A/N: Okay, latest story! Duncan will be coming in later chapters. This is a dark story with abuse, swearing, rape, violence, and everything else you can think of. Consider yourself warned.

Edit: Sorry to those who read this story when everything was in bold. I fixed it now!!!

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Everyone tells me I should forget about you, you don't deserve me. They're right, you don't deserve me, but I deserve you

- Unknown

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I walked into the living room with Nathan trailing behind me. I glanced at the clock up on the wall and cursed under my breath as I saw the toys scattered across the floor. I set Nathan down on the couch and started picking up his toys as fast as I could and throwing them into his toy box. If Stephen came home while the toys were scattered everywhere…I don't even want to know what would happen. My lawyer and friend Madeline Lane keeps telling me to press charges. But I doubt I ever could.

The front door opened, and I took a deep breath as I reached out to grab the little giraffe stuffed animal. I could hear his footsteps come up towards me and I did my best not to cringe as I stared at his Rockport shoes.

"Hey honey." His voice was gentle, but I've been fooled before. I got to my feet and smoothed down my now wrinkled shirt. He had a giant bouquet of red roses just like all the other times, except this time there were five more than the last. I don't know if there were really enough room in the vase since the other roses were still alive.

I looked down at the roses he gave me and walked over to Nathan, Stephen definitely didn't expect that. But I ignored him and brushed my son's skin. "I bought them just for you. To say I'm sorry." His voice was a little strained as he spoke, but I pretended I didn't hear it. I wouldn't be broken. Not yet.

"You shouldn't have to buy me a bouquet of flowers a week Stephen." I said and lifted my son and walked towards the door. "I'm going next door to see Bridgette. Nathan and Sara get a long really well." I said over my shoulder and slipped on my flats before he could say anything else. Probably fuming. I was going to regret that later for sure.

Nathan started fussing in my arms so I set him down on the ground and he started running across the back yard onto their grassy half of it. The yellower more used side of the lawn. Or as I like to call it, the underachievers side of the lawn. But it's the more fun side that Nathan seems to love. Maybe it's the jungle gym that he and Sara play on for hours.

Bridgette was sitting out on her cheap patio set reading a book, she looked up at me and smiled as I walked over to her. I took a seat next to her on the dirty white chair and looked on to Nathan, trying to get up onto the trampoline.

"I got a giant bouquet of roses again." I said and rolled my eyes. "I'm so sick of the dead petals falling off everywhere."

Bridgette smiled politely and took a drink of her iced tea. "Maybe you should start giving me the roses Stephen brings home." She nudged me with her elbow, then her face turned serious, "Geoff was going to call the cops you know." her voice lowered and she reached ouch and grabbed my hand. "Seriously Court. You've got to do something about this."

I shook my head and stole a sip from her drink like a little kid. "I'm serious. It's okay. We're starting counseling tomorrow and everything." I smiled falsely, we were starting counseling -- for the third time.

"Alright then." she squeezed my hand again before letting go, and looking towards my kitchen window. "He's watching us you know." her amber eyes grew a little wider, I knew she was worried about when I had to step in there again. "You want to come in? Maybe we could invite Stephen over for dinner. That could help with the anger…" her voice trailed off. I shrugged.

"It'll be fine. I just need to be here a few hours and he'll cool down. Have a drink or two. And just be himself again." My whole body was using everything it could just to remain normal with him staring at us. Me. Watching my every movement. It's scary. Like doing something bad as child and knowing your mom saw you do it.

"Should we have a drink or two?" she wiggled her eyebrows and slapped me on the arm. "Just enough to have a little fun." Her grin widened. I scoffed.

"Yeah right. Two shots and I'm gone. And, we have kids." I nodded my head towards our pair of four year olds jumping on the giant trampoline. "Who's lives happen to depend on ours. So, I doubt it's a very good idea Bridgette."

Bridgette rolled her eyes and propped her head up on her hand. "Then this weekend." Her eyes got big, "We're still so young Courtney. This weekend we should go down to the club, just you and me and have fun like we did in college." She wiggled in her seat like she was dancing and slapped my arm again. "What do you say? Brilliant idea or what?"

Everything in my head told me not to do it, but my body, or so cliché as my heart told me to do it. "Okay. One night. And we have to set something up to distract Stephen. So maybe Geoff could take him out for drinks?"

Bridgette nodded. "Consider it done." she smiled wickedly, "Geoff would do anything to get his hands on a little bit of me." She winked and stood up. "Let's go in. Your husband is seriously creeping me out now." I looked over my shoulder and he was still there, might as well have had holes cut out in the newspaper for his eyes it was so obvious.

"Alright." I looked over to Nathan, "We're going inside now!" I called out to them, and they both crawled out from the net around the trampoline and ran towards us.

