Everly was walking along the darkened streets and shivering against the slap of the rain. She was moving quickly, as she had become accustomed to, and she couldn't tell if she was crying or not. Her insides were too numb to feel the pain and shock, and her outsides were too overwhelmed from the sensations of the world to give her an accurate read of her own state of being. She just skittered along like a mouse looking for some place dry to hide away, her mind set on reaching her apartment and packing a bag and going to Florida.

That would be the right thing to do, right? She could switch hotels every once in a while, change the name she gave out, and visit her mom at different times everyday. What would she even say to her mom? They hardly ever talked, and if she couldn't even remember her? What then?

Her eyes were burning and she figured she was crying. She hurried along, trying to drown out one pain with another, because together, it was all too much. She wondered what life would be like in another time, in a different place, maybe somewhere with a bit more open space and less light pollution to fog up the night sky. She wondered if she would ever feel safe again, but she decided in that moment that she didn't care. Who ever really felt safe, anyway? Life was unpredictable. Anything could happen.

The rain was coming down hard as she hurried down the block that lead to her apartment. The rain was bouncing up onto her legs, drenching her, and she felt herself shudder. Her hair stuck to her face at odd angles and her clothes were heavy and soaked. She figured she would change, throw some stuff in a bag, and catch a cab to the airport as soon as she could. Her apartment door was closed and unbothered, just like the rest of the buildings she had passed on her way there. She fumbled for her keys and they clinked against the handle as she hurried to unlock the door and let herself in. It was dark and quiet in the entrance hall, the sound of the rain echoing against the old wooden floors. She shuddered and let out a breathy sigh as she locked her eyes on her apartment door, the one thing she'd wanted to see since she climbed out of the fire escape. She wished she could stay and be comfortable, but all that was a thing of the past. She fiddled with her keychain for another second before she tightened her grip on the key to her door and stuck it in the lock.

It was how she left it. She didn't know what else she had expected. It was dark and gloomy, the curtains drawn tight over any source of light, her furniture sitting idle in the dusty, empty air. She was dripping onto the hardwood, every step squeaking as she moved, until suddenly her keys fell from her hands with a clatter onto the ground and a hand was pressed tight over her mouth.

—-

Lee was climbing onto his bike while the rain poured down on him, his helmet and jacket forgotten about back inside. Caesar came out and took him by the shoulder, hoisting him back suddenly.

"What the hell?" Lee asked, stumbling for a moment before he straightened himself out and met Caesar's eyes. "I have to go-"

"On your bike? In this weather?" Caesar asked over the pounding sound of the storm. "Get in my truck. Come on."

Lee huffed and some rain blew from his upper lip. He followed Caesar along the sidewalk and towards his truck, which was covered in mud and the memories of some off-road trip that was about to be washed away in the storm. Lee glanced in the rearview mirror on the passenger door and saw everyone else gearing up for a drive. He slapped his hand to his forehead, exhausted and angry, and Caesar glanced sidelong at him.

"Don't throw a tantrum in my truck," Caesar said.

"Can you just drive?" Lee sniped.

"I'm going straight to her apartment," Caesar said, shifting the car into gear and pulling out. "Got your blades on you?"

Lee nearly laughed, but he fingered his pocket nevertheless and nodded.

"Always."

—-

Her eyes were wide and she was terrified. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she felt like she was on the verge of death, and she kicked and fought and tried to bite down on the hand over her mouth but nothing was working. The man behind her slammed her into the wall with a grunt and the both of them slid to the floor, fighting for the upper hand. She was wired and horrified, her adrenaline pumping faster than she had ever felt before; this wasn't fear, it was power. Or maybe it was both.

She managed to twist her way free of his arm and shrieked, clawing for the keys on the floor so she would have some sort of weapon, but he grabbed her and flipped her onto her back, slamming her down hard against the floor before his hands met her throat and squeezed. She felt a tightness behind her eyes before she even realized she couldn't breathe.

She kicked her legs out, trying to make noise, trying to hurt him, but she couldn't. She clawed at his hands, his skin grinding beneath her fingernails, and then she realized he had a face and she could finally see it, even though her vision was blackening around the edges.

She'd seen him in the bar a few times. He'd even been there that morning she'd gotten the fancy bottle of wine- the morning she ended up going back with the guys to Tool's. He was there. She reached up a hand to push his face back, digging her chewed up nails into his cheek as she trembled and fought against the lack of oxygen.

"Stop!" He said, and even though it wasn't the voice she'd been picturing, it still sent a chill down her spine. She tried to shake her head free but he only tightened his grip on her neck, twisting it in a painful, pinching way. She cried out but the sound was lost to his grasp, fading to just a raspy, desperate wheeze. "Why are you fighting?"

