Hi Friends! You get a bonus chapter this week. (I am telling you, summer is doing wonders for this teacher and her writing habits!) Anyway, I have been promising you guys a look at Lila and Fiona's stories. That is what this chapter is. If you are not a fan or if you don't want to read it, you won't be missing much, plot wise. Just a little bit of Lila and Fiona comforting Tess, but really, I am very proud of this chapter. I think it turned out better than I imagined.

For those of you who do chose to read it, I won't tell you to enjoy, because the is really nothing to enjoy about this topic, but I do hope that it gives a little bit of background to some characters who we don't know all that well.

Please review if you have a minute!

Fiona smiled and waved as she watched the motorcycles follow Gemma's SUV from the lot, her husband and daughter among them. As much as she didn't want them far away from her, visiting a bunch of men she barely knew in prison was far from how she wanted to spend her day. She had volunteered, along with Lila, to stay behind and watch the children. She turned to glance at the two women standing next to her. Lila was holding baby Abel, while her own son clung to her leg. Tess stood alone, dressed in jeans and an old hoodie, arms crossed over her middle, frowning as she held herself together. On second thought, Fiona supposed that the children weren't the only ones she had stayed behind to watch over.

Abel babbled gleefully from his place in Lila's arms, jerking Fiona from her thoughts.

"Let's go on inside now," she prodded. "No use standing around outside. My daughter and husband cooked this morning. I am sure that there is a mess in the kitchen to clean up, and I sure could use a cup of tea."

"You're right," Lila agreed, shifting Abel on her hip. "Between them and feeding everybody else, I think every dish in this place is probably dirty, and we sent all the skanky crow eaters away, so that leaves us to wash them."

"Mama," Piper tugged on Lila's belt. "Can me and Kenny and Ellie watch a movie? Please?"

"I'm sure we can find something for you guys to watch," Lila smiled at her son before turning back to Fiona. "Let me get them settled, and then I'll come help."

Fiona nodded and watched Lila attempt to corral all of the children inside. She turned back towards Tess, who bore no resemblance to the witty, sunny young girl she had been. This morning, she had been quiet, sticking close to Kozik as they ate breakfast and prepared to leave. Now that he was gone, she looked lost.

"She will likely have her hands full," Fiona stated simply, drawing Tess out of her own little world. "I'll wash, if you dry?"

That got a tiny smile from the girl, who nodded and followed her into the kitchen. Among piles of dishes and hot running water, they worked in silence, washing and drying, over and over again. Fiona watched the girl struggle to dry the dripping wet dishes, continually pushing up the sleeves of the long sweatshirt she wore.

"You cold, dear?" Fiona asked, already knowing the answer. "We could turn the air down, warm it up a little in here so you don't have to wear the sweater."

"What?" came the startled reply. The girl had clearly been in her own little world. "Oh, no it's okay. It's not the cold."

Fiona nodded in understanding. She knew what it was like; could remember very clearly being where Tess was now, when her own skin was an uncomfortable place to be. She suspected that the sweater helped, and if it did, than more power to it. What the poor girl was going through, Fiona wouldn't wish on her worst enemy.

"Why don't you make the tea, or the coffee, if that's what you prefer," Fiona gently suggested. "I can finish the washing, and they can air dry."

Tess smiled her thanks, grateful for the request. The long sleeves were getting in the way of her doing the dishes, yet she knew that it was important for her to stay busy. If she stopped moving or stopped working, she would have time to think, and that was the last thing she wanted right now.

Fiona finished up the dishes as the smell of coffee filled the room. As she was finishing, Lila made her way in, Abel in tow.

"This little guy does NOT want to be put down," she reported, sliding into a chair at the table. "And he doesn't seem to want to nap either."

"Of course he doesn't! There are three gorgeous women here to keep him company," Fiona smiled, reaching her arms out. "Give me a turn. You're hogging him."

"Gladly," Lila smiled, handing the boy over as the coffee timer dinged. "That coffee smells amazing, Tess. Fiona, you want a cup?"

"Why not?" Fiona responded. "It tastes like crap, but it's all you Americans drink, so I had better get used to it."

"That's the spirit," Lila joked as she pulled mugs out. She and Tess busied themselves making the coffee, while Fiona gently rocked Abel, who played with her hair. Within a few minutes, they joined her at the table, bringing the coffee and a box of store bought cookies from the cupboard. They all stayed quiet for awhile, as the baby in Fiona's arms drifted off to sleep.

"That's amazing," Lila admired softly. "I couldn't get him to sleep for anything."

