A/N Thanks for the reviews! They brought some insight! Haha glad you enjoy the story and keep on reading. Sorry if its not too interesting… this chapter is a catch up for Theresa to say the least

Disclaimer: I clearly do not own any of COTT.

Back for Good

Once Theresa was finally released from Chiron's care, she was glad to be back in the brownstone. After getting Theresa settled into her bedroom the gang decided to give her some privacy. Theresa happily flopped unto her soft fluffy bed. She simply looked around her room taking it all in. The colors of her walls, the pictures hanging, even the little nick nacks lying on her dresser space welcomed her. However Theresa started to remember the events of the last 5 months:

"Did you grab the girl?" a deep voice rang from the front seat.

"Yes, did you collect the money?" another manly voice answered.

"Well of course we did! However, I still find this entire situation strange. Him giving us the money before he even saw we had the girl. Telling us to just keep her captive somewhere deep in the woods. It simply does not make any sense!" a third voice cried.

The first man answered, "I agree it isn't quite normal but really who are we to ask questions if he's giving us 1000 dollars a month just to hold this girl prisoner."

"She didn't even put up a fight," the second man noted.

"Ya well chloroform will do that to a person Dave." the third man remarked. Theresa made a mental note of the name.

"Hey Rick, did you find a place to keep her?" It was the third man again, so that made the first Rick and the second man Dave.

"Ya I found I Jon … I think it will be perfect." Rick acknowledged. The conversation ceased between the men and Theresa put all her focus on trying to escape. The ties around her wrists were surprisingly loose and she was not gagged. She ever so quietly brought her tied hands to her mouth and undid the knot. Her heart was practically hammering out of her chest but she couldn't stop now. She was reaching down to the ties on her feet when consequently one of the men looked back.

He laughed and informed the others, "Hey look, our orange haired chick is awake and trying to escape." It was Jon.

"Tisk, tisk, she should know better than to do that," Rick remarked. Meanwhile Theresa was desperately trying to untie her legs but couldn't. Her hands would not stop shaking. Two of the men crawled over the seat and came nice and close to Theresa.

One of them started to stroke her long hair while saying, " You've got pretty nice bright hair. Kind of reminds me of a fox," he chuckled darkly, "hey that's not a bad name for you… foxy." And that was the first time anyone of them hit her. Jon, the nick namer, slapped her so hard across the face she cried out.

"Hey now Jon, we don't want her pretty little face all bruised up yet now do we," Dave advised . Dave then grabbed Theresa's wrists and tied them together not only behind her back but way tighter this time. She retaliated by spitting in his face.

"Oh you are going to wish you didn't do that," Dave remarked while wiping the spit off his face.

Theresa forced her self to stop the memory. She couldn't bear to remember any further. Mostly because she knew that they were going to be haunting her for many years to come. Instead she scurried off her bed and escaped to the bathroom. She turned the shower on and greedily soaked in the hot water. It was the first time she really had a chance to survey her wounds. Her stomach was covered in bruises and her thighs were swollen with cuts everywhere. Eventually Theresa couldn't even bear to look anymore because with every scratch and bruise she saw, the pain delivered with these wounds flooded her mind. Instead Theresa just focused on emptying her mind and enjoying her shower.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the living room the other teens were deciding on what action to take.

"Should we ask her what happened?" Herry questioned.

"No, we should let her come to us when she is ready," Jay responded.

"Jay we can't just let her deal with whatever happened! She might go down, deep down," Atlanta disputed.

"But it honestly might just be to soon for her, I mean five months of God knows what happened to her and if she feels pressured by us then she might never ever tell us what happened," Archie explained while grabbing Atlanta's hand. She leaned her head against Archie's shoulder hoping that some of worry would vanish.

"Perhaps we should just sit her down and simply tell her that we are here for her whenever she's ready to talk about her … incident," Odie articulates. The 5 other teens just stared at him in awe, wondering why they didn't think of that earlier.

"I believe there is another question on the table here," Neil informed. The other teens just looked at him with puzzled expressions plastered on.

"When is Jay going to tell her that he is in love with her!?" The confused expressions were gone in a flash, only to be replaced by curiosity.

"Ya Jay when you gonna tell her?" Archie asked ever so innocently.

