"I think the lack of an authority figure in Scott's life is what's causing him some problems." Mr. Harris stated simply.

"Well, I'm the authority-" Melissa McCall replied, slightly confused.

"I'm sorry, allow me to clarify, a male authority figure." The smug look on the teacher's face was making Melissa want to punch the man in the face.

She stared at Mr. Harris. She couldn't believe the audacity of the man, to actually imply that Scott would do better if his father was in the picture was something she just couldn't wrap her mind around. Of course Scott felt his life was better without his dad around. Sure, it was probably difficult for him, but there was no doubt in her mind that Scott was happy his father was gone.

Five years earlier

Eleven year old Scott was woken up for the fourth time this week to hear glass shattering in the living room below him. He looked at his alarm clock and wiped the sleep from his eyes. It was 1AM and he was more scared than he wanted to admit. His father had changed over the summer. He was always angry and hurtful; it wasn't like the father he grew up with.

Scott closed his eyes and tried to ignore the yelling that had become commonplace in his childhood home. After half an hour of lying on his bed, he could hear footsteps coming up the stairs and could feel the warm tears start to fall from his eyes. He learned early on that it didn't matter to his father if Scott was awake or not, if his father needed a punching bag, Scott was fair game.

"Just let him sleep… he has school tomorrow…" Scott could hear his mother pleading with his father.

Scott's first day of school was tomorrow and he was pretty sure that the teachers would notice if he showed up with the same kind of bruises he'd grown used to this summer. He could hear his father grunt and push his mother away from Scott's door.

"Wake up you useless shit." Anthony McCall's voice was deep as he flicked on the lights in Scott's bedroom.

Scott quickly sat up in his bed and stared at his father. His mother was standing behind him crying. As Anthony sauntered over to Scott, Melissa came up behind Anthony and began to hit his back. "Please, leave him alone!"

"Shut up woman," Anthony shouted as he turned around and delivered a punch, knocking her unconscious.

Scott let out a small whimper as he watched his mother fall limp on his bedroom floor. He could see she already had a black eye and her arm was bent at an odd position.

Turning back to his son, Anthony gave a disturbing smirk and dragged Scott off of the bed, throwing him on the floor next to his unconscious mother.

With each kick to Scott's torso, Anthony let out a grunt. Painfully, Scott kept count, just like he always did. After five kicks, his father stopped and bent down to look at Scott.

"Now what do we tell people at school if they ask questions?" Anthony's tone was vicious and bitter, waiting for Scott's answer.

"Um…" Scott wasn't sure exactly. He had an arsenal of lies he'd told to various people over the summer, but he wasn't sure those lies would work at school.

Anthony grabbed his son by the t-shirt, holding him so they were face to face.

"That… I fell out of a tree…?" Scott answered fearfully.

"Now, who's going to believe a lie like that?" Anthony sighed.

"I don't…I don't know sir…" Scott barely got the words out before his father slammed his small body into the bedroom wall, letting Scott's head bounce against the drywall.

"Find a lie that sounds believable…" Scott's father tossed him back towards the bed, but he landed at the side of the bed, his arm hitting the metal bed frame. Anthony finally walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Scott tried to breathe but his entire body hurt when he tried. He could feel his arm sting and he looked at the cut that now graced his upper arm. It wasn't deep, but it was long and it began to bleed slowly. Deciding to ignore his arm, he crawled over to his mother and curled up beside her, letting his tears fall freely and slowly as he fell back asleep.

At 7 that morning, Scott's alarm went off, waking him and his mother. He opened his eyes and uncurled himself. He hissed in pain, having forgotten the injuries he sustained from earlier. His mother slowly sat up, confused as to what she was doing on her son's floor. As the memory began flooding back to her, quiet tears fell from her eyes. She turned to her son and wrapped him in a gentle hug.

"I- I am so sorry," Melissa choked out.

"It's not your fault mom," Scott replied, returning his mother's hug.

After letting the alarm clock blare for another minute, Scott cautiously stood up and limped his way to turn it off.

Melissa watched her son move around his room in pain. "Honey, show me the damage…" she said softly, once the alarm clock was off.

Scott carefully took off his t-shirt, wincing in pain as he pulled it over his head.

His mother let out a small gasp as she saw his entire torso covered in deep purple bruises. She then took her own caution getting up, taking time to stabilize herself and ignore the dizziness she felt as she went over to her son and examined his injuries.

