Silence hung in the dead air.

The guys all crowded around, Dallas holding the Doll up Bridal style, looking from face to face as if asking what he should do. She was out cold and none of them had any idea why. Exhaustion? Illness? Date rape drugs in her system? It was all like a blur for Dallas, one of his guys suggesting they call an ambulance, another going to get her water, another fanning her face.

"Let's lay her down, get a cool cloth on her forehead and see from there." He set her down gently, checking her breathing. "Dollface is probably just tired."

"What what if it ain't 'just tired'?" Adam snapped, kneeling down next to her.

"Find Mike!" Dallas instructed, the big man Tarzan taking off to do just that.

Mike was drinking himself silly...

"We've got a problem..." Tarzan's loud voice startled Mike a little.

He looked up from his drink, "what's up?"

"The Doll."

"She's fine..." He waved it off casually, turning back to his bottle.

"Seriously, Mike she collapsed."

Any sign of drunkenness left Mike's body in that moment, he took off running to her only to find a shocking sight waiting there for him. There she was alright, not passed out, or unconscious, but holding on to the Kid, sobbing against his shoulder. Only from where Mike was standing it looked like they had been necking. He rushed away before the others noticed his presence.

His fist collided with solid concrete...

Crying out in pain and frustration Mike headed to his truck, and back toward home. The entire way he asked himself what the hell was going on with him. He never thought feelings like this would arise inside him for little Shaye, but it was becoming more and more clear that they had. He was falling for that girl, and hard, but why all of a sudden?

He had known, of course, from the moment they had met that he wanted to protect her, but it never occurred to him that, that protective instinct was that of a mate, not a brother. He couldn't wrap his mind around that, couldn't calm his raging jealousy. Did it really take seeing her have feelings for another man to bring these things to the surface? Or was it something else?

"So, you said you ran away?" Mike asked the little brunette in his passenger seat.

She nodded, "yup."

"From what were you running?"

"A fat lip, black eye, and cracked rips mostly." Her reply was short, and the way she said it made it sound as if those things were just normal.

"Boyfriend?"

Her laugh was dark, "'parents'."

With each red light and stop sign Mike got to know bits and pieces of what this little doll was running away from. From what he gathered her parents had split when she was nine years old, her father walking out on her and leaving her alone with a suicidal, desperate woman, her mother. She married another man not two months later, and for the next eight years of her life she was physically and mentally tortured by that man. She didn't go deep in to detail, but even still that made Mike's blood boil.

"Mom left me there with him when I was 15," she sighed, "she came back but the damage had been done..."

Mike took her bruised little hand in to his, he could feel a few jagged cuts covered with bandages there. His mind could only imagine the horrors she had to endure, but he knew she was strong, she had survived, and she was here with him. Still; she had clearly been tossed around like a rag doll or something. A play thing abused until finally getting thrown in to the trash and forgotten.

"Don't you worry, Doll. I'm here now, and I won't ever walk away from you."

As they turned off the street, passed a street lamp her tears glistened in the night. Mike felt her give his hand a squeeze, looking at him with hopeful, needing eyes.

"You're safe now, your big brother Mike's got you."

"I've always wanted a brother... do you promise?" Her face lit up immensely, his heart swelling in his chest.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Ever?"

"Not ever."

Mike slammed on his breaks. Was he walking away from here... right now?

A/N: Wasn't expecting myself to post another chapter...but I just couldn't wait to type it out.. perhaps I'll have the next one up in the next few hours if I get to writing it... otherwise; a few days. Thanks for the support you continue to give; and sorry my story isn't good. :)