"Nicky," a woman’s voice pleaded, "I just want to talk to you."

Without thinking I lunged off the sofa and grabbed my cell phone. In a moment I was at the door standing near Nika. The blonde stranger on the doorstep turned her eyes from Nika to glare at me. Her whole face changed; contorted with disgust. I felt a tightening in my abdomen like my body was getting ready for something, in fact all of my muscles tensed.

"I have nothing to say to you! You manipulative Bitch! This is none of your business." This must be Shelley. I hadn’t had time to research her like I’d planned because I’d been trying to focus on Nika the whole day. The acid of her accusations slipped right past me; I was too astonished by the depth of her delusions.

She was about the same height as Nika, which made her quite a bit taller than me. Clearly she wasn’t happy with my lack of response to her tactics. She took half a step forward, clenched her fists and shrugged her shoulders back, clearly trying to intimidate.

"Leave now." Nika’s voice was still low but had completely lost the edge of fear. She changed her stance so she was between her crazy ex-girlfriend and me. I stood my ground.

"I say it is my business. You are trespassing on my property." Without breaking eye contact I flipped open the cell phone and punched in the security code.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" The blonde’s frenzied eyes shifted back to Nika and once again she was transformed; her face softened, her voice shifted back to pleading. "Honey. Nicky. Can’t you see what she’s trying to do? She’s been keeping us apart, controlling you, isolating you from your family, your friends, the people who love you!" Now it was Nika’s turn to take a step forward.

"That has nothing to do with her. You are the reason I don’t talk to anyone! You are the problem Shelley, no-one else is to blame. It’s time for you to get the fuck out of my life." While Nika’s voice grew louder I watched the play of emotions across the other woman's face: dismay, shock, anger. "I don’t love you! You have no place in my life!" At these words something in the woman’s eyes made me take a step back, the hairs on my neck bristled. Automatically my body had moved into a half-crouched defensive position. Knowing that one of the neighbourhood security cars was on its way was not enough reassurance against the dark hatred I could see in the blonde’s eyes. I dialed 911 and put the phone to my ear never taking my eyes from Shelley’s face. Just as I began to speak to the emergency operator, Shelley attacked, screaming. I was shoved, and stumbled back out of the way as Shelley tried to tackle Nika. Nika seemed to simultaneously sidestep and then throw her attacker to the floor.

"Kathryn get back. She is dangerous." I hastily took Nika’s advice and retreated towards the living room speaking rapidly into the phone. Shelley pushed herself up from the floor and flung herself at Nika staying low to attack her legs and throw her off balance. It worked. The phone dropped from my nerveless fingers as Nika fell. Shelley held on tenaciously as Nika kicked and twisted.

"Please! I don’t want to…" Shelley yelled. I gasped, anticipating the madwoman’s next words, "...kill you! I love you!"

Nika roared. She twisted until she freed one leg and then somehow flipped over and put Shelley in what looked like a wrestling hold. She was pressing Shelley’s red face into the hard marble floor with her knee while her arms held one leg and arm immobilized, but Shelley wasn’t done yet. I watched in dismay not knowing what to do as they growled, groaned, struggled and fought on the slick floor. I thought of the gun hidden in the bedroom; but that would mean getting past them and leaving Nika out of my sight for several minutes. I couldn’t do that. I felt utterly useless, and yet I was looking for an opening some weak spot. Could I kick her without hurting Nika? Would I have the strength to keep her in a headlock if I managed to get a hold of her? Where the hell was security?

Shelley had managed to get onto her back and had wrapped her legs around Nika’s waist and was squeezing hard. Nika was using both hands to fend her off. One of Shelley’s hands was gripping Nika’s neck, the other hand was reaching for something hidden under her pant leg. I wasn’t going to wait to find out what it was, I spun around and grabbed the first thing that I found and flung myself at her. A crunching noise accompanied the sound of shattering glass. Shelley’s animal scream blended with a deep male voice yelling "Police. Freeze!" Shelley collapsed. Nika threw her off and crab walked away from her.

"Kathryn!" she cried. I barely heard her. I leaned up and looked at my hands. They were slashed across the palms and bleeding, I swayed a little feeling dazed. Strong hands grabbed my shoulders.

"You’re OK Ms. Ridgeway." A female voice said in my ear. I pulled away from her panicked and then recognized her attractive Latino features, it was Belinda, one of the regular neighbourhood security.

"Don’t move!" The police officer warned again. Nika froze, two officers both stood ready with their guns drawn, one pointed at her and the other at Shelley as she writhed in pain. "Drop your weapon!" one of them demanded. That’s when I saw the long blade of a hunting knife as it fell from Shelley’s hand and clattered on the stone floor. Nika’s face went deadly white. Another security guard hurried in behind the police carrying a first aid kit. He handed it to Belinda who was holding onto me. Once I assured her I wouldn’t fall over she immediately began to attend to my hands.

