Disclaimer: Nope, don't own anything…..Well; I guess making up Nick's sister and her ex-boyfriend's names is my doing.

Note: Thought about giving Nick's sister the same name I gave her in To Myself I Turned, but decided against it, since that might suggest this story and that one are connected, which they aren't. So, new name!

---

I see the way you go and say you're right again,
say you're right again
heed my lecture

Nick walked into his house. After he and Vida had looked in on Ben and Madison, he had left. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or not at seeing Ben lying in bed with Madison and holding her closely. But, a part of him did feel better at knowing he wasn't hurting her…….almost. He half expected to see Ben hurting her. Visions of that New Years Eve all those years ago filled his mind, except now he could do more than just tell him to stop. He would've busted in the room and made him stop. He would've hurt him, give him a taste of his own medicine.

"Nick? Is that you?" He heard his sister call from the kitchen. Nick laughed lightly.

"Who else could it be?" He asked as he walked in the kitchen. He found his sister standing by the stove, stirring something in a skillet with a spatula. She looked at him and smiled.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe the man of my dreams magically entered the house and was coming to sweep me off my feet," she joked. Nick gave her a smile. "You hungry? I'm making some Hamburger Helper,"

"Yeah," he said.

"All right, set the table," she said. Nick rolled his eyes as he went to gather plates for the dining room table.

"Amy, I don't get why we need to set the table. It's just the two of us. Why don't we just each grab our own necessities?"

"Because we are civilized human beings and our dinner table will be set," she said. Nick rolled his eyes and did as he was told.

"Okay, mom," he joked. Amy fixed him with a playful glare as she whipped out the spatula from the skillet and pointed it at him.

"Hey, I am not mom," she said, sauce from the meal she was cooking dripping off the cooking instrument and splattering on the floor.

"Right," Nick said. "Mom would make me set out doilies," he said.

"Exactly," Amy replied.

"You're dripping," Nick pointed out. Some time later, both brother and sister sat at the table eating their dinner. "Hey, Amy?" Nick asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever think about that guy?" He asked.

"What guy?"

"That guy……..from when you were in college…….you know…..the one……" He paused, unsure how to say the words.

"Theo?" Amy asked. Her eyebrows rose up gently.

"Yeah….do you?" He asked. Amy looked down at her plate, picking at her food with her fork. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" Nick sighed. "That was terrible of me," he said.

"No, no, Nicky," she said, looking up at him. "No, its okay. I'm just….surprised you asked about him. It's been almost ten years."

"I'm sorry," Nick said, apologizing.

"Don't be sorry," she said, giving him a smile. "I'm okay. I've long since passed the time that talking about him puts me in some weepy state or something." She sat back. "Do I think about him? Sometimes," she admitted. "I spent over a year with that guy and all his issues, so it's hard to just completely forget about it. Am I still distraught over the situation? No. I see it as sort of…….a mistake that I made and I learned from it." She looked at him. "Anyway, what brought this on?" She asked. Nick looked down.

"I don't know……I guess I've been thinking about it lately," he admitted.

"Why?"

"Well, I have this friend who-"

"Is this one of those things were you say your friend has a problem, but 'friend' is just code for you and in reality you're the one with the problem but you just don't want talk about it?" She asked. Nick laughed.

"No, this really is about my friend," he said.

"All right, go on," she said.

"Well……this friend, she…"

"Oooh, a girl, I'm definitely listening now," Amy smirked. Nick gave her a look. "Okay, okay, sorry."

"Like I was saying, she's got this boyfriend," he said. "And…….I don't know, ever since I met him I just got……..a weird vibe from him…….and……she and this guy have been together for a few months already. Anyway, for the past…maybe two months or so, she's been seeming to have these sort of 'accidents'," he said, bringing his hands up and twitching his fingers into air quotes.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"Well, she shows up with a bruise or a cut or something, and if someone asks her about it, she says she fell down…..or bumped into something…"

"You guys think it's the boyfriend?" Amy asked. "Nick, what's the girl's name? Do you want me to talk to her parents or something?"

