I know that I haven't delivered a whole lot of Caryl in the last couple of chapters. I am sorry about that. I know you guys read Caryl stories for the Caryl but there's so much going on. I have to pace myself. Hope that is okay! Thanks for reading even if it gets frustrating! =)

Chapter Twenty One

Sophia was in the middle of her bed sitting Indian style, reading another chapter from her World History book just in case her teacher had assigned it today. She still couldn't believe she had cut school. What in the hell had she been thinking? She looked up curiously at the sound of steps outside her bedroom door. Her mother had came in to tell her goodnight at least an hour ago and she was the only person that ever came to her room.

The steps stopped outside her door and then her door was pushed open. She felt her eyes grow impossibly wide when Ed stepped in and shut the door behind him. He never came to her room. He barely spoke to her at all. He just looked at her with that look... the one that he was giving her now. A look that made her stomach swirl with nausea.

"I didn't wanna have this conversation in front of your mom cause there's no need to upset her, but we're having it now," he said in a low voice.

Sophia swallowed hard and reached behind her for her phone. Daryl's number was already there. All she had to do was hit send and it would call him. She was sure he was still up. "About what?" She asked, her fingers gripping the phone. She knew that wasn't true. Ed didn't care about upsetting anyone, least of all his own wife.

"About you running your skinny ass all over town. I won't be made a fool of by you girl. I won't have people talking about my daughter. It looks bad on me. You come home after school from now on, do you understand me?"

She nodded but didn't dare speak.

"And don't bother runnin' and tellin' her about this either. It won't do either one of you any good. I have to watch my ass when it comes to her but you're a different story. And you're gonna listen when I tell you to do something." He took a step closer, his eyes raking over her slowly and she nearly gagged. One more step and she was going to hit that button. If he touched her Daryl would hear it and she hoped that he felt the need to protect her as much as he did her mother. But Ed stopped. He still stared at her and she had to look away but he didn't come any closer.

She stared down at her bare feet, wishing she had put on a robe. She wasn't wearing anything but a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top. She stayed perfectly still until she heard the door shut. Then she let out a breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding. She bolted from the bed, phone still in hand, and locked the door. It wasn't a heavy duty lock but she felt a little safer knowing that there was something there. He wouldn't be able to come into her room without her hearing it.

She didn't fight the tears that sprang to her eyes. She bowed her head and wrapped her arms around herself tightly. She felt cold all over. She felt like she needed another shower. Why did he do that? Why did he look at her like that? A sob escaped her and she covered her mouth, not wanting her mother to hear her.

Her phone went off and it startled her so bad that she nearly threw it. She answered quickly before Ed heard it going off and came back. She didn't look at the name. "Hello?" She winced at the sound of her voice.

"Hey, what happened? Are you fucking crying?"

"Damon?" She said in a hushed tone. "No. I'm fine."

"Sophia," he snapped, causing her to flinch. "What happened?"

"It's nothing."

"It's somethin'. I'll be there in five minutes."

"What!" She gasped, looking at the clock. It was eleven. If he came here now, if he came here ever, Ed would be furious. "Damon, no. You can't come over here."

"Your rooms right above the front porch, right?"

"Yes, but..." She stared at the phone in her hands. He had hung up. He was going to come over and Ed was going to end up beating her for it. She didn't know what was going on with him but he was taking it easy on her mom and lashing out at her. Her biggest fear, the thing that kept her up some nights wasn't the fear of him beating her, but of him doing something else. Something much worse than that.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and waited for the doorbell to ring. When it did the gates to her own private hell were going to open up. She put her head in her hands and cried even harder. She hated the tears. She hated Ed. She hated her life. She hoped her mom was right and they would be able to get away soon. If she had to deal with those disgusting looks from him for much longer she was going to lose her mind. He wasn't right in the head. He was sick. Very sick.

She sat her phone down on the bed and slid to the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them tightly, making herself as small as possible. The hardwood floor only made her feel colder but she was pretty sure it wouldn't matter where she sat. There was no warmth in this house. She felt like her very marrow was made of ice.

