"Good morning", Elsa greeted her best friend as she sat down, along with her boyfriend. Liv sat next to her childhood friends, Elsa and Anna. The four girls were so close, almost acting like sisters, including Elsa and Anna's cousin, Rapunzel.

"Morning, Elsa. Hi, Anna", she answered, setting her tray down. Damien sat beside his cousin, Eugene, and to Eugene's right was Rapunzel. Liv and Damien faced their family, giving their back to one another, but their hands holding each other.

"Where's Kristoff?" Liv asked Anna. Usually, the blonde mountain of a man would be sitting with her, talking or just enjoying others company.

"He's getting ready; he was called in to patrol and hunt today", Anna answered. Liv knew it broke Anna's heart to know her fiancé was called to the field, weeks before they're to be married. But just like Eric, Anna had turned tough and strong. She wasn't the same bubbly, happy girl everyone knew in high school, or not as much as she used to be. She still had her smile to cheer everyone and her faith in things changed for the better. She was more mature in her way of thinking and acting.

"Is it true that we have to take another census?" Elsa asked. Liv nodded, taking a bite from her green apple. They turned their eyes to the TV and saw the bulletin board scrolling from left to right to reveal the next announcement. "And a pregnancy test?"

"It's to make sure we are doing the right thing", Liv answered. She knew she couldn't speak freely unless they gave her permission to do so. In this case, she couldn't say what Kala mentioned earlier. "I know it's depriving us from our privacy but we have to do it. Chief's orders." Liv's eyes caught a shimmer of light, her curiosity aiming right at Anna's ring finger. There was a silver band with a small diamond on the middle, her engagement ring from Kristoff. When Anna was nervous, she would twirl her ring around, to remind her that even the smallest of things, like the diamond, were possible to turn into something wonderful, such as her marriage proposal.

"Liv, when are the pregnancy test going to be conducted?" Rapunzel asked. Liv faced her friend, catching her looks of scared and wariness. Eugene and she had been married for about two months and they weren't sure if she was expecting.

"Today and tomorrow, until every girl over the age of 15 has been tested." She tried to play a smile and accomplished her mission to make her catch it on her lips. She nodded and continued to eat. Liv stared at her apple, twirling it in her hand.

"You know, in the past few weeks, I haven't heard anything about the infected multiplying", Damien mentioned. They were out of the mess hall and in the garden, one of the few places where they could talk in secret and freely.

"Me either…" she commented. They walked together but didn't necessarily held hands but their steps were synchronized, one step after another. None of them were in a rush today and Damien didn't have much to do today, apart from hunting later in the evening. They enjoyed their walk after many failed attempts to go on a date in the past month or so.

"Are you still afraid of me?" he asked her.

"I'm not afraid of you", she answered, looking at him in the eyes. Her fingers were then squeezed slightly by his as he took her hand in his. "It's just…I don't want to go to fast or do things in a rush without thinking it through…"

"Okay. I was just wondering, why don't we go talk to your parents and ask them for their blessing? They've never met me and I've never met them and we've been going steady for more than a year now." Liv nearly stopped breathing and her feet almost gave in.

"Damien…I don't think that's such as good idea…" Liv answered, quickly recovering from her sudden shock.

"Why not?" She didn't say anything and that was all he needed to understand. "Oh, they aren't here anymore, are they?" She shook her head and looked down.

"Oh, Liv, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that…"

"It's okay, you didn't know…"

"Do you have any living relatives?" he asked her.

"Only an uncle or two along with their wife and kids. And my dad…" She looked up again and met his eyes. He held her hand close to him and made sure he never let her go.

"Well, let's go meet him." Liv just shook her head and twisted her fingers together.

"Liv, is there something you aren't telling me? You know you can trust me, regardless of how stupid or scary it is." Liv didn't answer and let her hand slip out of his grasp. She looked down, Damien continued to look at her and waited. "Liv? Are you okay?" She didn't answer and stood still. "Livy, what's wrong?"

