Black and Blue

A/N So I'm not sure why I want to write this but it feels like it could be a really good story, not that I think anything that happens to Dell in it should ever happen. It's going to be an abuse storyline about Dell and I want to stress now please don't read unless you're sure you want to, it will feature physical and verbal domestic abuse and all the things that accompany that so don't read unless you're prepared for that, though it's not too bad I just wanted to warn people. And as usual I own nothing…

"Hey, how was your date last night, you said you were meeting up with a girl right?" Addison asked Dell as he walked into the kitchen. The others around the table turned to look at him for his response.

"It was good, she was really nice and we're going for dinner tonight" Dell responded smiling, he had met up with Susie last night for a drink and they had had a great time.

"Good, you have fun tonight with her and remember protection" Addison called after him as he went back out to the waiting area and he couldn't help the flush that crept up his cheeks as the other doctors laughed.

The rest of the day passed quickly and soon he was on his way home to get ready, the docs had continued to tease him for most of the day which he found funny but eventually it got irritating. Once he got in he picked out a black pair of slacks and a navy shirt to wear, he had booked a table at one of the nicer restaurants in town and he wanted to look good. Once he was satisfied with his outfit and his hair was tamed, he went out to his car and drove over to her house to pick her up. He didn't even get the chance to knock on her door before she had opened it and bounded out kissing him lightly on the cheek.

"Hi Dell, so where are we going tonight?" she asked smiling that beautiful smile that had first drawn his attention to her.

"Well that is for me to know and you to find out but trust me it's good" he smiled and gestured for her to walk ahead of him down to the car.

"So how was work today?" Susie asked.

"Oh, it was alright, nothing out of the ordinary really just check-ups, Addison delivered a baby and I got to help with that which was cool" he said smiling over at her in the passenger seat.

"Oh cool, so do you do a lot of things with Addison then?" she asked, and if Dell hadn't seen her smiling sweetly he would have sworn there was an accusatory tone in her voice.

"Not really only if she needs help with a delivery, but I help with any of the doctors if they need it" he answered, and she seemed to relax.

"Good, you've got me now you don't need to be spending time with anyone else" she said and he kind of liked the way she seemed so determined for this relationship to work out.

"Yeah, of course, right here we are I hope you like sushi" he said pulling up outside the restaurant.

"I love it" she said and they got out of the car and went into the restaurant. They talked constantly while the food was being prepared and he learned that she was working at a media company and hoped to get into advertising in the future, she liked to surf whenever she could and she had lived in LA all her life. He thought the night was going really well and began to wonder if Addison was right about him needing the protection, good thing he had one in his wallet.

"So, do you want to come in for a drink?" Susie asked Dell as they pulled up outside her house a few hours later.

"I could go for a drink" he said leaning over to kiss her which she returned. They went into her house and he dropped his car keys and phone on the table watching as she headed through to the kitchen to get the drinks. He sat down on the couch and waited looking around at her house which was well decorated and very modern like most of the houses in the area. After only a few minutes she came back and handed him a glass of wine, sitting down next to him.

"What do you say we take this to the next step" she asked leaning in close to him. They began kissing and he began to climb up on top of her when a loud beeping interrupted them, he instantly recognised it as his phone and pulled away to try and see who was calling him.

"Who is that? Is that one of those doctors you work with?" she said her tone suddenly accusing and angry.

"I don't know why anyone would be calling me tonight, I told them I was going out with someone tonight" he said more to himself than anything else as he got up to check who it was. Seeing it was just a sales call he declined the call and put it on silent.

"It was nothing, don't worry" he said but suddenly she was on her feet and marched over to him.

"No, it was one of those women you work with, they're interested in you" she said seeming very possessive all of a sudden.

"It was just a sales call I swear" he tried to re-assure her but suddenly she stamped on his foot and he cried out hopping over to the couch, she had been wearing heels and even through his shoes the stamp had really hurt.

"Oww what the hell was that?" he said confused at her sudden outburst.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry I didn't mean to do that, I just got angry at the thought of those women taking advantage of you, I'm so sorry again, I'll go get you an ice-pack" she said rushing away again leaving him even more confused but he found it kind of cute that she was already protective of him. She returned a moment later with the ice pack and he pulled off his shoe letting her put the ice pack on his foot, hissing slightly as she pushed it against his foot.

"I can't believe I've done this, I over-reacted I know you didn't mean to make me think you were seeing someone else" she said and he nodded.

"Of course not, we are dating now I should have just left my phone in the car" he said and she immediately leaned over to kiss him.

"So, do you want to get back to where we were before" she asked stroking his cheek lightly with a finger, but he didn't really feel in the mood anymore.