"It's a gift," Fiona smiled and then shrugged. "Babies just like me. Except Kerrianne. She always prefered Filip."

"Really?" Lila wondered, surprised. She couldn't quite picture Chibs with an adoring baby.

"Really. She was all about her Da, from the moment she was born. She is a sweet little thing, and I love her more than life itself, but I was only allowed to put her to sleep if he wasn't around," Fiona answered honestly.

"Piper never really had much of a choice. His Dad was long gone before I even knew I was pregnant," Lila admitted. "He's always been my little golden boy. He's the longest relationship of my life."

That got a chuckle out of Fiona, but Tess remained silent. Both other women could see the wheels turning in her brain and knew that she wanted to say something. Fiona was content to be patient, but patience wasn't Lila's strong suit.

"What is it, girl?" she asked, nudging Tess with her shoulder. "We don't bite. Much."

Tess shook her head and let out a chuckle, but they all knew it wasn't genuine. "Nothing. It's really nothing. I just…" she started before taking a deep breath and continuing. "You just both seem so...normal I guess."

"Thank you, I think," Fiona replied cautiously, not sure where this was going. "Normal is what we strive for."

"No, I don't mean anything bad by it," Tess corrected quickly, not wanted to hurt any feelings. "You both told me yesterday that you had been...well, that...this...had happened to you before. And if you hadn't told me, I never would have known. I just...I can't imagine ever feeling anything that even seems like normal again. I don't understand how you do it."

They were silent for a moment, wondering how to explain to the vulnerable woman in front of them all that they had been through to get back to "normal", wondering how they could explain that normal had taken on a whole new definition. Surprisingly, it was Lila who spoke first.

"I was only fourteen when it happened," she admitted, staring into her coffee cup. "My mom and dad had been divorced since I was a baby, and she dated a bunch of different men, mostly asshole who only wanted one thing from her. Hank was the first who ever stuck around. They had been together for a year when we moved into his house, and everything was going great. My mom was happy and Hank treated her really well. We had been living there for a few weeks when Hank's son Robert came home from college for the summer. He was twenty and handsome and cool. My mom said that he would be like my brother and I had never had a brother before, and when he let me hang out with him, I felt so cool. When he started making me drinks and offering me joints, there was no way I was going to say no. I was having the best summer of my life, until it ended. The day before Rob was leaving to go back to school, we had BBQ and my Mom and Hank went to bed early. And then later that night, after I went to bed, Rob opened my door. He was drunk. He told me how my room used to be his room, so I couldn't tell him to leave, because it was his own room. He crawled into my bed, and I tried to tell him to stop, but he told me to hush, or I would wake up my mom and his dad. He said that I wanted it, that I had wanted it all summer. He said that I had teased him with my short shorts and bathing suit tops. He told me that he loved me and he was going to show me. I had never done more than kiss a boy before. I was terrified."

"You don't-" Tess started, knowing how hard that this had to be. "You don't have to tell me. I didn't mean to pry."

"It's okay," Lila assured her. "It's my story to tell. Anyway, Rob went back to school the next day. It took me weeks to tell my mom. When I did, she said that Hank was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and she wouldn't let me ruin it with my crazy stories and accusations. After that, I didn't know what to do, or what to think. I felt absolutely worthless. I slept with any boy who would have me, and did all the drugs I could get my hands on. By the time the next summer rolled around, I wasn't going to stick around and let Rob show up and see what I had become. So, I ran away. I got pregnant with Piper that summer, and had an aunt that let me and Pipe stay with her while I got my GED. I became a porn start the second I turned 18. My life was already defined by sex, and it was good money. I never had a relationship that lasted longer than a night. That helped, actually. Doing porn, I was the one in control. It was...good. I liked it."

"You never had a relationship that lasted longer than a night," Tess repeated slowly. "But Opie…"

"Opie was different," Lila smiled fondly. "I didn't meet him at a bar, or on set. I met him when I needed to get my car fixed. He took care of me. And he didn't try to sleep with me. He was still in the middle of grieving for Donna. In fact, it took months before we even slept together. Sex with him wasn't a power struggle, which was different. I love Opie to the moon and back."

"Does he...does he know?" Tess whispered, trying to keep the tears from her eyes.

"No," Lila shook her head. "He doesn't, and I am glad for it. I'm not a victim, and I don't want to be treated like one, especially not by Opie. Besides, he would go absolutely crazy and probably find and kill Robert."

