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Elliot stood gripping Olivia's kitchen counter with white knuckles as he recalled the passed few hours his daughter had just experienced. He knew her job. Knew what the girls were like. Knew what they went through. But, it was a completely different gut-wrenching burn to listen to his daughter be put through it. Olivia stood next to him, turned in the opposite direction, staring up at the cabinets behind him. They had both remained relatively quiet since they arrived back at her apartment, only speaking when Noah would look over at them with a question. They both jerked from their trains of thought when they heard Olivia's bedroom door open.

Gemma walked out fresh from her shower in new clothes. She had dried her hair to the point where it was fluffy, probably trying to waste time to hide the evidence that she had been crying. But, the redness around her eyes and on the tip of her nose were dead giveaways. Completely ignoring her parents for the time being, she smiled when Noah rushed over to her. "Hey buddy."

Noah frowned looking up at her. "Why were you crying?"

"Why do you think I've been crying?" Gemma asked, crouching down in front of him.

"Because, you're eyes are red like Mommy's when she cries." Noah stated, pointing to her eyes. "I don't want you to be sad."

Gemma forced a smile on her face. "I'm okay. I just had a bad day." She tickled his sides, causing him to laugh. "I think it's almost your bedtime. Shouldn't you be getting ready for bed?"

Olivia walked out of the kitchen and smiled at Noah. "Yes, you should be." She lifted him up. "Let's go. You can come out and say goodnight in a couple of minutes." She walked back towards Noah's room, glancing from Elliot to Gemma before she disappeared.

Elliot nodded and watched as Gemma slowly sat down across from him, playing with her semi-dry hair. "Do you want to talk about what happened today? I understand why you're upset about it."

Gemma faked another soft smile. "I'm fine."

"Gemma, you cried all the way here and in the shower. You're obviously not fine." Elliot choked out.

"And, after all that, I'm fine." Gemma repeated. She avoided his eyes. "I consented to everything that happened in that room today. There's no reason for me to be upset about it. I got myself into this mess. Amanda is right. I'm the bad guy here."

Elliot leaned forward. "You are not the bad person in this case. You are a victim too." His voice broke when she shook her head, tears welling in her eyes again. "What happened today - obviously, you didn't want that. You might have let it happen, but you knew that he would take it one way or another. You were surviving, Gem. You weren't playing the bad guy. I listened in on that bug too, and I knew that you tried to prevent what happened."

Gemma pulled her feet up onto the stool, hugging her knees to his chest as Elliot continued. "I don't care how many times that happened or how many times you did or didn't say no. You didn't want it, baby. Just because you aren't saying no, doesn't mean you are consenting."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Gemma whispered before standing up. She saw Elliot open his mouth to speak again, but interrupted him. "I'm fine. It happened. It's over." She walked around the couch and grabbed the blanket before wrapping it around herself and laying down on the couch. "Goodnight."

Gemma woke up in a cold sweat, sitting up on the couch quickly and wildly searching the apartment. She covered her chest with a hand, the other running through her hair when she took in her surroundings, finding her mother's apartment instead of the room of red velvet. Her heart rate slowed down as she turned to see Elliot sleeping soundly in the recliner. She stood up, taking her blanket with her, before standing over Elliot. She bit her lip as she leaned down and pushed on his shoulder gently. He stirred in his sleep, and she contemplated going back to the couch when his eyes finally opened.

"Hey," Elliot breathed, stretching slightly before seeing it was still dark outside. He squinted up at her. "What's wrong?"

"Can I. . .uh," Gemma started. She bit her lip again, glancing back towards the couch, "um, could I sleep with you?"

Elliot nodded and held out his arms. "Yeah, come on." He wrapped his arms around her when she curled up into his lap, nearly pulling herself into a ball huddled into his neck. He kissed her head, adjusting the blankets so she wouldn't get cold. "You okay?"

Gemma shook her head. "No, I'm really not." She sniffled slightly. "I didn't want you to hear that today. Even after all these years, I still can't handle what he does. What he puts me through. That can't be normal. Don't women just become numb to it at some point?"

"Only when they don't care anymore." Elliot whispered, holding her tighter. "What you're feeling is completely normal. He's hurting you, baby. You can't just put that aside like nothing happened." He leaned down, pressing his forehead against hers. "As for your mother and I hearing, well, I won't lie. I didn't want to hear that, but it's probably someone out there getting back at me for giving you up."

"You really think someone is up in heaven actually hurting me to spite you?" Gemma asked. "And, you voluntarily go to this Church every Sunday."

Elliot chuckled, glad that she was still using her sarcasm, a step up from a few hours prior. "No, but I think charma has finally caught up to me. What I did. . .I chose to hide you away from my life in order to keep everyone in the dark about the truth. As much as I wanted to keep you, I just figured one kid in a better home would be better than four kids, at the time, knowing their father was a cheater."

Gemma laid her head on his shoulder. "I chose this life. Charma had nothing to do with this." She huffed out a breath. "Now, I'm more in the business than I ever thought I would be." She closed her eyes when Elliot's arm wrapped around her back, keeping her close to him. She felt the cotton ball in her throat swell, a slight pain accompanying it. "I don't know what to do."

"Hey, we're going to get you out of this." Elliot whispered, feeling her tremble slightly. He kissed her forehead, pressing his nose into her hair. "I'm right here. I'm not going to let anything happen to you as long as I'm around. Okay? Baby, we're going to take care of this." He teared up himself feeling his daughter finally crack through her tough exterior. "I've got you. I'm not letting go."

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