Toni quieted for a moment and then with a grunt, turned toward the rear of the sofa. For a second, Laura forgot where they were as she smiled at the familiar position of her lover, but when she heard the shocked gasps from everyone in the room, she quickly covered Toni's exposed back with the blanket.

"Christ, that's where I know her from," Bernard said under his breath.

Laura froze. Allowing the words to settle in her brain, she turned and glared at the thick-waisted doctor. "You bastard!" she screamed, launching herself off the sofa. "You bloody fucking bastard!"

Stunned, everyone in the room stared in disbelief as Laura lunged at Bernard. Slapping and punching the man, it took several moments before anyone could react. Rushing over, Bill wrapped Laura in a bear hug and yanked her away.

"Laura, what the hell are you doing?" Bill said, struggling to keep hold of her.

"He's the one! He worked there. You bastard! How could you stand by and let them do those things to her?" Laura shouted, fighting to free herself from her father's hold. "How could you? How could you!"

"Laura, you're mistaken," Bernard said, shaking his head. "It wasn't-"

"No, I'm not! I heard what you said when you saw her scars. You recognized them. You son of a bitch! You recognized them because you're the one who stitched them up without giving her anything to kill the pain. You sick pig!"

"Laura, you're wrong," Dorothy said, coming over to stand at Bernard's side.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!" Dorothy shouted, grabbing Laura by the sleeve.

"Dori, let her go," Bernard said, placing his hand on her arm.

After glancing at her husband, Dorothy sighed and then did as he asked. Releasing her grip on Laura, she backed away.

For a moment, Bill thought Laura's fighting was over, but as soon as Bernard took a step in their direction, she began to struggle to escape again.

Holding up his hand, Bernard said, "Laura, please just listen to me for a moment. That's all I ask."

"You can go to hell!"

"Laura-"

"Fuck you, Bernard! Fuck you!"

"Woman, shut up and listen to me!" Bernard yelled, his face turning red as his temper flared. "Do you honestly think that I would have spent the last two hours trying to save her bloody life if I'd been responsible for what you're accusing me of? Do you? Do you!"

As he had hoped it would, his question took some of the wind out of Laura's sails, and seeing that she stopped trying to fight her way out of Bill's arms, Bernard reined in his temper as well. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout, but will you please let me explain. Please?"

With a huff, Laura scowled at the man. "Go ahead. I'm listening."

"I've worked all over the UK. You know that. Early in my career, I worked in Carlisle and one day the hospital got a call requesting a triage team be sent to a prison a few hours away. Being the up-and-coming doctor, I volunteered and a short time later I found myself on a bus being taken to God knows where. Now, we all assumed there had been some sort of accident, but when we got to the prison, we were told there had been some incidents of abuse to the prisoners, and before they could be transported, the officials wanted us to examine them, treat them for any injuries and categorize...or rather document our findings.

"Like all young doctors, I had spent a fair amount of my time on graveyard shifts in emergency, so I was accustomed to seeing all types of injuries, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw that day."

Closing his eyes for a second, Bernard let out a sigh. "Christ, I think that was the longest day of my life. They just kept coming into the exam room, one after another, some defiant and some docile, but all were damaged in one way or another.

"She was the last one I saw," Bernard said quietly, looking over his shoulder at Toni. "I remember looking up from my clipboard as she shuffled into the room. They had all been given hospital gowns and slippers, but she didn't look like a patient. She didn't even look like a prisoner. She looked like a refugee."

"A refugee?" Laura asked in a ragged whisper.

"She was gaunt...terribly, terribly thin, and her head had been shaved. Through the stubble I could see a few white lines, scars left behind by past injuries, and I remember looking at my nurse in disbelief and seeing tears rolling down her face. We were professionals. We weren't supposed to show emotion, but my God, how could we not?

"She never once looked up...Toni, I mean. She didn't volunteer a single word, unless we asked her a question, so we proceeded with the exam...and that's when I discovered the scars on her back." Hanging his head, Bernard's voice became a whisper. "Christ, I still remember trying not to vomit. I was so appalled...so sickened by it all. I still am."

