Ellie is a character I've made up, NOT the President's daughter. She is the daughter of Josh's (non-canon) sister who died in a car accident and her alcoholic husband. Ellie has come to DC for college, and is building a relationship with her uncle. Enjoy!

A Stop Early

Her stomach rumbled. Again. Ellie looked at the clock; it was almost 7pm and she was starving.

"Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"How much longer do you think you'll be?"

"Another hour… or five." Ellie's head flopped back against the chair.

"Have you ever sat in this chair?"

"No…" Josh sounded confused. "Why?"

"It's uncomfortable as hell." She pushed herself out of the chair, put the latest of many great historical novels the President had forced her to read into her bag and grabbed her coat. Josh looked up from his desk.

"You got a date or something?"

"Yeah," she laughed, "With a 2000 word literature essay."

"Oh the joys of youth," Josh teased. "Let me know when you get home?"

Ellie nodded, smiled and left his office.

"Thanks!" Ellie called to the driver as she stepped down off the bus. It was early December, and snowing lightly. She had another stop to go, but got off early. Ellie loved the snow: the soft white flurries, the way it settled on the sidewalk, how it sounded when you walked on it - everything.

When she was only a few blocks away from Josh's apartment she decided to grab a coffee because she'd left her gloves in his office… again. As she stepped out into the cold and started to walk, she noticed that a man had begun to follow her. Ellie convinced herself that she was just being paranoid, but still started walking a little bit faster. He did too. She abruptly turned a corner, and had only walked a few steps before he shoved his hand over her mouth and dragged her into a dark alley. She struggled and tried to get him off. He threw her against the wall and punched her square in the jaw. Everything went fuzzy and Ellie slid down the wall, struggling to regain her vision. This time he grabbed her by the hair and threw her, face first, onto the cold, wet ground. One painful blow after another struck her ribs and it took her several seconds to realise he was kicking her. She couldn't catch her breath. Her vision became blurred. She felt him grab her wrists with one hand and stretch them out in front of her. She tried to scream, but had no breath. She struggled, but was weak, and on the verge of passing out. She heard the sound of leather sliding past metal, and then felt his hand lift up her skirt. She knew what was going to happen. Ellie fought as hard as she could to get him off her, but it was no use. She couldn't escape.

Josh stared at his watch as he waited outside the Oval Office. It was almost 10pm. He still hadn't heard from Ellie.

"Goodnight Mr President." Josh looked up, seeing the President's aide coming through the door. "Go ahead Josh," smiled Charlie Young.

"Thanks…" Josh took a step then turned. "Charlie, you going home?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Ellie left a few hours ago but I haven't heard from her… You mind checking in on her? She normally calls but…"

"Sure."

"Great, thanks. Tell her I'll be another couple of hours." Josh tossed him the keys.

"Ellie?" Charlie knocked the door. He slid his hand into his pocket, and grabbed the key. Josh wouldn't have given it to him if it wasn't okay for him to go in, right? Plus Charlie had a soft spot for the young woman with wavy hair and freckles, and wanted to make sure she was okay. "Ellie?" he called again, as he unlocked and pushed open to door to Josh's apartment. He didn't get a response. As he closed the door behind him he noticed a door, only half shut, to a room with the light on. The rest of the apartment was dark. Charlie walked towards the door, and knocked lightly. "Ellie?" he said as he pushed the door open.

She was sitting with her back to him, arms wrapped around her knees, in the bath. She was covered in bruises.

"Ellie?" he said again, but this time it was barely more than a whisper. Her head whipped round to face him.

"Charlie?!" she looked shocked, she hadn't heard him come in. "Charlie I'm in th…"

"What happened?" he whispered. Ellie looked away.

"I slipped on the ice, typical I know but…"

"Ellie… I've seen bruises like that before… it wasn't the ice."

"So I slipped a few times!" she laughed. Charlie glanced at her wrists, bruised, like someone had held them too tight. She stared ahead, no light in her usually glowing eyes.

"Ellie…" he knelt down beside her. "You can talk to me." He placed a gentle hand on her back.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped. "I'm fine, I just need to wash my hair, so can you please go?" Trying to steady her breathing, she stretched out an arm for the shampoo, but only got halfway there before wincing. Ellie held her arm against her chest, a pained look on her face. She tried again, but before she got there Charlie reached out and grabbed the bottle himself. He saw how bruised her shoulder was.

"Let me help."

"What? Charlie…"

"I used to wash my little sister's hair all the time, I'm a pro," he smiled gently. Ellie looked at him for a second.

"Okay…"

Charlie stood up went to the kitchen to fetch a tumbler, but had to take a moment to try and process what he had just seen. Who did that? A friend? Boyfriend? Josh…? He walked back into the bathroom and knelt down beside the bath.

"Got it!" He dipped the tumbler into the water. "Ellie, it's freezing!"

