Alex opened her eyes and immediately winced in pain. Making sure not to wake the sleeping Abbie, Alex got up, located the aspirin, and popped a few. They would start to help the pain once she got some breakfast into her belly. Alex set about getting ready for the day. It was her job to make sure that Abbie had everything she would need. Alex gathered all of Abbie's textbooks and notebooks and folders and other supplies, arranged them neatly in Abbie's backpack and placed the backpack by the door for Abbie to pick up on her way out. Alex even went into her stash of M&Ms and placed a pack of them in the pocket of Abbie's jacket, hoping that the sweet treat would make Abbie smile. Anything to get back in Abbie's good graces again, at least until her back stopped hurting. When Abbie's things were in order, Alex got herself ready for the day. She dressed and applied makeup to her bruises and marks that couldn't be concealed by clothing. She gathered her own books together, and decided to go over a few of her notes before classes began. Alex was always at least a chapter ahead of the rest of the students in her classes. Any grade lower than an A+ meant only one thing: beating. Alex's grades were an important reflection on Abbie.

Abbie suddenly breezed into the room. Her body language was relaxed, and Alex let out a sigh of relief. A relaxed Abbie was a non-violent Abbie. There would be no beating this morning.

"I have breakfast plans with Kim. You stay here until classes start. There will be no breakfast for you today. I noticed during your punishment yesterday that you could stand to take a few pounds off that belly of yours, not to mention your ass." Just because Abbie wasn't going to hit her right now didn't mean that she wasn't going to be cruel.

"Okay." Alex was starving, but she wasn't about to say so.

Abbie had complete control over what Alex ate. Most of the time, Alex got at least one full meal a day, but there were days where she didn't eat a single morsel of food. It was rare for Alex to be allowed all three meals. Because of this, Alex was underweight, but she couldn't see it. Abbie told her that she was fat, and Alex believed her.

Abbie picked up her backpack and left the room to go meet Kim Greylek for breakfast. It was only when Abbie was safely on the other side of the door that Alex allowed the tears to fall. She closed her books and stared out the window. Her mind began to wonder, and she remembered happy, loving times with Abbie.

Alex ran into the bedroom with Abbie hot on her heels. She squealed when Abbie captured her around the waist and tossed her onto the bed. Alex giggled when Abbie got on top of her and began to kiss her all over her face and neck, tickling the sensitive skin with her soft lips. Without warning, Abbie flipped Alex onto her stomach and pulled the still giggling woman over her knee, playfully spanking Alex's skirt-clad bottom. Alex had wanted to get Abbie's attention and she sure had it now!

"Trying to distract me from studying, are we? I guess somebody needs a spanking right on her cute little butt!" Abbie smiled lovingly.

Alex rolled her eyes playfully. This was not a spanking, not by a long shot. The swats didn't hurt at all. It kind of felt like Abbie was giving her a massage.

"Will you be a good girl now and let me study?" Abbie asked.

"Well, I don't know. I'll think about it." Alex replied in the sassiest tone she could manage in between giggles. It was Abbie's turn to roll her eyes.

"Oh, I see. You know what sassy girls get, don't you?" Abbie swatted a little bit harder. Then she reached down and tickled Alex's sides. Alex shrieked and giggled.

"Chocolate!" A breathless Alex called her safeword a few minutes later. Hearing Alex's safeword, Abbie immediately stopped and let Alex catch her breath. When she was breathing normally again, Abbie flipped Alex over and kissed her passionately.

The bell rang, indicating that students had only ten minutes left to get to their first class. Alex jumped up, gathered her things, and left her dorm.

"I'm home, baby!" Abbie called, letting herself into their dorm room and sinking into the softness of the couch. She kicked the black heels off of her sore feet. She was so stressed out. The professor had overruled almost every single one of Abbie's objections in the mock trial today. Abbie closed her eyes and waited for Alex to appear. This was Abbie's favorite part of the day, the special time when she would get to reconnect with Alex.

She didn't have to wait long. Alex suddenly appeared, and Abbie gave her a small smile with her eyes half open. Abbie opened her arms. Alex curled into Abbie's lap and settled in for a good cuddle. This was their special ritual, every day without fail, after a long day spent apart. They said nothing. Nothing needed to be said. There was complete silence as each drew strength and love from the other. It was amazing to not have to say a word, and yet say so much.

Meanwhile, Abbie was sitting with her friends having breakfast, but was trapped in her own dark memories. And she was starting to get another one of her horrible headaches. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the M&Ms that she had found there earlier. The caffeine kick would help her head.

"Hey, Abs! Phone's for you!" Alex called out.

"Thanks, baby." Abbie kissed Alex square on the lips before bringing the receiver to her ear.

"Hello?" Abbie said into the receiver.

"Abigail." a familiar voice answered coldly.

Abbie's face drained of all color. She knew this voice. It was a voice that terrified her. It was a voice she had hoped to never encounter again. Getting away from the person attached to this voice was Abbie's main goal when she chose to attend college in New York rather than Texas.

Richard Carmichael.

"Daddy." Abbie swallowed hard, willing herself to stay calm.

"Uncle Liam is dead. If you're stupid enough to show yourself, the funeral's at Lincoln Chapel on Tuesday at one. Don't know why you'd want to show your ugly ass around here again, but it's a free country, I guess. And don't even think about bringing along that whore you're fucking."

"Okay, yeah. I remember where Lincoln is. I can get on a plane first thing in the morning. How's Mama doing?" Abbie ignored her father's hurtful words and attempted to engage in a pleasant conversation with the man. Fat chance.