"Oh my god. Look how gorgeous that guy is Courtney." Gwen whispered and pointed to the well dressed business man sitting alone at a booth in the corner. "I wish I wasn't dating Duncan…"she sighed dreamily and filled a pot full of coffee, shoving it in Courtney's direction.

"Your table Gwen." Courtney said without looking up from the mugs on the tray.

"He's so gorgeous." Gwen insisted until Courtney looked up. When her eyes landed on the man Gwen was talking about her heart stopped. Gwen grinned and nudged the pot of coffee a little closer. "I told you so."

Courtney took it this time without a second thought and walked over to the man sitting in the far booth with a big smile on her face. She had her eyes on the target and every thought in her body was radiating the word 'sexy'. She knew she was gorgeous, she was hot shit. She was a CIT for god's sake!

As if the man could hear her thoughts he looked up from his newspaper. Time stopped, but she kept walking forward until she was standing a foot away from him holding out the fresh pot of coffee.

"Coffee sir?" She asked and began pouring it without waiting for an answer.

"Sure…" He said slowly and a smile crossed his face. Her heart sped up, but she kept control of herself as she pulled out the little note pad from her apron.

"What can I get you?" She asked, cocking her hip out just a little bit.

"Your number would be nice." he said smoothly, and looked up at her with his chocolate eyes. She could've melted at that moment, but her mind knew what it wanted, and she wouldn't blow it.

"I'm sorry. I don't give out my number." She said it with a smile. As if to say, 'so you'll have to come back and see me'.

"Then the breakfast special." The man said,

Courtney wrote down 'B.S.' on her sheet of paper and touched his shoulder, "It'll only be a minute." she said and turned around and walked back over to the counter of the diner, feeling the man's eyes on her the whole 10 meters of the way.

Gwen grabbed Courtney and pulled her behind a giant trolley of dishes, "So? What happened?" Gwen asked, and it was a typical girl moment, as Courtney described word for word what happened. Gwen's face fell as she said how she couldn't give him her number. "Why would you do that? He was eating right from the palm of your hand!" Gwen hissed.

"Oh Gwen. And you wonder why Trent ran off with Heather." Courtney teased -kind of- and earned herself a sharp glare from the former goth girl. "Look, I'm a straight A student, and I know things. And I know that if I just give him what he wants it'll be no fun." she paused and looked over at him through the spaces between plates. "Anyways. I'm sure he'll be the kind to spend big bucks on a prize like me." She raised her eyebrows at the word prize, making Gwen almost sick.

"Alright. Well if he doesn't come back tomorrow then don't say I didn't tell you so." Gwen said.

A bell rang, breaking them out of their conversation and the man's Breakfast Special was sitting on the ledge. Courtney picked it up and winked at Gwen as she passed and walked over to her perfect guy. Gwen rolled her eyes and watched, seeing as the little old couple just walked out of the diner and there was no one else in there.

"It's nice and hot." Courtney said as she set down the food in front of him, and she poured another mug full. Mystery man said his thanks and he smiled. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" She asked.

"Yes, actually there is." The man said, Courtney cocked an eyebrow. "You could give me your name."

Courtney smiled slowly, and she shook her head before walking back to the counter. He watched her in disbelief. Obviously this girl was one of a kind. Obviously she was a breed he's not used to.

Gwen's jaw was dropped as Courtney came back with that annoying triumphant smirk of hers. "See, I told you he'd like me more." She smirked and pulled up a stool from under the counter. Gwen did the same and they waited for more customers as their gossiped.

"We should be heading back now." Courtney said and she took Nathan's small hand into her own. "Ready to go see daddy Nathan?" Courtney asked in a patronizing voice. Nathan nodded and he waved goodbye to Sara as they walked out the door. It had been a few hours since she first left their house and it was already getting dark. "Go to your room until dinner, alright Nathan? Daddy and I are going to have a little talk."

"Kay." Nathan said and kicked a rock all the way back to their side of the lawn, where it was green and manicured.

Courtney placed her hand on the back door and took a deep breath before opening it. The house was silent, and they both walked on eggshells as they walked across the kitchen and into the living room. Courtney went first, taking another deep breath, her fingers grazing the switch blade in her pocket from Duncan. As if his recklessness and fearlessness could rub off onto her. Every thought in her head was of being the toughest girl in the world. Someone no one could ever hurt. It had worked in the past.

"Stephen…" Courtney projected her voice across the room, until she saw her husband sitting in his arm chair smoking a cigar. "We're back." her voice cracked.

Stephen didn't answer, he just dragged his cigar deeply. She saw that he had drank a good amount of the whisky in the bottle. She held onto it tighter.

"I'm just going to make some dinner alright? And Nathan's going to play in his room." Courtney said and on cue Nathan started tip toeing towards the hall.