"I don't want you to meet them…"

"What's wrong with me meeting them? If they are going to embarrassed you, it's fine. That's what families do…"

"They're not my family…or at least he isn't" she answered under her breathe. "He's a monster…"

"Liv, who is he? What did he do?" Liv then looked up and her eyes were shining, her eyes were already swimming in tears.

"I don't…"

"Don't what?"

"I don't want you to worry about it…"

"How am I supposed to not worry about it?" he was growing more and more concerned by the minute. "I've known you for years now, been your best friend for a long time, and I've been your boyfriend and you've been my girlfriend for almost a year, I think I deserve the right to know what happened to you." He stayed quiet for a moment, then his eyes grew wide. "You're ashamed of me, aren't you? You're ashamed because I'm a lone wolf, right?"

"No! No, I'm not ashamed of you! I'm proud of you! I could never be ashamed of you!" she then jumped into his arms and hugged him, he returned the gesture, holding her tight against his chest. He pressed a deep kiss in her crown. She stifled a cry and sniffed a bit. "But this is hard to understand and even harder to talk about." They then sat on the grass, leaning against an oak tree, one of the few that remained in the city.

"You know you can tell me", Damien reassured her. She rested against the tree and held her hands close to her. She stayed quiet for a while, thinking her answer over and over. She carefully turned the subject in her head, treating it as if it were a living creature that could disappear if held incorrectly. The thought and answer was a delicate matter and need to be held gently. "Liv…"

"I don't know…how to explain it right", she answered, pausing her train of thought.

"Please try, you know I will never judge you. Not after how well you've treated me these past few years, since we have been friends and since we have been together." He wrapped his arm over her shoulder and let her lean her head against him.

"I'm about to trust you in the most delicate matter that ever existed in the world, okay? You can't tell anyone, for the sake of them and me", she answered, the corner of her lips being wedged under and over her teeth.

"I promise…no, I swear with my life, your secret is safe me", he swore, placing his left hand over his mouth and kissed his fingers and placed them over his heart. It was their way of promising things to each other.

"No one knows about this, not even Anna or Elsa or Rapunzel know." That's when his heart shattered. 'If Anna, Elsa, and Rapunzel don't know about this, then it must be serious.'

"I'm listening…" he answered. "Take your time." She looked down, then she looked up, blinking fast to keep the tears from flowing. She curled her lips inside and bit them. Then, she sighed quietly and faced her beau.

"I don't want you to meet him because..." she paused. Damien kissed her forehead and with his thumb, he picked up her falling tear. "Because he is a monster…" Damien then held his breathe and waited for her to continue. "When I was a little girl, he would hit my mom, multiple times..." Damien's mind shattered to know his future father-in-law had the balls to hurt his wife. "He would beat her in front me. He knew I was there and all he did was beat her almost to a pulp. He was drunk when he would hit her…which is why…"

"Which is why you hate it when I drink and you push me away when I've had alcohol…" Damien felt like a fool and wanted to apologize for being so selfish and not seeing the signs of her actions and her reasons to how she acted around alcohol.

"Exactly…" she whispered. Tears painted her cheek, her nose and cheeks were flushed red, and there were tear drops stains on her shirt. "When my mom died, she was turned to ashes and people didn't think he would do such a thing, my...father... but he did." The words "my" and "father" gave her mouth the sickening taste of bile and she wanted to desperately yank those words from her life forever. "After my mom died, he needed someone to blow off steam to. Guess who didn't volunteer but was still elected to hold that position?"

"You?!" she nodded and took a deep breathe. If his mind shattered to know his mother-in-law was killed by her drunk husband, then his whole heart and world fell apart knowing that his girlfriend was hurt by a monster, and this monster was her father. "What did this prick do to you?" There were some anger in his voice and she could hear it.

"Not today", she answered. "Not now, not here…"

"What? Why? I need to know what he did to you."

"Not today, Damien. I promise I will let you know but not right now"

"Oh come on, Liv. This guy hurt you and he needs to pay for that!"

"That's why I don't want you to know", she answered. "You're too angry to take this seriously. First thing you will want to do is hurt him and I don't want that to happen." She stood up and waited for him to follow. She outstretched her hand, offering to help him stand up. He pushed her hand away but still got up on his feet.

