Anticipation was a bit of an exaggeration, what Beth really was doing was praying Alison would say yes to her question. Sure, it was spur the moment, and not as professional as Beth had been in the past, but she was desperate. Beth needed to be with Alison, unexplainably; not just a desire, but she felt her life depended on it; she was already clinging to nothing. Her heart stopped when she felt a vibration on her leg, instantly answering.

"Hello?" The urgency in her voice couldn't be hidden, not in the state of mind Beth was in.

"Beth?"

"Hey.." She spoke weakly, her chest closing tightly, cringing as nervousness took over her. "What's up?"

"Is everything okay, Beth?" Alison bit her lower lip, even Beth could tell without needing to see her. Silently a tear fell down Beth's cheek, all of the air in her car disappearing as she tried desperately to breath in but found nothing. "Beth?"

Panic had replaced excitement, accompanied by worry when Beth didn't respond immediately.

"Yeah.. I just. Can we talk?"

"Sure, yes." Something sounded off, and Alison needed to know. Damn Ainsley for turning her into the type of woman whom needed to know every little fact and detail about people's lives, about what was going on. Beth was the one person Alison tried not to obsess over, but right now all of her "rules" were out the window.

"I'll be there in ten." Beth hung up, swerving her way through traffic.

Punctuality was a trait Beth was persistent on, when meeting with Alison. There was a soft knock on the basement door, Beth's way of letting her know she made it there without being seen by the neighbours. Frankly, Alison wondered if Beth had even left the neighborhood because she had gotten there so quickly, but the change of clothing said otherwise. Instantly Alison could see Beth was in a fight of some sort, her body language screamed of it (the exhausted and defeated look displayed by Beth only secured the assumption).

"Oh Judas, what happened?" Alison led Beth to the sofa, sitting her down as she started gauging the visible wounds on Beth.

"Shit.. Did I miss once?" Beth's hand shot up to her neck, to pull the collar of her shirt up, but was stopped by the invasive ones of Alison.

"Who did this? Was it Paul?"

All of Beth's muscles tightened up, stiffening to the name. Tears had formed, falling unceremoniously down her cheeks as she sat petrified, too afraid to admit the abuse she endured from her boyfriend. "It was. Oh gods of god." Alison exclaimed. Guilt filled her, if she had been awake to stop Beth from leaving she could've prevented this. But that meant, if Beth had been with Paul instead of where she said she would be, that Beth had lied to her. Certainly she wouldn't have lied, right?

"It's not your fault, Ali." Beth's cracked voice cried out, the hurt visible.

"It is, oh my word, it is. Beth.. I-I could've stopped this."

"No." She cringed in pain, shaking her head.

It looked like Paul had strangled her, Alison was sure there was more damage and needed to see, to take in all of the pain Beth was feeling, to assess everything that had happened to her. "Show me the rest of it." Alison spoke firmly.

Beth couldn't move, she couldn't dare bring herself to remove her clothing to reveal all of the bruising that covered her body.

"You don't want to see it..."

"I need to." Alison sighed. Beth wasn't going to do anything, she didn't blame her either, so hesitantly she lift her hands to the buttons, slowly unraveling each one. If Beth was going to stop her, now was the chance, but Alison figured she wouldn't. Beth's face already showed her shame, having all of it revealed wouldn't make much more of a difference. Taking the shirt off, Alison's eyes surveyed the darkened skin, trying her hardest to contain the hate that was already coursing through her body like adrenaline.

Beth was crying, and the sight made Alison cry herself. After she'd seen enough, Alison closed the other woman's shirt, and pulled her into a hug. Sobs choked out from both of them as they sat in the embrace until Beth had stopped crying, having her eyes dried out.

"I think my ribs are broken."

"We need to get you to a hospital, Beth. Does your partner know?"

Worry and panic shot through Beth, and she instantly pulled away, moving to the corner of the couch.

"No! No one else can know."

"Don't be stupid, Beth!"

"No! If Art found out he'd lock Paul away."

"He deserves it."

