A/N: it's here. Sorry it took me forever, but it's here now. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they belong to Saban or whoever owns them, I just own the plot.
Last time:
He turned to Kim, "You ready Beautiful?" When she gave him a nod, he turned back to his parents, "I'm going to tell you why Kim wrote the letter; why she came back home, and why she's not going back."
Melissa and James shared a look before turning their attention back to the two teens. "Tell us."
Taking a deep breath, Tommy started telling them everything.
…
Pure silence; that's all there was to it. His parents sat there with looks of disbelief, horror and sympathy running across their features. They couldn't believe what their son had just told them, but one look at Kimberly and they realized that he was indeed telling the truth.
"You were…you were raped?" Melissa was the first to find her voice. Kim nodded, keeping her gaze downwards as she was afraid to look into their eyes; afraid to see the rejection.
"So that's why you wrote the letter?" she asked, "You felt that you deserved it?" There was the nod again.
"Why would you feel like you deserve that?" James asked. "Nobody deserves to have something like that happen to them." Kim said nothing. She kept her head bowed, but tightened her grip on Tommy's hands. She was waiting for when they would reject her, like her parents had…like her mother had. Melissa looked at Kim…really looked at her. She couldn't see her eyes, but just from her body posture she could tell that girl was terrified…of what she didn't know. She reached out her hand to touch her, but stopped when Kim flinched away from her. She watched as Kim seemed to bury herself further into the couch, before she stopped and shifted closer to Tommy. Tommy looked from his parents to his girlfriend and then he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her even closer to Kim. Melissa and James looked at each before turning back to the two. Melissa got up and moved until she was kneeling in front of Kim. She slowly reached out her hand and touched Kim's knee.
"Kim?" she called softly, "Look at me?" Instead of looking at her, Kim turned her head and placed it behind Tommy's back. Melissa looked at Tommy, then James before looking back at Kim.
"Beautiful?" Tommy called softly, "Are you ok?" he felt her shake her head before he felt the wetness of her tears on his back. "Kim, it's ok."
"Kim, you can trust me," Melissa said softly, "I won't hurt you."
(Kim's POV)
I'm so scared. I don't want to believe that they will blame me, but my own parents did. So why shouldn't they?
"Kim, you can trust me," Melissa said softly, "I won't hurt you."
Can I? Can I really trust that she won't leave me? She's the closest thing I have to a mom and I don't want to lose her. But….Tommy….he said they wouldn't leave me, and that if they did he would stay.
(No one's POV)
Kim slowly pulled her head from behind Tommy. She kept it bowed for a seconds before lifting it towards Melissa. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and then she opened them to look directly into her eyes. When Melissa looked at Kim, she saw the fear in her eyes and wondered at it. "What are you afraid of sweetie?"
I'm afraid you'll reject me.
Though she didn't know Kim as well as Tommy, she could tell by the look in her eyes exactly what she was scared of.
"Are you worried that we'll blame you for it?" Melissa asked. It wasn't really a big deal, because as a doctor she knew that most victims blamed themselves and that sometimes they were blamed by others, but she hoped that wasn't the case here. However when she saw Kim nod, she changed her mind. "Why would you think that Kimberly?" she asked, "James is right, you don't deserve something like this happening to you…nobody does." She paused as she thought on her next question, but James asked it before she could.
"Did someone blame you for it?" he asked. Kim looked at him, before she shifted her gaze to Tommy. He looked down at her and kissed her forehead before looking at his parents.
"Her parents did."
"WHAT?!" Melissa and James yelled. Kim whimpered and shifted closer to Tommy. Seeing that, they controlled their anger and spoke in an even tone. Melissa went first, "Tommy, what do you mean they blamed her?"
"Just that mom," he replied, while his hand absently rubbed circles on Kim's back, trying to soothe her. "They blamed her for it. They basically told her that it was her fault that it happened. Her dad told her that she asked for it, and her mom was in disbelief and told her that she didn't want a daughter that had been 'tainted.'"
"Why? Why would they do that, how could they do that?" Melissa asked. Melissa was in disbelief. 'What the hell kind of parents would blame their only child….their only daughter….for something like that? Ken I could kind of understand as he never really spent time with her, but Caroline? How could she do that to Kim? The girl needed her mother and instead of being there for her, she leaves her to deal with it on her own. No wonder she was so scared when she came here. She thought that we would do the same. Oh Kim, they don't deserve you.' Melissa moved to sit next to Kim and turned to her, "Kim, sweetie look at me." She waited until she had her attention, which took some prompting from Tommy, before she continued. "I'm sorry that your parents reacted like that, but I'm not them…we're not them. We're not going to abandon you sweetie, especially for something that was not your fault…I'm not going to abandon you."
Kim looked at her, a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes. When she saw it, Melissa felt her heart break and anger towards her parents. She slowly raised her hand to push the hair out of her face before she spoke again, "I promise, I will always be here for you."