"You tell me first your dad beats your mom and killed her, then you tell me he hits you, and I am more than eager to help you but yet you tell me you don't want me to hurt him. What are you thinking, Livana?" He only used her full name when he was mad or scared.

"I guess I was wrong to tell you about him", she answered. On average, whenever they are together and happy, he made her look smaller than she was, even though she was 5'9" and he was 6'4". But as of right now, Damien felt he was shrinking to her height and she was growing taller. This was the disadvantage and advantage to when it came to their relationship. When angered, she was no longer the quiet girl everyone knew who reached the height of 5'9". She was a girl with a bold statement and seemed to be over 6' tall.

"Maybe you were!" Damien yelled. Liv then turned and walked away towards the building, leaving Damien to deal with his anger on his own. It was a rule between them to leave each other when angry so they won't say things they would later regret. Damien rushed out to the gym to lift weight. There, his friend Ralph was lifting weights and a few other guys were scattered.

"Damien, what are you doing here?" Ralph asked when he saw his friend coming out of the changing room for men. Damien hasn't set foot in the gym for a long time since he spent most of his time with Liv or was out hunting so Ralph was pretty surprised. Damien didn't answer as he warmed himself up, eyeing his friend for a brief second. "Oh, had a fight with Liv huh?"

"Yeah…" he was tempted to explain what Liv had told him but he remembered he swore he wouldn't say anything so he kept his mouth shut.

"What happened?" his friend asked, beginning to lift the second to the heaviest dumb-bell found.

"I don't want to talk about it…" In reality, this was true along with the fact he wasn't going to break a promise, regardless of how mad he was at Liv. Ralph understood Damien was a man of his word and he respected his friend's request.

"Hey Ralph. Damien, haven't seen you in a while", another voice came in from behind. They turned and saw Jim walking towards them. Both boys greeted their friend. "Why the long face, Damien? Broke up with Liv?"

"Nah, we just had an argument", he answered. The more he thought about it, the more he realized she was right.

He took a moment to revisit the argument but standing in her place. It was hard to know what it must have been like for the one person who is in charge of protecting you and promises to keep you safe is the main person who is nearly killing you and killed your mother. He saw how angry he was and he realized he could have caused more damage than good by hurting said monster. He tried to image how scared Liv must have been to see him drink, even if it was just one beer he had consumed. She was afraid to see him drunk because it brought memories of her father hurting her instead of protecting her. She was afraid her boyfriend would also turn into a senseless, drunken monster and do damage. He wasn't going to lose her over something that wasn't worth losing the love he had for her and vice versa, especially over something so stupid, such as alcohol, and not controlling his hot-headed attitude. He wanted to go after her, apologize all over the place, find her and beg her to forgive him. He would get on his knees if he had to, he would join a team to belong in and do whatever it is to make her happy. He would do anything so long as he was her and she was his. But he didn't do so; not because he was a coward or was too proud, but because she needed her space and time to clear her head. He would see her tonight at dinner so he decided to wait until then. In the meantime, he lifted weight and thought over and over of what he would tell her. Of course, Ralph and Jim would make conversation with him and each other. Peter even joined the group, helping him clear his mind and silently helped him come up with things to tell her tonight.

On the bottom floor and on other side of the gym, Liv entered, fully dressed to play basketball when she spotted a familiar red-head shooting, her usual frizzy untamed hair in a ponytail. She wasn't in the mood for chattering so she simply went to her own area of the court, and shot the ball. Merida saw her and watched her play. She noticed how focused she was in throwing the ball and aiming the backboard, and she knew something was up, but she knew better than to ask. It's happened before and it was bound to happen again so she simply left her alone. Liv was aiming and missing and making them into the hoop, missing the hoop where when she thought about something bad that affected her aim and she'd scores when she focused on the ball. She ceased to shoot and simply dribbled the ball, echoing around the gym, resonating as if hundreds of balls were being dribbled, all in perfect synchronization only a second or so apart from each other. Merida left the court to do some shooting with her crossbow and normal bow and arrow, taking one last glance at her friend. Liv turned her head and managed to pull a smile which Merida returned her one.

