A/N: Just a warning, this fic gets sort of dark, especially towards the end. If you're triggered by physical/emotional abuse, eventual physical fighting, swearing, and/or attempted rape/rape mentions, DON'T READ THIS FIC. This is also not intended to be slash at all, just friendship with Dan, Phil, and my OC. That being said, I hope you enjoy this fic, and PLEASE give me feedback on how to improve it. Constructive criticism can only make it better, after all! I own none of these characters, just my OC.

Chapter 1

Phil yawned and rubbed his eyes. It was getting late, at least for him. Dan would no doubt be up for another few hours on tumblr and would only go to bed when the first rays of light began appearing in the sky. Phil usually went to bed sometime around one, but if he got caught up in editing a video, he could be up all night. Tonight, however, the editing had gone quickly, and it was only half past midnight.

Shutting off his computer, Phil stood up and stretched. The groceries had been delivered yesterday, and he knew for a fact that there was an unopened bag of marshmallows in the pantry. Dan would probably kill him for it, but how could he resist the sugary little clouds of joy?

As he made his way to the kitchen, he listened to the sound of the torrential downpour outside. It was a nasty storm, windy, cold, and very wet. As if to emphasize the gloominess, a rumble of thunder shook the apartment walls. Phil shivered. He didn't fancy to be out in this weather, that's for sure. Maybe he would make some tea to go along with his sugary treat.

After having successfully acquired both the marshmallows and a steaming mug of tea, Phil was just about ready for bed. He set his treats down on the counter and began walking down to the front door. All that was left to do was lock up for the night. Usually he left this job to Dan, as he went to bed later than Phil, but sometimes Dan forgot, and there would probably be some people out on the streets tonight looking for shelter. He really didn't need someone wandering into their apartment at three in the morning.

He hurried down the stairs quickly, looking forward to diving under his warm blankets for the night. The heating had been acting up lately and there was a slight chill in the building, especially tonight with the storm. Phil locked the door and was just turning to head back upstairs when he heard a thump, and a quiet but desperate "Are you kidding me..." coming from the other side of the door. Ordinarily, Phil would ignore it and go to bed, but the person sounded like they were going to cry, and Phil was not the kind of guy to leave someone crying by themselves in a hallway. He turned back around and cracked open the door.

Phil recognized the person standing there, with her head pressed against the opposite door in silent defeat. It was their new neighbor who had moved in a few weeks ago. They hadn't properly introduced themselves, but they passed each other on the stairs occasionally and Phil always made sure to smile at her. She was young, in her early twenties or so, with dark brown hair and striking hazel eyes. She had an average build and unremarkable features. Really, she was almost boring, but Phil believed that no one was truly boring. Besides, one time they had passed each other she had been wearing a Harry Potter sweater. You couldn't be completely boring if you liked Harry Potter.

"You alright there mate?" Phil asked. The girl jumped at his voice and turned to look at him, swiping at her eyes quickly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, everything's fine, I just forgot my keys at my b-boyfriend's place and now I can't get into my apartment."

Phil took in her appearance. Her clothes were dripping wet, her hair was a mess, and her eyes were red and puffy. Basically, she looked like a train wreck.
"Were you out in the storm?" Phil asked disbelievingly. She gave a jerky nod and wiped her face again. Her hands were shaking, along with the rest of her body.

"Bloody hell, come inside for a minute and get dried up," Phil said, opening the door completely. "You look freezing."

The girl's eyes widened and she took a small step back. "N-no, that's fine, I don't need help. Everything's okay, really."

Phil frowned. He understood why the girl was apprehensive about coming in. It was quite sad, really, to live in a world where being kind to a girl made them think you were a murderer or a rapist.

"Look, I promise, I'm not going to try to kill you with an ax or something. Cross my heart." He made a crisscross motion over his heart to prove it. The girl looked at him, keeping her distance. She still didn't trust him.

"Do you at least have a phone? Can you call someone?" Phil asked. "I want to make sure you aren't stuck in the hall all night, it's freezing."

She shook her head again, her eyes downcast. "No, my phone is inside. I don't have anyone to call anyway."

Phil sighed. "Can I at least get you a towel? You look like you've had a bath with all your clothes on."

The girl stood there for a moment, staring at the wall. Phil wondered if she had even heard what he had said, but at last her head jerked stiffly in a nod.
A few seconds later and he was back in the hallway, having retrieved a big fluffy towel, and the girl was now trying to pick the lock on her door with her earring. Phil had to admit he was very curious to see if it would work, and he only made his presence known when the girl fumbled with her earring and dropped it on the floor, to which she reacted with a few choice swear words of which Dan would have been proud.

"Hey, here's a towel," Phil said, startling the girl into dropping her earring again. She swore under her breath and wiped her eyes as she picked up the earring again.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Phil asked tentatively.

"I'm fine, it's just been a long day," she said, her hands still shaking as she took the towel and began drying her hair.

