Penny's POV
My nightmare was over, I hurt like hell but Merlin could never hurt me again. They said I had a few broken ribs from the stomach punch and some cuts on my face. I was lucky my jaw wasn't broken. Of course I had the small cuts on my ankles and wrists, but they would heal quickly. I was severely dehydrated and very weak from not eating, so I had to stay in the hospital until I got my strength back. I couldn't even walk when they found me. After they examined me and I was waiting to be taken up to a room. They let Brian come be with me in the emergency room.

"Hi Penelope."
"Hey there Junior" I tried to smile but it hurt too much.
"Did you give your statement?"
"Yes, they said they would come talk to you later and that I wasn't to leave town."
"Are they going to arrest you guys? Is my brother going to be charged with murder?" I could feel my blood pressure start to rise. The monitors started beeping.
"Please just calm down honey, no one is getting arrested or charged with anything." I don't think Brian was really sure of that. But I managed to calm down.
"I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this, I thought he was still in Prison."
Brian looked at me. "You don't need to be sorry for what I've been through. It is nothing compared to what you've been through. If I could, I would have switched with you and taken every hit so you didn't have to. I do wish you had told me about what Merlin did back then, but I understand why didn't want to talk about it."
"Did Tess tell you the whole story?"
"Yes. Honey. She had no choice." He explained.
"I knew she would have to if they picked up on how I wrote the note. I had planned to tell you this summer."
"It's time for you to let yourself mourn for your daughter. You've held it all in for over twenty years."
"I don't know if I can." The thought scared me.
"I will be right there with you. We are going to cancel our remaining gigs this month and there aren't any more booked until early August."
"Brian, that will cause a lot of questions. I really would like this to stay private as much as possible. It hasn't leaked out has it?"
"It hasn't sweetheart and don't worry. As far as everyone knows, Matt is sick and can't sing."
"I feel terrible you guys have to lie and that Matt has to fake being sick."
"They love both of us and will do whatever it takes to help us get through this. As a matter of fact, the guys, Jay, Allen and Tess are all in the waiting room right now."
"Do you think they would all understand if I didn't want to see anyone yet? I just want you right now."
"I'm sure they'll understand. I'll tell them how you're doing and explain it to them."
"I guess they all put their lives on hold the last few days. I can only imagine what it was like for you. Merlin screwed up or ruined a lot of people's lives. I hope Wanda makes it ok."
"Don't worry, we'll make sure of it."
"Chloe's ok, right?"
"She doesn't even know, Max and I agreed we wouldn't tell her until you were safe."
"Or dead." I said.
"Don't think about that, okay? You are alive and we have our whole lives to be together. Why don't you rest right now, you haven't slept in days."

Brian's POV
Penny finally shut her eyes for a few minutes, but I could tell she really wasn't resting. I was exhausted too, but I had to keep going until she was ok.

When they took Penny up to her room they said It would be about 30 minutes before I could go in and see her. She was upset. "Brian, don't let them take me without you."
"Honey, it will be okay. I need to go out and talk to everyone in the waiting room anyway."
The nurse that had come down from the floor she was going to be on said, "It's okay Penny, I'll be with you. My name is Jennifer and I promise I won't let anyone hurt you." She smiled and held Penny's hand.
That calmed Penz and she said "Okay."
I took Jennifer to the side, "Are you sure you're ok with staying with her?"
"Yes, of course. I am a fan and I am glad to be able to help you both. Don't worry, I am not going to tell anyone she's here."
"Thank you"
Jennifer went back to Penny. I headed to the waiting room.

Matt's POV
We were all a nervous wreck; we didn't know what that Son of a Bitch had done to Penny. I knew Brian was relieved, but I knew this had taken a lot out of him. I really wanted to get a chance to talk to him. I knew that might be rough, his main focus right now was Penny.

After what felt like hours, Brian finally came out to the waiting room. We were all very relieved to find out that her physical injuries were not life threatening. We all knew without it being said that the emotional trauma was going take a while to get past.
Brian explained to everyone that Penny was very weak and wanted to hold off on any visitors right now. Everyone understood and told Brian to give her their love.

Once everyone started to disperse, I put my hand on Brian's shoulder. "Need someone to talk to?"
"I've got to get back to her, I really don't have time." He was ready to run off.
"Come on, 5 minutes." I wasn't giving up.
We sat in the corner of the now empty room. "Matt, I still can't believe this all happened. I am still waiting to wake up and find Penny in the bed beside me with no bruises, broken ribs or" he cut his sentence off there.
"It's not a dream Brian, thank God she is safe. You didn't give up, if anything like this ever happened to Val I hope I can be as strong as you were."
"She's the one that was strong. She taunted him so that he would beat her more to stall until we got there."
"You know why she was able to do that? Because you told her not to give up. She knew you would find a way."
"It took me too long, I should have just looked for her myself. I shouldn't have sat around waiting for the police or the private investigator to do something. It's my fault." He was beating himself up.
"I knew you were doing this to yourself. Stop man! You did everything you could do at the time, doing something stupid could have gotten her killed. Move forward, don't make yourself crazy. You need to help her heal."
"I will try, thanks Sanders. Talking about it has helped."
"Anytime, you're my brother. Keep us updated on how she is and call me whenever you need to talk."
"I don't mean to be rude, but I really need to get back to Penny." I could hear the love and concern in his voice.
"No problem, give her our love." With that, Brian practically ran out of the waiting room.