As she dribbled, she thought about her fight with Damien. She didn't mean saying she was wrong for telling him about her problem and neither did he to her. She imagined to be in his shoes, seeing why he was so eager to punch her father in the face. He really did love her and wanted her to have the best. She imagined his face turning red from the anger of her confession towards him. She continued to dribble as a lonely girl entered the gym, her hair black as night and her eyes golden brown brimming with tears, her hands stuffed in her pocket, looking down. Liv saw her and stopped the ball from making noise. The girl saw Liv and rushed towards her, Liv's arms opened wide. The basketball dribbled on the floor a few times, the echoes continued and the height of the ball decreased until it rolled away into the broken bleachers.

"What's the matter, Vanellope?" Liv asked, unsure whether her shoulder was wet with sweat or tears. Vanellope sobbed as her friend rubbed her hand across her back. The sob, like the sound of the ball Liv was dribbling seconds ago, echoed through the almost empty gym and reached the boys' ear, who were on the upper floor. Damien thought Liv was the one who was crying so he raced down the stairs, his friends followed hot on his heels. To their surprise, they found Liv and Vanellope sitting on the nearby benches, or whatever was left of them, tight in an embrace, Vanellope crying her poor eyes out on Liv's shoulder.

"Liv, what happened?" Ralph asked. Liv turned to him and shook her head, signaling to him she doesn't know.

"Vanellope, can you tell me what happened?" Liv coped her to speak. The black haired girl lifted her head up and looked at her friend who sat in front of her. Taking a deep breathe, she managed to speak.

"…I…my par-rents…they're…de…" there was no need to continue, everyone knew the answer. Liv's eyes watered as hugged her friend again. Ralph joined the huddle and hugged the girls tightly against him.

"I'm so, so sorry", Ralph whispered in the mourning girl's ear. The girls unwrapped an arm from each other and placed it over his rather broad shoulders and back, their fingers barely touching the other girl's finger tips. Liv lifted her head and gently kissed Vanellope on her cheek. Vanellope sobbed and tears landed like boulders on Liv's shoulders. Liv wasn't all too concerned about Vanellope's tears spilling on her shoulder, it bothered and irritated her more that Vanellope was crying. Vanellope, of all people, it had to be her?! She was always cheerful and bright. She hadn't been this sad in years when kids at their elementary and middle school picked on her for being who she was, different and unique. Ralph and Liv were her only friends for a long time until high school came around, then thing got so much better for her. The group was then surrounded by fellow young adults and whispered amongst each other, trying to figure out why the toughest and biggest guy was hugging two girls. Damien then walked towards his girl and hugged her from behind. Jim and Peter hugged Vanellope. The group then released each other from their hold, Liv and Vanellope being the last to separate.

"You can sleep in my apartment tonight", Liv offered. Vanellope said nothing. "If you want to…" Vanellope then nodded, not forcing a smile. Liv gently caressed her hand over her friend's cheek to wipe, with futile results, the tears that continue to stream down her face. Vanellope turned to Ralph and he hugged her tightly, almost folding his body in half as he held her close to his chest. Liv crossed her arms over her knees, hands hanging off to the side of her thighs, looking at the wooden floor. Damien then resumed his position of hugging her from behind, waited for her to flinch away from his touch. Instead, he felt her fingers fit in between his, accepting his gesture. 'It's because she is sad. She's still mad at me…it's in a moment of grief.'

"Does Fergus know?" Peter asked. Vanellope nodded. Everyone was too afraid to ask the obvious but they wanted to know.

"Will there be a…procession?" Jim asked, biting the inside of his cheek. She nodded and sobbed some more. She raised her hand and with her fingers, gave the time of the procession.

"4 pm…" Jim answered, speaking to no one. Liv then tapped Damien on the shoulder and he leaned is head towards her ear. When they finished conversing, Damien let her go and softly walked towards Ralph and whispered what Liv had mumbled in his ear. Ralph stood up and carried Vanellope, Liv got up and walked with the duo. Before Liv was fully out the door, she turned and smiled at Damien. He returned the smile and looked at her.