"And you're sure he didn't cause her to fracture anything?"

"Moooom," Starr sighed irritably. Michael just chuckled patiently.

"I'm sure; Starr, there's some deep bruising where you were hit with the book, but no fractures, nothing's broken. Just ice it, take some over the counter painkillers- a prescription shouldn't be necessary- and you'll be fine. Unfortunately, I do have some bad news; I'm sure you already suspected as much, but you have a concussion. It's minor, though, absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Do I have to stay here overnight?"

"Nope, you're free to go home tonight."

"I'm not supposed to go to sleep, though, right?" Starr asked. "That's what they always say on TV."

"Not exactly, no," Michael laughed. "When you get home, someone should ask you a few questions, like your name, what happened, who's the current president, et cetera, just to make sure you're alert and aware, and once more a couple of hours later, but you should be fine to sleep after that, as long as someone checks in on you in the morning as well."

"Oh, good," Blair sighed. "She needs some rest." Starr wrinkled her nose, not quite so fond of the idea.

"Do you have any other questions?" Starr and Blair glanced at each other, and simultaneously shook their heads no. "Okay, great! I believe the cops want to take your statement, and they're just going to do it here so you don't have to make a trip to the station, so just hang tight, someone will be along shortly." He turned to leave, but Starr quickly stopped him, determined to finally get an answer from someone.

"Hey, um, Michael- has anyone examined Mr. Joplin yet?" she asked casually, trying to pretend she wasn't dying to know.

"Yes, they have."

"And he's okay?" she pressed urgently.

"Concussion, minor like yours, and he needed a few stitches where he was hit with the gun. His hand's broken, but it won't need surgery or any pins, luckily, just a cast, and someone's taking care of that right now."

"Oh, good," she sighed in immense relief, finally feeling like she could breathe properly. "Thanks, Michael."

He left, and Blair smiled, though she was careful to ignore her mom instincts to sit with her daughter, hug her, having realized when Starr nearly had a panic attack in the ambulance that she needed breathing room right now.

"I'm glad Mr. Joplin's okay too- I owe him so much after what he did for you tonight. It's fortunate that your dad asked him over, huh?"

"Sure is," Starr said tightly, trying to disguise her true feelings at the mention of her dad. He seemed to think everything that happened with Zach gave them a fresh start, that the two of them were okay now, but that wasn't true at all; what he'd said and done to Schuyler today still mattered, the fact that he was still threatening to destroy Schuyler, and thus, by association, her, if one of them didn't end this relationship, still mattered, and she was still furious with him.

All she wanted to do now was see Schuyler, hold him for dear life and never let go, but Starr knew that was impossible; they'd been separated ever since the paramedics arrived, and she knew there would probably be no other chance to see each other tonight. Sure, she could pretend to be a worried student checking on her teacher, but truthfully, it would probably be worse to see Schuyler hurt and not be able to touch him, show how she really felt; to have to keep her distance and just give a breezy 'Hope you're okay!', than it would be not to see him at all.

The thought of having to stay away from Schuyler now of all times, though, physically hurt; she could already feel the aching in her chest. Starr still felt jittery, and scared, and tense, and a thousand other horrible things; he was the only person that made her feel at peace, and she needed that so badly.

"Starr?!"

Starr jumped at the sound of her name being cried, and looked up just as Langston and Markko came barreling into the room, Langston appearing to be on the edge of a full blown panic attack.

"Oh my God, there you are! We just heard you, Cole and Schuyler were attacked by Zach Rosen, but nobody would tell us what happened, or if you were all okay, and I have been freaking out!" she cried. Langston hopped up on the bed beside Starr, and Starr uncomfortably slid the other way; Langston noticed and stayed where she was.

"Are you okay?" Markko asked softly, his own concern for his friend calmer but just as intense. "I mean, uh, other than the obvious," he muttered, eyes flickering to her bruises.

"I'm fine," Starr reassured them. "Schu…Mr. J," she corrected, nervously glancing at her mom. "stopped Zach before he could hurt me."

