A/N: Thank you for all the reviews people! I was having a little trouble with this chapter but I still managed to post it with in five days. I'm happy! I want to say thank you to falcon's my daddy and kylie1403! You guys both helped me out a lot with this chapter. Thanks! Oh and the past is in italics.

Laci fell asleep the second she laid down. She was awoken the next morning by a set of footsteps approaching the sofa bed.

The footsteps got closer and closer until Laci could sense that somebody was standing over her. She kept her back to the person, afraid that it would be Rich, and pretended to be asleep hoping that whoever it was would just leave, but instead she got a tap on her shoulder. Laci jumped and looked up at the man. It was just Luke.

Laci left out a sigh of relief before realizing that the sun was up which meant that it was well into the morning. She was supposed to be home at 1:30 last night. She was at least five hours late. Rich was going to kill her, not literally.

Laci began to gather her things, not acknowledging Luke's presence or the fact that her bruises had gotten a lot worse over night. Luke just stood there wondering what was going on. It took him a while to take everything. He had just found his bruised up daughter asleep in his office with her newborn son asleep in his car seat. To say the least, Luke was at a loss of words. Laci had begun to move to the door when Luke started to talk.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I…um…I…" Laci began to search of the right lie to tell. "I…I…I came to see Rory. I stayed at her house well past ten and I was too tired to drive home, so I came here. I have to go though. Rich was expecting me at seven."

"Well, you have time then. It's only six fifth teen."

"I'm sorry…I really have to go."

Laci continued walking to the door but Luke stepped in front of it to block Laci from leaving. He couldn't help but stare at the bruises and hand prints that were all over her neck. Laci noticed her father looking at her neck and quickly turned away.

"What happened, Lace? Not only your neck, but you're limping too! What's going on?"

"I fell down the stairs yesterday and Rich tried to save me."

"So he grabbed your neck? That doesn't make sense. Why would he grab your neck? I don't get it. Why not your arm?"

"I fell head first. My arms were to far away to grab." Laci lied again.

"You just told me that he grabbed your neck, if you fell head first he wouldn't have been able to grab your neck."

"Yes he would, because…" Laci fished for yet another lie.

"No he wouldn't! If you fell head first, he would have grabbed your ankle!" Luke raised his voice.

"Dad! Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry. I won't do it again, I swear!" Laci cried out.

"Laci…I have never laid a hand on you. What makes you think that I would start now?"

"Please, daddy….don't hurt me. I'll do anything. Please!"

"Laci, what…"

Laci had made her way over the couch and was crying hysterically. Luke went over to comfort her but that just made her move over to the corner of the room. He sat there staring at her. He felt useless, yet he was her dad and he was supposed to be able to fix anything and everything.

Luke thought back to his on childhood and how his dad did fix everything. When he fell off his bike and scrapped his knee, his dad would fix his 'boo-boo'. When Luke got his first broken heart at thirteen, his dad was there to fix it. He only wished that he could do the same for his daughter.

Then Luke thought about Liz and how his dad fixed everything for her too! He fixed her Barbie jeep when the wheels fell off. He pulled out her very first loose tooth because it was hurting her too much. He even helped her get over all of her many boyfriends. Something about the words Liz and boyfriend in the same sentence sparked something in

Luke's mind. He started to remember his father yelling at Liz for staying out all night.

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Luke was sitting at the kitchen table eating his oatmeal when Liz tried to sneak in through the back the door. The door was locked and Luke pretended like he didn't see her there.

He didn't really feel like covering for her anymore. He was always covering for her, especially since she started dating this new guy, Steve.

Luke could tell that Steve was bad news from the beginning. Whenever Liz was with him she acted different, not a good different either. Steve acted like he was Liz's body guard. Nobody was allowed near her when he was with her, and she actually agreed to that! She never left his side and when she had to go to the bathroom, she asked him for permission!

Liz came around to the front door and found that one locked too. Luke continued eating his breakfast as if nothing was happening. He found this whole thing amusing and couldn't help but laugh. He knew her routine all to well. In two minutes and ten seconds Liz would appear at the back door in hopes that it was now unlocked. Luke finished the last of his oatmeal and went upstairs. He wanted to make sure that he was no where to be seen when Liz went around back for the second time that morning.

While Luke was getting dressed, he heard his dad go down the stairs. He opened the door just a crack to find his dad dressed in his usual clothing, a flannel shirt with jeans and a baseball cap. Luke couldn't help but laugh knowing that any second his sister would go to the back door and knock softly thinking that their dad was Luke. As Luke finished getting dressed he heard the little knock. That knock was all too familiar. He hurried himself to the stairs and sat down on the top step preparing for his dad's lecture towards Liz.

The door opened and silence filled the air. Luke put his back against the wall getting ready for the show that was about to begin. He could hear his father tell Liz to sit down at the table. He didn't sound mad, but he didn't sound happy. He sounded more along the lines of disappointed. Parents were always disappointed in Luke's mind. He continued listening but didn't hear anything. Then as if on cue, his dad began to talk.

"Liz, again? Where were you this time?"

"What do you mean, again? It's not like I'm always out all night."

"You have stayed out all night at least eight times in the past three weeks, ever since you started dating Steve. Liz, I'm trying to be serious here. Could you please take your sunglasses off? It's not even sunny outside." William paused and waited for Liz to remove the sunglasses. He stared at her until she took them off. "Thank you, Liz. Now as I was saying…Liz! Who did you get into a fight with this time?" William raised his voice.

