Hey readers don't forget that next week is one shot week so the long and short stories will not get posted.

Also Stohners, xo. BlackRoses and a few other guest reviewers I will respond to you by this weekend I just haven't had time this week.

Ch. 2 Gonna Carry You Home

(OWEN)

I stand there in shock watching Clare bawl on her knees in the dirt; I'm so shocked at what she just told me I'm frozen for a moment. When I finally can move I rush over to her, sitting down and putting my arm around her. She turns into me sobbing on my chest and I hold her just letting her cry.

"Your date raped you, you were date raped?" I mumble still just stunned by the whole thing.

"He was so nice; he seemed like a prince, he didn't try anything all night. Even my mom liked him," she comments still sobbing on my chest, "which really should have been my first sign not to go out with him but he was so…" she stops a second taking a strained and shuddering breath.

At first I think it's that she's crying so hard that is making her breathe this way but she continues to take strained breaths. She sounds like she's in pain and struggling to breathe, it occurs to me she's injured and has more than a black eye, actually she sounds like she has a cracked or broken rib.

"Clare let me see your ribs," I insist and she starts to pull away. "I won't touch you, it sounds like you have possibly have a broken rib and you're having trouble breathing."

She takes a second and then slowly lifts her shirt, I have to lift it a little higher and she flinches at first but she lets me. Her side is dark purple and it's obvious she has at least one broken rib.

"Okay come on I'm taking you to the hospital," I tell her standing up and trying to pull her with me but she jerks away.

"No I can't, no one can know," she says in a frantic and anguished voice as she stands up really fast. "I'm not going to the hospital I'm f…ow," she cuts herself with her own painful shriek and clutches her side.

I don't care how much she protests she's going to the hospital. I pick her up and she doesn't fight me, she's in a lot of pain I can hear it and she clings to me. I get her in my car and start driving to the nearest hospital.

"Clare I know you're scared but you were raped you have to tell and you have to be checked out," I assert.

"No," she shakes her head, "they can look at my ribs but that's it."

"Clare…"

"Owen I'm not telling them I was raped, no one else can know, you don't understand," she snaps at me and then groans in pain.

"Is this about your sister?" I ask thinking her experience with her sisters rape may be keeping her from coming forward.

"A little but that's not all of it," she tells me taking another sharp breath.

We're at the hospital so I drop it for the moment but this discussion isn't over. I park and walk with my arm around her into the emergency room; she clings to me in pain and breathing sharply. The nurse looks at her, Clare is hunched over and her black eye visible, Clare tells the nurse she fell and she thinks she may have cracked a rib, The nurse gives us a clipboard to fill out but the emergency room is pretty empty so Clare is called back fairly quickly. I get up and come with her, I don't care what she says but she doesn't argue and even looks a little bit grateful for it. A nurse takes her vitals and tells her to lie down until the doctor comes in. A male doctor comes in a few minutes later and looks at her ribs before taking her for x-rays. I wait in her room but they must have taken a lot of x-rays cause she's gone for a while.

"Alright Clare you have two broken ribs and one cracked rib. We'll tape them up and give you some pain medication. You'll have to ice and be careful about how you move for a couple of weeks," the doctor informs us.

"I've had cracked ribs before doc I know the drill," I tell him.

"Good then you can keep an eye on her and take her through it," he says. They discharge Clare and we go back out to my car.

"Clare you need to report this, I'm sure we can to Dave's dad or…"

"No," she cuts me off trying to get out of the car just as I start driving again.

I stop the car and look over at her until she has her seat belt back on, "Fine then I'm taking you to my house and you can explain why we aren't going to the cops."

She's silent until we're almost at my house, "This is where Adam's house is I thought you said we were going to yours and what about your family? Won't they be home?"

"I live half a block from Drew and Adam, my parents are at work and Tris is at school for at least three more hours. Last period just started and he's got Eli's movie after school," I reply.