Fiona let out a humorless laugh, surprising the two other women. When she noticed the strange looks they were giving her, she shook her head sadly. "Sorry. I'm sorry. It's not funny, but...yeah. You're right. There is no way that Robert would live for very long. They're good men that we have."

"Is that what Chibs did?" Lila wondered. "Killed the guy who...who raped you?"

"Yeah," Fiona said sadly. "That's exactly what he did. And he almost died because of it." They were looking at her quizzically again, so she continued. "I didn't know until years later. It took me years to work it out, and even more years to do something about it. That was the goal of the whole thing...Filip. He and I had been together for…forever, really. We started dating when we were sixteen, got married when we were barely twenty. He had been the only guy I was ever with. Jimmy was a friend, my father and his father had worked together with the IRA, so we had known each other forever. I never knew he thought of me as anything other than a friend, and I certainly never thought of him as anything more. I really never had eyes for anybody but Filip."

"Wait, Jimmy?" Lila interjected. "That guy from the IRA who…"

"Yeah, that Jimmy," Fiona confirmed. "I guess he had gotten a taste of power and figured he could get more, with me. My father was growing old, too old to be leading deals for the IRA. Filip would have likely taken over for my father, and Jimmy wasn't going to have that. He came up with a plan. He convinced one of the lower IRA men to do it. My five year old daughter was napping in the next room when it happened. There was a knock at the door and I recognized him as somebody from the IRA, so I let him in. It was brutal. He beat me and he raped me and he left me lying on the floor of the kitchen. Luckily a neighbor had come over to borrow some milk and found me before Kerri woke."

"Damn," Lila shook her head and squeezed Fiona's hand.

"Yeah," FIona agreed. "Jimmy must have know I wouldn't tell the police; a 'good woman' never does. He knew that I would only tell Filip what happened and who was responsible. He planned it that way. Filip tried. He tried so hard to comfort me and be understanding, but he is a man. The second I fell asleep, he left to go find the guy. Of course it wasn't hard to find him, Jimmy made sure of that. I am not exactly sure what happened that night, but I assume that the bastard never had a chance to explain that Jimmy put him up to it, that he thought he was doing something sanctioned by the IRA. He came home after and told me that he had taken care of it, promised that the man would never hurt me again. I believed him. Neither of us ever even considered that it had been a set up, that all the IRA would see was FIlip brutally murdering one of their own, for seemingly no reason. It was only a matter of time before they excommunicated him, the campaign led by Jimmy. He had to leave, and he knew I couldn't go with him. I would be labeled as a traitor, and both Kerrianne and I would be in danger, so he left and I stayed. After months of not hearing from him, it didn't take much for Jimmy to convince me that he didn't just leave Ireland, he left me. He left Kerrianne. After all, how could he still want me? I was used goods."

"But you're together now," Tess pointed out. "I mean, he's crazy about you. Even when you were living in Ireland, you're all he ever talked about."

Fiona smiled. "That's because he's a good man. I should have known better. He would have never stopped loving me, not over something that wasn't my fault. I should have had more faith in him. I didn't, and I paid for it many times over. But I have my husband back, and we are together and we are happy. And we have a beautiful daughter. And hell, I may just have to steal this little guy, just to add to the mix."

"I am sure that Gemma would be a huge fan of that," Lila quipped.

"Hardly," Fiona agreed, before looking back at Tess. "It takes times, to feel anything at all. But you will. And it helps when you have people around you, people who love you. For Lila and I, it took awhile to get back to men who loved us enough to deal with all the shit, but you have a yours right now. You can lean on him."

"Kozik?" Tess questioned. "No, it's not like that. Kozik and I aren't...I mean...we're not…"

"Sure honey," Lila rolled her eyes. "Keep telling yourself that. God, you sound just like him. You too are crazy about each other."

"I'm just….he's my…." Tess began, before sighing. "I need him. He's just about the only man I trust right now, and I need him here. I can't take a chance to mess it up, no matter how much I may love him."

"I understand," Fiona told her with an understanding smile. "But don't rule it out either. He is in love with you, and from what I understand, that doesn't happen to him. Ever. You will work it out, you know what's best to you."

Tess gave both women a genuine smile. It felt good to smile. "Thank you. Both of you. This...gives me hope that maybe one day...it won't be so bad."

They were interrupted by a screech and a peel of laughter from the other room. Fiona grimaced as Abel began to stir, his sleep interrupted by the noise from the other room. Lila immediately stood to handle whatever was going on in the other room, but before she left, she squeezed Tess's shoulder. "You're going to be okay."