A/N:

I make no promises with the future of this fic. That being said, I actually had most of this chapter written and a few more, but they all had bits and pieces missing. This was the hardest chapter to write due to Rhys and his behavior and I didn't really know how to tackle it. The other chapters are almost entirely finished but after that, as I said, I make no promises. I might just upload my notes and the future scenes I've already written and call it done. I'm not sure yet. We'll see how things go.

"So how are things going with Rhys?" Meilin wondered with a small smile. She was sitting on Ruthie's bed, back against the wall, seemingly studying a textbook for her finals, but in actuality, she was watching Ruthie from the corner of her eye.

The brunette was in her wardrobe, looking through her clothes, trying to figure out what to wear. Tonight was going to be her sixth official date with Rhys and she wanted to wear something really nice since it was also their one month anniversary. She didn't know where they were going, only that she should 'wear a nice dress'. She scrunched her nose as she took in her clothes. "I need to go shopping," she muttered. Almost all of her clothes were the ones that she brought with her from home, mixed with the occasional new piece that she bought or the occasional cast-off/swap with her friends.

After that night in the club, she had begged Rivkah to redo her entire wardrobe similar to the way she had 'repurposed' that shirt. Rivkah refused, stating it would be a waste of time, but she did teach Ruthie how to do it herself. Ruthie found that she loved the cut up style and now wore it all the time. It allowed her to save money on buying new clothes and it didn't hurt that it made Ruthie smile every time she pictured her mother's horrified face. But still… "I really need to go shopping," the brunette repeated.

Meilin rolled her eyes. "We'll go tomorrow," she promised since the next day would be a weekend. "But I said, how are things with you and Rhys?"

Ruthie gave the taller girl a smile. "I heard you. I just don't know how to answer." Meilin gave the girl a look that essentially said 'elaborate'. "I like him. He's super cute and nice and he makes me feel…" She trailed off in thought at how to explain. "Special," she finally settled on.

"But?" Meilin prompted, knowing there had to be more.

Ruthie frowned instantly, her eyes guiltily going to the photo on her bookshelf that she couldn't bring herself to put away. With a sigh, she reached over, plucking the center picture. "You can't tell anyone," she said, climbing onto the bed and sitting cross-legged facing the other girl. Seeing Meilin nod, she reached out to show her the photo. "This is Martin," she confided.

Meilin cocked an eyebrow. She had a steady boyfriend back home but even she could admit, "Wow."

Ruthie smiled. "I know right." The two girls giggled over the attractive man. "He lived at my house; my parents sort of pseudo-adopted him. And I fell in love with him. But I guess he never really saw me that way." Ruthie's smile was replaced with a frown as her mind wandered to the past. "I thought maybe I could make him see me like that, but…" She trailed off. "He met this girl, Sandy. He didn't even know her, but he slept with her and well, got her pregnant."

Meilin's eyebrows jumped in surprise, but she said nothing, allowing her friend to continue.

"It was horrible," Ruthie confided in a whisper. "I hated him so much, but I still loved him too and I know we were never anything, that I was never anything to him, but it was like he stabbed me in the back. I love him so much." Now, tears were falling from Ruthie's eyes. Meilin reached out and pulled the other girl into her side, giving the petite girl a huge hug. "This was around the time I found out about my Calling. When Willow offered me a chance to get away, I took it." Ruthie's lower lip began to tremble as tears threatened to turn into heartbreaking sobs. "But now he's proposed to her," she cried before the sobs took over, wracking her body. Meilin winced on behalf of her friend and pulled her in closer, clutching at her tighter, trying to be as comforting as she could.

Several minutes later, Ruthie wasn't sure how long, she pulled away from her friend, staring at the comforter instead of meeting the other girl's eyes. "Sorry for sobbing all over you."

Meilin frowned. "It's okay," she assured, but Ruthie still wouldn't look at her. Instead the girl got up, making her way to the mirror inside of her wardrobe.

