Disclaimer: See Chapter 1, "Texas"

A/N: Just wanted to warn everyone that this chapter mentions rape. This was very hard for me to write and I'm not sure how well it turned out. It was mostly written at one am because that's when my inspiration struck. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I should have the next one up sometime next week because I have a midterm coming up and I need to study. Please review if you feel so inclined. Any and all advice is welcome. Thank you to everyone who has already reviewed this story. Also, a big thank you goes out to Heather who has started to beta this story for me and Stephanie who read this chapter over first when I was unsure about it. Well, enough from me. Enjoy!

Annie

After making sure Sara didn't want to join them, Nicky and John walked down the path to the beach. While they were there, John pointed out some cormorants and other bird species to his son. Nicky loved knowing all the names of the birds and was thrilled be able to identify new ones. They also went tide pooling and found four sea urchins, a starfish and a bunch of small crabs.

After a morning of playing at the beach, Nicky and John returned to the Blackthorn for a late lunch. Nicky was concerned about Sara. Being in a big family taught him how to read people and more than once saved him from the wrath of an angry sibling. Nicky quickly polished off his lunch and walked out of the lodge to find Sara. He soon found Sara swaying back and forth on the tire swing and staring out into space. He took a deep breath and headed over to talk with her.

"Hey Sara. I was wondering if you wanted to talk about earlier. I noticed that you seemed a bit scared when my dad mentioned coming down to the beach with us. Do you want to talk about it?" Nicky spoke softly to Sara.

"It was nothing Nicky. I'm over it now. I just wanted to help my parents." Sara said sharply.

"If it was nothing, why are you sitting here all alone not even playing on the tire swing? Come sit and tell me." Nicky said.

With that, Sara climbed off the swing and she and Nicky sat together with their backs resting on the giant willow tree.

Sara paused for a few moments to collect her thoughts before beginning. As they sat, Sara recounted her horrifying tale...

About a year ago, her mom had asked her to bring towels to a man staying in the lodge. When she came to the door, he grabbed her and brought her into his room. He threw her on the bed and attempted to take off her clothes and rape her, but her mother came in before he was able to get Sara's clothes off. He shifted his attention away from Sara and onto her mother. He grabbed Anna, held her down, and raped her as Sara sat crying in the corner. After that, he passed out and the two ran out of the room. Anna had told her husband about it, but he was the only other person that knew. He threatened the man and left it at that. Together David and Anna decided not to involve anyone, including the police, because it would damage the business. Sara knew the police should know about the horrible man, but her parents' word was final. However, this created a slow but ever-growing rift between Sara and her parents. She always worried about the impact of letting this man go free.

As Sara finished her tale, she had tears streaming down her face. She had refused to look at Nicky while telling her story out of shame. But his sniffling caught her attention and she carefully looked at his face and saw that he too was crying. Together their eyes connected as Nicky brought Sara into a hug. He took a deep breath before starting to talk.

"Sara, its ok. Shhhh. Stop crying. Its okay." Nicky said softly

Sara replied with a sob, "But Nicky, I didn't tell anyone. What if he goes and hurts someone else. It will be all my fault. All because I was too scared. And what if my parents found out I told you. They'd hate me." With that, she began crying again.

Nicky looked at her carefully and said, "Sara, its not your fault. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone..." His sentence trailed off as he gathered his thoughts. "Sara, I have a confession to make too. I've never told anyone else before."

Sara glanced over at Nicky and gave him a hug before allowing him to continue.

"You know how your mom invited me to stay with you guys during the day while my dad went into his office. There was a reason...

Nicky remembered the day almost four months ago like it was yesterday. His parents had wanted to go out for their anniversary. All his siblings had made plans already. They tried calling a few of their children's friends but none were available to watch Nicky. Finally, they found out that one of Hannah's friends had an older sister who was more than willing to come and watch the boy. The night was fun for Nicky as he played different games with his new sitter. But the fun ended once Nicky climbed into bed. His sitter came in and told Nicky he had been a very good boy and how he would be rewarded. She held him down and kept him quiet as she raped him. He never told his parents out of shame. He simply told them he never wanted that babysitter again and left it at that.

Nicky was broken out of his memory of the babysitter and her hands when he heard Sara crying. Together they cried for a while in each other's arms. Nicky soon collected his emotions and hid his pain as he had become accustomed to doing, but he realized Sara was taking a lot longer. He glanced around for something to cheer her up when inspiration hit.

"Sara, can I leave you for a minute. I'll be right back."

Sara slowly nodded and released Nicky from her arms. He got up and ran around to the flower garden. He remembered that whenever his mother had had a hard day or something made her cry, his father always brought her a large bouquet of flowers, most often roses. Nicky looked around to see what flowers were blooming at the time. Unfortunately, none of the rose bushes had any blooms. But there was one flower that stood out, a bright yellow tulip was standing tall and alone off to one side.

Nicky carefully picked it and ran back to Sara. He walked up to her with the flower behind his back. "Here, this is for you." Nicky said as he brought the tulip out from behind his back. "I was looking for a rose because that's why my dad always brings my mom, but there weren't any. I thought you might like this instead."

Sara smiled and blushed as she took the tulip from Nicky's hand. "Thank you," she said before leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

The pair sat back down and reflected on the new information they learned about the other person. Both were hurting for the other and shocked that the person sitting beside them knew the same pain. Before they knew it, it was time for dinner. Rather than going to the dining room right away, Sara split up from Nicky and ran to her room. She carefully hung the flower upside down to preserve it as she had seen her mother do with other flowers. She smiled as she walked down to the lodge for dinner. Sara and Nicky's healing had begun.