A/N: I know, I know, I'm awful. Its been soo long and I apologize. So much is going on in my life I don't have much time anymore. But I'll do what I can. Plus, a few of my ideas are starting to mirror too closely the spoilers we've gotten for season 6, so I have to be careful! Thanks for still reading, if you are! Ps: In my story Manny's not living with Emma.
The next morning, Emma looked out her window and felt a flood of relief as she spied the black car idling in her driveway.
He came. Thank God. I can't face today alone.
She shouted a hasty goodbye to her Mom who came rushing out of the kitchen "Em, are you sure you want to go to school today? I mean, you had a rough night, I can call the school if you want and you can stay home."
"Geez Mom, it was a breakup, not a horrific car accident. I'll be fine." She said with more confidence than she felt at that moment. "Besides, Sean's here to pick me up." At that, Spike raised an eyebrow.
"Sean? I didn't know you two were…friends… again."
"Yeah.. well it's a recent development. I'll see you after school." She started out the door.
"EMMA!" Spike shouted. Emma turned "Make sure you eat today."
Emma rolled her eyes "Yes, mother." She felt a small, indescribable tug of happiness seeing Sean sitting in his car, fiddling with his stereo. He looked up as he saw her approaching and smiled.
"Hey – you look like you're feeling better." He observed.
"I am. Thanks in no small part to you. I never thanked you for last night. It meant a lot to me. And this.. I don't think I'm ready to face all the questions… or Peter… on my own just yet." She tried to brush the nervousness from the pit of her stomach.
He smiled reassuringly "Well as long as I'm around, you won't have to."
Beneath his calm façade, however, Sean's blood was near boiling as he thought of Peter and the 87 ways he'd love to rearrange his face. He fought back the anger and focused on helping his friend through the long day ahead.
"Well, that makes three questioning looks, two confused stares, and a muffled 'what the hell' since we arrived. Think people are starting to catch on?" Sean gave Emma a mischievous grin.
Emma felt the knot in her shoulders loosen ever so slightly as she gave him a light laugh "let's hope so" she mumbled under her breath. They headed into their first class side by side, a cohesive unit that left everyone around them wondering what happened between Emma and Peter, when Sean & Emma became friends again, and if there was anything more to it than that.
Manny gave Emma an inquisitive eyebrow raise when Emma took her seat next to her. She opened her mouth for a teasing remark but took in Emma's pale drawn face and bloodshot eyes and thought better of it. "Are you ok?" she mouthed at her friend. Emma had sent a brief text message at 1:00am the night before that simply said "Peter & I are over. U were right abt him. Will fill u in later." Emma nodded.
"Are you eating?" Manny mouthed. Again, she got a slight nod in response. This is not good. Manny thought. She shot Sean a glance; who until that point had been staring straight forward with an intent, almost angry expression on his face. Sensing Manny's eyes on him, he turned. She cocked her head questioningly at him, and was again rewarded with a curt nod, one Manny classified as almost protective in nature.
If anyone can look after Emma, it's Sean. Manny thought I just hope he doesn't hurt her again. That, she may not recover from.
After class, Manny cornered Emma – who was not surprisingly accompanied by Sean "Em! We need to talk" Emma shot Sean a glance letting him know she was in good hands. He nodded, but gave Manny a stern look "You make sure Peter doesn't go anywhere near her." Manny was confused, but wasn't going to question him. "Yeah. Yeah I got it. I'll return her in one piece I swear."
Sean looked at Emma "Em, I'll meet you at your locker in 1 hour, ok? I have a free period now." She shot him a slightly exasperated look. "I'm fine you guys, really. I just didn't get much sleep last night. He's just a guy." She said with more conviction than she felt.
After one long glance at Emma; Sean said sternly "1 hour" and turned and left. He had an hour to find Jay.
Knowing Jay as well as he did, he found him in three minutes. He was up to his elbows tinkering in his Honda – Sean was sure the profanity could be heard a block away. He grabbed a spare wrench and started twisting bolts. Jay sent him the most appreciative look he was capable of "Well look who finally decided to grace me with his presence.. Haven't seen much of you since you got back."
"Yeah. I know. I've been…. Busy."
Jay snorted "Is 'Busy' blonde, about five-five, and goes by the name of Greenpeace?"
Sean wasn't in the mood for Jay's crap today "whatever man, look. I have a problem. I need your help with something" … he gave Jay a quick rundown on the situation, and what he intended to do. As he expected, Jay was more than agreeable. He had no use for Peter, whom he referred to as "Poindexter". "Let's find him. But first, help me finish this! This damn thing is defective!" Sean laughed "It's not defective man, you are!" They worked solidly for the next 40 minutes and then headed inside.
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Emma had just bid goodbye to Manny and was heading to meet Sean when an arm shot out of an abandoned classroom and dragged her inside. She didn't have time to scream before she was whirled around and pressed up against the wall, her mouth covered by the hand of her newly-ex-boyfriend.
"Emma. Emma I need to talk to you. Look, I know… I know what you found. And I'm sorry… but we belong together. You know we do. " at that, he tried to kiss her. Panic flooded through her and survival instinct kicked in. She pushed him away as hard as she could, but the past few days, combined with the toll anorexia had taken on her body had left her strength tapped out. Terror gripped her as she realized she was powerless to stop whatever it is Peter planned on doing to her.
At that moment, Sean and Jay were stalking through the halls looking for their target. Sean heard a commotion coming from the behind the closed door of the biology lab. He would never be able to explain how he knew, but at that moment he knew in his gut that Emma was behind that door. He signaled to Jay and they burst through the door in tandem, to see Peter trapping Emma against the wall trying to kiss her. At their entrance, Peter looked over, allowing Sean a clear view of Emma's terrified face. He let out a scream "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER". An uncontrollable rage gripped him as he and Jay went running towards Peter. They each grabbed an arm and proceeded to bodily drag Peter; who was struggling the entire time; from the building.
They barely made it off school property before Sean threw his first punch, hitting Peter square in the jaw. Jay held Peter with his arms behind his back while Sean continued to pound his fists into various parts of Peter's anatomy. Each blow brought the air rushing out of Peter's lungs. "You think you're tough, huh? You think you can just do whatever you want to her? You think she wants anything to do with you?". Sean had no intention of stopping; when out of the corner of his eye he saw Emma, standing there watching. He could see she was trembling like a leaf. "Sean?" she said meekly "please… please stop." At her plea, Sean regained clarity.
Looking at Peter's bloody broken form, he stepped back, and gave Jay the signal to release Peter. Sean stepped back towards the injured boy and gave him a shove that sent him collapsing to the ground in a heap. He leaned down so that only Peter could hear him.
"You ever touch her, you ever even look at her again, and I will fucking kill you." Peter groaned a response.
Sean went to Emma, who had been unable to stop crying or trembling, and gathered her in his arms. "I'm sorry baby. I'm so, so sorry". With that, he led her to his car and took her home.