"We will always be here for you," James said, "We're not going to leave you." Mel looked over at her husband, giving him a smile before she looked back at Kim. She needed a hug from Kim, to show that everything was going to be ok. When she looked in Kim's eyes, she could see that underneath the pain, was the girl that she knew, that she loved, desperately in need of a mother's touch. Remembering how Kim had reacted when they had first saw her; she opened her arms and said, "Come here sweetie." She watched as Kim looked at Tommy, almost scared or in disbelief of what was happening.
(Kim's POV)
Do they mean that? I really hope so. I really can't lose my second mom. And I don't want Tommy to choose between us.
'Come here sweetie.'
Is this really happening? Does she really mean that? I looked over at Tommy and I could see the love in his eyes and I can see that they did mean it.
(No one's POV)
Kim turned back to Melissa and moved into her arms. When she felt her arms close around, and felt her hand rubbing her hair and the soothing words that she was whispering, she lost it. The tears flowed from her eyes down her cheeks and unto Melissa's shirt. She clutched the older woman towards her as she let out the pain she was feeling at the loss of her mom. Tommy and his parents all had tears in their eyes as they listened to the heartrending cries of the girl that they all loved.
"It's ok," Melissa whispered, "You're going to be ok. Everything's going to be ok. We're here and we're not going anywhere." They didn't know how long they stayed like that. But gradually Kim's cries slowed until they became whimpers, before they stopped all together and she fell asleep. Feeling her body relax, Melissa knew that the girl in her arms had fallen asleep. Looking at her son, she said softly, "She's sleeping. Why don't you put her in your room?"
"Not the guest room?" Tommy asked, even though he knew that no matter the room, he wouldn't let her sleep alone.
"No," she shook her head, "She's still skittish and she needs to be close to someone, and that someone is you. She's more comfortable around you Tommy."
"Alright," he said. He moved forward and gently pried his sleeping girlfriend out of his mother's arms. As he stood up, he turned to his parents, "I'll be right back."
"OK," his dad said. As they watched their so go up the stairs, Melissa and James turned to each other. James spoke first, "Jeez Mel, how could her parents do that to her? How could they abandon her like that?"
"I don't know James, I really don't know," she stood up and started pacing. "Kim is in such a fragile state right now, and instead of being there for her, they abandon her. How could Caroline do that to her only daughter? I know that Ken and Kim always had problems, but I thought that knowing what happened would at least make him be there for her."
"I would've have thought so to Mel, but I guess I was wrong," he said. He watched as she sat down beside him and he wrapped his arm around her. "What is it?"
"It's just….did you see her? The fear in her eyes?" she asked quietly. "Because of that they did, she thought that we were going to do the same to her. Why her James? Why Kimberly, why did this have to happen to her?"
"I don't sweetie," he said as he placed a kiss on her forehead. "If I could make it so she didn't have to go through that, I would."
"So would I," Tommy said, walking in to catch his dad's words.
"How is she?" Melissa asked.
"She's still sleeping," he ran a hand through his hair, "But I left my door open just in case."
"I'm afraid to ask, but just how bad is she?" his dad asked.
Tommy let out a breath, "You saw her dad. She's still very skittish, although she was a lot worse earlier." At their questioning looks, he explained, "We stopped by the youth center and she freaked out."
"I can imagine," his mom said. "What else?"
"She was really bad off mom," he said, "I mean, no one even knew what happened to her. Not her coach or her roommates. She was so terrified that she hasn't spoken since it happened."
"How long ago was that?" his dad asked.
"Almost a week before she sent the letter," he replied.
"Oh my God," Melissa said softly as she raised her hand to her mouth.
"And she hasn't spoken since?" James asked
"No," he replied as tears filled his eyes, "Mom, I was so scared when I saw her. Her eyes looked so dull, she wasn't smiling and she lost weight. I could barely recognize her. How could they not notice her? How could they not see something was wrong with her?" tears of her own in her eyes, Melissa quickly pulled her son into a hug.
"It's ok baby," she said softly. "She's here now. She came home and she's here."
"So what do we do?" James asked as we watched them.
"We help her," Melissa said. She looked at Tommy, listening as his tears lessened and his cries stopped. She continued when she had his attention, "We be there for her, we let her know that she's not alone and that she has people that she can count on."
"What can we look out for Mel," James asked, "In terms of her actions?"
"She'll still be very skittish, we have to watch how we act around her," she said, "We can't be angry around her otherwise that will set her off. You saw how she reacted when James was going towards her, we'll have to be careful not to approach her like that."
"I hope I don't run into her parents or the guy that did this to her," James said.
"Me either," Tommy and Melissa said.
"So we're doing this?" James asked, when they nodded, he smiled.
"She will get through this," Melissa said.
"And we'll be there every step of the way," Tommy said.
A/N: how did you guys like it? I know I said that I would include Jason and the others, but I wanted to focus on Tommy's parents and their reactions to what he said. Next chapter will definitely have the others, including Aisha. Anyways, as always read and review and tell me what you think.
