WARNING! This chapter contains mentions of violence and sexual assault. It is important to the story line, however if you don't want to read it I suggest skipping the middle area of this chapter, or skipping the whole chapter all together. Thank you and I hope you enjoy...

The night progressed like every other night since he saved Keira. Owen lay in his bed sound asleep after struggling for a while to tune out his thoughts, only to be woken by the sounds of screaming. Without a second thought he ran to Keira's room, he knew instantly that it was her. When he entered she was curled up on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest hugged tightly by her arms, her face stained with tears.

It had become some sort of unspoken rule between them that when she had a nightmare Owen would come and hold her, make her feel safe, tell her everything was ok. So just like every other night he climbed onto the bed and settled in behind her, his legs either side of hers, and he wrapped his strong arms around her. She didn't know what it was about being hugged by Owen, but it felt like some sort of protective cocoon around her. As soon as he held her she felt safe almost immediately.

Keira let out a long sigh of both relief and exhaustion. She was tired of these nightmares constantly haunting her. All she wanted was for them to go away so she could have a peaceful nights sleep and not have to re live what happened in Brandt's basement. Maybe it was time to let it all out, relieve some of the heavy burden upon her shoulders. After all a problem shared is a problem halved, or so they say.

"Owen?" she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I'm want to talk…about… about the nightmares" she told him.

"Ok. I'm here" he told her as he gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Whenever you're ready".

She took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled before she began to speak. "It's like I'm back there" she whispered. "Back in that place… with him" she continued, not able to bring herself to say his name just yet. "I'm tied up, and he's there with a couple of other guys. They are talking about me, talking about the things they are going to do to me, like I'm not even in the room. They are laughing, they think it's hilarious. And then when he approaches I try to fight, but my bounds are so tight I can't even move. I scream as loud as I can and no one can hear me" she told him with tears rolling down her face as she choked back a sob.

"Sshhhh… It's ok. You're safe now. I got you. I won't ever let anything happen to you. I promise" Owen whispered as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "Do you want to tell me what happened there?"

Keira wiped away her tears and tried to put on a brave face as she held on tight to Owens arms. "I don't want you to see me differently. I don't want you to think… less of me" she whispered.

"Hey, nothing can ever make me think less of you. I know who you are. I've seen the real you. The one you keep hidden behind those walls. That girl is the strongest and bravest person I have ever known. I admire everything about you Keira, and I promise you that nothing… nothing can ever change that" Owen reassured her.

"Thank you" she said softly. She took another deep breath as she began. "When I first woke up there I was tied up and my clothes were gone. I was in just my underwear. I was so terrified, I had no idea what happened or where I was. After maybe an hour… he came in. He introduced himself like it was a normal everyday thing… the smug bastard. At first him and his guys would just hit me, as though it was some kind of sport to them. You know, like they were in competition to see who could leave the biggest bruise, or who could make me scream the most with a knife" she whispered, her body starting to tremble a little as she recounted the events. "After a while they got tired of that and moved on…" she recalled, struggling to keep the tears at bay. "They would… touch me" she told him with a tone of disgust. "The more I tried to fight it, the more they would do it, and the worse it would be.

Hearing all of this made Owen's blood boil. He knew vaguely what had happened to her. He had seen the cuts and bruises, and the look on her face when the doctor had asked her about sexual assault when he had brought her back to division. But hearing it straight from her mouth made him feel sick. And it hurt, it hurt a lot. It was a kind of pain that he hadn't felt before. A pain so emotional that it felt physical too. He cared so much about her that just hearing of her pain hurt him.

"When they got bored of that they… they…." She sobbed, unable to finish the sentence.

"Shhh shhhh ssshhh" Owen whispered as he held her tight. "It's ok, I'm here"

"They… raped me" she choked out through sobs. With that confession the flood gates opened and her tears flowed freely. She clutched at Owen as tightly as she could as she rode the waves of emotions.