"Oh baby…" She ran her hand gently over his ribs, making sure they weren't broken.

"Alright… well, they're not broken… and the cut isn't deep. Is that everything?" She asked, feeling the back of her own head for injuries.

"Well… he hit my head… but I think it's fine…" Scott told her quietly.

She examined the back of his head, happy there wasn't any damage.

"I'm sorry baby… but you need to go to school today. I'll get you some pain killers okay? There's not much more we can do."

Scott nodded and hugged his mother before going into the bathroom and taking a shower, getting ready for the day.

Life went on like this for two more years. Scott grew angrier and more terrified as the abuse continued. No one asked too many questions, but it was mainly because Scott stayed away from everyone but Stiles. He generally hung out at Stiles's house while Stiles's dad was at work. He definitely kept Stiles away from his house and his father.

Stiles wasn't stupid. He knew something was wrong with his best friend. He could tell around the time they turned 10 that something was different. He couldn't really do a lot to figure out his friend's problems when he was having difficulties of his own. He just lost his mother and his panic attacks were happening more and more often. He and Scott were there to support each other, neither one knowing what was really going on with the other.

It was when the boys were 13 when everything is Scott's life was blown open. It was just an average Tuesday in his house. His mother was working a double at the hospital and he was left alone with his father. The difference was that tonight, Anthony McCall was actually drunk. He didn't get drunk very often, but he lost his job the week before and getting drunk just seemed like his best option. It was 8 PM when Scott came home from Stiles's house to find his father drunk in the living room.

"The fuck you doing out of your room boy?" His father slurred as Scott walked in the door.

"I just got home from Stiles's," Scott answered meekly. "I'm going to my room now."

"No… no, we're going to have some fun first." Anthony stood up and approached his son. "See, your mother is at the hospital, and I have some needs to be fulfilled."

Scott didn't like where this was heading. He was used to his father beating the crap out of him and his mother, but he never phrased it like that.

Grabbing Scott by the shirt collar, Anthony dragged his son to the living room couch.

"Please dad-" Scott forced out. This was not how the beatings started. He could smell the scotch on his father's breath and he wasn't used to it.

Anthony punched his son in the face several times, breaking his nose and leaving two black eyes. "Now… why don't you shut up and let this happen."

Scott began to cry as his father ran his hands over Scott's small body. When his father paused for a moment to take another drink, Scott took his chance to roll off the couch and run to his bedroom, shoving his desk chair under the door knob.

He could hear his father bounding up the stairs, but Scott grabbed the emergency phone his mother put under his bed, calling the police quickly. As soon as the responder answered, Anthony began to bang and push on his door.

"911, what's your emergency?" the female responder said quickly.

"My… my dad…" He flinched at the pounding on the door, but tried to speak fast. "I need help."

Before he could tell her his address, his father broke the door open and he dropped the phone.

Anthony didn't see the phone on the floor, but he approached his son and beat him unconscious within five minutes. As he lifted his son's broken body from the floor to the bed, he smiled. In his drunken state, he struggled to get Scott's clothes off, but eventually succeeded. Once his son was naked on the bed, Anthony began to rid himself of his own clothes.

It was at that point that he heard a banging on the front door. He wasn't sure where the noise was coming from, so he ignored it. After a minute, the banging stopped and was replaced with a quick crash.

Officers split up around the house, Sheriff Stilinski and his newest deputy took the upstairs. Finding Scott's door broken off its hinges, the sheriff pulled his gun from the holster and approached the door. Horrified, he found his son's best friend, naked and unconscious with his half naked father towering over him.

"Anthony…" Sheriff Stilinski was appalled. He never imagined he would see a scene like this. He knew Anthony McCall. He'd had beers with the guy a couple times over the years while the boys hung out. "I'm gonna need you to step away from your son and come with me…" He said calmly, pointing his gun at the man.

"It's…it's not what it looks like…" Anthony slurred, zipping his pants back up.

Sheriff Stilinski kept his gun pointed at Anthony as the deputy went over and handcuffed the young teen's father. Once the man was handcuffed and being walked downstairs, the sheriff ran over to Scott, radioing in for an ambulance.

"Scott, Scott, please wake up." The sheriff gently wrapped Scott in a blanket and brushed the hair out of the boy's eyes, not wanting to move the boy, in case his injuries were too bad. He found the phone lying on the floor and told the responder he'd be by later to review the tape of the 911 call. He then hung up and sat beside Scott, watching his small chest rise up and down.

