A/N: Before I write any further, I feel I should take a moment to explain the timeline of the story and apologized for several errors made within the preceding text. If you are easily bored or don't care, skip the next two paragraphs.

In actuality, this entire story is an alternate version of the second season (or so it's called in my circles). It begins on the first day of school, and almost everything beyond is a figment of my imagination. The actual episodes, though were often taken into consideration, were rarely used in the process. I also had to add a bit of my own history, as the episode where Ashley takes X was never aired here. I just decided that she took some sort of drug and then said nasty things to all her friends, thus making them bitter and angry. To those who ask where JT, Toby, Liberty, Marco, Ellie, and Kendra are, here's the answer: I find them all rather boring (except for Ellie and Marco, that is, who simply had no real place in my plot). I've realized that Chloe, my OFC (or Mary-Sue, if you like), Is very, very much like Ellie. This was pointed out in reviews and I also saw it when reading character reviews at the-n.com and Degrassi.tv. If any Ellie fans find this offensive, I'm sorry!

Errors:
In the first chapter, Chloe refers to one of her letters as being about her return to "the states". This was a mental error on my part, which comes from living on the border of the US and Canada.
Also, though not an error, in the first chapter Craig states that he and his father lived "outside Toronto", which, obviously, is the setting of Degrassi itself. In this chapter, "outside Toronto" is meant to refer to far, far outside Toronto.

Thank you, Miss Natalya

*** As always, I own no Degrassi characters or the like, though Chloe Davidson and family are my intellectual property.

***

It took them longer than usual to arrive back at Chloe's house. Truthfully, it was a rather lovely night and both Craig and Chloe were enjoying the walk. When they finally arrived at their destination, Craig found that he was actually disappointed. He watched as Chloe climbed the front steps. She stopped halfway up, making them equal in height.
"Well, Chlo. Here we are." He said. Chloe nodded.
"Thank you, Craig. For everything. You're my knight in shining armor." She told him with a broad smile, kissing his cheek one last time before continuing up the stairs. She paused at the doorway. "Goodnight, Craig."
"Goodnight, Chloe." He replied, watching as the door closed behind her. Left alone on the dark street he heaved a sigh before setting off toward home. As he walked a soft rain began to fall, causing his dark hair to curl in his face. He brushed it away and walked faster. He finally arrived home and again tried his back door entrance. It appeared to work until he started down to his darkroom. When he reached the stairs, his father appeared out of nowhere.
"Where have you been, Craig?" He asked, glancing over his frightened son.
"I was at the party, Dad. Remember, the one at Jimmy Brooks'." His father nodded. "I'm going down to the darkroom."
A hand flew out and caught the side of his face before he even reached the first step. Craig turned to his father, holding his cheek in shock. In his father's other hand Craig saw it, his worse fears embodied in one moment. His father had it, his photo album, the secret one he kept hidden in a drawer in his darkroom. It was the album filled with pictures, ones he had printed of his "perfect family". He could feel the color drain from his face as his father struck him across the chest with the book.
"What is this, Craig? Some sort of sick joke?" He asked, striking his son again as Craig backed up against the wall, curling against the hail of blows in a futile attempt to protect himself. He was struck several more times before he had backed as far as the main staircase. Without another thought Craig took off up the stairs, stumbling several times before reaching his room. He slammed the door shut behind him, locking all four locks. His father appeared on the other side of the door, pounding furiously on the thick wood. For once in his life, Craig thanked the architect. Finally, the pounding died away and he could hear his father's heavy breathing. After a minute or two all was silent and Craig fell down on the bed.
There was no way he could sleep in the same house with the man who had just left him bleeding, so without a plan Craig climbed out his window and into the nearby tree. He shimmied to the ground and set off down the road.

The clock on the wall read 12:33 and Chloe was still awake. Setting down her glass of water on the end table she turned off the harsh overhead light. Moving with swift deftness she lit several nearby candles, bathing the room in a warm glow. Outside, the rain fell on the balcony.
Suddenly, Chloe was aware of a presence outside her window. She jumped at first, then recognized the form as a very wet Craig. Moving quickly across the room she drew him in, through the doors and into the paltry light, where he dripped on the cool tile floor.
"Craig, what on earth are you doing here?" She asked, crossing the room to the bathroom, where she gathered a large clean bath towel. He remained silent for a moment before Chloe noticed the blood. His shirt was soaked with it, apparently having dripped from the cut above his eye and on his lip.
"Chlo, I'm sorry it's so late. I didn't know where else to go." He tried to explain, but tears quickly started to form in his eyes.
"Don't worry about it. What happened?" She asked, unbuttoning his shirt and sliding it off his slender shoulders. It was then that she was confronted with the extensively budding bruises that covered almost all of Craig's upper body. "Oh Craig."
"I fell." He replied simply and unconvincingly. Chloe shook her head.
"Do you think I'm stupid, Craig? I can't believe he would do something like this." She said, dabbing his cuts with a facial tissue and drying his hair with the towel. She left for a moment to find him a set of dry clothes. When she returned she found him gazing intently at a picture on her bureau. She approached him silently from behind and saw what he was looking at.
It was a picture taken when they were young, neither of them older than seven. They had just come back from a day at the beach, and were sitting on the front steps with their arms around each other. They looked sun kissed and sandy, but most of all they just looked happy.
"These are Cam's, they'll probably be too big, but they're dry at least." Chloe spoke without preamble, causing Craig to jump. He turned slowly and offered a weak smile as he accepted the weathered Pearl Jam tee shirt and Lacrosse shorts. After a quick stop in the bathroom to change Craig reentered the room and found Chloe curled up in her bed, leopard print blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders. There was an old TV in the corner, and a movie flickered on it. Craig quickly realized it was Breakfast at Tiffany's, Chloe's favorite. He crossed the room and crawled into the bed next to her.
Together they snuggled until the candles died away. The movie played on, but Craig found it increasingly hard to keep his eyes open. As Audrey Hepburn began to search for her cat, he looked over to find Chloe's head drooped on his shoulder, her eyes closed. Reaching for the nearby remote, he clicked the film to a stop and drifted off to sleep.