That Last Little Spark

The cab ride to Jess' apartment was silent, except for the driver humming along to the radio. To Bam's confusion, Jess was sitting as far away from him as possible. She was looking out the window and rubbing her arm mindlessly.

When the driver pulled up to the sidewalk, Jess got out of the car and walked in ahead of Bam while he paid the fare. He thought she had taken the elevator without him, but she was waiting in front of them, waiting for one to come back down.

"Jess," Bam said quietly when the doors slid closed. She looked up at him silently. "Can we talk? Please?" he asked. She shrugged and looked down at the floor. He groaned in frustration when the doors opened again and she walked down the hallway ahead of him.

*
Jess carefully stepped through the doorway to see a few police officers poking around a hole in the wall next to the TV.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Her throat felt raw and dry.

"Looking to see where the bullet went. Are you Jessica Walker?" one of them asked, getting to his feet. She nodded.

"You can't find the bullet?" she asked. Then she felt someone put their hands on her shoulders and she resisted the urge to pull away. She knew it was Bam, but even that couldn't help her flinching a little.

"Well we haven't gotten the word back from the hospital. For all we know, it could still be in Mr. Andrew's foot. We just want to make sure we got everything." the other one explained and stood up as well.

"Now, we're going to need an account of whatever you can remember, so if it's possible for you to come down to the station, it would help a lot." the first officer said. Jess nodded again as the men picked up anything they had brought with them and filed out the door.

"I'm going to go take a shower. Watch TV, there's probably some pizza left over from before we went out tonight." Jess said before she stepped over a small pile of broken glass. It was then that she noticed the soft red rug from under the coffee table was rolled up in front of the TV. The glass must've been in the carpet and someone had shaken it out while they were cleaning up.

She peeled off the dress that used to be her favorite, but would now end up either in the garbage or washed and in the back of her closet, and got into the shower. She numbly washed her hair and furiously scrubbed at her body as if to wash away anything that would remind her that he had been crawling all over her only hours before.

Jess was about to turn the water off when everything that had happened finally hit her full force. She began to shake and had to sit on the edge of the tub to steady herself, and when she closed her eyes, she replayed everything that happened. Every move she had made, everything Chase had said and done. It was overwhelming. She suddenly burst into tears under the warm spray of water still pouring down on her.

On top of everything that had just happened, guilt was now hitting her full force when she thought about that girl she saw in emergency, and then about Bam. That girl had been attacked by her ex boyfriend. She had been beaten and shot by him. And she was pregnant.

If she remembered right, she could’ve sworn she heard a doctor say that the ex had been waiting in the girl’s apartment. Just like Chase had been waiting here tonight.

Jess knew that, even though it could’ve been worse, the worst thing that had happened to her tonight was cutting her legs, hands, and feet on broken glass from her coffee table. Something that could easily be replaced. Wounds that would heal with a little time. It would probably take longer for the emotional pain to heal, but she would survive, and eventually get on with her life.

But that girl on the stretcher. From what Jess saw, she could’ve lost her baby. There’s no way anyone can replace that. If that girl had lost her baby, Jess knew that the emotional damage would be done, especially for a 19 year old girl.

The guilt piled on even more when she thought about Bam. She hadn’t spoken a word to him since he’d gotten here, and she was still keeping him at a distance even though she knew that all he wanted to do was help her.

So, burdened by the guilt and confusion, Jess cried until the hot water ran cold. With a trembling hand she reached out and turned off the water before slowly getting to her feet. She pulled a large fluffy towel around herself as she pulled the curtain aside and stepped out of the tub. She didn't even look at herself in the foggy mirror as she dressed in a pair of baggy purple sweatpants and a loose black t-shirt.

*
Bam was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching a Super Sweet 16 marathon on MTV. He was annoyed with all of the brats who cried because their parent wanted to get them a cheaper car than the one they wanted or the girls who screamed when they couldn't find their perfect dress. Honestly, he wasn't even watching it when he landed on the marathon - he was waiting for the sound of the water to stop running. While he waited, he had cleaned up the pile of glass in the middle of the floor

But he got so wrapped up in watching this one girl's party get evacuated because of a fake volcano that he never saw Jess standing in the dim hallway. But when the show cut to a commercial, he jumped when he heard her clear her throat.

She looked like...hell. Her eyes were red rimmed and looked glassy and her wet, tangled black hair hung by her face lifelessly.

Without a word, she walked over to the couch and stood in front of him. "Can we talk?" she asked quietly, sitting down next to him. He lowered the volume on the TV and looked at her silently. He knew when not to open his mouth, and now was one of those times.

He listened to Jess talk about what happened earlier, watching her twist a flower ring around her middle finger. She wouldn't even look at him as she talked. But as she came to the end of her story, she started to choke up.

"You don't have to finish." he whispered, taking her hand. She shook her hand as tears lined her eyes.

"I don't even remember picking up the gun. I just pulled the trigger." she finally finished and wiped her eyes.

"I swear, I'll do everything to make sure he never comes near you again. And if he does, I'll kill him myself." Bam pulled her into his arms and she began to cry once more. This time, however, it was more from relief and the feeling that, as long as she had Bam right here with her, she could move on.