Mrs. Fenton nearly had a heart attack when she walked into Danny's room the next morning to find us laying in bed together with my clothes from...the event thrown half-way across the room. I knew what it probably looked like to her with my whole body hidden beneath the blanket, and while she started going off about responsibility, I didn't have the motivation to fight her. Danny sat up and waited for Mrs. Fenton to finish her rant before he starting telling the story of what had happened. If it was possible, I curled up even tighter under Danny's blanket, not wanting to listen. It was bad enough living it, I didn't want to hear about it too.

Mrs. Fenton went silent when she heard what happened. I heard her feet shuffle across the floor as she walked over to me. "Sam?" She sat down on the bed next to the ball I'd curled into. "Are you going to be okay, sweetie?" I shook my head no, though I knew she probably barely saw the top of my head moving under the blanket. "It's going to be okay, Sam." She put her hand on my shoulder, and I freaked.

I knew it was just a friendly gesture, I knew it meant nothing that it had the night before when...it happened. That didn't stop my reaction though. My head shot up and I screamed as the memory of his hands on my body came back in vivid detail. Tears started to leak from my eyes again before Danny got over to me and wrapped me in his arms. I don't know what the difference was, but Danny's touch didn't make me freak out. Maybe it was because he was the one who saved me.

"It's okay, Sam. You're safe," he whispered. I didn't feel safe, not after what happened, not with knowing the images of the event were still fresh in my mind. I didn't feel safe.

Mrs. Fenton had backed off some, keeping herself a fair distance away as to not cause me to freak out again. "Sweetie, does your mother know where you are?" I shook my head no. "I'll go call her while you get a shower, okay?" I nodded my head, but shrank back when she went to move some of the hair out of my face. She frowned, sadness evident in her eyes.

Danny tried to unwrap his arms from around me, but I held them in place. "Don't leave me." I didn't feel completely safe, but Danny made me feel safest.

"I can't follow you into the shower, Sam." I couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny or not. I also couldn't bring myself to care.

"Yes, you can," I mumbled. Normally, there wouldn't be a chance in hell that I'd invite him to take a shower with me, but...it was Danny. Danny meant safety and I didn't want to let go of my safety net.

He sighed. "Do you really want me to?" I could hear the implied "after what happened last night," but he didn't actually say it. I nodded. "Okay, only because you asked me to."

I let him remove his arms and I got up to slowly walk to the bathroom at the end of the hall as Danny followed me. I locked the door and started stripping everything but my bra and underwear. I didn't care if Danny saw this much of me, he'd seen more last night and I just didn't want to be alone right now. I appreciated that he tried to keep his eyes off me as he did the same with his own clothing and turned the water on when he was left in nothing but his boxers.

We stepped into the water, the temperature not even registering to me. All I felt was the memory of that bastard's hands on my body and I wanted them off me. He wasn't supposed to touch me like that, no one was supposed to touch me like that yet. I grabbed the soap and started scrubbing with a passion, not letting a single inch of skin I could reach go unscrubbed. I would have rubbed my skin raw if Danny hadn't taken the soap from me.

Danny took a much gentler approach, slowly rubbing his hands over my body anywhere he could reach without getting too close to my more private areas. I tried to relax into it, but I just couldn't. It didn't feel like he was getting me clean enough; I could still feel Dash's hands on me, I could still feel his hands in places they were never meant to go.

I reached for the bar of soap when he finished, wanting to do a much more through job, but he held it intangibly out of my reach. "Scrubbing your skin raw isn't going to you any good."

"I want his hands off me. Give it to me."

"No. Soap can't wash away a memory, Sam." I glared, though I knew he was right. I didn't want him to be right, but he was. Danny turned the water off as I sighed, then we both stepped out. He turned us both intangible to dry both us and our under garments. I redressed in silence, the memories of the night before flashing in my mind as I returned to my fetal position on Danny's bed.

I stayed silently curled into my little ball of safety, Danny's arms wrapped around me under the blanket. God only knows how long we stayed there in silence, I just know it ended with a bit of shouting downstairs and Danny's door being thrown open, nearly off its hinges, by my very worried (pissed off?) mother.

"Get away from her, Daniel," my mother screeched. "I will not have you corrupting my poor Samantha in her moment of weakness!" Well, this was off to a good start.

"Don't leave me," I mumbled into Danny's tear-soaked shirt. I hadn't even realized I'd been crying into his chest until then. He nodded, and I felt him give me a reassuring squeeze to tell me he wasn't going anywhere.

"Let go of my daughter, Fenton!"

I heard a growl form deep in Danny's chest. It sounded a little possessive, but I didn't care. He could claim me as his own for the time being, god knows I couldn't take care of myself then.

"No," was his simple reply.

"Daniel!"

"I said no, drop it."

"I don't take orders from teenagers. Let her go!" Mother was getting more and more pissed off, but Mrs. Fenton wasn't doing much better on that.

"I'm only going to say this once, Pamela. Don't harass my son!"

"You're accusing me of harassing your son?! He's the one who won't leave Samantha alone!"

"Sam doesn't want me to leave! I'm not going anywhere until she says it's okay!"

"You have no pull in this, Daniel! Let go of my daughter!"

"Oh, fuck off! I've had enough of your shit and I've got more important things to worry about right now!"

"How do I know you're not the one who did this to her?"

"Do you really think she'd be so hell bent on staying if it was me? I'd never do a something like that!"

"It doesn't matter what you say! She's coming home with me!"

"No."

"Madelyn! Get your son under control! Samantha needs to come home!"

"If Sam wants to stay, then I say she stays! She won't let anyone but Danny near her right now, and with everything that's happened, that's a miracle in and of itself! I'd take what you can get and let it drop before you traumatize her more!"

"No! I don't care what you think is best for her! My daughter is coming home with me!"

On and on went their altercation until I just couldn't stand it anymore.

"Just shut up! All of you! I'm staying here, and you can't stop me, mother!"

"You most certainly are not staying here, young lady!" Mother went to grab my wrist, causing me to freak out again, the memory of what Dash did still fresh in my mind. I retracted my arm and scooted on the bed as far away from her as possible. I knew it wasn't that monster, but that couldn't stop the images from filling my head. I screeched as I felt Dash's hands on me again and remembered the pain from when he...when he...violated me.

I screamed and broke down crying again, hearing a door slam downstairs before Jazz appeared in Danny's room. She took in the situation, then made an attempt at taking charge.

"I think you need to leave. Both of you." Mrs. Fenton nodded, taking the word of the psychologist in training, but mother didn't move.

"I don't know who you think you are, Jasmine, but I'm not leaving without my daughter!"

Mr. Fenton appeared in the doorway, sharing a look with Jazz before making a move. "Yes, you are." He grabbed mother's arm and led her out the door, mother unable to stop herself from being pulled away, but she certainly screamed her over sized head off on the way out.

Jazz locked the door, then turned to us. "What happened?"

Danny opened his mouth to speak, only to have Jazz cut him off. "I want Sam to tell me." I froze, not nearly ready to speak of last night's horrors yet. "Take your time."

"I...he...Dash..." I couldn't get the words out. Not now, not when it just happened last night. "I...can't." A fresh batch of tears started the journey down my face. It felt like I hadn't stopped crying since it happened.

"It's okay, Sam. You can tell me when you're ready." Jazz sent a sad smile in my direction, but it did nothing to help. Every time I close my eyes, Dash's face appears in my head and phantom sensations crawl across my skin.

It was going to take a long time to fix my broken mind.


Comments and feedback are as welcome as always! :D


Invisible One