Request by Spiderlett.

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o-o-o

The gang had seen a lot of different people show up at the Curtis's house. They thought that nobody could surprise them anymore. They probably could have claimed that they had seen it all. However, they sure weren't expecting to see a girl covered in dark bruises and deep gashes that were gushing out blood. Her eyes, which were framed by large glasses, were bloodshot from crying, and her short, choppy hair was in knots that were so tangled that it made it look like a rat's nest. As soon as the door opened by Darry, who almost missed the timid knocks, her eyes scanned frantically inside the house. She went from person to person before they finally settled upon Steve.

The two of them held eye contact for several long seconds before Steve called out, "Tess?"

When Steve acknowledged her, she let out a relieved sigh. "Steve!" the girl cried out, face scrunching up as fat tears cascaded from her eyes. She pushed past Darry before he had the chance to step aside and tackled Steve in a bone-crushing hug, pressing her face in his chest. Steve's eyes went wide in bewilderment as he was still processing everything. He quickly snapped out of it, remembering that Tess, his sister, was heavily injured. "What happened to you? Who did this? Who hurt you?"

Instead of receiving an answer, Tess only shook her head, pressing her face even deeper. She let out loud sobs as her hands balled up the back of his shirt into two clumps. At that moment, it was only those two in the house. The gang faded away from around them (which was easy to do since they didn't know how to react to the duo) and the spotlight shone on only them.

Steve didn't know what to do of the whole situation. He had never seen Tess act this way. His hands were hovering over her back, awkwardly tapping her back from time to time. He was concerned, of course, but her whole disheveled appearance temporarily stupefied him.

"What happened?" Steve asked again, pulling her back to take a good look at her. He winced at how bad she looked. "Were you jumped? I swear, if it were the Socs, I'm going to—"

"It wasn't the Socs," she sniffled, wiping the rest of her tears away.

"Then who? Who did this to you?"

"It was nobody. I'll be fine. It's fine."

"Bullshit." At that curse, Tess flinched. "You're bleeding like a stuffed pig. Who did this to you?"

While he was talking, he waved his hands around. He didn't notice Tess slowly backing away defensively. Johnny did, however. He knew what was wrong the moment that she stormed in the house with a haunted look in her eyes. He recognized that expression because it was the same one that he wore.

"You were abused," Johnny said, breaking the dome around the duo. "A family member did this to you."

Tess's eyes widened and she rapidly shook her head. "No! No! He didn't do it!" As soon as he said that, her eyes widened even more. She covered her mouth as if that would take back what she just said. Steve stared at her for a moment before realization came to him. He clenched his teeth and prayed that what he thought wasn't true… because if it was, there was going to be hell to pay.

"He? Our dad did this to you?"

"No! He, he—"

"Tess! Tell me… Did he do it or not? I'll protect you. So, tell me."

She scrunched up her face again, looking around. Eventually, she nodded. And just like that, Steve saw red. He clenched his fists so hard that they shook, and he let out an angered breath. "That son of a bitch! How long has this been going on for?"

"A few years now."

Steve couldn't believe what he was hearing. His sister was being abused for multiple years and he never knew? He knew that his father was an asshole, but to do this?

"A few years? Why haven't you told me this before?"

"I didn't… I didn't think you would believe me, and he said that… he said that nobody would care about me enough to help me. He told me that I should just take my beatings to learn my place, and I just—" Tess choked up on her own tears. Her throat burned from crying so much and all she wanted to do was cradle it, but whenever she would touch her neck, she would feel the hand-shaped bruise that was wrapped around it. "He kept repeating this to me plus other awful things. He beat me almost every night that I was there. At first, it was just a few shoves or slaps, but it got worse. It got to the point where I just started staying at my friends' houses because they were a break from him. I thought I could take it, but it never got this bad before. He never pulled a knife on me."

"All of this… Tess…" Steve scoffed and started to storm out of the house before he was pushed back by Tess. "Let me past, Tess. I'm going to teach him a lesson!"

"Please, don't do anything. Please," Tess begged.

"I'm going to do something about it."

"Steve, please. Don't. Just stop."

The two of them stared at each other in a standoff. Eventually, Steve looked away. "Fine," he relented. He hated it, but his sister was scared and hurt. He had to tend to her before doing anything. "But, sit down. The cuts are deep. We're probably going to have to stitch them up. Sit down."

Nodding, Tess plopped down on the couch as Steve went to get the first aid kit from the bathroom. As Tess waited for her brother to return, Two-Bit approached her. He never had the chance to officially meet her. She was never there when he visited Steve's home. She was always out doing who knows what. "So, you're Steve's sister. You got a little roughed up, huh?"

Tess cracked a smile at him, already feeling better now that the tension was mostly gone. "Roughed up like… like… your face… cause, you know… cause… you're… ugly… Get it? Cause your face is all…" she joked, making small, awkward punching motions. The gang blinked at her.

A huge sigh came from the bathroom. "Really, Tess? You know you aren't good at making comeback… Every comeback you make smells like failure."

"Then you must be sniffing yourself because you smell."

Another sigh came from Steve's mouth. His head shook in embarrassment. "I'm really sorry about her," he apologized. Two-Bit laughed, finding her to be absolutely hilarious, and backed away when Steve sat down in front of her. "What surprises me is that you still make comebacks in your state."

"I told you, I'm fine," Tess whined, hissing as hydrogen peroxide was pressed against a cut. Steve only glanced at her judgingly as he addressed her wounds, stitching her up despite her wailing and crying the entire time. Everyone in the house was relieved when it was over. Although most of them didn't know Tess, they hated to see her in so much pain.

"You okay?" Steve asked and Tess nodded, rubbing at her bandages.

"I'm fine…"

The house fell into silence again before Steve said something that made Tess's blood run cold. "Now, it's time to deal with him."

