Wow! The last chapter ended on a real cliffhanger – a special treat for all our fans! Let's just hope that Will gets there in time and that Mike gets dealt with properly. Sorry for the long delay – starting a new job, being sick for 3 weeks and my co-writer's dog getting sick meant we couldn't update as often as we wanted to. So here's another treat for you all, another long chapter ;) Thanks for your patience!

Graphic descriptions of child sex abuse so if you're sensitive, please don't read!

Reviews are love so give it to us!

Part 16: Squirrel

When he reached the top of the stairs, Will realized that Mike was nowhere to be seen. He knew one thing for sure though, he needed to take a piss first before he checked on Daryl. In his drug and booze-induced confusion, it seemed to him that someone was in the bathroom and assuming that someone was Mike, he growled in irritation at being forced to wait to use the toilet in his own home.

He let out a long breath, telling himself his feelings of misgivings were all in his head – just junkie paranoia as he came down from the meth. Still, it was hell of a rapid come-down, maybe the shit hadn't been so red-hot like he'd been told it was. Yes – that must be it.

Thinking no more of it, instead of turning left to Daryl's room, he took a right to the bathroom, deciding to take his chances. When he found it unoccupied, he was filled with relief, not with alarm like it should if he was sober and clear in his head.

As soon as he'd emptied his aching bladder, his legs gave way suddenly, forcing him to lean against the wall for support before he slid down with his back against it. His head drooped to his chest and he found himself unable to resist the tide of sleepiness as it hit him in the aftermath of an evening of heavy-drinking and drug-use.

Will, oblivious to what was happening to his youngest son, passed out.

Meanwhile, Mike was having the time of his life a few rooms away – well, he would have been if Daryl didn't fight him every step of the way. He'd been forced to give up on the idea of taking him completely – he'd save that treat for when they were really alone and could relax properly like he planned one day. So, cursing the waste of good lube, he silently vowed to make the little brat pay for his persistent stubbornness and settled on having him on his knees instead for a blow-job.

He'd shoved himself half inside Daryl's mouth, but the boy's extremely sharp teeth kept reminding Mike of their presence whenever the teenager was in the grip of panic. Which was pretty much all the time by now. He felt a little guilty about that, but not enough to stop. It was too late to go back now, wouldn't do either of them any good. Besides, he had way too much to lose to be able to forgive himself if he lost everything without getting to do what had been plaguing his thoughts for years.

Despite the boy's throaty whimpers of distress, that thought made him shove himself even deeper inside the delicious surrounding wet warmth. Daryl gagged and closed off his throat entirely as an answer, making Mike growl in frustration. He couldn't believe that it had ended so abruptly when it seemed they'd been finally making progress.

'Stop it.' He gripped Daryl's hair tighter in warning with his fist. 'I'll play nice if you play nice. You just remember that.'

He'd quickly found himself exhausting every approach to get him all nice and docile. Being gentle and patient or using brute force and threats – nothing seemed to work. It seemed that whatever he did or said – even his attempts to reassure him - had the opposite result – if only he had more time to work on him. The kid only became more fearful and therefore more obstinate, even though Mike wasn't really hurting him. He should have known – the boy was a Dixon after all.

Fed up with Daryl's lack of effort, he pulled at his hair again. 'Thought I told ya to play nice? Come on, just be a good boy for Mikey and no one needs to get hurt.'

Mike was forced to stifle a moan and tilted his head back as he was suddenly overcome with a wave of pleasure. It seemed like at last his words had got through to him and he'd calmed down enough to do the job properly. Giving him a glimpse at what this blowjob could turn into if just given time and a little guidance. Unfortunately, the pleasure only lasted seconds by which time, Mike had gotten more than a little carried away in the wonderful sensations. Like clockwork, that made the boy panic all over again and he felt those damn teeth grazing his dick - far too close for comfort.

With a sigh of disappointment, he gave up on oral because he'd never be able to get the boy submissive enough in time. So, forced to withdraw, Mike slid himself out but not without accusingly gripping Daryl's chin tightly and forcing him to look up at him. Doing that though, he also glimpsed the wetness sticking to the youth's eye-lashes – clearly tears about to fall which also dampened down the experience somewhat. Now it was suddenly harder pretending that Daryl was a willing pupil.

