Disclaimer: Do not own Degrassi!

Author Note: A big thank you to Halawen for all your help with everything. Sorry for the absolute lateness of the chapter. Hope you like the chapter and let me know what you think...

Owen's POV

I was enjoying my sleep, not really dreaming and then I felt an arm laying across my torso with a hand on my chest and realized it must be my beautiful girlfriend. I don't even have to open my eyes to know she's gorgeous, but now I'm awake, so I blink my eyes open a couple of times and look down at the head laying on my arm and just revel in the amazing girl I have in my life. Just how much she means to me, and how great of a mom she is to our son, even still being quite young. I can't imagine my life without her. We just lay like this, her laying on me, me watching her sleep for I don't know how long and I realize that not only is it Christmas morning but Maya and I have been together six months today. It's hard to believe it's already been six months.

We lay a bit longer and then I hear Chord crying and as much as I don't want to, I move Maya's arm and then lift her head off my arm setting it back down gently so as not to wake her and then go retrieve our son from his bassinet and bring him back to lay in bed on my chest beside Maya just enjoying a snowy Christmas morning, which I can see with the curtain open. I continue to watch Maya as she snuggles deeper under the blankets in her sleep as Chord lays calmly on my chest. I loved the feeling of being a family and even this young it feels so right being in bed with the girl of my dreams and our amazing son on my chest right where he belongs. Chord started cooing and I felt the sheets move against me and I saw Maya stirring and then open her eyes. She blinked a few times before putting her glasses on and smile over at Chord and I.

"Merry Christmas." Maya says happily leaning over kissing me good morning before bending farther down, and getting a little peep show kissing Chord lightly on the head.

"Merry Christmas, and happy 6 months beautiful." I reply back holding Chord close to me as I push myself up to lean against the headboard and hold him in my arms now.

"Thanks handsome, happy anniversary to you too," she comments smiling at me and then I see her look at Chord. "I think he needs to be fed, so I'll do that and then maybe we can go start celebrating our first Christmas as a family," she suggests and I nod.

"That sound wonderful to me," I answer. "While you feed him I'm gonna jump in the shower real quick and when I get out you can jump in since I doubt Tris is even up yet to open presents." I say looking over at the alarm clock and saw it was 8 in the morning. I showered quickly and then Maya showered and then we joined the rest of my family in the kitchen for breakfast. We put Chord in the bassinet by the table and when we finished eating we made our way into the living room to open presents.

Maya got some clothes, I got sports equipment and Chord got lots of baby clothes. I had a special present that I wanted to give to Maya later since it was special to celebrate our 6 months together. Soon we finished opening presents and then put them away in our rooms. Maya and I were going to go up to the hospital in a few hours to spend time with Maya's mom and so she could meet her grandson for the first time. I've hoped she was doing better since it was only two days ago she was really weak and fragile and could barely keep her head up.

When we got back to our room Chord was ready for a changing by the smell of it and was cooing as I changed him as Maya laid back in bed and watched some TV. We joined her and Chord soon fell asleep in my arms as we watched a comedy until it was time to get ready and head up to the hospital. We bundled Chord up and put him in his carrier and got in the car and drove up to the hospital. Then we went to her mom's hospital room and she smiled when we came in with Chord.

"You all look wonderful," her mom comments as we come in together. Maya has Chord in her arms, I've got my arm around her shoulders and I've got Chord's carrier in my other hand.

"Thanks mom, you appear to be doing a little better," Maya comments walking toward the hospital bed. Maya sits next to Mrs. Matlin and hugs her gently with one arm as I sit in the chair next to them as Mrs. Matlin began gushing over Chord.

"Yes I am feeling better," She tells us smiling looking down at Chord still and talks again. "And what's this little guy's name?" Maya hands Chord over to her Mom's arms so she could officially meet her grandson and then sits on my lap.

"His name is Chord Austin Milligan." Maya says proudly as I kiss her cheek.

"Oh what a strong name Maya and he has your eyes." Mrs. Matlin oohs as Chord wakes and stretches his little arms around her.

"The most beautiful eyes I've seen." I whisper kissing Maya lightly.

"This mean you and Owen are together then dear." The older Matlin asked smiling weakly at us.

