February Night

Chapter 19

An hour later, Lucy was still sitting on Luke's couch. She had lost all her appetite while telling her brother and Spencer everything. And the two men had forgotten about food as well and were now trying to encourage her to tell the police. Lucy wasn't sure about that though.

"But what if they won't believe me?", she said, leaning back. She folded her arms in front of her chest. She suddenly had started to feel cold "I can remember the men's faces but I don't have any names and there haven't been any witnesses", she explained quietly, "the guy would say that I'm lying!" Her voice was filled with desperation and fear. Spencer grabbed one of Lucy's hands and squeezed it gently.

"You have a chance, Lucy. And...if you want, the BAU will look for that man. If we find him, we can interrogate him and maybe get him to speak and tell the truth. But you should tell the police. You can't go on like this."

Lucy shrugged although she knew, Spencer was right. She needed to make a statement at the police station, she had to tell them everything. She sighed and slightly leaned against Spencer's shoulder. Luke just came back with a cup of tea for her. "Thank you." She tried to give her brother a smile, but failed terribly. Luke sat down next to her again and wrapped his arms around her now. She snuggled into his embrace. She had always felt safe with Luke around. This hadn't changed.

"I...I regret so much that I...stabbed this man. But I was just...I was just trying to safe my own life", she quietly said and felt new tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Luke nodded.

"It was self-defense", Luke agreed. He looked over to Spencer and both had some trouble hiding their anger. Lucy meant a lot to them and seeing her like this made them furious for whoever was threatening her.

"Lucy, you have to let us help or at least tell the police about it. You said that the dead man's friend is somewhere in D.C. now and was looking for you. Did he...attack you?", Spencer asked. His voice was soft and calm and his hand in Lucy's felt soft and consoling.

After letting out another little sob, Lucy shook her head. "No, he...he didn't. But he knew where I work and showed up there just to stare inside and let me know that he's here. He...he put threatening letters into my mailbox and sometimes called without saying anything, just breathing heavily. He frightened me", she said with a shaky voice.

Luke let out a growl he hadn't been able to hold in for any longer. He was so angry about this unknown man, he knew if he'd meet him now he'd just beat him up. How dare someone to threat his sister like this? No matter what she had done, she didn't deserve this.

Lucy put a hand on Luke's arm. She knew he'd get angry. She knew he hated to see something happen to her. But she didn't want him to feel bad now. "Did you tell our parents?", Luke quietly asked then.

Lucy shook her head and her eyes wandered down to the floor. She felt embarrassed for some reason. "No, I didn't. I...I didn't know how and I thought that they wouldn't be able to help me anyway. So, why worrying them?" She shrugged.

Now it was Luke who sighed and Spencer did the same. "Lu, we need to do something. You can't go on living with this", Luke eventually said. Sighing, Lucy nodded. Of course, her brother was right. Now that she had started to talk about what happened in that February night, she wanted to see this guy in jail. And she was afraid he could come closer and maybe even try to kill her if she'd wait and did nothing.

"I'm afraid", Lucy whispered and looked from Luke to Spencer. The men looked back with pity in their eyes and tried to find the right words to console her, but there didn't seem to be any right words for this. She has had to go through a lot without anybody knowing what was going on. But she wasn't alone anymore. They were there for her.

"He might kill you sooner or later if you don't do anything", Luke quietly said what Lucy had thought a moment ago. The fear in his voice was hearable. Lucy swallowed at these words. Of course, she was in danger for as long as this man was walking around freely.

"I don't think he'd kill you as long as he doesn't think you'd go to the police and tell everything", Spencer chipped in. Luke shot a glance at his colleague that made him shut up immediately. He bit his lips, but he managed to put a slight smile on Lucy's lips. Spencer was just trying to help and she appreciated that.

"You're right. I need to tell the police, no matter what. I need to fight and bring this man into prison. He tried to rape and then kill me, in the end", Lucy eventually said. Suddenly, she felt strength filling her body. There were at least two people who would stand behind her, no matter what was going to happen. And they were sitting right next to her.

"And we will stand with you", Luke assured her and gave her an encouraging smile. Spencer did the same. For a moment, there was silence in the living room as Lucy took some sips of her now cold tea.

"But...", she started when a thought came to her mind and she placed the cup of tea aside.

"But what?", Luke asked.

"What if...if they don't believe me? I mean...like I said before, there's no witnesses and this guy will say that I killed his friend with intention. What...what if they put me in jail for what I did?" Lucy buried her face in her hands and let out a groan.

A hand on her shoulder made her look up again. She saw Spencer's face in front of hers. He smiled. "Don't worry, we'll try our best to help you. We'll find a way. You're not alone"

Lucy felt tears filling her eyes once more at Spencer's words. And suddenly she wondered why she hadn't told them earlier about what was bugging her all the time. "Thank you", she whispered and let her hands run over her face.

"You can stay here over night if you want", Luke suggested and Lucy was thankful for that. She couldn't imagine going home and being alone right now. So, she nodded and Luke hurried into the room Lucy once lived in. There was a new bed; he had kept that room as a guest room, because you never knew when friends needed a place to sleep.

~

Hours later Spencer was gone, the food was finally eaten and Lucy was laying in the new bed in her old room, staring at the ceiling while Roxy was laying on the floor next to the bed. The dog hadn't left Lucy's side from the moment she had entered the bedroom. And Lucy had thankfully accepted Roxy with her. She had missed her a lot since she'd moved out.

Lucy's thoughts were running wild in her head although she had finally gotten the whole thing off her chest. But of course, now she was thinking about how she could prove what had happened. She didn't want to look like a fool. There had to be a way to prove all of this. But how?

Groaning, she turned from one side to the other, not able to fall asleep. She eventually closed her eyes, in hope she'd drift away into dreamland very soon if she just kept her eyes closed. Then, suddenly a thought crossed her mind – so unexpected, that Lucy sat up straight again in bed so fast, she felt slightly dizzy for a moment. That was it! There was a way to prove what she was saying! How could she have forgotten about that? She threw back the duvet and ran out of her room. No matter what time it was right now, she had to tell her brother!