'You just had to ruin it when you were doing so well.'

Mike took care not to raise his voice to scare him any further, but that didn't seem to matter one bit. The teenager looked up at him with a mixture of pure fear and anger in his eyes, before he found his voice: 'I couldn't breathe, asshole! Not with ya dick in my mouth!'

'Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Thought this is what you wanted… Those looks you've been giving me the whole time, pouting at me with those pretty lips of yours to show me what ya could do for me...'

'I NEVER! When did I ever give you that idea, huh?'

'More than a few times, kiddo. More than a few times. But what upsets me the most, after everything I've done for you, is that ya have the nerve to call me an asshole right to my face. Twice now.'

'I have the nerve? Look at what you're doin'! And I only called ya that 'cos ya fuckin' are one!'

'Smart. Now, shut up and let's try this one more time.' Mike let a little more of his anger show in his voice to tell Daryl that he wasn't going to let him get to him.

'Tell you what… If you do it without your teeth this time, I'll be forever in your debt. Think about it... I'll be there to protect you whenever Daddy Dearest gets a little too happy usin' you as his own personal punch-bag...' He lowered his voice confidentially as he crouched down next to the boy. 'You'd have money, clothes, food, whatever ya want.'

'I'd rather let him beat me 'til next Sunday before askin' or takin' anythin' from the likes of you!'

Mike gave him a toothy smile in reply; 'If you keep on fighting me, however, I'll make ya life living hell and I'll start by telling ya Daddy and Merle that ya asked me to come in here.'

'I was asleep, ya had no business coming in here!'

'Keep telling yourself that. You know, you playing hard to get is getting tiresome, son. Only thing it does is making me want you all the more, so you should really do yourself a favour and work with me so that this can be over and done with. It's just a little blowjob after all, so why all this fighting? Or are you just trying to drag this out until someone finds us, that it?'

Daryl blushed furiously and shook his head when actually, that's exactly what he'd been hoping for. Although the idea of his Dad or one of the other men coming in there and seeing them like this made him feel sick to his stomach. But at least it would all stop and Mike would be thrown out of the house.

'Ahh...ya know if ya Daddy comes up here and sees us, he's jus' gonna blame you? Take my side?'

That made Daryl furious. 'No, he wouldn't! He'd fuckin' kill ya on the spot!'

'Yeah, maybe.' Mike agreed in a surprising u-turn before he brightened up again. 'But then you'd be next on the list for a whippin'. Because he'll think that you must have led me on.'

'You' re a fuckin' liar! He'd never believe that!'

Mike smiled back at the boy who was doing his best to look brave, but his voice trembled, betraying his doubt whether or not his own father would believe him in a situation like this. Mike almost felt sorry for him. Although he knew full well, him as the adult would get the blame. Always. But Daryl didn't know that.

'What do you say? I probably went too far too fast, huh? Believe it or not, this is the first time I've done this. But I can learn to take it slower if you're willing to learn too.'

As he spoke, he couldn't help but let one of his hands slide down across Daryl's chest and stomach where they were sitting, he just couldn't resist. But his hand was slapped away with surprising strength for someone so young.

'Easy. I won't even make you take the whole thing in your mouth this time. No reason to panic.' Mike crooned as he got up on his feet and grabbed Daryl by the arm to hoist him up on his knees once again. 'Now, open up.'

'No, don't...' Daryl shook his head and stubbornly pressed his lips tightly together when the man tried to open his mouth again.

Mike sighed and backed him up against the wall thinking it would probably be easier to subdue him if he was cornered. Of course that wasn't the case, because only seconds later Daryl got to his feet quicker than anything Mike had ever seen. As he ran for the door, clearly holding back sobs of disgust and fear he aimed a vicious 'Fuck you' over his shoulder at the man. Unfortunately, despite taking Mike by surprise, he found himself almost immediately enveloped in his strong arms that refused to let him go.

'Now play along! 'Cos you don't really have a say in all of this... ' Mike lectured as he began to drag him over to the bed with him.

'Let me go! Dad!' He didn't give up on trying to get away.