"Okay, just tell me everything that happened, because I am so freaking confused right now."

"If you want to," Markko added quickly.

"Oh, yeah, duh, of course I meant if you want to, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't, I mean, you can tell me to just get the hell out right now if you-"

"Langston, I don't mind, it's fine," Starr interrupted; were this any other day, she would have laughed over her friend's wild rambling, but nothing seemed very funny today.

"Hey, sweetie, I'm going to check in with your father, and see how Cole's doing, okay?" Blair interrupted softly, her eyes heavy with worry for her daughter. "Just yell if you need anything."

"I will." Blair left, and Starr took a deep breath. "Okay, so I rushed to my dad's house so I could delete the message, and there was this guy I didn't know already there."

As nerves fluttered in her stomach as she remembered Zach, Starr's hand reflectively went for her locket, thanks to her longtime habit of clutching it like a life preserver when she was upset, but only touched the cool skin of her chest. Starr frowned, glanced down, and gasped, her eyes growing dark with dismay.

"Oh, no."

"Starr, what is it?" Langston immediately asked.

"I lost my locket- Zach must have ripped it off or something," Starr sighed heavily. "Damn it. I know I have Hope herself now, it shouldn't matter as much, but that's the most important thing I own. God, I could not hate this day more!"

Down the hall, Schuyler was feeling the same way, staring darkly at the floor as he lightly curled the fingers that were free from the plaster, testing out the new cast.

"Hey, Schuyler. How's the cast?" Michael paused to ask as he passed by the doorway.

"Fine," Schuyler replied shortly.

"Good; your student's really worried about you, she's been asking how you are all night," Michael chuckled. "She'll be relieved to hear that. The cops should be here in a few minutes, okay?"

"Alright."

Michael left, and Schuyler sighed heavily; his 'student', right. He hated the thought of Starr worrying about him when he couldn't see her or do anything to make her feel better; besides, she shouldn't even be wasting her thoughts on him right now, he didn't deserve that. Her only concern should be for herself.

Outside Schuyler's room, Michael was suddenly flagged down by Todd, who had yet to stop looking like he wanted to kill someone since he'd walked into the hospital, causing Michael to swallow nervously.

"Yes, Mr. Manning?"

"Hey, nobody's mentioned it yet, so I just wanted to ask- how's Rosen? Dead, hopefully?"

"Well, uh, not quite, but he certainly looks like walking death. His nose is severely broken, both eyes black, swollen to the size of balloons, both eye sockets are fractured, numerous broken cheek bones, and a severe concussion." Todd felt a surge of satisfaction, even though that was the absolute least of what Zach had coming to him. "Whoever got to him did quite a number on the guy."

"Thanks for reminding me," Todd muttered, suddenly brushing past Michael. Michael furrowed his brow in confusion, then simply shrugged and continued on his way.

There was a short rap on the door and Schuyler looked up, expecting to see an officer here to interview him, but held back a groan when he saw Todd Manning instead, rolling his eyes; this was what he got for thinking the day couldn't get worse.

"What, Todd?" he snapped, in no mood for dealing with this man right now. Todd raised his eyebrows.

"Considering that I'm currently holding your entire career, and your life, in my hands, you might want to watch how you talk to me."

"Sorry," he replied shortly, his tone thick with sarcasm. "Can I help you with something?"

"Considering that I haven't killed you yet for molesting my daughter, I think you owe me a little more gratitude than that. And so you know, that's what I'm here for, to set the record straight on something- I don't want you thinking that because I fed into Starr's delusions about loving you, and helped her out by letting you stay tonight, it means anything is different about the situation- it's not. I still think you're a sick son of a bitch, and if I ever catch you with my daughter again after this night… if you don't act like the adult you are and end things with the child you're seeing, I will still guarantee you never teach again, and quite possibly snap your neck."

