Girls Night Out Series Final

Author's note:

This is the end of this part of the series, so everything is wrapped up by the end. This story goes somewhere a little dark, which happens sometimes when we feel overwhelmed and can't see a way out.

If you find yourself, or someone you care for, in a spot you/they see no way out, reach out to a local agency that can provide counseling or find someone to talk to if that isn't an option.

Unlike other stories I have written, I have included an epilogue at the end that contains elements that are not directly sexual but finish plots that were started in the series or, in a few cases, set plots for spinoffs.

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I had a lot of bad dreams that night. I felt pursued by something cold, dark, and menacing. Every time a way out appeared, something blocked it. The cold crept into my bones as the thing chasing me drew nearer, and the laughter, oh my God, that evil laughter kept getting closer. I couldn't block it out.

I know I woke up sometime in the middle of the night screaming.

Someone, I think it was Alex, stroked my hair and told me I was having a bad dream and to go back to sleep.

I must have because I woke up to yelling and crying sometime later.

"Fucking Assholes! Whatever it is and take it outside," I muttered, pulling a pillow over my head.

My retreat was only temporary as the pillow was taken away as Alex pulled me up.

"Kate. Come on, you have to wake up," he said, turning my legs until I was sitting on the side of the bed.

My head and arms flopped down. The only thing keeping me upright was Alex.

"Here, drink this," Alex said, holding out a cup to me.

I took the cup, bringing it with shaky hands to my mouth. Alex held the bottom of the glass as I took my first sip. It burned as it washed over my tongue and down my throat.

"This is awful!" I told him, trying to push the glass away.

"Drink it anyway," Alex said, holding the back of my head to keep me from pulling away and pouring the concoction down my throat.

After I had swallowed the last of it, he let me fall back onto the bed. Whatever it was, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

"What was that?" I asked, sitting up again and reaching for some water. I noticed my hands weren't shaking as much, and my head felt almost clear.

"Special recipe for when I overindulge," he told me quietly, sitting beside me and rubbing my back.

As the fog in my mind cleared, I remembered the shouting. Glancing around, I found Beca, Donna, and Cindy standing by the door. All three looked like they had been crying.

This isn't going to be good

, I thought.

"You all look like somebody died," I said, trying to lighten the mood. The instant I said it, all three of them started crying again.

Now I feel like an ass

, I thought

.

"Sorry, what happened?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. My friends weren't able to tell me, so I looked at Alex.

"Here, drink this," he said, handing me a glass that was half full of a brown liquid.

I wasn't going to fall for that twice. I gingerly sniffed the liquid and discovered it was bourbon.

"Alex, what the fuck..."

"Not until you have some of that," he said, glaring at my friends.

The only thing going through my mind was something had happened to my Mom, Rob, or Denna. I drank about half the bourbon in one swallow.

"Now fucking tell me what is going on," I demanded, anxious to know even as I dreaded what was coming.

Alex glanced at Beca before turning back to me.

"Last night, after Chad finished with Cora, Felicity put her in one of their standard holding rooms. It's the same as a normal hotel room, except it locks from the outside," seeing my glare, he continued.

"Anyways, around 10 pm last night, they checked on her. Cora was sitting in a corner, hugging herself. They couldn't get her to calm down, so they gave her something to help her sleep. When it took effect, they put her into bed and left."

Alex paused, picking up his glass of bourbon.

"Finish the fucking story," I told him. I was shaking inside as I drank the rest of the liquor. My sense of dread grew with each delay in the story.

"This morning, they found Cora unresponsive. Felicity called 91. The paramedics came and said she had overdosed. I'm so sorry, Kate. They took her to..."

He kept talking, telling me about what happened. I'm sure he was trying to comfort me. I could feel his hand on my upper back, rubbing in circles.

All I heard was the roaring in my ears as what he had said sank in. Before I knew what was happening, I was across the room, punching Beca as hard as I could in her stomach. She doubled over, unable to breathe, before falling to the floor. I started kicking her prone body, screaming the entire time.

"You fucking bitch! You did this. You fucking destroyed her. It's because of you she's fucking dead! I hate you!"

