Rescue You

She was tired, almost too tired to think. At the same time her mind was racing, and fear was clutching at her heart. Leo had hit her.

Of course he had hit her before, but this time was different. This time she had realized just how dangerous he was. She felt the salty tears roll down her face as she brushed herself off and kept walking. She didn't want to go home. She didn't want to face her parents just yet. She felt stupid. How could she have been so caught up in him? The warning signs were all there. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket but she didn't want to call anyone. Worrying Clare would just make matters worse, and she really didn't have any friends that she wanted to trust with this information.

She felt broken. He had taken all of the energy out of her. And now she was silent. She couldn't speak the words that were on her mind. She couldn't even bring herself to say in her head that she hated Leo, she was too afraid.

She wondered where the guy that she had seen at the coffee shop was. The guy that was sincere and sexy and kind to her. The guy that actually cared about her and didn't treat her like trash. The guy who would never hit her.

But maybe that was never him. Maybe it was all some type of disguise. She hadn't known Leo too well from the very beginning, but on the outside he seemed so perfect. She needed a summer romance at the time, but she never expected to fall in love. She didn't understand why all of her relationships turned out so poorly. Even when she was with Dave, who she thought would never hurt her, eventually did. She wanted to say that she hated men, all of them, but she was too tired to say anything.

A light bulb went off in her brain but she tried to turn it off because the idea in her head seemed nearly impossible. But another side of her wanted to run into his arms. The strong, muscular arms, of Mike Dallas.

...

She knocked on the door of the Torres' house in hopes that Drew wasn't there. She didn't want anyone to see her like this, she didn't even want Mike to see her like this. But where else could she go? She thought to herself. Going to her parents was too much to deal with in one day, and going to her friends well, she really didn't want to discuss all of this with them. He was the only one that she could rely on right now.

The door opened slowly, and there he was, Mike Dallas standing there with the most shocked expression on his face.

She had been running through a million things that she was going to say. She was going to make some type of excuse, like she had gotten into a car accident and she needed a place to crash, or that some guy had tried to mug her and left her beaten on the street and she just need to calm down somewhere. But none of these words came out. Instead she just started to cry. Her body shook violently as convulsive tears poured out of her eyes.

Dallas sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, "Was it...Leo?"

All she could do was nod.

He let her in immediately, and closed the door. He was thankful that Drew and his mother were not home. He held the small girl in his arms. She looked so fragile, and so broken. This was not the Alli Bhndari that Mike had met. Her confidence was gone, her spirit was broken. She was so weak. He carried her onto the couch in the living room, and tossed her a cover that was lying on the chair a little length away from the couch.

Just then some footsteps were heard, and his son Rocky came running down the stairs, carrying a toy.

"Daddy! I think the toy is broken!" Before Mike could say anything his son happened to notice Alli laying there.

"Woah! What happened to your eye Miss?"

"Hey! Get back upstairs ok!" He hadn't meant to sound too harsh, but it was too late to take it back. His son sighed and made his way upstairs.

Mike let out a frustrated breath as he quickly prepared some hot cocoa. When he was done making it, he walked over to Alli and handed it to her, "Here."

"Thanks," she muttered weakly.

For a few minutes nobody said anything. Mike wasn't even sure of what to say in a situation like this.

"I'm gonna kill that guy," he muttered angrily.

"Don't...It was my fault anyway."

He looked at her as if she had grown a head or two, "What the hell do you mean?"

"I...I put myself in this situation-"

"Which gives him no right to put his hands on you Alli!"

He noticed the startled look in her eyes and he forced himself to calm down, "Sorry. I just hate shitheads who think that they're in control when they beat woman like you."

She felt more tears fall down her face, they were hot and sticky, "I...There were so many signs."

His eyes widened, "You mean this wasn't the first time?"

She shook her head as she bit her bottom lip to hold back tears.

"Alli what the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I needed someone, or wanted someone anyway. Everyone around me looked so happy and I wanted to be like that too. Jenna kept talking to me about her relationship with Connor and I just...I wanted a romance ok? And he seemed like the perfect guy."

"You wanted a romance? Are you fucking kidding me that's your explanation?"

She looked down at her cup, "I already feel like shit Dallas, are you trying to make me feel worse?"

"I just don't understand why you had to go all the way to Paris for a summer romance when..." His voice trailed off, because he wasn't sure if he wanted to say these words just yet.

She looked up at him with curiosity, "When what?"

He sighed, "When I was right here...the whole time. You knew that I liked you Alli, you knew that I wanted to be with you. And I would never hurt you like Leo did."

For some reason this made her angry, she tossed him a glare, "Maybe you wouldn't hurt me like Leo did...but you've already hurt me Dallas."

"What are you-"

"You didn't tell me from the beginning that you had a son. You knew that I liked you, and that things could have been serious and you kept a big part of your life from me."

"I just didn't want you leave Alli. I'm s-"

"I know you're sorry Dallas...I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that things will never work out between us."

"I'm not giving up on you Alli. If you think I'm just going to forget about you then you have another thing coming."

For some reason her heartbeat sped up at this, and she could feel the tiny butterflies worming their way into her stomach, "Dallas I..."

"Ssh," he whispered gently, "Don't say anything just, stay here tonight and you can deal with everything else later. I'm sorry I brought it all up, I know you're going through a lot right now."

And with that he took her empty mug and started to wash it, pretending as if they hadn't just had the conversation that he had been waiting for for a long time. He tried to put his thoughts of being with Alli aside, and that was a hard thing in itself. But no matter what Mike knew that he would be there for her. Girlfriend or not, he would rescue her.

A/N: So I didn't actually watch the episode, but I saw a clip on the Degrassi website and when I saw Leo hitting her I felt so bad. I mean yeah in a way she put herself in the situation but that still gives Leo no right to put his hands on her. I think they really tackled a real life situation, and I'm sure there are people out there (sadly) who can relate to that. Anyway this idea just popped up the minute I saw the clip. Hope you guys enjoyed.