a/n Reworked 10th November, 2008


Chapter 9 - Neverland



It took a few more days, but Tara's azure eyes opened once again. After they had adjusted to the bright light, her gaze snapped around the unfamiliar room.

Where in the...

Her mind kept drawing blanks each time she tried to recall, until finally, she gave up and sighed.

It was that sigh that brought people running to her beside.

Standing around her were seven people. It took a few moments for Tara to compute their faces.

Her mother was there, beside Parker and Uncle Jeff... then there was Scott, Virgil and Gordon, and right beside her head was...

Alan.

He'd saved her.

Tears welled in her cerulean eyes.

"Tari," Alan murmured, brushing some of her blonde hair away from her eyes, "How are you feeling?"

Tara didn't dare open her mouth for fear of the pain it would inflict.

"Are you okay, Ra-ra?" Scott asked from the foot of her bed.

"Let her wake up a bit more first," Jeff shot his eldest a look, before turning back to the blonde.

"Who did it to her?" Gordon asked. Alan shook his head.

"I didn't see, but Tara might know,"

Tara wasn't sure she wanted to remember.

"Why isn't she speaking?"

"She just woke up from a week-long coma," Virgil snapped, "You try speaking so soon after that,"

"Boys, please stop bickering," Penelope looked almost as bad as Tara felt, "Parker, go and fetch the doctors, please,"

"Yes, M'Lady,"

Tara parted her lips with minimal pain, swallowed as best as she could and finally tried to speak.

"Ow..."

Alan gave her a fond smile.

"It'll hurt for a while. Are you alright?"

It hurt too much to nod, and she didn't want to risk hurting something else by speaking. So she made a non-committal mewl.

It was then that the doctor bustled in and sent the family out so he could make an assessment of Tara's health.



In the hallway outside her room, the gathered family were having a whispered discussion.

"She needs to talk to someone," Penelope protested, "We need to know what happened. I'm not fool enough to think she'd open up to me about everything. So who will talk to her?"

"I will," Alan volunteered, "Tari and I have always been close. She might open up to me,"

The moment the doctor left, Alan was sent in.

Tara turned to look at him as he entered, now hyped up on painkillers, and let him sit beside her on the bed.

"Okay Tari," Alan sighed, looking down at her, "What happened?"

The blonde teen had to resist the temptation to cry.

"Well," she murmured thickly, tears stinging her eyes, "It all started with Josh..."



"Yes, Lady Penelope. We'll ensure that every visitor for your daughter is checked against this list you've provided. We won't allow anyone who isn't approved by you in,"

"Thank you," Penelope gestured to the list, "Aside from family and family friends, this should cover Tara's school friends. Oh, that name on the bottom, you'll have to forgive me, it's my daughter's boyfriend. I only know him by his first name,"

"It's alright Lady Penelope. We'll do what we can to ensure your daughter's safety,"



Alan sat in silence listening to Tara's tale, feeling his stomach knot more and more in rage for what had happened to the girl.

When she'd finished, he brushed some hair off her face, and Tara smiled softly at him.

"Thanks for coming to rescue me, Alan," she murmured, swallowing with a small wince.

"It's the least I could do, Tara," he replied, tapping her nose, "particularly for the little Ra-ra—" the teen glowered, "—who got revenge on my brothers when they kept throwing me in the pool," Tara chuckled.

"What, you mean the time I poured itching powder in Gordon's sheets, tarred and feathered John, and swapped Scott's aftershave with my mother's perfume?" Alan smirked.

"It was an extraordinary feat for a five year old," the girl giggled.

"They all thought it was you anyway," Alan laughed.

"They did, didn't they?"

A few moments of comfortable silence passed, before Alan stood.

"I should go. You need to—"

"No!" Tara protested, fear suddenly filling her eyes, "Please. Stay? For a little longer?"

Alan blinked.

"Okay, Tari. I'll stay,"



Over the next few days, Alan stayed with Tara most of the time, keeping her company and, most importantly, keeping her talking and laughing.

The doctors were grateful to him – particularly the psychologist, who, when she came to visit, decided Tara wasn't going to retreat into herself and have an emotional breakdown because of his presence.

On the fourth day after Tara awoke, Alan stood from his chair beside her bed and stretched. The two had spent the morning watching Mexican soap operas together, subtitling them where they could, and laughing when they couldn't.

"I'm just going to go to the bathroom, okay? I'll be back in 10 minutes,"

"Alright," Tara sat up slightly, leaning against her pillows, "Don't take too long, otherwise you'll miss out on whether Maria's lover is really a Juan or a Juanita,"

Alan laughed.

"I'll hurry,"

About 5 minutes passed after Alan left, when Tara heard footsteps, and someone entered her room.

"That was fast," she quipped, "Hurry, the adbreak's almost over,"

"Hi Tara,"

The blonde's blood ran cold. She refused to look at her visitor.

"Go away, Josh. We have nothing to say to each other,"

"Tara, I'm sorry. I feel so awful for what I did,"

"Josh, get out,"

"No, Tara, damnit, I'm not leaving. I'm sorry. I... I love you,"

Tears stung Tara's azure eyes. She closed them tight, looking away.

