." Doc said moving toward Jessica with a syringe. "It's okay Jess." He added when she saw him coming with the syringe, "This won't put you to sleep, it'll just calm you down."

Jessica let him inject her and in a moment Jessica felt herself relax.

The injection relaxed her but it also gave her some clarity. As she looked around at Doc and the family she felt like she was watching them from a distance. Seeing them for the first time as an uninvolved observer. And what she saw brought the involved observer back in a flash. They were broken. They looked at her like they just wanted to curl up and die. She decided that she wouldn't let them. That was her mission and to accomplish it she had to keep herself together.

Jessica closed her eyes and forced the tears from coming. Wiping her eyes and nose on her arm, finding it useless, she opted for her shirt. Satisfied that she was semi presentable she cleared her throat and looked up.

"Um. We should finish up here so we can go home. What can I help with?" Jessica asked trying to stand but grimacing when the burns on her legs and pussy protested the movement.

"Let me help you." Josh said coming behind Jessica and taking her by her arms lifting her to her feet.

"Isn't there something you can give her for that?" Scott asked Doc, "Pain killers?"

"Sure, but she won't take them."

"What?" Angus demanded.

"I tried to give her an injection just like I tried to give you one but she wouldn't take it."

"No Jessica!" her men said at practically the same time.

"You have no choice, you take the medication!" Angus growled.

"Doc..." Scott said motioning him toward Jessica who was now firmly in Josh's embrace.

"Wait..." Jessica said limited to lifting her hands in a stop motion, unable to move anything or anywhere else. "I don't need the medication. I'm fine, just sore that's all. Honestly!" she said pressing back as far against Josh as she could get in an attempt to get away from Doc as he moved nearer with another syringe. "Besides it actually makes me feel worse. Doc, please, it makes me feel weird."

Doc hesitated and looked to Josh who shrugged. "Can you give her something else?"

"Your standard pain killer, sure, but I doubt it'll do anything for her."

"You have to take that at least." Jim said.

"Okay."

"And I have some cream I can put on her face and her burns, that might help a little."

"Jess?" Scott asked.

Jessica nodded agreement.

"You're sure Jess?" Riley asked, "It's not going to make you feel weird or anything?"

Jessica looked at him, not sure if he was as angry as he sounded. But after a moment a slight smile slid on to his face. Jessica giggled, "Maybe a little." She said, "But not as weird as the medication."

Riley shook his head in disbelief but he didn't argue.

"Thank you." Jessica said when Josh loosened his grip and Doc lowered the syringe. And she suddenly realized that this was the first time those words had left her mouth since her family had saved her and Mark. Stunned by the realization she fell back against Josh.

"Jess!" Josh said, catching her.

"Doc the medication!" Scott ordered.

"No, no..." Jessica looking up at Doc , "I'm fine. I just realized... I can't believe..." She looked around at everyone. "I haven't thanked you yet. Thank you." She said and made eye contact with each person one by one. "You sacrificed so much... too much." She added when she looking at Angus, "But I'm so grateful that you came for Mark and me. This should have been the first thing I said to you and I didn't. I'm sorry."

The room was quiet. A few looks were exchanged. Finally Riley nodded at Sean. Sean seemed tense as he stalked toward Jessica stopping inches from her.

"You're welcome Jessica, and we appreciate your thanks but it's not necessary." Sean was staring at her with an intensity that scared her. She tried to look behind him, to Riley, Scott or Jim but Sean moved into her line of vision. "Your men can no longer deal with you the way they should... the tough has gone out of their love and quite frankly Jessica that's a problem. If anyone needs tough love it's you. Fortunately for them and you, the rest of us aren't quite that far gone on the tough part, so you're going to listen to me, and hear me. Really hear me. There was never any option. Not coming after you was not an option. But for some reason you don't know that. And Jess, 'No sauce'? Really? 'No sauce?'" Sean repeated. He seemed at a loss for what to say next.