"No, no, I……I don't know," Nick said. "These past few days, I've been feeling pretty sure that that was the case. We all got in a fight yesterday because of it," he said. "Two of her friends and her sister didn't think that was going on and she told me that wasn't going on……only with elevated voice tones and a few glares thrown here and there. And…..I don't know…….I was over at her house earlier and her sister and I went to check on her and the boyfriend and things seemed to be going okay……So…..I really don't know what's going on. I mean…could it be happening? Am I just….I mean, is she just becoming a bit more accident prone, but…I'm remembering what happened to you and my head is blowing it all of proportion? Or.."

"Or what?"

"Well, they all seem to think I'm just jealous,"

"Jealous?"

"There might be a slight possibility I might see this girl as more than a friend,"

"Ah," Amy said.

"So, I don't know, is this all just in my head?" Nick asked. Amy put her elbows up on the table and bridged her hands by her mouth.

"Hmm," she said. "To be honest, I can't say," she said. "I mean, have you ever seen him hurt her?"

"No," Nick said. "Never."

"Has he ever said anything bad to her?"

"Like what?" Nick asked.

"Like, insulted her, or put her down?" Amy looked down. "Theo did that, he used to say…well, nothing I care to repeat, but let's just say they were things I wouldn't even say to my worst enemy."

"Well, no," Nick said. "At least not that I've seen……….but he hangs around a lot…..where we work…..and she seems...different….kind of withdrawn….reserved. I mean, Madison's never been incredibly outgoing or anything but still,"

"Madison?" Amy asked. "Madison…….as in the girl you met when you first got here and haven't stopped talking about since?" Amy grinned. Nick rolled his eyes.

"Amy, please, can we save the tease the little brother routine for later?"

"All right, I'm sorry," she said. She sighed. "He might just be insecure and possessive…….not that the latter's a good thing,"

"Was Theo possessive?'

"Oh yeah," Amy said, remembering back to that time. "That led into every thing else……When we first got together, I was so enamored by everything. I mean, a junior, noticing a lowly freshman like me was pretty major. By the time everything else started….I just…didn't know how to get away. Most of the people I had met at school were through him. I didn't want to be all alone and without friends," she sighed. "He'd tell me he loved me." Nick had been just about to put his fork in his mouth and stopped.

"He what?" Nick asked.

"After…….ya know…..he'd say he was sorry, hug me, kiss me, and say he loved me, and I believed him. Pretty stupid, huh?" Nick's eyes narrowed.

"Wait, he'd do all that after he hit you?"

"Yeah…." Amy said. Nick quickly jumped to his feet as if a bolt of lightening had struck the seat of his pants.

"Amy…..I left Madison alone with her boyfriend in her room….I was talking to Vida for a while before we checked on them…."

"Wait, Nick, just because that's what happened to me, doesn't mean……." She paused as she realized what he must've been thinking. "Nick," she said, trying to calm him down. "You can't blame yourself,"

"It's just like before!" Nick yelled, stomping off to the living room. Amy got up from the table and followed, finding him sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. "I left her alone with him. I knew I didn't trust him and I left her alone," he said. Amy gave her brother a sympathetic sigh and sat with him, rubbing his back. "She told me to leave and I just did……I should've stayed……I shouldn't have listened……..I should've told mom and dad…."

"Mom and dad?" Amy asked. She sighed again as realization dawned on her. She rested her head on his shoulder as she hugged him gently. "Nicky I never blamed you for that night, and you shouldn't either. I was scared. I saw him push you and I thought…I thought that he might hit you too," she said. Nick lifted his face from his hands and looked at her. "And as for telling mom and dad," she sat back a bit. "You were nine; I didn't expect you to do anything. It wasn't you're job to save me, kiddo. I needed to do that on my own. So, you need to ask yourself this, are you just creating this situation so you can save her, because of what happened to me?"