A sound had her jerking her head up, fear causing her heart to leap. But the sound wasn't coming from the bedroom door. It was coming from the window. She scrambled up, too shocked to form any words when a large booted foot slipped inside her room and then Damon slid in, his dark eyes landing on her before darting around the room.

"You okay?" He asked, not even trying to keep his voice down. She wiped at her face as she hurried over to him.

"I'm fine. You have to go. Right now!" She whispered but he didn't budge when she tried to push him back towards the window.

"The fuck I am. What did he do to you?"

"Please be quiet," she hissed frantically, glancing at the door.

He looked down at her and his face looked like it was carved out of stone. His dark brown eyes had never looked so hard before, like they were chiseled from blocks of black ice. "Did he do something to you? And don't you fucking lie and tell me that you're fine."

She shook her head. "He just came in here giving me crap about going out. That's it. I got upset. Please, Damon, you have to get out of here."

Instead of leaving he stared at her, unmoving. "You're shaking. If all he did was give you shit for going out then why the fuck do you look ready to jump outta your skin?"

How could she explain something like that to him? Was she really going to tell him that Ed looked at her funny? That sounded stupid even to her own ears. "I... I never know what he's gonna do. I think that the only reason he hasn't done something to me is because... I think he knows how sick it is. I think he..."

"Get in bed," he said, his voice shaking with anger.

She nodded. "Okay. I locked the door so I'll be fine. I'll see you at school." A part of her was relieved but another part of her didn't want him to go.

"Oh, he better hope that fuckin' lock keeps him out," he growled, stripping off the jacket and tossing it over the bed post.

"What?" She gasped.

"You think I'm gonna leave you here? After you tell me something like that? Fuck that. The only goddamn reason I don't go blow his brains out right now is because my fucking mom would kill me."

She watched as he reached behind him and then sat something down on the nightstand. She covered her mouth with her hand when she realized what it was. "Why do you have that?"

He glanced down at it and then, to her amazement, he stripped off his shirt and then toed his boots off. "That? That's nothin'."

"Damon, that's a gun!"

He looked at the gun and then he looked back at her. "Yeah. I can see that."

"Why do you have a gun?"

He shook his head and then pulled her blanket down. "You can stand there all night or you can get in bed. Makes no difference to me. Either way, I'm here and I ain't leavin' till he does."

She opened her mouth but no words came out. There wasn't any way she could force him to leave. She glanced one more time at her bedroom door and then back to him. He was standing there in a pair of jeans and his socks, his arms crossed over his chest. He was willing to stay all night to keep her safe if he needed too and she was stupid enough to argue with him. In her minds eye she pictured Ed's eyes raking over her and she shuddered. "You don't have to do this for me," she whispered as she made her way towards the bed, fresh tears forming.

His eyes softened as he took her in. "I know that. Lets just get some sleep, alright?"

She nodded and crawled into bed, waiting for him to climb in with her. It wasn't as big as his own bed and he was pretty big for his age so there wasn't much room. She didn't care though. He reached up and turned off the lamp and for a few seconds she laid there just staring at the ceiling.

"I need to know if he's ever-" He couldn't even finish the sentence.

She rolled over onto her side and he pulled her to him with such force she was nearly laying on top of him. She curled up into his side and shook her head. "He's never done anything. Not to me. It's just a feeling I get when he looks at me."

"You swear?"

"Yes."

"Have you told your mom about it?" His arm tightened around her and she rested her head on his chest and took comfort in the sound of his heart thumping hard and fast under her ear.

"No. I never told anybody about that. No one but Piper," she whispered.

He rolled over, keeping her close. "Go to sleep," he whispered.

She nodded, forcing her muscles to relax against him. It was easier than she thought it would be. The fear of Ed catching him with her wasn't as intense as the fear of Ed catching her alone. She fell asleep faster than she thought she would while his fingers raked lightly over her back.