Bernard raised his eyes to meet Laura's. "I fear that today is all my fault. I'm sure she never looked directly at me that day, but she must have recognized my voice when I came into the house."

Laura regarded the man in front of her, replaying his story in her head. "So you're saying your voice...just your voice caused all of this to happen?"

"If you don't believe me, ask her when she wakes up. I wasn't one of her abusers, Laura. I swear to God, I wasn't."

The room was quiet except for the crackle of the fire. Those unaware of the tragedies and injustices in Toni's life had been enlightened and most felt as Bernard did the day he saw Toni's scars. Tears flowed freely, and heads shook in silence as innocents tried to wrap their heads around all things evil and dark.

Eleanor walked into the room carrying a tray of tea. After offering cups to Stephen, Peggy and Bill, she made her way to the sofa where her daughter sat on the edge, gazing at the woman covered in blankets.

"Here, take this," Eleanor said, handing Laura a cup.

"Thanks."

"How you doing?"

"I'm fine, Mum. I'm just worried about Toni."

"Bernard thinks she's going to be okay. He says there's no sign of frostbite or water in her lungs. Thank God."

"So is the family in shock?" Laura whispered.

"The family is worried about you, and about her."

"What happens when she wakes up, Mum? I couldn't calm her down before-"

"Well, we'll soon find out," Eleanor said softly, taking the cup from Laura's hand. "It appears she's coming to."

Hot and cocooned, Toni awoke slowly. Breathing in the smell of leather and cloth, she could hear someone whispering, and taking a deep breath, she rolled to her back and opened her eyes.

"Hiya, sweetheart," Laura said quietly, placing her hand on Toni's arm.

Toni's mouth was dry and her eyes refused to focus, but she offered the voice she knew so well a weak grin. "Hey."

"How you feeling?"

At first, Toni was confused by the question, but then she wasn't. Her vision still wouldn't clear and when she took a breath, her chest felt tight and sore. Aches in her back and legs announced themselves when she tried to move, so quieting, she blinked a few more times to clear the cobwebs. When Laura finally came into view, Toni groused, "What the hell are you wearing?"

Smiling, Laura looked down at the baggy pink and green outfit. "It belongs to Nancy."

"What happened to your clothes?"

Thankful Toni was still groggy, Laura said quietly, "Why don't we get you dressed, and then we'll talk?"

Blankly staring at Laura for a moment, Toni lifted the blanket and paled. "Where are my clothes? Laura, what the hell is going on?"

"First clothes, sweetheart, and then answers. I promise."

Having been ordered to stay in the warmth of the library, with Peggy by his side, Steven remained near the fire as he sipped his tea. Bill leaned against the doorway as if protecting the occupants from intrusion, and Eleanor sat on the arm of the sofa, watching as her daughter handed Toni a cup of broth.

"What's this?"

"It's just broth. Drink it. It's good for you."

"I'd prefer coffee or tea, if it's all the same to you," Toni said, shoving the cup in Laura's direction.

Toni's confusion had given way to annoyance. She wanted her own clothes, but was given an oversized track suit in pink and black to wear. She wanted privacy, but instead was told to dress behind a blanket held up by Eleanor, and now wanting nothing more than a cup of coffee and a cigarette, she was handed lukewarm broth and told to drink it. Toni was sore, stiff, frustrated and getting angrier by the second.

"And what the fuck happened to my arm?" she blurted, pushing up the sleeve of the baggy top.

"Toni, calm down," Laura said quietly.

"I am calm. I just want some answers. That's all."

Before Laura could provide any, the library doors slid open and everyone's eyes were on Bernard as he stepped into the room.

"I thought I'd...I'd check on my patient," he said softly.

"Patient?" Toni asked, glaring at Laura. "What does he mean by patient, and who the hell is he anyway?"

Baffled, Laura looked at Bernard and then back at Toni. "That's Bernard, sweetheart. You remember me telling you about him? He's married to Dorothy."

Thinking for a moment, Toni said, "Oh, yeah...the doctor."

"That's right."

"Did he do this?" Toni said, motioning toward her bandaged arm.

"Yes, he did."

