Taylor stared at the phone in her hands, her new lifeline, waiting. She had gone out after her conversation with Nick and bought a second cell phone. The account was created using Nick's name and information, because she was afraid of what would happen if the bill ever came to her house. Once in the car driving back to her office, Taylor used the new phone to call Jamie, Nick and Kevin to give them the number. They were the only ones who would have it, so Taylor knew if that phone rang it was one of them.

Nick was the one who seemed to call her most often. Jamie tried to call whenever she could, but because of her work and getting ready to move to Orlando, she usually talked to Taylor in the evenings. This worked out since Mike expected Jamie to call Taylor. The conversations were usually guarded, but they managed to talk about things without raising Mike's suspicions. Kevin called less often because almost every time he tried to do so, Nick was around and would offer to call instead. Kevin didn't have the benefit of being able to call at night, so he monitored Taylor through Jamie and Nick.

Nick always called during her lunch hour, and today was no different. "Hey, Taylor," he said cheerfully. Taylor smiled, realizing that hearing his voice, as well as Jamie and Kevin's, were the only real bright spots to her days lately.

"Hi, Nick. How are you?" she asked.

"Pretty good. The better question is how are you?"

"Just fine, Dr. Carter. Nothing happened last night, so I am bruiseless today," Taylor said lightly. "Well, almost. The ones from a couple of days ago are turning that delightful green/yellow/purple combination I am so fond of."

Nick was surprised. Taylor had never made light of her situation before. These last few weeks, it had always been a very serious, almost detached, conversation about how the previous night had been for Taylor. She almost always answered in two words or less, and while she disliked talking about it, she sounded relieved that she had made it to the next phone call. Then they would talk about anything else, ranging from what Nick and the others were doing, to the outrageous things fans would do to meet the guys, to the goings on of her work in roundabout terms. There was a silent agreement between them not to discuss their feelings.

"Well, personally I like green, but yellow and purple too, huh? You need to do something about that. Make it turn all green if you can, maybe some shading thrown in there, with a hint of the purple," teased Nick cautiously. He was rewarded with a chuckle from Taylor.

"I don't know if I can, but I'll talk to the Art Department, see what they can come up with."

"You do that, and get back to me," said Nick. "You sound much better, you know."

"Yeah," she replied softly. "You see, I have these great therapists, and they've been helping me out a lot."

"Really? Maybe I should get their names, talk to them every once in a while. It's tough being me, you know."

"Are you whining about your life again?"

"Who me?" he asked innocently. "Never, I don't do those sorts of things. I was told once that I was the one who made this choice of careers, now I need to accept it and move on without whining."

Taylor laughed, remembering clearly what she had told Nick that first night she was in Orlando. Then she sobered, "Yeah, well perhaps that wasn't the best advice I've ever given."

"Hey, now, none of that. This isn't your fault, how many times do we have to tell you that? And you shouldn't accept it, not at all."

"It's sometimes hard to remember that," said Taylor quietly. Nick tried to reassure her again, but she cut him off. For the first time, Taylor told Nick exactly what Mike had been doing to her for the last year, not glossing over anything this time. Nick's face paled as he listened to Taylor. He realized that Jamie had done a lot of guessing about what went on, but that she wasn't even close. Her guesses had made him sick, but listening to Taylor made him positively ill. As she spoke, Nick got angrier and angrier at Mike.

Taylor heard the anger in his responses, and stopped abruptly. "I'm sorry Nick. I didn't mean to make you mad. I guess I shouldn't have told you. Maybe I should go."

"No! Please Taylor, don't hang up, you're wrong. I'm not mad at you, I'm furious with Mike. I'm angry that this had to happen, and that no one has tried to help you until now."

"Oh," she said softly. "It sounded like you were angry with me. I thought maybe I shouldn't tell you anymore."

"No, really Taylor, I'm not mad at you, I'm frightened for you. Honestly. I'm about ready to kill Mike though."

"Please, no, don't say that," she paused. "Deep down somewhere, Mike is still a good person."

"You're kidding, right? After all of this, you still believe that? You don't want to leave him yet, do you?" he asked incredulously. He found it hard to deal with the fact that despite everything he had done to her, she still loved Mike.

"I don't know, Nick." She sighed, "Look, you forget I've known him for more than three years, and he wasn't always like this. You only know what I've told you about him; I can still recall when he was good to me. As for leaving, I don't know about that. I don't think I'm ready right now."

"Taylor, please. . ."

"Nick, I know that you want me to get out, and so do Jamie and Kevin. I'm just not there yet myself. But I am trying to distance myself from him. It's hard you know, he still tries to keep me under his thumb. Why do you think I still have this phone, Nick? I can't be friends with you that openly right now. If he ever found out about this, I don't know what will happen."

"I can't help it, I'm just worried about you, Taylor," he said in a small voice. He didn't want to think about Mike discovering their deception.

