It went on for over a week. Every night, Anthony would climb up to Maurice's room, lock the poor child in the cold, dark closet, and hurry off to find Rose.

Moe had been getting smarter. He started hiding things in the closet. A pillow, a blanket, even a water bottle. One afternoon, Maurice had even uncovered a flashlight in the mudroom. He had buried it under his blanket and Tessy Bear in the back of his closet.

Today, Ma was working again. She had never even suspected a thing as a poor bedraggled Maurice trudged downstairs that morning. Her hair unusually spread on her forehead, more make-up on than normal, she distractedly kissed the boys good-bye, and hurried off to work. Mikey had keep munching on his cereal, not noticing any of the differences. Maurice, on the other hand, had noticed. Ma looked nervous when she left, just like he felt. Dad wasn't hurting Ma, was he? Why would he hurt her? But when Ma had pulled on her coat, her shirt had raised slightly, Maurice had caught sight of a group of blue and purple bruises. Ma had quickly yanked her shirt down again, but Maurice had seen.

Right now, Mikey was happily toting snow all over the yard. Tess had come over, and they were helping Mikey make a snow fort. Maurice, though, didn't feel happy. He didn't look happy either. He was plodding along tiredly. He had been able to sleep a little bit in the closet, only because he could barely hold his eyes open any longer. But he had awoken moments later, shivering and wondering what the noises he could hear outside his room were.
# # #

Something was wrong with Moe.

Tess snuck glances over at her best friend. Moe looked tired, stiff, and just plain old unhappy.

She waited until she could wait no longer, and still she waited until Mikey was piling snow across the yard, far out of earshot.

It took some convincing for Moe to 'spill the beans'. With spurts and swallows, and having Moe near tears, the story came out. A huge anger boiled inside of Tess. How could someone do something like that to Moe? He never did anything to deserve this. Just last week, he'd jumped in front of Vinnie Spedaro when a group of guys were going to beat him up.

Tess's eyes glazed over, and it frightened Moe that he could no longer read her expression. She picked up the metal shovel that lay at her feet. Moe's eyes widened, what was she doing? She looked as if she was going to swing the shovel, and he was in its direct path. He tightened his shoulders and scrunched his eyes shut. What was she doing? She was supposed to help him, not hit him! She was his best friend!

Moe's eyes popped open as he heard a loud crack. He watched in disbelief as the trellis broke and the pieces fell to the snow. Tess dropped the shovel and looked down at where he sat in the cold snow.

" He won't be getting in anymore," She said quietly. Then she dropped onto her knees beside him, putting her arms around her, " Not anymore Moe."

Mikey came thundering over, and wormed his way into the hug, putting his small arms around both of them.

" Hug me too," Mikey pleaded, " Hug me too."

Maurice held tightly to his best friend and his baby brother. Tess was smart, he had never thought of getting rid of the trellis. He was sorry he had ever doubted her. Though he wasn't sure the trellis being gone would stop Dad's coming around, it may be the solution to the closet problem.

" Thank-you Tessa," He whispered in her ear.

" I love you Moe," She whispered back.

He didn't have to answer. She already knew exactly how he felt. And she would always be there for him. That was just the kind of friend Tessa was. And she always would be.

Finis

Here's the end! I'm sorry it took so long for this to be finished. My muse took a prolonged vacation with this fic. Hope you enjoyed it! R &R!

By the way, for anyone who doesn't know, a mudroom can also refer to a porch. :D