Finally he shook his head, "We couldn't understand how you could expect us to just leave you. Especially Riley, Scott, Jim, Josh and Angus, but I've figured it out. You think you're expendable. You think that you mean so little to us that we'll just accept that you're gone and move on with life. I can see how you may think that of us," he said indicating himself with his hand and cocked his head back to indicate the people behind him, "afterall we've been lame enough to not do a formal pledge with you. Do you know what a pledge is Jessica?" Sean asked .

His intensity hadn't wavered so all Jessica could bring herself to do was shake her head. "It's a promise clan members give one another when they join a clan. Quinn did it when he joined. We'd pledged with Riley, Scott, Josh, Angus and Jim when we came of age in the clan. It's a lot like the oath you and your husbands took. And that's where I get confused. You have an oath with your husbands and yet you still consider yourself unimportant to them. Did you not listen to the words they were saying to you? I did. And nothing in the oath made leaving you to be tortured and killed an option. Or did you hear something else? Jessica?"

Jessica shook her head.

"So this is what I propose." Sean said, "If you'll have us. All of us, as your family, we want... scratch that, we need to make the pledge with you. We discussed it and we'd like to add some of your marriage oath to the pledge. And we want to go through it with you word for word so that you understand that 'no sauce' is not a viable solution. Do you understand what I am saying?"

Jessica nodded.

"Christ Sean." Corey muttered, "You have a funny way of telling someone you care about them."

"She'll be beating down the door to pledge with us alright." Caleb added.

"Jess, what my oaf of a brother is saying is that we'd love to pledge with you if you'll have us." Leah said, "And... you're welcome."

"You should consider yourself lucky." Quinn said, "Their proposal to me wasn't nearly as passionate."

"Maybe this is too much right now." Jim said, "After all that's happened. Besides which, you're in your underwear Sean. That just weird."

Everyone laughed, breaking the tension.

Sean nodded and took a step back, "Sorry, this might've been more dignified in clothing."

"D'you think?" Abe asked.

"I'd love to take the pledge with you." Jessica said and she reached out and caught Sean's hand. "I um, I guess I've given the impression that I thought you didn't care or that you'd just abandon me. That's not at all what I thought. I just wanted you to be safe and that meant as far away from Earl as possible."

"But Jessica," Rick said, "What you're not getting is that you're not just some spare part to us. Some interchangeable piece that we can replace if you break or disappear. It's not okay for you to just throw yourself away like that."

Suddenly things made sense for Jessica. "I wasn't throwing myself away." Jessica said, "I guess my feelings for you weren't very clear." She added clearly surprised. "I thought you knew... you're all very special to me, you're my family and I love you. I would do anything for you because I want to protect you. Not because I think my life is insignificant." She looked at each of them, even Mark who despite the medication was painfully lucid. "The oath said it, didn't it?" Jessica asked Angus and then looked at everyone again. "I see what you mean about a pledge." Jessica said to Sean, "Things weren't as clear as they should have been between us. But you..." she said looking at Riley, Scott, Josh, Jim and Angus and shaking her head, "Didn't our oath make it clear? There's nothing I wouldn't do to keep you safe. Nothing."

"Jessica, I don't think you understand how hard it was." Riley said, "To watch... to hear you..."

"Trying to be brave." Scott finished for Riley. "You were so scared Jess, we could see it. But Jesus Christ Jessica, when you taunted Earl. Pretending to not know who he was asking about?"

"You... protecting Mark. Mark, protecting you..." Angus mumbled. "It was too much."

Jessica blinked at Riley and Scott, and the others.

"And then we thought you were going to take the cyanide pill..." Jim said so quietly and with so much emotion.

"It was like a living nightmare. Watching you with those pills." Sean said, "Terrified that you would take the pill, that Mark would. We were coming to get you..."

"I haven't felt that much horror in a really long time." Josh said. "First watching you get tortured... then we were afraid you'd die, right before our eyes."

"And who could blame you?" Caleb said, "All of that suffering. At least you ended Stan's..."

"You saw all of that?" Jessica gasped.

"Earl brought the video camera in the room. We saw him torture you and Mark. He left it there even when they untied you from the chair. We saw everything." Corey said.

"Oh." Jessica said.

"How you stopped them from killing Mark." Chris said.

