If you're confused as to why this is going up now and not Wednesday then you haven't been to the DeGrassi Saviors site recently. There is a great big announcement where the calendars normally would be and I advise that you read it.

In case you don't read the announcement then I am no longer doing a schedule I just do not have the time between work, family and personal life to be writing and posting a chapter 6 nights a week. We're going back to the old way of posting in an order when I have a chapter finished.

Even though you will no longer be getting a chapter every night it also means there will no longer be skipped chapters or short chapters. The only time there will be short chapters is quickie shots and epilogue chapters which tend to be short by nature. Average chapters will now be around 5000 words, a little more or a little less depending where I think a chapter should end.

If you are wondering what will be posted next check the clue section of the DeGrassi Saviors website. It will tell you what will be posted next just not when because things go up as I finish them.

Again I encourage you to go read the announcement on the DeGrassi Saviors website as it goes into depth about everything.

Thank you everyone and enjoy this nice long chapter.

Ch. 9 I Want to Stop Time from Passing

(CAMBELL)

You boys are on your own tonight, your dad and I are going out and Maddy is sleeping at a friend's house," Mom tells us at breakfast Saturday morning.

"Mick's dropping me at the mall and we're all going to a party tonight for the team," I tell Mom.

"Home by curfew," Mom asserts looking at Mick.

"We will," he nods.

After breakfast I shower and get dressed then Mick drives me to the mall. It hasn't been open for long but it's Saturday and it's pretty busy. I go up to the music store and find Maya working, she's playing the cello and seems to be caught up in the world of whatever song she's playing. She doesn't even notice that I've come in.

"I'd like a music lesson please," I tell the woman behind the counter. I give her the money and sign up on the little sheet.

"Maya you have your first customer," she tells her when Maya has finished her song.

"Hi Cam," Maya smiles, "uh I can do cello or piano or pretty much anything with strings what would you like to learn?"

"We'd better start with piano I'm great at sports but I tried to play the recorder in elementary school and I sounded like a tone-deaf bird," I reply and she giggles.

"Okay piano then," Maya says putting the cello away.

She takes me to the piano and we begin with the basics but when my hour is up I can play Twinkle, Twinkle on the piano. I think it's particularly impressive as I spent the entire hour gazing at Maya and hardly paying attention.

"So you're coming to the party tonight right?" I ask her when the lesson is over.

"Yeah Owen offered us a ride so he'll pick me up when I'm off."

"What time do you get off for lunch? Maybe I can take you to lunch," I offer hopefully.

"My lunch is at one," Maya replies with a grin that makes me smile.

"I'll be back at one," I tell her before leaving the store.

As I begin walking through the mall I hear Maya start playing again. She truly has a gift and I wonder why she's not going to a music academy or something. I spend about an hour walking around the mall, looking in shops and generally killing time until a few minutes before one when I walk back to the music store. Maya is giving another lesson, teaching a little kid to play the violin so I wait. When she's done she sees me and tells the store owners she's going to lunch. We walk to the food court and she wants pizza so we get in line and I pay for pizza and sodas for us both.

"So are you enjoying working at the music store?" I ask her.

"Yeah it's nice, I get paid to play music all day," she smiles.

"You are incredibly talented I can't believe you're not at a music academy or something," I comment and her face suddenly changes. Her eyes look sad and her face looks sullen but then she smiles again although it seems forced.

"My mom's health problems took a lot of time and money, I got music lessons until I didn't need them anymore. It's nice to just be playing music again. Does anyone else in your family play sports? I know Justin doesn't but what about your other siblings?" Maya asks changing the subject.

"My dad played hockey through college and me and my brothers all play hockey. Jesse plays baseball he's on his college's team. Justin plays hockey with us when we play but he's not really into sports as you know. Mick does track and field and prefers football and his drums. Maddy takes gymnastics but that's it. What about your sister? Does she play any instruments?"

"No Katie plays soccer or she did, she doesn't do much of anything anymore. How is your family enjoying Toronto?"

"It's nice so far, my sister likes her new school and Mick, Justin and I are liking DeGrassi. We haven't seen too much of the city really, I've seen downtown and that's about it. And I've seen the mall of course," I reply and she laughs. We finish lunch and walk through the mall slowly walking her back to the music store. "So I'll see you tonight at the party then," I say when we've reached the music store.