"Wait." Stephen said, and his son stopped dead in his tracks. Her heart was beating fast as it could, and she slowly started pulling the switchblade from her pocket. "Give your old man a hug." Stephan opened his arms towards his son and Nathan reluctantly excepted his father's embrace. It lasted a few seconds too long for Courtney, but she watched with a false smile. After what felt like hours Nathan finally pulled away and excused himself into his room.

"Alright. I'll get dinner started." Courtney announced and she stepped into the kitchen, her hand slowly taking her hand off of the switch.

"We'll talk when Nathan's in bed." Stephen said. He didn't need to say it loud for Courtney to hear what he said though.

She placed a smile on her face and turned around slowly, "Something wrong honey?" her voice was falsely cheery.

"We'll talk." he said firmly, like his word was law, and he raised the cigar to his lips, Courtney's cue to leave.

"He's back again." Gwen said as Courtney stepped in. She smiled confidently.

"I know he is. He's been here three times already, each time finding new ways to ask me for my number." Her smile grew wider and she leaned back against the counter and sighed dreamily.

"I know." Gwen grumbled, "I had to clean it off last time." she rolled her eyes and threw a dishtowel over her shoulder. "Who the hell asks for a number written in ketchup?"

"A romantic that's who." Courtney grinned and she grabbed the pot of coffee. "Now if you'd excuse me. I have a man to whip." she winked again, for the fiftieth time that week and she walked towards the man named Stephen the same way she did the first time. "And how has your day been Stephen?" Courtney asked and she poured the dark liquid into the cup.

"It would be a lot better if you'd join me." Stephen said innocently, and he held his hand out to the seat across from him. When Courtney looked unsure of herself he added, "No one else is here. I made sure to come earlier."

"So I've noticed." Courtney rolled her eyes and took a seat. He was right. There was nothing better to do.

"I've been meaning to ask you a few things…" his voice trailed off, and he traced shapes on the table with her forefinger.

"What do you want to know?" Courtney asked, leaning forward, just so he could see her cleavage.

"Everything." slowly he reached out her hand and inched it towards hers.

"Everything?"

"Everything." his hand got a hold of hers, and her held her fingers gently. Courtney stared at their hands together, her caramel skin against his pale skin. She wanted to know what it would look like with their fingers laced together. She wanted to know everything…just like he said.

The front bell rang, and they were taken out of their trance. The elderly couple hobbled to their table in front of the window. Reluctantly Courtney stood and looked apologetically at the man called Stephen.

"I've got to go." Courtney said and walked over to wait on the others. She could feel Stephen's eyes on her ass as she walked away, and gave it a little extra shake just for good measure.

Dinner was awkward. Nathan ate up his food as fast as he could, shovelling it down his throat and drinking down his juice like he was taking a shot. Courtney said nothing as he did this, too busy thinking about what could happen later on after Nathan was tucked in for bed. Stephen though watched his son with slight amusement.

"Nate." Stephen's voice cut through the silence. His son looked over at him with giant chocolate eyes. The voice was serious, like a warning, "Why don't you have some ice cream…?" He suggested with a warm smile. Nathan looked up at his mother, who nodded encouragingly.

"Okay…" He mumbled and brought his plate up to the sink. Courtney stood up and grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and grabbed the tub of Smarties ice cream from the freezer. Nathan said his thanks to both his dad and his mom and got himself two small scoops.

"Oh come on Nate." His dad said slapping his son affectionately on the back. "You can eat more than that, can't you?" He teased, his son shook his head though, not wanting to play along with the joke. He was still angry with his father for what he was doing to his mom. He may have been young, but he knew that the crying wasn't happy.

He finished up quick again, needless to say. Even though the ice cream was his favourite he just wanted to get out of there and away from his dad. So that's what he did.

Courtney continued eating even as her son left the room, looking down at the spaghetti she had made. It was awkward. But surely he wouldn't do anything, not when the counselling started tomorrow. How bad would that look if Courtney walked into the office with a black eye. If there was one thing Stephen hated more than disobedience it was looking bad.

"He's a little quiet, don't you think?" Stephen noted, looking out the door his son had just walked through.

Courtney shrugged. "He was pretty loud over at Sara's. Maybe he just doesn't feel comfortable speaking with people he doesn't know very well."

Immediately Stephen shot up, knocking his chair over. "What do you mean? I'm his goddamn father for Christ's sake! He should be speaking to me more than anyone." His face was red and veins popped out of his arms and neck.

Courtney cringed in fear and thought quickly how she could fix the situation. Slowly she walked to the back of her husband and wrapped her arms gently around his waist. "Silly," She mumbled into his back, "I only meant you two don't spend enough time together."

Slowly she felt him relax and he turned around and hugged her back. "Okay, I'll see what we can do about this weekend. Just me and him…"

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In the end everything will be okay. If it's not okay, it's not the end

- Unknown

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A/N: Unlike Skeletons this story will have a lot of fluff laced inside. Anyways, please R&R!