Todd's threats rolled right off of Schuyler, and he didn't even bat an eye; he could not possibly give less of a shit about anything Todd threatened to do. There were a lot of reasons he shouldn't be with Starr, it was getting harder all the time, particularly after this night, to deny it, but Todd's opinion wasn't a factor.

"However, despite what some people think, I'm not an unreasonable man-" Schuyler snorted, which Todd ignored. "So I'm also here to say nice job with Rosen."

Schuyler emitted a strangled laugh of disgust, looking at Todd in disbelief. If he'd needed any other proof that he'd done a horrible thing tonight, the fact that Todd Manning was impressed would be it.

"What, do you think I'm proud of it?" Todd shrugged.

"Why not? Considering that you're a pedophile and a drug addict, this has to be the one decent thing you've done in your entire life, right?"

"I could have killed him! I almost did! I've spent years in counseling learning how not to react to situations exactly like that, and I still snapped and almost beat someone to death- in front of your already terrified daughter! Rehab is all about learning control, in all aspects of your life, and I completely lost that control tonight," Schuyler hissed through his teeth, his complete and utter disgust with himself almost choking him.

"Alright, let me get this straight. You take advantage of my daughter, I threaten to kill you, and you defend your actions. Then, you do a number on Rosen, I approve, and now you're ashamed of yourself. You're a strange man, Joplin."

"Get out of my room, Manning," Schuyler replied shortly, unable to take being in his presence right now.

Todd's natural gut reaction was to antagonize, or to stay here until he got some kind of guarantee that he was done with his daughter, but he quickly thought better of it; the last thing he needed was Starr getting more attached to this guy out of sympathy. Besides, if Joplin's face when he mentioned Starr was any indication, he seemed to be listening to reason, finally, and the problem would solve itself soon enough.

"Like I have any desire to stay."

Todd left, only to be replaced by Cole less than a minute later, and Schuyler groaned.

"What the hell is with this day?" he muttered to himself.

"I'm not here to start anything," Cole said as he walked in. "If I had a white flag, I'd be waving it right now." Schuyler glanced at him with a look of surprise as Cole cautiously stepped over to his bedside, his face unreadable. "Look, I guess I'm…here to apologize," he muttered, staring at his feet. "The crap that happened today was pretty much all my fault. I don't know, I guess…seeing what you did to Zach and seeing you with Starr was a wake-up call or something. If you would do that for her, you can't be that bad a guy, and she...she obviously wants you, and there's nothing I can do about that. It wasn't my business to tell Manning, and I just followed it up by being completely useless at the house while you saved her- I was clearly wrong about you being the one bad for her to be around. So, yeah, whatever, sorry," he sighed.

"Thank you, Cole," Schuyler said simply, forcing himself to project a friendliness he didn't particularly feel right now; the counselor in him just kept reminding him that had been a huge step for Cole and it needed to be positively reinforced. "And, Cole, I don't blame you, you had every right to tell Todd; what the hell else are you supposed to do when you find out your…friend, is dating a teacher?" Schuyler asked, his voice momentarily dark with bitterness. "Of course you lost it. And there was nothing you could have done about Zach, let that go."

Cole nodded, rocking awkwardly on his heels for a moment.

"One more thing- I, uh, told my mom about you two, and she's probably going to tell Blair, so, heads up there, I guess."

"Great, thanks," Schuyler sighed. Things were falling apart at an alarmingly rapid rate today, weren't they? Cole just nodded and backed away to the door.

"Just wanted to clear that up, I'm gonna go now. Starr and I need to work out a story to tell the cops about why she and I were there- when they ask for your story, you can tell them what really happened, except that you were there to see Todd, not for Starr, obviously, I'll make sure whatever we say goes with that."

"Got it."

Cole turned to leave, and was halfway out the door when to Schuyler's own surprise, something inside of him suddenly twisted, and he abruptly spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Cole."

"For what?" Cole asked slowly, furrowing his brow as he glanced over his shoulder.