"What?" Tess's eyes widened. She shook her head. "No. No. No. Don't."

"We have to take care of it, Tess."

"You said that you weren't going to. You said! Please, Steve."

"I'm going, Tess. There's nothing that you'll say to stop me. And you're going with me."

If possible, she shook her head even more rapidly. "I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back!"

"We have to face him."

Tess was paler than a ghost, shaking. Newfound tears sprung out from her eyes as she imagined what the outcome was going to be like. She was terrified. The pain in her wounds worsened as she remembered how it felt to be beaten senseless. No. She couldn't go back. He was going to beat her again and it was going to be the worse ever. She couldn't take anymore. Death would be less painful. "No, please."

"Don't worry. He's not going to touch a single hair off of your head."

"But what if he beats you up too?"

"Don't worry, kid, Steve once defended himself from four Socs with just a pop bottle," Dally sneered.

"If anybody can do it, it's him," Soda reassured.

Tess looked reluctant before she nodded. "Promise me that you won't get hurt," she pleaded.

Steve nodded. "I promise. Now, let's go. The sooner the better," he said.

"Steve, do you want us to go with you?" Darry asked.

"No. This is between us and our dad."

They exited the house and headed over to their own. Tess limped behind Steve, walking slowly so that she would have more time before she had to face her father. Steve didn't mind much though. He knew that she was scared shitless. He wanted to but knew better. He resisted going faster even though his anger was like boiling water about to spill out of a pot. With every step, he felt his anger increase and he became even less patient.

His old man was going to pay. Nobody does that to Tess. Even though Steve wasn't too close to his sister, due to her never being home, that didn't mean he didn't care immensely for her. She was the only real family he had that wasn't an asshole.

Steve felt the water boil over when he saw his house. He burst through the door, slamming it against the wall. His eyes instantly locked onto his sleaze of a father who was lounging, drunk, on the sofa. He charged at him, picking him up by the shirt and slamming him against the wall. He could hear his mother scream in shock, but Steve ignored her as he was too preoccupied with his dad.

"Steve, wha—" his father started to say but Steve slammed him back against the wall, knuckles turning white from how tightly he was clenching his fists.

"You hurt Tess. Why the fuck would you do that?" Steve hissed with words filled with venom.

"I never touched her."

Steve scoffed. "Don't fucking lie to me. She told me what you did. Give me one reason why I shouldn't pummel you right here and now."

His dad grinded his teeth and tried to push back but was easily overpowered. "You're really going to beat up your father who shelters you and puts food on the table?"

"You don't care for us at all!"

"Steve Jacob Randle!" his mother screamed, snapping out of her shocked state. "You let him go and treat him with respect! He's your father!"

Steve spun his head around to his mother, glaring knives at her. She stepped back at how murderous he looked. She had never seen that expression on his face before. "And you. You just stood there and did nothing while he beat your own daughter senseless. He cut her up and scarred her body. You did nothing! What kind of mother are you? You make me sick!"

He didn't keep his eyes on her long enough to see her reaction before he turned back to his dad and threw him against the ground. His father scrambled to his knees, too drunk to actually get back on his feet without falling. "If we weren't blood, you would have been done for. So, I'm only going to tell you this once. If you touch her again, if even the slightest strand of hair has been touched, I won't hold back. And, in the end, you will be the one with the scars and I will be the one who walks away with her. You hear?"

His dad's face was red with rage. "You ungrateful child. Maybe, I should beat you in place," he growled, hands reaching over to the bottle of beer before chucking it. It shattered against Steve's head before he had the chance to dodge it, shards cutting his skin. Blood streamed down his face. The house went silent besides the shrill scream that escaped Tess's mouth.

"Steve!" she screamed, wanting to rush over to him. Steve held out his hand to stop her.

"I'm fine," Steve reassured, picking up one of the larger shards of the broken glass. He stomped against his father's chest, knocking him over, before pressing the shard against his throat. The jagged glass cut through his skin like a razor and a thin stream of blood fell down, soaking into his shirt.

For a brief moment, fear flashed across his father's eyes. He quickly covered it up, sneering, "You're going to murder me? Is that what you're going to do?"

Steve's face scrunched up in rage. He knew he couldn't kill him. That's what made him so angry. He couldn't do anything to get revenge for his sister. His dad deserved to be cut up, not his sister. Instead, he balled up his hands and slammed it into his father's jaw. It wasn't nearly hard enough to knock him out or do any real damage, but it managed to stun him. Steve spat on him before standing up, motioning to his sister. "Come on, let's go. We're leaving."

"Where are we going?" Tess asked tears in her eyes. She couldn't help but cry again, but she didn't know exactly why. It could have been because of a number of reasons—fear, seeing her brother hurt, relief, or pain. Heck, it could have been all of them. Her eyes skittered from her dad to Steve in uneasiness.

"Somewhere else for a bit. Anywhere would be better than this shithole. There are people we can stay with for a bit." Tess nodded, happy to leave the house. She didn't want to be left behind with her parents.

The two went to leave before their dad's voice rang out, "You can't just leave."

"Watch us."

As the two exited the house, Tess looked worriedly at the blood. "You're bleeding."

Steve could almost laugh at the irony. "Speak for yourself. When you came, you were bleeding more than when you had your tooth removed by the dentist."

"Yeah, well, it takes one to know one."

Silence fell between the two for a moment. "That literally makes no sense."

Tess sighed in disappointment. "Yeah, I know. I panicked."

"Or you're not good at making comebacks."

"That's also true, but at least you're smiling." And Steve was, despite how much anger he felt a few minutes prior. Tess had that effect on people. The two walked for a bit before she tugged at Steve's shirt. "Hey, Steve?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for caring."

o-o-o

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