"I’m alright, looks worse than it is." I grumbled, moving away from Shelley and the shattered glass. "Nika are you alright?" Nika nodded and leaned forward where she knelt on the floor fighting a wave of nausea.

"You called 911?" The tall Native American Police officer glanced at me.

"Yes sir. You can stop pointing your gun at her she’s not the threat," I gestured with my half bandaged hand at Nika. "She is." I pointed at Shelley, the guard tried to continue her work on my arm but I impatiently pulled away. "She snuck in here, illegally trespassed, and when her verbal abuse had no affect she physically attacked my guest."

"Ms. Ridgeway, please let me finish with your hands." Belinda asked patiently. I complied.

"Well we still have to check both of them for weapons." The police officer announced. His partner thoroughly patted down Nika and then moved onto Shelley.

A few minutes later Shelley was completely subdued, handcuffed and being escorted out by the police. Her eyes were vacant, her shoulders hunched forward and her blonde hair falling in her face. The Officer in charge picked my cell phone up from the floor and spoke to the operator for a few minutes before closing it, he placed it on the side table before going outside.

"We would have been here sooner Ma’am but the assailant's car was completely blocking the driveway," the guard bandaging my hand explained.

"I’m just glad you all arrived when you did," I sighed looking over at Nika who was lying on her back on the floor, both of her hands covering her face. She seemed to be engaged in some sort of breathing exercises, probably trying to calm herself down.

"Is she alright?" The male security guard asked from his position near the open front door.

Is she, I wondered? In the space of a few hours her home had been violated, she’d been attacked by a crazed stalker and then searched for weapons like she was a criminal. I had no idea how all this would affect my young love.

"She’s had a very difficult day. I’m sure she just needs a moment to collect herself. Do you think it would be alright if we all moved to the living room?" The guards shared a long look before nodding.

"No sudden moves," the young man warned.

I rolled my eyes and slid over to Nika being careful not to touch her and spoke quietly. "Nika, would you like to go sit on the sofa? Perhaps we could have some of our dinner?" Nika’s breathing was almost normal. She nodded her head and slowly pulled her hands away from her face. There was a small gash on her left cheek and the area was beginning to swell. When had that happened, I wondered? Nika sat up in slow motion wincing with pain. The skin around her eyes was a blotchy red. She had been fighting off tears.

"Can I help you? Are you hurt?" I asked.

"I think I’m mostly … undamaged," Nika said. I smirked a little at Nika’s sometimes-peculiar way of expressing herself. I winced as I supported Nika, because of the bandaged cuts on my hands and the stiffness of my muscles.

"Did she hurt you?" Nika’s eyes flared with anger looking down at my hands. I shook my head and gestured at the broken glass littering the floor.

"Ms. Ridgeway used that to break the assailant’s arm," Belinda stated. "Then she must have landed on top of the pieces." She sounded impressed.

Nika stared down at the remains of a heavy, decorative, hand-blown bowl. Bright shards of yellow and orange littered the floor; some smeared with blood. Nika’s eyes snapped back to stare at me.

"You could have been stabbed!" she said with quiet amazement.

"I didn’t think about that, darling. I just … I couldn’t..." I wasn’t sure how to express what had happened; my body had switched to automatic. Confusion played over Nika’s face. "Come on, let’s sit down."

The security guards kept a respectful distance as Nika and I sat together on the sofa. I had a few mouthfuls of coconut rice but didn’t taste them. Nika sipped the juice while we waited in silence. I knew the police would have hours of questions and reports to fill out I just hoped we could get it over with quickly, I felt totally exhausted.

I was utterly dumbfounded. This petite fragile looking woman had thrown herself at someone twice her size, clearly insane and intent on hurting me, apparently without even thinking about it. I wanted to cry. No one had ever risked her life for my safety. That she cared for me that much! But tears of anger were fighting with the tears of joy so I fought them both off. I focused on simply breathing and sipping the sweet coconut juice. The three years I had practiced karate had served me well tonight; fending off Shelley’s attack and maintaining a relatively calm state afterwards. I leaned towards Kathryn’s hand rubbing my shoulder. I wanted to tell her how much that meant to me, how important she’d become to me, how much I loved her. My peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the shattered glass littering the floor. Years of training could not have kept the knot of anger from filling up my throat. I wondered how much that bowl had cost? I wondered how tonight would effect my relationship with Kathryn? The old familiar bitterness returned. Every time I thought I had escaped her, every time I had made a new home, a new life for myself she would find a way to destroy it! How could I ever have a life with Shelley constantly destroying everything!? Who would want to be with someone who came with a psycho ex-girlfriend? Kathryn’s reassuring hand felt bittersweet … how could she possibly still be interested in me after seeing that? Her affection would turn to pity or fear and then it would all be over, just like Petra, just like …

"Could I take your statements now?" The handsome Native American officer had returned with a clipboard, his voice had interrupted my negative train of thought.