"Yes Mam' as of today actually its 6 months together." I tell her speaking up for the first time since we got here as Chord starts cooing and his grandma rocks him gently.

"I'm so happy for you both, Owen I want to thank you and your family for being there for Maya, I really wanted to since the beginning but Henry." Mrs. Matlin trying talking but went quiet.

"It's okay Mom we'll make sure Dad is out of all of our lives," Maya says smiling reaching over laying a comforting hand on her Moms leg.

"And once you're out of here my parents said they'll help anyway they can on getting you back on your feet for good after you get out of the assistant living place along with Omar and Audra." I tell her grinning.

"That's very sweet tell them all I said thank you. I know it isn't much but I went down to the gift shop and got a little something for Chord." Mrs. Matlin says.

I see her nod to the table drawer and I open it a see a gift bag. I picked it up and handed it to Maya to open. Inside was a little stuffed bear that had a shirt on it that said Grandmas boy on it.

"Mom this is so cute thank you!" Maya squealed happily as I pick up a bag that we had hidden in the diaper bag and set it on the bed for her. "This is for you Mom I think you'll really love it."

"Oh it's wonderful, he's a beautiful baby just like you were Maya. Thank you kids this is wonderful." Mrs. Matlin grins.

We visit for about an hour all together promising to be back tomorrow and every day until she gets out then we say goodbye and drive home since Clare and some of our other friends wanted to bring gifts for Chord.

Maya's POV

Owen's parents are making dinner and Tris went to take Zig his Christmas present, Owen and I are in our room with Chord when there's a knock at the door and we both call come in at the same time before laughing.

"Merry Christmas," Clare smiles coming in followed by Eli.

Eli is carrying a couple of bags and sets them down next to the bed while Clare sits down next to us hugging me and kissing Chord's head. He reaches out for Clare so she takes him and he starts pulling at her curls but she doesn't seem to mind.

"We got you guys some stuff," Eli says handing a red bag to Owen and a green one to me, "the green bag is really for Chord but he can't open it."

"Oh awesome guys thanks," Owen smiles when he pulls out a framed picture of me and Owen in the hospital holding a brand new Chord.

"I love it thanks guys," I smile opening Chord's present. "Oh how cute Chord will love it," I grin looking at the stuffed giraffe.

"It's a learning toy, it stimulates them and makes some different sounds," Clare tells us.

"Its great thanks," Owen smiles and then Clare makes a funny noise after Chord made a particularly violent jerk in her lap. "Are you okay Clare?" Owen questions while I take Chord back.

"I'm fine, Eli could you get me some water?" She requests and Eli gets up to go out to the kitchen.

It's now that I can see a bruise covered by makeup just under her mouth, Clare leans back sort of rubbing her side. Owen reaches over and lifts her shirt just a little but we both gasp when we see a huge dark blue bruise on her stomach! I heard Owen growl literally as he glares at the bruise about to jump up and look for Eli when the said person just walked into the room with Clare's water.

"What did you to her?!"

"It was an accident I didn't mean to hurt her, she knows I love her and I didn't mean it," Eli argues.

"I'm fine," Clare says meekly.

"You hurt her, she's had bruises before," Owen growls.

"Stay out of our business." Eli counters.

"I think we'd better go, Eli come on," Clare insists getting up.

"Clare don-" I try grabbing her hand to make her stay but she shakes it off and walks out the room with Eli wrapping an arm around her.

In the corner of my eye I see Owen glaring at the door and he's growling again but it's upsetting Chord.

"Owen stop you're upsetting Chord," I scold and I see the coldness of his eyes lessen as he looks over at us and the cold look fully disappears as he grabs Chord and holds him to his chest whispering soothing words to calm him down until his whimpers stop fully.

Owen kisses Chord's head and then we hear a bunch of voices in the living room, a few seconds later out bedroom door opens and Luke, Becky, Adam, Drew, Bianca, Jenna and Zig come into our room along with Tris.

"Merry Christmas, we saw Eli and Clare on their way out but she said they had to get to her house for family time," Adam says and Owen growls a little again.

"Here we brought Chord some presents," Becky says as they all hand us some gifts.

