"W-What are you doing here?" Meghan stammered, almost unbelieving of what she was seeing. She had gone to slam the door in his face, but he'd only managed to push past her into the apartment. Meghan was trying to keep a safe distance away from him, but he was circling around her like a vulture circling its next meal.

He licked his lips. "You called in sick to work. I took that as an invitation."

"How was that possibly an invitation?"

He chuckled. "How was it not? I heard the voice-mail. You didn't, and still don't, sound sick in the least. With your husband off to work, and you here all by yourself, I had to take it as an invitation to pop by. Have a little alone time of our own."

Meghan shook her head vehemently. "That wasn't it, I swear. I really was feeling ill."

Ichigo clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Meghan, Meghan, Meghan. You really should learn to lie better."

"I-I want you to leave. Please leave." She said forcefully as he took a looming step towards her.

The amused expression on his face utterly pissed her off. "Oh but I'm not going anywhere. You are my employee after all, and I must look after what's mine."

"Well I'm not yours, and I've had enough of you treating me this way. I should've spoken up about this months ago, but I'm sick of this. I quit."

His grin only widened. "Cute, but your innocent little reaction isn't going to work. I've held myself back from you long enough."

Before she could ask him to leave once more, he charged forward and she found herself pinned down onto the living room floor. It took her a moment to even realize what had happened, and what was going on. His hands roughly groping at her body, causing her to wince under his touch. His grip was vice like on her arms, pinning them above her head, and her throat tightened. Fear slammed into her like a ton of bricks. The frightened look that must've been plastered to her face only appeared to please him.

She kicked back against him, but to no avail, he was just way too strong for her to push off. She screamed, cried out Subaru's name as if her life depend on it. And it was then, with horror in her eyes, that she realized that her life might depend on it. With Ichigo fondling her chest roughly and laughing down at her, she realized she might not make it out of this. So she screamed louder and longer.

Her screams only seemed to anger Ichigo, and he recoiled a fist and slammed it into the side of her face. "Shut up bitch! Don't act like you don't want this!"

She began to cry then, sobbing Subaru's name while Ichigo did as he pleased above her. Her tank top was already torn, revealing her bra underneath. She closed her eyes and turned her head to the side, not wanting to see anymore of what he was going to do. But it was then that she heard the front door burst open, and the force of someone slamming into Ichigo above her had her rolling across the floor. She gathered herself and opened her eyes, watching in amazement as Subaru pinned Ichigo up against the wall.

"You son of a bitch," Subaru growled at Ichigo, "so you're the one who's been harassing my wife lately."

"What... are you … talking about...?" Ichigo gasped, his throat being crushed by Subaru's forearm.

"I installed cameras in your office you stupid bastard! I had been suspicious that something was going on when Meghan kept saying she didn't want to go to work. Now I know why! You've been torturing her for months!" Subaru seethed, pure rage radiating off of him in waves. Meghan watched as Kaiji and Katsuragi came rushing in through the front door after Subaru, coming in to assist his friend. She was too confused and too stunned to say anything, so she continued to watch on, nursing her bruised arms.

"This him?!" Kaiji asked, grabbing Ichigo's collar as Subaru continued to press him up against the wall.

"Yeah, this is him. I outta kill you!" Subaru shouted and went to hit him again, but Katsuragi stopped him.

"Don't Subaru. Take care of Meghan. We'll take this guy in." Katsuragi ordered, his voice rough and his gaze vicious as he looked at Ichigo. If it was worth anything to her, the look on Ichigo's face was priceless, seeing all three men on the verge of tearing him to pieces. Subaru's breathing hissed, and he shook with the effort to not pummel the man to death. It took him several moments, but he finally released Ichigo.

He spat in his direction as both Kaiji and Katsuragi led Ichigo out the front door, disappearing forever from Meghan's life. Subaru stood still, breathing heavily as he calmed himself. Meghan felt herself shivering uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face in pure relief. He'd heard her. He'd heard her calling for him, and he'd come for her. He turned to her then, the rage in his eyes completely vanishing at the rather broken expression on her face, and he collapsed to his knees in front of her, pulling her into his embrace. She sobbed against him, clenching his shirt in her hands as he held her, rocking her back and forth as if to soothe her.

