Thanks for the reviews. Not a lot of interest so far, but hopefully that'll change after this chapter, when a plot begins to emerge, and you all see this is not going to be some fluffy Mary Sue high school fic... ;)


Chapter 2. Dead

As afraid as he was of Kate's answer, Jack's need to know what he was dealing with won out; after returning from the bathroom with a bottle of peroxide and a damp cloth, he knelt in front of her, taking both of her hands in his.

"What happened, Kate?" he asked her, ducking his head so that he could see her face, hidden by a curtain of messy curls. "Was it Wayne?"

She nodded, and he had to resist the urge to lift up her shirt and start checking for more serious injuries. The fact that she looked like she'd thrown it, and her jeans, on in a rush disturbed him no end; he forced the mental images out of his head as he waited for her to elaborate.

She seemed to sense what he was thinking. "He didn't…" she assured him, trailing off, and he relaxed a little, relieved that the worst hadn't happened to her. Yet.

"But he tried?" he guessed, confused when she shook her head. "So what did he do?"

"My mom…" she choked out, fresh tears spilling onto her cheeks, and the sick feeling returned to the pit of his stomach, his imagination taking this cryptic clue and running with it.

"But she's okay?" he prompted her, even though he wasn't so sure.

"She's in hospital," she explained, and he thought he finally understood what had happened, feeling oddly grateful that it wasn't her lying in her mother's place. He felt for her, but as far as he was concerned, it was her mother who deserved whatever she got for not getting the two of them out of there when it started. "She hasn't woken up… I tried to stop him…"

Her shoulders shook, and she started sobbing; he pulled her into tight hug, waiting for her to go limp against him before asking, "Is that why you said you wanted to kill him?"

"I need her, Jack," she whispered, her eyes wide and frightened when she lifted to her head. "She can't leave me alone with him…"

"Hey, it's gonna be okay," he told her, continuing to hold her, even though he had no idea how to make it true.

Tonight wouldn't be the first time Wayne had put her mother in the hospital and gotten away with it; if her condition was as serious as it sounded, there was a chance that Kate would end up alone with him, at least until her mother recovered.

If she did.

"Why don't we go see her and find out what's happening? That way a real doctor can fix you up," he suggested, pulling her up to her feet with him, but she gave him another timid look and shook her head.

"He's there now – he told them someone broke in, and they believed him. Can't I just stay here tonight? With you?" she pleaded, his heart breaking for her as she added, "I'll sneak out before your parents get up."

He wanted to argue that she didn't have to do that, but, afraid that his parents would step up their efforts to keep them apart if they found out she'd spent the night in his room, he nodded, returning his attention to her face.

Aside from stopping the bleeding, and cleaning the wound, there wasn't much he could do, so he gave her an icepack to help with the swelling, and a clean t-shirt to sleep in, and she crawled into bed, waiting until he was settled to curl into him.

Her body fit perfectly against his, as if they were two halves of the same whole; it was another sign that his parents were wrong, and that they were meant to be together.

"Thanks for having my back," he heard her mumble into his chest as he turned out the light, and then her breathing evened out and she was asleep.


She was gone the next morning when he woke up, the t-shirt he'd leant her draped over his chair, a scribbled note telling him that she'd gone to visit her mother before school.

"Late night, son?" his father asked when he dragged himself down for breakfast, slumping into his seat at the table, and he was afraid that he'd seen her, and was working his way up to confronting him about it, but a moment later, he went back to his paper without another word.


Jack waited by her locker as usual, but she didn't appear; homeroom came and went, followed by first period, without any sign of her, and he began to worry that she'd run into Wayne at the hospital.

He thought about cutting class to find her, to make sure that she was safe, but he didn't want to miss her if she came in late, so he spent the day watching the corridors, jumping every time the door opened, and he expected to see her red-faced and breathless, mumbling excuses before slinking over to the seat that he'd saved her.


Her mother's room was empty when he raced over there as soon as the final bell rang, and she wasn't in the cafeteria; when he checked in with one of the nurses, he was told that she'd gone home hours ago, but still, somehow, she'd never made it to class.

He tried to tell himself that it wasn't unlike her disappear for a day or two at a time after something like this happened, that she just wanted some time alone, but when he couldn't find her at the diner, or any of their usual haunts, his bad feeling grew, redoubling when he drove by her parents' place and spotted her bike on the ground, next to Wayne's truck.

She'd had it with her the night before; too agitated to waste time knocking, he stormed into the house, freezing when he heard raised voices coming from the direction of the bedrooms.

"Go on, off with you – you're worthless, just like your mother," he heard Wayne say; Kate must have ignored him, continuing with whatever she was doing, because a few seconds later, there was a loud crash and he added, "Don't you walk away from me when I'm talkin' to you, girl – unless you want me to teach you some respect."

Her muffled cry was all the encouragement Jack needed; without stopping to think about what he was going to do when he got there, he sprinted down the hall, bursting into her room to find Wayne pressing her against the bookcase, seeming to enjoy how much power he had over her as she struggled to push him off.

"Let her go," Jack commanded with as much bravado as he could muster; her eyes slid over to him, and she slumped backwards as Wayne relaxed his grip.

"This the boyfriend?" he sneered, seizing him up with a look of disgust. "The hero who's gonna get you out of here? Who made you think you were too good for us?"

Jack's legs were shaking at having Wayne's full attention on him, but he forced himself to remain calm. "I said, let her go, or I'm calling the cops."

"Oh, you are, are you?" Wayne taunted him, making Kate cry out when he twisted her arm behind her back, pinning her by the throat, as if to remind him that he could do anything to her in the time it would take Jack to get to the phone. "And I'll tell them you're trespassin', since I don't remember invitin' you in."

"I… invited… him," Kate choked out, fixing him with a defiant look, and this time, when he shoved her, Jack heard the audible pop of her shoulder coming out of its socket.

Her howl of pain sent a flood of rage shooting through him; sliding out the metal baseball bat he knew Kate kept under her mattress, Jack swung it at him, succeeding in getting him to drop her when it connected with his ribs.

"That's it, you little bastard!" he snarled, clutching his side, advancing towards them when Jack tried to pull Kate towards the door. "I'm gonna kill your boyfriend, Katie!"

Seeing how serious he was, Jack shoved Kate behind him, urging her to run, but she wouldn't leave without him.

"Wayne, Stop it! Leave him alone!" she cried, but it was too late; before Jack had time to comprehend what was happening, Wayne's fist slammed into his face, sending him reeling backwards into her.

He managed to get in another blow of his own before he was knocked to the ground; he could hear Kate screaming as Wayne kicked him in the stomach and ribs; see her cradling her injured arm as she tried to get between them, but he threw her off, too enraged to listen to her.

Fumbling around for something he could use as a weapon, Jack's fingers closed around the handle of the bat; picking it up, he swung it as hard as he could, hitting Wayne in the back of the head.

With a startled grunt, he fell forward, beside him, and was still.

Kate crept back over to them then, kneeling beside her stepfather; closing his eyes, Jack exhaled slowly, letting his adrenaline levels return to normal, but his relief at winning the fight was short lived when he heard her cry out in horror.

"What?" he asked her, wincing as he forced himself to sit upright.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw what she was doing. Her good hand was on Wayne's throat, checking his pulse, her face whiter than he'd ever seen it as she whispered the words that would change their lives forever. "He's dead, Jack. Wayne's dead."


Next chapter: Oh my God, they killed Wayne... What're they gonna do now? (Review and you'll find out!) ;)