Caroline

So how many times has he hit you?" I asked, leaning against the doorway and folding my arms over my chest.

Dan turned to face me, his blue eyes anxious. "That was only the second time, Care. I swear to God."

"But what about Mum?" I asked. "God, Dan; what about me? What if he - " I broke off, tears stinging at my eyes. I looked away so that Dan wouldn't see me cry, but it was too late. He flung himself off the table he was sitting on and took my face in his hands, brushing my tears away with his thumbs. "He wouldn't, Care. He woudn't dare."

"How would you know that, Dan?" I hissed angrily. "Dan, he's our father! Father's don't hit their own children."

"And we're teenagers." Dan said, folding his arms over his chest. "We're not supposed to agents, but yet we still are."

"That's different," I said stiffly.

Dan gave me an incredulous look. "How, Caroline? How is that any - "

"We're doing good, Dan. We're hitting people who deserve to be hit," I hissed angrily. I suddenly had the urge to punch him, but I held myself back and just glared at him. Dan looked away and sighed, ducking his head. I felt my expression soften without my consent and Dan slowly raised his head, giving me a small smile. He reached out and tucked my hair behind my ear and I whimpered softly, looking away. As much as the idea of Dad turning on me terrified me, I hated the fact that it was Dan who copped it and not me. He was goung through enough as it was. He didn't need this on top of it.

I felt fingers grip my chin and then Dan's voice, gentle and low; "Care, look at me."

I made myself look at him and he offered me a small smile that was clearly supposed to reassure me, but all it truly did was make me feel even more like crap.

"Care, I promise you that if he does it again, we're out of that house." Dan said, his blue eyes intense and sincere.

"And what if he hits me?" I asked.

Dan's brow furrowed as if the question I'd just asked was a stupid one, as if the anwser to it was staring me right in the face. After some time, he seemed to realise that I was serious and he sighed. "Care, if he ever hurt you, we'd be out of that house faster than he could blink."

I nodded, looking down as tears stung at my eyes.

"Come here." Dan muttered, folding me into his arms. He felt warm and he felt safe, just as he always had, and I rested my head against his shoulder, squeezing my eyes shut and feeling one single tear escape.

"I'll always protect you, Caroline." Dan told me, running his hand up and down my back. "Okay?"

I nodded against his shoulder and I hiccupped from the effort of keeping my tears bottled up.

"Always the way, baby sister." Dan said, laughing. I pulled away from him and glared up at him. "I'm not your baby sister."

"You're my younger sister." Dan pointed out.

"By a few minutes." I replied, rolling my eyes. "It's hardly a large age gap, Dan."

Dan smiled, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "I don't care how big the gap is, Care. You're my little sister and that's that."

"Fine. But do me a favour?"

Dan sighed melodramatically. "What?"

"Don't treat me like I'm your little sister, Dan. I'm not a little girl anymore. I could kick your arse if really wanted to." I told him, subtly daring him to challenge me. I wanted to know if I could take him down when he wasn't expectin it, or whether he was just that good that he'd be able to stop me.

Dan answered my wishes as if they were his own, quirking an eyebrow in almost disbelief. Once upon a time, that disblief would have offended me, but not anymore. Now I knew how to use that disbelief, that underestimation, to my advantage. "Is that so?"

"Yeah." I told him, smiling.

Before he had even realised that I was doing it, I slammed my foot into his shin. Dan grunted as his leg gave way beneath him, his tall body, packed with muscle, came crashing to the ground. Laughing, I took a few steps back as I heard shouts behind me. I turned and found Vanessa and Camden walking in the door, Vanessa practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. I laughed as she hugged me tightly before she let me go, her smile bright. "Care, that was amazing!"

"It wasn't actually that hard," I told her, ignoring Dan's grunt of disagreement as he got to his feet behind me. Surprisingly, Camden hugged me aswell and murmured in my ear, "You did good, Care."

"Thanks." I replied and as I stepped out of his embrace, not all that different to the way Dan held me, which was completely different to the way Ains held me, I caught sight of Ains slipping in through the door. His gaze caught mine for a split second and I gave him a small smile, hoping that my eyes didn't betray the worry I felt for my brother and that my tears had dried on my cheeks. From the way his gentle eyes looked at me, I knew I had no such luck.

A dull ache flared in the side of my neck and I made a stifled moan, reaching up and touching the bandage on the side of my neck. It suddenly occured to me what had actually happened, that I'd had a chip in my neck and Frank and Oscar had cut it out and that there'd be an everlasting mark on my neck from this ordeal.

The pressure of my hand to my bandage, combined with this realisation, seemed to intensfy the pain in my neck and I whimpered softly. Suddenly Oscar walked in, carrying a glass of water in one hand and a box of painkillers in the other. He gave me a gentle smile as he passed them to me and I smiled gratefully, popping a painkiller into my mouth and then washing it down with the water.