When she uttered those words it felt like a sucker punch to the gut for Owen. He suspected it had happened but to hear her say it brought a new hatred for Brandt. Now he really wished he had killed the son of a bitch. He wanted to take her pain away, but he had no idea how. All he knew was that talking about it, getting it all out in the open would help relieve the burden of keeping that secret.

"They?" he questioned.

"Brandt… he went first… then the other two" she cried, finally able to grind out the bastards name.

"Was it just the one time?"

"No…" she sobbed. "It happened twice"

"Keira… I am so sorry" he sighed. "I wish that I could turn back time and stop it from happening. I wish I could take away all your pain. You should never have had to go through something like that" he told her as he wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"A couple of weeks ago, I had kind of come to terms with it. It was just something that happened, I had no control over it and I had accepted that fact. But then things started to change" she whispered.

"What changed?"

"You should know that I had never… I had never… you know…"

"You had never had sex?" he asked.

"Yeah… He took that from me" she cried. "As much as it hurt, and as much as I wished I could change it, I had accepted that it had happened and tried to move on" she told him. "I had always wanted to wait you know, find the right person. My Mama told me that it was something special, and that I should only give it to someone who makes me feel special. That always stuck with me. I guess in the beginning it was a little easier to accept it because I had never found that someone… but now…" she trailed off.

"But now?" he questioned.

"Now I think I have… and it hurts so much knowing that opportunity was stolen from me" she said, tears streaming down her face.

Owen felt heartbroken. That god damn son of a bitch! How dare he take something so important from her. The rape alone was bad enough, but now knowing that he stole her virginity, it just made Owen so much more mad, and upset. But did he hear her right? Did she say she thought she had now found that someone? Was she talking about him? He didn't want to push it so he decided to just let it slide for now and wait for her to say anything more about it.

"Keira" he whispered as he loosened his hold on her and moved himself to sit in front of her so he could see her face. "You can't imagine how sorry I am that this happened. He had no right to take that from you, it was yours to give to away. I wish I could just make everything better. It hurts me to see you so upset" he told her as he wiped the tears from her face. She buried herself into his chest and sobbed for a few minutes, letting out everything she had bottled up inside until she was able to regain her composure. He just held her tightly and rubbed her back in comfort.

"Owen…" she whispered as she pulled away to look up at him. "You have been so good to me. You have been there for me like no one has in such a long time" she told him.

"It's my pleasure"

"I want you to know… that it means the world to me. You… mean the world to me. You are all I have" she said softly.

He was taken aback by her confession. Although he wasn't quite sure if she meant as a friend or something more. Owen decided it was time to man up and tell her how he felt. There was no point in hiding from it any longer, and now was as good a time as any while they were on the topic of feelings.

"Keira, you know that I would do anything for you. From the moment we met you had me captivated. Your strength, your courage… everything about you amazes me. When you first started to let down your walls and allow me in, you had me falling for you. The more I get to see the real you, the deeper I fall. I know the timing is probably terrible for this with all you have been through, but I need you to know… that I've fallen hopelessly in love with you. And as much as I felt I should keep it to myself, I just couldn't hold it in any longer so I hope to god that you feel something too" he said, pouring his feelings out.

"I've been falling too" she whispered as she looked into his eyes. "I was afraid at first and I tried to ignore it. I didn't want to get hurt. But the more time I spent with you, the more I realised that you would never hurt me. So I hoped that if I continued to fall, you would be there to catch me" she smiled.

"Oh… I will always be there to catch you… always" he replied as he gently stroked her face with his thumb. Staring into her eyes he knew he had made the right decision to come clean about how he felt. And knowing that she felt the same way made him so happy, happier than he had ever been. Slowly he leaned forward gauging her response and when she smiled at him he knew it was ok. Gently he placed a soft sweet kiss on her lips. It lasted only a few seconds but it conveyed everything else he wanted to say, and by the way she kissed him back, he knew that she felt exactly the same as he did.

Thank you for reading, please take the time to review and let me know what you think. I hope to have the next chapter up very soon.