"Yeah I'll see you tonight," Maya smiles.

She goes into the store and I call Mick to pick me up. He can't come get me right away so I walk the mall a little while longer until he sends a text that he's on his way and which entrance he'll pick me up at.

"So is she your girlfriend yet?" Mick asks when I get in the car.

"Shut up," I retort shoving his arm playfully.

Before we're even home I get a text from Dallas asking us to pick up ice and come over a little early to help set up. So we go home and grab Justin and stop at the store we get 10 bags of ice and then go to the Torres house. A few of the other guys from the team are here including Luke and the twins. It takes us no time to get things set up which mostly consists of getting the food out, the drinks into coolers with ice, the extra ice into the large freezer in the garage and moving anything fragile upstairs. We lock the door from the basement to the main floor and also lock the kitchen door that leads to the back so no one can get upstairs. Then we put on music and people begin arriving, one of the first groups to arrive is Owen, Tris, Clare and Maya. Justin begins talking with Tris while Clare goes over to Adam.

"Can I get you a drink?" I ask Maya.

"Uh water is fine," she replies. I grab a bottle of water and bring it to her, I even open it before giving it to her. "Thanks," she smiles.

"Welcome. How was the rest of work?"

"It was good I gave two more lessons, one to a girl that really does want to learn cello and one to a five-year-old whose mother wanted him to learn piano but he was only interested in banging on the keys. It was still good though I enjoy playing music all day and getting paid for it," she says with a beautiful smile and you can see how she truly enjoys playing music.

"When did you know you were so gifted with music?" I question.

She starts telling me about playing the piano by ear when she was real young and how her love of music grew. Then it becomes a conversation about hockey and the other sports I play, and then the things we love and the things we hate about being considered a prodigy. We talk for a couple of hours, I feel so at ease with her and we keep moving closer and closer. She's telling me about wanting to write a rock opera and I lean over joining our lips. For the first couple seconds she kisses me back and then she suddenly pulls away and runs out. I get up and chase after her.

"Maya wait," I call catching her hand as she tries to run through the snow, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have kissed you I got caught up in the moment."

"It's not that I liked the kiss and I like you but I can't really…it's just not a good time for me to get into a relationship. Things are difficult at home and I just got this new job I wouldn't really have time for a new boyfriend," Maya tells me but it seems like she's holding something back. She won't meet my eyes she's looking down and talking slow like she's thinking about her responses before she says them.

"You live with Clare don't you?"

"Yeah my sister and I moved in with Clare and her sister. Our parents are away getting treatment for my mom. It's an experimental treatment so we don't know how long they'll be gone because they have to keep my mom under observation," Maya says but now she's talking too quickly.

"Why don't we just go back in and enjoy the party," I suggest holding my hand out to her and sensing that she doesn't want to talk.

Maya smiles taking my hand and we walk back into the party.

(DALLAS)

"I didn't know you were working today I would have come and hung out," I comment to Clare when I join her and Adam. I know she was working because she's still wearing her Dot t-shirt and smells like coffee.

"That's okay it was my first all day shift and it was really busy," she replies.

"I was just telling Clare that I was thinking of starting a band," Adam remarks. He told Drew and I earlier.

"You should hold auditions Monday after school. I think Cam said his brother plays drums and Maya plays an instrument doesn't she?" I ask Clare.

"She plays several, I think she plays pretty much anything with strings," Clare responds.

"Sweet I'll have to talk to Maya and Mick tonight," Adam grins.

"Do you want a drink or something?" I offer Clare as Adam walks off.

"I am a bit hungry," Clare comments.

"We have lots of food," I smile putting my hand at her lower back and directing her to the kitchenette where the food is. She makes herself a plate and grabs a pop, she looks for somewhere to sit but at this point all the seats are taken, even the stairs. "We can sit in my room I don't care if you eat on my bed," I offer and Clare smiles. I grab a plate of food and we go into my room, I close the curtain and we sit on my bed. "So how was work today?" I question.