She nods but remains silent, I pull into my driveway and she looks at my house, it's not all that different from Drew's. She gets out and makes a face, probably at the way the tape feels on her skin when she moves. She hasn't cried since we parked at the hospital but she looks blank, blank yet scared and depressed and angry all at once. I unlock the door and motion for her to go first, locking the door behind us. Clare looks around the living room, there's nothing special about it but she's never been in my house before. For all I knew she was comparing it to Drew and Adam's house in her mind. Our house has a finished basement too and I consider taking her down there but my room's more private and there is a chance Tris could come straight home or my mom could be home early. After asking her if she wants anything and getting a shake of her head in reply we go up to my room. She looks around it for a second, I keep my room dark, blinds drawn and blackout curtains closed so the only light coming through is what can filter through the blinds and black out curtains where they don't touch the wall. After a few seconds Clare takes a seat on my bed, she leans against the pillows, clutching my Ice Hounds plush dog, the entire team got one before our first game, to her chest. Afraid of making her too nervous if I'm too close I turn my desk chair and straddle it leaning on the back.

"If it's because of what your sister went through I can understand your hesitation. I mean I didn't see any of it personally but I heard about it from Johnny and others. Even so this guy raped you don't you want justice?" I inquire.

"Of course I want justice," she says in an agitated strained voice full of pain and irritation as she begins sobbing again and clutching my Ice Hounds plush tighter. "I want him to rot for what he did, I want to castrate him, for him to feel even a tenth of the pain I felt. Having to watch what my sister went through after a rape she couldn't even remember is part of it but it's a very small part. My date on Saturday was with Bryce DeWitt," she says and I stare at her blankly since the name doesn't ring a bell for me. "As in the DeWitt family, DeWitt Tower, DeWitt Steele, DeWitt publishing, his family owns not just half the city but half the province! His family is wealthy and well connected. He told me himself they own every judge and every lawyer, if I charge him he'll deny it and say the sex was consensual and I'll get buried. More than that I'll be humiliated and ridiculed, the girl that cried wolf! Even if he hadn't threatened me after Asher I just can't…I can't go through that again," she says starting to sob so hard she can't talk. She puts her head down and sobs against the stuffed Ice Hound dog.

I've never seen this Bryce guy but now that she's told me I have seen the DeWitt name on a bunch of things. I hate him though, I hate guys like him and I want to kill him. He should have his dick ripped off and be raped with it in my opinion. I also want to know who the hell Asher is but Clare is sobbing too hard for me to ask right now. I decide to let her cry for a moment and I go downstairs getting her some water, she's going to need it after all this crying. She looks at me when I come back in the room and I hand her the glass of water which she starts sipping at while I sit back at my desk chair.

"Who's Asher?" I question after she's had the entire glass of water and calmed down enough to talk.

"He was my co-op boss last semester; do you remember that whole Clare Says thing?" She asks me and I nod. "That was because of him, well I mean it was all stuff I said but I was excited to work with The Asher Shostak, I admired him as one of the greatest investigative journalists. I guess I was star struck in a way, I wanted to impress him and I was falling over myself to please him. I really didn't think all our lunches away from the office and all the jobs he took me on were anything to worry about," she says. The more she talks the tighter my chest gets because I just know this is going to end badly. "I wrote an article for Eli's play, I had to get it done in two hours and I rushed so it had a bunch of mistakes. I went to the Interpreter building alone late at night to talk to Asher about it but he'd already started fixing it. I felt like such an idiot, I even started crying like an idiot. Asher told me it was okay and we'd fix them together. He was being so sweet and gracious, understanding and telling me this was part of his job as my mentor. We stayed late re-working the article together. I was happy and excited, he told me I had a spark and then he kissed me," Clare confesses and I clench my fist in anger.

"Your boss kissed you? How old is this guy?" I inquire unable to keep from growling.

"Almost forty," Clare tells me wiping some tears from her eyes.

"He's over twice your age and your boss and he kissed you! What kind of perverted pedophile c…"

"I ran out," she tells me while I'm still ranting and I stop so she can talk. "I ran home and didn't sleep at all that night; I didn't know what to do. Eli came over the next morning with his arms full of newspapers to see the article only it wasn't in the paper. I was sure it was because I had run out, but I couldn't tell Eli I ran out because Asher had kissed me so I just told him I'd take care of it. I told Alli and she thought I had kissed Asher at first, she told me to go to Miss Oh but I didn't want to tell anyone so I went to work and confronted Asher. He apologized, said he was going through a rough divorce and that I was so mature, like an idiot I believed him and went with him to the mayoral debate. I loved watching him in action, we got back in his car when it was over and I was raving about how he handled it. He was telling me not to lose my excitement for the job, or my passion and how much I reminded him of himself," she says and pauses for second looking away from me to brush the tears that are flowing again.