He didn't say anything for quite some time, settling for just holding her. Like he couldn't figure out just what to say, or ask, her. And while she tried to control her shaking body, she was glad. She wasn't quite ready for it, and only wanted him to hold her, just like he was. If only for a little while longer. Tears continued to stream down her face like a floodgate had been opened, the understanding of what had just happened completely flooring her.

Some amount of time, an amount that Meghan was unsure of, passed before she had calmed down enough to say anything. She leaned back slightly to look up into Subaru's soft eyes, relaxing his face like he was afraid that the slightest bit of anger still left on his face would frighten her. He reached forward and cupped her face in his hands, and his thumb tenderly rubbed over the nasty bruise forming on her cheek.

"Why... why baby... why didn't you tell me?" He whispered finally.

She looked down. "I-I was too ashamed... I didn't want anyone to know..."

He pressed his forehead against hers. "Why didn't you quit?"

"I wanted to finish up my last assignment, so I could quit with some shred of dignity. B-But I guess that would never have happened..."

"God baby I'm so sorry you had to go through that. So sorry." He said with a thick voice, and she could feel the pain in his own voice, making her feel guilty for keeping something like that from him.

"H-How did you know?"

"You kept saying you didn't want to go to work, and you just had... you just had this look on your face. Like you were scared or something, and trying to keep me from knowing. So I called Katsuragi and Kaiji and asked if they'd put in some cameras around your office, to see if something was going on that you weren't telling me."

"That was who called you earlier?"

"Katsuragi said that they were reviewing some of the footage they'd gotten, and that I should come and take a look... God Meghan I should've killed him for what he did to you..." Subaru whispered harshly.

Meghan shook her head and took his hands in hers. "No, you shouldn't have. I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was going on. I know I probably should have... but I just wanted so badly to just finish up with some of my dignity still intact, and wash my hands of him forever."

"He bruised you... I know you haven't been 'just clumsy' lately Meghan. He's been hurting you. I saw the tapes."

"... I know."

"I watched, and heard, everything. The nasty things he'd say to you. The look on your face when he'd grab your arm and squeeze. The look he gave you when you turned around to leave. God I wanted to rip his eyeballs from his skull when I finished watching those tapes... I don't know how I knew he'd come here after seeing that. But I'm glad I did. We were walking up the stairs when I heard you screaming..." He stopped to take a shaky breath and Meghan realized that it was Subaru who needed comforting now.

This wonderful man who'd always come to her rescue when she needed him most was now crumpled on the floor next to her, holding her against him in his strong and loving arms. But looked as if he were going to break down at any minute. Though it had been Ichigo tormenting her, Subaru had had to watch every minute of it. He'd had to sit there and watch some other man treat her terribly, and she couldn't imagine the pain he was feeling now. She couldn't imagine how she'd have felt if she'd had to watch someone doing that to Subaru. And she felt such guilt for having put him through that.

Meghan leaned back and gave him a small sad smile. "Well I'm alright now, thanks to you. I don't ever have to see him again. But you came for me, and that's all that matters to me."

He smiled then and let out a small laugh, as if she'd said something ironic. "Of course I did. I'll always come for you my sweet little bunny."

"I'm sorry I did that to you. I didn't mean to worry you like that."

He shook his head. "You don't have anything to apologize for. Yeah, you should have come to me the minute this all started, but I guess I can kind of understand why you didn't. But just promise me one thing, will ya?"

"Anything."

"Just promise me that you won't ever keep anything like this from me. I love you so much that I don't what I would do if anything happened to you. I think I just lost three lives after everything from today."

Meghan giggled and nodded. "I promise, and I love you too. So much." She leaned forward then and kissed his lips gently, feeling the love and warmth coming from him, and in that moment, despite what she'd just gone through, she was unexplicably happy.