"It's pretty tiring to be on your feet for so long but I like working at The Dot. It's nice to work with Fitz and Meghan too," Clare replies.

"How's your neck?" I inquire. She wore a turtleneck yesterday and she's wearing a scarf today so no one sees the bruises on her neck.

"It's okay, they bruises will be gone soon and no one else has seen them," she answers looking down and eating her chips.

"I meant what I said you know. You're always welcome here when things get bad," I remind her.

"I know," she smiles looking up at me a little.

"You told me you'd gone to the cops before and it didn't help?"

"The cops didn't find anything and I got punished for calling the cops. I know you're worried but I don't want to talk about this," Clare says.

"I'm sorry but you're right I am worried; I don't like thinking about someone hurting you and I want to help. I don't want anyone to hurt you and I want to hurt whoever does," I tell her.

"But you can't help, at least you can't fix what's happening if you want to help do what you did yesterday morning, be there when I need you, hold me when I cry."

"I can do that," I reply with a smile and then she grins.

I know she doesn't want to talk about her home life so I start talking about Rocky and my parents and my school in Guelph. Clare finishes her food and seems to be listening to me intently but I look over and find her asleep on my bed. If she can fall asleep in the middle of the party she must really be tired. I cover her with a blanket and leave her to sleep then I go out and rejoin the party.

"What did you do to Clare?" Owen questions when he sees me come out of the curtain that leads to my room and must see Clare on the bed.

"She fell asleep while we were talking. I figured if she was tired enough to fall asleep in the middle of a loud party she must be very exhausted. I was trying to get her to tell me more about her home life and her sister's boyfriend," I'm saying but stop when a couple of kids move closer to us. Owen hits my arm nodding to the stairs. We walk up to the top step sitting on it and leaning on the door that leads to the kitchen. "I found bruises on her neck yesterday morning while we were skating, bruises that were obviously made by someone else. I confronted her and she broke down in my arms. I had to promise not to do anything about it for her to admit her sister's boyfriend gave her the bruises. She wouldn't talk about it after that but I told her that she and Maya can always come over here if they need to."

"I told Maya the same, I've only seen one bruise on Maya which didn't necessarily look like it was caused by someone else. But when she and Clare came to my New Year's party Clare had some cracked ribs that I looked at. She told me she fell but I doubt it."

"I told Clare to tell someone if she was being abused at home, that she should go to the cops. She said she'd called the cops and it didn't do anything, the cops didn't find anything and she got punished for calling. Why wouldn't the cops pursue or get her out of the house or something?"

"It happens all the time. Cops and even Children's Aide can't just pull a kid from the home on suspicion they need proof. If there's enough suspicion they can but if there's no proof the kids will go back and it usually gets worse for them. Abused kids and even adults don't talk and don't leave out of fear. The abusers control with fear and keep their victims afraid."

"How do you know you've never been abused."

"No but Fitz was for most of his life and he's one of my best friends. His stepdad and stepbrother would both beat on him and he always refused to go to the cops or Children's Aide because his stepfather told Fitz that if he ever left he'd kill Fitz's mom. So he lived with it for years, most of our lives."

"So how did Fitz get out of it. I mean he's happy now and like running The Dot."

"He got sent to juvie and found faith which was part of it, he still lived at home when he got out but after one last beating from his stepbrother, especially now that Fitz wasn't trying to fight back, his pastor helped Fitz get out. He got him his own place and Fitz already had the job at The Dot, he got out and he hasn't been back but it doesn't always happen and a lot of abuse victims are too afraid to even try."

"So what do we do? We can't just let them stay in that house getting abused."

"I don't know, I never could get Fitz to stay out of the house and not go back. I never could convince him to go to the cops even when he was so hurt he could barely move. Dave's dad is a cop and he works at the school we could talk to him Monday. We won't give him Clare and Maya's names because he knows them and if he tries to intervene and doesn't find anything it could really make things bad for the girls. But we can ask him if there are ways we can prove abuse without putting the girls in more danger and if there are other ways we can help."

"Good idea. Since Clare fell asleep I think we'll just keep her overnight and until she has to go to work tomorrow. Maya can stay here too, we can take them both to work tomorrow and maybe convince them to stay tomorrow night as well."

