She closed the door behind them, and leaned against it, closing her eyes. Seeing Joe like that always brought an uneasy feeling in her gut. She had never really condoned the things Billy had done before with the previous kids but truthfully, she didn't really care at the time. This was different. Joe was different. She knew Joe. Joe WAS her friend. No matter how hard she tried, she could not convince herself that Joe didn't mean anything to her. She opened her eyes. Bobby was staring at her suspiciously. "What's with you?"

"Nothing," she muttered. For the first time in her life she was assaulted with guilt and sympathy. Joe doesn't deserve this. Nobody does, she thought.. True, she was secretly glad when Joe had taken the poison instead of Frank, but now she began to wonder if she'd done the right doing. She had helped in hurting her first true love's brother, and she knew Frank would never forgive her if he ever found out. They had trusted her, they had made her one of them and never ever had she felt so content with her life before. Since Mama died, Bobby was her only family. She had a part in all this, and she wondered if she could live with it for the rest of her life. If staying with Billy was worth it all.

"He killed Mama, you know," she whispered. Bobby turned to look into her haunted green eyes. He stared at her for a long time, as if trying to read what his twin sister was thinking. He winced when a long, piercing cry of pain killed the silence of the night, followed by deep groans coming from behind the door.

"I know," he sighed finally, rubbing a hand over his face.

"No, please, stop it..." they heard someone cry, ensued by a heart-wrenching sob. "Please stop..." I can't take this anymore, she thought and abruptly her hand reached out, grabbing her jacket off the hook. I can't do this anymore. I want out. Away from this-this madness-

"Where are you going, Lizzie?" Bobby asked, using the name he'd called her since they were kids.

"Out. Away from this. I don't want to do this anymore, Bobby. I can't take it any longer," she said heatedly. She rushed forward and took hold of her brother's arms, her fingers tightening in a white-knuckled grip. "Don't you see what he's doing to him? To us? He's keeping us prisoner here, Bobby. He's been keeping us prisoner since the day Mama died. Come with me and together we can leave him, Bobby!"

"Are you crazy, Lizzie? He will never let us leave!" Bobby cried, keeping his voice down in the fear that he would hear them. "Where can we go, Lizzie? Where can we go? We only have him!"

"That's what he wants us to think, Bobby," she said. "Look, why are we doing this? All our lives all we've ever done was do whatever Billy asked us to do. I nearly took someone's life, Bobby. We both nearly took someone's life. And that someone-" she paused when Joe screamed again "-that someone is someone's son, someone's friend. He was MY friend, Bobby. Hell, he is STILL my friend." Her voice softened somewhat. "And he's also someone's brother."

Bobby bit his lower lips, torn between the pleading look in his sister's eyes and the life-long hold Billy had over his life. But he couldn't help agreeing that everything she said was true. He took a deep breath. "You've really got it bad for this Frank guy, huh?"

"I love him," she said without hesitation. "And if I can still save his brother and undo all that I've done while I still can, I will. I know Mama would never forgive me if I didn't." Tears glistening in her eyes, she stood on tiptoe to kiss Bobby on the cheek, lingering long enough to whisper in his ear. "Just imagine that's me inside there. What would you do?" With those last words, she turned and fled.

The phone down the hall rang. Detective Gore nodded to Frank, and with a signal of his finger, his fellow officers nodded as they prepared to trace the call. Tensely, Frank picked up the phone, looking over at his parents for support. Fenton nodded gravely and squeezed his wife's shoulder reassuringly. Laura Hardy was a strong woman but when any danger came to any of her family members, her maternal nature became obvious. She'd nearly broken down when she heard the news and now her eyes were swollen with crying. But now she smiled gently at her older son.

"Hello?"

"The smallest cabin by Lake Gambon. You'll find him there. Hurry." An unrecognizable voice spoke. Before Frank had a chance to respond, there was a click, followed by the dialing tone. The officer sitting by the transmitter shook his head, indicating that they had not been able to trace the call, it was too short. Frank swore under his breath. Detective Gore was already out of there, followed by the other officers.

"Mom, I'm going," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. Laura's lips trembled as she nodded her consent. In an instant he was out the door.

"Where is your sister?" Weinhardt asked. Bobby was sitting at the table, deep in thought. Beth was nowhere to be found. Bobby looked up, and Weinhardt was almost taken aback by the pure hatred in his eyes. He felt himself getting angry when Bobby's eyes went up and down his naked body with barely concealed disgust and contempt. "I asked you a question!"

"I don't know," Bobby answered coldly. He could see past the open door and the sight of the boy made him want to throw up. "You're an animal."

Billy couldn't believe his ears. "What did you say?" The nerve of this boy... He could swear those two were getting more and more out of control each day.

"I said you're an animal," Bobby repeated, louder this time. "Of the filthiest, most revolting kind. You don't deserve to live. Murderer."

The brutal words hit him like a slap to the face. No one had ever said that to him before. No one had ever lived after saying things like that to him. All his life he had been treated with respect and reverence, loved by his people, but never with such disrespect, never with such rudeness. He couldn't tolerate rude people.

In the blink of an eye, he'd grabbed Bobby's jacket by the lapels, and lifted him off the floor. But Bobby was undaunted, not even a bit. He was through with being scared of him. He wanted to be free. Billy cocked back his fist and was about to knock the senses out of the boy when he suddenly felt something wet hit him in the eye, blurring his vision. Bobby dropped to the floor and wiped his mouth, grinning cockily.

He spat at me, Billy thought in disbelief as he rubbed at the spittle in his eyes. He was definitely going to teach the kid a lesson. Letting out a roar, he grabbed a beer bottle off the table and cracked it at the hard edge of the table, the jagged, razor-sharp edges glinting maliciously.

"You gonna kill me now, Dad? Just like you killed Mama?" Bobby asked.

Pain PG