"Look at me," she muttered, wiping away at the lingering tears in her eyes. "I look a mess."

Meilin got off the bed, sweeping the girl's curly hair off her shoulders and onto her back. "I'll help you with your make up," she promised. "But, Ruthie…" She hesitated, unsure if she should say this. "It seems like you're still really in love with the Martin guy. Are you sure you want to keep going out with Rhys?"

Ruthie shrugged. "I love Martin, but… I live in England and he lives back home and even if I didn't, he doesn't see me like that. He has a son and soon he'll have a wife and I'll just be… some girl that he used to know." Her eyes were so sad when she said this, clearly she had given up and accepted the heartbreak. "Rhys is nice and he makes me feel good."

"Special," Meilin said, repeating what Ruthie had said earlier.

The brunette nodded, turning back to her closet and finally selecting a little black dress that she had stashed in the corner. She had never worn it; had bought it because she knew how good she looked in it and had hoped one day to wear it on a date with Martin. But that would never happen and now was as good a time as any to break it out. "I can't keep wallowing in what he's doing and who he's doing it with. I need to live my own life too and that means moving on from Martin Brewer." With her new found resolution, Ruthie reached out, plucking the picture frame from the bed and stuffed it into the back of her closet. Turning back to Meilin, there was a fierce look of resolution in her eyes. "You said you'd help me with my makeup?"

Meilin nodded as Ruthie gathered her stuff and went to their shared en suite bathroom to take a quick shower. Getting out of the bath, she blow dried her hair and immediately began straightening it with a flat iron, knowing how much Rhys liked her hair straight. Finished, she put her dress on and returned to her side of the dorm room where Meilin waited, makeup bag ready. Meilin smiled and gestured for Ruthie to sit at her desk while the Asian worked. In the end, Ruthie looked like a bronze goddess. Having bronze skin herself, Meilin knew all the good makeup tricks and had taught Ruthie them as well.

"Now I just need shoes," Ruthie muttered, checking how much time she had left before Rhys came to pick her up. She brought out two sets of black shoes. One was a pair of cute cloth flats, the other were daring stilettos.

Meilin smiled. "Do you want to be comfortable or do you want to wow him?" she asked, suspecting the answer.

Ruthie didn't know what Rhys' plans were or if they involved any walking at all, but she knew that she would have to take that risk. She threw the flats back into the closet and donned the heels. Grabbing a small black clutch that had a thin black chain, she put it on her shoulder, the purse knocking into her hip.

"I almost regret swapping that with you," Meilin admitted, taking in the full picture.

"You love my green bracelet," Ruthie countered with a smile.

"Mine now," she corrected. "You look amazing," Meilin complimented as the two walked out of the room and through the living room. "You're gonna knock him out."

"Kinda the plan," Ruthie admitted with a conspiratorial grin. She gave the girl a quick hug and was out the door, making her way downstairs to wait for her boyfriend. She didn't have to wait long, a familiar silver car pulling up front. Exiting the building, she made her way to the car, climbing into the passenger's seat. She leaned over for a quick peck.

"You look great." Rhys grinned, scanning her body.

Ruthie blushed lightly. "Thanks. You look good too." Despite it only being a month, she had never been in a relationship as serious as this one, or at least as adult. Rhys had a way of making her feel like she wasn't just a teenager, but instead, all grown up. He was older than her by over a year, had his own car, lived away from home (like her) and was extremely wealthy to boot. With no parents or annoying siblings or an entire town watching their every move, it was as if they were adults, just living their life, doing what they wanted.

It was a heady feeling.

"Where are we going?" she wondered, a smile on her face.

He gave her a wink but stayed silent, just driving. She turned to face out the window, watching the scenery pass her by. It was hard to believe she had been living in London for half a year and that the end of the school year was right around the corner. Meilin, as the oldest at 18, was graduating. All four girls had signed up for one last trip together this summer, heading to Africa for two months. Meilin could still attend volunteer trips after graduation, but as she went home, inevitably got a job and got busy, it was less likely that she would be able to make the trips that the other three would be going on in the future. Africa was one last hoorah for the group.