Owen nods and we go down the stairs for the party. Maya spends most of her time with Cam but also spend a fair amount of the night talking with Adam and Jenna. I spend most of the night with Owen, Drew and Bianca since Clare fell asleep in my bed. At one we end the party and kick everyone out before the party gets out of hand and we attract the cops.

"Where's Clare? I haven't seen her all night," Maya comments as people begin leaving.

"She fell asleep in my bed earlier. You can stay the night too, you can sleep in Audra and Omar's room since they're gone and I'll sleep on the sofa down here," I tell Maya.

"Okay thanks," she smiles.

"Come on Maya I'll show you where it is and you can borrow a shirt to sleep in," Adam says.

I say goodnight to Maya, Drew and Adam and they go upstairs. I grab a blanket and turn on the TV ready to sleep on the sofa. I'm about half asleep and half watching the TV when I hear noises from my room and I mute the TV. Clare is thrashing in my bed and making noises, sort of whimpering noises but I almost hear words like she's talking in her sleep. Obviously she's having a bad dream, I get up and go into my room, sitting on the bed. I put my hand on her arm and she bolts awake instantly, sitting up with a terrified gasp. She's shaking and breathing hard, I see tears on her cheeks and her eyes are wide with fear. At first I think she doesn't see me and she thinks I'm whoever was frightening her in her dream, but then she throws her arms around my neck holding me tightly. She's not crying but she's shaking, trembling like a dead leaf in a fall breeze about to be knocked from the branch. I hold onto her tightly, shielding her in my arms and wishing I could keep her there forever. Whatever had her so frightened in her dream is something that I'm sure is real, something she's afraid of and I want fiercely to protect her from whatever, or whoever it is.

"I got you you're safe," I try to assure her. She only nods and continues shaking for a moment.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep here, I guess I missed the party," she says in an apologetic tone when she stops shaking. She also sits up and lets go of me but she does it reluctantly, almost as though she's trying to prove that she's strong and doesn't need anyone.

"It's okay you obviously needed the sleep if you were able to fall asleep in the middle of a party. Can you get back to sleep? You can come watch TV with me if you can't get back to sleep, unless you want to talk about your dream?"

"I think I'll watch some TV," Clare says getting out of the bed. She's still dressed in her jeans and work t-shirt, even still has her shoes on since she just fell asleep in my bed. This occurs to her as she gets out of the bed and looks at what she's wearing. She then looks at me with her eyebrows knit together in confusion yet her eyes hold a look of relief and I'm confused. "You didn't undress me or anything," she comments.

"Of course not I'm not that…" I begin to argue and then something occurs to me, "has that happened before?"

"Can I borrow something to sleep in I'll need to wash these clothes before work tomorrow," she remarks avoiding my question.

"Yeah of course," I reply going to my drawer.

I look through my shirts before picking out a soft shirt for her. She goes into the washroom to change and I sit down again to watch TV. Clare comes out of the washroom looking incredibly sexy in my shirt and I pull the blanket over me and pull my knees up so she doesn't see my growing erection. She goes to the washing machine putting in her clothes and turning it on, grabs a blanket from my bed and sits on the sofa with me. I hand her the remote so she can choose what to watch. She settles on Murder She Wrote, a show I've never seen but it's fairly entertaining.

"Where's Maya? Did Owen take her to his place?" Clare asks after a few moments. I'm not sure if she was so tired she wasn't thinking about Maya or if she just assumed Maya wouldn't have gone home or that Owen would make sure Maya was taken care of, which he would of course.

"No she's here she's sleeping in Audra and Omar's room."

"Good," Clare replies quietly.

I fall asleep about twenty minutes into the episode we're watching, I wake up to my alarm the next morning. I set it for seven so we'd have enough time to eat and clean up from the party before taking the girls to work and before the Torres parents return home. Clare fell asleep on the sofa watching TV which is still on. I go over to wake up her up, I brush a curl from her face and it wakes her up a little. She flinches and curls up almost to a fetal position.

"No not now," she pleads with a terrified tone and I freeze. I want to think that she was asleep and dreaming and that's why she reacted that way but instinct tells me it's not. I feel a pit in my stomach as my heart starts pounding and I force out a breath before I attempt to wake her up again.