After several minutes, the ambulance arrived and the paramedics were at the boy's bedside, carefully moving him onto a stretcher.

At the hospital, Melissa McCall was doing her best to hide her most recent bruise and wondering how much longer she and Scott could keep going. The only reason they hadn't left Anthony was because there was no way out. There was nowhere to go and if they left, she knew Anthony would kill them both. It was a typical domestic violence situation and Melissa hated that it is what her life had become.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the attending doctor came up to her quickly.

"Melissa… Melissa I need to talk with you."

"Uh, sure. Is it Ms. Grainier? I just gave her the-" Melissa said, putting the charts in her had down on the counter.

"No. She's fine. This… this is about Scott." The doctor replied somberly.

Melissa blinked, but didn't say anything in her confusion.

"The ambulance will be here in a couple minutes with him… it seems… it seems Anthony…"

She couldn't concentrate on what he was saying as her mind jumped to the worst conclusions and the tears began to race from her eyes.

"Melissa… why don't you come with me."

She nodded as she followed the doctor to the room that would soon be Scott's.

The ambulance carrying Scott did indeed arrive moments later. He had woken up once, but fallen back into unconsciousness quickly.

In the ER, they worked to stabilize him and find out exactly what damage was done. As they did their work, Sheriff Stilinski found Melissa and explained what had happened.

"Melissa, I'm so sorry about all this… We aren't sure what happened yet… but it seems Anthony had beaten Scott unconscious and… there are signs that he either was planning on, or had just finished… a sexual assault… on… Scott."

Sobs wracked Melissa's body as she mentally beat herself up for not stopping this sooner. Whatever happened to Scott was her fault for not saving them from the monster she called her husband.

After several minutes of crying and receiving comfort from the sheriff, Melissa collected herself enough to speak. "He's been abusing both of us for about three years now…" She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the shock and disappointment on the sheriff's face. He was probably wondering why she didn't come to him for help all these years.

"I never… his abuse was never like this… to Scott…"

"Melissa, we're going to have to have a long talk about everything that Anthony has been doing to the both of you, but right now, he is in our custody and he will not be getting out anytime soon. We just need to make sure Scott is okay."

After an hour, Scott was moved to the Intensive Care Unit where Melissa was already waiting with the sheriff.

Accompanying an unconscious Scott was the doctor, giving Melissa a sad smile. "He's going to be alright Melissa." He assured her quickly. "We've done all we can. And based on what the officers told us, we did a rape kit. There are no signs of a sexual assault. For the whole story, we'll have to wait until Scott wakes up… He does have three fractured ribs and on broken one, a broken arm and nose, and massive amounts of bruising. We've decreased the swelling in the brain that caused his unconsciousness and stopped the internal bleeding that was caused by a broken rib. He should wake up within the hour, but only for a little bit. He is going to need a lot of rest. We've given him a large dose of morphine for the pain."

With that, the wait for Scott to wake up began. Melissa sat by her son and gently ran her hand over his cheek, praying that the police got there before worse damage could have been done. The sheriff stood up slowly, flipping open his phone and finally calling his own son, who had left half a dozen messages in the past two hours.

"Stiles, I'm at work, you should be in bed."

"Dad, what happened at Scott's house! Is he okay?" Stiles was talking frantically and his father sighed.

"How did you know… Scott should be okay… Just- I thought I told you not to listen to the scanner anymore."

"I know what you said dad, but I just like to know where you go on the job, and I heard the dispatch to Scott's address. What happened?" Stiles figured it was about Scott's dad, but he hated that Scott never opened up to him about it.

"A lot happened Stiles. You'll have to talk to Scott about it tomorrow. I can bring you over here to the hospital then, alright. I'll be home in a couple hours. Go. To. Bed."

After some protest from Stiles, the boy reluctantly agreed that he'd go to bed if he could skip school tomorrow to go see Scott. He would go to bed, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to sleep.

Scott woke up 47 minutes after being moved to the ICU. His mother had been watching the clock and was getting worried when it was nearing the hour, but when Scott finally stirred awake, she was relieved.

"Mom?" Scott asked dryly. His throat was sore and scratchy and the familiar pain in his chest and abdomen caused him to grimace as his mother brought a cup of water with a straw to his mouth.

"Scott, I am so, so sorry. How are you feeling?" She was crying again, but her tears showed her relief that her son was alive and awake.

"Like crap." Scott replied, taking a sip of water.