I know whatever is coming next is just going to piss me off more; I'm going to want to kill this Asher guy too. I already do want to kill him just for having the gall to kiss her when he's not just her boss but old enough to be her father! Clare takes a minute, taking a few deep breaths and lying back on the pillows a little more before she continues.

"He showed me the article for the play, it was going to come out in Saturday's what's happening section. I had my name in a byline of a national paper it was huge for me, his name was next to mine but none the less it was huge. Like having an NHL recruiter come to a game to watch you. I was floating on this amazing high," she tells me and for a moment she smiles as she remembers the feeling and then her face falls to shame and fear again, "for about two seconds. Asher caressed my cheek with the back of his hand and this creepy feeling just washed over me. I shook with disgust and my chest got tight, I asked what he was doing. I don't even remember what he said I just wanted to get out of there. The door was locked, I tried the handle it wouldn't open," she tells me and begins to panic as she relives it all. "He grabbed me; he was trying to touch me, talking to me in a calming voice like he could lull me into having sex with him. When I finally got the door open he grabbed my arm and threatened my career if I ever told anyone."

She stops again for a deep breath and to clear her throat, she looks at the plush Ice Hounds dog she's been clutching this whole time. She caresses on of his ears and brushes away her tears that fall on his fur.

I want to yell; I'm growling internally and clenching my fist. In my little head both Asher and Bryce should be roasted over pits like the pigs that they are and I don't understand why they haven't been. I don't want to upset her more than she already is though and my loud pissed off yelling isn't going to help Clare at all.

"So you didn't tell anyone about Asher?" I ask after giving her a minute and taking some deep breaths myself to calm down. "What about Eli?" I inquire since they were dating at the time.

"I tried to tell; I went to Asher's boss the next day and told her he'd assaulted me. Only Asher had gone to her first, he told her that I'd been coming onto him and making the workplace uncomfortable. There were all my tweets and e-mails gushing about working with him and they seemed to support his story. I got fired. I confronted Asher in the building and got humiliated. After that I never wanted to tell anyone again, I told Alli but I couldn't tell anyone else," she says stopping for a shuddering breath and I sit there in shock yet again. The sound of my cell startles us both; I take it from my pocket looking at the caller ID before I answer.

"It's Dallas," I tell her and she only nods while I hit accept, "Hey Dallas."

"Where are you? You missed last period and it's time for practice," Dallas says.

"I'm not coming to practice," I reply.

"What do you mean you're not coming to practice what do you want me to tell coach?" Dallas questions sounding slightly annoyed.

"Tell him I went home sick, I'm second string anyway it's not going to matter," I contend.

"You better have a damn good explanation tomorrow," he says and hangs up.

"You can go to practice," Clare tells me very quietly when I put my phone down but she doesn't sound at all like she wants me to go.

"No they don't need me at practice but you need me here. So no one but me and Alli know about Asher?" I ask Clare.

"Not exactly, I tried to get revenge, tried to find someone else that had been assaulted or sexually harassed by him. I tracked down every single one of his past interns and they all told me it hadn't happened to them. I did it when I was supposed to be at co-op since I'd been fired. For a few weeks no one found out but when I had to give my last report on my co-op I could barely get through it. I was upset when I left class and Dallas offered me a beer. So I stupidly went with him into the prop room but I just wanted to numb the pain, to be able to move on and forget like I felt everyone else had. I got tipsy off one beer while telling Dallas everything about Asher, I don't know why I did I just felt like I needed to get it off my chest, to rant to someone else, anyone else. I kicked off my shoes and Dallas seemed to think that was a sign to kiss me," she says and now I want to kill Dallas too, I can't believe she told him everything I'd just heard about Asher and after that he felt like it was a good idea to kiss her! "I slapped him and left, wrote the article…"

"And Dallas got pissed so he and some of the other's trashed your birthday," I interrupt her but I know what she was going to say. She nods so I know I'm right, I also feel like the biggest jerk just for being associated with the other hockey players. "Sorry," I apologize.