"Dad, please…"

"Please, what? Every time you hang out with Steve you come home all bruised up and every time you tell me that you got into a fight with someone and every time it's a different someone. Who is it today?" William's voice grew louder with each word he said. He wasn't one for discipline but Liz had come home late to many times, and he couldn't take it anymore.

"Daddy, I'm sorry. I won't do it again. I promise."

William approached his daughter, only to find that she stepped back. She walked over to the corner of the kitchen and leaned against the wall. She was crying hysterically. By this point, Luke had made his way downstairs and was listening from the other room. William attempted to sit next to Liz but that only made things worse.

Liz got up and walked to the other side of the kitchen. William remained where he was and followed his daughter with his eyes. He watched as she took some ice out of the freezer and sat on top of the counter.

"Dad, please don't hurt me. I swear I will never stay out late again. I'm sorry. I really am." Liz continued to cry.

William got up and walked over to Liz and sat down next to her on the counter. She quickly hopped off and walked over to the table. William's heart was breaking. His own daughter didn't trust him enough to allow him to sit next to her. Sure he was mad, but he would never hurt her.

"Dad, stay there! Don't come any closer! I'm sorry, just please…"

"Liz, does…does he…did Steve, did Steve do this to you?" William struggled to get that out, he hated seeing his only daughter like this.

"Y…yes. Please don't tell anyone! Please! I promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone!"

"Elizabeth we have to tell somebody. We need to go to the cops. We need to go to the cops and get him in trouble and then we need to get a restraining order against him! Why don't you go get cleaned up and then I'll take you over to the police station and you can tell them everything, okay?"

"Could you come with me? I don't want to do this alone."

"Of course I'll come in with you. I'll be there with you the whole time."

"Thanks, Dad."

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"Laci, is he…he…did he do this to you? Did he push you down the stairs?" Luke asked as sympathetically as he could.

"No! Just because you don't like him doesn't mean that he did this to me! I told you already. I tripped over Landon's swing and landed on a few books." Laci continued to cry.

"That's not what you said before. Before you said that you fell down the stairs."

"Daddy!" Laci ran over to Luke and wrapped her arms around his body. He felt like a flannel teddy bear that was made just for her protection.

"Its okay, Laci. It's okay."

Luke comforted his daughter until she was settled down. Once the crying had stopped, Luke checked her bruises to make sure there wasn't too much harm done. Although he wasn't a doctor he did know that the neck is one of the worse places that Rich could have hurt her.

"You want some breakfast, Lace?"

"No. I really need to get home. I'm really late and Rich is going to get mad as it is."

"You're not going back there. Are you crazy! I'm sorry Laci; I didn't mean to raise my voice."

"I know. I have to go back. It's something that I need to do. I don't want to move out just yet but I promise if he gets worse I'll move back home, no buts about it."

"Laci, I can't let you go back there. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that you're in danger."

"I have to. I'm sorry. Look, Landon is waking up. I don't know how he has lasted this long with out being fed, but he has. I have to go. I'm sorry."

"Okay, but you have to promise me that you will call me at least once a day, if not more."

"Fine. I'll see you later, Dad."

"And Laci?"

"Hmm?"

"I expect you to visit me at least once a week, if not more."

"Okay, Dad."

"I love you Laci. Please be careful."

"I love you too, Dad. Promise me you won't tell anyone?"

"I promise."

Laci drove to her apartment that she shared with Rich. The ride seemed like it took three hours when in reality it only took twenty minutes. She walked inside and placed Landon's car seat on the floor and searched the whole apartment for Rich. She didn't find him anywhere so she went into the living room to feed the baby. As she was bending over to take him out of his seat, she felt a shadow lean over her. The shadow belonged to Rich.

"Where the hell were you!" Rich yelled.

"I…I'm…I'm sorry. I lost track of time. Landon didn't wake me up. He was supposed to wake me up. He always wakes up at 12:30 to eat but he didn't last night. He slept the whole night through, so I did too. I'm sorry." Laci pleaded.

"You better be." Rich raised his hand to Laci.

"Please Rich, not now. I beg you. I'll do anything."

"Fine. I want you to make love to me." Rich continued to hold his hand as if ready to slap but Laci was blocking it out for the time being.

"What?" Laci asked.

"I want you to make love to me."

Laci pondered whether making love was better then getting slapped around. After a few seconds Laci saw Rich's hand begin to approach her face. She started to panic and screamed out "Alright! I'll do it. I'll have sex with you."

"I want it every day this week." Rich lowered his hand.

"I can't…sure. Every day sounds good." Laci lied for what seemed like the tenth time that day.

"Good. Let's go."

"What about protection?" Laci asked hesitantly.

"Screw protection! We don't need it."

"Okay."

Laci and Rich moved into the bedroom. After what seemed like an eternity, they were finally finished and Rich had left to go to work. Laci was extremely sore but she managed to go about her regular day. She started with feeding Landon and then bathing him. Then she cleaned up the mess that Rich had made the night before with 'the guys'. During her free time she phoned Luke to tell him that everything was okay and to thank him. At three, Rich came home and for once he left Laci alone. Things were starting to look up for Laci, they really were.

A/N: Okay so I know that a one month old baby can't go nine hours with out eating (my one month old niece eats every two to three hours) but I figured if the baby woke up then Laci would and then we wouldn't get a Luke/Laci confrontation and everyone wanted that so. I hope you all liked it. Oh and for all of you who I have told what is going to happen, it didn't happen in this chapter. If it is going to happen it won't happen for two more months.

Don't forget to review! Thanks!