Promises Made

They had walked the rest of the way to the house in silence. Dominic just absorbed all that Tianna had confided in him. He couldn't believe that so many horrible things had happened to her. Despite that, he had a new respect for her, she had survived all that, was still surviving. She had strength, whether she acknowledged it or not, and he adored her for it.

Dominic noticed that Tia's pace had slowed considerably, and she was limping. Their earlier game of cat and mouse had put too much pressure on her ankle, he could also see spots of red showing through the bandages on her hand and shoulder. "Time to change those," Dominic said helping Tianna up the front steps and into the house.

"No digging around in my shoulder this time, okay?"

"I promise no digging, but I'll have to clean the area again." He chuckled softly when Tia scrunched her nose up in disgust. "Don't worry, Princess. I stole some Peroxide on the way out of the store."

"You stole from your own store?"

"Yes, I did. Now let's go, up the stairs with you." Dominic let Tia climb up the stairs on her own, helping her only when she slipped a little. He knew she felt weaker with the injuries, and knew she'd need to prove her strength, more to herself than anyone else. Once they got into the bathroom though, he did help her up onto the counter. "Let's take a look at these wounds."

"Shoulder or knuckles first?" Tia asked, quietly observing Dominic with mild curiosity. She wanted to know what it was about him, that made her feel the way that she did.

"Shoulder," Dom replied and slid the strap-like sleeve of the tank top off her shoulder. Then slowly he pulled the bandage from the wound, looking up when Tia winced, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, keep going before I decide to look at it," Tia had her gaze locked on Dominic, despite the slightly oozing feeling at her shoulder.

Dom chuckled and wet a cotton ball with the peroxide, then wiped it around the bullet hole. He frowned at how much it bubbled up, but at least the stuff was doing it's job. Dominic had to repeat the process three more times before it stopped bubbling, but afterwards had covered it again with a fresh bandage. "Knuckles now."

Tianna, with out hesitation, held her right hand out to Dominic. She wasn't so wary of his touch, nor his cleaning her wounds. He wasn't a doctor, and he wasn't going to hurt her. She was learning that now. Slowly, but she was learning it.

Dom smiled comfortingly at the pink-haired woman, and unwrapped her knuckles. Once over the wounds with the Peroxide was enough, and he soon had them wrapped up with clean bandages. "Do you want me to re-wrap your ankle?"

Tia nodded, and while he was carefully slipping the boot off her right foot, she spoke, "Dominic, you wont tell Ro, will you?" She chewed her lip lightly, "You wont tell him what I told you."

"Not if you don't want me to, but doesn't he already know?" The tan Ace bandage was unwound, then wrapped snugly back around Tia's ankle.

"I don't want you to, and no, actually, he doesn't know-- not all of it at least." Those sad blue eyes caught Dominic's gaze and held it for a moment. "He doesn't know I was in the institution, and he doesn't know about Mommy, and he really doesn't know that something about you. Please don't tell him. Promise you wont."

Dominic was silent as he slid the little metal clips into the tan fabric, they held the bandage in place with out having to tie any knots. For a moment he just stared into her eyes, and slowly began to feel the weight she must be carrying, began to feel the weight he carried now. She'd confided in him, and told him things even her own brother didn't know. He could see the fear in her eyes at the mere thought of Ro finding out more about her past. "I promise. I know what it's like to be caged, you finally get out and you don't want anyone to know the hell you went through. Don't want them to think badly of you, or say anything hurtful." He saw the fear turn into curiosity, and continued, "A few years back, I nearly beat a guy to death with a torque wrench. I had only meant to hit him once, which I suppose isn't any better than the many times I did hit him. I just couldn't stop. All I could think about was the vision of my dad's car being sent slamming straight into the wall after being hit by this guy. The tanks blowing and my dad screaming." Dominic looked at the floor quickly then brought his gaze back up to Tia's, "I spent two years in Lompoc...."

He didn't give Tia a chance to reply to that, just helped her down off the sink counter and offered her a warm smile, "What do you want to do know, Princess?" He asked as they walked out of the bathroom, but instead of following Tia towards the stairs, he followed her down the hallway toward his room. "Princess?"

"I want to snoop," she laughed lightly, but it was forced. She wanted to moved her mind to happier thoughts, but all she could think about was the story she'd told Dominic, the way he made her feel, the compassion she felt for him when he told her briefly about his past, it was making her crazy. It was too much for her to try and work out. She'd been strong for so long, she'd been hard, cold-hearted, and emotionless.

She walked into his room and memorized it in a glance-- the bed was parallel to the window, bumped up right next to the wall, and two dressers. One dresser was tall, had six drawers and was on the same wall as the door, the other only had four drawers, but there was a mirror on top. Tia supposed men had to look at themselves too. The closet was by the mirrored dresser. The other wall didn't have anything on it. There were only two pictures in the room, and both were on the tall dresser: one was of Mia and Dominic, the other was of a man, she supposed it was his dad, with a black Charger. The room in general was a typical man room: off-white walls, grayish-blue carpet. The only difference was this one was clean.