"We can do that here?" Kathryn asked sounding relieved.

"Yes, Ma’am of course. I assume you’ll want to press charges?" He asked.

I looked at Kathryn as she nodded and reached out to take the form he was holding towards her, she looked distant but only annoyed not really angry. It was very hard to tell what she was feeling. I wondered if this was the ‘Executive face" she had joked about. It was a little disturbing. I received the same form and glanced at the brief instructions. ‘In as much detail as possible’ made me smirk. I was going to need more than one to do that. While Kathryn and I quietly wrote the security guards excused themselves. I assumed their statements would be collected some time tonight as well. I briefly wondered what they would say about me, and then I shook that thought off in an attempt to avoid being negative. Once we had written our statements Kathryn escorted Officer Shashotay to the door. I couldn’t hear most of their conversation. I was simply relieved the whole ordeal was over, well at least for today.

Finally we were alone. Kathryn returned to the couch and sat facing me her left arm along the back so her fingers could play in my hair.

"You’re awfully quiet darling, are you sure you’re alright?" She queried softly. I turned and nuzzled my face into her neck and wrapped my arms around her. She maneuvered her left leg around my hip so she could pull me even closer. "Shh, it’s over darling." Tears were running down my cheeks as I pulled back. I couldn’t bring my self to look at her.

"It feels like it’s never going to be over. Every time I find something good she destroys it." I looked over at the once beautiful art glass lying in broken shards on the creamy marble. Kathryn’s small hand turned my face towards hers and stared straight into my eyes. I felt ashamed, guilty; it was very hard to hold her gaze.

"Darling, it’s just a bowl, it’s not important…"

"That’s not," I started to explain.

"I know that’s not what you mean, what I’m saying is that’s the only damage. That crazy bitch hasn’t changed how I feel about you." More tears obscured my eyes for a moment. There were unshed tears in Kathryn’s eyes as well. "Nika, if anything I respect you more for living through that … that poison, for getting away from her without losing the beautiful person you are." Her sincerity caused another flood of tears. I pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight. Searing pain shot through my right side when Kathryn reciprocated. I made a garbled gasp and pulled back.

Kathryn pulled my shirt up to just under my breasts, large bruises covered much of my abdomen. "Darling we’re going to the hospital right now."

"It doesn’t hurt that much." I lied. Kathryn looked at me impatiently.

"You could have a broken rib! Internal damage? She had you in a vise grip for several minutes." I knew she was right but all I really wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep in her arms.

"Alright." I sighed. "Shouldn’t we call a cab?" Kathryn was already walking to the door.

"What for?" She turned. I gestured at her bandaged hands.

"I can’t drive a standard." I admitted.

"I’ll manage." She replied. The determination in her voice made it clear there was no point in arguing.

We drove in silence. Kathryn used just the tips of her fingers to shift like she had the first time we’d gone out together. Thinking of that night made me smile and forget the present for a few moments.

"What are you smiling about?" Kathryn asked quietly. She hadn’t even looked in my direction; sometimes I wondered how she could read me so well.

"I was just thinking about the last time you were shifting with your fingertips. Do you remember? That first drive together?" I turned a little in my seat so I could clearly see her face in the passing streetlights. She grimaced a little every time she had to change gears.

"Well it was for a far more pleasant reason." Kathryn quickly glanced at me. "I wish I could hold your hand right now." Her voice was low as though she was speaking to herself. I reached over and lightly rested my hand on her forearm, letting my fingers slide up and down a little.

The hospital was a torment of brightness filled with too many patients and too few staff. The receptionist assumed both of us needed attention and gave Kathryn a set of admission forms too. She tried to argue that it wasn’t necessary.

"The guard did a perfectly good job." She said. The receptionist overheard, called us back and asked if our injuries were the result of a crime. She handed us more forms. I offered to help Kathryn fill them out but she stubbornly did it herself by holding the pen in an awkward manner. We sat next to each other in silence. After being moved to an examining ward, more waiting, explaining what happened to the doctor, photographs to document the injuries, a brief talk with a counselor and finally treatment of our injuries we walked back to the car. We got in and sat for a moment.

"I’m starving." Kathryn yawned.

"Me too, and exhausted." Kathryn, who was still yawning, nodded her head in agreement.

"Shall we stop for a quick snack?"