"I don't know," Nick said helplessly. "Something just doesn't feel right…..and that isn't just some jealousy thing."

"Then you should just keep looking out for her," Amy said. "Just be her friend and don't be overly judgmental about the guy. I ended up losing a lot of my own friends because of that. They'd try and tell me that Theo wasn't a nice guy, I'd get defensive and we'd stop talking. Just be there for her and look out for anything definite." She tightened her arms around him. "But don't beat yourself up about things like this. You can only help someone if they're willing to let themselves be helped. And if Madison is really going through this she's probably thinking she can fix this on her own right now. Eventually, she'll realize that she'll need help and that's when you can swoop in and be all gallant," she said, smiling.

"I don't like the whole eventually thing. Eventually just means she'll keep getting hurt,"

"I know," Amy said. "But, tell me, when you voiced your concerns, what happened?"

"She yelled at me, told me I should just leave town and butt out of her life,"

"So obviously the direct approach doesn't work," Amy pointed out. "Don't get me wrong, if she keeps getting these mysterious bruises, you forget the waiting game and swoop like a fricken kamakazi, understand?"

"Yeah," Nick said. "Is that what dad did?" Nick asked.

"What?"

"Is that what dad did when he found Theo…"

"Well, if you consider kicking the guy in the teeth swooping, then yes," Amy said.

"Go dad," Nick muttered.

"Nick, if she is going through this, once it's over, she's going to need you guys more than ever," Amy told him. "She's going to have moments of weakness where she'll try and go back to him or make herself believe it's her fault things went wrong. You need to be there for her and help her get through it,"

"Yeah," Nick said. He put a hand on her leg. "I'm sorry you went through all those things. I wish I-"

"Nick, don't go there. You were a kid back then. You did as much as you could and I'm happy that you tried to help me. Like I said, I don't blame you for anything," she said. She reached up and held his face in her hands. "Madison's lucky she has someone like you in her life," she told him. Nick smiled at his sister's praise.

---

Back at the Rocca house, Vida finally asked Ben to leave so that Madison could get some rest. He seemed hesitant at first but finally agreed. Vida had Madison eat a few bites of a sandwich she had made her before letting her sister fall asleep. The following morning, Vida woke up early and lay in bed, starring at her sister's sleeping form. She was glad that it was again Saturday, knowing that there was no way Madison could go to school in her condition. Vida slowly crept out of bed and knelt beside her sister's bed, gazing at her intently. A part of her still held onto that seed of doubt Nick had planted in her head even after the two of them saw Madison and Ben together. A part of Vida believed if she stared at her sister long enough some sort of answer would magically appear. A neon sign would emerge from behind Madison or maybe it would become written on her face. But there were no answers.

"Vida?" Vida blinked and looked at her sister, seeing she had just woken up. Vida smiled and put a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Hmm, much better to be honest," she said. "I guess those leaves really work,"

"Here, get on your stomach so I can see," Vida asked. Madison seemed reluctant at that. Maddie, I just want to make sure that your back's okay."

"Alright," Madison said. She turned onto her stomach and folded her arms underneath her pillow. Vida climbed up onto the bed and pulled back the covers before inching Madison's shirt up to her back. She saw the leaves on her sister's back had tried up in the night. They looked like three large dried flower petals attached to Madison's body. Vida carefully pulled the leaves off of her, making sure not to touch the bruise on her sister's back. Vida was happy to see that the redness around the bruise was gone, and the bruise itself had lost some of its dark ominous coloring. "How does it look?" Madison asked.

"Better," Vida said. She sat back as Madison turned over and sat up on the bed. Vida's brows furrowed as she saw a red mark on Madison's arm. "Did you have that yesterday?" She asked. Madison looked at her arm.

"Hmm, I must've…"

"Fallen down?" Vida asked, her mind expecting Madison's usual response to a question like that.