"Clare wake up," I say as I shake her gently and now her eyes open. She bites her lip and looks away from me as her cheeks go red I wonder if it's because she fell asleep on the sofa or her reaction to me brushing a curl behind her ear. "I'm going to go wake up the others, we need to eat and clean up and then I'll take you and Maya to work," I tell her before going into my room to pull on some pajama pants. I go upstairs and into Drew's room first, both because his is right at the top of the stairs and because he sleeps heavily and can sleep through most anything. "Drew wake up we need to clean up," I say shaking his arm. When he still doesn't move I pull the pillow from under his head and hit him with it.

"Alright, alright I'm up I'm up," Drew grumbles with a yawn. I leave Drew's room so he'll get up and when I go out to the hall Adam is coming out of his room. Unlike his brother Adam is a very light sleeper and wakes up at almost anything.

"I'm up and claiming the washroom first," Adam tells me. He goes into the washroom and I go into his parent's room to wake up Maya. I sit on the bed and touch Maya's arm; she reacts in nearly the same way Clare did when I woke her up. Maya whimpers as she curls into a fetal position.

"Please no," she cries and I pull my hand back.

That both of them reacted that way sickens me, my stomach churns because they recoiled the way that they did and both in nearly the same way. A way that tells me they've been violated before. I want to throw up and I want to kill whoever could hurt them that way.

"Maya wake up we're going to have breakfast," I tell her in as calm and reassuring of a voice as I can so she's not afraid.

Maya opens her eyes and looks at me and just as Clare did she looks slightly embarrassed, "Hi Dallas, I'll be out in a minute."

I nod and go downstairs, Adam is in the kitchen getting breakfast started so I go downstairs to check on Clare. She must have gotten her clothes in the dryer last night because they are dry and she's wearing them again.

"You should get something to eat, Adam is making pancakes or something," I tell Clare. She smiles softly and goes upstairs.

I get dressed real quick and join everyone else in the kitchen. We eat and then clean up all evidence from the party. While the girls are getting ready for work in separate washrooms I exchange a few texts with Cam. Then I get the girls to work, Clare has to be at The Dot first so I drop her off and take Maya to the mall. I park at the mall and walk Maya in to the music store.

"Thanks Dallas," she says when we get there.

"No problem, Cam will pick you so don't leave this store when you're off until Cam is here," I instruct her.

"I won't," Maya smiles.

I leave her at work getting back in my car and drive back to The Dot. Clare smiles when she sees me come in, I order coffee and take a seat near the window but facing the counter so I can watch Clare work. But I wanted to be near the window so I can see if Anson comes back to watch Clare. Fitz is here and he just smiles at me. I sit there for a couple of hours sipping at coffee and watching Clare, playing games on my phone every so often so I'm not just staring at her. At lunch time when Clare has her break and puts in a lunch order for herself I put one in for me and have her sit with me.

"You're not planning to hang out all day are you?" She questions.

"Yeah I told you I like being where you are and you're going to be here all day. Audra and Omar are back at the house but you and Maya can stay the night again if you wanted."

"We can't we need to go home," Clare says hanging her head slightly.

"No you don't you can sleep over again or stay at Owen's. I'll buy you guys a toothbrush and clothes for tomorrow and anything else you need. You've admitted to me that Anson hurts you and you won't let me do anything about it at least I can keep you from going back there for one more night," I assert and Clare smiles.

"Okay but we'll stay at Owen's if it's okay with his parents Audra doesn't let girls sleep over," Clare relents and I smile with relief.

Fitz brings over our lunch and we eat together, we don't talk much but I enjoy being with her. When she finishes eating her lunch and goes back to work I text Owen.

Dallas: I convinced Clare not to go home tonight. Cam and his brother will pick up Maya from work and I'm hanging at The Dot all day with Clare. Can the girls sleep at your place? They can sleep at ours but we'd have to get permission from Audra and Omar.

Owen: Yeah no problem they can sleep here.

Dallas: Thanks I'll bring Clare when she's done with work and tell Cam to take Maya to your place.