"Putting yourself between the gun and Mark." Scott said.

"And what that asshole wanted in exchange for Mark's life." Riley said quietly. Angus groaned.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be with another man, it seemed like the only option..." Jessica began.

"Don't Jess." Riley said, "We'd be complete assholes if we even considered being angry with you about that. You did what you had to in order to save Mark."

"And he tried to spare you..." Angus mumbled, looking at Mark. "You kept your promise Mark... I'll never forget that."

"And what was with the cell phone?" Leah asked, "What was up with that? You could have called us."

Jessica looked Leah and shook her head, "You were supposed to run. There was no point in calling."

No one looked happy about that statement.

"The point is. You don't have to explain what you'd do for us." Caleb said, "We saw it."

Silence hung in the air. Sean studied Jessica for a long time. And so did everyone else. Finally Sean glanced around at Riley, Angus, Scott, Jim and Josh, and nodded.

"There's only one thing left to say." Sean said looking back at Jessica. "Thank you. To you and Mark for protecting us." He said looking at Mark and then back at Jessica, "You said all the right things to get Earl to give up on looking for us and concentrating on you..." Sean's eyes darted to Riley and he cleared his throat. Jessica looked at Riley too and saw a mask of pain. Scott, Jim, Josh and Angus looked equally tortured, "that was really brave of you."

Angus groaned.

"You were terrified, but you did it anyway." Josh said pulling Jessica against him. "Thank you."

"And Mark. Thanks for trying to protect Jessica." Scott said.

"I didn't do much." Mark said quietly.

"Yes you did." Angus mumbled, "You did everything you could and you paid for it. We'll always be in your debt."

Jessica crouched down and kissed Mark's forehead. "They're right Mark. Thank you."

Josh crouched down behind Jessica and clutched her to him. Riley, Scott, Jim and Angus looked like they were going to grab her and never let her go. And she wanted that. More than anything.

"Can we go home?" Jessica asked.

"Doc and I will take care of these three." Leah said, "You guys hurry up and do whatever you're going to do and we can get out of here."

It took a moment but everyone seemed to shake themselves off and one after the other planted a kiss on Jessica's head before heading for the door.

"Take your pain meds." Jim said coming over to kiss Jessica, "But don't drink the water." He added, "You'll have to swallow the pills dry."

"Take two." Doc said handing her a couple of pills. She had to work at it but finally swallowed them.

"Off with your pants." Leah said after Doc had finished putting cream on Jessica's face.

Fifteen minutes later Jessica was sitting on the floor, back against the wall with Mark's head resting on one leg, Angus' on the other. Mark was in a medicinally induced sleep and Angus had finally succumbed to fatigue. Jessica stroked both of their heads. She was amazed at how much the cream Doc gave her helped. Her face, thighs, vagina, were only a minor discomfort. Doc insisted she take the tube and use it as needed.

"What happened with Stasia?" Jessica asked Leah. Doc had gone to the bathroom. "Is she okay?"

Leah nodded but she seemed uncertain.

"Is Paul going to be a problem?" Jessica asked.

"I don't know. But I think he may think twice about crossing your husbands."

"What do you mean?"

"When they got home and you weren't there... and they heard your voicemail. Jess, your phone didn't hang up for a long time. We heard everything that happened including part of the car ride."

"Oh."

"They went ballistic. I've never seen them like that before. Angus even shot the car. It's true." Leah added when Jessica looked disbelieving, "the tires, headlights, windows. I think he would have shot the gas tank too if they hadn't been in such a hurry to get to Paul's. Anyway, they threatened to kill Stasia but I don't think they had to. Paul was pretty freaked out by them. Jess, I think the boys were pretty traumatized too. Your men were pretty scary..."

"They weren't the only ones." Doc said returning. "The whole lot of you were out of control. You were snarling Leah. Sean, Corey, Chris, Caleb, Quinn, Don, Abe, Rick, and your men..." he added looking at Jessica, "looked like they'd rip us all apart. And they hadn't even seen the video yet. Leah's right about Stasia. Once they saw what was happening to you their anger went to a whole new level. No one was going to get in their way."