"What did I do? What happened to me? Laura, I'm confused," Toni said, running her fingers through her hair.

"Sweetheart, you...you got a bit worked up when Bernard walked into the house earlier."

"Worked up?"

"You panicked."

"Panicked?" Toni said, narrowing her eyes. "What do you mean panicked?"

"You...you recognized him and I guess it caused some sort of flashback to Thornbridge. You got scared and ran out of the house. I tried to catch you, but I couldn't, and then you fell into the river. If it wasn't for Stephen..."

Toni's head jerked up as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. A crowd of voices, but one was clear above all the others, and then there was cold and wind...and wet. She remembered hands, strong and masculine, yanking her away from the pain, and a mouth, warm and unfamiliar, pressed against hers, but then frost and ice lodged itself in her veins and she was engulfed by blackness. Inky and thick, the darkness swept over her, pulling her down and weighing on her like a coffin trying to close. She had felt it before. Dozens of times, lying alone in a cold and damp cell, death had stalked her, beckoning her with promises of warmth. Relax in the arms of death and hurt no more.

Unconscious, Toni's mind had roamed free, taking her back to times when she had smiled easily, riding horses though fields of heather and jumping fences withered and broken by age. Memories filled her mind like photographs, and in snapshot after snapshot, she saw her life...and then she saw her love. Auburn hair brushing against her skin like butterfly wings, a sexy laugh, a giggle, a blush...a promise. Toni had made a promise. Not yet sealed and stamped, but it was a promise nonetheless. 'Til death do us part. Suddenly, the allure of warmth was no longer tempting. The devil and his disciples dressed in prison officer uniforms could all go straight to Hell, and when Stephen breathed in again...she breathed out.

Toni raised her eyes and stared at the man dressed in a wrinkled white shirt and brown trousers. She glanced at his belt of leather, fastened with a polished silver buckle, and then back at his face as she tried to place him in her Thornbridge memories, but he didn't belong there. "I don't remember you."

"Sweetheart, you never saw Bernard, but you heard him. That's what triggered all of this. It was his voice."

"What?"

"He was one of the doctors they called in when they closed Thornbridge. He was the one who examined you that day, so when you heard his voice, you-"

"Wait," Toni said, holding up her hand to quiet Laura. "Give me a minute."

Cocking her head to the side, Toni closed her eyes and waited while the last piece of the puzzle slipped into place. What had been muddled and clouded by near-death suddenly became crystal clear. Opening her eyes, she turned and looked at Laura. In a voice void of emotion, she said, "It wasn't him."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know that man," Toni said, pointing at Bernard. "I've never seen him before."

"I know, Toni. You weren't listening-"

"Laura, it was the other one...Cameron."

Laura looked around the room and saw her confusion mirrored on the faces of her family. Turning back to Toni, she placed her hand on her arm. "Sweetheart, there isn't anyone here by that name. Maybe you just need a bit more rest."

"Stop trying to placate me!" Toni shouted, jumping off the sofa. "I'm not a bloody child!"

"I know you aren't," Laura said, getting to her feet. "But Toni, you've been through a lot today. You're just a little confused right now."

Exasperated, Toni turned her back on Laura and yanked up the baggy sweatshirt, exposing the myriad of hellish scars. "Do you honestly think I'd ever forget the face of the bastard that did this to me?" she screamed. "Do you!"

When Laura didn't answer, Toni lowered the shirt and turned around. For a moment, their eyes met, and seeing the doubt in Laura's, Toni set her jaw. "He-is-wearing-the-fucking-belt!"

He had watched and listened, and before the words had left her mouth, William MacLeod knew the truth. It wasn't hard to count to four, and knowing that three of the men in the house were currently standing in the library, he rushed out of the room.

Storming into the lounge, he saw Ron standing by the fireplace while Alice sat quietly in the chair by the front windows. Pointing in Ron's direction, he shouted at his niece, "What's his name?"

"I'm sorry. What?"

"I said...what is his name?"

"You know his name."

"His full name, Alice! What's his full bloody name?"

"Oh...um...it's Cameron Wesley Thomson. I thought you knew that."