A/N: HELLO everybody! Thanks for reviews and suchlike...I'm going to be out tomorrow and Saturday night so this is the last update til Sunday. You will hate me for this, the reason being at the end : ) I may try and get an update sorted before then, but given that the next two chapters will most likely be the last two and you know my tradition of the Final Double-Update...Anyway, I will shush and let you read and review. Else no climax. Es. And no, Marn, not in that way ;) ~ Mika

Over the next six months, Jak and Keira's relationship was rekindled with as strong a fire as the pair could manage – which, on many nights, was enough to require heat-proof clothing. Jak also made sure that he spent as much time with Danny as possible, who seemed to open up and gain a spark around his father.

The damaged man was learning anew about the world and his son as much as his son was learning about his father and the world.

Keira also grew slowly in courage, no doubt helped by friends, her father and her boyfriend. The bruises and some of the physical scars from Erol's fist gradually faded, but the young woman still had nightmares and rarely slept. She was also more withdrawn than Jak had known her to be, but slowly, she was coming out of that rare, uncharacteristic state of hers.

She still wouldn't venture far outside the Bunker on her own, however, and that he was fine with. In Jak's view, as long as Erol couldn't touch her, she was safe.

~x~

During those months...

"So tell me!"

"No,"

"You've told me everything else, why not this?"

A laugh. "Because it's not important, maybe?"

"Keir, honey, you've told me a million things that...later turn out to be unimportant," he quickly corrected himself upon a green-laser-eyed glare. "Why not this one?"

She sighed, the glow in her face fading. "I just...I don't...like talking about it."

"Keir." He took her hands, sought her eyes, looking deep into them. "Please. Tell me. It's just the one piece of the puzzle that I need to understand what happened to you over the past two years completely. A hundred per cent. You know what I mean,"

"And yet you haven't told me much more about what happened to you!"

"That would be because it's all more of the same," he replied dryly. "Dragged out cell. Half hour exercise. Long hours of torture. Thrown back in the cell with food. Rinse and repeat,"

"Oh," Keira sighed, looking around instinctively. "Where's Danny?"

Jak raised his eyebrows in a "guess where and who with" statement.

"With the Kid?" she ventured.

Jak nodded.

"I'm so glad he's broken out of that mute state," she said reflectively, meaning her son. The Kid was still not talking – and going by what Kor has said about the child's true identity before being defeated by Jak, it would be another eleven to thirteen years before he did so. "And so young too,"

"Yeah, Danny only had to live with Erol for the first two years to break his barrier," Jak replied sarcastically.

Keira said nothing, running her fingers lightly over Jak's hands. "Okay...well...you know everything else. You might as well know what happened the morning after I did go back with him, having no choice in the matter..."

~x~

Two years ago

Keira was just waking up to a white-lit morning when she felt a pressure on her ankle. Amazingly, she resisted the urge to flinch, wishing that when she opened her eyes it would be Jak, back from wherever he actually went, playing a prank on her as he loved to do. She could see it now – waking up and turning around and then falling into his deep blue eyes as she found herself doing on many an occasion.

"Miss me?" he'd say, and she would pretend to get angry with him but then smile as he walked round the bed and allowed himself to be enveloped in her arms, kissing her passionately and then...

Keira smiled as what she would like to happen unfolded in her mind. Just then, the pressure on her ankle released, and a warm, hard sensation travelled up her leg.

Suddenly, the mechanic's fantasies dissipated as hard reality hit her. She was in a KG Captain's spare bed, an hour or two from home and with a broken Zoomer somewhere in the vicinity. To add further injury, Jak was clearly still missing, as she had not been woken with any news.

The sensation got beyond her knee and up her very sensitive inner thigh. She froze, regulating her breathing to fool him into thinking she was still asleep, body tense, ready to fight back if he tried anything.

"You're a pretty girl," he breathed, voice containing an edge that made Keira uncomfortable. "In fact, you're a beautiful girl. Are you single? Do you have family?" He sighed. "I suppose you won't tell me...yet. Though when you wake up I'll make sure you tell me..."

