A/N: Here's chapter 14! I have a vague idea of what I want for ch 15, too, so hopefully it'll come pretty soon. :) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Static Shock.

Warnings: Talk of abuse, talk of self harm, talk of suicide

Maggie darted through the maze of hospital corridors, trying to find Waiting Room 2, where Robert was. She had made the trip from her home to the hospital in record time, desperate to reach her son and find out what had happened. Since the moment she hung up the phone, every possible scenario as to why Richie was in the hospital had run through her mind.

A few turns later, Maggie arrived in the waiting room and walked straight over to Mr. Hawkins.

"Robert," she said, slightly breathless. He stood up to greet her. "What happened? Where's Richie? Is he okay?"

"At the moment, he's fine," Robert said calmly. He led Maggie to a secluded corner of the room where they sat facing each other. "There's a lot that's happened since your visit Saturday evening."

As Robert filled her in, Maggie found her heart being torn to shreds. She had never imagined that her son was capable of such things. She still hadn't quite recovered from Richie showing her his arm, so the new information was like salt in an open wound. It wasn't long at all before she pulled a tissue from her purse to wipe her rapidly falling tears.

"Maggie," said Robert seriously after he had explained most of what had happened. "There's something else. I called CPS on Shawn."

Maggie's heart all but stopped. Panic welled up inside her, making her feel like she was about to vomit. "No," she whispered. This isn't happening. This can't be happening! Shawn's angry face found its way into her head and she felt dizzy thinking about how he would react.

Robert took her hands in his. "Please try to understand, Maggie," he said. "As a counselor for troubled teens, I couldn't let this go by unnoticed. A caseworker has already been assigned and has talked to Richie. She'll most likely visit the house to talk to Shawn soon."

Shaking all over, Maggie tore her hands away and wrapped her arms around herself. "You don't understand," she said unsteadily. "Shawn, he gets angry. Very easily. I don't think–"

"Believe me, I do understand. Richie has told me about the physical abuse he suffered from at Shawn's hand. But Richie will be safe with me. He'll be out of the house and in a safe place, I promise."

Maggie stood and began to back away. "Please, tell them it was all a mistake. Don't let them talk to him."

"But Maggie–"

"He'll kill us!" she exclaimed, and then quickly pressed the tissue in her hand against her mouth. Tears continued to pour down her face.

Robert's eyes grew wide. He stood as what she was saying dawned on him. "He's been hitting you, too, hasn't he?" She nodded and Robert slowly and gently held out a hand towards her. "I can help you. I've worked with situations like this before. You can trust me."

Maggie hesitated, trying to decide what to do. It had been so long since she felt that she could trust anyone. "He'll find us," she said softly. "He swore that if I ever told anyone, he would hunt us down and kill us. He said that he would kill Richie. I can't let him, Robert. I have to protect my son."

"I won't let him hurt Richie."

"How do I know I can trust you?" she asked as she took a step back.

"I give you my words. I promise that I will keep you and Richie safe from Shawn."

Robert let his words sink in. He could see that Maggie was contemplating. Then, slowly, she reached out her hand and grabbed a hold of his.

"All right."

Virgil sat in a table in the corner of the cafeteria. He had been there for almost twenty minutes now. The food he had bought was long gone, since Virgil was never one to let good food go to waste, even in times of crisis. His father's words kept repeating in his mind.

"I suggest you take some time to see where your relationship with Richie stands."

But what did that mean? Virgil knew exactly where their relationship stood. Or, he thought he did at least. They were best friends. They had always been and always would be. There was no question about that. For years, the two had been like brothers. No, closer than brothers. But what could be closer than that?

Virgil groaned and laid his head on the table as he remembered what Daisy had told him once, months ago.

"I swear, Virgil, you and Richie bicker like an old married couple sometimes."

He and Richie were like a married couple. A couple! But that couldn't be right. Richie was Virgil's best friend, not his boyfriend. Besides, Virgil liked girls. He had never doubted that. There was no way he was gay if he liked girls, right?

At this thought, another memory began to surface from when Richie came out to Virgil.

"So, let me get this straight," said Virgil. The boys had been in deep discussion at the Gas Station for over an hour after Richie's announcement. "You're saying that there are more sexualities than just being gay, straight, or bi?"

"Well, yeah," Richie said with a nod. "There's tons."

"But… that makes no sense! All of your options are covered in those three categories. Either you like girls, guys, or both."

"Not quite," replied Richie, earning a confused look from Virgil. "The sexuality spectrum can be fluid, just like gender is. What if you fall in love with someone who doesn't identify as male or female, but somewhere in between? Or if you aren't attracted to anyone? There's even one for if you can be emotionally attracted to someone, but not sexually attracted."

Virgil's mind reeled. "And you've ruled them all out?"

"For the most part, yes. For a while I thought I might be either bisexual or pansexual – that's when gender doesn't matter – but then…" Richie blushed. "Well, then I realized otherwise."