"God, I don't know," Schuyler laughed darkly, shrugging. Cole really was still just a kid- despite going through many of the same things, he didn't have that old soul that Starr did, those experiences hadn't changed him like they had her, but despite still being so young, Cole just looked so weary and broken down right now, and Schuyler knew that was in large part because of him; he couldn't just not apologize for that. "For not helping you out at the house more tonight? For not doing more to help you off the pills when I'm better equipped to help you than anyone? For being so ready to give up on you when I wouldn't have been like that with anyone else at the center? Because I'm the one Starr wants, for some reason? I don't know, I'm just sorry."

Cole was silent for a moment, and then just smiled tightly, his eyes dark.

"Me too."

And then he quickly hurried out before the other man could say another word, leaving Schuyler alone with this his thoughts- the last place he needed to be right now.

*~*~*~*~~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Several hours later in her room, Starr ran her fingers through her hair with a frustrated sigh- today officially could officially not be any more awful, if she hadn't already been clear on that. Dealing with the cops had sucked; even though Cole had come up with a good story (much to her surprise, it was also one that didn't exactly paint him in a flattering light. He claimed he'd gone over to accuse Todd once again of being the reason he'd lost Starr, and that Starr had heard from Markko what he was doing, and rushed over to prevent a fight, only for both of them to run into Zach. Cole had also warned her about Marty's knowledge about her and Schuyler, and apologized for his role in all that happened today, another nice surprise), one that had been easy enough to feed to the cops, having to relive each moment with Zach and repeat every disturbing word he'd said to her had been awful. With her parents both hovering over her like crazy, she hadn't been able to see Schuyler once the cops were gone, before she'd left, which had just made this aching in her chest even worse- the pain from it had surpassed the rest of her injuries.

She'd arrived home, ready for some peace and quiet, only to discover that, much to her horror, poor Talia had been stabbed and killed, apparently right in their backyard, while everyone but Ray, Lola and Dorian was out of the house. That meant Zach couldn't be the serial killer as they'd all assumed, which also meant the real killer was still running free, giving her one more thing to be terrified over tonight; she couldn't believe the cops had told them all to go ahead and sleep in the house tonight, claiming it was safe- it sure didn't feel that way. To make matters even worse, the idiots had arrested John, as he'd left the hospital early to come here, and had been the one to discover Talia's body. That meant not only was poor John locked away for something he didn't do, but her mom was more of a mess than ever, while her dad was probably already scheming to figure out how he could use this to his advantage.

Finally, when it had become clear to Starr she wasn't getting any sleep tonight, she'd decided to work on the only unfinished homework she had, Schuyler's, only to discover her boyfriend was a total homework Nazi. Granted, this was extremely petty compared to the rest of her problems, but trying to write a ten page essay with a concussion had made her frustrated enough to whine.

Between her exhaustion and concussion, the words on the paper were practically swimming before her eyes right now, but Starr pressed on, determined to stay awake; sleep was only going to mean nightmares, and she didn't want to deal with that.

There was an unexpected knock on the door a moment later, and Starr jumped, her heart instantly leaping to her throat. She sighed a moment later as she calmed down; she'd been doing this all night, startling over every single little noise- how long was she going to be like this?

"Who is it?" she called out cautiously.

"It's, um, Jack. Can I come in?"

"Why not?" she answered irritably. Jack was not exactly her favorite person right now either.

Jack slowly walked in, already appearing shame-faced, and he gasped when he saw his sister, taking in her black and blue face and bruised lips. Starr softened as she saw the obvious guilt on her little brother's face.

"Starr, I'm sorry!" he blurted out, voice sincerely apologetic, with none of it's usual bite or sarcasm. After dealing with his constant anger for so long, he sounded unrecognizable to her. "Dad just finished telling me everything that happened tonight, and I…I didn't know that was gonna happen, okay?! I thought telling dad would just be funny, I didn't think you were gonna get hurt! I'm really sorry, Starr."

