What Goes Around...

Part Thirty Six

A/N Sorry, another lengthy delay, had a family trip...back now. Next chapter tomorrow. Promise. Thanks for the patience, MZ

Chapter Thirty Six

"You're going back?" Freya's mother looked sad. They'd had a brilliant week in Spain, and a wonderful six weeks before that. But she'd been gone for almost two months, and whether or not she wanted to go back to that upstate New York town, the fact that Simon was about to be sentenced after his guilty plea, meant that she had to go back.

She'd wondered if Mitchell Cooper would contact her during her time away, but he hadn't. Not until today, the day she'd decided to go back anyway. The email still sat in her inbox glaring at her, but she couldn't bring herself to open it. Her mother had been a huge help in keeping her distracted, and when she wasn't directly focussing on him, life was easier, but at night she couldn't fight it. She wanted to hate him, wished she could say that she never wanted to see him again. But she couldn't. She missed him like hell, they'd spent so much time together, he got her, in a way that she only thought academics could. No one had ever made her laugh like he did, or made her feel appreciated, or cooked such perfect steaks. But he had lied to her, she couldn't deny that fact, and she wasn't about to roll over and make things easy for him. Despite her feelings, she wasn't about to pretend that it was all good; she'd been a doormat with Simon, happy to suffer painfully waiting for him to throw her some crumbs. She'd been sad and deluded and he'd lied to her to. No more. She was going to attack him, force him to admit to why he was being so emotionally inept, it had been good between them, better than good, despite her inexperience she knew that it was. So he had to tell her why he was about to throw that away, right after she punched him in the nose for the lies he'd told her. That was her priority, right before she sat in the gallery in the local courthouse and watched Simon sentenced for his assault on her and Mitchell Cooper. He'd pleaded guilty, so his charges were dropped from kidnap and attempted murder, which seemed a little excessive by Freya's standards, to some form of assault, but it was serious enough to see a term of imprisonment.

The fraud, conspiracy and industrial related charges were only a matter of time. And they could add to that, she felt a little pity for him, he hadn't been a bad man, she'd known him for years, the last few months...well they were out of character. Then she thought about the way he'd spoken about her, the way he'd wanted to implicate her in his deceit, the time in the house...the state of Mitchell Cooper's head after he'd attacked him. Whether it was out of character or not, she wanted nothing to do with him, and had to remind herself that he could have killed her, or her landlord, and she couldn't bear thinking about that. No, he'd brought everything on himself; she had no reason for misplaced guilt or concern for him, if anything she should hate him.

And she still had to face him in court, give a victim statement, tell the judge the impact his attack had had on her life. She'd never known true fear until he had grabbed those kittens, and that was only superseded by the silence after she escaped, the concern at what he may have done to Mitchell Cooper...what he had done.

So she was going back?

She looked at her mother and nodded, "I have to deal with things, unfinished business."

Nodding, her mother sipped at her tea joining her daughter's perusal of the view from the landscaped garden of their home, "I get that...though I sense it's a lot more than just this court case."

Instantly defensive Freya shook her head, "of course it's more than a court case, that man has ruined everything I had, everything I am." She took a steadying deep breath, "THAT is what this is about."

Smiling knowingly her mother patted her hand, "if you say so darling, but since you came back, on this trip...you've been more settled than I've ever seen you. You seem distracted, but you're not going on about work, you've not mentioned how bereft you feel without the mind fuel that you've always needed. Yet you are sad...about something."