Ok thanks for ur reviews. to sharnhorst, i know it was brief but it will come up again and it willbe explained a little more in later chapters. shes not over it and that will also definitely be shown as the story goes on. but thank you for pointing that out and im sorry if you were disappointed but there is a method to the madness that shrinks call my brain. :) and the whole shrink thing doesnt really work for her character, she'd be the type of person who hates em, ya know. so i figured i'd just have him try and help her with her problems.
ON WITH THE STORY!

Chapter 7

On the way back to the hotel mark noticed courtney looked like she was slightly out of it, like something was on her mind."whatcha thinkin bout darlin" he said in his deep voice.

"ya think i'll be able to get back to work soon?"she asked looking over to him.

"yeah, it's been a few days. you should be fine but you should probably take it slow. just in case."

"yeah, probably."she said looking out the window into the darkness of the night.

her thoughts were interupted by his voice once again."when we get back i want ya to get rid of anything ya been cuttin yourself with." he said looking over to see what her reaction would be.

"yeah, i kinda figured that."she said still not looking away from the window.

"well it's good that you figured that. we understand each other. i expect ya to keep that promise courtney."

she was starting to get tired of the conversation but she had to make him understand a few things about it."ya know mark, im not proud of them. it shows weakness,and i dont like showing weakness mark. every scar on my body, whether i put it there or not, makes me feel worthless. i'm disgusted by them and i'm pretty sure other people are too. can't imagine what you musta thought when you put me in that tub." she was right. he thought back to when he had helped her take a bath that night, undressing her to reveal a countless amount of scars spanning her whole body. one in which had caught his attention especially because it was directly above her heart. it was a small, circular scar with a longer one running through it.from what he had told him about her past he had concluded that it was one of the times she had been shot."you wanna maybe say somethin mark?"

he didn't realize he was in some sort of trance, lost in thought. remembering her body, covered in scars made his blood boil with anger and want to hurt anyone who could do that to their child." don't know exactly what to say darlin. i've never seen something so horrible happen to someone so beautiful."

" mark you don't have to say things you don't mean."she said not believing he could possibly still think that about her.

" who the hell says i don't mean em?" he asked, shocked that she would think he would do that.

"no one ever has." she whispered looking down into her lap, her eyes filled with years of hurt.

he hooked her chin with his finger so she could look into his eyes and see the honesty in them when he said,"i do." he released her chin and turned back to the road. "we leave tomorrow for a taping in houston, after which we have a 4-day break so i was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me.you could stay in my guestroom. unless you got somewhere else you gotta go?"

"well i don't really have anywhere else to go and i would love to spend more time with you. thanks."

"i already booked us tickets to houston, we got seats next to eachother in first class."

"i've never flown first class before. i get the window seat."

" do ya know?"

"yep."

"alright darlin you got it.pack tonight though, our flight leaves at 7am."

"could you have picked one earlier in the morning mark." she said knowing she was gonna be grumpy and difficult in the morning.

" yeah but i knew you'd kill me if i did."

" hell yeah i woulda."he laughed as they pulled up to the hotel and walked up to their room.

alright, i know that was probably a fairly boring chapter but i needed to set up later chapters so whatever. please read and review. thank you to my loyal reviewers. hope you enjoy his story when it's finished.(which could take a while considering im a slow ass typer.) later y'all.