"Oh, Jack, it's okay," she said softly. "This isn't your fault, don't think it is. I don't blame you, and I'm not mad at you, but…this should be a wake-up call, okay? Your actions do affect other people, Jack, and people can get hurt because of them, and you've gotta start thinking about the rest of us a little more." He nodded, bowing his head.

"I will. Hey, uh, I guess dad didn't get the message, since he didn't say anything about it to me."

"No, I erased it in time."

"Good. I'm really sorry, Starr," he repeated. "I heard he, like, saved you from that guy dad used to know, so I guess I kind of…owe him, or whatever," he muttered uncomfortably, scuffing the toe of his shoe along the carpet. Starr grinned.

"Why is that?" she asked teasingly, already knowing but just wanting to make him say it.

"Look, you piss me off a lot, but you're still my sister, I don't want you getting killed!" he huffed.

"Thank you, Jack," she said softly. He shrugged, glancing up at her hesitantly.

"You're, uh, gonna be okay, right?"

"I'm going to be fine," Starr promised. "Don't worry about it. Now go get some sleep, okay? It's late."

Jack nodded and left; Starr watched him go, the smile still on her face; she didn't care if it hurt her lips. Cole and Jack had both pleasantly surprised her today, right as she had more or less given up on the two of them; at least this day had that much going for it.

Starr returned her attention to her science book, ignoring the pounding in her head, and her body's desperate desire to rest.

Several minutes later, Starr was just on the verge of giving up, her eyelids starting to flutter, when she was suddenly jarred back to awareness when she heard a rock lightly tap her window. This time, Starr didn't jump, but gave a disbelieving giggle, instantly realizing what that meant; Schuyler must really be following through on the playful suggestion she'd texted him earlier, about how they could see each other tonight- she'd suggested he sneak past the guards that had been stationed outside the house and climb the tree by her window. She'd mostly been kidding, but if he'd taken her seriously, she certainly had no complaints.

She quickly crossed to the window, opening it, and peered out- sure enough, there he was, climbing the tree. Starr felt a wide grin overtake her, and it was quickly followed by a rush of giddiness, making her laugh; yes, the giddiness was partly from exhaustion hysteria, or whatever the real term for that was, but it was mostly brought on just from seeing that Schuyler loved her enough to do this.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she heard him mutter when he got within earshot of the window. "The last time I climbed through a window was way back in high school."

"Oh, really? Who was the lucky girl?" Starr asked playfully, eagerly waiting for him to come in.

"You know, actually, I don't even remember her name," he admitted with a small chuckle.

"That better not be what you're saying to some other girl about me in ten years when you're climbing through her window."

"Of course not. I'll be too old for climbing in ten years, I'll say it to her when I walk through the front door."

"Not funny!" Starr chirped, as Schuyler finally came through the window; he landed successfully on his feet, and she gave a quiet clap of approval.

"Thank you, thank you, I…" Schuyler suddenly froze, inhaling sharply as he got the full view of her face, and thus, saw the full extent of the damage; in the house, the bruises had just been starting to form, but her face was swollen and completely black and blue now. "Oh my God," he murmured, gently cupping her face with his good hand as the rush of guilt he felt threatened to overwhelm him.

"Not a good day, huh?" Starr asked softly, with a sad smile, as she reached out and lightly brushed her fingers first across his cast, and then his own bruise. "Matching black eyes and concussions, we are quite a pair. Speaking of- what's your occupation and your mother's first name?" she asked urgently.

"Teacher, and Leah," he chuckled. Starr widened her eyes, and he got the hint. "Uh, what are your best friend and daughter's names?"

"Langston and Hope; okay, whew, not…concussed or whatever, good to know."

Starr began to lean up to kiss him, but suddenly stopped, smiling apologetically as she grabbed her desk chair and hurried to the her door, shoving it under the door knob to make sure nobody could get in, before returning to her boyfriend's side.

