Two days later

Lauren was at her house, she hadn't heard from Amy since their argument. It had been the longest they've lasted without speaking to each other.

Amy took a deep breath before she knocking. After a few knocks, the door swung open.

"Look who decided to finally show up." Matt greeted his sister in law bringing her in for a hug.

"Hey, Matty." Amy responded. Amy inferred Lauren hadn't told Matt about how things went last time they spoke. He held the door open as they both entered.

"It's good to finally see you." Matt admitted, and he meant it. Over the years they spend the majority of their free time together.

"I've missed you guys." Amy smiled. "Where are the girls?" She asked.

"Lauren's in the backyard doing some gardening, something about her being tense all the time." He laughed and Amy chuckled. "And Emma's in the park. Day care field trip." Matt added.

Amy walked over to the backyard where she saw Lauren was trying to plant some decorative flowers, but she looked like she wasn't relaxing at all.

Amy cleared her throat to make her presence known, Lauren turned around and she was surprised to see Amy there.

"Um, I was walking around the neighborhood and ended up here." Amy explained, this whole situation felt very uncomfortable from her side.

There was an awkward silence between the two sisters.

"Listen-" Lauren started as she wanted to get this over with because she hated fighting with Amy.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I came at you." Amy interrupted quickly. Lauren's eyes softened when she heard Amy's apology.

"Amy, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I had no right to keep something that huge from you. I should've told you as soon as I found out about it. I thought I was doing the right thing." Lauren reasoned. In her mind she saw it as a way of keeping Amy safe.

"I'm sorry I raised my voice at you." Amy spoke again, this time she kept her eyes towards the ground. She wasn't proud of her actions.

"It's okay. I'm just relieved were back to speaking terms." Lauren answered accepting the apology.

"I really did miss you." Amy said hugging her sister. Who would've thought they'd be so important in each other's life.

"How did the rest of the trip go? Tell me everything." Lauren requested.

"Well, there's a spot with my name at Yale for whenever I want to give it a try." Amy replied smiling. "I was meaning to ask, I looked into my wallet and my cards and checkbook were gone. Do you have them by any chance?" Amy questioned her sister.

Lauren half smiled, "Yeah I took them. I needed to cut off any possibility you had of refilling your liquor cabinet." Lauren confessed. She hoped that Amy wouldn't notice but she did it to make sure Amy didn't get wasted again.

"That's one of the reasons you are the best sister ever." Amy praised knowing the reasons behind Lauren's action.

The two of them went inside to the family room to hang out with Matt like they always did when they were all alone.

"Oh god. It's almost time to pick up Em." Lauren glanced at her watch.

"I'll go." Amy said, standing up. "I'll need to borrow your car. I walked here."

"Look at you exercising." Matt joked. Lauren gave her the keys and Amy left.

Amy reached Emma's daycare. She didn't know she's missed her niece so much. She's never gone this long without seeing Emma. Amy stepped out of the SUV and walked towards the entrance.

"We were beginning to wonder where were you." One of the teachers greeted her.

Amy chuckled lightly, "It's been a while. I've been out of town. One of those hectic weeks." Amy responded not wanting to give many details away.

Another teacher was holding hands with Emma as she was bringing her to meet up with her aunt.

"Hey munchkin." Amy said as she saw her niece was approaching.

Emma turned her attention to where the voice came from when she recognized it was Amy. "Mimi." The toddler screamed breaking free from her teacher's hold and began to run to her aunt.

Amy opened her arms allowing her niece to hug her. She lowered herself and lifted Emma. The girl wrapped her tine arms around Amy's neck as Amy kissed her forehead and cheek.

"How bout we go get donuts, huh?" She asked the little one. Emma giggled because Amy was tickling her.

Amy waved goodbye at the teachers before settling Emma in her car seat. Emma and Amy arrived at Lauren's shop. The girl was happily walking side by side with her favorite person in the world after her parents. She would always act silly around Amy and of course Amy would follow her niece's footsteps.

