"NO," she screamed and fought with the blanket she was wrapped in, "NO! PLEASE STOP!"

"Kim," Tommy said, shaking her to try to wake her, "Kim wake up. It's just a dream."

Her eyes fluttered open and she squinted because the lights were still on. She looked around like she was trying to remember where she was.

"It was just a bad dream," he said, brushing hair out of her face and making her shrink away from her touch.

"Tommy," she said, looking at him to make sure he was really there, "What are you still doing here?"

"I'm not sure which one of us fell asleep first," he said honestly.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For what," he asked. She wasn't really sure why she'd apologized to him. She just sort of stared at him for a few minutes and then climbed out of his lap in the corner and went over to the clock. It was 3 AM and she was still exhausted.

"Is your mom going to wonder where you are," she asked.

"Technically, I'm a legal adult, so I don't really have to check in," he said, "But I should probably go…" Her eyes got very wide when he said the word go and he couldn't stand to leave her alone.

"…call her and let her know I'll be staying over here," he finished and watched her relax. She sat down on the bed and watched Tommy leave the room before she crawled under the covers and laid her head on the pillow there.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU," Janet Oliver all but screamed into her son's ear when she heard his voice on the other line.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Tommy said, "I came over to Jason's house to talk about Kim."

"Oh Tommy, you…"she started.

"She's here, Mom," Tommy said, "She's not doing so good." Janet Oliver could hear her son choking up on the phone. She knew how her son felt about the petite brunette. She knew those feelings would never go away.

"What's wrong," she asked.

"She didn't want anyone to know, Mom," he said, trying to keep his emotions in check, "Jason had to tell me and I just want to help her. I don't know what to do or say…."

"Tommy, what happened," Janet begged, the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that had been there all night only grew with her son's hesitance.

"There wasn't another guy," he said, then looked around to make sure Kim hadn't come down to check, "Please don't get angry after I tell you all of this."

"Thomas," his mother scolded.

"She called Jason a few weeks after her last visit because she thought something was wrong and didn't want to go see a doctor alone in case it was something she couldn't handle alone," he started.

"Thomas Oliver I swear to Christ if you got that girl pregnant out of wedlock all the martial arts on planet Earth won't save you…"she all but yelled.

"She was," he said, "But that's not the worst of it, Mom."

"Go on," she said, sternly.

"She was planning to come home and tell me. Jason said she was doing laundry at the Laundromat near the dorms at the gym. It took longer than she thought and it got late. She got attacked on her way back," he said, his voice choking up as the words came out, "They raped her, Mom. Jason said they beat her and then left her there. A group of kids found her." He was in tears by the time he had finished and Janet's heart broke for him.

"Jason said that when her mom got there, they told her that Kim had suffered a miscarriage because of the attack and because she'd been pregnant, her mom just left her. On the way to the airport to go back to Paris, her mother died in a car accident," Tommy continued, "And she didn't want to tell me what happened because she thought that she'd betrayed me in some way."

"Oh Tommy," Janet said, "It's okay. She's here now and she's going to be okay."

"I don't think she is, Mom," he said, "Its bad."

"Look, right now, it's the middle of the night," she said, "You're tired. I'm tired. And this is something we can discuss tomorrow. Just go to sleep and see if you can bring her over tomorrow. I'll see what I can do to help."

"Thank you, Mom," Tommy said.

"Don't thank me yet," she said, "You're going to be cleaning out the garage for a month for not calling me sooner."

"I'm sorry," he said again, "I love you. Goodnight, Mom."

"I love you too. Goodnight," Janet said and they both hung up the phone.

Tommy went back upstairs to Jason's guest room. He gave a light knock but opened the door. She was already in bed, her back turned toward him. She looked like she was sound asleep, but he walked around to her side to check.

"Hey," he said once he saw her eyes were open.

"Hey," she whispered back.

"Do you want me to stay," he asked, "Because if you're uncomfortable I can go sleep on the couch?" She looked at him and then down at the floor. Hadn't she just woken up in his arms? Why was she so hesitant now?

"I don't know," she said, "I have no idea what to do."

"How about this," he suggested, grabbing a pillow and the spare blanket spread across the foot of the bed, "I'll sleep on the floor and if you have another nightmare, I'll be right here?"

"I sleep with the lights on, Tommy," she said, "Not even Jason can sleep like that."

"I'll be fine, Kim," he said.

"Okay," she said and gave him a sad smile. Then she rolled over to face the door, but got up instead and shut the ceiling light off. Then she turned on the bedside lamp closest to the door.

"This way," she said leaning over the side of the bed that Tommy had made his makeshift bed on, "I can try to sleep with the light on, without bothering you as much." He just smiled and nodded.

"Goodnight Tommy," she said as she faced the door.

"Goodnight Beautiful," he replied from his place on the floor.

Tommy woke up just as the sun was rising in the sky. He tried to move but felt something heavy on his chest. He looked down to find Kimberly fast asleep with her head on his chest and her right hand rested right over his heart. He smiled at the small victory over her fears that she's had sometime before the morning. Since she was still asleep, he shifted his weight toward her just a little to make himself more comfortable, loosely wrapped his arm around her and closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.