Alex pulled me off her, picking me up and holding me in a bear hug as I continued to kick and scream.

Debbie and Cindy checked on Beca as Alex pulled me across the room, away from her.

"Calm the fuck down, Kate!"

"She killed her!" I screamed, struggling in vain to escape Alex to finish Beca. Honestly, I might have killed Becky if Alex hadn't been holding me.

"Cora was like my little sister. She never hurt a thing, and that bitch killed her!" I kept screaming, spitting in Beca's direction.

I kept fighting Alex, trying to get back to finish with Beca.

Alex pushed me against the wall and slapped me hard.

"Knock. The. Shit. Off!" Each word was punctuated with a slap. It's not hard, just enough to get my attention.

It worked.

My attention fully shifted from Beca to him, as did my rage. I opened my mouth, and he raised his hand again.

"This isn't her fault, any more than your fault. Chad did this. No one else, and before you get it into your fucking head to try to do something stupid about it when he heard what happened, he activated multiple layers of security around him. You won't make it onto his floor at this point. I know it's hard, but you will have to let this go for now."

Maybe he could see the wheels turning in my head as I looked for an avenue, any possible way at all, that I could get to Chad.

At this point, I really didn't care if I survived or not as long as Chad didn't.

"Please, Kate," Alex said, his voice quiet and pleading.

I've known Alex for a long time and have never seen him look vulnerable. Happy, pissed, even sad once, but never vulnerable. That got through where the rest of what he said hadn't.

I stopped fighting, hanging limp in his arms. He held me for a long time, stroking my hair as I cried. Once I was cried out, he sat me down in a chair and handed me another drink.

I didn't look up as everyone other than Alex left. It was sometime later that I finally looked at him.

"I can't stay here anymore. I have to get some air," I told Alex.

He just nodded and tossed me a set of sweats. Neither of us spoke as we rode the elevator to the lobby. Alex just followed me as I started toward the busier side of town. I just kept walking.

Everything that had happened kept playing over and over in my head. No one close to me was safe from the monster. Rob was MIA, and I couldn't count on him any longer to rescue me from this nightmare.

We came to a flower vendor. I always loved daisies. I remembered Cora did as well. I picked up a bundle and handed it to Alex, fighting tears as memories of happier times threatened to overwhelm me.

"Buy these for me? They're my favorite."

It was the first time I had spoken since we left the room.

"Sure," he said, searching my eyes, looking for a part of me that I knew was dead at this point.

As he turned to the vendor, reaching for his wallet, I saw what I had been waiting for. I don't know when the decision was made, but I knew it was the only way to protect the people I had left.

Alex had just paid for the flowers and turned towards me.

"Here you go," he said with a smile, starting to hand me the flowers as he watched in horror as I stepped off the curb in front of a city bus.

"Sorry," was all I was able to say before I was flying through the air.

The next thing I remember, I was on my back, looking upward.

I remember a noise, like a rushing wind, as I looked up toward the sky, watching the clouds stream by.

I was so cold.

Alex was over me, crying.

"Oh, Kate. Why did you do that?"

I tried to answer but couldn't make any sounds. Over Alex's shoulder, I saw someone who looked a lot like Rob pushing past a police officer.

It felt like I was choking, but I couldn't seem to swallow.

Then everything went gray.

Sometime later, I had no idea how long someone had been yelling my name.

"Kate! Open your eyes, Kate. Don't you dare go to sleep."

I had to fight to force my eyes open.

Blinking several times, I got them to focus and saw Rob smiling down at me.

"Stay with me, sweetie," he said as tears ran down his face.

There were flashes of light above us, and everything was so bright.

"That's as far as you can go, Sir."

"Sir! You have to let us take her," someone was saying.

Everything started to go gray again, but I thought I heard Rob begging me not to leave him.

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Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Something was hitting my hand, and it wouldn't stop. For some reason, that was annoying me. I tried to pull my hand away, but it wouldn't move.

Maybe if I just lay here, it would go away

, a sleepy thought ran through my mind. It almost seemed to work, but the damn tapping kept pulling me away from the sleep I craved.

I opened my eyes.