"I think I'm just going to head home, we are still on for Tuesday for dinner though and maybe we could do lunch as well sometime this week" he said standing awkwardly with his foot still sore.

"Yes of course, are you ok to drive with your foot" she asked her hand coming up to hold his upper arm almost as though she didn't want him to leave.

"I'll be fine, it doesn't really hurt that much" he lied ignoring the ache that accompanied every step he took as he headed out the front door. Once he was in his car by himself he pulled his sock off and saw that his foot was already bruising but he flexed it experimentally and determined that nothing was broken it was just going to be sore for a while. He drove home and went to bed falling asleep instantly.

The next morning the blaring of his alarm caused the usual mini heart attack moment as it pulled Dell from his sleep. He stretched out under the covers thinking back to how great last night had gone, they had had so much to talk about and he really liked her and it seemed the feeling was mutual. He rolled over and sat up a smile still on his face, but that disappeared as soon as his feet touched the floor, he had forgotten about how the night ended but now it all flooded back to him as he looked at his right foot that was slightly swollen and had turned purple overnight. He hobbled through to the bathroom and had a quick shower before going back to his bedroom and getting ready to go into work. By the time he was ready it was just gone 8 and he technically didn't have to be in until 9 but he always got there half an hour early so he could tidy up the practice and make sure all the offices were ready.

He pulled on his shoes to go to work luckily, they were stretched from him wearing them so long and so it didn't put pressure on his swollen foot. As he walked out to the car he realised that he was going to have to come up with an explanation as to why he is limping because they wouldn't understand if he told them the truth, he eventually settled on telling them that his chair went on his foot and he accidentally sat on it. That would explain the limping and avoided him having to explain that he had made her angry because she thought one of them was calling him.

He pulled into the car park outside the building and got out of the car swinging his rucksack over his shoulder. He tried to walk without limping but the pressure it put on his sore foot caused a sharp pain originating from the exact spot she had stomped on his foot. He took the lift up to the fourth floor and spent the next half an hour limping around the offices putting the notes that would be needed for the day in each doctor's room and by the time they began to arrive he was sat at the desk organising paperwork.

"Good morning Dell, did you have a good time last night?" Violet asked as she walked out of the elevator with Cooper and Pete.

"Morning, yeah it was really good, we went out for sushi and then I went back to her place for a drink afterwards" he said his face going dreamy as he thought back to the night before.

"Ok, ok we don't need to here anymore, I hope you listened to Addison's advice we don't need her coming in pregnant with mini Dell" Cooper said holding his hands up to block anything more from being said but Dell jumped in to correct them.

"No, nothing happened like that, we just had a drink and then I went home" he insisted but knew they didn't believe him and flushed red. Cooper leaned over the desk to pat him on the back.

"Well whatever happened sounds like she's a great girl for you" Cooper said grinning. "On a different note did you get the chance to dig out that chart I asked for you yesterday on the Henderson's" Cooper asked taking a sip of his coffee as he walked towards his desk.

"Oh yes I've got it right here" Dell said picking up the fie and getting up without even thinking to go and hand the file to him but as soon as his right foot touched the floor he winced and immediately sat down again.

"Woah, are you ok? How wild did it get last night?" Pete said jumping forwards as though he was going to catch him even though there was a desk in the way.

"No, it's my foot, I got it caught under the chair leg last night and sat on it, really finished the evening well" he said laughing and he could see smirks forming on all their faces.

"Were you nervous by any chance?" Cooper asked smiling and Dell just looked away to grab the file and stood up, this time careful not to put too much weight on his foot. He hobbled the few steps over to Cooper and handed him the file before hobbling back to sit in his chair, he could feel their eyes on him with every step.

"Have you had it looked at to see if it's broken?" Violet asked him tilting her head curiously.

"It's fine Violet, I would know if I'd broken it" he insisted wincing slightly as he accidentally caught the foot against the desk.

"You can walk on a broken foot and not know it's broken, I see it in kids all the time when they don't want to admit to their parents that they got hurt" Cooper said thoughtfully and Dell rolled his eyes at him.

"I'm not a kid Cooper in case you haven't noticed" Dell said laughing slightly but they are all looking at him seriously.

"Just take your shoe off Dell" Pete said crossing his arms and looking expectant. Dell sighed and began to undo his laces and carefully pulled his shoe off, then the sock. He was slightly surprised by how deep purple it had gone and realised that she really must have stamped on it hard to leave a mark like that. He was tempted to just put his shoe back on and tell them to leave it but knew that would only make it worse so instead he used his good foot to push himself over to the edge of his desk on the wheeled desk chair. He put his foot out where they could see it and instantly Pete kneeled down to get a better look.

"Jeez Dell, did you jump off the roof onto that chair or something, this is some bad bruising. Though you're right it's probably not broken" Pete said as he gently pressed on the bruising.