"You didn't wreck my party, besides most of them have apologized including Dallas. At my birthday I was forced to tell Eli or lose him. He took it better than I expected, at least he seemed to. At first I was glad he was so calm but I wanted Asher to pay, I wanted to get back at him and send him to prison. I wanted one of Eli's crazy schemes and he was so focused on the play. Instead of a crazy scheme he told Miss Oh and she called my mom so I was forced into an embarrassing confession to them but I felt cornered and I denied everything. So in an effort to get Asher to pay I almost planted topless pictures of myself on Asher's computer."

"You did what?!" I exclaim.

"I didn't go through with it, I almost did but I saw one of Asher's past interns who told me she was assaulted too. We went to the cops together," Clare informs me.

"So this Asher pedophile has been arrested?" I question and she shakes her head. "Well why the fuck not?!"

"Jennifer's case had run out the statute of limitations and there was no evidence for either case. Asher had already gone to his boss so the Interpreter had it on record that I was sexually harassing Asher and there was all my tweets and e-mails. The case got thrown out and I got humiliated again. I can't go through that again with Bryce; his family is wealthy who knows what they could to do to me and my family if the cops didn't laugh in my face for even trying. I'm not going to the cops, I'm going to tell anyone, I won't press charges I just can't," she says and begins crying harder again.

I don't really know what to do so I get up and sit on the bed next to her, putting an arm around her loosely. She turns into me clinging to my shirt and sobbing against my chest. I don't know what to do other than hold her and that's what I do, she stops after a few minutes and wipes her eyes. I think she's crazy for doing nothing, that she should try, at least go to the cops or something but I haven't been through everything she's been through. I'm not a girl that's been assaulted before and watched my sister crack after a rape. I've been a creep sometimes but never like Asher or Bryce. People don't mess with me or people I care about because I'll kill them. I have no idea what I'd do in Clare's shoes and I don't know her well enough to tell her what to do but I will let her know she's not alone.

"How are your ribs? You hungry?" I ask her.

"My ribs hurt but they're okay, I'm not really hungry I think I'll just go home, you've done more than enough for a girl you don't even know," she tells me trying to show me a small smile.

"It was nothing, at least now I know why you were so quiet yesterday and why you screamed at me and Drew this morning. If you really want to go home I'll take you," I reply even though I don't think she should go home.

"I don't really want to go home but I don't think your parents should find me here and Tris will wonder why I'm here considering we've spoken I think once before this. Thanks for everything Owen, you really are sweet despite your mean boy exterior," she says and kisses my cheek lightly. It's soft, quick and not even on my lips but I get a tingle from it and even find it kind of sexy. Clare scoots off the bed and sets down the Ice Hounds plush at the end of the bed.

I get up and pick up the plush handing it to her again, "You keep it, in case you need someone to hug tonight since you won't stay here."

"Thanks Owen," Clare smiles and kisses my cheek again.

I grin again, I think I even blush a little, putting a hand on her shoulder and walk her back to my car taking her home. She says she'll see me tomorrow and walks inside holding the Ice Hounds plush. I grab my backpack from the car before going in since I haven't done any homework. The rest of my night is nothing but normal, homework, dinner with the fam, shower, TV and bed. All normal except I can't stop thinking about Clare, everything she's gone through, what Bryce put her through, even that Dallas kissed her after what she told him. I even dream about her, it's not like when I was crushing on Anya and I thought about her, dreamt about her and fantasized about her, this is different. I'm not thinking about Clare in any sort of sexual way I just wish I could help her, take some of her pain away, give her some sort of justice. I care about her; I realize that by morning, sometime in hearing her wail and sob, in having her confess to me about how she's been assaulted and used, I started to care about her but not in a romantic way.

When I arrive at school this morning I see Dallas talking with Luke and a few other teammates. I don't know even know how to find Bryce and if I walk into the Interpreter building and beat the tar out of Asher I'd be arrested but I can hurt Dallas for kissing her. So I walk over and punch him as hard as I can, Dallas goes careening into Luke and holds his jaw.

"What the fuck is your problem?!" Luke asks as the others just stare at me.

"Dude what the hell was that for?" Dallas asks glaring at me but he doesn't try and hit me back.

