Hey guys! here's chapter 15! I hope you like it...I've rewritten this chapter about 3 times...let me know what you think! Oh and thanks to everyone who has reviewed!

Chapter 15: Help

Madi's P.O.V

I know it wouldn't be long before Ray started in on the whole scars and bruises thing, and I was right. As soon as Nick left, he got up, went over and shut he door, before coming back and sitting by my feet.

"He did that to you didn't he?"

"Who? Nick? No!" I asked, even though I knew he wasn't talking about Nick. He knew I was just stalling.

"How long has this been going on?"

I looked away, not meeting his eyes. My eyes locked with Abby's, and I was surprised to see understanding, like she knew what I was going through, like she knew how hard this was for me.

"If you don't tell me, I'll just find out from Nick, and I'd rather hear it from you."

"Ray." Abby said in a warning tone.

He looked over and his eyes widened,

"Aw shit, Abs."

"It's ok, don't worry about it. She'll talk when she's ready. You can't just expect her to confess and have everything be the way it was before. It just doesn't work that way. You should know that."

He seemed to accept this, then got up, looked over to her, as if saying 'see if you can get anything out of her' before leaving the room, cracking the door as he left.

She scooted her chair closer to my bed, before saying

"I know exactly what you're going through. I also know just how hard it is to talk about it. I totally understand if you don't want to talk to me, or even if you don't want to listen to me. But I do want you to know, that I will listen to whatever you have to say." She leaned back in her chair and waited.

"Do you really know what I'm going through, or are you just saying that to get me to talk?" I asked her.

"Oh believe me I definitely know what you're talking about. Times 2."

I just nodded, letting her know I was paying attention.

"What do you mean times 2?"

"Let's just say I had a pretty rough home life growing up. My father beat me and my mother –well before he left anyway- and my mother and younger brother are both bi-polar; and than, my ex-husband –the guy from the fair- also abused me. At first I thought that it was normal. It was all I had ever known. My dad beat my mom, and than me, but never my brother. So when I met Richard, nothing changed. I soon realized that no, it wasn't normal, and I began thinking that maybe I had done something to deserve it. But the day I woke up in the ICU, I finally realized that it wasn't my fault, nor had it ever been. This was about 2 weeks after the incident at the fair. What happened at the fair was Richard had knocked me around some the night before. I had hit my head, and had been feeling dizzy. I felt faint, and everything started spinning. Next think I know I'm in some guys arms –Nick's- with Richard towering over us. That night I started planning how I would escape. And to make matters worse, I had kept everything bottled up inside for so long, and when it finally became too much, I had no idea what I was gonna do. If I hadn't had Susan, Luka, and Carter, I don't know what would have happened. I probably wouldn't be here. But, this all happened before I met Ray, and he's definitely helped me deal with all this. He's the first person I've truly been able to trust in a long time, I can tell him anything."

I just sat there in a shocked kind of silence.

'She really did know exactly what I was going through!' I thought.

"Geez, I was supposed to listen to you, to see if I could help, and you ended up helping me more than I helped you!" she exclaimed, chuckling.

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