Disclaimer: Only the plot belongs to me.

A/N: I was in the middle of writing the next chapter and I was suddenly hit with inspiration. And since this couldn't exactly be modified into an new story so it is now an interlude. This chapter only contains Kira and Kim, so what can you say. And they may seem a little OOC. Maybe. I don't know. The part one of the next , I guess you could call it an episode, will come out in a little while.

-

In her bedroom, Kira could hear the fighting. Ned and her mother were at it again. They did this when they drank. It was just the was it was with them. They would yell and scream, usually about her, until one fell unconscious.

Ever since her father left them, Ned had become a permanent fixture in their life. When he was drunk (which was usually), he gripped about having to support Kira, even though it was Kira's mother who had the job.

"I don't want her here!" A male voice yelled.

"Well, that's not for you to decide, now is it!" The female voice replied.

Kira blinked wiping her face of the tears she had been crying. This wasn't the first time this happened and it wouldn't be the last. It was still hard.

She couldn't take it. Not tonight. She grabbed her backpack, a change of clothes, all the money she had (which wasn't much), and her guitar. There wasn't really anywhere for her to go. She couldn't exactly appear on Conner or Ethan's doorstep in the middle of the night. Her other friends were scared of Ned and her mother. Before, she would just rent on empty hotel room, but she didn't have enough money for one.

With only the vaguest idea of where she was going to go, Kira climbed out of the window.

-

About forty minutes later, Kira found herself staring at a familiar door. She paused momentarily before knocking, slightly soaked from the rain.

That was how Kim found her a couple minutes later. Being woke up at one in the morning on an Friday night wasn't exactly all happiness to begin with. The girl on her doorstep was wet, holding a stuffed backpack and her guitar, her eyes slightly red. Suddenly Kim wasn't so upset about being woken up. "Kira?"

Kira blinked back. Her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah. Sure." She moved out of the way for the teen to enter.

A couple moments later, Kira found herself curled up on a couch, with a towel in her still wet hair, covered in a blanket, and nursing a cup of hot chocolate.

"You know that you're always welcome here, Kira, but why?" Kim asked studying the girl before her.

Kira sighed. She hadn't ever told anyone about the fights before. But Kim was one of the people she knew she could trust. "My mother and Ned." Seeing her teachers confused look, she elaborated. "They were fighting." She paused. "About me." Dr. Hart gave her a look of shock and confusion. "It wasn't the first time. But this time I couldn't take it." Reassuring wasn't her strong point.

Kim closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Have you ever told anyone about the fights?"

"No." Kira shook her head. "You're the only one who knows."

"Why haven't you ever told anyone?" Kim asked, processing the information.

Kira snorted. "Who am I going to tell? It'll just get the police involved. What are they going to do? If they arrest mom and Ned, I'll have no where to go. Mom and Ned both have enough of a record to get thrown in for quite some time. If they throw Ned in, then that leaved my mother no one to yell at except me." She gave a shrug and took a sip of the drink

Kim nodded, not exactly ecstatic with the reasoning, but was to tired to argue. "Well, what are you going to do?"

"I was wondering if I could stay here tonight. They wont even know that I'm gone." She let out a sob. "Oh man." She started to cry. "I can't believe that I am crying."

Kim wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder and consoled her. "Of course you can stay here tonight. Look, we'll figure something out tomorrow. Okay?"

Kira nodded. She let out sort of a cross between a sob and a laugh. "I can not believe that I am crying." She hadn't done it in a while.

"Don't worry about it." Kim told her. "You got anything to wear?"

Kira wiped her eyes. "I just grabbed something to wear tomorrow."

"Then let's get you something to sleep in."

-

It was about one in the afternoon when Kira woke up in an unfamiliar room. Then it came back to her. The fighting. Showing up at Dr. Hart's house in the middle of the night. Sleeping in her guest bedroom. She let out a sigh and pulled herself from the bed.

She glanced out the door. Confident that there was no one out there, she slipped into the kitchen. She wouldn't put it past her luck to have Conner or Ethan or Coach Scott show up in the hallway.

"Morning, Kira. Or should it be afternoon." A voice from behind her called.

Kira turned to find Kim sitting at a table, alternating between eating a burger and grading papers.

"There's burgers on the kitchen table. Feel free to grab one."

Kira did and sat down across from her teacher. She sat there quietly munching on the burger.

"How are you feeling?"

Kira looked up to see Kim staring at her, the papers she was grading forgotten. "I'm feeling better. Thanks."

"No problem." Kim replied.

-

Kim pulled her jeep up to the front of Kira's house. All was quiet and the front door was slightly ajar.

"Thanks. For everything."

Kim nodded and forced a smile to her face. "I'm going to make sure everything works out, Kira. I promise." She had a few choice words to give them.

Kira nodded thanks and slid out of the jeep grabbing her bag. Kim started to follow, but Kira didn't want her to see the misery that was her family. "It's okay. I got it from here."

Her teacher looked unhappy, but nodded.

Cautiously pushing the door open eve wider, Kira walked inside. She wasn't ready for what she was.

The while house looked like it was ransacked. There was drawers pulled open with contents on the floor, the couch had been overturned, and the electronics were missing.

But what caught her eye was the note sitting on the coffee table.

Kira,

I love you, honey, but I can't so it anymore. I can't take care of you and myself. I'm sorry.

Mom

She crumpled the note in her hand as she fell to a chair and let out a sob.

-

About a quarter of a mile down the road, Kim noticed the guitar in the backseat. She let our a sigh and made a U-turn on the road, heading back to Kira's house.

Of course, curiosity played a major part in the return of the guitar. The moment she reached the open door, she heard sobbing. "Kira?" She asked, taking in the messed up house. Her eyes were drawn to the female that was hunched over in a chair. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Kira handed her the crumpled piece of paper.

Kim gave the paper a once over. Was her mother serious? Just leaving her daughter like that? She slid out of her jacket and wrapped it around the teenager's shoulders. "Come on, let's go."

The young girl let herself be led away.