"Well, we're safe now baby. Your dad has been arrested; thanks to you… you saved us." Melissa smiled at her son, waiting for a reaction.

"I just… he… he was going to…" Scott began to cry as his memory reminded him of what had actually happened.

"I know honey… We're going to have to talk to the sheriff about all this. Do you want to tell us now or wait a little bit?" She didn't want her son to have to relive the night more often than necessary.

"I kind of just want it over with… I… if I have to talk about it, let's do it now." Scott cast his eyes downwards, feeling he was wearing nothing but a hospital gown and his lower half also covered in the hospital blanket.

"Alright." Melissa let go of her son's hand and went to the door, stepping into the hallway, she was pleased to see the sheriff was still there, talking to the doctor about Scott's injuries.

"Sheriff," Melissa said calmly. "Scott's awake and would like to talk to us now, if it's alright with you."

"Yes, of course." The two walked in and they all waited as the doctor checked Scott's condition before leaving them alone to talk.

"Scott," Sheriff Stilinski said gently. "Now, we're going to have to talk about the past couple years at some point, but right now, I just need to know about tonight. Can you do that?"

Scott nodded and looked up at his best friend's father. It kind of made him want Stiles to be there too, but he knew, logically, he didn't want his friend to see him break down so much.

"I… I had just gotten back from your house… hanging out with Stiles, like always… and dad… he was upset with me as soon as I walked in. Wanted to know why I wasn't in my room… When I told him I'd just gotten home and was going to my room, he… he said he wanted to… have fun first… he told me he had needs… and you," Scott looked towards his mom quickly before moving his eyes back down to his lap, "were here at the hospital."

Melissa wiped the tears from her cheeks and watched her son continue telling the story she'd wished was a nightmare.

"He then dragged me to the couch… and he was… touching me… through my clothes… When I told him to stop, he punched my face a lot… I could tell he was drunk. He smelled like alcohol, the one he always said was the good stuff that we keep in the basement… When he went to get another drink from the coffee table, I ran upstairs and called 911."

"That was really awesome Scott," Melissa placed her hand gently on her son's forearm, reassuring him as he continued.

"He came up so quick though… and I dropped the phone. He came over to me and just started hitting me like he always does… Then I just don't remember… I passed out I guess." Scott's body began to shake and he let out a sob. "I… I don't know what he… did" Scott wrapped himself in his arms and couldn't even find it in himself to be embarrassed for crying in front of the sheriff.

"Scott honey," Melissa started, gentle but firm. "The doctor didn't find any signs that he did anything else to you… like that…"

The sheriff cleared his throat softly, ready to interject. "Scott, I don't want to upset you anymore, but it may help you to know that I did find you in your bedroom. He had… undressed you but he still had his clothes on. I don't think he did anything to you…"

Scott stared at the sheriff for a moment but then became embarrassed at having been found naked like that and dropped his focus to the floor.

"The phone never hung up Scott, that's how we tracked the call," the sheriff continued. "The dispatch has the whole thing recorded and nothing she heard coincided with sexual abuse."

Scott nodded slowly, accepting the information given to him. His tears kept falling down his face and he couldn't tell if they were from the pain his whole body was in or from the relief that his father hadn't actually gotten to rape him.

"You did really great tonight Scott," Sheriff Stilinski said after writing a few things down. "You're a really brave kid and you're going to be okay." As the older man stood up and put his jacket back on, he smiled. "Stiles really wants to see you tomorrow morning if you're up for it."

Scott gave a small smile. "Ye-yeah, that'd be awesome… he wouldn't have anything to do in class without me anyway."

"Except maybe learn something," Melissa laughed and ruffled her son's hair, taking this as a sign he wasn't going to be broken from this.

The trial of Anthony McCall would take 7 months, but in the end, the man was given a twenty year to life sentence, making sure he would never be around his ex-wife and son again.

Present day

Mr. Harris may be her son's teacher, but Melissa McCall didn't need this man to think that Scott wanted his father around.

"Trust me, we're much better off without him in the picture." She replied with confidence, actually glad that Scott hadn't shown up to the conference.

"Does Scott feel the same way?" Mr. Harris asked, still trying to force the issue.

"Yes, I think so."

First Teen Wolf Fic. I was rewatching it the other day and the mention of Scott's father brought that firm reaction from Scott's mom and this is what I came up with. Reviews make me love you, whether they're good or bad. Thanks for reading!

-Rachel