"Told you" Dell said triumphantly. Pete shook his head and stood back up, anything further that he might have said was cut off by the arrival of Addison and Naomi. Dell scooted back and pulled his sock and shoe on quickly while the others were distracted. Soon enough they all went back to their offices and another day began.

The next few weeks passed by without much happening, Dell and Susie would meet for lunch and he would go around to her house or her to his on most nights. There were no more incidents like the foot stomping one and he was starting to think that this could go further than just the occasional date he had planned when they first started dating. The others at the practice had been supportive and liked her, even though they had never actually met her. That is the only strange thing, he has offered to bring her into the practice several times so she could meet everyone but she always comes up with an excuse, and if he tried to pursue the topic further she would get angry at him and walk away for a bit, before coming back and asking if they can change the topic. One night when they are at her house having dinner and he finally decided to bring up the topic.

"So why don't you want to meet my friends, I know I've talked about them a lot but they really want to meet you and I think you would get on with them really well" Dell said hoping to persuade her.

"Why are you so desperate for me to meet them, I'm sure they're nice enough but am I not enough for you. Do you not like me is that it?" she said getting up from the table and going to leave but this time he jumped up and stepped in front of her.

"No, we've been going out for a while now and I wanted you to meet my friends, if you don't want too that's fine but you don't have to run away every-time" he shouted at her, before he could comprehend what was going on his head had snapped to the side and his cheek was stinging from where she had slapped him. His hand came up to touch his cheek and he was almost surprised to see he wasn't bleeding. Looking into her eyes he could see blazing anger and suddenly fear was twisting in his gut, he wanted to leave but in an instant the look was gone. She turned into the normal sweet girl he had been come to love over the last month or so.

"I'm so sorry Dell, I didn't mean to you just made me so angry, I just didn't want to meet them and I thought you would understand, I'm sorry, you'll probably never want to see me again now" she said going over to the sofa and sitting down with her head in her hands. He sighed and looked around the room trying to decide how to react, she had only slapped him and he had been getting in her face he mused so maybe he deserved this. Eventually he went over and sat down beside her putting a hand on her shoulder feeling her shakes as she sobbed.

"Look, I know you didn't mean it, it doesn't even hurt that much, why don't we just forget it ever happened hmm" he offered. She slowly sat up and looked at him her eyes red and puffy.

"Yes please, I'm so sorry Dell are you ok do you want me to get an ice-pack or something?" she asked going to get up but he pushed her back down lightly with the hand on her shoulder and instead stood up himself.

"No that's alright, I think I'm just going to go home for tonight, I'll see you tomorrow after work at my place, right?" he said smiling at her as she nodded hesitantly. As he drove home his cheek began to sting again and he wondered if he was going to end up with a bruise there, because that would be hard to explain tomorrow. He got back to his house and went straight to the kitchen to grab an ice pack, Susie had told him about her martial arts training on one of their dates and it seems she hadn't been exaggerating her abilities. He iced his cheek for half an hour and then decided to just go to bed and see what it looked like in the morning.

As he pulled into the parking lot the next morning he checked in the mirror to see how obvious the bruising was on his cheek. When he woke up that morning he had gone straight to the bathroom mirror and seen that there was a slight bruise on his cheek from where she had slapped him, he wondered how he was going to explain it because inevitably they were going to notice it when he went into work. He still hadn't figured out what he was going to say but knew he was going to have to think quick because he couldn't tell them Susie did it, they wouldn't understand that she hadn't really meant it and things were finally starting to go right for him and at the practice, so he didn't want to screw that up.

As the docs began to trickle in they all seemed to be absorbed in something or other, and none of them commented on his cheek until Sam came in.

"Hey everyone, I was thinking… Dell what happened to your cheek?" Sam said as he came into the kitchen where everyone was gathered. At his words everyone turned to Dell and he could feel himself shrinking from the eyes boring into him.

"What do you mean? Have I got something on my face?" he joked hoping to laugh it off, but had no such luck.

"Uhh no I'm saying why does it look like you've been slapped" Sam said and Addison who was sat next to him grabbed his jaw pulling his head around so she could see the bruise.

"It's nothing, I got back late last night and was tired and I opened the cupboard door and hit my face" he said making it up on the fly, somehow it seems they bought it though.

"Out late with Susie again then? Maybe you should hold back on the drinks if you're going to hit yourself with doors" Cooper joked before getting cuffed up the side of the head by Violet. He laughed at that and relaxed now that he knew they had bought it.

"Yeah, I didn't really have that many just been having a lot of late nights out with her, she always wants to spend time together" he said.