'Shhh!' He hissed in the boy's ear, making him flinch in his arms. He remained standing with him in his arms right beside the bed instead, taking a few deep breaths.

Then it dawned on Mike, he must be acting out like this because he was scared. He was a big man and he was just a boy – smaller than most his age and the difference in their size was huge. Naturally it was the same with the other parts of their bodies. Suddenly, Mike spoke a little more softly to him as he held him, 'Don't make such a fuss, I promise I'll go easy on ya, it bein' ya first time 'n' all, no matter what we end up doin'. Although, I will have to punish ya a little for the disrespect ya showed me tonight…'

'I'm sorry...'

Taken aback at the boy's sudden submissiveness, Mike ruffled his hair, feeling himself getting harder by the minute, but he was determined to drag this out to its inevitable conclusion to get what he wanted in the end. He had to make sure that the boy blamed himself so he wouldn't go blabbing to his brother or his Daddy.

'Don't you worry, said I ain't gonna hurt ya. Jus' let me show ya how good it can feel...' With those words he reached down with one hand, enveloping the smaller dick and gave it a light squeeze. He was turned on beyond belief doing this, but of course Daryl wasn't, he bucked away and tried to claw at the arms that held him in a death-grip.

''No! Don't touch me! I don't want you to show me anything! Just get out!'

'Look at you, still acting all feisty. Thought ya would have given up by now.'

"They'll fuckin' kill you! I swear they will!' Daryl snarled. 'Merle! Dad! Help!'

But Mike just smiled and held the struggling, smaller body tighter to him. 'Calm down. I know you're scared. Won't even put all of it in you the first time, if ya don't want me to, that is.'

He knew that he was running out of time yet he was enjoying building up the anticipation to the event. He knew the more guilty about everything he got Daryl to feel, the less likely he was to tell his family.

Especially if he succeeded in making Daryl believe it was all his fault...Mike knew he could use this to his own advantage. But the kid showed no signs of backing down anytime soon. Eventually Mike knew that he would, one could only struggle for so long, especially when who you were up against was so much bigger and heavier.

Older, hungrier and more determined.

He smiled when he thought about the boy's father and the other men downstairs who were all oblivious to what was going on. It excited Mike as much as Daryl fighting back did.

As events in his son's room escalated, Will stirred inside the bathroom where he still was sitting against the wall. He had been rudely awakened by the voice of his youngest calling loudly for him suddenly snapping him wide awake. Just when he thought he had imagined it, he heard him clearly again, calling for Merle first and Will right after. Although this time it sounded more muffled. He cursed himself for falling asleep like that when everything rapidly came back to him. Mike. Staring his youngest son's body up and down, making inappropriate remarks all evening…

The worst thing was the guilt-trip because all of this was his own fault – this could've probably been avoided if he had pressed Merle a little further two years ago about Mike. Will knew that something had been terribly wrong for Merle to just take Daryl and leave like that. He had given up on questioning Merle about it after a few attempts. But he hadn't been able to brush it under the carpet, couldn't just pretend that he hadn't known that there was more to it than Merle had told him. As a result of his own stupidity he had now let the bastard back into their lives...near his son... And this was Will's punishment for it but Daryl was taking it for him instead.

He stood up too fast and swayed on his feet as a result, he had to take a breather before he could go on.

The fact that he called for his big brother first instead of him irritated the hell out of Will, but now was not the time to dwell on such trifles. Not when his youngest was in such deep trouble.

A deep frown suddenly furrowed between his eyebrows as he got closer. He cupped his ear to Daryl's bedroom door to listen, and he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

'Now, be a good boy, open up and stop fighting me. Ya don't jus' wave a red flag at the bull and expect not to get charged at...'

'Dunno what ya talkin' about! Leave me alone!'

Will couldn't stop himself smiling at Daryl's biting retort.

'And they won't believe you, no matter what ya say!"

'Of course they will.' Mike used that soft voice of his that spoke volumes of just how cocky the bastard was. Listening to his silky tones at odds with how he was threatening his defenseless son and what he was threatening him with, slowly but surely made Will sobering up.