Back at the house, Lauren and Matt stayed in the family awaiting the arrival of their daughter. Lauren assumed would be hungry and she decided to have some snacks ready.

Matt heard a knocking, "Well look who it is, Mrs. Booker in the flesh." He opened the door.

"Hey Matt nice to see you too." Karma responded nicely.

"Come on in." He stepped aside, "Lauren is in the kitchen whipping up some snacks. Where's your hubby?"

"We took different flights from our honeymoon." She answered but in all honesty she didn't care his whereabouts.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Matt said leading Karma to the kitchen. He left shortly because he knew they needed their catch up.

"How's the married life treating you?" Lauren hugged her. Karma gave her look that meant she was not at all ecstatic with the married life. "Was the honeymoon that bad?"

"It was like being on Nightmare Island." Karma rolled her eyes letting out a sigh. She was relieved because Lauren was the only person who she didn't have to put on a show. "Like I swear I can't stand it Lauren. Every time I have to pretend that I'm actually enjoying kissing the bastard with his smug smile."

"Where is he now?" Lauren asked wondering because since he suspected Karma and Amy slept together last time they had the chance, it was rare for Liam to leave her out of his sight.

"Thankfully we had to cut the trip short because he was about to lose some deals in Switzerland." Karma replied.

"At least you'll get some days away from him." Lauren chimed in trying to see the bright side of it.

"We're home." A voice was heard coming from the entrance. Both of them recognized to whom it belonged.

"Mama." Emma babbled as she was rapidly walking hugging her mother's legs.

"There she is." Lauren picked her up kissing her, "Did you have fun at the park?" The infant nodded. "Emmy why do you have chocolate icing on your face?" Lauren noticed. "Were you eating a donut?" Lauren asked knowing the answer already. Emma looked at her mother smiling and she pressed her index finger against her lips signaling it was a secret.

Karma melted immediately. It was difficult not to fall in love with Emma's occurrences as she grew up.

"That's my girl." Amy boasted proudly because she was responsible for teaching Emma to do the gesture. Amy's eyes moved to the left and that's when she registered that Lauren wasn't alone. Amy felt the room suddenly getting smaller, her chest tightened.

"Come little lady let's get you all cleaned up." Lauren said to Emma, wanting to leave them alone.

Karma noticed the change in Amy's demeanor, "I should hit the road back to Austin." Karma added trying to defuse the tension.

"Karma." Amy blurted when she saw the auburn haired girl was about to get away once again.

Karma turned around. She hated the fact that as much as she wanted to walk out on Amy, she couldn't. Karma faced her, but she stayed quiet.

"Lauren told me." Amy revealed staring at her. Karma's face shifted completely. She wasn't expecting this. "Why didn't you tell me?" Amy asked almost pleading for an answer.

Karma had her head down. "I couldn't." She said barely audible.

"Why not?" Amy demanded, "We could've done something about it."

"Amy there was nothing to be done." Karma stated. Honestly, she thought of every scenario and it always resulted in the same outcome.

"I don't believe it." The blonde crossed her arms.

"Believe what?" Karma raised her voice getting frustrated. "That you were in a coma. That they didn't know when you were going to wake up. That I knew Liam had something to do with it, it killed me even more knowing it was my fault you got hurt. The only thing I knew I could do in that moment was to find a way to try and safe your life, whatever it took. Even though I hated what I had to do." Karma finished, she was about to cry.

"You should've talked to me about it, Karma." Amy took one step closer towards her. "How do you think I felt when I woke up and you weren't there?"

"I know I should've." Karma admitted lowly. "But you can't blame me. You and I both know you would've done the same thing if it were me in danger." Karma agued. Amy couldn't argue because it was true. She would do anything for Karma.

"You should have let him kill me." Amy stepped even closer to Karma, standing face to face with Karma.

Karma's eyes widened, "Have you lost your mind?"

