Author's Note: It's been a hell of a few years. I don't know if anyone will even read this update, but I stumbled across this story tonight and I knew I wanted to finish it no matter what. So, I am going to do just that. And if any of you are still out there and will read this, thank you for sticking with me after all this time. It really has been to long.

Chapter Eleven

J.D was careful to keep the station wagon a few cars behind the truck, but never taking his sight off the truck. The truck made it's exit, and J.D did too. They followed a little further into an industrial part of town. This was clearly a low-income area. J.D gripped at the steering wheel until his knuckles were totally white. He didn't know how he was going to go about this, but he knew he had to. There was no way he could let another kid go through that. He hadn't been able to save himself, but he'd be damned if he couldn't save this kid too.

Stupid little brat. You weren't part of the plan. What am I even going to do with you once I exterminate your fuck of a father? Veronica says to keep you. Like you're some puppy she wants to adopt. That's just not gonna happen, bud. But what I will do for you is this. I will eliminate that man. And he won't ever lay his fucking hands on you again. I promise you that. Stupid little brat.

The truck turned into a driveway. There were no other cars around. J.D parked a few houses down. Veronica was picking at her nails and looking a hundred ways anxious. J.D wanted to slap her. Hadn't she been the one that had encouraged him to do this? Or had it been completely of his own will? Either way, her anxiousness made him want to slap her face off. God, even her leg was shaking up and down.

"Stop," he placed a firm hand on her thigh to steady her, "You're not helping. Now then, I'm going to go up to that front door. I am going to point a gun in that bastard's face. I'm going to get him into his bedroom. And I'm going to put a pillow in front of the gun. And I'm going to pull the damn trigger and watch his brains fly. And you? You are going to sit here and stay calm and cool as a cucumber. If any one comes up to the car, you're going to tell them you and your brother are passing out pamphlets on...fucking redemption or something. Just keep it cool, darling. This won't take long."

And just like that, he was out of the car and making his way towards the beat up old house. There were blue tarps in the windows. Veronica repeated his words over and over - stay calm and cool. Keep it cool. She could do this. Just like at the diner. No big deal. Besides, it was JD who was doing all the messy work. All she had to do was just sit and wait. It'd be just like JD was always saying - he'd take care of things. Hadn't he taken care of things thus far? All she had to do was put her trust in him. Which was easier said than done. Veronica turned her hand over and examined the burn that was healed over now. How could he go from being so violent to being so tender? It was enough to make her head spin. Oh just stop. If you keep trying to understand him, you'll just drive yourself crazier. There is no understanding J.D and trying is useless.

And just like that, JD was at the car again. He opened up the backseat and shoved the little boy into the backseat. The kid was totally silent. JD slid in next to him and said in a calm voice, "When he was hurting you, have you ever wished Superman would come and take you away from him?"

The kid nodded, his huge almond eyes red-rimmed.

J.D nudged him gently, "Yeah. I know about that. Well buddy, meet your Superman," J.D extended a hand and the little boy gingerly shook it, "My real name though is J.D. And this beautiful angel here is Veronica. And between you and me," he exaggeratedly whispered so that Veronica could hear, "I am totally in love with her. But what about you, buddy? Do you have a name?"

The little boy said nothing. J.D frowned. He was trying hard to keep his patience. He'd never been around kids except for when he was a kid himself. He didn't really know what to do. He finally just said, "Well, we'll call you buddy for now. And we're going to take you some place safe. Some place where no one will ever lay a hand on you ever again. I promise you that, Buddy."

J.D crawled up to the driver's seat and brushed a curl from Veronica's eyes, "Damn it, woman. What are we supposed to do with a kid?"

"Like you said," Veronica glanced back to the backseat, "take him some place safe."

J.D started up the station wagon, and they headed down the road - California on their minds. Veronica looked back to check on Buddy. He was sound asleep. Poor kid had such a big day and was utterly confused and exhausted.

"Should we have told him our real names?"

"Does it matter?" J.D asked, "he can't even tell us his own name. Is he really going to be able to tell anyone our names?"

"That Superman thing...how did you know about that?" Veronica asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. She had some ideas. She'd seen J.D's scars. And surely someone as messed up as J.D had to have gotten that way thanks to someone. She'd just never had the courage to ask about it before. Now that she had, she was worried she'd over stepped. J.D lived off of control. Asking him a question like that was taking some of that control away.

"Because that's what I thought when my dad was beating the shit out of me too," J.D didn't take his eyes off the wheel. He'd never told anyone before of what went on behind the closed doors of his home. But this was Veronica. And only she could break down any barriers he'd tried to build up, "With him it was anything. His favorite though was a belt. A big thing with steel hardware. The kind that mangles flesh," then suddenly J.D shrugged, "but that's life sometimes, darling. We can't change our pasts. We can only create our futures. So I'm creating mind. And I am never letting anyone lay a hand on me again. Unless that person is you and you're wearing leather knee-high boots," J.D chuckled, and Veronica rolled her eyes playfully, even though the thought of J.D as a child broke her heart.

"But that's a whole 'nother story," J.D grinned, "don't you worry about me though. I turned out alright, right?" He turned to her and upon seeing her pained expression, he let out a hearty laugh, "that was a joke, love. I'm not alight. I'm far from it. But hey, that's half the fun!"