Kate led the way into her apartment. Once she and Tim were inside, she closed the door and then led her brother over to the couch. "Here, sit down. I'm gonna get you something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," Tim said quietly.

"Well, you need to eat something. I'm gonna get us both a sandwich," Kate said before disappearing into the kitchen.

Tim sighed and looked down at his lap. He felt like the walls were closing in on him right now. He felt so cornered. The ironic part was that Kate wasn't pushing him. She hadn't asked him once about whatever was bothering him. Yet he still felt like he was being backed into a corner. And he was, just not by Kate. His father was the one pushing him. By blackmailing him, he was forcing him either to reveal his secret or have it revealed for him. Either way, it seemed his secret being revealed was unavoidable. He'd tried to think of every possible way to get out of telling Kate or anyone else his secret, but it was impossible. His father had ruined things for him yet again.

Kate came back just then with two plates with sandwiches on them in her hands. She handed one to Tim and then went and sat next to him on the couch.

Tim looked at the sandwich for a second before placing the plate on the table. He had no appetite right now. His stomach was in too many knots with what he knew he had to do.

"Tim, come on, you have to eat," Kate said. She was extremely worried about her brother. He was going to make himself sick with the way he was carrying on. He'd gotten progressively worse all day. When she got back from her lunch with Rachel, he looked like he was in hell. She really wanted to ask him what was going on, but she promised she wouldn't push him tonight. She wouldn't break that promise. She would, however, do what she had to, to make sure he remained healthy. That meant eating something.

"The Admiral's blackmailing me," Tim blurted out. He figured if he was going to do this, he'd better do it now. He would lose his nerve otherwise.

Kate was caught off guard by her brother's statement. She'd suspected the Admiral was heavily involved, especially if Rachel was right and it was something from when Tim was a kid that was eating away at him so badly. But she didn't expect him to just come out with it. She figured she'd have to push him for the truth at some point.

Kate sighed and placed her plate on the table. "The Admiral's blackmailing you. Well, there's only one way I can see out of a blackmail."

Tim nodded. "Take away the leverage."

"So are gonna tell me?" Kate asked. She hadn't intended to ask Tim about this at all tonight, but he'd initiated the conversation. He wanted this to end. He just needed a little encouragement to go further.

Tim didn't answer. He knew he had to tell Kate the truth. He just couldn't seem to get the words out.

"You lied to me, didn't you? When you sat here with Rachel and me and told us there were no secrets, you were lying."

"Yes. I'm sorry, Kate. I just couldn't tell you the truth," Tim said while looking away.

"Why not. Since when can't you talk to me? You've been coming to me your whole life. You've always known you could talk to me," Kate said.

"This is different," Tim said.

"Why? Because the Admiral got into your head? Let me guess, he's got you so turned around that you think that I'm gonna turn my back on you because of whatever this is," Kate said. She was sure that that was how it was. It was exactly the kind of thing the bastard would do. He'd been doing it Tim's whole life. He wasn't happy if he couldn't convince the kid he was unlovable.

"No. Well, yes, he did try to say that, but that's not why I didn't want you to know. I know you won't turn against me, but it will change the way you look at me," Tim said.

"Not possible," Kate said. She didn't care what happened. Tim could've robbed a bank and she would still see him as the little brother she loved more than life. Nothing could change that.

"You don't know," Tim said as he looked down at his lap.

"So explain it to me. Tell me what's going on and let me decide what to think about it," Kate said.

Tim took a deep breath to try to prepare himself for what he was about to tell Kate and how she'd react to it. "After you left, things were pretty much the same for a while. The only difference was that you weren't there to tell me that anything the Admiral said about me was crap and not to listen to it. Eventually though, it got worse. It was about four months prior to my thirteenth birthday that things really started to get bad."

"Did he hit you?" Kate asked. Tim had promised that the Admiral hadn't struck him again after that one time he admitted to, but she couldn't be sure he told the truth.

"No, I was telling the truth when I said he never hit me again. He had other ways though. He came to me one day and said it was time for me to learn to be a real man. He said he didn't think someone as pathetic as me would succeed, but that the least I could do was try. He said he didn't have time to do it himself though, so he was handing me over to one of his sailors. This guy was a particular bastard. He was the Admiral's protégé. He made my life a living hell," Tim said. He was not exaggerating. Life was hell for him back then. Every waking moment was spent in agony.

"What did he do?" Kate asked.

"I was forced to do all the things they do in boot camp. I had to run and do obstacle courses. I know that doesn't seem like much, but it was actually brutal because I wasn't good at it, and if I didn't do it all right or in a timely fashion, I'd have to start all over. I wasn't allowed to stop or take breaks. I wasn't able to eat until I did everything perfectly. I couldn't even break for water unless I was so dehydrated that he thought I would pass out. I was at that point many times. Hell, there were times when I actually did pass out. It got to the point where I hoped I would because if I passed out, it would stop for the day," Tim told her. The pain in his voice as he explained was evident. It was a very difficult time in his life and it was obvious that it still affected him to think about.

"Son of a bitch!" Kate growled. She wanted to kill both the Admiral and his little bastard clone for daring to put her brother through something that horrible. It was abuse. There was no other word for it. They'd driven her brother to the brink. They could've killed him. He was a little boy and he was driven to the point where he would pass out from dehydration and exhaustion.

"The first night after I got home, the Admiral was there waiting for me. He had this look on his face. This sick grin," Tim said. He still remembered that look. It had told him without a doubt that his father knew exactly what he was being subjected to.

"Yeah, I know the look," Kate said. She saw that same look on the Admiral right after he'd raped her. It was a malicious, satisfied smirk. It was his way of telling people that he had them right where he wanted them. "I don't understand why you couldn't tell me this though. Why would you think this would have me looking at you differently?

"That's not it. This was just the background information. Something I needed you to know to understand why I did it. It was a living hell and I couldn't find a way out. Every day was the same. I couldn't find a way out of it. I thought about running away, but I knew the Admiral would find me," Tim said. Running away had been his first consideration, but had nowhere to go and he knew his father or one of his Navy buddies would find him.

"Yeah, he probably would've. So what did you do?" Kate asked. She had a feeling she knew the answer, but she was really, really hoping she was wrong.

"I tried so hard, Kate. I tried to stay strong and be a man," Tim said before looking away from her.

"But you weren't a man. That's the whole point," Kate said. He had been twelve years old when this all had started, not even a teenager yet. He shouldn't have been expected to handle things soldiers had a hard enough time dealing with.

"Yeah. It had been four months and it just seemed to get worse every day. It was the day before my thirteenth birthday. Morgan, that was his name, said he had something 'special' planned for my birthday. He had that same glint the Admiral had that first day. I knew it was gonna be horrible, worse than any other day had been. I was already thinking about a way out before then and I'd already had my answer. That day just solidified my decision," Tim said before turning back to Kate. He then took a deep breath. "I…I tried to kill myself.