The room was so bright that it hurt, so I closed my eyes again. The tapping continued, and I started to hear sounds.

"She opened her eyes," someone was saying. She sounded familiar, but everything was still fuzzy.

I tried telling them the room was too bright.

"Did she say something?" another person asked.

I felt someone leaning over me.

I tried again.

"It's too bright," I said, or maybe I dreamed I said.

"She said the room is too bright!"

Suddenly, the room went almost dark.

"Come on dear, open your eyes," someone said.

"Please, Mommy," someone else said, someone younger.

They both sounded familiar.

The damn tapping kept happening.

I opened my eyes, and this time, I could see after blinking a few times.

My eyes looked at my hand, the one where the damn tapping kept happening. A little girl was holding my hand, tapping it with her fingers.

Denna?

Denna!

"Denna," I whispered, my voice sounding broken and dry.

My daughter hugged me as everything faded again.

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It had been a few weeks since I woke up.

My days were filled with pain and loneliness. After making sure I wouldn't die on them, my mom took Denna back so she could start school.

No one else came to see me besides my nurses and doctors.

I think I remember Rob being there after the bus hit me. Most of those memories were jumbled.

I worked up the courage one day to ask if he had been there or if he had been a hallucination.

The nurses assured me Rob had been there daily until I woke up. That was the last time anyone saw him.

It was a few days later that I noticed guards outside my room. The nurses said it was for my safety but wouldn't say anything about them.

When I left the room, one of them would follow me everywhere.

I tried a few times to get them to talk, but other than pleasantries, they refused to answer questions.

I had no visitors for the next couple of weeks, but I could video-chat with my mom and Denna every day. That was the only thing that kept my sanity as my body slowly healed.

After one of my first showers, I got brave enough to look at my reflection. Most of my hair was gone, leaving only stubble on my head, and there were scars from where the bus had hit me, and the surgeons had put me back together. Angry red lines on both my legs and a couple on my back.

I was thrilled to see that the tattoo on my back was gone, removed at some point while I was unconscious.

I hope my mom and Denna didn't see it

, was my first thought.

I felt a little guilty that Rob seeing the tattoo wasn't one of the first things to cross my mind.

I wouldn't have had the fucking tattoo if the asshole had rescued me

, the bitter thought surfacing before I could squash it.

A second thought has been recurring since I woke up in the hospital.

I wouldn't be here learning how to walk again if Rob had rescued me.

It was on a Tuesday after physical therapy when Alex walked in carrying a vase full of daisies.

"Hey, you're looking better," he said, putting the flowers with the other ones by the window.

"I'm feeling better," I told him apprehensively. I had no idea what had happened after I stepped off the curb. No one would tell me.

Alex pulled the privacy curtain, blocking the view from the doorway, and sat on the bed by my legs.

"I was on the fence about getting you flowers. The last ones I tried to give you, you stepped in front of a bus," Alex said, trying to make a joke.

It broke the ice, and I smiled at him.

"These look much nicer than the last ones, and there are no buses around, so I think you are safe."

"How are you doing?" Alex asked, his hand resting on my leg.

"As good as can be expected after getting hit by a bus," I replied. I wasn't sure how I felt about the causal way he put his hand on me. I moved my leg away from him, and I was happy he didn't try to follow.

The conversation died away, neither of us knowing what to say.

After it got unbearable, I asked with a tight smile, "So what happens now? Is Chad going to punish me for damaging his property?"

"Is that what you really want to know?" Alex asked with a frown.

"No, what I really what to know is where the fuck Rob is, but that seems to be a recurring question that I have given up on ever getting an answer," I said bitterly, crossing my arms under my breasts and looking away from Alex.

"Ahh. I thought that might be on your mind," Alex said, looking away.

"Rob is out of the country at the moment," Alex said with a sigh.

"What, a more important crisis going on than his wife trying to kill herself?" I asked bitterly.

Whenever I thought about Rob, I wanted to scream and throw something. I briefly wondered if that was why everything in reach was made of plastic.

"It's a little more complicated than that," Alex said, clearly trying to decide how much to tell me.

"It always fucking is with Rob," I muttered, turning away from Alex and looking at the wall.