Tia's mind wandered to darker thoughts; she would've liked to have a room like this one. The only room she'd ever had was the walk-in closet in Aidan's bedroom. She slept on a cot, and had a small toy chest for her clothes-- she certainly didn't have any toys to go in it. That was all there was room for. Yes, she would've loved to have a room like Dominic's.

"Tia?" Dominic's face showed concern, Tianna had been silent for nearly three minutes, and he'd seen the sadness, that was in her eyes when she came out of the bathroom, disappear as she entered his room, then after a brief interlude, come back again full force. "What's wrong, Princess?"

"It's my turn to ask the question...," Tianna replied softly, with a forced hint of humor.

"Ask it, anything you want."

She looked up at him and her eyes showed the sign of tears she fought to keep back, "If I were to break, into a million pieces, just shatter on the spot, would you hold me until the wind came to blow the ashes of my existence into whatever oblivion awaits me?"

Dominic was stunned. What she'd said was poetic and beautiful, all while just tearing straight through him. "I would.... Then I'd go around with my little bag of hope trying to find all your pieces and put you back together again." Dom watched as slowly one tear at a time, fell from those intense blue eyes, and her body shook almost violently at her struggle to keep them back. Then when she collapsed onto the floor, body writhing with sobs, he went down with her and pulled her into his arms. After, she angrily tried to wipe the tears away, because she was furious with the fact that she was crying. "Stop, stop," Dominic pulled her hands down, worried she'd hurt herself with as hard as she was trying to rub out those tears, "Cry, it's okay. There was no way you could have kept it in forever."

Tianna's pink hair was falling from the elastic that had held it back, and there was a thin line of black trailing down her cheek; waterproof mascara wasn't tear proof. Her small, shaking hands had a death grip on Dominic's T-shirt. She felt he was the only thing keeping her grounded. Her face was buried in the crook of his neck, and the only sound that broke through her sobbing was his calming comforts. "I don't...want...to do it anymore. I can't," her sentence was broken with cries.

Dominic's heart broke, and he pulled her into a strong hug. Then stood and slipped an arm under her for support. "You have to do it. You have to stay strong, but you don't have to do it alone anymore." His comment had slowed her tears and steadied her sobbing some. When she looked at him with those soul windows he continued, "I'll be with you. I wont ever leave. I'll always be there for you-- to hold you when you cry, to protect you, to keep you safe from all that might hurt you. So you listen to me, Princess, you have got to stay strong for me. Do you hear me? You stay strong, okay?"

Tianna sniffed, and wiped away tears from her red cheeks. She appeared so child-like, so wounded. She wrapped her arms around Dominic's neck and rested her head on his shoulder. Then in a soft voice spoke, "I want to take a nap."

Dominic chuckled, he figured that was as close as he was getting to an affirmative answer from her. "Sure thing, Princess," Dom said as he pulled back the covers to his bed, and then carefully, as if she were some fragile thing, laid her on the bed. He removed her other boot, then pulled the covers up to her shoulders, tucking her in. "How's that? Comfy?" When Tia nodded, he brushed a lock of hair from her face, and kissed her on the forehead, then turned to walk out of the room.

"NO! No, no, no!" Tia cried after him, tear slipping just a little faster from her eyes, burning another trail down her cheek.

Dominic was quickly back at Tianna's side, concern filling him, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Tia's shaking hands grabbed onto Dominic's shirt and she looked up at him with pleading eyes, "You said you wouldn't leave...," her cracked spirit could be heard in her voice.

If it could've, Dominic's heart would've broken all over again. He stayed silent for a moment, then sat on the edge of the bed and slid off his brown work boots. Dom looked into those tear-filled eyes once more, before scooting himself under the covers and propping himself up against his pillows. "I promise I'm not going anywhere," he opened his arms to the girl, "Now come here, and we'll get that nap okay?"

Tia nodded, and curled up next to Dominic. Her shoulder rested in the crook of his arm, and her head against his shoulder. Her hands stayed balled up in his T-shirt, fearing at any moment he might leave her. With Dominic's arms wrapped protectively around her, it didn't take long for her to fall into sleep. The sleep however didn't stop the flow of tears.

Dominic spoke softly to Tia, and to himself, as she slept. "You are going to cry yourself dry, Princess," his voice was just above a whisper. "You don't have to be strong anymore, you don't have to hide, you don't have to be afraid. I'll be strong for you, and I promise I'll protect you from the monsters you hide from, the ones that are real and the ones still in your head. I promise, unconditionally, to beat down, all that frightens you, until there is nothing else to be afraid of." Dominic snuggled down a little into the bed, careful not to move Tianna from her position, and pulled the covers better up over their bodies. "You have me now, Princess, and I will stop the world from spinning if you want me to..."