"You have got to be one stupid dyke to ask a question like that! How the fuck do you think she's doing? She's grieving and making my life fucking miserable, that's how she's doing!" Richard ranted angrily.

Abbie couldn't refrain from rolling her eyes. She very much doubted that her mother was all that broken up over the death of a brother she hadn't seen or spoken to in over fifteen years. Victoria Carmichael was not the kind of woman to entertain deep emotions such as grief and loss.

Abbie hung up the phone quickly. This conversation was over.

"What was that all about, babe?" Alex asked with concern.

"My Uncle Liam passed away."

"Oh, honey! I'm so sorry!" Alex gasped, her eyes wide.

"Will you hate me if I go to the funeral on Tuesday? I know we were supposed to head for Colorado on Tuesday for spring break. You could still go if you want."

"I don't want to go skiing without you. Besides, don't you want me to come with you?"

"No. Houston, Texas is not on my list of places I want to take you."

"I've never met your family before. Maybe we could-"

"Alex, I said no!" Abbie yelled and swatted Alex's bottom.

Alex jumped in surprise at Abbie's loud voice, and pouted as she reached back to protect her bottom. Abbie had never yelled at her before. Abbie sighed and sat down beside Alex, pulling her into a hug and reaching down to help rub the sting out of her bottom. She was Alex's disciplinarian, but she hadn't meant to swat her today.

"I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to yell. I just… my family is so toxic. I don't want you anywhere near them. They would not be kind to you, and that would make me furious. I'm just trying to protect you, baby. Do you understand?"

It was decided that Alex would stay behind at school, and that she would both drop her off at and pick her up from the airport. Abbie promised that she would call when the plane landed in Houston.

The entire trip had been hell. Abbie was a grown woman, but the second she stepped foot in the house she grew up in, the atrocities that she had endured as a child began all over again. Just like she did when Abbie was a child, Victoria looked the other way when her husband wandered into their daughter's bedroom. Every single night for a week and a half.

Every day, it was something. Abbie would either drop one of her mother's plates while washing the dishes, or she would look at her father wrong, or she would just simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and she would receive a slap here, a punch there. Just like when she was a child.

Then, two days before Abbie was due to return to school, Richard and Victoria, drunk and high, took turns beating their daughter to a bloody pulp. It was after Abbie took a hard blow to the head with her father's boot that something deep within her psyche broke, and nothing would ever be the same again. A victim had been turned into a victimizer. The abused would now become the abuser.

Richard and Victoria Carmichael were the wealthiest folks in town. They were powerful, dynamic, social, and in the public eye, they doted on their only child, their baby girl, who was going to grow up to become a lawyer just like her father. As a child, Abbie had the best of everything; the best clothes, the best toys, the best education. All of her friends were jealous. The Carmichael household appeared to be a happy place filled with love, joy, and peace.

Behind closed doors, things couldn't be more different. Richard and Victoria were both drug addicts and alcoholics who were not interested in raising a daughter. From the age of two, and maybe even before that, Abbie was abused. She was beaten and screamed at. They pulled her hair. Her mother even burned her once. Abbie spent her twelfth birthday locked in her bedroom closet because she spilled soda on the carpet. They told her she was ugly and fat and useless. They slapped, punched, and kicked her.

Abbie never told her parents that she was a lesbian. When she was seventeen, her mother came into her room and caught her with another girl from school. Victoria freaked out and immediately called her husband at work. That had not been a good night for Abbie. The memories still haunted her.

High school graduation couldn't come fast enough. Abbie left home the day she graduated and moved to New York. A few months later, she met a beautiful girl named Alexandra, who preferred to be called Alex. They quickly became roommates and lovers.

There was only one problem. A big one. Abbie got her dark hair and eyes from her father. Her mother had blonde hair and blue eyes. Just like Alex. Abbie did her best to ignore the resemblance, and she succeeded. Until the day she returned home from the funeral.

Alex picked up Abbie from the airport as promised, and drove them back to school. Alex tried to greet her with a kiss, but Abbie refused. The ride was quiet and tense. It made Alex nervous. Alex tried to reach over and hold Abbie's hand, but Abbie pulled away.

"Leave me the fuck alone." She mumbled, not looking at Alex, and instead looking out the window. Alex was shocked. Abbie never swore at her before. If Alex could see her face, she would see that there was no life in Abbie's dark eyes.

With hurt feelings, Alex tried to make herself feel better by assuming that Abbie was acting like this because she was grieving her loss.

The tension lasted for several days, until one afternoon the dam broke. Alex made the mistake of sassing Abbie during a squabble over whose turn it was to take the trash downstairs. Abbie slapped Alex across the face for the first time. She grabbed Alex by the hair and dragged her to the bedroom. She looked around the room. The first thing she laid eyes on was the cane that she still had from when she had broken her foot. She picked it up and pushed Alex onto the bed, hitting her hard with the cane. Terrified, Alex screamed and cried.

"Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!" Alex screamed her safeword over and over, trying to get Abbie to stop. Abbie ignored her. It didn't take long until the pain was so overwhelming that Alex passed out.

"Why are you sweating so much? Do you have a fever?"

Kim's question pulled Abbie out of her memories. Kim was staring at her with an odd expression on her face. It was November and nowhere near hot enough to cause anyone to sweat.

"I'm okay. It's just hot in here. They must have the heat on full blast." Abbie tugged at the collar of her shirt nervously.

The heat in the cafeteria was broken. Just as Kim opened her mouth to inform Abbie of this, Abbie was saved by the bell.