"For kissing a certain girl in the prop room after she confessed something to you," I reply.

"Oh, yeah I guess I kind of deserved that," he says with a sheepish grin.

"No you definitely deserved that," I reply seeing Clare pull in with Jake.

She never did tell me exactly what happened with Bryce, other than he raped her, but it's fresh and I figure she needs time. Still I'm the only one that knows and if she needs to talk or scream or anything I want her to know that I'm here. Only I don't know her so it's not like I can just walk up and give her my number people will think I'm asking her out. I keep an eye on her all day and when it's our spare I find her out by the ravine again.

"You going to scream again?" I ask and she turns to look at me.

"No but I'll let you know if I feel like it," she says.

"So how are you feeling?" I question.

"I don't know, sometimes I'm just…numb, not like I feel okay or anywhere close to happy just it doesn't quite hurt so much. Other times I feel like ripping off my own skin, I don't want to be in my skin anymore, he touched it, he soiled it and I can't get clean no matter how many times I shower," she says sobbing a little and she starts to shake so I go over and put my arm around her.

"You never really told me what happened Saturday night," I comment sitting on the ground and I pull her gently to sit next to me.

"He was great all evening, I felt like Cinderella," she says looking down and playing with laces on her shoes. "He picked me up in a fancy car, took me to a fancy restaurant, he's a prince of industry, he's educated and well-spoken. We had so much in common, after Eli Bryce seemed so perfect. My mom was thrilled; she was practically planning our wedding upon meeting him. It wasn't until we went to a park, a park I'd never been to before, there was a long walking path and lots of lights. There were other couples there kissing on the benches. We walked through the park and Bryce was talking about astronomy, pointing out constellations and things. We walked past all the other people to an isolated part of the park but it was still well lit and I wasn't afraid, Bryce was being a perfect gentleman," she says and stops for a moment biting her lip and picking apart a dead leaf she picked from the ground.

I don't say anything; I don't want to push her, if she's not ready to talk about it that's up to her. After a few minutes, several deep breaths and half a dozen dissected dead leaves she starts to talk again.

"We sat down on a bench, we started kissing, I was enjoying it," she says but sounds ashamed and sick to be admitting this and I take her hand. "He tried to grope me and I told him to stop, he looked angry for just a second and then he relaxed again. He suggested we walk some more and I showed him my chastity ring telling him that I'd made a promise to God not to have sex until I was married. He didn't say anything but he didn't seem angry and I still didn't think anything was wrong. He stopped at this spot over a dark embankment, he told me there was a swing and he was going to push me on it. I was starting to get nervous but I still trusted him."

She's crying again but she's not shaking, she does squeeze my hand tighter. Slowly and through a lot of sobbing and shaky breaths she tells me how he grabbed her and threw her to the ground. That she tried to fight and he punched her which is how she got the black eye. Then he raped her, all she tells me is that it hurt more than anything she's ever been through and was incredibly humiliating. The last thing she tells me is how she trekked home alone and scared, bleeding, barefoot and bruised. Then she turns into my chest and cries some more and I hold her because it's all I can do.

(CLARE)

It's been six weeks since that horrible night that shattered my life and the better part of my sanity. Exactly six weeks today as it was Saturday and I was avoiding everything and everyone. My bruises and physical injuries have healed and are gone or nearly gone but the deeper scars, the emotional pain; it only seems to get stronger. I often came to this spot along the ravine, the one I came to that first Monday after the rape and Owen found me. I'm glad he did, I'm glad he was there and he took me to the doctor, that he helped in the ways that he did or I may have fallen apart faster than Darcy. I sleep with the Ice Hounds plush every night, it's comforting and as stupid as it sounds it made me feel safe.

Owen had tried to convince me to be checked out that week, even promising to come with me. I refused, getting checked out would have meant getting a rape kit and everything else and I wasn't willing to do that. He only tried to convince me once and then he dropped it. I appreciated that he could do that because if Adam or Eli or even Drew had been the one to find out they would have continued pestering me.