"We're here," Rhys announced, pulling in front of a swanky hotel. He climbed out of the vehicle as a staff worker pulled open Ruthie's door for her. She stepped out, watching Rhys give his keys to the valet and then take her hand, leading her inside and to the restaurant. Looking around, it was easy to see that the restaurant was just as high end as the hotel it was inside of.

The hostess led them to a table under one of the many brightly lit chandeliers. Taking a inconspicuous look around, she noticed that they were the youngest couple. The next youngest were a couple of young professionals in suits at the bar in their mid twenties, sipping on cocktails and chatting. She shifted a little self-consciously, glad that she had chosen such a sophisticated dress and high heels.

Opening the menu, Ruthie cocked a brow at the French. She was glad that she took French as one of her many language requirements at TSA, more so glad that she had taken that back in California too, so she was pretty passable at the language.

"Escargot?" Rhys asked teasingly.

"You first." She smiled back.

He chuckled, turning back to his menu. "It's not bad when they're just sautéed in a simple butter sauce," he admitted, chuckling at her barely hidden wince of distaste. "Alright, what would you suggest starting us out with?" he asked, just as the waiter came up to take their order.

Ruthie stared at him for a minute before nibbling on her lip. She wasn't typically one to back down from a challenge. "Escargots à la Bourguignonne," she ordered. Rhys gave her a surprised, amused look but waited until the waiter left before giving her a 'what the heck?' expression. Unable to continue keeping it in, Ruthie burst into giggles, Rhys soon joining her in laughter.

When the waiter came back with a small dish of snails, Ruthie began regretting her ballsy decision. As if sensing this, Rhys gave her a wicked smirk. "After you." She gave him a glare but reached out and took a small spoonful and put it on her plate, taking a spoon of the garlic butter sauce as well. Rhys did the same, but kept a careful eye on her face as she hesitantly brought a spoon to her mouth. She took a second to notice the taste before chewing and swallowing. She made sure to keep her face completely blank, not wanting to give Rhys the satisfaction.

"Well?" he asked after a moment.

"It was… adequate," she replied, taking a sip of water.

"You absolutely hated it," he said, reading between the lines with a grin.

"Oh my god, yes," she finally confessed, letting out a breath. It had taken all of her focus not to make a disgusted face the entire time. "I guess the taste wasn't, like, horrendous, but just the idea of eating snails." She shivered.

He gave a chuckle. "Well, I guess that just means more for me."

"This was really nice," Ruthie said with a smile, squeezing the hand in hers as the exited the restaurant. "I had a really good time."

The blond gave her a smirk. "Who said it was over?" he asked, bringing her the opposite direction of the exit and deeper into the hotel. He brought her to an elevator and they went upstairs. Ruthie began to nibble on her lower lip nervously. Was he bringing her to a hotel room? Why would they be going there unless…

Sure enough, they stepped out into a hall of rooms and Rhys brought out a room card. Entering, Ruthie noticed that he had pulled out all the stops. There were chocolate covered strawberries, champagne and a trail of rose petals towards the bedroom. "Wow," she murmured. She had never been wooed like this before.

"Do you like it?" Rhys wondered, shrugging out of his suit jacket and loosening his tie.

Ruthie didn't know what to say, so she just nodded. This wasn't what she had expected, but maybe she should have. They had been together for a month now and he didn't know of her family's issues with pre-marital sex, so wasn't it reasonable for him to expect after several weeks of dating for things to go further?

She had said it before; this was an adult relationship. She should behave like an adult.

The thought instilled confidence and, whirling around, she backed a surprised Rhys against the door and enthusiastically attacked him with her mouth. He automatically brought his hands up to her back, playing with the zipper to her dress, but not going further until Ruthie first began undoing each button on his shirt. It didn't take them long to head things into the bedroom.