"I… honestly have no idea," Jay admitted. At first the others were shocked to actually hear Jay confess he was in love with their Theresa.

"OMG! Jay I am so proud of you! You have to tell her immediately. I can't believe you didn't deny it! EEEK!" Atlanta shrieked.

Jay rolled his eyes, " Well of course I didn't deny it. You have all been present these last few months." Jays friends cringed at the memory of their leader. He was distraught to say in the least.

Jay continued, "I just don't know how or when or… or…or how! Do I just come right out and say it, do I wait till the right moment, do I try and create the right moment?" He was now looking at his team mates in complete desperation for answers.

"Whoa Whoa. Calm down for starters," Herry advised.

"Defiantly do that," Archie inquired. Everyone was looking at the two boys, expecting them to continue.

" Oh that's all I got," Herry sheepishly stammered. Jay rolled his eyes.

Atlanta then pipped in, "I think that maybe you should wait and just see how she adjusts to being home. However I know that you will know when the time is right Jay."

Jay's creases disappeared and a smile came across his face, "Thanks Atlanta."

"What are we thanking Atlanta for?" All the heads turned in the room to greet Theresa has she entered the room.

"Oh not too much," Neil replied distantly.

"Ok, so what's the food situation? I'm kind of starving," Theresa asked dropping the earlier subject, much to Jays relief.

"How about pizza? We haven't exactly eaten yet either," Herry quickly answered.

Theresa smiled, "Sounds perfect." Herry himself went and ordered the pizza knowing how hungry he was. While the others made themselves comfortable in the living room. Archie and Atlanta set themselves up on the floor, Odie and Neil sat on the couch leaving space for Herry, while Theresa and Jay occupied the love seat. When Herry returned Neil decided to strike up a conversation:

"Theresa nice make-up job on the face there! I can't even see the bruises." Everybody else did a mental face slap.

"Umm thanks Neil,"

"So uh Theresa there is something we all wanted to tell you," Archie revealed. Theresa didn't respond, but Jay felt her tense up.

"It okay," Jay reassured, "We just wanted to say that whenever your ready to talk about… it then we are here to listen."

"Yea no pressure," Odie calmly added. Theresa was so relieved to hear them say that. Someday she would tell them… maybe. But she was not ready to relive what happened… not yet anyway.

"Thanks you guys, you have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. However I do have questions for you," Theresa announced.

"Well shoot away," Archie encouraged.

"Okay well umm what did I miss?" The others couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Mind being slightly more specific?" Atlanta giggled.

"Oh ya," Theresa chuckled, "Well I guess we should start on the Cronus front,"

"Actually there really hasn't been anything to serious there. A few battles from time to time, but for some reason he hasn't being creating any diabolically evil plans," Odie informed Theresa.

"He was probably busy laughing at the state we were in because he kidnapped Theresa and he knew it was killing us," Jay practically spat the answer out with deep hate in his voice.

"About that, I'm not hundred percent sure that Cronus was behind my kidnapping at all," Theresa whispered.

"WHAT?" The entire team exclaimed.

"Ya I never saw him there, or heard him there. If it was him you would think he would come rub it in my face and well … kill all of you," Theresa voiced. The idea that they were still alive never dawned on them before. Even if Cronus didn't kidnap Theresa, why were the others still alive? He knew Theresa was at least missing.

"Anyway," Theresa moved on before more questions could be asked, "Tell me about school." They all answered with the same conclusion of same old same old. Pizza eventually came and they all attacked it. The gang answered Theresa's questions in between bites. Theresa learned that Neil, Odie, and Herry still didn't have girlfriends. However both Odie and Herry had major crushes. A big step forward. She also learned that Atlanta and Archie were a lot closer. Not by asking though. She simply watched the two interact with each other. It was adorable and Theresa would find out more details directly from the source, of course in private. She also noticed that Jay was shifting closer and closer through out the night. He even put his arm around her and one point. Her heart did that fluttery thing again. She couldn't help but wonder if she should tell him about her true feelings. Should she mention the butterflies? The fluttering? The way she can hardly breathe when he's so close? Eventually Theresa decided to put these questions on the side and enjoy the rest of the evening with her friends. Safe and Sound.