Yay! I finally managed to sit down and write this chapter! :) Enjoy!

Catherine curled into Sara's side under her fluffy comforter. Even with locked doors, low lights and closed curtains covering all the windows, Catherine didn't feel safe in her own home. Sara was tense with the same insecurity mixed with concern for her darling girlfriend.

"Who is this creep," Catherine shivered against Sara.

"I want to know as much as you. I promise I'm going to do something so vile to this sick freak when we find him," Sara spoke through gritted teeth.

"Don't. I don't want him coming after you. You mean everything to me and I'm not letting you go."

Sara smiled and leaned in to give Catherine a tender kiss on the forehead. She rubbed her girlfriend's arm when a thought popped into her her head.

"Since these might to our last moments together, we should have sex. Really good sex."

"What," Catherine laughed as she craned her neck upward to look into Sara's lustfully festive eyes.

"Something to remember you by," she grinned in response.

"Shut up," Catherine playfully slapped Sara's arm and giggled.

"I love the way you laugh," Sara sweetly smiled.

"I love the way you have with everything," Catherine returned the smile.

"Ravage me," Sara innocently asked as she walked two fingers up Catherine's shoulder blade to the top of her shoulder.

Catherine turned her head a bit to see the action and when she looked back into Sara's eyes, she charged her lips toward Sara's and gave them a rapid lick before they settled against each other, fused in a kiss.

Sara and Catherine moaned.

Sooner than either wanted, they needed air and broke apart panting. Sara sized her up as she gulped and attempted to catch her breath. Sara licked her lips and rushed her hand in her girlfriend's pants.

"Oh," Catherine maned as she felt hot liquid expel all over Sara's hand. "You're getting even better at this."

Sara grinned and tackled Catherine off the bed and onto the floor all while she re-convened their make out session. Catherine laughed with Sara straddling her waist before she voiced her thoughts.

"I'm pretty sure my back's going to be covered in bruises tomorrow."

"But they'll be worth it, won't they," she more stated than asked.

Catherine only smiled before she ran her hand along the edge of Sara's waistband. She bit her lip watching the brunette's aroused reaction.

Sara opened her eyes after a few seconds, leaned down and attacked Catherine's lips with her own. Unfortunately, Sara thought back to the pep rally and roses.

"Oh my God," she whispered as she stopped all contact.

"What," Catherine asked in confusion.

"I know who we're dealing with. Where's Sam?"

"Um...I don't know. With my mom? She's in her room."

Sara quickly licked hr fingers and threw herself the floor and onto her feet, leaving Catherine behind.

"Wait!"

Sara turned and perked up her ears.

"Who is it?"

Sara looked as though she was about to cry while she hesitated.

"My dad." Sara decided to sit on the ground and on her way down, Catherine came to a sitting position..

"Why would your dad go through all this trouble to torment us?"

"Because he sees me happy and that means he has no control over me. This is his way of beating me up when he can't physically land a hand on me."

Catherine reached out and rubbed Sara's arm.

"I still love you, you know," she smiled.

Sara snapped her head at Catherine. She smiled before putting on her almost stoic face again.

"He won't get away with this, Cat. I won't let him harm the one thing that means the world to me."

Catherine smiled back as she scooted closer to her girlfriend and kissed her collarbone.

"My world is all about you, Sara."

--

"Might as well give up now," he wickedly grinned. "Either way, you're not going to live long enough to graduate."

Catherine fought against her chain restraints and whimpered through fearful eyes and duct tape. The last thing she remembered was Sara being knocked unconscious when they cut through a park after their Saturday morning date. Sara was knocked out trying to keep Catherine out of her father's hands. Catherine knew Sara would never forgive herself if she was killed. So now, Catherine had two reasons to live. If she didn't survive, she would never see Sara again. If she didn't survive, Sara would fall apart.

"So...how do you want to be killed...Catherine?" He pulled out a knife and picked at his nails with the tip. "I could just stab you and get it over with...but then Sara might find that the best way for you to go considering your current predicament. Come to think of it, I am a little excited. Maybe I should just cut those jeans of yours off and have my fun... Now that sounds like a plan."

Catherine instinctively raised her knees to her chest as though it could protect her. It was evident she had been crying and it was evident Sara's father was crazy. Whatever confidence she once had in her chances for making out alive were now diminished, lost forever in his psychopathic behavior.

