"I got you something". It was a beautiful day; sunny and cool, and the hill we were sitting on top of was verdant; the stairs we had walked up winding down it like a snake. Tate had brought me to what was rumored to be a secret Nazi camp during the 40's. He had one arm around me, and was rummaging in his pocket with his other one. He pulled out a mess of silver, and disentangled it to reveal a ring swinging on the end of a long, thin necklace. "I found it at a thrift store."

He smiled as I reached out to touch it. It was old and tarnished; a silver peacock feather shaped into a circlet with small colored stones scattered around. "It's beautiful, thank you." I smiled back. I wasn't used to getting gifts from guys, and it made me blush.

"I thought you'd like it." He shrugged as if to say 'it's nothing'. The ring looked too big to fit on my fingers, but I tried anyway, before finally slipping it over my head. I was absently fingering it when he spoke again. "What are you thinking about?"

"My dad." Two days ago my acceptance letters had arrived from UCLA and USC. Since then we seemed to have an on-going argument about it. He wanted me to stay in L.A.; I flatly refused. The only reason I had applied was the possibility that I wouldn't be able to go back to Boston because of Hayden, which was no longer an issue. "He's still trying to convince me to stay here. He's moved on to trying to use Vera to guilt me into it." My annoyance flared at the memory; he knew what my weak spots were and seemed to be fine with exploiting them. "He'll probably try to enlist you next, so beware." Tate pulled me closer, tucking my head into his neck. "Are you sure you're okay with moving to Boston?" I asked after a moment.

He scoffed. "Of course I am. Now that I'm 18 the only thing keeping me in L.A. is you; it's not like I'm staying because I love the cocksucker so much."

"What about Addie?" I asked quietly. I knew his sister, like mine, was a soft spot.

He let out a sigh, and hung his head. "I know. I guess it sounds callous, like I'm abandoning her for you, but sometimes all you can do is save yourself."

"It's not callous." This was the part of his life I couldn't relate to. I would miss Vera like crazy, but I had no doubt she'd be happy, safe, and loved; my conscience didn't ache at the thought of leaving her in the way his did about leaving Addie. "But maybe I'm just really selfish without realizing it."

"No, you're not. I want you to be happy, and I saw how much happier you were in Boston. I was happy there too; it was like a little glimpse of the life we could have together, and I really want that. I'm not moving there for you, I'm moving there for us." The wind was picking up, blowing the grass like waves on the ocean. I had to admit, California was beautiful this time of year; like something out of a Steinbeck novel. Soon though it would turn brown and parched before burning to ground, starting the cycle all over again.

"Have you heard from U-Mass yet?" He shook his head. Both of us were still waiting for hear from the schools in Boston, and every time I thought about it there was a little knot of tension in my stomach, but he seemed totally at ease. We had talked about it, and decided if one us didn't get accepted we'd still move there, so essentially it didn't change our plans, just complicated them.

When we got back to my house so I could relieve the nanny Vera was all giggling happiness as she gleefully bashed a stuffed animal on the floor to make it squeak. Making dinner was a slow process though since she wouldn't let me put her down for long; every time I did she'd stand next to me silently watching until I finished whatever I was doing then look at me with her big doe eyes and reach up her arms.

"Isn't your arm getting tired?" Tate was sitting on the counter avidly watching us.

"Yeah, maybe she'll sit still if you hold her?" I suggested, and his face was instantly nervous. He liked Vera, and she liked him, but the few times he had picked her up he looked slightly terrified; like he was scared he d hurt her.

"Ugh. Why is she calling?" I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "My mother." He ignored the call, but a few minutes later she called again, and a few minutes after that, and a few minutes after that. Finally he turned his phone off.

"Maybe something's wrong?"

"I doubt it." He said coldly, and I let it drop. He was just setting the plates on the table when there was loud banging on the front door. We looked at each other for a moment in shock before he went to the door and threw it open.

"Where is she?" I heard his mother yell, as she stomped into the kitchen waving some papers clutched in her hand. I instinctively set Vera behind me, protectively, as she advanced. "You little slut!" She screamed as Tate put himself between. "What do you think you're doing?" she said, waving the papers in his face. "If you think I'm letting you move to Boston you are crazy. I'll kill you before I let you run off with that little tramp. You are just like your father." She spat and threw the papers at him before she stomped back out, slamming the door behind her.

He followed, locking the door as I picked up Vera. She was crying, with her head buried against me, when he came striding back into the room, a mix of anger, humiliation, and sorrow playing on his face. He picked up the mess of papers and sat down at the table without a word. He had gotten his acceptance letter to University of Massachusetts - Boston.

