Red Ribbons in Her Hair Ch. 05

"I'm sorry," she said, that smile flashing again. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to know if you needed any help."

"Nope, it's all set but for a couple slices of toast. Why don't you grab the juice out of the

fridge and poor us a couple glasses and I'll get this on the table?"

She did as he asked, setting the glasses on the breakfast bar in the space he'd cleared and climbing on one of the stools. He placed her plate in front of her, his eyes roaming over the picture she made in his too big clothing, with her hair up in a towel. "You look all of five years old playing dress-up," he said. "I hope you like eggs. It's about the only thing I can make with any degree of efficiency."

"I do," she said, looking down at her plate. He saw her hesitate and then a look of determination come across her face. She picked up the fork, carefully slicing a forkful of egg and putting it into her mouth.

She chewed and swallowed before looking back at him. "It's good," she said.

"You need something hot in you," he said, taking the seat next to her and digging into his food.

They ate without speaking, Kaylee finishing every bite on her plate before putting her fork down, letting her hand rest against her stomach. "I was afraid to eat. I was afraid I'd see those things again, the things he did to those people."

"I know," Gabe said quietly. "I had the same problem, Kaylee. But you'll be surprised how much easier it is to deal with when you've a full stomach and a clean body."

"I do feel better, Gabe. Thank you for this, and for finding me. And for everything. I don't know if I'd be alive right now if it wasn't for you."

"It's my job, Kaylee." He sighed. "Now for the hard part. We have to discuss what happened tonight. I need to know, Kaylee." He turned in the small stool, facing her. "And the sooner we get it done, the more you're likely to remember."

She took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "I'll try."

"Good girl. Okay, how about we take it over to the sofa." He leaned over and grabbed her still almost full glass of juice and carried it over, setting it on a small stand. Kaylee walked over, curling her feet up under her as she sat down, grabbing that same throw pillow and clutching it once more to her stomach.

"Okay," she said, nodding at him.

He got out his mini recorder, setting it next to her juice. And then he took her through the evening, his hand somehow coming to rest on top of hers when he got to the part where they found the fingers on the pizza, squeezing gently when she told how they'd sent her back to the bedroom right before Chuck was killed. And then he laced his fingers through hers, his thumb brushing back and forth across her hand when she told him of running, of how he'd nearly caught her as she pried her way through the bushes, of the dog that had grabbed at her ankle and thankfully missed.

He took her through it carefully twice, making sure to go back through things that she wasn't sure of. "What did he look like?" he asked finally, cupping her hand between both of his.

He's a little taller than me, maybe 5' 8" or 9". He had on jeans and the red and white striped shirt from the pizza place. He was wearing a hat and he had it pulled down so it covered his face a bit." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I just didn't get a good look at him. He had Jack in front of him when he came into the bedroom and then everything happened so damn fast, I didn't get a good look. I'm sorry, Gabe." Her head tipped down and she watched as he squeezed her hand gently.

"It's okay," Gabe said, letting go of her hand and turning off the recorder. "You did great."

"But it's not enough. It's not enough to catch him with." She clutched the pillow harder, burying her face in it.

"I think it's enough for tonight. Look, it's getting late and you've had a really rotten day. Why don't we get you set up in the guest room and let you sleep. Tomorrow, we'll go down to the precinct and go through some mug shots, maybe you can pick him out." He rose and took her hand, pulling her up with him.

"I'm not going to be safe anywhere until you catch him, Gabe," she whispered, closing her eyes. She felt his arms go around her and savored the forbidden feel of him against her. Her hands rose, grabbing onto his shirt.

Gabe rubbed her back, letting himself take two minutes to feel the warmth and smoothness of the skin under his tee shirt. Her breasts pressed against his chest, soft and unfettered, making him swallow a moan at the thought of her naked under his shirt. His hands wanted desperately to investigate, wondering if she were naked under his sweats also, but he kept them above her waist by strength of will alone. "I'll keep you safe, Kaylee. He'll have to go through me to get to you. I'm not easy to get through."

Her head was on his shoulder, her nose snuggled into his neck. He was warm and strong and hard under her hands and against her body. And she believed him, he wouldn't let anything happen to her without a fight. She'd have to trust him.

But oh, how she wished she were sleeping in his bed tonight, with him. How she wished that he would hold her in his strong arms, that he would make love to her and get rid of these images in her head.

"Okay," she whispered. She pushed back from him, trying to smile but not succeeding very well. "Goodnight, then," she said, going to the room he'd given her and turning on the light before slowly closing the door behind her.

****

Author's Note: In case your wondering, the reason it's taken so long to get the chapters out is that I have a massive reformatting job to do to get this into the right format for submitting here. I'm trying to do it on blocks of chapters at a time instead of just one. I'm also working on chapters of other stories and looking through my computer for stories that I know are there, it's just kind of a mess in here. Anyway, thanks for all the emails and the wonderful comments. I'm enjoying rereading this one as well. Take Care!

Wendy Stone