Disclaimer: This is fanfiction, done for fun and no money is being made. Daria and related characters are the property of Glenn Eichler and MTV/Viacom.

Warning: The following story contains mature themes, sexual violence and strong language. It also consists of a not inconsiderable amount of angst. If this is not your thing or you are easily offended please move along, nothing to see here.

CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS

One Night With Kevin

It was getting late but Kevin didn't want to go home yet. He was still buzzing from the home win and the big party afterwards. Just the right amount of beer was flowing through his system to keep him happy. He wondered if he should call one of the cheerleaders and invite her to go 'dancing' but he was honest enough with himself to know that he missed Brittany. Why'd she have to have the 'flu the night of the big game? He supposed it wasn't her fault but still...

The rest of the guys had taken off to Rex's for some 'stuff' but Kevin prided himself that he never did that ****. A few beers after a game and that was it. He was the QB! He led the team, ok Mack called the plays but on the field he was king and he wasn't going to let himself get caught in one of Principal Li's frequent piss tests and get booted off. No, not Kevin Thompson, not with State coming up in two weeks, he needed to keep his edge.

Still, no matter what time it was he knew he was too pumped to sleep so here he was walking down Dega Street at close to midnight, looking for some action... or at least a burger...

There were a few people still around, standing in groups outside the few bars and clubs or waiting for one of Lawndale's all-too-few taxis to rumble down the street looking for a fare. There was a queue outside the take-away across the street so Kevin figured he'd walk on out to the strip mall for pizza, at least he could sit down with it there. As he walked past the mouth of an alley he heard a familiar rhythmic thumping sound and smiled as he walked on, somebody was getting some action.

As he stepped up on the footpath he heard, barely, something that made him stop. Then he heard it again, it was a girls voice, pleading, sobbing, begging 'Pleashe shtop... pleashe... no...'

Kevin felt chilled, he stood perfectly still for he didn't know how long. 'Is this real? What do I do?'

He shook himself and looked around frantically, there was no one else nearby, he thought about calling the people in the queue over the road but then realised no, he had to do something himself, right now. He tentatively stepped into the alley and called out 'Hey.' He heard himself and realised that came out as a squeak, Brittany could have done better. He swallowed and bulked himself up, wishing he had his shoulder pads instead of just a letterman jacket and in the deepest voice he could manage said 'Hey you, whaddya doin? Let her go.' As he approached and his eyes got used to the gloom he realised there were two guys and a girl, the girl was bent forward over the trunk of a car with her face being pressed into the metal by one guy while the other was behind her gripping her hips and...

Brown hair.

Green jacket, torn.

Orange t-shirt, torn.

White bra, ripped in two.

Black skirt, pushed up.

Brown eye, looking at him... at HIM...

Kevin's fists balled up automatically and he strode forward yelling 'Get offa her! Get away from her!'

The man stopped his thrusting and turned his head to look at Kevin... old guy, 40 maybe, tough looking, scarred cheek... dirty looking dark blond hair... ugly snarl when he said 'F*** off, kid, this is none o' yer business... private party... you're not invited... F*** OFF!'

Kevin stood his ground 'No way, let her go... I called the cops, they're coming.'

The man turned to the other guy and said 'Get ridda this ****head... I got her..'

The other guy let go of Daria's head and stood up straight. Kevin still couldn't see his face but he saw the gleam of a knife in his hand. Daria's head lolled to the side and Kevin saw blood pouring out of her mouth and nose. 'YOU BASTARDS!' he roared and got ready to fight, ripping the zipper open on his jacket and tearing it off his right arm, balling it up in his left to shield against the knife like he'd seen in a movie. Luck was with him then because the alley was lit by the reflected blue and red lights of a patrol car back in the street.

'****! It's the cops... let's go.' The second guy said, turning and running with a noticable limp up toward the other end of the alley. 'MOTHER******!' the first guy said as he swung Daria around and thrust her toward Kevin before running after his friend pulling his pants up as he ran.