"It doesn't matter. Honestly." Charlie frowned, but dipped the tumbler in once again, and poured the cold water over Ellie's hair. She closed her eyes. She remembered her mother washing her hair. She lost track of time, forgetting about everything else but Charlie's tender hands in her hair and the cool water running down her back.

"Okay," he finally said. "All done." He stood up and lifted a towel, holding it out and looking the other way. Ellie shakily stood up and took the towel, wrapping it around herself. As she tried to step out of the bath she put weight on her left ankle and gasped, almost falling over. "Ellie you okay?" Charlie peeked around, and seeing she was covered offered her his arm. "Let me help."

"Thanks," she said, taking his arm, stepping out onto the bath mat. "Damn ice…"

Ellie started to run, knowing it wouldn't take long to get back to Josh's apartment. Tears were running down her face. Just before she reached the steps to the door she slipped, twisting her ankle. Fresh tears began to flow. "Damn ice…" she whispered hoarsely.

Ellie limped into her room and lay down on the bed.

"Okay, so where are the pyjamas?"

"That chair by the window," she said, without lifting her head from the pillow. Charlie set them down beside her, noticing how wrinkled her slender fingers were.

"Ellie, how long were you in that bath?" She still didn't look up.

"Not long, maybe ten minutes before you got here." He knew she was lying.

"Ellie, I felt how cold the water was, I saw your finger tips…"

"I just lost track of time, I didn't reali…"

"Was it Josh? Did he do this to you?" Ellie suddenly sat up in bed.

"What?" she snarled. "Josh?! Josh has done nothing but look out for me! How could even think that?"

"I'm… I'm sorry," he stuttered. "I'm just worried." Ellie lay back down again.

"Sorry…" she whispered.

"A boyfriend?" She shook her head. "Someone you know?" She shook her head again, avoiding his worried eyes.

"Can you go outside for a minute, I need to get changed."

"Sure," Charlie smiled, and stood outside for a few minutes until she called his name. He sat on the end of her bed, fidgeting with his hands, unsure of how to continue.

"Ellie, you have so many people who care about you and support you and love you; Josh, Leo, the President, me…" She finally looked at him, tears in her eyes. "Ellie," he said softly, "You can talk to me…"

"I got off a stop early," she said quietly.

"What?"

"The bus, I got off a stop early. I wanted to walk through the snow," she stopped looking at Charlie, and stared at her hands instead. "I love the snow… It was cold, so I went to buy some coffee because I left my gloves in Josh's office again." A tear slipped down Ellie's cheek. "When I left the shop there was this… this guy, following me…" The tears began to tumble down her freckled cheeks. Charlie felt a dull ache in his chest. "He dragged me into an alley, threw me to the ground, beat me…" Her breath caught in her throat. "He pinned down my wrists and he… he…" Her voice was barely more than a whisper… "He lifted up my skirt and… and he…" Ellie started to sob.

"Ellie…" Charlie moved closer and she buried her face into his shoulder. She started to sob more violently and was struggling to catch her breath. "Listen, Ellie, it's okay, just breathe…" He took her face in his hands and kept them there until the tears had stopped and she could breathe again.

"You should really go to the hospital."

"No!"

"Ellie…"

"Not without Josh!" Charlie looked at his watch. Josh wouldn't be home for another hour at least.

"I'll go call him." Charlie wiped the last of the tears from Ellie's cheek and stood up.

"Don't tell him, please, not over the phone…" Ellie pleaded before he reached the door. Charlie looked at her broken face, and nodded.

Charlie stood in the kitchen and lifted the phone to his ear. It rang three times before Josh answered.

"Hey Charlie, is Ellie okay? I was just about to call." Charlie didn't know what to say.

"She… she slipped on the ice and hurt her shoulder pretty bad. I think she should go to the hospital, but she won't without you."

"Is she okay?" He could hear the worry in Josh's voice.

"Not… not really."

"I'm on my way, I'll be there in fifteen minutes!"

As he walked back into Ellie's room he saw her curled up in a little ball on the middle of the bed. Perched on the edge he asked,

"Is there anything you need?" She lifted her eyes to meet his, and sniffed. She was crying again.

"A hug." Charlie slipped off his shoes and lay down beside her, stretching out his arm for her to lie on. She rested her head on his chest. "Is Josh coming?"

"Yeah, he won't be long."

"I don't… I don't know how to tell him, I… I just…" Charlie rested his head against hers.

"Hey, we'll do it together." He felt Ellie nod, and then wipe away a tear.

In the fifteen minutes it took Josh to get in his car, navigate the traffic and run up the stairs to his apartment, Ellie had fallen asleep. Charlie heard a knock on the door then realised it must be Josh, because he had given Charlie his keys. He carefully slipped his arm out from underneath Ellie and went to answer the door.

"Hey Charlie," Josh walked straight through the door, "Where is she?"

"Josh…"

"Ellie?" Josh called out.

"Josh!" He turned around to face Charlie. He saw the look on his face.

"Charlie… What happened?"

"There's something I need to tell you."

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