"I know you are. But there's nothing you can do at the moment, so try not to worry too much. And please don't make threats against Mike again, that doesn't make me any happier."

"I'm sorry. I just feel helpless, and I want to do something."

"You are, Nick. You call me every day and talk to me. You are doing something, and I appreciate it more than I can tell you."

Nick smiled slightly, "You're welcome. Well, I guess I better go, Brian just came in looking for me. He's making weird faces at me, and I have to go make him show some respect by tickling the hell out of him." Taylor could hear Brian in the background claiming to be scared out of his Nikes, and she laughed.

"All right, go ahead, but be nice to him. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"You know you will. And I can't promise what will happen to Frick if he doesn't QUIT IT!" Nick's voice rose slightly, directing the last part of the sentence at Brian, who was doubled over in laughter. "Ah, these kids nowadays, no respect at all for their betters," said Nick mockingly.

Taylor giggled, "Yup, none at all. Well, bye, Nick."

"Bye, Taylor. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will. Thanks." She hung up the phone. Taylor sat there, looking out her window for a while, wondering just what she had done to deserve having friends like Nick, Kevin and Jamie.

After Jamie spoke to Nick that afternoon, she made a decision to ask Taylor to move to Florida with her. She had asked once, before Taylor had flown back to Oklahoma City after the trial, and Taylor had said she would think about it. The subject had never been mentioned again between the two of them, and Jamie thought now was a good time to reintroduce the idea.

"Hi Taylor," she greeted her friend once Taylor picked up the phone. "You alone?"

"For now. Mike is out tonight with some friends, so it's safe to talk for a couple of hours."

"Good. Nick called me this afternoon, he said you told him everything."

She swallowed. "Yeah, I did. But now he wants to kill Mike."

"Tails, he wanted to do that before you said anything. To be honest, I feel like it as well. But that's not really what I want to talk to you about."

"Uh oh, and why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this discussion?"

"Probably because you won't," Jamie smiled in spite of herself. "I'm in the middle of arranging movers to move my stuff to Orlando."

"So you really are moving?"

"I told you I would be. I think I'll be all settled in Florida by the end of the month, and ready to start a practice down there. I got the letter from the Bar two days ago; I've been admitted, I passed their version of the Multistate."

"Congratulations. What about work?"

"Well, I've spoken to my senior partners. I'm going to be opening a branch office of my firm in Florida. I'll be the senior partner there, I just need to hire a staff."

"Senior partner at 30? I'm really impressed, Jaim. How big will the office be?"

"I'm not sure at this point. I know the plan is for at least five attorneys to start, but I need to hire them. Know of anyone interested in joining me?"

There was silence on Taylor's end of the line. "Sounds like you have someone in mind," she said finally.

"I do. I understand she's a damn good attorney, just won a big high-profile case recently too. Someone like that could do a lot to help establish the office quickly."

"Talking about yourself in the third person again?" cracked Taylor. "I think you've been hanging out with famous people for too long."

"Funny, ha," smiled Jamie. "I was talking about you, Tayl."

"Nope."

"No, I wasn't talking about you? How would you know?" Jamie retorted.

"I know you meant me; my answer is no. I can't, not now."

"Taylor. . ." started Jamie, but she was interrupted.

"Jamie, I told Nick this afternoon, and I'm telling you now. I know I need to do something to get out of this, but I'm not ready yet. And I'm certainly not ready to move across the country, even if I could leave Mike now."

"So you're just going to dismiss this out of hand? Taylor, please, this is perfect for both of us. You need to get away from Mike, and I need your talents as an attorney. You can't just say no."

"I just did."

"Taylor," Jamie admonished. Taylor sighed and shook her head.

"All right, can I at least think about it for a while? It's an awfully big step for me right now, I. . . I don't know if I'm up to it. Please?"

Jamie frowned, "Taylor, you have to do something before Mike does something we all will regret."

"I know that. Really I do, but I just can't bring myself to do anything at the moment."

"What is it going to take for you to do something? Do I have to stand by your hospital bed, by your grave? Taylor, I'm serious, I'm frightened for you. Please come with me to Florida," she begged.

Taylor winced. "Now I really think you're overreacting. Yes, Mike has hurt me, but never that badly. I know you're upset, but I really do need to think about it. Give me a couple of days, please?"

"Oh, all right!" Jamie was exasperated with Taylor's recalcitrance. "You win, for now. I'll give you until the end of the week, how's that? But you will be coming with me to Florida, even if I have to have Nick tie you up and throw you over his shoulder to carry you there."

Taylor laughed, "That's not a real threat, Jamie, and you know it. Nick can tie me up anytime. . ."

Jamie snorted, "You know what I meant, although it's nice to see you still have your sense of humor. You've been much too serious lately."

"I know. And I promise Heads, you'll have your answer by the end of the week. I really will think about it, okay?"

"Okay. But you really better be thinking about it."

"I will, I promise," said Taylor. "So what else is going on?"