I thank them as I got up and passed out there gifts from us. It wasn't much just some gift cards for the guys, Zig and Adam music store gift cards and Drew and Luke got Sports store gift cards so if they need new equipment they could get it. Chord got some really nice and thoughtful gifts and everyone else, including us, was happy with what we got.

Owen's POV

I still couldn't get the thought of Clare getting abused by Eli out of my head as we chatted with the others as Maya laid next to me to make room for Jenna and Becky to sit on our bed as Chord soon fell asleep in my arms an hour ago after we finished opening our gifts. We had never picked up all the wrapping paper and ribbon and I really wanted to tell Luke about Eli and Clare so I got an idea.

"Hey Luke help me pick up all the trash and get it outside," I request handing sleeping Chord to Maya.

"Yeah sure," he nods.

We get up and I grab a couple trash bags from the kitchen, we pick up all the paper with help from Adam and Drew then Luke and I take the bags outside.

"Eli's hitting Clare," I blurt out.

Luke just stopped cold after I said those words. He was standing sill for a few moments face full of shock as he held one of the trash bags over the trash can just not dropping it.

"I'LL KILL HIM! I'M GOING TO CRUSH HI..." Luke is yelling and I don't want to attract attention so I clamp my hand over his mouth to quiet him.

"Shush I want to hurt him to trust me but we can't do anything about it yet, no one knows yet besides you, me and Maya." I said pulling my hand away from his mouth as I talked. "Clare is trying to hide it still also, the only reason why we found the bruises today was because Chord made a big jerk in her arms and his body rubbed against her stomach bruise."

"I still want to crush him." Luke muttered as I heard the backdoor close not paying attention who might be listening. "But we'll do it your way and wait till she says anything."

"What is taking so long and why are you two so pissed off?" Drew speaks suddenly right behind me and we both jump a little.

"Damn it Torres let a guy know you're behind him huh." Luke mutters turning to look at Drew who was still looking curious.

"Sorry but they were wondering what was taking you guys so long and Chord woke up fussy and Maya can't get him to calm down so she asked if I would come get you guys." Drew replied. "Now what about Clare? What's wrong with her?"

"Don't tell your brother cause well he's friend with them both but Eli's hitting Clare," I confess.

"What the fuck are you talking about?! No way Adam would know," Drew shakes his head.

"Clare's denying it and trying to hide it but me and Maya saw the bruises. She's the only other one that knows but we have to find some way of getting her away from him," I reply.

"Yeah and soon, I knew Eli could be dangerous but I never thought he'd hurt Clare, considering the lengths he's gone to this could get bad real fast," Drew says.

"Hey are you guys having a secret meeting out here or something?" Maya asks coming out with a crying Chord and I take him from her.

"Kind of, I was telling them about Clare," I explain.

"Oh well good but let's get inside," Maya says rubbing her arms in the cold and we all follow her inside.

Maya's POV

"You sure you want to go they're going to be arresting your dad?" Owen asks me.

"I have to see it, he needs to be arrested and I want to see it, for my mom, for me and for Chord," I say firmly kissing our son who was staying with uncle Tris.

"Let's go then and," Owen says kissing me softly, "I'm proud of you."

I smile, we say goodbye to Tris and go out with his parents to the police van we'd ride in. I sat next to Owen with his arm wrapped around me the whole ride with his parents sitting behind us along with another police officer as the other two were up front. Omar was going to meet us at the house so it wouldn't be so crowded in the police van.

"Maya you stay in the van, we'll go in and attempt to arrest your father quietly but if something goes wrong stay in the van." An officer says.

I nod scared something bad could happen to anyone as I feel Owen pull me closer as we pulled up in front of what use to be my house. Everyone but Owen and I get out and greet Omar who just pulled up as well. I sit in the car with Owen holding me and wait for them to bring my father out in handcuffs. It was only a few minutes bit it felt longer when I saw the door open and out walks the police officers and my dad who was struggling to get away from here it look to me he was already drinking and it was only noon. They were soon able to force him into the other police van as the others started walking back to the van we were in.

"They'll take him down for booking, I'm going down to recommend he be held without bail and get protection for your mom is necessary. You can go to the hospital and move your mom to the assisted living facility," Omar tells me.