Kevin just managed to catch her as she fell but as he tried to hold her she started beating his chest with her fists and mumbling 'Lemme go, lemme gooo, geh way fom meee... nooo...' He relaxed his grip and she fell to her knees clutching tightly at a cut on her lower belly, he realised her legs and hands were covered in blood and there was a lot of it on the ground around her already. He looked at the car and saw the trunk lid was covered in it. He blinked and backed away a couple of steps appalled at all the blood and the smell... The cops! Get the cops... They'll know what to do...

He turned and ran back to Dega Street. There was a patrol car stopped in the middle of the road and the two officers were giving some guys on the take-away queue a hard time and searching them for drugs. He didn't know what he was yelling as he ran over to them but they took one look at him and saw the blood on his clothes and immediately drew their weapons. 'OK sonny, calm down, what did ya do? Keep yer hands where I can see 'em.'

Pointing back to the alley and shaking like jello Kevin said 'Get an ambulance... girl... in the alley... two guys... it's Daria! Bleeding all over... GET AN AMBULANCE QUICK!'

'OK kid, show me.' The nearest cop said, holstering his Beretta and miming to his partner to get on the radio. Kevin led him into the alley and they followed the trail of blood behind a dumpster where Daria had dragged herself and was sitting with her back to the wall, her knees drawn up and her hands tightly clutching a wound in her abdomen through which both men could see blood seeping. She raised her head and squinted, trying to see without her glasses and barely audible whispered 'Lea' me 'lone... lea' me...'

The cop got down on his knees and moved forward slowly saying 'It's ok,it's ok... it's over now you're gonna be ok, we'll get ya to the hospital. Can ya tell me your name, Miss?' Daria just stared at him, blinking, and then without a word toppled over to the side and lay still.

'****, quick, help me get her out of here.' He caught her under her shoulders and grunted as he lifted her. Kevin caught her feet and helped as the cop carried her under a streetlamp and laid her down on her back. Kevin put his jacket under her head. Blood started to pump out of the wound in her belly and the cop said '****!' again and knelt to put pressure on the wound. He turned to Kevin and said 'Run out son and see where that ambulance is, if they don't stop that bleeding quick we're gonna lose her.'

'No, no, no' Kevin was shaking his head. 'She's in my class dude, she can't die... she's Daria! Say she's gonna be all right, say it!'

The cop stared at him for a moment. 'She's gonna be all right son, you're girlfriend's gonna be just fine... now run and get the paramedics up here, huh? Quick now.'

'But my girlfriend's not here... no... you got it... ambulance, right.' Kevin ran back to Dega Street again. The other cop was keeping rubber-neckers from trying to get into the alley. A couple of them recognized him and called out questions but he ignored them. With relief he heard the siren and saw the ambulance turn and come up the street the wrong way. He waved and pointed at the entrance of the alley and saw the driver nod and turn as the cop pushed the crowd back with his nightstick to clear a path. Kevin followed the few yards up to where the cop still knelt by Daria. The emt's quickly took over and within moments had an iv in her arm and a tube down her throat to feed her oxygen and were strapping a bandage on her belly. Two more cops had come up and were shining their flashlights around the alley. The first cop watched them for a short while and then came over to Kevin, rubbing his hands together to get some of the blood off of them.

'OK son... hey what's your name anyhow?'

'Kevin Thompson, sir, I'm the QB!'

'All right Kevin, I'm Sergeant Kendall, wanna tell me what happened here?'

As best he could Kevin filled the sergeant in on the events of the night.

'You weren't out with... Daria is it? Tonight?'

'No sir, she doesn't hang out with us jocks or popular people, she's a brain, she always stays with that weird art chick, Jane, they don't go to our parties... except this one time... but...'

'That's OK Kevin, I get the picture. Did you recognize either of these guys you saw?'