Wordlessly, Schuyler pulled Starr into his arms, holding her securely, and Starr inhaled deeply- with him here, it finally didn't hurt to do so. She breathed in his familiar, comforting scent, and held him as closely as possible, basking in this moment as she finally felt peace wash over her. Starr was certain that she never needed anything but this; she just hated that nobody else could or would see and understand that, that she had to sneak around, shove chairs in front of doors, just to have these moments.

"I'm so glad you're here," she sighed happily, nuzzling her head against his shoulder. Schuyler rested his cheek against the top of her head. "Thank you for coming."

"Like there was anywhere else I wanted to be," Schuyler said warmly, his strong grip on her proving that.

Schuyler pulled back slightly, moving his hand to the back of her neck, and kissed her gently, not wanting to cause her any further pain; despite how light and brief the kiss was, his love for her shined through in it all the same, and Starr couldn't keep from smiling as he pulled away. Even now, on the worst day she'd had in recent memory, being around him for just a few minutes made her so incredibly happy.

"I'm sorry I couldn't see you at the hospital," Schuyler said. Starr rolled her eyes playfully.

"You have got to work on that guilt complex," she laughed, having no idea how true that was, that what the guilt was doing to Schuyler's head right now wasn't a laughing matter. "I'm sorry too, but I mean, we both had people constantly hovering over us, what could we do? Oh, hey- speaking of other people; Cole said he stopped by to see you…? I hope he didn't try to start anything."

"He didn't; he apologized for causing trouble, actually."

'Wow; color me surprised," she muttered, raising her eyebrows. "Did he also tell you about Marty?"

"Yeah; you think she's gonna tell your mom?"

"Unfortunately," she spat in frustration, rubbing her temples, before brightening slightly. "I think my mom might actually be okay, believe it or not. She understands unconventional relationships and not being able to help who you fall in love with. I told her about you, once- I mean, she didn't know I was talking about you, of course, but she knew enough- and she told me that if I wanted it and it felt right, I should go for it, even if it would be hard. But you know what? I love my mom, but if she doesn't understand, it won't matter to me any more than my dad's opinion did, she can't stop me."

"Starr, I don't want you doing anything to damage your relationship with your mom because of me," Schuyler said quickly, his voice quiet and rough. Todd, a sociopathic bastard who didn't deserve to be anywhere near Starr, was one thing, but he knew Blair was a genuinely good person, and that she and Starr meant the world to each other. He wouldn't be able to sleep at night if he knew he'd gotten in the way of that.

"No, Schuyler, don't say that," she said, squeezing his hand. "It's like what you say to me when we talk about what this could do to your teaching career- it wouldn't be because of you but because I love you, and that's different. Besides, my mom would eventually see reason, even if it took a while, I'm sure of that; even if I had to go against her for a while, it wouldn't be permanent."

"Starr, you and your mom shouldn't be separated for even as much as a day because of us. If she finds out and she does tell you to stay away from me, maybe you should-"

"Hey, why are we even worrying about this?" Starr cut in. "It's not a guarantee she's going to find out, and I really don't think she'll do anything like that if she does. Can we please just…cross that bridge when we get to it? It's not like we haven't already had enough to deal with today."

"You're right, I'm sorry," he murmured, stroking her cheek. "We'll deal with it later."

Schuyler paused a moment later, realizing something about her seemed different as his eyes ran over her, and he realized what a moment later, frowning deeply.

"You're not wearing your locket."

"I lost it during the scuffle with Zach," she sighed sadly, shrugging. "I know I shouldn't need it as much now since I know Hope is alive and fine, and I mean, I see her myself every week, but having it just…comforts me. Hopefully my dad can find it, but…I don't know, I guess it'll be okay if he doesn't."

"Starr, I'm-"

"If you say I'm sorry to me one more time, I'm going to give you another black eye, and I really don't think you want to teach your class tomorrow looking like a raccoon- oh my God, class!" Starr suddenly gasped, groaning. "I didn't even think about that until right now. I can't believe we have to go to school tomorrow."