After telling Owen everything that happened we exchanged numbers and he made me promise to call him if I needed to talk or felt like hurting myself. I felt like hurting myself a lot, not like punishing myself I just felt like getting rid of any part of me that Bryce had touched. Owen always came when I needed him or at the very least talked to me until I'd calmed down. Owen was not only the single person to know about Bryce's attack on me but no one knew that Owen and I were…well I'm not sure what we are, we're not dating. We're not romantically involved in any way I don't even like Owen that way and I'm sure he feels the same. I don't think we're even friends really, unless I'm breaking down, crying or feeling self-destructive we haven't spent any time together. We don't hang out, we don't eat lunch together, we don't even say hi in the hallways. As far as everyone else knows our relationship hasn't changed, in other words everyone else thinks we're still not even acquaintances. I guess Owen is like my guardian angel, he's been keeping me from going crazy and hurting myself or doing something stupid.

For the most part the last six weeks have been a fog to me. I survive day to day; I avoid my family and even most of my friends. Adam and a few of my closer friends have noticed that I've been down and morose but most of them figured it was over Eli. Only Owen knew the truth but Adam knew it wasn't about Eli and he was starting to get worried. Bryce had sent more flowers and called me a couple times but I never picked up and he hadn't done any more than that. Mom asked why I hadn't been out with Bryce again and I told her we were both very busy. I hadn't eaten breakfast this morning and I was walking to my spot, the spot where Owen had found me. I knew Owen would be there because he'd been there every other Saturday; it had become a ritual for us. He knew that when a week had passed and it was Saturday I was going to have a hard day; he'd stay with me all day and stay up with me all night just sitting usually.

"How do you feel?" Owen asks as he approaches.

"Like tearing off my skin still and sick, I threw up this morning instead of eating but at least I didn't have nightmare about him or the rape for the first night in six weeks," I tell him as we sit down. We sit close but Owen doesn't touch me, he won't unless I start crying or something.

"Well no nightmares is a good start," he grins.

"I promise not to flay off my skin where he touched me. You've spent your last five Saturdays with me, you don't have to stay, you must have something better to do on a Saturday," I comment.

"I'm the only one that knows, you won't tell Alli and Jenna, you won't even tell Adam so I'm staying. As long as you need me the best way for me to spend my Saturdays is with you," Owen tells me and I give him an appreciative smile as I watch the water in the shallow creek. "You said you threw up this morning, you got sick at school the other day," Owen comments after a few minutes.

"It's been a stressful few weeks, I haven't eaten much of anything and I almost always feel sick in the mornings," I respond.

"Clare when was your last period?" Owen asks bluntly.

"Excuse me?"

"He didn't wear a condom, you're getting sick in the mornings you're smart Clare f…"

"I'm not pregnant," I interrupt him standing up quickly.

"Clare it's been six weeks have you had a period since the attack?" He asks and I turn my back to him crossing my arms across my body.

"No but it's been stressful, I probably missed it because of stress," I argue as I begin to cry and shake.

Owen comes over putting his hands on my arms and rubbing lightly, "We need to find out, we need to know for sure. I'll go with you."

I turn into him and he puts his arms around me, I cry on him a few minutes and then push him away just a bit. "I can't be pregnant, not by that bastard, I can't be. I can't carry a piece of him inside me, I can't…I won't…he already took my virginity…I can't…I don't want to be pregnant! Owen what if I'm pregnant?"

I start to break down, sinking to the ground at this thought but Owen catches me, he holds me up and holds me close.

"We need to find out, maybe you're right maybe it was all the trauma and the stress, but we need to find out for sure. Come on I'll take you myself, if you are pregnant then at least we know and we can figure out what to do from there okay?" Owen asks and I nod but the deepest fear inside me tells me I am pregnant.

"I don't want to be pregnant, not by him, I can't…I can't…" I blubber as Owen starts walking me to his car.

He remains silent but keeps his arm around me, we go to the women's clinic and I stop crying, putting on a brave face while in public. After filling out a form we wait for over an hour, we wait in silence. Finally I'm taken back to a room; they take my vitals and draw some blood before getting a urine test. Then we wait again, it's a much shorter wait and then the doctor comes back in.

"Congratulations Clare you're pregnant," the doctor tells me.

I feel my heart start pounding and my stomach churns, I hop of the exam table and vomit in the trash can, then I vomit again and one final time before I pass out on the cold clinic floor.

Update Wednesday September 10th from about here and probably in Owen's pov.