"We'll take you to the hospital and get your mother situated here to be safe. A uniformed officer will stay until we know your father is locked up," an officer says.

They all space put and head to their cars as I sigh in relief that it'd all over and Dad would soon be locked up until the trial. I lay my head on Owen's shoulder as the car begins to move and drive towards the hospital. I could feel Owen bend his head down and whisper into my ear.

"It's over Babe, your Mom and you are safe."

"I know but we won't be safe until Dads locked up and fir how long." I tell him putting my hand in his and squeezing it trying to comfort myself.

"He'll go to jail and if by some miracle he doesn't I will make sure that you and your mom are protected," Owen assures me.

"I love you for everything you've done for me our son and now my Mom." I whispered lifting my head off his shoulder and kissing him with love. Our lips don't break apart until we've arrived at the hospital. We get out of the car and walk in to get my mom and take her to her new home. We made our way to Mom's room and walked into see Mom walking to one of the police guys. Mom looks about the same but maybe being out of the hospital and not stressing about Dad will help her. We already gathered some of her stuff from the house and we'll go back to get more. We greet my mom, she's discharged and we drive to her new home. The director comes out to meet us, they show us Mom's room and then give us a tour of the facility, it's nice and it's safe. After the tour we go to Mom's room to get her settled. Once we got her settled and got all the contact information down if there was a problem we bid goodbye to Mom and we all made our way home to Tris and Chord for the night. When we got home there was a message on the machine for us saying that the judge approved the admitted for the restraining order against Dad and that he was being held without bail.

Owen's POV

I walk into the Dot with Maya, we were dressed up a little for the New Year's party tonight but it didn't start for an hour and we stopped for coffee. I see Anya in the corner and try to ignore her.

"Can you order I'm going to use the bathroom?" Maya requests when we're inside.

"Of course," I say and Maya goes to the bathroom while I turn to order but don't notice Anya approaching.

"Want to be my New Year's date Owen?"

I turned to see Anya standing really close to me and inches away from my face. It still creeps me out that she thinks she has a chance at all of me going out with her again. "No I am Maya's New Year's Date and every date after that." I said pushing her lightly away from me before I continued to talk, "And I have told you loads of times I am not ever going to break up my family for you, so get lost!"

I hear the front door open and turn to see Jane and Lucas walk in.

"Hey Owen, are you and Anya still together I thought she joined the army?" Lucas asks.

"We're still in love," Anya answers linking her arm with mine.

I open my mouth to say that we aren't but Anya suddenly kisses me!

I couldn't pull away cause of the grip Anya had on me as I struggled to get away from her as I heard someone gasp and I heard aloud yell from the side of us.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

I felt Anya finally being ripped away from me and I saw Maya standing there glaring and holding Anya by the back of her hair as they glared at each other. Before anyone could say anything Maya pulled her fist back and punched her in the face, surprising Peter and I since the only time we seen her lose it was when she was pregnant with Chord. Anya lunges at Maya but before she can hit her Jane jumps in and pulls Anya away.

"You ok?" I ask Maya grabbing her hand looking at it as she winces a little as I hear Anya struggled against Jane's strength.

"Yeah, why she kiss you." Maya asks as Peter hands her some ice to put on her knuckles.

"She's crazy she thinks we're still together and before I could push her away from me she attacked my lips with hers. I love you and Chord, not her she's my past you're my future." I whisper kissing her lightly.

"You have a kid?" Jane exclaims as Peter kicks Anya out and tells her she's banned.

We all order coffee and as we sit and sip our coffee we fill in Lucas and Jane on everything that happened with me and Maya. After we finished telling them Jane and Lucas sat there in shock until Lucas spoke up.

"So let me just get this all straight in my head, Maya was a year older then Mia when she got pregnant with this assholes baby and ditched her, causing her to get kicked out by her parents, come to find out her Mom did want her to stay it just wasn't safe there so Maya moves in with Owen's family cause she and your younger brother were friends, and Owen decided to step up and be her son's father, and soon after you guys got together and been together ever since." Lucas says basically summarizing everything we told them as Jane smiles at us.

