At 6:30 AM the next morning, Spencer woke up next to Toby. His long arm was stretched across her torso protectively, and her head was buried in the crook of his shoulder. She didn't want to wake him, so she just lay there with him wrapped around her. That was, until she got bored, and decided to lie on top of him to wake him up. When he didn't wake up after a while, she grabbed the water that was sitting on her bedside table and splashed it over his face, startling him.

"Spencer!" he yelled, playfully, as she erupted into a fit of giggles. He switched their position so that he was lying on top of her and started to tickle her stomach.

"Toby, Toby, stop!" she laughed, as he tickled her mercilessly.

"Hey, that's what you get for pouring water over my head!" he returned.

"Well, at least you weren't wearing a shirt. Otherwise, my daddy would have been so mad at you for getting his shirt wet," she told him, stroking her hand down his bare stomach as he shivered.

"Do you want to go get breakfast?" he asked her, hungry.

"Ok, let's go downstairs!" said Spencer, grabbing his hand and skipping playfully down the stairs, still clutching his hand. When they arrived downstairs, Spencer popped two pieces of toast in the toasted and waited impatiently for them to cook. They had a contest to see who could correctly guess how long it took for the toast to cook. Spencer had guessed 30 seconds, while Toby had guessed 55.

"28… 29…. 30…." Spencer counted down, hopefully. But once she reached 31 seconds she said, "I'm changing my mind, I guess 45 seconds!"

"Spence! You can't do that," Toby teased her.

"Yes you can, Tobes. Melissa always used to do that when we played," Spencer smirked, as Toby playfully glared at her, and the toast finally popped out, at 46 seconds. "Victory!" Spencer screamed, loud enough for her father to come clomping down the stairs as Spencer and Toby giggled.

"Spencer, be quiet," her father yelled at her. "Your yelling is disrupting my sleep," Spencer looked at her feet. "But, I see you've made some toast for me," her father seemed interested.

"No daddy, tha-" Spencer started, but her father cut her off.

"I'll just take that then," said Mr. Hastings, grabbing the toast out of the toaster, and walking back upstairs, with an evil smirk on his face.

Spencer looked up at Toby, and he could see dampness forming in her eyes.

"Hey, don't cry," Toby comforted her softly. "We can make more toast," he said.

"It's not that, Tobes," Spencer replied.

"Then what is it? You know you can tell me anything, right Spence?" Spencer nodded.

"I don't care about the toast, but, I just keep remembering what happened the other day," Toby looked at her curiously. "Well, it was late, like 11 o'clock and my daddy had just gotten home. He walked into the house and noticed I was up. He yelled at me to go back to sleep for a while, but I said I had a nightmare and couldn't fall asleep. And then…." she trailed off.

"What, Spence?" Toby asked.

"He.. he.. hit me. Right here," Spencer pointed to a bruise on her knee, as tears started to pour out of her eyes. Toby hugged her tightly, wiping the tears out of her eyes and kissing the bruised spot on her knee.

"Come on, do you want to go for a ride?" Toby asked, as Spencer nodded. He picked her up, and held her bridal style. He spun her around and carried her around the apartment, up the stairs, and laid her down on the bed.

"That was fun," Spencer giggled, seeming to have forgotten about her bruised knee.

"Yeah," Toby nodded. "But, Spence, we're going to have to tell your mommy about what your daddy did," he said, calmly.

"No, Toby, please. I don't want him to hit me again," she whimpered.

"Spencer, I promise. It will be all better once we tell your mom. And, don't worry about him hitting you again. I'll protect you," He gave her a small smile.

"Ok, if you say so," she responded, still a bit worried. She hugged him tightly to her body and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I love you, Toby," she said to him.

"I love you too, Spence,"