Ciara awoke in a lot of pain. It was dark and it took her a few moments to realize she was in the hospital. In the chair next to her bed, Ciara's mother slept. Silently, Ciara adjusted her position in the bed. She remembered everything.

"Mom?" Ciara squeaked out, trying her best to sound confused.

Hope Williams Brady stirred, then opened her eyes. After a few seconds, she realized Ciara was awake. "Ciara? Honey?"

"Mom, what happened to me?" Ciara asked, even though she knew exactly what happened. "The last thing I remember is talking to Will...

"Oh my god."

For dramatic effect, Ciara grabbed her head and began to shake. It wasn't hard to make it look convincing because whatever painkillers she had been given had worn off.

"I'll get a doctor," Hope said, pressing the call button next to Ciara's bed. "You're going to be okay."

As the women waited for someone to come, Ciara hoped that Sonny would finally let her go. She had done everything he had asked of her, and she was tired.

A nurse came into the room and Hope bellowed at the young man to get a doctor. He nodded silently and left the room as quickly as he had come in.

"Do you remember anything?"

Ciara looked at her mother and nodded. "It was Will. Will Horton, my cousin. He had attacked Tripp, and I was trying to calm him down. He... He pushed me!"

Hope grabbed her daughter's hand as Ciara tried to cry. No tears came out, so she pinched herself with her free hand until a few fell down her face. "Why did he push you?"

"I was trying to calm him down. He was crazed, insisting that Paul didn't rape Tripp. It was almost like he was completely detached from reality." Ciara looked into her mother's eyes and saw the concern in them. Guilt started to build up in her chest.

"I have some phone calls to make, honey. I need to call Rafe and have him come get your statement. And I need to let Claire know you're okay."

"Claire?" The guilt that had been nagging at Ciara burned away as rage took over her senses. "Why would you call Claire?"

Smiling, Hope looked at her daughter. "Claire is the one who called the ambulance. She's been so worried about you."

"I bet she has," Ciara said, doing her best to hide the sarcasm and venom in her voice.

DOOL

Theresa Donovan was panicking. "Boss, you can't do this. You're still wanted."

"I don't care. He attacked my son." The other woman picked at the dirt under her nails with the tip of a dagger. "You may not know this because you don't have a child-"

"I have a son," Theresa interrupted. "Tate."

"That's a stupid name," the woman informed her underling. "But since you do have a son, you should know that a mother will do anything to keep her child safe. And maybe if I had been around, Tripp would still be safe."

Ava Vitali stabbed her dagger into a picture of Will Horton.

Theresa shrank back out of fear. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just keep letting Sonny Kiriakis think you're loyal to him. I'll deal with Will Horton and Paul Narita."

DOOL

"It's good to see you, Son," John said as he hugged Paul.

"It's good to see you, too, Dad," Paul said as he returned the hug. "And thank you for paying my bail."

"Think nothing of it." John kept one arm around Paul's shoulder and guided him to the car. "You'll have to tell me what happened. I read about the case in the newspaper on my flight home, but you're my son and I know you can't have done what they're saying."

Paul froze, but John kept walking. The arm fell away from Paul's shoulders. It took a moment for John to turn around and look at his son.

"I didn't do it," Paul swore, staring into his father's eyes. "I know what the tests say and what Tripp is saying. But I didn't do it."

"I believe you."

John hoped that Paul believed him. He gave his son a smile and waited for Paul to return the gesture. It took a few seconds, must he mustered a small one.

"Come on. Let's get to the car and get you home." John again began to guide Paul, but again the man didn't move.

"Whose home?" Paul asked. "Mine or yours?"

"You're welcome to stay with Doc and me if you want. There's plenty of room. It's just us and Will living there. Though, he hasn't been home in awhile and we're starting to get worried."

"I don't think that's a good idea. You should probably take me back to my apartment. I don't... I don't wanna cause problems for you and Marlena."

"Think nothing of it," John assured his son, though it did no good.

"Even so, I'd like to just go back to my apartment if that's okay."

Sighing, John nodded his head. "Okay. But keep in mind that you can always change your mind."