"No, I must've slept on my arm in a funny way last night,"

"Maddie, that's your left arm. You slept on your right side last night,"

"Vida, what's going on?" Madison asked. Vida blinked and shook her head.

"Nothing, I'm sorry," she said. "So, ready to head off to work?"

"Actually, I was thinking about taking the day off," Madison said.

"Oh, want to rest some more?" She asked. "I can ask for the day off too if you want some company,"

"No, last night, Ben said he'd come over today and we'd hang out here,"

"Madison……I….."

"What?"

"Mom and dad are out of town…….I don't know if I'm comfortable with you being alone in the house with a guy," Vida said. Madison laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, sis, we'll behave ourselves," she joked.

"You're behavior isn't what I'm worrying about," Vida muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Vida said. "Why don't you guys come by the store? We can all go out for lunch or something. You know, the rest of us haven't had time to really get to know Ben, maybe it's about time we did,"

"I'll suggest it, I guess," Madison said. "But we might just want to be alone,"

"Do you really want to just stay in the house all day though? I mean, why don't you guys have a picnic in the park or something….or go to a movie…"

"Vida, what is up with you?" Madison asked. "What, going to whip out a chastity belt next or something?"

"How about an electrified fence?" Vida said, only half jokingly. Madison rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to take a shower," Madison said as she got up and left the room.

---

Later on, Vida walked into the store after practically being shoved out of the house by her sister. As soon as she walked in, Toby caught sight of her and walked over.

"Hey, how's your sister?" He asked.

"Uh, she's still a little puke-y," Vida said. "So, she'll be taking the day off,"

"Of course. Listen; tell her I hope she feels better soon,"

"Will do Tobes," she said. Vida went to walk over to the turn tables when she saw Nick helping an elderly woman. She walked over to him. "I need to talk to you," she said to Nick. Nick looked at her before looking at the customer.

"Ma'am, I need to take care of something that just came up, but my friend Chip over there will be more than happy to help you find something for your grandson." He told her.

"Thank you, dear," the woman said as she approached Chip. Nick turned back to Vida.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Not here," she said. She grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pulled him to the back room of the store. She shut the door behind her and looked at him.

"What is it?"

"What if I told you I've begun to think about what you said?" Vida asked.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked. Vida sighed and began pacing around the room, raking her fingers through her hair over and over gain.

"I……I don't know. This morning, I saw a mark on her arm……And I'm pretty sure I didn't see it there last night……Before she was alone with Ben…….But……we checked on them, I mean, they we're okay. He was okay; he was just lying there next to her. I asked her about it this morning and she got kind of defensive,"

"You think he hurt her while we were talking?" Nick asked. He was glad to see that someone else was beginning to see things like he was. It told him that this wasn't all in his head……Then again; a part of him had hoped it had been in his head, for Madison's sake.

"Yes…….No……I don't know.." Vida said. She suddenly stopped pacing. "You know what; she might've just scraped her arm on something when Xander was carrying her,"

"But you said you didn't see it last night," Nick pointed out.

"Well, I wasn't too concerned about her arms last night; I might've overlooked it,"

"Vida," Nick said. Vida sighed.

"I……I don't know Nick……I……..I mean, a part of me thinks that you're right….but then another part of me doesn't want you to be right……"

"Vida, I don't want to be right either," Nick said. He took a deep breath. "So, where is she?"

"Home," Vida said. "…..Ben's supposed to be coming over." Nick stared at her with wide eyes.

"You're leaving her alone with Ben? Vida!"

"I tried, okay!" Vida yelled. "I tried to get her to come out to lunch with us, I tried to get her to at least maybe go out in public……..She accused me of thinking they were going to have sex or something," Vida slumped down on one of the chairs in the room before leaning against her knees and putting her head in her hands. "I can't do this, Nick!" Nick went over to her and put a hand on her back. "He said he loves her, we both heard it…..How could he be…?"

