Author's Notes: Okay, so a couple of things: 1) the exam is now over and done with and I'm back to writing again, yay! 2) I've now written the last of this story, so there's two more chapters after this one. 3) this is my favorite chapter in this story, I've been looking forward to sharing this one with you for a while now.

As always major thanks to my beta, Mediatorsk. And to the rest of you, enjoy and please let me know what you think :)


There's a light knock on his door. Not expecting any patients for another hour, Pete looks up, thinking maybe it's his wife paying him a visit. Instead he's surprised to find his father-in-law standing in the doorway, "Are you busy, son?"

The sudden use of the pet-name, 'son' has Pete instantly on guard. Stephen didn't really seem that interested in getting to know him during dinner or in any of the other brief encounters they've had since the Turners decided to show up and turn his and Violet's life up-side-down. The sudden change in dynamic has Pete believing the man is looking to accomplish something specific with his visit.

"What do you want?" he asks.

"I assume you've heard what went down between Violet and her mother…"

"I have," Pete deliberately cuts the man off, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, signaling to the older man that he's not about to let himself be used as some pawn in whatever mind game he has up his sleeve.

"Well, Mary Anne is terribly upset," Stephen explains, "You see, Violet has never talked to either of us this way before, not even when she was a teenager…"

Pete has no sympathies, "She's finally speaking up for herself," he shrugs.

"If that is what she's doing," Stephen says calmly, "Because I have to wonder how it wasn't until you came into her life that this sudden change of personality occurred…"

And they're getting to it… Pete can't help but roll his eyes and shakes his head at the accusation. It seems that just like Mary Anne, Stephen is looking to find something else to blame for their nonexistent relationship with their own daughter and grandchild… and who better to blame than the newly introduced husband?

"No offence, Stephen," Pete has decided that anyone willing to blame his surroundings for his own actions doesn't deserve the decency of being called mister, "but do you even know your daughter? Who she is? What she's about? What she's been through?"

"Of course I know," Stephen scoffs.

"So, you just don't care, is that it?" Pete follows up, "Because if it was my child that was attacked and left for dead, I wouldn't be so concerned about ruining my vacation… If that'd been me, I wouldn't care where I'd have to go or what I'd have to give up. If Lucas wound up on a table tomorrow, I'd put a gun to my own head if it meant saving him. Because I'm a father, and there isn't anything I wouldn't do for my child… You think I'm poisoning her mind about you? Violet doesn't need me to tell her that you didn't come, didn't call. You didn't bother to check in with her at all until it was finally in your own interest to do so…"

Pete opens his desk drawer and pulls out his copy of Violet's book and flips it open to reveal the jacket photo that he himself took, "I know you didn't read this, but have you looked at the picture? Really looked?" Pete points to the ragged scar going along the underside of Violet's abdomen, "This is where the woman cut her open with nothing more than a paralyzing agent in her system, preventing Violet from moving but still allowing her to feel everything that was done to her. Do you even realize what that means? Your daughter was tortured, gutted like a pig and then left to die… if I hadn't found her when I did…"

Pete shudders, not wanting to think about the alternative, he points to the long scar extending from her ribcage to well below her navel, "Here's where they had to cut her open to save her life… It's a miracle that she survived, a miracle that she is who she is today. You and Mary Anne seem awfully concerned with the way you're perceived. You decorate the truth when you can, relocate blame when it suits you… Violet isn't like that. She wrote a book that exposed every aspect of her life, the good with the bad. She didn't simply cast herself as a victim or put herself up on a pedestal for everyone to see. She depicted her full journey to recovery, along with every bump, every setback. Violet did that, knowing she'd be opening herself up to further scrutiny, because she knows there are others out there who do not have her strength, who need that kind of encouragement to survive."

Closing the book, Pete pushes it towards Stephen, encouraging the man to pick it up and take it with him, "You shouldn't be proud of her because she's a published author… you should be proud because every day she gives of herself to help other people. You have the most amazing daughter, but she made it in spite of you, not because of you."

Not really wanting to stay and hear what the other man has to say, Pete walks out of his own office…