DOOL

Tripp Dalton stared at himself in the mirror. It wasn't that long ago that he had been getting dressed for a date, giddy and excited and nervous and sick all at the same time. Now he was just sick. Reaching out, Tripp touched the glass where the bruises discoloured his face.

Was this going to be his life now? People attacking him in the street, calling him a liar? He had already deleted his social media and email accounts because of the baseball fans calling him everything but a human.

There was a knock at the door. Tripp desperately wanted to ignore it, but it was Claire and she was bound to have something important to say. After all, shortly after he had finished with Tripp, Will had attacked Ciara.

"Come in," he said, looking away from the mirror.

Claire opened the door and then closed it behind her. Whatever joy and peace she used to bring to Tripp had stopped after Paul raped him. He supposed that was also a part of his new life.

"Ciara woke up. My grandma called me," Claire said quietly, as if the words would break Tripp. He supposed they could.

"And Will?"

"He's still out there on the run." Claire took a tentative step towards Tripp and he reflexively stepped back, bumping into the mirror. She stopped and looked sad. Guilt filled the emptiness Tripp had felt the last few days. "They'll catch him."

"I hope so." Tripp thought of Will's face when he was attacking him. The man was devoid of any reason. It wasn't at all surprising that his rampage had continued on. He remembered hearing Ciara scream, and Claire leaving his side to see what had happened.

"There's something else..." Claire was even quieter as she spoke. "Paul was released on bail."

"What?" Tripp closed his eyes so he wouldn't cry. Against his will, his brain dredged up two sets of memories: those of his night of passion with Paul and also the way Paul seemed to be a zombie when he woke up after being drugged and raped. It made him sick and all Tripp wanted to do was puke until he was nothing.

"Grandma told me that when she called. I guess Rafe told her as soon as it happened."

Tripp nodded but said nothing. After all, what could he say? That he just wanted to die every time he heard Paul's name? Because it was all too much. And to know that there were thousands if not millions of people out there who knew his name and face and that he had been raped... Ciara's mom was supposed to keep it out of the papers but some anonymous source had leaked everything to the press. Every lurid detail. And all he could do was suffer in silence until the trial.

"Are you okay?" Claire asked.

With his eyes still closed, Tripp nodded again. He couldn't speak. He couldn't face his only friend. But there was something he could do. Something he had to do.

DOOL

Sonny watched as his husband slept. Whatever Ciara had done, it had landed Will squarely in his lap. The man came to him frightened and panicked, asking for a place to hide. Of course, Sonny offered him a couch and then called his father the lawyer.

Justin had been hesitant about Sonny's plan to have Will institutionalized. But when he heard about Will attacking Tripp and Ciara in the streets, he agreed that it was better than being incarcerated. After all, Will was sick and needed help if he was going to those extremes. It just seemed to be a matter of getting Ciara and Tripp to not press charges.

If she knew was what good for her, Ciara would do exactly as Sonny would tell her. Tripp was another story. Somehow, Sonny would have to convince the twit that Will would be better served with psychiatric care than behind bars. He imagined it wouldn't be too hard, though. Because as far as he knew Tripp hadn't bothered to call the police after Will attacked him.

Will murmured a name in his sleep, low and mumbled, but Sonny still heard it. And it made him livid. After everything he had done, after he had destroyed his ex, Will was asleep in Sonny's house but dreaming of Paul. It was an affront to his senses and renewed his conviction that getting Will the help he needed was the best thing to repair their marriage.

Reaching out, Sonny almost brushed Will's face with his finger, but his phone began to vibrate. Silently excusing himself, Sonny left the room and saw that it was Theresa calling him.

"What is it?"

"Jeez, Boss. Can't I just call to see how you're doing?"

"No," Sonny snapped. "If it isn't important, I shouldn't be talking to you. You know that."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm calling to tell you something important. Paul Narita is out on bail. He's currently at his apartment. Just thought you should know that."

"Why would I need to know that?" Sonny asked suspiciously. He hadn't clued Theresa in to what he and Ciara had done. The fewer people that knew that the better. Sure, she was there when he grilled Ciara, but they hadn't actually mentioned the rape or the frame job.

