It's been a week and a half since Fiona had moved into his mansion. The bruises are starting to fade, her lip is starting to scab and her eye isn't so swollen anymore. Jefferson knows that, despite the physical evidence is disappearing, the emotional damage is still catastrophic. She cries... A lot. He'll see her in the garden and she'll suddenly stop what she's doing and her hand will fly to her mouth and he will see her shoulders begin to tremble. He debates going out and trying to talk with her but sometimes he wonders if male companionship is really the best thing for her at the moment. Sometimes, when they'll both be inside after the long day, he'll accidentally brush up against her hip and she'll jump about five feet in the air. However, the worst are the nightmares she has. It's usually around 2am and he can hear a small scream than muffled sobs. It's getting really bad.

"Maybe you should go talk to someone," he suggests as she places a cup of tea in front of him. She quickly scurries back to the kitchen, shaking her head vigorously.

"I don't want anyone else to know. Please, Jefferson." she begs and looks at him, her eyes mimicking her begs. Jefferson can only sigh and run his hands through his hair. He then stands and begins walking to his telescope.

"Fine. Do whatever you want, Fiona. But this isn't healthy." he says. She doesn't answer him and instead quickly runs into the backyard. He hears the door slam.

He looks into the telescope and sees Grace walking out of her house. Her hair is up in a ponytail and she's giggling at something her "father" has said to her. Jefferson feels his anger rise. It should be him making her laugh. Soon Grace boards her bus, waving a final time to the man who was waiting on the sidewalk. He goes back into his house and Grace is driven away to school for the long six hours.

Jefferson sighs and flops down on the couch. Another long day of doing nothing while he waits for Grace to come back home.

He has finished The Princess Bride and has moved on to something called Harry Potter. This has magic in it, which he obviously approves of. He's on page 30 when he hears a scream. This is a different sounding scream. It's not the one she makes when she's snapped out of a nightmare. This is a generally terrified, blood curdling scream. The book falls to the ground as he sprints out of the living room, through the kitchen and then throws himself out the door. That's when he sees her, curled up in the cold grass and the disgusting looking man on top of her. He has a fistful of her long hair and his mouth glued to her ear. Jefferson finds himself beside them in a second, the mans collar in his hand and he feels himself toss the man like a rag doll. He lands with a groan and Jefferson can smell the alcohol off him.

Fiona has stopped crying. And now she has her shovel in her hands. It almost happens in slow motion and Jefferson tires to grab her arm, but he is just a second too late. She raises the shovel and brings it down so hard on the mans head that Jefferson hears a crack and soon blood seeps from his hairline.

Jefferson is frozen at the sight of the innocent girl bashing the mans head with shovel. She gets one more hit in before Jefferson comes to his senses and grabs her arms, knocking the shovel out of her grasp. She looks at him with her angry bloodshot eyes and yells at him.

"No! Let me-"

"If you do this, you're throwing your life away! You'll get caught and not him! Fiona, it isn't worth it," he says calmly, trying his best to soothe the furious girl. But she is far from calm.

"He hurt me!" she screams at him.

"Hurting him back won't make it any better. Believe me, I know. If you do this you will regret it forever." he says. She stops struggling and begins trembling. No tears come out. There are no more tears left to shed.

"Go inside, I'll take care of him." he says softly. She nods and staggers inside. He looks back at the man, and suddenly something dawns on him that makes him sick to his stomach. The man is Fiona, well technically Preziosa's, father. The insane King who wanted to marry his own daughter.

The man groans and pushes himself up. One of his eyes is squeezed shut, probably from Fiona's shovel. He sees Jefferson and immediately crawls backwards, pure fear in his eyes.

"Get up." Jefferson snarls at the man.

He does as instructed and scrambles to his feet. Jefferson nudges his back with the shovel, making him walk towards the woods behind the mansion's garden. They walk for a good half an hour before Jefferson tugs the man to a stop. There's a layer of filth and dirt on his jacket.

"Don't you ever come back here again," Jefferson says, his voice was so low and cold that the man shudders. He gives the man a final shove before turning around and beginning to walk back.

"She enjoyed it, you know!" the man shouts. Jefferson comes to a stop and glances back.

"What did you say?" Jefferson snarls.

"She enjoyed it. She's a little whore. And I'll my way with her again. I'll have my way with all the girls here. Even the little ones. Do you know what I did to that girl, huh? Do you? I can tell you. And I can assure you that she loved it-"

The man doesn't finish his sentence. Jefferson has swung around, bring his shovel with it. It hits the deranged man in the head and he slumps to the ground. Jefferson bashes his head in, completely ignoring the advice he had given to Fiona a mere hour before. When this disgusting piece of filth started talking about young girls, Jefferson was seeing red. When the thought about this scum touching Grace, he's thrown over the edge.

When he eventually stops beating the man, the shovel is covered with blood and the deranged king is no more.


He stumbles back to his house. He's covered in blood and he knows he'll have to explain this to Fiona. He buried the body and has plans to destroy the shovel before anyone else can ever find it.

He finally returns to his house and finds Fiona waiting in the kitchen for him. She gasps and nearly tumbles off the counter when she sees him. She shakes her head and covers her eyes with her hands.

"You told me-"

"Forget what I told you. He said things to me that would've made you throw up. The world is better off without that piece of shit in it." he snaps. She suddenly jumps off the counter and slaps him so hard he stumbles.

"What the hell was that for?!" he shouts at her.

"This was my responsibility! This was my problem! You didn't have anything to do with it! I should have been the one to do that to him! Why didn't you just let me do it!?" she screams at him. Jefferson grabs her arms and pins them to the counter, staring at her with a vicious look on his face.

"I didn't let you do it because you're too good. You're innocent and pure but I'm not. If you had killed him, you wouldn't have been able to live with yourself. But I'm not good and certainly not pure! So I could do this for you. You should be thanking me, not hitting me." he snaps. She sinks to the floor and puts her head on her knees. More bruises are forming on her arms.

"You shouldn't have done that for me, Jefferson." she says softly.

"Well it's done now. And don't ever hit me again," he says and then quickly walks out of the kitchen. He makes his way up the washroom and quickly turns on the shower. He rips off his soiled clothing and throws them into a heap on the floor. He steps into the scalding shower and rubs his face vigorously, wiping off the blood that had splattered across his cheeks. He looks at the drain and sees the red swirling around before being sucked into the black circle. He groans and leans forwards, resting his head against the glass panel as the realization of his actions hit him.

He's just killed someone.