Phil wanted to push it further, because it was extremely obvious that she was not okay, but he knew when to stop. "Is your boyfriend at his house? Couldn't you just ring him up and ask him to bring you your keys?"

Something in her eyes became more guarded. "No. He, he left to go to his parents house for the weekend right after I left."

That was one of the flimsiest lies Phil had ever heard, but he let it go. She would just close up even more if he kept pressing her. An awkward silence fell that neither one of them seemed eager to break. Phil fidgeted and the girl kept her eyes downcast, fixed firmly on a slight crack in the wall as she rubbed her hair with vigor.

"What's your name?" Phil asked at last, unable to stand the silence. When he was nervous, he talked, and this was about as tense a situation as it could possibly get. The girl looked up at him, her hazel eyes looking black in the dark hallway.

"Nadia," she said quietly. The hand clutching the towel dropped to her side and she picked at a stray thread absently. "I'm Nadia."

Phil grinned. "Nice to meet you, Nadia. I'm Phil."

The faintest of twitches appeared at the corners of her mouth. "Nice to meet you too, Phil." The black of her eyes changed ever so slightly to a dark chocolatey brown. "I should go, I need to find a hotel or something. It was nice talking to you."

Phil blinked at this sudden change in the conversation. "Do you even have any money? What about a cab? There's not going to be any out tonight in this weather." As if confirming his words, another boom of thunder shook the walls. They both flinched simultaneously.

"What else am I supposed to do then?" Nadia asked, looking at Phil with eyes filled with desperation. In that moment, with her hair hanging around her face in strings, tears and rain mingling on her cheeks, and her defeated posture, she looked terribly young. Phil's mother hen instincts kicked in. There was no way he was going to leave his young neighbor to sleep in the hallway in her wet clothes in the middle of a storm. The thought was appalling.

"Are you sure you won't come in? Just to dry off for a bit?"

Nadia looked to be on the verge of saying yes, but something held her back. "No, I can't. I'm sorry." Her eyes were trained on the floor again.

Phil chewed his lip for a moment. "Hang on just one second." He turned and hurried back into his apartment, calling "Dan? Do you know how to pick a lock?"

Needless to say, Dan was extremely curious to know why Phil had come bursting into his room at one in the morning demanding that he pick a lock, but Phil was offering no explanation other than "It's an emergency, just come quickly." Dan followed Phil, rather warily, to their front door, where he was met with a wide-eyed, dripping wet girl who he vaguely recognized as the person who had moved in a few weeks ago across the hall.

"Dan, this is Nadia. Nadia, this is Dan," Phil said, shoving Dan into the hall. "Dan, pick the lock on her door, will you?"

Dan stared at Phil for a long moment, having one of those very familiar moments he had when dealing with Phil where he just could not comprehend what his friend had said, because the sheer ridiculousness was too much to grasp. "Sorry, what?"

Phil sighed impatiently. "She's locked out and she doesn't have money for a hotel or anything. Can you pick the lock?"

Sometimes Dan wondered if his friend was truly well in the head. "Bloody hell, Phil," he sighed, running his hand through his hair. He glanced at Nadia. She was young, he noticed, younger than he had previously thought she was. Her hair was only half dry and was in massive knots, her clothes were weighing her entire body down with their soaking weight, and her eyes were just shy of hopeless. It was the eyes that did it for Dan. If he wasn't just the biggest sucker for big, sad eyes.

"Give me a minute," he sighed. Honestly, how did he get in these situations? "I'll be right back," he promised, quickly going back inside, only to be back a minute or two later with a few small tools.

"Just to warn you, I very much doubt that these will work," he sighed, choosing two of the tools. "I bought these off of eBay as a gag gift that I never got around to actually giving to anybody." He went over to the lock and began fiddling with it, twisting around the tools and hoping that he might do this through sheer luck, because he honestly had no idea what he was doing. But miraculously, after about five minutes and several muttered swears later, there was an audible click. Dan twisted the handle and the door swung open.

"Oh, thank you," Nadia said, her shoulders sagging in relief. "Thank you so much, I owe you big time."

"Not a problem," Dan said with a grin. "What else are neighbors for other than breaking into each other's apartments in the middle of the night?"

Nadia actually smiled, and a quiet chuckle escaped her lips. "Yeah, I suppose. Thank you again, you have no idea how much I appreciate this. Goodnight Dan, goodnight Phil."

"Night, Nadia," they replied simultaneously. She actually let a real laugh escape before she entered her apartment and closed the door. Dan turned to Phil.
"Well, that was exciting. I'm going back to bed now." He headed back into the apartment. Phil glanced back at Nadia's door. He still thought something wasn't quite right with her. Something about the whole boyfriend story seemed suspicious. But it was probably nothing. He turned and went into the apartment, closing the door behind him and locking it. His tea was probably ice cold by now, he mused as he headed back towards the kitchen. He'd need to heat it up before finally going to bed.