"You don't. Don't lie to me,"

"I do!" he protested, moving to her bedside, "And I promise I'll never hurt you again. Please, Tara, I'm so, so sorry," Josh took her hand, "Look at me,"

What neither of them saw was the annoyed blonde man in the doorway. The annoyed blonde man whose stomach sank when he saw forgiveness warring with self preservation in Tara's eyes.

She couldn't go back to this man. Not after what he'd done to her.

'Come on, Tara. I thought you were smarter than this. You're not dumb enough to be fooled, yet again, by his promises and declarations...'

"I..." tears slid in rivulets down her bruised cheeks, "I..."

Alan made his presence known at this point.

He refused to let her do this to herself again.

"Tara?" his voice was dangerously low, "Is this him?"

Cerulean met with icy cornflower blue, and the girl nodded.

With no words spoken, Alan stepped forward, pulled back his arm, and punched the dark haired man beside the hospital bed without remorse.

Tara let out a small shriek, alerting the nurses, while Alan stood over Tara's fallen ex.

"You," he hissed, "You did this to her. How dare you come back here, asking for her to love and forgive you?"

"I didn't do this to her," Josh protested, touching his cheek tenderly where Alan had struck him, "She didn't look like this when she left me,"

"That's not what Tara said,"

"Well, she's lying! She's confused, aren't you Tara darling?"

"I... I..."

"Don't you dare speak to her. Not after what you did!"

"Gentlemen!" the nurse in the doorway fixed the two with her fiercest glare, "If you insist on fighting, do not do it in here!"

Alan hauled Josh up by the collar and shoved him outside.



Josh and Alan circled each other in the carpark, looking much like two lions, prepared to battle.

The moment they were away from Tara, Josh let his true colours shine through.

"You think you know innocent little Tara so well, don't you?" he laughed, "Did you know she's a crack whore? Since we've started dating, she's smoked, gotten drunk, and been the little party whore she is. She's worthless trash,"

"She is not," Alan snarled and punched him again.



Gordon couldn't understand why he'd been roped into going to pick Alan up from the hospital.

Really, he couldn't.

Scott would have made more sense, or even Virgil, and yet it was he who Jeff had sent.

It was an act like that which made Gordon start to wonder if his father was getting a bit... demented in his old age.

Gordon's car pulled into the carpark of the Royal Prince Alfred hospital, and was almost immediately confronted with the sight of his youngest brother pounding the crap out of some guy.

Now, ordinarily, Gordon would have laughed at this sight, however the look of unadulterated rage on Alan's face made him just that slightest bit concerned that Alan had few to no qualms about killing this man.

And so, he pulled into the nearest parking spot and intervened.

"Alan, brother dear," he stood, arms crossed, "Care to explain what the hell you're doing,"

"God, Gordon," Alan spat out some of the blood in his mouth from Josh's last blow, and continued holding the darker haired man in a headlock, "you sound just like Scott,"

"Don't avoid the question (and I'm insulted), what are you doing?"

"I'm beating the shit out of someone," Gordon smirked.

"Yes, thank you Captain Obvious. I got that much. Why are you beating the shit out of this man?"

"Because," Alan growled, shoving Josh back, "This piece of shit is the reason Tara's in here. Gordon, that's Tara's ex-boyfriend, Joshua McMahon. He beat up Tara when she didn't get his next fix,"

The smile dropped off Gordon's face faster than you can stay "stone cold".

"Step away from him, little brother," the auburn haired Tracy's voice had dropped dangerously low.

"What? But—"

"Step away from him, Alan," Alan looked bemused, but complied.

Josh rubbed his jaw and looked up at Gordon.

"Hey, thank—" he didn't get to finish. Gordon's fist connected with his face, and knocking him down to the ground.

"What the hell? You're all insane!" Josh spoke thickly, touching a hand to his bleeding split lip.

Gordon was terrifying in his rage.

"Stay the hell away from Tara. I don't want to see you anywhere near her, ever again, do you understand me?" he hauled the darker man to his feet by his collar, "Because, lets get this straight right now, you dare to lay even a finger on Ra-ra again, and I'll personally make sure they don't find the body," he shoved him backwards, "Get the hell out of my sight,"

The two brothers watched Tara's ex boyfriend stumble out of the carpark and, symbolically, out of Tara's life.

Gordon let out a long, slow breath and turned to Alan.

"You'd better get yourself checked out in the hospital. I'll go and see Ra-ra,"



When Alan got back to Tara's room an hour later, the blonde was nervously chewing the uninjured part of her lower lip.

Her eyes snapped to the door with his re-entry, and the relief was obvious on her face.

"Is everything...?"

"Everything's fine, Tari," he reassured her, "He won't bother you again,"

Tara slumped back into her pillows and smiled weakly at him. Alan grinned back.

The injuries – everything was worth it.

All for her.



a/n Again. Flavour. Go check them out. Super special awesome.