'Stop! I don't wanna do…'

Daryl cries were cut off abruptly, Will just knew that the asshole had covered his mouth with one of his huge hands to shut him up.

'Now, now, don't you be like that.' Was the only callous response to Daryl's obvious distress. That didn't stop the teenager from stubbornly trying to get away again, however.

He must've done something right to force Mike to take away his hand. Will's smile grew indeed when he heard his attacker suddenly hiss out in pain. Will just hoped that Daryl had taken a good chunk out of the bastard.

Filled with hope now, his son had started to fight back with an even louder voice.

'DAD!

'Why you… ya bit me again?...You jus' don't know when enough is enough, do you?'

'Next time I'll bite even harder if ya don't get off me! Merle! Dad!...Da...!' He yelled.

Will clenched his teeth when he heard his son's muffled protests as the hand was back covering his mouth, no doubt even tighter this time.

'Remember, I'm in charge here and you got nowhere to run. Why ya still fightin' me for? 'Bout time you just give up the fight you know ya ain't gonna win.'

Will hissed at that – the sheer cowardice of the brute – a full-grown bear of a man threatening a thirteen-year old kid like that.

From where he was, Will could hear his son's frustrated kicks from inside the room, accompanied by chuckling from Mike. Suddenly, Daryl was allowed to speak again. Now, Will could hear just a hint of panic creeping into his son's voice when it dawned on him that Mike wasn't fooling around. That he meant what he said and that he was going to go through with it.

Will frowned in confusion, it was like Mike didn't even care that they might be heard anymore. Or more likely, he got off on hearing Daryl's reactions to what he was saying.

What was even more strange, Will had to wonder, why hadn't the bastard gone through with it? Even though Will was glad Mike had taken his time before any real damage was done, he had to wonder why. Why dragging it out with all this sweet-talking and taunting beforehand?

'I ain't your daddy, I won't punish you the way he does. Relax…'

Outside the door, Will was fuming, not only at Mike's words but what it suggested. That he must have seen the results of the last punishment last week from the accident with the beer. That meant that the asshole must have already stripped him. Will knew that he couldn't stay out there for much longer, it was a dangerous line between waiting at the right moment, and missing out on the crucial time to get in there to save his son. If he had stripped him, it suggested more than anything that Mike was getting ready to do something to him.

Something real bad.

Will could hardly hold himself back, but he had to know the truth. Mike trying to convince Daryl that Will was the Devil was beyond the pale. What was giving the boy some well-deserved Dixon discipline compared to what that bastard was trying to get his son to do? What Mike was doing was plain sick – twisted. Perverted.

'Stop it, I'm warning you. Just do what I tell you and everything will be over before you know it. What I want you to do doesn't hurt.'

'I can't…Please, I'm sorry for everything… I didn't mean to bite you…'

I'm sorry? Had Daryl really said that? Still, Will had to admit to himself that Daryl had shown weakness pretty quickly, but then again, he couldn't possibly know how long Mike had been at him. Will shook his head because he knew that neither of his sons were walkovers who backed down like that, but Daryl knew he had less than zero of a chance of escaping Mike and he was clearly terrified by now.

What interrupted his thoughts then was his former best friend taunting his teenage son who he could tell was on the verge of tears. He knew by experience how menacing the big brute could be and Daryl was just a kid. He had to keep on reminding himself of that.

Deep-down, Will hadn't rushed in there because he was hoping that this was all just a bad dream or some sick drug-induced nightmare. He was hoping that he got Mike all wrong, that he was just genuinely trying to teach Daryl some manners not to call his elders assholes. Be it a particularly sick and twisted way... But even he didn't really believe that and it would be fair to say that the father was grasping at straws – anything to excuse this outrageous behavior.

Of course, Will wasn't going to let him really hurt Daryl but he was playing wait and see.

'You'll get nothing good out of fighting me, Squirrel. Besides tirin' yourself out, that is. Better jus' give it up and let me do what I want. After I'm through, neither your daddy or brother will believe you. They've both seen for themselves how ya used to come crawlin' into my lap...'

'I never...never meant for this to…' Daryl protested angrily, out of breath from continuously struggling against his tormentor. 'That was fuckin' years ago!' He exploded. 'I don't want...'