Schuyler almost gave a dark laugh at her words before biting it back. 'They' had to go to school? No, she had to go to school, and Schuyler had to teach it. He had to pretend to be nothing her teacher again, at the time when she most needed her boyfriend and not her teacher. Anyone else would be able to stay by her side tomorrow, while he would have to pretend to be indifferent to her more than ever, considering that the entire school was going to be keeping a particularly close watch on them- God, Starr deserved so much better than that.

"Oh, and, speaking of," Starr began, pausing to yawn and remove her books from the bed before sitting on it, motioning for him to join her, which he did. "Don't feel guilty when you have to give me a C for the horrible paper, it's totally deserved."

"Starr, I don't think you could get a C in my class if you tried, you're at a college level already," he chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Starr smiled and cuddled into his side.

"Yeah, uh, not this time," she laughed. "I saved your assignment, the essay, for last, because I figured I'd finish it today, but that didn't work out, obviously, so I finished it about twenty seconds before you got here, and it sucks." Schuyler furrowed his brow; his girlfriend had stayed up late after the day she'd had because she had to finish his homework assignment, that just sounded wrong.

"You know, I can just give you an extension-"

"No, no you can't," Starr interrupted, frowning at him in surprise. "We keep school separate, what are you talking about? You can't give me extra time just because I'm your girlfriend."

"Wasn't planning on it; I can give you an extension because you were hold hostage and put through a traumatic situation today, and any teacher would give you extra time under those circumstances."

"Oh…duh," she giggled tiredly. "Well, in that case, thank you, I'll take it." Schuyler laughed again.

What were you doing writing your paper anyway? You should be resting."

"Oh I'm, uh, not really tired."

"After everything that happened tonight, you're not tired?" Schuyler asked dubiously, looking down at her with a cocked eyebrow. "What is it?"

"This is so stupid," she sighed.

"Starr, come on, you know you can tell me anything," Schuyler encouraged her patiently.

"Yeah, I do," she said with a small smile, gazing up into his eyes. "Okay, um, like I said, it's stupid, but…I'm kind of afraid to go to sleep," she admitted reluctantly. "Just…don't really want to deal with the inevitable nightmares."

"That's hardly stupid; you went through hell today, of course you feel like that." Starr was comforted by his understanding. "But, Starr, you're obviously exhausted. You should at least try to get a few hours."

"I know, I know," Starr muttered nervously, looking at him hesitantly. "If I do, can you, um…can you stay with me?" she asked softly; that was the only way she could imagine getting any rest. Schuyler immediately nodded, his eyes warm and caring.

"Of course."

Schuyler pulled the covers down and laid back with Starr still at his side; Starr used his chest as a pillow, tossing her arm over his waist, and couldn't help but smile when she felt his arms go around her as well, instantly making her feel safe.

"Thanks, Schuyler; I love you."

"I love you too, Starr," he responded, his voice intense with emotion.

Starr took a deep breath, willing herself to just shut her eyes and give in to the fatigue she felt. Her mind conjured up a flash of Zach slamming his lips to hers so roughly, as if it was giving her a taste of what would be waiting for her when she gave in to sleep, and she dug her fingers tightly into Schuyler's side, her body growing tense.

"It's okay, Starr," Schuyler reassured her; he somehow pulled her even closer, so she was practically lying on top of him, and kissed her hair. "You can sleep, baby, I'm right here," he murmured protectively.

Starr smiled softly; Schuyler rarely used pet names like that, but she loved it when he did. Comforted, Starr closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off.

Schuyler absent mindedly stroked Starr's hair as she slept, just watching her as he got lost in his thoughts; he had a horrible feeling this day was going to change things, for better or worse. Every time he saw the damage he'd caused, the bruise marring Starr's beautiful face, Schuyler was going to remember what this relationship had ended up doing to her, he was going to feel this same guilt, and if it hurt as much every other time as it did right now, it was going to slowly kill him.

How could he keep justifying what he was doing after this? Starr was hurt because of him- she never would have been at Todd's with Zach if she hadn't been protecting him. As if that wasn't bad enough, he'd had to abandon her at the hospital when she needed him most, just like he was going to have to at school in the morning, and instead of resenting him like she should, Starr was already talking about sacrificing her mother for him if it came to that- how could he do this?

