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She hid herself in a bush. She knew Johnny wouldn't go home without her. She froze when she heard someone come around the corner. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was just Peter. He had a food bowl in his hand. She looked ahead to where he was going. He was headed to a slightly large pen that housed two beagle pups. She smiled happily as Peter bent down and petted the creatures while talking softly to them.

Just as she was about to crawl out, a very over heated Johnny ran into the yard. "Have you seen…a girl…Amelia MacFarlene?" he asked breathlessly.

Amelia went completely still. Peter stood up to full height. "And who are you?" he asked.

"Johnny McDuff," he replied. The dogs started growling at him. " A lady down the street said she ran into this yard," Johnny said.

"Sorry…she hasn't been here since Monday," Peter said.

"Do you know where she would've went then um um?" he asked

"Peter," he said," And I'd try the park. She could've cut through here to get there."

"Thank you, Peter," Johnny said heading through the gate. Peter waited until he was completely gone. He then walked to the bush he thought he saw move earlier. He squatted down in front of it," Ok, come out."

She crawled out making sure her skirt didn't catch. "Is that a slap mark?" he asked.

"How'd you know?" she asked.

"Susan packs a pretty hard slap sometimes," Peter replied. "A mark she gave me didn't go away for hours."

She sat down in front of him examining her wrist. "He has a strong grip." she stated.

"So, that was him?" Peter asked.

"Yes, Johnny McDuff," she said.

"And he did that to your wrist," he said. Amelia went silent. Her skin was fairly thin, so you could see the bruises forming. He took her hand to examine it more closely. He frowned disapprovingly. "Tell me what happened," he said. So she told him everything that went on that day. He listened intently. His thoughts were interrupted by her hand on his cheek." I don't want to back," she said.

"You wont have to," he said, "Our bomb shelter is still up. It's not much but you can stay there for the night. I'll come out and join you later."

"Thank you Peter," she said kissing him lightly on the lips and getting up. She made her way towards the bomb shelter and disappeared behind the door. His dogs brought him back to reality. "Peter, do you plan to come inside any time soon?" Lucy called.

"Yeah," he called back in its cage .He looked back at the bomb shelter and disappeared inside. It was about ten o'clock when he snuck back out. Inside he found Amelia sleeping on one of the bottom beds. He smiled and made his way towards the other one, lay down, and fell asleep.

AN: Thanks again A Amelia Black for helping me on this.You've really been a big help.