'Nothing you say is going to convince me. I know you want this...jus' like the little tease ya really are...'

Will drew in a sharp intake of breath of rage when he heard Mike call him that and sprang forward before he checked himself. He didn't want to blow his cover just yet, he had to hear more unless the psycho started to really hurt his son with more than just words like he seemed intent on doing at the moment.

Will raised his eye-brows in surprise when he heard a hard crack of hand meeting flesh followed by a shocked whimper. Under normal circumstances, he would curse at his son at the weakness he was showing, but right then he just found himself wincing along with him.

The thing that enraged him most beyond belief, was that the fact that someone else was punishing his boy. He wasn't going to stand for that.

'Come on, son, sorry for that but ya jus' had to keep pushin' me, answerin' back like that. You used to come onto me all the time and now ya runnin' cold - can't blame a guy for gettin' a little confused.'

'Kids sit in people's laps when they like them, that's all it ever was! Felt safe with ya, I guess!'

'Oh, don't lie to me.' Mike crooned at him.

'I ain't!'

'Ya knew exactly what ya were doin' the whole time. Playing your cards just right – flirtin' a little to keep me interested, but never lettin' me touch ya, jus' like a highschool tease.'

'Get off me! I didn't do nothin'!'

'...fluttering those long eyelashes at me...even tonight...Fuckin' flirtin' with me right in front of them… Especially when you were looking at me from under your daddy's arm.' Mike carried on as if Daryl hadn't just spoken.

As Will listened to how the bastard continued to bully his teenage son as if he hadn't heard him, keeping himself under control was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. But he wanted to hear if Mike would dignify Daryl with an answer as to how he had made him feel safe at the same time that it implied Will didn't.

Somewhere in Mike's sick and twisted mind those words must have hit home because in the end he did answer him, without a trace of mockery in his tone. It was a smart move on the part of Daryl, appealing to the past and the times Mike had protected him like that. Hoping to get him to stop, no doubt.

'Don't get me wrong, I liked having you around. But somewhere along the road, I had to put some distance between us, 'cos someone might have noticed, started talkin'. Things were jus' gettin' too hot and heavy between us and you were too young. God knows why I felt the way I did 'bout ya...I ain't a pervert or a homo but ya jus' kept on temptin' me. You wouldn't leave me alone even when I pushed ya away. Now, if you would only show a little bit of gratitude for everythin' I've done for you, things might turn out differently...'

'Ya ain't done nothin' for me for ages!'

'Doesn't matter now, does it? You'd still be a little brat about this, that's just how you are, tough and spunky. I did recently help you, even though you don't know it. Everything comes back to you sitting in my lap just begging for affection, though. But we both know better, don't we? Your father and brother have seen it for themselves, that's why they won't listen to you.'

'They know that I was jus' a little kid when I did that!'

'Well, ya sure ain't now, son.' He must have groped him because Daryl let out a squeak and Mike chuckled.

Will heard his former best buddy laugh and it was a cruel, mocking sound. It was true, Daryl had 'loved' his Uncle Mikey once and he hadn't been shy showing it, but not in the sick way the bastard was twisting it. He was barely in his teens for fuck's sake and didn't know a thing about sex and Will (even Merle to some extent) had tried to keep his innocence. And now Mike planned to rip all that away from him.

Will felt sick, and the rage and nausea threatened to take him over when he heard the squeak of bedsprings when the huge bastard moved.

Things went quiet for a few seconds before Daryl broke it by snarling: 'Stop messing up my hair!'

Will had unwelcome images flit through his head of Mike sitting next to his son on the bed petting his hair while trying to brainwash him. He knew he could relax then on Daryl's part, as the pervert wouldn't ever get through to him if slow seduction was what he was after. Will desperately hoped that was the case and that Mike wouldn't turn forceful. Yet, those threats before had been pretty menacing and sick and spoke against the man.

'Now, now, don't be like that, Squirrel.'

Now Mike's voice had turned oily, coaxing instead, and it made the listening father grimace in disgust.

'They'll believe me, I know they will! Merle got me away from ya, remember, last time we stayed! Probably saw that you weren't right in the head and ya got my dad really mad today, too!'

