TK walked into the hallway.

"Dad?"; his voice resounded through the house, because he assumed that the car was in the garage. Shortly afterwards he entered the kitchen, but had to realize that his father wasn't here.

"Dad?"; he repeated, but received no answer and entered the next room. Instead, he ran into Emma. His sister sat on the couch, crying and stared at her smartphone in disbelief. Slowly he came closer, looked at her in dismay.

"Hey, what happened?"; Carefully he sat down next to her, but she only cried into the palms of her hands, shaking her head.

"Emma talk to me."

But his sister just cried. TK took her in his arms, held her close.

"I can't do this anymore. I can't take it", Emma repeated.

"The thing with your stepfather?"; she looked up at TK, separated herself easily from her brother.

"How do you know that?"; she sobbed, but TK gently stroked her shoulder.

"Carlos let me look at the files. "

She sobbed softly.

"Hey, we'll find a way. I promise you that. "

"How? You have no idea what it's like?"

TK. squeezed her hand.

"Emma, you're safe here. Dad and I will never let this guy get too close to you. "

"But not my mom. She's still with him. He keeps writing me messages. He threatens to kill her if I open my mouth and wants to know where I am all the time. He just won't leave me alone. " She grabbed her phone, gave it to TK, who looked at the screen in horror, then put the device aside.

"Okay, listen. You're gonna get dressed, we're gonna look for Dad, and then you're gonna tell him everything that happened. " She shook her head in despair.

"Yes, you must. The only way we can help you is if you finally talk about it. Please", TK insisted.

He looked at her intensely, which finally made her nod her head. . .

911-Lone Star- 911- Lone Star- 911- Lone Star

Three hours later they were sitting in the living room of the Strands. Carlos had also stopped by at short notice to record Emma's confession. Owen had taken her in his arms. TK sat on the other side of the couch and held her hand while she reported about the events of the last months. Carlos, who had taken a seat opposite her, looked at the teenager in a worried way.

"When did this start?", he wanted to know.

Emma sniffed softly, before she raised and lowered her shoulders.

"He was quite nice at first. She met him at a party two years ago. It began quite harmlessly. Sometimes he was stressed, sometimes completely overworked and often totally drunk. At some point I came home from school and she was sitting in the kitchen with a black eye. I asked her what was wrong and she replied that she had fallen with her bicycle. This went on several times until he freaked out for the first time in the evening, also towards me. I had left my books in the living room and suddenly he started hitting me. He said if I talk about it, he'll kill me and my mom and that he always knows where we are. After that, things only got worse. Every time. "

"Okay, when did your mom decide that you can go see your dad?"

"Two months ago. I really messed up. Lately, I have been getting more and more into it with her too. So we decided I'd move in with Dad. Still, I'm so scared my stepdad will hurt her or come here. "

"Hey, shhh. . . Everything's gonna be okay," Owen comforted his daughter and took her in his arms. TK stroked her back sympathetically while his father held her protectively in his arms.

"What do we do now?", TK whispered.

"Is that enough to put this guy behind bars?"

Carlos avoided to look at TK.

"It's not that simple. Of course, Emma's testimony would incriminate him in court, but we have to make sure her mother goes along with it, and here's the crucial point."

"You're not serious, are you? This guy's out there on the loose and we're supposed to just sit tight?"; Carlos shook his head.

"Nobody talks about waiting. I need Helen's statement. That assumes she's willing to turn on her boyfriend. "

"What if we don't get it?"; TK. wanted to know, and he received a sigh from Carlos, who put his pen aside.

"The problem is that Emma is underage. Think about who the judge is going to believe?" The 16-year-old began to cry again.

"I should have never talked about it,"; she sobbed angrily, which is why Owen strengthened his grip.

"That was the only right thing you could do,"; her father gently stroke her back

"If we take this step, we have to be sure we have Helen on our side. There's no point in us filing charges or hiring her a lawyer and that Rick takes it out on Emma's mother,"; Carlos explained, which TK confirmed with a nod.

"We need a better plan. "

911-Lone-Star-911-Lone- Star

"My shift starts in 20 minutes. Can I leave you two alone?"; Owen asked as he entered the living room.

TK and Emma sat in front of the TV and nodded at their father. Owen said good-bye to both of them and gave Emma a kiss before getting in the car and driving to the station. He knew that his son would take good care of his sister, which made his guilty conscience of leaving them both alone more bearable.

"Sorry I've been so lousy to you lately," the 15-year-old finally tried to start a conversation. TK put his arm around her shoulder, so she leaned tiredly against his shirt.

"Wasn't without reason. But you know that I'm always looking out for you and keeping an eye on you. " Emma smiled sadly. Although her brother was considerably older and the distance between them meant that they could not spend much time together, the two had a fairly close relationship.

"Tyler?", she whispered after a few minutes, receiving a nod from TKs side.

"Can you stay with me tonight? I don't think I can be alone now. " He gave her an encouraging smile, nodded understandingly.

"Sure, no problem. I'm gonna get my mattress and sleep on the floor next to you. "

"You sure?"

"Don't worry."

She grinned at him.

"I'll protect you, okay?", he pulled his cold foam mattress out of the room and finally laid it next to the couch. Emma turned off the TV, then crawled onto the couch while TK made his bed on the floor. Ten minutes later, they had turned off the light, lay on the couch and mattress and hung their thoughts.

"TK?"

"Huh?"

"How did you manage to stay clean this long, anyway?"

Silence filled the room. When Emma already didn't expect an answer, TK started talking.

"With Dad. Because he never gave up on me. If it wasn't for him, I would have died of an oxy overdose at the time. Without him I wouldn't be 26 now. "

"Did you. . . Were you trying to kill yourself?" Another silence followed before Emma got an answer.

"I don't know. Maybe. I didn't care about anything then. I thought I couldn't go on living after Alex dumped me. Dad sensed something was wrong and he found me. My heart had already stopped. When I think about it now, I don't want to know what he went through back then. "

"I fear for him sometimes. That he's not gonna make it. You know, the cancer...", Emma whispered.

"Me too,"; TK finally admitted in a trembling voice, then cleared his throat embarrassed.

"But maybe we shouldn't think that far ahead. If there's one thing Dad made me realize, it's more to live in the moment. And right now he's fine. His vitals are stable. No need to panic. "

"You should be proud of yourself, TK. "

"Why?"; "Because you made it. I have no idea if I can handle this. I didn't exactly have my best time in New York."

"It's kind of a family thing, huh? The city didn't do me much good then either. When I first came to Austin, I thought I couldn't last for 2 months here. It's now almost one and a half years. " TK reached for her hand, which he squeezed.

"Anyway. You should go to sleep now. "

"I love you, TK. "

"I love you too. Sleep tight, little sis. I'm here. I'll take care of you. "