A/N: Thank you guys for your reviews :D AllyKat8- Checkmate is awesome :) dustdancingintheflickerlight- The Trial of Steve-O Malone and The Trials and tribulations of a teenage pyromaniac are also amazing, both of you carry on the good work :) Everyone else you should check them out, seriously :)
Barry waited nervously in the kitchen. Kacey had long since gone to bed after seeing he was in no mood to be helping her with a silly project. He'd not long come off the phone to Carol, explaining what had been happening while she'd been away. Safe to say Steve-O was gonna be a dead man when Carol Barry caught up with him. What neither he, or Carol knew, was that Carol wasn't going to get the chance. That is until Barry heard the front door open as his sister returned, a soft, feeble "goodnight" to whoever had walked her home and the door closing behind her.
He leapt from the chair, almost knocking it over with the force of his movement and he quickly rushed down the hall to envelope his sister into a hug. "I'm so sorry." He whispered into her hair, now a straggly mess, far from the perfect hair style she left the house with that morning.
Dynasty just said nothing, numb from the night's events, and she hugged him back.
Brother and sister stayed there for what seemed an eternity but could have been no longer than three minutes.
"Listen." Barry said, stepping away from her so he could look at her. "If I ever see him. He's a dead man. I should have been able to protect you and I didn't, but now he's not goin' anywhere near you."
Dynasty nodded meekly and wiped her eyes for what must have been the millionth time that day. The day's events had clearly taken its toll and she looked exhausted.
"Go get yourself ready for bed, and come back down with your favourite film, I don't care what it is, I'll get you the ice cream and we'll sit and watch it till we fall asleep."
Dynasty looked up at him eventually and smiled softly when she saw the look on his face. "You should smile more often." She commented lightly before walking up the stairs, doing what he had told her.
Barry sighed softly, watching as she walked up the stairs and he walked into the living room, switching on the lamp and the TV. He then walked back into the kitchen, grabbed her favourite bright pink mug with multicoloured flowers dotted all over it and decided to make her a hot chocolate. He then dug into the freezer to pick up an unopened ice cream tub, then, armed with what he needed, he walked into the living room and waited for his sister to come down the stairs. In the silence of the house he could hear the faint noise of the shower running, and realised he could be there a while, so put the tub of ice cream away so it didn't melt.
Turning the sound up on the TV he flicked through the channels until he found something vaguely interesting until his sister came back down.
A whole twenty minutes past before he heard the creaking of the stairs and the soft padding on the floor. He turned his head to see Dynasty, all damp hair, remnants of mascara still under her eyes, presumably from crying and just not being bothered to take the rest off, pink pyjamas and yellow fluffy dressing gown.
"C'mon." Barry tapped the seat beside him.
Dynasty walked over and dropped herself on to the sofa and curled herself up into a ball into her brother's side. She pulled out a dvd case from within her dressing gown and held it up to him.
Barry rolled his eyes when he noticed the familiar cover with the word "Titanic" written across it, but nevertheless, took it from her, shoved her slightly to make her sit up and he got up to put the dvd into the player and went back into the kitchen for the ice cream while it got set up.
"Barry?"
"Yeah?" Barry looked as he handed her the tub and sat back down.
Dynasty paused, taking the cold tub with shaking fingers as she thought how best to ask the questions in her head. She really needed her mum, but at the same time, if she knew Dynasty had been to the police she'd be kicked out.
"Dyn what is it?" Barry asked, looking at her, watching as she nervously chewed her bottom lip and suddenly found the ice cream very interesting.
Dynasty heaved a deep sigh and eventually tore her eyes away to look at her brother. "What's mum gonna say? I have to tell her but how…?"
"She won't blame you." Barry told her. "No one blames you. It's not your fault, you didn't make him do anything to you, he knew what he was doing and he's a dead man walking."
Dynasty just shrugged. She knew what he was saying was true, but that didn't stop her from believing the complete opposite. She went back to him didn't she? She allowed him to ply her with alcohol, she allowed him to pull her into that bedroom, and she allowed him to have his way with her. What part of that wasn't her fault?
Barry could see her questions in her eyes and he hugged her. "I promise you, from now on, no one will hurt you." He told her firmly.
"But what about the police?"
"What about them?"
"I… I broke down in school and… well… Imogen went to get Mrs Mulgrew and I told her what he did… and she made me go to the police."
"What did you say?" Barry asked.
"The truth… Mrs Mulgrew came into the room with me and she kept me going… told me I wasn't on my own and everything…"
Barry sighed softly and said nothing about it. "We'll deal with it when we come to it." He said gently, knowing full well his mother would hit the roof when she found this out.
They both sat in silence through the rest of the film, Dynasty getting through a whole tub of ice cream, hot chocolates being supplied at regular intervals by Barry and he had to deal with his sister crying again. Although for a different reason as the film drew to a close.