Ruthie waved Rhys off, watching for a moment as his car sped away, before turning and heading inside the dorms. She bit her lower lip, a smile on her face. Last night had been… It wasn't what she expected, but it had been nice. Really nice.

With a frown, she wondered if this was how it had been for Martin.

Immediately, she tried to shake off that line of thought. She had a really good time with a guy she really liked. They had been together a month, they were serious about each other and committed to one another. Why should Martin Brewer matter at all?

Ruthie gave a huff, knocking her head back against the elevator wall. Martin mattered to her. She had always thought that… if she was going to do something like this, break her family's beliefs, then it would be with the man she loved; the man she wanted to spend forever with. And even now, if Ruthie closed her eyes and pictured her wedding, pictured settling down and having a family, the man beside her was always the same.

Slipping into her dorm room, Ruthie dropped her purse onto her bed. She wanted to collapse onto it and go to sleep, but hesitated at her wardrobe. Slowly, she reached in and pulled out the familiar picture of her and Martin at the baseball field. She ran her finger along the edge of the frame, looking at it contemplatively before setting it back on her bookshelf where it belonged.

Ruthie let out a huff of air as Rivkah got a good shot to her stomach in. Instantly, Ruthie swung out, catching the blonde in her side, knocking her back. Taking advantage of that momentum, Ruthie followed her, giving a sharp kick followed by another punch, knocking Rivkah flat on her back. Amie hooted and hollered by the side of the boxing ring. Rivkah shot her girlfriend an annoyed look, accepting Ruthie's help up from the ground. The two climbed out of the ring, unwrapped their fists and took out their mouth guards.

"Good fight." Ruthie grinned.

Rivkah gave a grudging grunt back, sitting on the bench to catch her breath.

Ruthie was about to say something more when she felt a familiar hand on the small of her back. Turning her head, she smiled shyly up at her boyfriend. "Rhys," she greeted, "what are you doing here?"

"Just came to see you. One of the other TSA girls told me you were here," he explained. "I didn't know you could fight."

Rivkah and Amie let out simultaneous laughs. "Fight? Ruthie just won the international TSA fighting championships last month in Brussels! She won the opportunity to live in New York with three friends for six months!" Amie grinned widely, clearly proud of her friend. "First student winner, too. Usually it's one of the graduates who win. But she and Rivkah made it all the way to the final rounds and then Ruthie won! It was amazing!"

Ruthie blushed under the praise, but she was still pretty excited herself. It was hard to believe, but she had fought against last year's champ, a tall, lithe girl from Vietnam who graduated four years ago, and had actually managed to beat her. Because of that, she had also somehow managed to be the most popular girl at school which was a new feeling to Ruthie, having previously never been a 'popular girl'. Now, she, Rivkah and Amie were constantly followed around by other girls wanting to hang out or talk about the fight or get pointers. Ruthie just wished that Meilin could have been there to enjoy the popularity as well, but the brunette was back home in China, having graduated last year. They had all seen each other in Brussels, all four girls having signed up to compete. Ruthie was pretty sure that Meilin had only signed up for the free excuse to visit her friends, but as a lean and quick fighter, had made it pretty far despite not having any particular interest in the competition. Meilin was a good fighter, as all slayers were, but she didn't really enjoy fighting beyond what was required of her by her Calling.

"Wow," Rhys said, drawing Ruthie back to the present. "That sounds impressive." There was something weird in his voice, however, and Ruthie shifted self-consciously. As slayers, TSA was understandably focused on fighting and weapons training… Things that normal teenage girls didn't know about. It made sense that Rhys found it weird for Ruthie to be so interested in martial arts, let alone have the ability to win an international competition.

"Let me grab a quick shower and change," Ruthie said, changing the topic as she and Rhys walked a bit away from the others. "And then we can go do something."

"Six months, huh?" Rhys wondered, a frown on his lips.

"It's not until January. That's almost three full months away."

"So, you're saying that you don't think we'll be together three months from now?"