So maybe Virgil wasn't straight. Maybe he was one of those sexualities that he and Richie talked about that day. Maybe he had been wrong this whole time.

But then Virgil had to ask himself: was he attracted to men? It was a simple question, and it had a simple answer when Virgil let the thought really sink into his mind about being with a guy. The slight lurching in his stomach was a resounding "no."

So, if he wasn't attracted to me, then why was he even stressing out over this? Virgil wracked his brain, trying to come up with an answer. The only explanation he found, however, was his dad's words. The way Robert had said what he did to Virgil must be what had confused him. The man's tone made it sound like he knew something Virgil didn't.

Does Pops think I'm gay? Virgil found himself wondering. His thoughts began to continue to wander around the topic until he found himself right back where he started. With a sigh, Virgil stood up and stretched his sore neck. All of this confusion could wait until another day.

On the other side of town, Sharon found herself on the side of the road, bent over her steering wheel, crying without restraint. All of this was so much to take in. She didn't know what to do. All she had known when she was at the hospital was that she hated it there, so she lied about an appointment she had to make and walked out of the door without a backwards glance. It was a little rude, she supposed, to walk out like that, but she simply couldn't stay in that waiting room for another minute.

After a few minutes, her tears began to subside and Sharon found herself wondering what her next move should be. It didn't take her long at all to decide to pay a visit to her boyfriend. His apartment wasn't too far from where she was, and she pulled the car into the parking lot within a few minutes.

Adam,having seen Sharon from the kitchen window, was waiting at the door as she arrived with a huge smile on his face. "Hey, baby," he said cheerfully. His face dropped, however, when he saw that she had been crying. "What's wrong?" he asked, holding out his arms. She rushed into them as a new round of tears appeared.

"I can't tell you," she said. "I promised Daddy that I wouldn't."

Adam stroked her hair soothingly. "All right," he said. "Well, how about you come inside and I'll make some hot chocolate? Does that sound good?" Sharon nodded and the two stepped into the tiny apartment. While Adam went to the kitchen, Sharon curled up on the sofa in the living room and tried to stop crying again.

"Here we go," Adam said as he entered with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. "Heated to perfection with seven mini marshmallows. Just the way my baby likes it."

Sharon smiled. "Thank you, Adam."

"No problem, Shar." Adam sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Sharon curled into his side, careful to not spill her drink. "So," said Adam softly. "You don't have to tell me what's going on, but is there any way I can help?"

"It's Richie," Sharon blurted out. "I want to tell someone, to talk to someone about this so badly, but I promised Daddy I wouldn't."

"It's all right to break promises every now and then, Sharon. Especially if something is bothering you this much." He began to trace light patterns on her shoulder. "I haven't seen you this upset in a long time."

"It's just… Everything is so scary." A shiver ran down her spine. "I've never known someone who… And to think that Richie was… None of us ever expected him…" She sighed. "I just don't know what to do, Adam! I'm afraid that if I say or do the wrong thing he'll end up dead! He's like my little brother. I don't think Virgil or I could handle losing him!"

"Sharon, is Richie doing drugs?"

Sharon stared at him with wide eyes. "What?! No, of course not! How could you even think that? Richie would never–" She stopped mid-sentence when she realized what else she had thought Richie would never do. She lowered her eyes. "He's been cutting. For years now. And he's tried to kill himself in the past. None of us knew. No one did." Her eyes began to water again and Adam pulled her closer.

"I honestly can't say I'm too surprised," said Adam, causing Sharon to give him another incredulous stare." His behavior was so familiar."

"Familiar? What do you mean?"

Adam sighed. The story he was about to tell was one that very few people knew about. "Sharon," he said, staring at the wall ahead of him, "have I ever told you about when Ivan and I were kids?"

"A few stories," she said, "but not much."

"Well, there's a reason for that. Our family life was very broken, to say the least. Things never seemed to go our way. I was sixteen and Ivan was nineteen when Ivan found our mother hanging from the rafters in the attic." Sharon inhaled sharply. "We were living in the basement of one of Ivan's friends from the gangs then. It was only a week or so later that I came home early to find him in the basement with a gun in his mouth."

"Adam, you don't have to–"

"I was able to stop him in time, thank God. But he was never the same afterwards. He was cold and withdrawn. Not the older brother I had grown up with. It took me a while to figure it out, but, sure enough, he had started hurting himself after I stopped him from committing suicide. Not just cutting, either. His body was full of bruises, scars, burns. Anything that caused any sort of pain, he tried it.

"I wasn't around Richie enough to guess what was going on," Adam continued, "but looking back. The long sleeves, the random injuries that he played off. Injuries that I knew didn't come from patrolling." He turned to look straight into Sharon's eyes. "If you, or Virgil for that matter, ever need someone to turn to, I will always be here for you. Richie, too. Your family has accepted me and treated me with kindness. I've never had that before. I want to return the favor whenever I can."

EDIT: Revised 4/7/13. The only major thing that's been changed is Ivan actually harming, instead of just a suicide attempt, so that Adam could recognize the signs better.