Alex sighed, making up his mind.

"Officially, he is on assignment. Unofficially, well, it might be better if I show you. This is footage taken from the hotel's surveillance system on the day of your 'accident,' right before the system was mysteriously wiped," Alex said, handing me his phone.

On the phone, I could see Rob riding up in one of the elevators. The flaps over the weapons in the hidden holsters he wore were flipped back, exposing all of them and the body armor underneath.

I watched the video, feeling tears running down my face as Rob attacked Chad's security teams like they were children before leaving Chad to die in his office.

"Hope you like hell, Asshole," I heard Rob say as he walked onto the elevator where the video ended.

"He did all that for me, didn't he?" I asked, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

"Yeah, he kind of went rogue for a little while. It seems that before Rob started the fire in the penthouse, all the sprinklers were disabled, and the fire exits were blocked. Even the secure staircase from that level wouldn't open."

"It took the fire department an hour to breach the space. By then, everything was completely burnt," Alex looked away for a second, uneasy with how Rob had removed Chad.

"In case you were wondering, they found what was left of Chad by the door. They identified him by his dental records. They also found a knife in the rubble of what used to be a table halfway across the room. It still had some charred flesh attached to it that came back as belonging to Chad." Alex said, looking a little ill.

"Is that why Rob had to leave?" I asked, handing him back the phone. I was shaking from what I saw.

"That and a series of 'accidents' that seemed to plague multiple people in power. Something like thirty people died in the space of a few days in multiple cities. We needed him gone until we could make sure there were no ties back to him."

"They aren't going to arrest him or worse, are they?"

"No," Alex said, shaking his head.

"The data he retrieved has been invaluable in getting rid of the compromised agents, along with multiple federal, state, and city officials who survived Rob's purge. If you ask me, Rob is a hero."

Some of the anger I had been holding onto had dissolved as I watched the video. Alex wiped away my tears and hugged me until I pushed him away.

"So, things go almost back to normal?" I said, remembering that Cora wasn't alive any longer.

"Well, there are some other things that you should know about."

Alex had a huge smile on his face. "The biggest is Cora isn't dead."

"What!" I sat up in bed, wincing as I felt my scars stretching.

"Easy, Kate, you'll hurt yourself." Alex cautioned, putting his hands on my shoulders to help stabilize my body.

I eased back to a sitting position.

"Rob's team managed to get her out of there, pretending that she overdosed. Hey, don't look at me that way. They didn't tell anyone. Their response had to look real, or there was a chance Chad would see through it."

I was shaking and crying again but for a completely new reason.

She was alive!

"It also turns out that Pop was working for the agency all along. Not the part Chad had corrupted, the part Rob and I work for. All the people Chad wanted to disappear? They were more or less just relocated until it was safe for them to come back."

I felt the rest of the tension in my body melt away. The women from the restaurant would be safe then, and the agent who was getting married this year would get her chance at the life she wanted.

Alex looked at his watch and stood. "The doctor said I couldn't stay too long."

Watching Alex, I spoke as he reached the door.

"Does Rob know about..."

Alex looked back at me. "He knows everything, Kate. Chad kept an entire collection of videos that covered everything."

I looked away.

"Does he know about us?"

"Yes. We had a conversation about everything, including our time together."

The way Alex had sat down, the stiffness when he stood, all his movements. My eyes must have given my thoughts away.

"Rob and I. We talked about everything. We're good now, Kate, let it go."

I sighed and nodded, imagining just how Rob had 'talked' to Alex.

Alex smiled at me and walked out the door. If Rob and Alex talked things out, I wasn't sure I would ever see Alex again. I didn't know if that was for the best or not.

I got up to use the restroom when the door opened again, and Cora walked in.

I didn't know what to do.

She must hate me.

We stood there looking at each other until Cora broke the silence.

"Well, are you going to stand there or give me a hug?" she asked with a smile.

We hugged, and she told me about how she had been rescued. She didn't hate me. It turned out that Rob had shown her the real tape of her attack.

The rest of the day we spent talking about better times.

The weeks flew by as therapy got me on my feet again.