By the time my dad got home Vera was in bed. Immediately he picked up on the tension, and he sat across from Tate as I watched from the door; I had been outside smoking and pacing. "What happened?" Tate seemed unable to speak, so I explained the situation. "Did she hurt anybody?" I flicked the cigarette away in irritation, and came back inside, slumping into a chair.

"No. I'm really worried though. Whatever you said to her has kept her in check for a few months, but the situation has changed."

"Maybe. Maybe she needed to blow off some steam." He was trying to be the calm little center of the storm, and it was making me want to punch him.

I looked at Tate. "Tell him." I got back up, unable to sit still, and started pacing again.

"My brother Beau... Protective Services was going to take him away right before he died. I think that's why she killed him, or had Larry do it. Me leaving... it could have pushed over the edge again." He looked at me and snapped, "would you please sit down, you're driving me crazy."

I just glared at him and kept pacing, as my dad turned to face me. "Violet, calm down, you're -"

But I cut him off. "I swear to God if the words 'you're over-reacting' come out of your mouth I will lose it."

The chair Tate was sitting in clattered to the floor as he stood up and pulled me into his chest. I let out an angry huff of air, but put my arms around him. "Calm down, please." My dad was quiet, probably slipping into therapist-mode, watching our 'dynamic'.

"I am taking this seriously, Violet. Tate, stay here tonight. I'll go over to your house and talk to her in the morning, and we'll go from there." They worked out the details between them before I heard his chair scrape across the floor and he walked out. As soon as he was gone Tate was pulling me upstairs to my room, locking the door behind us once we were inside.

"I think I should go home."

"No." I said flatly.

"Just listen to me." He started pacing. "She's not going to stop until she's caught. She got away with it once, but I'm not my brother, I can fight back. If your dad talks to her tomorrow she'll bide her time. We can't wait that long; at least right now we know she's going to act. If we wait we won't even have that." My expression so thoroughly said Are you fucking kidding me? that I didn't need to articulate it. "Vi, if she's caught it makes things so much easier."

"I might agree with what you're saying, but we have no idea what she's planning. She's a smart bitch, and like you said she got away with it once. If we had some idea..." I trailed off.

"I was thinking she'd probably try to make it look like suicide. I mean with my recent history, no one would look to closely at it. And she'll have to do it in the house; she'll want to keep me there like Beau. I have to go back tonight."

"This is insane." I snapped, and got up to pace again, but before I could start Tate leaned in and kissed me softly, indulgently.

"We don't have another option, Vi." He said quietly. And he was right, we didn't. I just hated not having a plan; rushing into this blind.

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I reached up and stroked his face. The ring he gave me earlier was resting between my breasts, and it's weight made me think about the future we were planning. The thought of that losing that, of losing him after everything made it feel like my heart was being wrenched out, and I choked out a sob. He led me over to the bed, pulling me down next to him, so I could bury my face against him and cry. He didn't say anything just held me close until I got it all out. It was late, around midnight when I calmed down. Tate was starting to get twitchy; I could tell he was thinking about leaving. "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am, and we don't have time for this shit. So unless you're planning on strangling me unconscious again, drop it." I said harshly, my words clearly wounding him.

"Get that chicken out of the fridge." His words were such a non-sequitur I just gaped at him. "For Thaddeus." He explained. "You're going in through the basement while I come in the front door." I suppressed a shudder at the thought of that... thing, and nodded in agreement. "As long as no one is downstairs you can sneak up the old service stairs, and I'll go up the main staircase; if we don't meet anyone we'll wait in my room." I slipped my cell phone and cigarettes into my coat pocket, and then like the night Hayden broke in we slipped out of my room hand-in-hand as quietly as possible.

Once we gained the street we went over our cover story in whispers, and then with grotesque haste we were in front of his house. All the lights on the ground floor were out, but there was a light on in his room, and as I slipped around back I saw the light on in his mother's room. As soon as I entered the basement I could hear the scraping, sucking noises of Thaddeus as he came out from the shadows, a wave of nausea threatening to overtake me. I put the chicken on the floor and kicked it to him; he greedily took it and went back to his hiding spot, leaving me alone.

My heart was beating out a staccato rhythm against my ribs as I mounted the stairs, pulling a tarnished golf club from a bag near the bottom. I reached the door into the house and waited, feeling both faint and hyper-aware at the same time. I had 911 queue'd up on my phone so all I had to do was touch the screen once to connect. I heard the front door slam, and Tate's feet scuff across the entry, and I moved into action, leaving the basement, creeping across the hall, and ascending the service stairs. Every creak of the stairs threatened to give me away, but when I reached the second floor I could hear voices towards the front of the house, and I relaxed.