"Merle didn't see anything, son, and ya father's passed out on the couch, sleeping like a baby like the rest of 'em. Ain't no-one coming in, runnin' to save you. And, as for them believing you… that's where you're wrong. Don't ya know, they always believe the person, especially the grown-up – Mike stressed this word for emphasis - with the most convincing story? Everyone around here thinks I'm a decent guy – I'm big around here and they respect me. Ain't a soul that'll believe you - sorry, kid. Because where I'll be able to speak whole sentences, you'll just be a snivellin' wreck with tears running down that pretty-boy face of yours."

Hearing this, Will had to fight back the urge to rush in to drag the bastard the hell away from his son and beat him to a pulp when he heard that.

But once again, he forced himself to wait, he had to hear more to be sure. Because he still felt like he was caught up in some horrible nightmare and he prayed that he would wake up soon. He'd known the other man his entire life, and sometimes Mike's ways of teaching other people a lesson had been a bit unorthodox. What was saying that wasn't what he was doing now? That he by the aid of the drugs simply was taking things too far, not thinking about the fact that Daryl was just a kid? Bending forward even closer, he heard a pause of a few seconds as he listened intently before he heard his son renew his spirited resistance.

"They'll fuckin' kill you! Get off me!' Frustrated, Daryl had obviously tried to get away.

Equally frustrated, but for different reasons, Mike answered: 'Now, do what you're told...otherwise...I'll do that other thing instead and I don't think you'll want that. That really hurts...' He purred at him.

'No! Stop, please! Told ya I don't want to!"

"Not like ya have much of a choice now, do ya? Besides it's not fair. Ya been poutin' at me and askin' me for it for years and now ya wanna back out?' Can't have that."

"I won't do it!' He declared with his voice cracking.

Daryl had broken down completely by now in his terror - Will could hear his boyish sobs and feel them tearing at something deep in his chest in sympathy.

'Nooo, son, shh. Don't worry, daddy's here and I won't let him hurt you…' he whispered in horror both at the situation and at himself. How he could justify standing outside the door and eavesdrop without lifting a finger to help him?

Despite himself, he was getting turned on by the sick bastard talking dirty to his 13 year old and his pants were feeling tight around his member. Was that why he was still listening like he was paralysed and failed to take action? After all, hadn't he fantasised about getting him to do the very same thing Mike was talking about? Will told himself that thinking about doing something was very different from actually doing it. Anyway, he knew one thing for sure. He'd be more gentle with him than this monster.

No matter how badly Will wanted to some days, he would never hurt Daryl that way. He took care of those urges like he'd done in the past, by taking his inner-demons out on the boy in different ways instead.

He was still pretty fucked-up by the drugs because Daryl weeping brokenly like that as if in defeat would alone be enough for him to finally break down the door, but he found that he couldn't move just yet. He could clearly hear the change in Mike's voice. It still had that wheedling undertone but now it had become embued with a dangerous hint of impatience.

'Let's try this again shall we? Might be easier for ya this way…' Silence. 'No? Ya still don't want to do that? Even when you know what's coming next? Well, what can I say? You're very brave, Squirrel.'

The air seemed to stand still for the father who waited for the other man to continue. When he did, Will's frown only deepened.

'Right then...guess we'll do the other thing I mentioned instead after all- the one I was preparin' ya for before I changed my mind.'

No answer, only Daryl's sobs getting more ragged and his breathing shallower and faster in terror. But still he said nothing, didn't plead for mercy as if he knew it would be no use.

His tormentor sighed exaggeratedly. 'That's a shame, I didn't plan to go the whole way with ya tonight... was gonna ease ya in nice and slowly… But if ya insist…'

The enraged father turned away and grimaced in disgust as he took a wild guess at what his former friend wanted his 13-year-old son to do as much as at the sissy name, demeaning to a Dixon. How long had he been calling him that?

How long Mike had called Daryl 'Squirrel' was the least of Will's problems as the bedsprings creaked again when Mike shifted his massive bulk on the small child's bed, and the sounds of Daryl desperately trying to fight him off could be heard.

To no avail, of course.