Sara blinked several times upon her return to consciousness and winced in pain as her head intensely pounded. She attempted to sit up, the entire process requiring her to put her hand to her head.

Once she was sitting, she removed her hand and felt warm liquid transfer from skull to skin. Blood.

She knew at this point she was lucky to even be awake, but at the sight of red, she remembered Catherine was in danger. There would be no one in the entire universe that could stop her. She was determined to save the love of her life.

"They should've been home by now, right," Sam asked Lily as he paced around the living room.

"They said they'd only be a couple of hours. Maybe they're just running late or there was traffic or something."

"I'm going to look for them. I knew it was a bad idea to let them go."

With grinding teeth, Sam snatched his keys and took off, leaving Lily sitting on the couch with fading hope.

He sipped his beer in a sickening manner, his tongue licking the overly moist rim of the bottle, his greasy hand all over the neck and body. It repulsed Catherine to the point of vomit caught in her throat. Somewhat thankfully, he stopped drinking and threw the nearly empty bottle at the wall. The glass smashed into several pieces upon impact and caused Catherine to jump.

He staggered closer to her with a wretched grin and licked his beer coated lips as he wiped one of his wet hands on his wrinkled black shirt. He ripped the duct tape off her lips for the entertainment her reaction would give him.

Catherine balled her hands into fists and crossed her legs at her ankles, her knees still at her chest. She braced herself for what she assumed he was going to do, but she made sure he would have to struggle before he got what he desired.

"Sara never appreciates the things I do for her," he bitterly started. "What does a father have to do to get the love he deserves?"

"Maybe you should have tried a less aggressive approach," she growled.

"Maybe," he lightened up with his expression as he violently yanked down his pants zipper and pompously avoided eye contact. "Or maybe she shouldn't have been such a brat!"

Now he was yelling. Catherine knew this man meant pain. She also knew his thoughts on a good father revolved around demented actions instead of proper affection. She would never resent Sam again.

"She doesn't want to be with us at home, with her family! She should suffer after all that we gave. It seems like the only thing precious to her...is you. But since she ran away, since she denies us our right to determine what she's privileged to have, I'm going to take it away from her...as a lesson. She can only be happy if I say so!"

Every word he barked made Catherine hate him even more. She didn't want to pity Sara for her parents' stupidity so instead she completely understood everything she did to give Sara a better home; apparently the only home she'd ever had. At first she did it because she knew it was the right thing to do, but as time passed, she also knew she cared. She cared to the point where she realized it was love and she hoped the man in front of her wouldn't ruin that.

Sara ran, to the best of her abilities, to the only place she knew where to find her father. She never wanted to go back there and she swore she never would, but Catherine's life hung in the balance. Her love for Catherine was her motivation and what a motivation it was.

She pushed herself farther than her throbbing headache would originally allow as she whipped past the park trees that separated her new life with Catherine and her own personal Hell by birth.

Once she was in the clear, open area, she could see the different blocks that made up her old neighborhood. She took a few steadying breaths and fought off her light headed-ness before she barreled down the hill and onto the street that would lead her to the self-destructive house that possibly held Catherine.

Sam had no idea whee he was going so he wanted to check every street in the city. He only got halfway through the city before he went to an underground place, somewhere only he and his wannabe mob friends knew about, in search for information.

"I need everything there is to know on Sara Sidle right now," he demanded.

One of his thug muscled men turned toward a series of file cabinets. He riffled through manila folders until he came across the last name 'idle'.

"I've got a Dennis Sidle and a Laura Sidle, nothing pertaining directly to a Sara."

"Dennis the husband of Laura?"

"Yeah."

"Hand it over," he waved his hand toward himself to gesture his command.

He scanned the papers the second he ripped them out of his man's hands and stopped at the police records.

"At least three neighbors complained of domestic deputes within a single month... Throw me the wife's file."

His "friend" did as he was told and gave the file to Sam in which Sam looked straight for the hospital records.

"Multiple bruises on her face and arms, head trauma, strangulation marks... This woman went thorough hell and back. Seems like it's been this way for the past eighteen years."

Sam connected the dots.

"Thanks, Dan," he grimly said before he jolted out of the place.