"That's not what I said at all!" Ruthie frowned. "Rhys…"

"Nevermind, forget about it. I gotta go," Rhys ran a hand through his hair causing Ruthie to frown harder.

"You just got here."

"Yeah, I know, I gotta… go." Rhys didn't even bother coming up with an excuse, he just turned around and left.

Amie and Rivkah frowned as they came up behind the petite brunette. "What was that about?" Amie wondered.

"I don't even know. I guess finding out that I'd be gone for six months really upset him?"

"Wait, you didn't tell him when you won?" Amie wondered in surprise.

Ruthie shrugged defensively. "I didn't really know how to bring it up. I was going to tell him eventually. I was!" she protested at Amie's skeptical glance.

Rivkah hummed noncommittally. "Well, it's obviously too late for that."

Ruthie just frowned in the direction Rhys had stalked off in.

"You said 6 o'clock, I heard you," Ruthie cried, tears in her eyes as she clutched her phone tightly to her ear.

"No, I said 8," Rhys replied back. "I know what I said, I was there."

"So was I!" she yelled back before flushing and looking around. Already she felt embarrassed to be standing around, alone, at the restaurant, waiting for her boyfriend to meet her.

"Look, I'm tired of fighting about this. Sorry you got things mixed up. Maybe we just won't go out tonight."

"But I'm already dressed up," Ruthie replied in a small voice.

"We'll go out another time," Rhys replied. "I gotta go. I'll call you later."

"Rhys?" Ruthie heard the dial tone and hung up the phone. Tears in her eyes, she slowly made her way back to the dorms.

"Ruthie? I didn't think you'd be back until tomorrow. What's wrong?" Amie asked.

Ruthie hastily wiped away the evidence of tears off her cheeks. "Nothing. Just a little mix up. Rhys couldn't make it."

Amie looked at her in concern and Ruthie could tell that she didn't buy the casual act. "That's the third date this month."

"Is it?" Ruthie tried to put on a blase tone, but knew she was failing miserably. A look from Amie was all it took to break her defenses. "I don't know what's wrong with me. Why doesn't he like me anymore?"

Amie let out a distressed sound as she gathered Ruthie into her arms. "Oh, sweetie. I'm sure it's not like that. Tell me everything."

So, Ruthie did, listing the dates Rhys straight up forgot, the ones where he'd change the times, the way they argued, on and on, the list of grievances went until finally Ruthie finished, completely wrung out. At some point, Rivkah had returned to their room and was listening patiently by the door.

"I had no idea," Amie murmured, gently petting Ruthie hair as the brunette lay curled up, her head in the other girl's lap. "I thought things were going so well with you two."

"I did, too, but suddenly he went all distant. Sometimes, things are great, but sometimes, it's like he's a different person. I don't understand."

"I do," Rivkah said, gaining their attention. "It sounds like emotional abuse."

"What? No." Ruthie protested, sitting up.

"Google the signs of emotional abuse. You just listed them. Obviously, for whatever reason, he wants to feel power over you. He wants you to feel small and this is how he's going about it."

"You're wrong," Ruthie replied, even as Amie was already googling.

"When did this start?" Rivkah asked. "Because my money? Is that it started after you won the international fighting championships. Guys like that need to be in charge, need to be macho men. The idea of a girl fighting and kicking ass would be too big a blow to their ego for them to handle."

"No, you're wrong," Ruthie repeated, but this time her voice was smaller. Rhys had started acting weird after the competition. "He loves me."

This time, Amie was the one to speak up. "If he loved you, we would never hurt you on purpose. Rivkah was right; I just looked it up and, Ruthie, everything you just told me is listed on here. Please, let us help you."

Ruthie looked helplessly from the cellphone where she could see several things listed that she knew applied to her, to her two best friends, each looking at her with worry and a hint of fear in their eyes. She still didn't think this was right, but if both of her friends were this concerned about her, she needed to listen.

"Okay."