"Hey, don't rub it in our faces how much you're getting, honestly you could share some of it around if you were feeling nice" Cooper said leading to him getting slapped by Naomi this time. "Hey ok I get the message, no need to hit me" Cooper said. As the conversation moved along Dell was left in his thoughts, he wondered whether it was right for him to be hiding the truth like this but he was just doing what was best for his relationship with Susie, the others might not accept her if they knew the truth, it was better this way he decided.

It was a week this time before the next incident, she came around to his house for dinner and he had spent all afternoon cooking, as he was bringing out a bowl of soup he tripped and some of it got on her dress. Before he had the chance to say anything she had stood up suddenly and elbowed him in the side of the chest, he doubled over dropping the bowl to the floor completely and wrapped his hands around his chest.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry I just reacted, it's how they taught us in martial arts, I just was angry that you had spilled the soup since it looked so good, and oh come here darling" she said coming over to him, but he found himself flinching as she reached out to touch him. She clearly didn't like this as she withdrew her hands and started getting angry.

"What's the matter it was just a little hit honestly you want to feel what it's like to get hit by my instructor, he can break peoples' ribs in a single punch" she said which did little to re-assure him since it felt like she had already done that too him.

"I'll go get the main course" he said to her and quickly disappeared into the kitchen. After she left that night he got out an ice pack and put it against where she had hit him, a check of his ribs in the morning revealed some livid bruising but it wasn't broken. Work was going to be difficult, but he managed to get through the next day alright hiding his wincing by ducking his head and just trying to avoid the others as much as he could without it being suspicious.

That evening he was late showing up to the house and ran up hoping she wasn't upset. He knocked on the door and she opened it, he put his hand in the doorframe expecting her to open it but the chain was still on so she slammed the door shut to take the chain off. He cried out loudly as the door slammed on his knuckles and pulled them away as soon as the door opened cradling his hand carefully in the other one.

"Oh ow, dammit" he shouted jumping around as his hand throbbed in time with his heartbeat.

"I'm sorry let me see" Susie said coming out and grabbing his hand pulling it to her rather roughly. "That looks sore, you really shouldn't put your hand in the door, I was just so worried because you were running late and you hadn't called" she said and he tilted his head confused somehow, she had managed to turn it around so it was his fault that she shut his hand in the door. He thought about it and mused that she probably didn't know it was there and he shouldn't have put it there anyway so he allowed her to lead him over to the couch and he sat down while she rushed off to get an icepack again.

For the first time he looked down at his hand which was still throbbing like crazy, and he now noticed that there was a jagged cut going across his three of his knuckles and the area was already swollen and red. Seeing the blood dripping down his hand made him suddenly feel shaky, he was used to handling other peoples' injuries, but he'd never been that good with his own. Susie came back from the kitchen with an icepack which she handed to him before sitting down and putting her head on his shoulder leaning in sweetly.

"You know I'm sorry right, I just didn't like you being late and I was so excited that you were here that I shut the door, I thought you had moved your hand" she said and Dell felt his stomach twist slightly as he realised she had done this on purpose. Or had she because she said she thought he'd moved his hand but if she knew his hand was there why would she slam it so hard. He was pulled from his musings as she stood up.

"Shall we have dinner then?" she said moving on as though he had got a paper-cut rather than still being sat there cradling his crushed hand. "It's not broken and I've already cooked for you, you don't want to waste it do you, I'm sure one of your friends at work will check it tomorrow for you, you can tell them it was an accident, right?" she said carefully emphasising the word friends and again he became uncertain of what to do but eventually he opted to simply nod and follow her over to the table. He got through the meal alright having to use his left hand to do almost everything and be careful not to bend his hand lest he re-open the scab that had started to form, then as he was leaving, she even offered to drive him home because of the hand but he insisted it was fine. He just wanted to get home and sort his hand out, though he did promise that he would see her again the next night.

The drive home was difficult, but he was able to move his hand by now, so he was careful and made it home in one piece having to wipe some blood off the steering wheel before he went inside and locked the door behind him. He went straight to the bathroom and turned the faucet on holding his hand under the cold stream of water sighing as the relief that it brought to the aching knuckles was so amazing he was tempted to sit there all night. He knew he couldn't do that though and so he opened the medicine cabinet above the sink and found a bottle of disinfectant and cotton wool. He carefully cleaned the wound gritting his teeth against the burn because he knows it's got to be done and then he looks through what he's got to see if he has anything to wrap his hand. All he finds is an old packet of band-aids none of which are really ideal, the wound isn't deep but cleaning it has re-started the bleeding and he really should wrap it to support it until it's healed. Eventually he settles on wrapping a clean tea towel around his knuckles to stop the blood from getting on his bedsheets and he fell into bed again since it was already midnight and he needed to leave for work in 8 hours.