"Because when your husband finds out Paul is out, he's gonna run right to him. We both know that."

Sonny ended the call and leaned against the wall. Theresa was right. Even if he were facing criminal charges, Will would go to Paul because for some reason he was infatuated with the man. And Sonny had a limited amount of time in which to get Will under his control. He began calling his father.

DOOL

All Paul wanted to do was take a shower and sleep his life away. The press had surrounded his building and hounded him in the parking lot while his father acted as a makeshift bodyguard. It was awful, but Paul was glad that it was happening at his home and not at his father's.

He walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and began digging through his clothes for something to wear when there was a knock at the door. Paul briefly wondered how the press found out which apartment was his while he walked to the door and peered through the peephole.

"You shouldn't be here," Paul said in a shaky voice when he saw who was waiting for him. "Go home."

"No. You owe me this." Tripp pounded on the door and Paul flinched as though the fist hitting the wood were hitting him instead. "Open the door and talk to me, Paul. Be a man."

Against his better judgment, Paul acquiesced. He opened the door fully expecting Tripp to attack him. Instead, Tripp just kind of looked him over.

"You couldn't put some clothes on?" The young man asked as he walked into the apartment.

Paul didn't answer him. He hesitated, wondering what to do before finally deciding to close the door. "You caught me right after a shower. And you were being pretty insistent."

Tripp didn't acknowledge Paul. He just stared at the bed. Paul chose to grab a dirty robe from the hamper and put it on over his towel.

"Why are you here, Tripp?" Paul asked fearfully. "You know this is a bad idea. You've pressed charges against me for raping you."

"Because you did," Tripp said in an equally shaky voice. He turned and stared into Paul's eyes. "They found your DNA, Paul. There was a date rape drug in my system."

"I'm telling you that I didn't do it, Tripp. I don't know what happened. Whenever I try to remember that night I come up blank, but I know I would never rape you. That isn't who I am."

With a scoff, Tripp stepped up to Paul. They were close enough that Paul could feel Tripp's breath on his face. He didn't look angry, though. There was no fury in his eyes. All Paul could see was hurt. All he wanted to do was make it so that Tripp wasn't hurting.

"Then tell me who you are. Because I don't know you. I wonder if you forgot that in all of this. Before that night, before you raped me, all I knew was that you were the guy who shook me out of my funk. You made me excited to be someone. And now I'm a pariah. Nobody liked me before, and even fewer like me now.

"You these bruises on my face? They're there because of you. Because you can't just admit to what you did someone attacked me."

"Will..." Paul said quietly as he continued to stare into Tripp's eyes. "Will attacked you?"

"You don't seem too surprised. Did you two plan that to try to scare me into dropping the charges?" Tripp blinked, but his eyes were still full of pain. His voice wasn't filled with indignation, but rather on the verge of cracking into a sob. "What did I do to you?"

Stepping back, Paul broke the eye contact and the tension. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're hurting and confused and lost. But you have to believe that I didn't rape you, Tripp. The last thing I ever wanted was to see you like this."

That was when Tripp broke, falling to his knees in Paul's apartment and sobbing face first into the floor. Paul didn't know what to do or how to help. He froze, just as he had frozen the morning Tripp woke up on his bed sick and bleeding.

What had he been thinking, letting this man into his home? It could cost him his freedom. A condition of his release was no contact with the victim. With Tripp. And yet, all Paul wanted to do was pull the man into a hug and make him believe everything would be okay. But he held back because he was certain that would just make it worse.

"You should... You should go," Paul advised weakly. He walked around Tripp and stood by the door, one hand on the knob. "I can't tell you whatever it is you want to hear. All I have is the truth."

Tripp fought back more tears and he climbed to his feet. Gently, he wiped his face dry and regarded Paul. There was something to the unsure way he was holding himself: the way he seemed to make himself as small as possible.

Paul opened the door and Tripp quietly left. Paul locked the door behind him and leaned against it. He didn't know what was going to happen in the near future with the trial, but Paul hoped somehow Tripp would be able to find peace.