"My sister told me that that's what happened with her and that guy. He'd hurt her and then tell her he loved her." Vida got up and stared at him.

"So, you're saying……that mark….." The thought that Ben might've hurt Madison while she and Nick were just in another room brought a vile tasting lump into Vida's throat. At first, when she saw the mark on Madison's arm the thought had entered her mind but she had quickly dismissed it. But now, it stayed tethered in her mind. "Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick," she said, falling back onto the chair. Nick quickly crouched down and held her by her arms.

"Vida, just go home," he told her. "I'll cover for you with Toby, just go home," he told her sternly. Vida nodded numbly.

"Okay, okay," she said. "Toby thinks she's just sick, so you can use that," she said.

"Just go," Nick said. He gently pulled her up to her feet. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her car keys as she rushed out the door, jetting past Toby on her way out of the store. Nick walked out of the store and saw Toby give him a questioning look. "Madison called," Nick said before Toby had a chance to ask anything. "She said she wasn't feeling great,"

"Oh," Toby said.

---

Vida walked into her house, her eyes scanning the living room for signs of……well anything.

"Maddie?" She called out. Her ears perked up as she heard a loud thumb come from upstairs. She bolted up the stairs and made her way to the door to her bedroom.

"Ben! Oh my gosh, stop it!" Vida could hear Madison's voice from outside. Vida nearly shoved the door off its hinges as she burst into the room.

"Get your hands off my sister!" She screamed.

"Vida?" She heard Madison asked. She looked down at the floor of the room and stepped back in surprise at the sight. On the floor between her and Madison's bed lay Ben with Madison on top of him.

"Wh...What the hell's going on here?" Vida asked. Madison slowly climbed off of Ben and stood up, looking at her sister as Ben used the edge of Madison's bed as leverage as he pulled himself up.

"We were just horsing around," Madison said, still confused by her sister's outburst.

"I heard something downstairs,"

"We……kind of fell off the bed…" Ben admitted sheepishly. Vida looked at her sister, searching her for any visible marks with her eyes.

"What about the screaming?"

"He was tickling me. Oh my god, Vida, what's with the third degree?"

"I'm sorry. I hear my sister screaming and I get a little curious," Vida retorted.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Madison asked. Vida's eyes shifted to the side.

"I had to get some money……..I owe Nick ten bucks and I promised I'd pay him back today…..Took some from the emergency stash mom and dad left us, I'll replace it later."

"Fine," Madison said, her tone close to snapping at her sister.

"Right. Sorry about……I should go," Vida said as she left the room and went down the stairs. Madison groaned and went after her.

"Vida, what was that all about?" Madison asked as she went down the stairs behind her.

"Nothing, nothing," Vida said as she reached the landing and made her way to the front door.

"You busted in there like some sort of commando, and then say it's nothing?" Madison asked, still following her. Vida spun around to face her.

"I was worried, okay?"

"About what?"

"About.." she trailed off as she saw Ben come down the stairs and join her. "Burglars,"

"What?" Madison asked.

"I was worried that someone would break into the house……you were here all alone when I left and…"

"Burglars? In broad daylight on a Saturday?" Madison asked. Vida laughed.

"Yeah, seems kind of stupid now that I think about it," she said. "I should probably go get back to the store," she said. She went to leave when she paused, an idea striking her. She turned back to Madison and Ben.

"Ben," she said, looking over her sister's shoulder to look at him. "When I was driving over here I kept hearing this weird…clunking sound in my car……I'm kind of not feeling to great about driving it around anymore……Do you think you could give me a ride back to the store?"

"Sure, I guess," Ben said. "Let me just get my keys from upstairs," he said, leaving the sisters alone again. Madison looked at her sister.

"Weird clunking sound?" She asked.

"Yeah…..I think it might've been the engine……but it could've been something wrong with the brakes…"

"Okay, let's go," Ben said as he came back downstairs. The three of them left the house and made their way to Ben's car.