"Yep." Both Maya and I said in unison as the bell rang over the door when it opened to show Mia Jones walking in.

Apparently she and Lucas worked things out and she and Izzy will soon be moving back to Degrassi once her contract is over in Paris. Since the dance was at the community center the older kids were coming as well, Peter gave George the keys to lockup with and soon after we left in different cars heading towards the community center. We made it there a few minutes later and found spots to park in and got out and headed inside. It was starting to fill up inside the center with snacks and drinks at one end and dj in front of the dance floor. I grabbed Maya and wrapped my arm around her so I wouldn't lose her as me and the guys push our way through to find our friends. Soon we found Zig, Tris and Jenna first, then slowly the others started to come and join our group as Peter introduced Jane, Lucas, and Mia to the ones who never met them yet, We start talking and then I see Riley come in, I felt bad for what had happened between us and I decided to apologize. "I'll be right back," I tell Maya. I walked over to where Riley stopped and talked to someone. "Stavros, can we talk. Please."

"Uh sure Owen," he says.

I see that he looks hesitant when he says that but follows me out of the gym and into the hall and walks a few feet away from the doors before I start talking and apologizing. "I just wanted to apologize for everything between us."

"Owen it happened almost two years ago, were both out of high school and I forgave you for it already." Riley tells me surprisingly.

"Technically you're out of high school I'm repeating senior year." I tell him quickly but continued to talk. "Anyway I'm glad you do but I wanted you to know basically the reason why I ragged on you, Zane and Adam so much, Adam already knows this and it's your turn." I ramble for a minute before taking a breath and start talking more. "Around the time you and Zane both came out and Adam was revealed as a FTM my little brother came out to the family. Mom and Dad handled it fine; I on the other hand didn't know how to handle it or just move on from there. I knew if I messed with Tris instead for it I get in trouble by rents so I went for the next best thing you guys."

"You were a pretty big jerk but thanks for apologizing," Riley says shaking my hand. "So what have you been up to besides repeating senior year?" He asks.

"Well I have a family now," I tell him smiling at the thought of Maya and Chord.

"What you and Anya started a family, I thought she was still in the Army." Riley said shocked.

"Hell no, I have no idea what's the last thing you heard from her was but Anya and I broke up when she left for boot camp, and heads up she completely psychotic right now so I would dodger her at all cost if you can." I tell him shivering at the thought of Anya being my son's mother. "You want to meet my family, and some of your other friends are here to?"

"Yeah sure I'd love to meet them and see some familiar faces." Riley commented and he followed me back to where the others were still chatting away. The only ones I didn't see at the moment were Zig and Jenna.

"Hey beautiful this is Riley Stavros," I said getting Maya's attention away from Luke and Adam as I wrap arm around her. "This is Maya, mother to my son," I introduce them and they exchange hellos. I look up when something catches my eye, its Clare and Eli and they appear to be arguing.

"It's nice to meet you," Riley says shaking Maya's hand.

"Chord isn't here but I have pictures," I tell him pulling out my phone and looking away from Eli and Clare.

"He's adorable, man I can't believe you're a dad," Riley smiles.

"Me either but I love him more than anything," I grin.

"Babe I'm thirsty get me some water," Maya says.

"Of course," I say putting my phone back.

"And whipped too," Riley teases.

"Whipped but happy, I'll be right back," I tell Maya kissing her cheek. I walk over to where the drinks are and grab a water bottle when I turn around to walk back I see Eli grab Clare's arm and her face wrench in pain. I almost crush the water bottle out of anger and keep watching them while I walk back to Maya. I would yell at him but I don't want to put the spotlight on Clare.

"Thanks," Maya smiles kissing me gently when I hand her the water bottle.

I look down to smile at her but when I look up Clare and Eli are gone. I glanced around the room worried that they disappeared and Eli did something worse to Clare. "Drew did you guys see where Clare and Eli went?" I ask since they're standing close by but Drew shakes his head.

"I have to go find them he grabbed her arm and I think he's hurting her again," I tell Maya.