He stumbled on top of Catherine and blew heavy air onto her neck before showering her with kisses as a follow up action to said breathing. Catherine squirmed under him and squeezed her eyes shut. She clenched and unclenched her fists as his rough, distasteful lips made a trail down her sternum.

She wouldn't beg, wouldn't grovel, because he would know what he was doing served his purpose and more. She only wanted Sara to touch her that intimately, only Sara to kiss her with a passion, only Sara for the rest of her life.

She'll find a way, Catherine thought.

Sara kicked down the door and searched the space she was open to: the living room and kitchen as well as the hallway leading to her room. By the look f things, her mom and brother left the house to run a ridiculous and unimportant errand. He was here. She was sure of it.

She bolted for the basement door around the kitchen corner. That's where he had privacy. He never took her down there though. He preferred an intimate setting for her and her mother. Catherine was a stranger. He wasn't sure how she'd react so Sara figured the basement would be the best place to take her.

Sara slowly pulled open the door leading to one of the worst parts of the house. She stared down the stairs of pure evil and warily crept into the pit of flames she'd been burned by many times before.

"Say her name" she heard him command in his snake like tone. She cringed and allowed her teeth to grind, her fist strongly clamped around the railing.

Catherine grunted in an attempt to fight him off, but he was too strong, too insistent for her.

"Say her name!" He then chomped down on the skin covering her ribs after having lifted her shirt.

"Sara!"

Her scream hit Sara's ears immediately as she came into view, but his back was to the staircase so only Catherine, if her eyes hadn't been tightly shut, could've seen her.

Sara didn't care if her father saw her though, all she focused on was Catherine's scream. It had sent chills down her spine and definitely not in a good way. That was her breaking point. Who cared about how noisy those rickety stairs were? She was going for it.

Sara plundered down the remaining stairs and found the first thing useful as far as weaponry went. That first thing happened to be the bat she'd used against him when she first ran away.

She wrapped her fingers around the grip and choked up. She was going for the kill.

Before he had any more time to violate her girlfriend, Sara lunged at him and swung away. She hit him square in the spine and sent him flying onto all fours with a contorted face. Of course, he fell on Catherine and Sara wasn't having any of it. She yanked on his shirt and threw him down onto his back against the concrete floor.

At that point, she figured she had time to try and free Catherine so she searched the room for anything that would break through metal. Her eyes caught the beautiful sight of a large tool that appeared perfect enough for the job on top of the washer. She jumped at the opportunity and dashed to over to it and back. By the time she had reached Catherine though, her dad started to get to his feet.

Sara choked up again and aimed for his ribs. He had only managed a hunched position in trying to stand when Sara struck him again.

He grunted and collapsed.

For a moment, Sara dropped the bat and attended to her partner. With the tool, she broke the lock on the chains and freed Catherine.

"Get out of here," she instructed Catherine.

The redhead hardly had enough time to react before Sara shoved her toward the stairs and around her struggling father.

"Go!"

Catherine stared with concern at Sara in fear it was the last time she would ever be able to gaze into those magnificent brow eyes of truth, love and determination.

Without a second though, Catherine fled as she was told in enough time to get halfway up the stairs before she heard Sara grunt and stumble. Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she briefly looked back to see what had happened and forced herself to think of a way to help Sara. When she reached the kitchen and saw her answer.

"Sam," she sighed in relief. "Sara's down there! He tried to rape me."

"Come on, we're getting out of her," he said in a voice of fraying authority as he tugged at her wrist.

"No! She saved me! He's going to kill her if we don't help her," she begged with her eyes.

That's when Sam saw it. Love. Catherine was in love with Sara and now Sara was in trouble. She was counting on him, her father, to protect the person she loved.

Sam sighed and pulled out his .38 caliber as he lightly pushed Catherine aside and headed toward the basement.

"Any last words," he asked with a menacing look in his eyes and a devilish grin threatening to spread across his crooked face.

Sara was coughing up blood while she had herself propped up on her forearms. She barely hung onto consciousness as her father towered over her with the bat extended behind his back. He planned on exerting as much force as he could onto the bat and make harsh, fatal contact with Sara's head.

She tried with all her might to make one final move against him, but for her effort she fell flat onto her back mere seconds before he threw down the bat and a gun shot rang out.

I know, technically it's a cliff hanger, but I promise this isn't the last of this story. :D Thanks for reading. Don't forget to review. ;)