"I’d rather just make something quick back at the house." I’d had enough of my fellow humans for one night. "Toast? A Shake?"

"I’m sure we can manage that." Kathryn placed her newly bandaged right hand on my thigh. I covered it lightly with mine so she could quickly pull away to shift when she needed to.

Back at her house Kathryn sat sipping decaf tea at the kitchen counter while I made us some toast.

"What would you like on yours?" I asked opening the fridge.

"Raspberry jam." She watched me spread a thin layer on her toast.

"Is that enough?" I asked handing it to her across the counter.

"Perfect." She smiled at me. We had only switched on the little light above the stove, perhaps finding the semidarkness comforting after the harsh light of the hospital. "Imagine the state I’d be in if you weren’t here?" She was trying to be lighthearted; her tired eyes sparkling at me flirtatiously. Immediately I thought of what might have happened if I hadn’t been here tonight; what if Shelley had decided to vent her insane rage on Kathryn? "Nika?" her voiced had changed to concerned.

"If I hadn’t been here?" I looked into her beautiful blue-grey eyes. "If she’d attacked you…"

"Nika, she never would have gotten in the door. I would have checked the security camera. I’m sorry I didn’t show them to you, that was stupid of me. You flick to a certain channel and you can see who’s there on the TV."

"You’re not stupid Kathryn, and I’m the one who’s lucky to have you around. I should have told you about her, how crazy she can be."

"Darling you had no way of knowing she’d show up here tonight."

"I should have known. She’s done this before." I could barely get the jam on to my toast I was so angry with my self. Kathryn walked around the counter and gently turned me towards her, she took the knife and placed it on my plate and gently pulled me into her arms. She tipped her head back slightly to look straight into my eyes.

"You are not to blame for what happened tonight Nika. Not in any way. You have to believe that." She spoke softly but forcefully, her voice thick with emotion. "You know that don’t you?"

Tears welled up in my eyes again. I couldn’t speak. It was my fault; how could it not be? I shook my head and Kathryn pulled me closer.

"that fucking bitch." She murmured, as I sobbed silently on her shoulder. She let me cry for a few minutes and then she pulled back and caught my eye again. "Darling lets finish our snack and go to bed. Everything will look better in the morning believe me." I took the kleenex she grabbed from the side counter and blew my nose. She quickly kissed my neck and released me so she could pull her plate closer. "I’ll make a few calls in the morning." She stated firmly not looking at me. The sun was beginning to filter through the night sky. She smirked at me "Well, It’ll probably be afternoon by then." Again she was trying to reassure me, make me feel better.

"I wish this hadn’t happened. I had hoped you’d never be affected by her … delusions." I barely had the will to look at her. I felt so ashamed.

"Nika, it’s ok. Trust me she’ll be damned sorry she ever set foot in my house." She took a swig of tea and munched on the last corner of her toast.

"I’ll never afford a lawyer." I said thinking about my bank balance and how I likely wouldn’t be able to work for a couple of days with three fractured ribs. When I looked up from my plate Kathryn was looking at me with her left eyebrow cocked. She looked more than a little annoyed.

"Nika, do you honestly think I’d let you worry about that? I have a lawyer, a damned good one. Not to mention the funds to retain several more! We’re in this together, have you honestly not figured that out?" The last thing I wanted was her angry with me, or offended. In the short time we’d been together I’d felt more in love than I ever had before. I didn’t want to lose that. I was suddenly very angry with Shelley for putting that at risk.

"Kathryn, I’m sorry. I’m not used to depending on anyone else but myself. It’s a hard habit to break."

"Trust me, darling. No-one understands that concept better than I do." Her eyebrows had relaxed and she looked sad.

"Still I feel weird about it, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to repay you." I reached out and cupped her cheek hoping she would look at me again, she did.

"Having you with me is more than enough." She uttered softly looking directly into my eyes.

"I’m sure we could come up with some way I could pay you back." I took a step closer and tangled both hands in her hair.

"I’m thinking of several right now." She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into a deep delicious kiss. Several blissful minutes later we pulled apart and I opened my eyes to see the dawn light glowing on Kathryn’s freckles. "I told you everything would seem better in the morning." She smirked at me.

‘I love you’ I thought, but I couldn’t say it. I tried to communicate it with another kiss. Why can’t I say it? "Let’s go to bed Darling, I’m dead on my feet."

I agreed and we walked upstairs together. It felt gloriously domestic to share the sink brushing our teeth. Though it looked quite awkward and painful with her thickly bandaged hands. I helped Kathryn get out of her clothes and then into the top of her men’s silk pajama’s. She went back downstairs for something while I was undressing. I think I heard her on the phone but as soon as I lay down I fell asleep.