'Relax, told you I won't hurt ya. I care about ya too much and I hope you learned something out of all of this...There, there, don't cry, everything will be OK.'

'Don't cry?' Will clenched his fists and snarled, not caring if he heard him. Don't fucking cry? He frowned and wondered if the charade was now over and done with, if it indeed was just Mike's way of teaching Daryl a lesson. Pretty sick lesson, if that was all it was Whatever it was, didn't matter because he'd stepped over the line this time . He was going to pay dearly for it. He'd got Daryl terrified, humiliated, made him feel helpless without showing any signs of mercy. The father knew his son wasn't going to get over it for a very, very long time. Merle might have shrugged it off but Daryl was different.

He got his answer soon enough though when Daryl, serious as ever, cried out again: 'No, don't!'. His protests full of terror, seemed to echo around the house or at least in Will's head.

Then he felt something in the atmosphere change, and he got as far as to reach for the doorknob, but something held him back from turning it. And like that, everything went dead-quiet again and Will thought of rushing in there to stop any more traumatic minutes passing by for his son, but something held him back.

In reality, Mike had covered both Daryl's mouth and nose to take away as much sound as he possibly could as he inserted one of his fingers inside the struggling boy. The next thing he said made Will go cold all over when he heard Mike delivering the next colorful sentence without even bothering to lower his voice:

'Ask and you shall receive, then… Oh, wait, how could I forget? First tell me… Do you think you'll want it slow and gentle or do you want it rough? Either would be just fine with me.'

'Stop! No, please, just stop!'' He heard his son sob and Will could just tell from his voice that he was panicking. Now there was no doubt in the father's mind of what was happening anymore.

'It hurts, don't touch me like that!'

That did it, Daryl's last tearful, pitiful plea cut through his haze of stunned disbelief like a knife, waking Will up and he was suddenly sober as a judge. He couldn't see through the door but he could easily imagine what his friend – the man he had known from childhood, grown up with – was doing to his son.

Full of murderous rage, he slammed the door open without warning so hard that it nearly fell off its hinges.

To be met with a sight that would haunt him in his dreams until the day he died. But it also would excite him in his fantasies no matter how much he tried to push it away.

Mike, all 240 lbs of pure muscle, with his pants round his ankles, on top of Daryl who also had his pyjama pants down around his. His son shaking and sobbing and Will was only glad that the bastard hadn't had a chance to fuck him yet. A few seconds later and he would have. Will also noticed with rage the red mark on Daryl's cheek that was facing him in the shape of a huge handprint. He must have struck him harder than Will had initially thought.

'Get the fuck off of my son, ya sick, filthy pervert!' He roared, only dimly aware of the sudden quiet that descended over the whole house. But still no one came running up the stairs to see what was going on. There was just that eerie silence because no one wanted to get in the way of a Dixon and the object of his wrath. The only thing that managed to make Will think twice going over there and beating the shit out of Mike right then, was his son, lying there and looking terrified out of his wits. He didn't want to add to his fear, so by some miracle, he managed to stay right where he was.

He suddenly wished Merle was home with him. He didn't know if he could deal with this sack of shit all by himself.

Mike immediately got off Daryl who only continued to sob and bury his face in his pillow. After a second or two, the boy had the presence of mind to pull up his pyjama bottoms before he curled up into a ball on the bed, still hiding his face.

Will addressed him tenderly from where he was standing with his fists clenched in rage, wishing that he was close enough to offer a comforting touch instead of the touches he'd endured only seconds ago. 'It's OK, baby. Ya jus' stay there 'til Daddy gets back. He's gotta take the trash out.'

Without lifting his face from the pillow, Daryl nodded.

Mike started to stammer. 'Ya know, it wasn't what it looked like.' Will could swear his wrath almost took a corporeal form right in front of him. Meanwhile, the usually very articulate man babbled and Will was pleased to hear that he sounded just as terrified as his son had done only minutes ago. Will looked away in sickened revulsion from his erection as he shamefacedly did up his fly. 'Jus' a game, was'all.'

'Ya expect me to believe that, ya piece of shit? I saw what ya were doin' to him!'

Daryl started crying louder at his raised voice but still didn't lift his face from the pillow.