She felt the tears falling uncontrollably from her eyes and she thought about her mom. She thought about how she didn't know how sick she was, and wondered if she'd ever even get a chance to say goodbye. She thought about Lee, and how he'd been so kind to her, and how he'd kept the truth about her mother from her. He had probably done what he thought was best, but what did that matter now? She knew, and it hurt, and she had pushed them all away. She thought about Henry, her uncle, and the bar sitting closed on the street. She thought about her regulars, and she wondered if maybe they would miss her. They'd get a new bartender and probably forget she ever worked there, but maybe, for just a second, it would hurt.

He lifted her and knocked her back against the floor again. His grip shifted enough for her to get out a cry, but she could hardly recognize the sound of her own voice from the fear. Her vision darkened more, and she looked up at him, and he looked down at her, and she felt the icy chill that passed between them before she decided to close her eyes. If this was it, she would choose what the last thing she saw was, even if it was nothing.

—-

Doc skidded to a stop where he had been watching not long before and hopped out of his truck. He hated having to keep watch of anything- it usually reminded him of all the quiet alone time he had in that damn prison before Barney and his goons broke him out. Maybe if he stuck around a few minutes longer he would've spotted something, but he couldn't think about that now. All he could think about was getting inside of the apartment and making sure everything was alright, or else he'd be facing one of Barney's grumpy black-heart lectures and probably some grief from Lee.

When he got to the front door of the apartment building it was locked. He huffed and glanced around, dripping with rainwater, and dug around in his pockets for a long few seconds before he pulled out his old trusty lock pick. He tried to look as casual as possible even though there wasn't really anyone around to be suspicious of someone breaking and entering because of the storm.

The door opened without much fuss and he slid himself in, leaving it unlocked behind him for when the rest of the guys showed up. He shuddered and tried to shake some water off of himself and was about to grumble about ruining his new jacket when he heard a bang from the apartment beside him- the apartment he had just been keeping watch on.

He tensed and glanced around the hallway. It was dark and musty and quiet outside of the occasional thumps he could hear through the door. He steadied himself before he reached for the knob, his other hand fingering the blade in his pocket. Backup wasn't far behind, if he'd even need it. Still, he cracked his neck and sighed before he shoved in the door.

—-

Everly was barely kicking when Doc rammed his way in. Her lips had that blue tint of strangulation and the skin of her face was pale and sickly. It took him half a second to act, reaching for and grabbing the man on top of her by his collar before he slammed him into the wall and went at him with a heavy punch. The guy took the punch with a grunt and awkwardly shoved his hands towards Doc's face to bat him away. Doc made to move and get him in an armlock, but the guy slipped free for just a split second and head-butted him right in the nose.

"Son of a-" Doc stumbled back and felt at his nose. His fingers were slick with a bit of blood and he growled, wrinkling his forehead as he shook off the stunned pain. He turned and saw the man grabbing Everly by the arm, about ready to hoist her up and run.

He knocked the guy in the back of the knee and sent him down to the ground, Everly tumbling onto the floor after him. She wasn't looking good.

Doc got the man in a sturdy chokehold before he yanked him sideways and pinned him on his stomach, one knee digging into his spine. He loosened his grip just slightly as he went to secure the guys arms, and it was just enough for the man to send a strong elbow up into Doc's jawline. Stars shot across his vision and he keeled over with a groan. The world was spinning around him and he tried to shake it off, but after another second the man had his hands on Doc's shoulders and was yanking him onto the floor.

Doc squinted and searched for Everly. She was still strewn on the floor, her fingers twitching ever so slightly. He was about to make his next move when he was met with a punch to the side of his head, sending his thoughts rattling and his ears ringing.

The man was straddling Doc, fist pulled back in preparation for another punch, when Everly started to blink and wheeze. Her throat felt tight and crushed, the air only reaching her lungs in desperate spurts. She saw Doc's head snap to the side and away from her, a bit of blood spraying from a cut on his cheek bone and his wounded nose. Her hands were weak and trembling, her body numb and sore, but she knew she needed to do something to help him. She dragged herself towards the couch as fast as she could, wincing as her lungs burned and heaved in her chest. She used the back of the couch for support and pulled herself to her feet, swaying as she reached to the end table and picked up the lamp she never used that had been sitting there and collecting dust forever. She turned and wound up, stumbling towards the two men on the floor.

It collided with the stalkers head with a resounding crash. She fell down to the floor from the force of her effort, catching some shattered glass in her hands as she landed. She fell onto her face with a broken wheeze, too weak to catch herself.

Doc took the moment to flip the guy over onto his back. He pulled out on of his blades and held it to his neck, blood dripping from the tip of his nose. He glanced over at Everly, her eyes wide and painful as she watched him.

The man started pushing Doc's hand back, ripping away yet another chance to end it all. Doc grunted, turning his attention back to the stalker, and was about to start forcing the knife down towards his throat when the door was kicked in again and Caesar bumbled through with Lee close behind. Doc pulled the knife back and rolled himself off of the man, letting Caesar reach down and lift him up by his collar.

