Kevin walked into his bedroom to find Jamie curled up in the middle of the bed, face buried in a pillow and shaking. He sat on the edge of the bed, and gently reached out to touch her on the shoulder. At his touch, she jumped and her head came up. Kevin stared at her tear-streaked face, then closed his eyes as if in pain.

"Jamie," he said softly. "Baby. . ."

"Don't, Kevin. Just don't," she said, equally as softly. She turned her head away from him, and stared across the room. Jamie was still crying, and it tore him up to see her like this, and that she refused to let him near her.

"How can I help if you won't let me?" he asked.

"Don't you think you've done enough?" she replied, with a trace of anger in her voice.

"That's not the only thing bothering you, and we both know it. Please talk to me, Jaim."

She got up off the bed and wandered over to the window. Lifting the curtain, she stared outside, leaning her forehead against the glass. She was silent for a long time, and Kevin got the impression that she was waiting for him to leave the room. Kevin sighed, and finally walked over to the door. As he reached for the doorknob, he heard her say, "Kevin."

He let go of the handle and turned around. She was facing him now, but looking down at the floor.

"What, baby?" he asked gently.

She didn't answer him. He walked over to her, cupped her chin and forced her to look up at him. There was so much pain in her eyes, so much anger that it stunned him. "What," he repeated.

"How can you be so calm about this?" she asked. He was so relieved she spoke to him that he hugged her tightly. She accepted his embrace listlessly for a while, then her arms came up around his waist. He stroked her hair, then pulled away to look down at her.

"I'm not calm about this at all, Jaim. I just don't know what else to do, to be. I want all of this to go away, but it's not. It's getting worse, and I don't know what's going to happen next."

"So you're ignoring this, and letting the rest of us deal with it, is that it?" she said angrily in a low voice.

"No, that's not it. I just don't see the point in falling apart. I don't know what happened here. I don't know what happened to you. You were so strong when this all happened, at the hearing. Now it's like you've done a 180, and you're falling apart, getting angry at everything, snapping at everyone around you. You're almost a completely different person now, and I can't figure out what's going on. I thought you and I could deal with this on a rational level, and help Nick out, be strong for him since he hasn't been taking this well, but that's not happening. Nick is stronger than you are right now, and that bothers me a lot. You're also our lawyer, is this how you deal with all your cases? Can you even handle this right now?"

Jamie's head snapped up, and she looked as if Kevin just hit her. "You don't think I can handle this? You don't want me to be your attorney, is that it? You would rather Taylor do this alone?" She moved away from him, and retreated to the window.

"No! God, you're twisting this around. I'm asking you if you can do this. I need you, Jamie. I don't know how you can doubt that."

"It sounds like you don't need me, like you don't need anyone," she said bitterly. "Poor Kevin, accused of a crime he says he didn't do, and no one believes him, no one is willing to do anything for him, he's all alone."

Kevin felt like slamming his head into the wall in pure frustration. He sighed again instead.

"Jamie, listen to me. Nick and I did nothing to that girl and we have to prove that to everyone. I need you right now more than I have ever needed anyone in my life. I cannot do this by myself, I know that. I need your help to prove our innocence, and I need you to be the strong person you were five days ago. If you can't be that, if you can't help me, I need to know that too."

She turned away from him again, and stared out the window into the night. "I want to help you, but I don't know if I can be that person again, Kevin," she said in such a low voice that he strained to make out her words.

"Why, Jamie? What happened?" he asked. "Do you not believe me anymore?"

Her head whipped around. "I still believe you, I have never stopped believing in you and Nick. It's just. . ." her voice trailed off as she choked on a sob.

He came to her, "It's just what, Jamie?" She shook her head, and he reached out for her and pulled her into an embrace. "It's just what, baby?"

"You're going to leave me, and I can't deal with that," she said softly, and started crying again.

Kevin was stunned by that statement. Taylor had been right and at the time he discounted what she had said. But now he saw he should have paid closer attention to what Taylor was trying to say about Jamie.

"I'm not leaving you, now or ever, Jamie. I love you, and I could never do that to you."