I text Cam to let him know and stay for the rest of Clare's shift. I then take her to a department store so she can get a toothbrush, travel deodorant and a change of clothes for tomorrow. She tries to pay but I stop her and pay for everything. I asked Cam to do the same with Maya but as they were already at the mall that should have been easy. When I get to Owen's we find Maya, Cam and Mick are already here. So are Owen's parents but they don't seem to mind at all that there are so many people at the house.

"Maya can sleep in Tristan's room and you can sleep in mine, I can sleep on the sofa. Or both you girls can sleep in Tristan's room and he can sleep on the floor of my room," Owen tells Clare.

"I think we should do that so that you're not sleeping on the sofa," Clare replies and Owen grins.

Owen's parents don't ask why Clare and Maya are sleeping over but they do order pizza for all of us for dinner. Mick sends a text to their parents and I call Audra to tell her that I'm having dinner at Owen's and will be home after that. His parents go out to eat and we eat in the living room watching a movie.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow, you're in good hands with Owen but if you need me just call," I tell Clare before leaving. I'm pretty sure Cam is telling Maya something similar by the way they're looking at each other.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Clare smiles and kisses my cheek.

I say goodnight to everyone else and get in my car going home. The first thing I do is call Rocky since I didn't go home to see him this weekend, I normally do but I told Vanessa I might not make it out this weekend. I spend about fifteen minutes talking to Rocky but he's two so the extension of his talking is a few words and short sentences and answering my questions with one word answers. I spend most my night thinking about Clare and even Maya and what might be going on in that house. I even dream about it, a terrible nightmare of the girls being beaten and violated. I wake up feeling ill and angry. I get ready for school and we take my car today. We get to school and I didn't see Owen's car in the parking lot so I wait on the steps for Owen, Tris and the girls to arrive. I see them pull up a few moments later. I smile at Clare when she comes up the steps.

"I have to go talk to Adam," Maya says when we walk inside.

"I need to go to the newspaper office," Clare says giving me a smile before she walks off. Tris also leaves us and I look at Owen.

"Were the girls okay last night?"

"I mean they didn't wake up screaming or anything but they were pretty quiet and Clare was real timid around my parents."

"When I woke them up Sunday morning they both flinched away from me and asked me to stop or said no like I was about to violate them. I already know Clare's been hurt by Anson so it makes me wonder what else they've been subjected to in that house."

"Let's go talk to Officer Turner," Owen says hitting my arm lightly. We go back outside and I follow Owen to Officer Turner. "Turner," Owen calls and he looks over.

"You need something Owen?"

"Yeah we have some questions. It's not one of us but we have a couple of friends we know are getting abused at home. The problem is they are scared to come forward, they've tried before and it just made things worse. We know at least one of them is getting hurt and we think both of them might be getting sexually abused but we don't really have any proof just suspicion and the very very little they've told us. I know from my experience with Fitz that they won't come forward if they're afraid and we don't want to make things worse for them. We want to keep them safe though, as much as we can anyway, and at least try to convince them to press charges or get out and that they will be safe if they do. We just don't know what to do."

"I've already pushed a little and our friend wouldn't talk about it, even got mad at me," I tell Turner.

"Abusive homes are always hard. Abusers control through fear and if your friends are related to their abusers it can make it even more difficult. Despite the abuse the victims will feel a certain sense of loyalty to the abusers if they're related. It's sad but that's how abusers get away with it for so long. The most important thing you both can do is let them know that you're their friends and you have a safe place for them to go and that they can talk to you if they need to. They might clam up when you encourage them to speak out but keep encouraging them to do so. And if they aren't going to do so you need to keep track of as many incidents as you can, their bruises, things they say, all of it. If you witness anything keep them safe but don't get involved and call 911. Here this is my card with my cell number on it call me any time."

"Thanks," I nod taking his card.

"So you think we can convince the girls to go to the cops? Or even to talk to us?"

"We'll keep trying and I think we should get Adam and Cam at least to help us, Tris too and maybe Fitz."

"Agreed we'll talk to them all today. Hopefully between us we can find out what's really going on in that house and get them out soon."

That was a long chapter! Hope you enjoyed it, will update soon and probably will begin with Clare's pov and may jump ahead to Friday and the first Ice Hounds game.