"I love him, Ali, I don't want that to happen. I just.. I-I."

"Tell me everything that happened after you left earlier, Beth."

An hour passed, they had shifted to the kitchen where Alison handed the detective a mug of hot coffee, hoping it would help soothe her down. Beth revealed her consumption of overlapping medicines, which was why she was afraid to go to the hospital, because that would keep her from getting reinstated. The pain was manageable on her own, so why bother getting an investigation? It would only bring hell down on her in the long run.

Alison was angry. Clearly this wasn't the first time Beth had been abused (she had told her about being hit, but never this severely) or dangerously mixed her medicine, but in the fragile state of mind Beth was in there was nothing she could say. Since Beth couldn't move too much, Beth had her laying down in the basement once again. Within a few minutes, she had fallen asleep, so Alison did what she always did when she was stressed: she cleaned. Deep cleaned. Anything that was dirty, even clean, was cleaned. It was sometimes a benefit, but Alison had her OCD moments, and this was one of them. Leaving a voicemail for Ainsley, Alison managed to pawn off her children on the neighbour for another night.

Consumed in nightmares, Beth broke out in a sweat, her mind in a frenzy. She couldn't wake up from the images of Paul delivering her another beating. The dreams felt all too real, like he was actually there in Alison's basement, beating the shit out of her. Beth's ribs burned, the pain from tightening as she screamed out in misery, still unable to wake from her nightmare. Paul had left in the dream, replaced by Alison. She stood, chained to the wall, covered in blood, broken and destroyed, barely hanging onto life. Walking forward Alison placed a hand on Beth's beating chest, over her heart.

"Shhh..."

"Ali-" Beth's raspy voice was cutting in and out from screaming. The hand felt like acid, burning through her skin as the delicate touch drifted up to her face. Finally Alison's hand was removed, the innocent face stared back at the blood soaked one before sending the palm of her hand to Beth's jaw. She winced, jaw tightening as she spit some blood out.. Not Ali too.. Tear found their way out, even though Beth was certain she didn't have another drop left to cry. Consciousness was fading, and Beth started shaking, hemorrhaging from cuts up her body that spawned mainly where Paul had struck her. There wasn't much blood left in her body, all of the numb, burning sensations aching worse. Beth wanted it to be a dream, anything from reality but the pain felt real- it was influenced by her medicines, an escape of her mind that backfired. Screaming, lots of noise, white noise, Beth had lost too much blood to know what or who anymore, just knowing that whoever it was had just about killed her, that they'd slowly let the life drain from her.

"BETH!" Alison had been trying to wake her for the past twenty minutes, saying her name, taping her, even a gentle shake, nothing was working; so Alison did what she only ever had done to Donnie, and splashed a glass of water on the sleeping woman's face, waking her instantly, but in an uncontrolled, frantic state of mind- which sent Beth flying off the couch and into the ground with roughness that made Alison cringe. She hadn't meant to do all of that, only wake her.

Curses flew out of Beth's mouth as she scrambled away on her hands and legs from Alison, only believing this was still part of her dream. Perhaps what she had seen was the future?

"Beth, stop this! You're okay, it was just a dream."

"Keep back. Stay the fucking hell where you are. Don't come any closer." The rising and falling in Beth's chest were incredibly fast, when she stood, every thing went blank and she collapsed onto the ground.

What have I done, Alison nervously thought as her teeth clenched down on her lower lip. She was flabbergasted at what had just happened. Beth had fallen, and Alison stood as still as a statue. It took minutes before she moved forward, and tried to sit Beth up, or at least roll her over so she wasn't hunched over herself. Great, now how will she wake her?

That didn't matter though, because once Alison had move Beth, her eyes opened and she had the same panic as before, but this time she didn't move because Alison held her. Alison worked her best to calm and sedate Beth with her words, the firm but gentle stroking of her arms. When Beth's breathing had calmed, her body began relaxing in time.

"Ali, I'm so sorry..."

"Shh, none of that, you just rest."

"I'm too afraid to rest. I-I need you, please."