These thoughts still weighing heavily on his mind, Schuyler just gave up trying to fight them and unconsciously clutched Starr a little tighter as he drifted off to sleep with a troubled frown on his face.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Starr was surprised when her alarm clock abruptly woke her up the next morning, hardly able to believe she'd actually slept through the night. Apparently, Schuyler's presence was even more powerful than she realized. Starr struggled to escape his strong arms, startled that he had a death grip on her even in his sleep, and finally managed to squirm away enough to smack her alarm clock off.

She turned back, and just gazed down at Schuyler with a smile for a moment, watching as he slept, but her smile slowly faded as she realized something was wrong; his brow was furrowed, and he looked stressed, disturbed. She hadn't noticed at first, but she now picked up on the quiet murmuring he was doing in his sleep; it was mostly unintelligible, but she picked up on a 'No', 'Stop' and 'So sorry.'

Starr sighed sadly as she understood what was happening; it seemed for once, her presence hadn't been enough to keep away those nightmares.

"Schuyler," she said gently, shaking his shoulder. "Schuuuyler, you have to wake up. Unfortunately, we need to get you out of here before anyone else gets up."

Schuyler stirred from his sleep, blinking wearily, then flashed her an adorable sleepy smile that made her giggle affectionately as he rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

"Morning," he chuckled, pushing himself to a sitting position as well. "Did you sleep okay?" he asked worriedly.

"Perfectly, not a single nightmare. And I know who I have to thank for that," she said with a loving smile, resting her forehead against his and kissing him warmly.

Schuyler kissed her back tenderly, cupping her chin in his hand; things were just starting to grow more intense when he abruptly pulled back, causing Starr to whimper in protest before she could help herself.

"Wait- does it hurt when I kiss you?" Schuyler asked breathlessly. Starr laughed for a minute at the idea.

"Hardly- it's the only thing that makes me feel better, actually," she said, before winding her arms around his neck and bringing his lips crashing back down to hers, more passionately this time.

To her delighted surprise, Schuyler responded much more forcefully and eagerly than usual, suddenly gripping her hips and yanking her body tight to his as he brushed his tongue across her lips. Starr moaned quietly, pulling herself even closer to him, but unfortunately for her, even though her body wanted nothing but more of this, her mind was wondering what was going on, and began to race, even though it was nearly impossible to think with Schuyler kissing her like this.

There was just something almost…desperate about his kiss, and she couldn't pinpoint why, but it made her more than a little nervous. The nerves worming their way into her heart distracted her from the moment, left her open to other negative emotions, like all the ones from the previous night, and with the reminder of the previous night came the unwanted thoughts of Zach. It suddenly felt extremely difficult to breathe, and for just a second, it felt like Zach's hands on hers instead of Schuyler's, Schuyler's loving kiss felt like Zach's violent one, and Starr felt a momentary rush of fear and panic, suddenly tearing away from Schuyler's embrace.

The room was tense for a moment, silent other than their heavy breathing, and Starr stole a nervous, apologetic glance at him.

"I'm sorry."

"Starr, no, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"Yes, you should have!" she said quickly, scooting back over to him and quickly pressing a kiss to his lips to prove she was okay. "I wanted you to, you should have."

Schuyler smiled, but did not touch her again, and Starr tried not to sigh.

"I should go," he said quietly, glancing at the clock. "I have to get to the school."

"I'll see you there."

Schuyler hugged her tightly, then rose from the bed and walked to the window. Starr waited hopefully, and got what she wanted a second later.

"I love you, Starr."

Starr quickly opened her mouth to her reply, but to her surprise, Schuyler swung his lungs out and was climbing down the tree before she could say a word; her stomach dropped to her feet, her mouth suddenly feeling dry as her heart seized tightly. She didn't know what yet, but something was obviously wrong with him.