She takes my hand and comes with me; Riley follows us, so do Drew, Bianca, Zig Peter, Luke and Lucas. We make our way out of the community center building just as we spot Eli hitting Clare and punching her to the ground. I felt rage as I felt Maya release my hand and I see her and Bianca race over to Clare who was laying on the ground. Running over I grab Eli and hit him just as the girls get Clare out of harm's way. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! HITTING A GIRL AND YOUR OWN GIRLFRIEND WHOM YOU CLAIM TO LOVE!" I growl at him. I punch him again hard in the stomach and he goes down, Luke and Lucas run over kicking him while he's down and then Drew grabs Eli pulling up to punch him in the face. Zig punches Eli in the stomach and when he's down Peter kicks him.

"YOU STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM CLARE!" We nearly all yell at the same time and leave Eli in a crumpled pile.

We all look over at Clare now, she's bent over and crying, Bianca and Maya are rubbing her back. By now Tris and Adam are outside wondering what the hell is going on. Lucas tells them and Adam looked cold over at his what will be ex-best friend and stormed over there and starts kicking him repeatedly while yelling at him for what he been doing to Clare. It took Riley and Lucas both to pull Adam away from him.

"We need to call the police and file a report and keep him away from Clare." Bianca speaks up causing Clare to lift her head.

I see now that her lower lip is bleeding and she's got one forming bruise on her cheek another on her arm and possibly ones we can't see.

"No we don't have to involve the police," she shakes her head.

"Yes we do Clare, it's not safe anymore." Maya tells her softly wrapping and arm around her as I bend down in front of them, "You're not safe anymore."

I could hear murmurs of agreements from the guys as Bianca hands me her phone and I stand backup as Clare finally understands what needs to be done and nods. I go over to a secluded part away from the others and dial 911. I tell them Eli was assaulting his girlfriend and we stopped him so he needs an ambulance and to be arrested. They ask if Clare needs medical attention but she shakes her head.

"We'll take Eli out the back so no one sees him, you guys go back in and enjoy the party," Lucas says as he and Peter pick up Eli.

"Come on Clare we'll go clean you up in the girl's washroom," Adam says to Clare putting an arm around me.

"Maybe I should just go home," she says.

"Please don't," Luke speaks up and Clare looks at him, "I'd really like to kiss you at midnight if it's okay with you that is?"

"You'd want to date a damaged girl?" Clare whispers and some of us almost doesn't hear her.

"Yes I've wanted to for a while." Luke replies pushing a strand of her hair away from her eyes and wipes a tear away. "And you're not damaged, just a little scraped up. Please stay Clare," he almost begs.

"Okay, I guess I'll stay but I need to clean up a little," she says wiping the blood from her lip.

"We'll get you cleaned up, we'll meet you guys back inside," Bianca says putting a hand at Clare's back. We all walked inside with the guys minus Adam heading into the gym as Maya and Bianca went into the bathrooms with Clare to help clean her up. We found the others and told them what happened and Eli will be arrested. I could see worry etched on Jane and Mia's faces along with Jenna and Becky's. It was quite for a few minutes until Peter and Lucas came back and told us Eli was now gone for good easing it from our minds all together. When the girls and Adam come out of the washroom Luke goes to Clare, they're talking quietly but Clare smiles and Luke puts his arm around her. While Adam tells Becky what's going on.

"Eli better stay away from her for good," Peter says but he smiles when he sees how Luke is with Clare.

"We'll make sure of it," I tell him. Peter walked over to Jane and I see him lead her to the dance floor along with Lucas and Mia. I look down at Maya who was smiling at everyone around. "You want to dance?" I ask holding my hand out to her.

"I'd love to." Maya answers and takes my hand and I lead her to the floor as another slow song starts up. It was nearing midnight so the hype was up and I could see all the couples closer to each other now. After the song we mingle some more, a lot of people are talking about Eli, Clare and Luke but everyone is agreeing that she's better with Luke.

"Get ready everyone the balls about to drop," someone says over the P.A. a short time later. Then we started hearing people countdown along with the clock as I pull Maya into my arms as I see Riley and Tris talking in the corner since they were mostly the only ones single in our group.

"10..."

"9…"

"8…"

"7…"

"6…"

"5…"

"4…"

"3…"

"2…"

"1…"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

I look over and see Luke gently kiss Clare, I grin and then kiss Maya happily.