After he finished with his coffee he called Darlene and she took him home that day. After all that he had seen Billy was damaged. He was almost like a shell that was simply just walking around. But Darlene was worried about him. She could not just leave him. She had to be there to support him. Billy did not want her there. His expression said it all. There was a fierce kind of look in his eyes. He was angry at himself. He was not angry at her. He had failed Kate and as things looked he was not going to get to see her again.<br/><br/>“Billy, it is not your fault.” Darlene said while she sat herself down on his couch. Billy just shook his head. It was his fault. He had left her alone when she was younger. Billy had been too focused on his own life to be there for his niece. Due to that she was in a hospital after being raped in front of him. Another failure on his part. As Billy looked back on the past all he could think of was how he had failed her.<br/><br/>“Really Billy, it isn't.” Darlene pleaded with him. She reached out for him. Her hand landed on his shoulder. Billy tried to shrug it off. But when that did not work, he took her hand off of him by force. He was still holding her wrist when he got her hand off of his shoulder.<br/><br/>“What the hell do you know? Did you see your niece get raped in front of you? Does your niece blame herself for her father's death? If she does then I would like to know because otherwise you don't know shit.” Billy said to her with an evil almost growl like voice.<br/><br/>Darlene gasped at him but she still did not leave. Billy was being a dick to make her go away. She was not going to fall for it. Darlene knew this type of behavior. And she was not going to fall victim to it. She pulled her wrist away from his grasp.<br/><br/>“Billy, I am not leaving. I am going to be here till you are better.” Darlene was serious and it was easily to tell this due to her using the same voice she used in court. Billy turned toward her and gave her an evil glare. Why wouldn't she let him push her away? All he wanted was to be alone in his misery. She would not give him this request.<br/><br/>3 Months Later......<br/><br/>During the next 90 days, Billy worked on improving himself. He started to go to the gym on a regular basis. Jeffrey had not been found yet. So Billy was doing some major bulking up so that the next time he ran into the asshole they would be able to go toe to toe without a moment's hesitation. That was Billy's plan. He was going to see Jeffrey and begin to beat his ass. Billy was even taking martial arts classes to help out with that as well. He was not going to leave anything to chance.<br/><br/>He was looking very similarly to Jeffrey at this point. His arms were more than well defined and were starting to become bulky. He no longer only had a 6-pack, he had the full 8 by this point. He was getting lots of looks form women at work or anywhere else he went.<br/><br/>Billy cared little about the attention. He was doing it all for that goal of beating Jeffery’s ass. It was not for anything else. Though Darlene did enjoy seeing him. She was almost literally at his side wherever he went. Of course she still had a job to do but she was scared that he was going to attack a person that just looked like Jeffery. So she felt she had to monitor him. But there was also another reason.<br/><br/>He had held out as long as he could but Darlene could not hold Darlene back forever. She was trying to find a way into his life. And after a while Billy's armor came down and Darlene caught him. It had been a night that she remembered quite well. She had come over to deliver something, cookies she thought it was. Billy greeted her at the door with the rather constant rather grim look on his face that he had since the incident.<br/><br/>She gave him a weak smile. She could tell that he was still in his constant dark mood. He let her in and slammed the door behind her. She flinched as she heard the door slam. He was always so violent now and it was really scaring her but she refused to give up. She was going to try and get through to him. And that night she did, though not in the way she might have wanted. They slept together.<br/><br/>And they continued to sleep together for a lot of the nights after that until Darlene was in his bed more than she was in her own. The weird thing was that, though Darlene was feeling things for Billy it did not seem like those feelings were being felt on his part. He could not tell her, but he was just using her as a proxy. He wanted the girl he thought of whenever he heard a moan. He wanted Kate. The one thing he knew that he could not tell Darlene. But it was not like it mattered. She was just enjoying the fact of being with him.<br/><br/>Other than the times that he was with Darlene he was thinking about Kate. He saved up three paychecks equally up to about $1500 and bought her the most beautiful black dress he could find. He mailed it to her through special arrangements with the US Marshalls office. He hoped it was enough. For Christmas, he sent her a pair of black boots that he assumed would be cute on her. All of his gifts were sent with their receipts since he had no idea  if she would even like them so of course he was going to all them to be returned.<br/><br/>As December came to a close and January began, he was already anxious to find a way to see her again. He had been too long without her. Kate was his dream. He just hoped that there was some kind of a way to do it.