"That's what's he's doing right now, or do you think me being without you isn't killing me?" The blonde said as she was getting chocked up.

Karma dived into Amy's arms. Amy reciprocated immediately. Both of them were sobbing quietly. Karma's head was nuzzled into the blonde's chest. She comforted the auburn haired girl soothing her hair. Amy was running her hands up and down Karma's back until she rested her hand in Karma's arm until she was startled when she heard Karma wince like she was uncomfortable. Amy broke the hug and she tugged on Karma's cardigan wanting to remove it. Of course Karma didn't want to take off the piece of clothing, but fighting Amy on it was useless. Two fainted bruises came into view. Karma pulled her cardigan rapidly. She couldn't look back at Amy. The marks were different shades of purple and blue. It looked as if someone had been handled Karma against her will.

"Did he-?" Amy finally spoke. She couldn't even form the sentence altogether. The thought of someone harming Karma, not to mention Liam made her blood boil.

Karma shook her head, "No. He wanted to, but I managed to get away. He was drunk, that's when he gets desperate and always tries to."

Amy let out a sigh she didn't even knew she had stored. "We need to get you away from him." It sounded more of a statement rather than a suggestion.

"I can't." Karma wept with a certain pain in her voice.

"Matt. Lauren." Amy called. "Get in here." She ordered. They arrived to the kitchen, "Okay, we need to keep Karma as far away from Liam as possible. She needs to divorce him. Any ideas?"

"About time." Matt cheered. Amy inferred he also knew about the deal because Lauren and him didn't like to keep secrets. He wasn't very fond of Liam. He only kept things civil to keep everything peaceful.

"We need to get Karma a lawyer." Amy said looking at Matt.

"Say no more." He caught up pretty quickly. "It's been a while since I've had a divorce case, but don't worry I got this." Matt's mind instantly began computing. "Okay, first things has Liam hurt you in any way? It could be physical or emotional?"

Karma debated on whether if she should answer the question truthfully because Amy was present and she didn't want her to hear what she's been through. Before doing anything Karma glanced at Amy who gave her nod signaling that she was prepared to listen Karma's side. Karma took off her sweater and revealed the bruises she had on her forearms.

Matt observed as he jaw tightened. He always hated men who would dare to put their hands on a woman. He regained himself, "We need to file for a TRO (temporary restraining order). That'll buy us some time until we can build a case. In the meantime, I'll need to go and brush up in anything and everything related to divorce law. We need to be prepared because I'm sure he's not going to roll over on this."

"So we take the first flight to New York and get the paperwork started." Lauren proposed. "We should get you an apartment under my name so you don't have to stay near him and that way he won't be able to hurt you." Lauren said comforting Karma. She was in protection mode right now.

"I'll go call a couple of my colleagues." Matt left for his office. Karma went with him to get some paperwork started.

Amy hadn't said anything. It was a lot to digest in a matter of minutes. Her head felt as if it was going to explode. "You guys go. I'll stay here with Emma." Amy went through Lauren's purse and grabbed her checkbook and signed 4 checks. "Here", She handed them to Lauren. "Use them to cover the plane tickets and get her settled into an apartment."

"You know I can afford the tickets." Lauren protested.

"I know you can but it's the least I can do. I need to feel like I'm doing something." Amy justified her motives. If t were up to her, she would be the one accompanying Karma in everything.

"All right girls." Matt reentered the kitchen with Karma. Amy immediately shoved the checks she had signed back into Lauren's purse. She didn't want Karma to know she's going to pay for everything and she wants to keep it that way. "I just checked and there's a flight scheduled to leave in 2 hours."

"Let's do it." Lauren said getting more determined as she got closer to end this nightmare.

A/N: Hey guys. Here's another chapter. I want to apologize for taking so long to post. Once again, I want to thank everyone who's taken the time to follow, favorite and review this story. It means a lot to me. Enjoy.