Keira chose that moment to withdraw her leg, making it as if she was stirring in sleep. A sob formed in her throat, growing like the child inside her.

"Huh." The Captain sighed. "I guess that will not be for a while yet. No matter. I'll be waiting when you do awaken – "

A buzz cut him off. The young woman let out a slow sigh of relief, hoping it would mean his leaving.

"Yes? Yes...I know!" he said, tone changing to one of irritation. "I'll be there soon." He flipped his communicator shut and gazed at what he thought was the sleeping mechanic. "Like I said...I know you can't hear me...but I will be back. And then I'll have some answers from you." He turned and walked out the room, slamming the door dramatically behind him.

Keira counted the breaths until she heard what she thought was the front door slam. As soon as she heard his Zoomer pull off, she sprung out of bed as if it was on fire and raced around the house, heart pounding, looking for any tools Erol might conveniently have lying around the house, trying not to think about what he'd just done, although she couldn't stop the shameful tears pouring out of her eyes. She panicked, heart racing quicker than that of a hummingbird's, as she threw open every cupboard, opened every door, even unlocking the doors and venturing outside and into the garage.

No tools. Not even a sign of her wrecked Zoomer.

She didn't know Erol, but she had the horrible feeling that what he'd done just now was not the worst thing he would do if she stayed; which she had to for now.

She was stuck here for the foreseeable future.

Slinking off back to bed, she curled up under the sheets wrapped her arms around her middle, holding in her fears and tears as she drifted off.

~x~

Present day

"Shit..." Jak breathed. "He touched you up when you were sleeping – when you were pretending to be asleep?"

Keira nodded.

"Precursors..." He pushed his hair off his face, unable to believe that Erol would do that. Although, if he would beat a woman into submission and dependency and terrorise her son, then of course he would do that, he reasoned angrily with himself, feelings of guilt returning.

Keira took several deep breaths, calming herself down from the memories. Think. Think about something else. Take your mind off it.

Just then, with the timing of his father, Danny ran in, shouting "Mama, Mama!"

"What is it, little one?" Keira managed her face into a smile. "What's wrong?"

"Milk all gone," he replied, sadness underscoring his face.

"The milk's all gone?" Jak repeated.

"Milk all gone, Daddy," Danny said, turning his large blue eyes upon the man he inherited them from.

"I'll go and get some more," Keira said, getting up, but Jak put a hand on her arm.

"What about..." He stopped, raising his eyebrows.

Keira smiled. "Jak, I can't keep hiding inside the Bunker forever, scared he's going to find me." Her shoulders dropped, as did her voice. "I am scared...but...I need to face my fear. To go outside and conquer it. Besides, there's a few things I need to get as well." The couple stood up together.

Jak pulled her into an embrace. "You gonna have your comm. on you?"

"Yeah," she said, muffled.

"Good." He buried his face into her hair. "Gimme a shout if he turns up, 'kay?"

"You know I will." She giggled, pulling away, letting her fingers linger on his chest. "I'll be back soon. Hear that, Danny?" She bent down, making eye contact with her son. "I'll be back soon,"

" 'Kay," her son replied, little fists near his mouth. His mother picked up the bag by her side of the makeshift bed and ventured outside the room, making her way out of the Underground.

Taking a few deep breaths of fresh air, she ventured round the corner, keeping her head down and her thoughts on something else she needed to get. Like the first time, she wasn't entirely sure and wouldn't be so until she visited a shop.

She was both scared and excited at the same time.

She had just turned a corner when she heard footsteps behind her. Whirling around, her eyes widened at who she was confronted with.

He smiled wickedly, eyes glittering in delight.

"Surprise, sweetheart."

He brought the butt of his gun down hard and she felt an exploding pain in her head before spiralling into darkness.

Danny...Jak...

She saw their eyes, the same in colour but vastly different in expression.

I'm sorry.