Mercifully all of the lights in the hallway were off, but a strong moon was shining through the windows. As I drew closer Tate's was the first voice I could recognize, then his mother's drawl. I peeked around a corner and saw Tate, Larry, and Constance grouped together at the second story landing. Tate was the only one facing me, but he was so focused on his mother I don't think he saw me. Constance and Larry both had their backs to me, and Larry was holding something behind him, but I couldn't see what it was before I withdrew.

The waiting was the worst feeling I'd ever known; worse than Tate strangling me; worse than my mom dying. He was putting his life in my hands, and if I didn't act quickly enough he'd die. I prayed that I would be; that we hadn't gotten ourselves in over our heads with this. When I heard their voices rising I used it as cover to dial 911. Despite rehearsing what I was going to say there was real fear in my voice when the operator picked up. I was still holding the phone to my ear when I heard scuffling noises and peeked around the corner again to see Larry and Constance putting a noose around Tate's neck and pushing him over the banister; all the fear and stress clouding my brain disappeared as he dropped over the side, out of sight.

I ran down the hallway towards them as quickly and quietly as I could, dropping the phone along the way; they were so absorbed they didn't notice. Larry first. I hit him in the knee and he buckled, letting go of the rope. I heard Constance scream in pain as the rope ripped through the skin of her palms, and I landed another blow on his collarbone, snapping it with a sickening crack. When I turned to her I could see the internal debate: defend herself, or make sure Tate died? I didn't give her the chance; I hit her with the club as hard as I could right across the stomach, sending her into the wall and knocking the wind out of her. I heard Tate's body hit the floor with a thud. Please don't let him be dead.

"Tate!" I screamed as I looked over the banister. For a moment my heart stopped; he wasn't moving. And then he curled into a ball on his side, his fingers scrabbling to loosen the rope around his neck, and he started coughing and gasping for air. Though it seemed like only seconds had passed, I could hear the sirens nearing. I turned to go down to Tate, but before I could someone grabbed me by the hair and slammed me into the wall. I was so dazed I lost my grip on the club and crumpled to the floor before I could recover myself. When I did I was flat on my back and Constance was standing over me looking murderous, the club in her hand. She hit me viciously in the soft spot between my ribs and hip and I screamed in pain. As she raised up a second time her shoulder suddenly exploded in a spray of blood and bone, and she collapsed next to me. Through the haze of pain I hadn't heard the cops coming through the door. "Suicide is a good option" I gasped out "saves you the humiliation of a trial." I didn't know if she heard before she blacked out. I hoped she did.

I could hear footsteps running up the stairs, and then a cop was crouching over me asking me if I was okay. Larry was moaning in pain somewhere I couldn't see, and I could hear more people flooding through the front door. The man was gentle with me as he helped me to my feet and brought me downstairs against the rush of paramedics coming up, setting me on a bench by the door. I had to watch Tate from a distance, but he was conscious and his eyes were locked on mine as they worked on him. It wasn't until I heard a familiar voice screaming my name that I looked away to see my dad, Vera in his arms, trying to push his way into the house. "Dad!"

The cops let him through and he skidded, almost fell in his haste to reach me. He was completely hysterical. He set Vera down and immediately started checking me over. "I'm fine." He didn't seem to hear me, too lost in his own panic to register my voice. "Ouch!" He had hit the spot when the golf club had impacted. "Dad!" I had to yell in his face before he finally stopped and looked me in the eye. "Calm down. I'm fine. She hit me with a golf club, but I'm fine."

"What happened Violet? I woke up when I heard sirens and you were gone." His anger was overtaking his fear now; seeping into his voice.

This was important; there were tons of people around. "I woke up and Tate was gone. I couldn't find him and figured he came here, so I broke in through the basement door again and was sneaking up to his room trying to find him when I heard arguing. Larry and Constance had put a noose around his neck and threw him over the banister." My eyes unwillingly looked up. "I had grabbed a golf club on my way in and I hit them with it until they let go of the rope. But Constance fought back, and got it away from me; she hit me before the cops could stop her." Helpfully they brought her down on the stretcher at that moment, bloody bandages covering half her upper body.

"Why didn't you wake me up Violet!" He screamed, grabbing me by the shoulders, and scaring Vera to tears. I hung my head, and after a minute his anger vanished and he put his arms around me. "I am so mad at you right now Violet. How could you do this to me? After you mother... I could have lost you." He started crying.

"I'm sorry, dad." And I was, but I didn't regret my choice.