'No sir, they were strangers... I've never seen them around even, well, I mean... one of them... I didn't get a good look at the other guy, the one with the knife.'

'Would you be able to pick that one guy outta a line-up? Or describe him to our identikit artist?'

'What? I don't know what that is.'

'Would you know him again if you saw him? Could you describe him to an officer?'

'Yes sir, I'm pretty sure I would.'

'Good man! Will ya come down to the station with me and give a statement?'

'Sure thing, Sarge.'

Just then one of the emt's came over. They had just finished strapping Daria into a stretcher and were about to lift her into the ambulance. 'Don't suppose either of you guys saw her teeth? They can reseat them in the gums, sometimes.' Wordlessly Kevin pointed at a spat of red he'd noticed earlier, just by a pair of round black spectacles that had been trodden on. There were some whitish lumps in the blood. The technician bent and picked them up with tweezers and put them in a ziploc bag.

'You taking her to Cedars?' The cop asked.

'Yeah, here's her wallet, student I.D. says she's seventeen, wanna try and get in touch with her folks in case they need them at the hospital? To sign and stuff. We've got her insurance details so we don't need this.'

'Sure.' Kendall turned to Kevin and said 'Let's go.'

They were startled then by a girl screaming as she ran toward them from the other end of the alley and started wrestling with the other emt as she tried to get to the figure on the stretcher. A boy followed up more slowly, white faced and shocked, unsure of what was going on and how to react.

The sergeant went to help the emt, catching the girl from behind and pinning her arms. All the fight went out of her at once and she collapsed, bawling 'Daria!' over and over. The boy came up to her and tried to console her saying 'Jane, I think we should...' She turned on him savagely and, still with her arms pinned, started to kick at him yelling 'It's all your fault, issall your faul...' before collapsing again in tears.

The emt's hurriedly closed up the ambulance and drove off, sirens blaring. A few more cops came up from Dega Street, two female cops took Jane from the sergeant and tried to get her calmed down.

The sergeant turned to the new boy and asked 'What's that all about, son? You know anything that can help us?'

'No sir.' The boy replied, I just met Jane a half hour ago in the Zon, you know, the nightclub up there, we just hit it off and were talking. I think she might have had a bit of a fight with her friend, Jane wanted to stay til closing with me and her friend wanted to go home... so her friend took off on her own out the back door... what happened to her? Was it a car accident or...?'

'She was attacked... by two men...'

The boy looked around and saw the blood splashed here and there. 'Oh ****!' he said. He turned to the sergeant again and said 'I'm Tom Sloane, here's my I.D. I can't help here but I think I know someone who can help Jane, her brother's back at the club, can I...?'

'Yeah, good idea.'

Tom sped back in the direction of the club. Kendall came back to Kevin and said 'What you need to do now is have a good look around this alley, think about what happened, try to get it fixed in your mind, go over it in your head just in case you remember something, you know what I'm saying?'

Kevin nodded and tried to do what he'd been told. A few minutes later Tom returned with a taller, older, cool looking guy with a soul patch who wrapped Jane in his arms and held her close. He looked around at the cops and said 'Hey, anyone wanna tell me the score here?'

'You know a Daria?'

'Sure, Janey's friend, she was in the club earlier, I thought she went home, what happened?'

Kendall gestured at the bloodstained car, the whole scene now brightly lit by police spot lamps. 'She made it this far, there were two guys jumped her... Any strangers in the club tonight, you work there?'

'I'm in the band, man, there's always strangers there, you know? Didn't see anything different tonight. Daria... is she... will she...?'

'She was still alive when they took her to the hospital... but she lost a lotta blood... so...'

At this Jane stopped sobbing and stared at the sergeant, white face frozen in a mask of shock. Then her eyes rolled up in her head and she went limp in her brother's arms. Kendall went over and helped pick her up and carry her to one of the patrol cars. He called over an officer and said 'Take this girl and her brother to the hospital, she may be in shock. Kevin, come with me.'