'It's OK. Ain't mad at ya. Ain't no fault of yours. Not ya fault.' Will crooned at him, and as much as his hands ached to comfort him, he knew that for now he could only do it with words because Mike had to be dealt with. Will would be damned if he let this pervert anywhere near his son longer than he had to be. 'Don't worry, he ain't gonna touch ya ever again. Daddy won't let him.'

Mike visibly blanched at that...at everything it implied. 'I'm sorry...I'm so sorry.. he jus' looked so cute an' all, lyin' there...It was the meth...He nodded hopefully, eyes pleading for understanding. ' Ya know what I'm talking 'bout, Will, I know you do...'

Will was left momentarily speechless by this and what exactly Mike meant by that. If he were to let his paranoia get the best of him he would think Mike was on to him and how he felt about his own son. Thankfully, with everything that had happened the last minutes Will knew Mike was talking about the drugs and he relaxed a little when Mike's next self-serving words left his mouth.

'I didn't mean to get so high and lose control... ain't used to it and it fucked me up, made me do things I wouldn't normally do...'

'Ya blamin' the drugs now, ya fuckin' coward? Don't ya know that's the oldest one in the book - they're just an excuse for doing shit ya always wanted to do?'

'Things just got out of hand… The meth took over otherwise I would never have... Come on, you've done real nasty shit when you were high before.'

'Difference between you and me is that I never tried to fuck no kids when I was!'

Just at that moment, something on the floor caught his eye. When he glanced closer, he immediately spotted the discarded jar of lube. He didn't recognise it as his own or Merle's (that boy was a horndog if ever there was one) and he quickly strode over while keeping Mike in his line of vision even as he bent down briefly to pick it up. ''What's this then?' He threw it with a look of disgust in the other man's face, by then Mike was too stunned to speak.

'Ain't got an excuse for bringin' this along with ya, have ya? You planned this long before tonight even, I bet!' He wiped his hands on his pants as if he felt contaminated just by touching it.

The other's man's mouth opened and closed with no sound coming out. It was clear that he had no answer to that and with his silence, he sealed his own fate.

Will pushed the other man out of the room with all the force he could muster, but it wasn't really necessary. Mike didn't even try to resist – as if he knew he deserved everything he got and was resigned to his fate.

The enraged father savagely kicked both his feet from under him without warning, then sent him flying down the stairs where he landed at the bottom with a satisfying thud.

Will was angry not just at him but also at himself – for not seeing. Letting that pervert near his sons for all those years – was it the first time he touched Daryl? Will prayed it was, but he didn't really think so – not with all those times he used to spend at his house. He drew in his breath and his chest hitched at his next thought.

Had he touched Merle?

He shook his head because something told him he hadn't. The man would have got his dick bitten off if he'd tried something like that with Daryl's older brother.

Something about Mike's need and almost aggressive way of trying to coax his son told Will that he was new to this. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking, what did he know. Maybe he was just trying to salvage a silver lining out of the fucked-up situation.

First offence or serial offender, it would make no difference to him in the end.

There was still no response from the others of the party – in fact when Mike tumbled to the bottom, striking his head once or twice on the stairs, they began to leave by the front door. Each man gave them curious looks as they left. Will should have known they wouldn't be any help and he ignored them.

'Never knew ya liked to fuck little boys! How many, huh?' The father's voice rose in rage, not just for Daryl but for all the other possible victims Mike may have molested as he strode down the stairs. He was dead set on not letting his prey get away. But the groaning big heap at the bottom seemed unable to move, had he broken his back? Will fucking hoped so.

'None, 'cept for him. He's the first. I swear.' Mike had come to almost completely and was moaning, clutching himself as Will arrived at his destination next to him.

When the man looked up at him, Will was momentarily taken aback at the sudden change. Incredibly what he saw was nothing of that ashamed, almost regretful way Mike had looked at him when he got busted in Daryl's room, now what he saw was undisguised fury. Will put it down to the fact that the man probably knew he was going to die one way or the other for what he'd done tonight. With that, he had nothing else to lose.

Will sneered down at him and waited patiently to hear what he had to say.

After all, even condemned men were allowed their last words.