The next morning Linda woke up to the sound of the shower running and the sound of the TV softly playing. She rolled over to face the center of the room instead the back of a couch. When she did she saw Darry sitting in the arm chair watching TV. She looked around some more and saw Dally sitting on the end of the couch. She moved to sit up but her back was in a lot of pain, it caused her to let out a whimper.

"You're up," Darry greeted kindly.

"Well, awake that is, up, up not yet, I got to slowly sit up," she replied and grabbed Dally's arm and pulled herself up. Waking him up in the process, he helped her sit up and she slowly scooted back so she wasn't sitting on her big brothers lap, "Morning," she greeted to all that was there.

"Morning Sunshine," Dally smirked and she just rolled her eyes at him, "What, isn't that your nickname?"

"Was, after my dad left no one's called me that," she quietly replied then got up to go to the bathroom. After she came out there was a cup of coffee sitting on the coffee table in front of where she was sitting.

"I figured you'd like to have a cup," Darry told her kindly.

"Thank you Darry," she replied. He nodded back and finished getting ready for work, "Crap, what am I going to tell mom about last night and where I was?"

"I'll go with you and cover for you, I'll tell her we were catching up or somethin' like that," Dally told her. She nodded, hoping their mom would believe that story. She knew Frank would, but mom, she was scared as hell, "By the way, Linda, if you keep dressin' like that, you're gonna pick up a few bums like Steve and Two-Bit."

"Nope, sorry, I'm not here to date every guy in town, when I find the one, then I'll date until then I'll have the best big brother there to chase the guys away," she smiled sweetly at Dally. He rolled his eyes in return. She chuckled, "Oh Dallas Allen, don't worry, if Frank heard a guy was hitting on me he'd hit on them, by the way that's our new step-dad's name, Frank."

"That's great," was all Dally could say before the yawn escaped his mouth. She chuckled and stretched, feeling the pain in her ribs. She knows they are broken but the pain really doesn't bother her as much anymore.

"You okay Linda; you look like something is bothering you?" Darry asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine Darry," she softly replied, thinking back on the dream she woke up from.

"Mom stop, please, I didn't mean to break curfew, I was hanging with a couple friends," I pleaded, then felt mom's hands around my neck and shove me hard against the wall. She then pulled me from the wall and threw me onto the glass coffee table. Shattering underneath me, feeling blood come out of my back, not sure how bad the cut is. Mom then grabs me and constantly shoves me against the wall, making whatever glass was in back go in further each time. Suddenly it goes black.

Dally waved his hand in front of her face, she shifted her gaze onto him, "Yeah Dallas?"

"You sure you're okay? You're actin' a little out of it," Dally asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, just thinking is all," she replied and left it as is. She didn't want to talk about how bad the abuse really was back in New York.

"Okay, well, when you're ready, we can go back to your place," Dally told her and she gripped the coffee cup tighter and slowly drank her coffee, "She can't do shit to me anymore, I'll tell her it was my fault."

"She…She can to me though," Linda told him with anger in her eyes. Dally noticed the blue went darker a couple shades.

"She's your sister if her eyes get harder and darker when mad," Soda joked and that made Linda chuckle.

Linda finished her coffee, "Well, let's go face the biggest witch with a capital B out there," Linda told Dally standing up then stopping suddenly. She steadied herself and smirked, "Thank you for the help yesterday Darry and for the use of the couch, I didn't realize I was as tired as I was when I laid down the last time."

"You're welcome, and you're welcome to come over any time you need, the door is always unlocked and the couch normally is open," Darry told her.

"Okay, you might wake up with me here a lot," she said with a smile, receiving a smile from Darry. He watched the two leave and he hated to know what will happen when she got home.

On the way home Linda was walking slowly, she knew she'd get a beating of her life when she gets home. She dreaded the fact of going home to face her mom. They got to her house and she stopped at the gate.

"Well, um, this is home, I guess home," she spoke. Dally led her inside.

"MA!" Dally yelled and heard footsteps coming from the kitchen. He turned and saw the evil face he remembered when a belt was brought to the room for spankings.

"Dallas?" She asked in a bitter tone.

"Yeah ma, I ran into Linda, here, yesterday and we uh, you know caught up and shit. Talked about all those great memories we have," for this he gave a smirk, "Then I took her to a friend's house and he let her crash there since I didn't know where she lived and it was pretty late," Dally lied. He hoped she forgot how to tell when he lied.

"Oh that's fine Dallas, but young lady if you woke up in the middle of the night you should have fucking called me," their mom started in.

"How? I don't know the number yet," Linda asked her mom. Her mom glared at her.

"Don't speak to me that way child," she told Linda.

"Why the hell are you doing this?" Dally asked, stepping in front of Linda.

"Do what? She's my daughter after all," their mom asked in return.

"No shit she is but you abused me when I was five, that's why I got sent here to dads. I know it is, so why the hell do you abuse your kids?" Dally asked.

"Get out!" their mom yelled at Dallas. Frank came down.

"Dad, help," Linda begged. Frank came over and grabbed his wife and held her back.

"Let me go, my son needs to be kicked out of the house for talking to me that way," Mary, their mom, yelled.

"You know where to find me if you need me, kid," Dally told Linda then left the house. He hated to leave Linda there but he really had no choice.

"You Bitch, you don't deserve to live," Dally could hear his mom shout. He ran home and went straight to his dad.

=^.,.^=

"Mary stop, she's just a kid," Frank yelled trying to get his wife off of his step-daughter. She was more like his own flesh and blood not just a step-daughter. Mary pushed him out of the way and started to slam Linda's head into the floor. Linda got a foot free and pushed her mom off of her. She got up with the help of Frank. But before she got to the door her mom grabbed her and threw her onto the coffee table.

=^.,.^=

Dally was sitting in the living room waiting for his dad to get home from work. He heard the car pull in and Dally wished he'd hurry up. The second his dad came in Dally sighed a happy sigh.

"Dad, Linda, my sister, is in trouble, you know how I was sent here since mom abused me and you filed for custody and won?" Dally said in one breath.

"Calm down son, what is this about?" his dad Joe asked.

"She's in trouble, man," Dally told him slower this time.

"What kind of trouble and how bad?" Joe asked.

"Well, you know how mom abused me and that's one reason you got custody?" Dally asked receiving a nod from his dad, "Well, mom is at it again but this time she's abusing Linda. From the looks of the scars it has been going on for years now. Damn bitch probably started it after I left."

"Well, there's really not much we can do son, call the cops, that's about it," Joe said in reply as he went up the stairs to change his clothes. Dally paced the floor. He could hear his mom yelling at his sister all the way to the house. He was scared that his mom could kill his sister. Between Johnny's parents and now his own mother, he was scared shitless about the two people he cared for the most. Yeah, Linda just re-showed up in his life after eleven years, but that's his family, his flesh and blood. He heard a loud, high pitched scream then it was silence.