Penny's POV
I couldn't have asked for a better nurse than Jennifer. She helped me get comfortable as possible in my hospital room and talked to me and kept me company until Bri came back. I kept looking at the door though, waiting for him to walk through it.

He finally did and thanked Jennifer.
"It's a good thing you're back, she doesn't have to keep staring at the door now." She smiled at me, I guess I was pretty obvious. "Penny, I am going to be right here if you need me just hit the nurse button. I and working a 12 hour shift so I'll be here all night."

We both thanked her and then Brian and I were finally alone.
I knew I needed to get something off my chest. I knew he wasn't going to be happy about it.
"Brian, I have to tell you something. It was Merlin who set up that kid being in my house. The kid was supposed to kill me, but he panicked and ran."
"You mean that bastard was behind that?" Brian was furious.
"Yes and Merlin said that you threatened the kid to get him to plead guilty. Is that true?"
"Oh God Penny, it's true. I'm sorry, I was just..."
I interrupted him "Bri, it's okay. At first I was shocked, but I realized why you did it. But you did take a huge risk doing that."
"Some people are worth risking anything and everything for" he kissed my hand. "I love you Penny."
"I love you Brian, I was so afraid I'd never get to see you again. That the last memory you would have of me was..."
He interrupted me. "It's over, we don't need to worry about it or talk about it. You are safe, we are together and we are going to get through this together. Now get some sleep."
"How much have you slept in the last two days?" I asked.
"We're not talking about me. Now close your eyes and I am going to stay right here beside you."
He held my hand and I closed my eyes.
I was jolted awake by a vision of Merlin walking into the hospital room with a knife. I sat up and started screaming, it yanked the oxygen tube out of my nose and almost pulled the IV out of my arm. Bri was right there, he held me back from trying to get out of the bed. "Penny! It's okay, calm down it was just a dream." I started crying, he held on to me. The nurse came rushing in. "She's ok, she had a bad dream." He told her.

Brian's POV
I was able to stop Penny from jumping out of the bed and ripping her IV out, she must have had a rush of adrenaline from the nightmare. A nurse came in, it wasn't Jennifer. This nurse was probably mid-sixties and looked like a Drill Sargent. I had my arms around Penny and she was crying hysterically. I told the nurse that she was okay, she looked at me with disgust. She walked around the bed and checked Penny's IV and her monitors. Penny had calmed a little but was still shaking.
Penny had her face buried in my chest. The nurse looked at me. "Are you her boyfriend?" She said in a nasty tone, looking at my tattooed arms wrapped around Penny. "Did you do this to her? If so, you need to leave."
I was infuriated, "Not that it's any of your business, but I am her husband and I did not do this to her."
She rolled her eyes and said. "Well she's going to end up hurting herself if she keeps doing that! We may have to restrain her."
Penny looked up at me in horror. "NO! Brian, don't let her do that!"
Jennifer came running in, she must have heard Penny yell. She looked at me and then at Penny. She came up and rubbed Penny's back, "I'm sorry Penny, I was at lunch. Are you okay?"
Penny screamed, pointing at the rude nurse. "Get her out of here!!"
I turned to the bitch, "You need to leave, I will walk you out." Penny was now crying on Jennifer's shoulder. "Will you stay with her for a second, Jennifer?" She nodded.
The nasty nurse started to say something, I stepped in front of her. "You need to turn around and leave this room right now, before I call security or just drag you out myself." I followed her out in the hall and down to the nurse’s station. I kept my voice down because I didn't want Penny or any of the other patients to hear me.
"I'm not sure how you ever managed to become a nurse, but if you go near my wife's room again I will make sure that you aren't a nurse anymore. Do you understand?"
"I'm not sure how you think you could do that. I'm really not threatened by a person like you. But your wife needs to calm down, I was just thinking of her safety when I suggested that she be restrained. She obviously has some issues and you really aren't qualified to determine what's best for her health and safety right now." Then the bitch looked at my arms and chest (I had a V-neck shirt on).
"You obviously have some issues lady. I know you don't know who I am and my appearance bothers you, but you Will Not disrespect my wife. She was kidnapped, tied to a chair and beaten for two days. NO One is going to restrain her and like I told you before, don't go near her." Her jaw dropped and I walked back to Penny's room.

Jennifer had calmed Penny, they were talking and Penny wasn't crying anymore. Penny looked at me. "Jennifer promises that no one is going to do what that evil nurse said."
"Thank you Jennifer. I'm sorry I had to step out for a moment."
"No worries Mr. Gates" I smiled at her. "I mean Haner."
"You can just call me Brian"
"Penny told me what happened. I hope you said to her everything I've wanted to say to her since she started working here." She laughed "The Doctor authorized a sedative for you, Penny. Do you want to go ahead and take that?"
"Yes, on one condition. I want Brian to lay with me in the bed and hold me."
"That's really not allowed, but I think we can make an exception tonight."
Penny smiled, I thanked Jennifer. Penny finally was able to sleep for a few hours after that.
Even though we were cramped into that hospital bed, knowing Penny was safe and in my arms made it the only place I wanted to be.

Notes