A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far and to those who hopefully will continue to do so as this story carries on. I will remind you again that there are some ideas that were taken from HIGHER GROUND, but in this story, she wasn't a prostitute and she never did drugs or anything like that. :)

The silence Emily was met with, confirmed her fears.

She saw JJ's eyes go blank and took her into her arms.

"What did the bastard do, Jay?" Emily asked, heart-broken.

JJ just shook her head as Emily felt her tears on her shirt.

Emily knew JJ wasn't ready to talk about it yet.

"Is he dead?" Emily asked quietly as she rubbed JJ's back.

JJ pulled back and looked at Emily.

"Last I heard, he was in jail." JJ said, wiping the tears off her face.

"What about your mother?" Emily asked.

"I hope she's burning in hell. I hope they both are." JJ spat, angrily.

"Did she hurt you too?" Emily asked.

She was still trying to put the pieces together. She was trying to find out in what way JJ was hurt. Physically? Mentally? Sexually?...

Then it clicked for Emily. JJ might have been abused sexually. That's why she's afraid of sex.

"She didn't physically hurt me, but she never believed me when I told her what her husband did." JJ said, as more tears spilled from her eyes.

"Jen...How did he hurt you?" Emily asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"I can't Em. I can't say it. You'll think I'm dirty and you won't want me anymore!" JJ cried.

"Was it sexually? Were you sexually abused?" Emily asked.

JJ just nodded as she sobbed.

Emily noticed how she was going to throw herself into Emily's arms, but then backed off as if she thought she didn't deserve to be comforted.

It broke Emily's heart to think that JJ's self-esteem went from a hundred to minus ten since she started talking about the topic.

"Oh, honey...It's going to be okay." Emily said as she carefully placed her arms around JJ and held her tight.

"I'm so sorry. I don't deserve you. I'm so dirty and you don't have to put up with this." JJ cried as she tried to pull away, reluctantly.

But Emily held her closer.

"I love you. This was not your fault. You're not dirty, Jen. I love you and I'm going to help you through this. I promise, baby. I promise." Emily said, her own tears threatening to fall.

"It was my fault. I should've stopped him." JJ said in shame.

"How old were you when it started?" Emily asked.

"I don't know. I was little. Maybe four or five." JJ said.

"Now tell me, how can a little girl make a grown man stop hurting her?" Emily challenged.

"She can't. But when I was a teenager, I could've." JJ insisted.

"JJ, you know I'm right. You're not the bad one here. He is. He should've never hurt you. That's not love." Emily said.

"Then what is?"

The question made Emily's heart ache so bad that it physically hurt.

"Do you trust me?" Emily asked.

"Of course." JJ said immediately.

"Then let me show you what love is." Emily whispered.

She wasn't saying that for a selfish reason. She was suggesting it because she just wanted to show her girlfriend what love really was without receiving anything in return.

JJ's eyes became clouded with fear.

"Hey, hey. Look at me. Look at me, honey." Emily said as she tried to look into JJ's eyes.

JJ tried to avoid her eyes in shame, but Emily was having none of it.

"I swear to you on my own life that I won't hurt you. Whenever you want to stop, you just say the word stop and I won't touch you. Just one word and I swear I'll stop." Emily promised.

"I don't know, Em. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just..." JJ left the statement hanging in the air.

"You're too scared to trust anyone when it comes to sex." Emily finished for her.

JJ looked sadly into Emily's eyes.

"I'm sorry." JJ apologized. "I'm so sorry." She continued.

"Hey, look at me. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do." Emily assured.

"But I-I want to, I'm just scared. God this is so pathetic." JJ said, beating herself up.

"It's not pathetic, sweetie. It's normal after what you've been through. But I promise, sex doesn't have to hurt." Emily said.

"It's just...The only sex I've had, always hurt." JJ admitted, her cheeks getting a bit red with embarrassment.

"But it won't if you let me show you." Emily said.

JJ still looked hesitant.

"It'll feel good. It won't hurt. I promise." Emily said.

"That's what he said." JJ stated, looking directly into Emily's eyes, looking for proof that she was being honest. She saw that Emily's eyes held a bit of hurt at her statement, but she needed to know that Emily was telling the truth. She couldn't stand to be hurt like that again.

"I'm not him and I certainly wouldn't continue if you told me to stop. I love you and if you don't want to do this, it's okay. I won't make you do anything you don't want to. But I promise I would never ever hurt you like that bastard did. I promise. I love you." Emily finished as she leaned forward and kissed JJ's forehead, gently.

"I love you." She repeated, as she held JJ and ran her fingers through the blonde hair.