Lee stood in the doorway looking down at the mess while Caesar worked to tie up the guy in the kitchen. Everly was shaking and wheezing on the ground.

"Eve," he said, dropping to the floor and brushing some hair from her face. "It's alright. It's over."

Some tears slipped from her eyes but she didn't answer. Lee turned her over and examined her- her neck was already deeply bruised in the shape of hands, her bloody palms leaving marks all over her clothing. He pulled her up into his lap and held her tight, fighting the urge to yell and kill that guy. Barney and the rest of the guys hurried in then, looking around and ready for a fight.

"We need an ambulance," Lee said, glancing up just long enough to catch Toll trying to hold Henry back in the doorway.

"Got it," Barney said, pulling out his phone.

"I'm sorry, alright?" Lee said, looking down at Everly. He placed a hand over her chest and felt the rattle as she struggled to breathe. It made him wince. "I'm sorry. It's gonna be okay. We got you."

She blinked and tried to nod but her neck was raw and stiff. She reached up to try and touch it and flinched away from her own hand. Lee frowned and held her just a little bit tighter, focusing on the sound of the sirens in the distance getting nearer.

Everly looked up at him and wished she could speak but she couldn't. Her mind was racing and her body was aching and she just wanted to sleep. She closed her eyes and felt a few more tears fall before everything went numb. She couldn't feel anything except for Lee's fading grasp on her body, but even that went away eventually, too.

—-

Henry sat with his head in his hands in Everly's hospital room while she slept, a brace placed around her neck to keep her stable as the doctors kept a close eyes on her condition. Lee was slouched against the wall with his hands tucked into his pockets. He was looking down at the floor, but every once in a while he would glance up and draw in a breath like he wanted to go in there and say something, but he never did. Doctors and nurses and orderlies passed him by without much thought. Raindrops from the storm, which was finally dying down, stuck to the tall windows and cast frothy shadows over the walls and floors. Every once in a while a voice would come over the loudspeakers, but the words always sounded like gibberish to him. He couldn't get the image of Everly laying on her floor out of his head, or the sound of tires screeching to a halt and feet slamming against the pavement in response to the crashing and yelling from inside of her apartment when they all arrived.

He knew he couldn't blame himself. He knew there was nothing they could do to change any of it now. He was usually good at compartmentalizing, but this wasn't the job, not really; it was home. This wasn't just some woman they were tasked with saving, it was Everly Breaux, the bartender from down the street.

He thought about his engagement ending, and how being around Everly was different than being around Lacy. Maybe it was her personality, or just the energy she projected out into the world, even terrified and out of her mind with exhaustion. She was different than Lacy. Lee thought about it, and he knew he would only ever have been content with Lacy- if that. But Everly was laid up in a hospital bed, not even able to speak from the damage to her throat, and their last interaction had been about him keeping the truth about her mother away from her. He lifted a hand from his pocket and dragged it from his forehead to the back of his head. Maybe it was all just confusing because his emotions were still all tangled up in wedding planning and the idea of his perfect life. Maybe Everly had just been a sponge for those emotions, being that she was so full of her own. Maybe it was nothing. It didn't matter, because the job was done.

Lee was pulled from his thoughts by a hand clapping him on the shoulder and giving him a shake. He looked to the side and met Barney's eyes, one thick black eyebrow raised higher than the other.

"You sure do know how to pick 'em," Barney said, turning his eyes to the room ahead of them. Lee sighed and shrugged his hand off of his shoulder.

"She just needed help," Lee said, pulling himself from the wall and shrugging his shoulders up.

"So did you," Barney said. "If you ask me, you still do. The both of you."

Lee shook his head, "Barn, this isn't that. It's nothing. Either way, she's gonna be pissed at the lot of us for a long time. Henry, probably, too."

Barney shrugged but didn't speak. A few minutes passed by in silence.

"Where are the guys?" Lee asked.

"Cleaning the apartment," Barney said. "Figured it's the least we could do."

"I'll go help," Lee said, starting down the hall towards the exit.

"Lee," Barney called, bracing himself against the squeaky linoleum and squaring his shoulders to the doors. Lee stopped and turned to him, waiting. "If you got something good, it doesn't matter where it came from. Make it work. Fight for it."

Lee huffed out a small laugh and looked back down to the floor. After another second, he turned and left. Barney sighed and looked towards Henry, who was rocking himself over his knees, his fingers tangled in his hair.

The Breaux's would be okay eventually. Barney knew that for sure, mostly through his own experience with bad things like what they had been through. They'd come out of it a little bit different, maybe harder than they were before, but they would be okay.

He pressed his lips together and nodded towards a nurse that was walking by. Then he turned down the hall and followed in the direction Lee had gone.