"You don't understand, Kevin. You are going to leave, and there's nothing any of us can do about it."

"What's going on? Why do you keep saying that?"

She was silent for a while, then said, "Have you seen the newspapers at all, or watched the news?"

He shook his head no, and she said, "Well I have, Kev. It's not good. For whatever reason, no one believes you two are innocent."

"You do, and Taylor and the other fellas. That's all that counts, Jaim, and you'll be able to prove to all those others that we are innocent."

"No, it's not all that counts. You really don't understand. It's not just Orlando anymore. When I went home, people were talking about it. Kevin, this is national news now, and they all believe you did it. I couldn't even be in my office without hearing clerks and secretaries talking about you. They know about us, and you can't imagine the looks I got in the two days I was at home, like everyone felt sorry for me. The five of you sometimes come off as too perfect, and this is the result. You wanted an image change, Kevin, well you got one. But I don't think it's the one you wanted."

"It can't be all that bad, Jamie. You and Taylor –"

"Taylor and I will watch them handcuff you and Nick and we will watch them lead you out of court to prison!" Jamie was starting to become hysterical again. His grip on her tightened, but she wasn't comforted by it.

"No, that's not going to happen. That's just idle talk from people who don't know any better."

"Kevin, listen to me," Jamie said desperately. "Those people who don't know any better, who don't believe your innocence," she pointed out the window, "those people out there are your jury. They will sit in judgment, Kevin, in judgment of you. They will be in that courtroom, and they will decide your fate. You didn't like that Molly could do this to you, well twelve more people you don't know are going to do it to you also. You have no control, and neither does Nick, or Taylor or me. We can tell them you are innocent until we are all blue in the face, but the point is it doesn't matter. Those people out there have made up their minds, and they are going to take you away from me. So don't stand there and tell me everything will be fine, because it won't."

There was nothing Kevin could say to that, because he was speechless. Jamie was wound around him with a death grip on him as if this was the last time she would ever hold him, and he couldn't do or say anything to calm her fears, to make it all right. For the first time, he began to seriously doubt that this would turn out the way he expected, that he and Nick would be found innocent.

Kevin finally found his voice. "What are we going to do then, Jamie?"

She looked up at him with a sorrowful expression, "I don't know, Kevin. I just don't know."

The couple crawled into bed and held onto each other as if it were the end of the world. Together, they cried themselves to sleep.

Taylor was up early the next morning. She was sitting at the kitchen table with her coffee and a newspaper when Kevin stumbled downstairs yawning.

Peering over her paper at Kevin, Taylor spoke, "Coffee's made."

"Thanks, I need a gallon or so. . ." he replied sleepily.

"Not a morning person, eh?"

"Not exactly, and I didn't sleep very well which doesn't help me any." Kevin got his coffee and sat down at the table. "Jamie was a little whacked out last night."

Taylor folded the paper and put it down. "Somehow I figured she might be, is she okay now?"

"I don't know." Kevin replied, staring down at his cup, "we didn't exactly resolve anything last night, she was just too upset. I’m not sure I know what to do Taylor."

"Well, there isn't really much you can do Kevin." She placed her hand on his and he looked up at her. "Just make sure she knows that you love her, that's a start."

"I hope that's enough."

"It will be, for now," said Taylor soothingly.

"Maybe we need some time away, or at least alone with each other. It just seems like everything reminds us of what is going on."

"I know, I think we all need a break from reality. Even if only for a minute."

Kevin and Taylor heard noises upstairs and guessed that the other two were awake now. A few minutes later they were all sitting quietly in the kitchen drinking coffee.

Taylor broke the silence. "Nick and I had an idea last night," she paused as the others looked at her, "maybe we should get a private investigator to dig up some dirt on Molly."

"What do you think he's going to find, if anything?" Jamie said sarcastically.

"Who knows, but it couldn't hurt, maybe he'll find nothing, but we need to try something." Taylor saw so much sadness in her friend's eyes. She knew they all needed a little light at the end of the tunnel. "I have an old friend here that does this sort of thing. I'll call him and see what he can do."