Sky had a bandage around her head, there were raw bruises on her face and her neck, and dried blood stains on her cheeks. Her cute Christmas sweater and the pleated, green skirt were on a nearby chair, and she was wearing a pale pink hospital gown, her hair was tangled and had lumps of dried blood in it.

Seeing her like that, was worse than Cody ever could have imagined.

It hurt like a sword through his gut. It made him want to burn down the world.

The rage was sudden and all-consuming, it flashed through him like wildfire, leaving him breathless. He stopped in the doorway to take a moment to get his emotions under control, to smother that explosion of anger before Sky noticed it. She didn't need to deal with his shit right now - the rage, the revenge, the need to rip apart everyone who had laid a finger on her—

Those things would have to wait. He pushed them down, down, down, until he could breathe calmly again.

Slowly he walked into the room, pulled a chair, and took a seat next to Sky's bed, letting out a long exhale. Noticing his presence, Sky opened her eyes and a shadow of pain flashed in her gaze. Her head was resting on the pillow, the red curls that escaped from under the thick bandage formed a halo of fire around her pale face.

A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "You came."

"Of course."

The anger was still smoldering inside Cody's chest. He could taste it, the brimstone and the smoke, but he forced it under the surface and gently took Sky's hand. Her fingers were cold in his, cold and slender, her hand was small.

"Does it hurt a lot?" he asked softly, glancing at Sky's bandaged head, her bruised neck.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Did they give you anything for the pain?"

"Nothing good. I'm an addict. What are they gonna give me?"

Her words hurt Cody in a primitive way, he felt them like a blow. It was his fault Sky couldn't get any good painkillers. It was his fault she was suffering like this. Had he never sold her drugs, she wouldn't be in this situation, and they could medicate her properly. That guilt was heavy to carry, it crushed the air out of his lungs.

"You should have let me be your plus one," he said silently after a short silence. "I wouldn't have let this happen to you."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I don't think I can make it to our date tomorrow."

She tried to smile, but the attempt failed and a couple of tears formed in the corner of her eyes. Cody let go of her hand and brought his fingers to her cheek, to wipe away those tears, but it didn't help. More burning teardrops followed those first ones, they fell to his fingers.

Love squeezed Cody's chest so that it was hard to speak. "It's okay. We can reschedule. Don't worry about that now."

She gave a shaky nod. "Okay. I… I just really wanted to go."

"I know. Me too. And we will, when you're okay."

He kept wiping away her tears, his hand caressing her burning cheek. He could smell the salt of her tears in the air, mixed with blood and the smell of hospitals - medicine, disinfectant, sick people.

"You want to talk about what happened?" he asked after another short silence. "Who did this to you?"

Sky's glance turned towards the doorway, and when Cody turned to look, he noticed Dr. O'Brian there, leaning on the doorway. Cody swallowed and slowly drew his hand back from Sky's cheek. He hadn't realized Dr. O'Brian was there, he had been silent, and Cody hadn't spared a thought to anything but Sky.

So fucking what? He already knows I love Sky. Let him see what it means. Let him see I'm here for her, that I'll do anything for her.

"Dad, can you get me a soda or something?" Sky asked. "I'm thirsty."

Dr. O'Brian looked like he realized very well that Sky was sending him away, but he didn't protest. "You know, if you want privacy, all you need to do is say so."

"Okay," Sky blushed faintly. "But I do want a soda too."

Dr. O'Brian gave her a smile, but it didn't hide the tiredness on his face, the dark shadows under his eyes. "Okay, one soda coming right up. And Cody—"

"Yes?"

There was a hint of steel in Dr. O'Brian's voice. "She's tired. Let her rest."

Sky's Dad left, leaving them alone in the room. The door to the hallway was still open and they could hear the sounds of the hospital - people's voices, a machine beeping steadily maybe in the next room, a phone ringing, steps passing the doorway - quick, slow, running.

"Smooth, the way you sent your Dad away," Cody noted, turning his attention back to Sky, and taking her hand again. "Is there something you don't want him to hear?"

Sky looked miserable, her lips were trembling. "I mean… He knows, about what happened. But— not everything."

"You want to tell me?"

"I– I don't remember all of it. I was— I guess I was trying to help Sam." Sky paused to take a shaky breath. "She– she was having a panic attack, and I thought that Tory was going to kill her. But I don't remember what happened after that. Tory must have hit me in the head, she had the nunchaku—"

"Tory Nichols?"

Cody didn't know her, but he knew of her. She was the one who had kicked Sky down the stairs at the school fight and caused her brain injury. How that girl wasn't already in the juvie, was beyond him. A sharp, foul taste of rage was back on Cody's lips, and he tried to lick it off. He had never fought a girl, had never hit a girl - but he was tempted to find a way to make Tory Nichols pay for what she had done to Sky.

"Yeah, Tory—" Sky spoke, taking Cody's hand back in hers as if she needed his support to go on. "She was after Sam, not me, though. I'm not… I'm not scared of Tory. But Cody, Kyler was there—"

A black pit formed in Cody's gut. A pit filled with the darkest of darkness, where rage smoldered like an a-bomb waiting to go off.

"Kyler?"

"He— he grabbed me. My neck—"

Cody's glance turned to the bruises on Sky's neck. Dark red, turning blue, the bruises had the shape of someone's hand. A wave of nauseating anger roared through Cody's chest, making his ears ring. It took all he had to not let that show, to just sit there and listen as Sky went on.

"He hit me. And he—" Sky stopped mid-sentence, her breathing had turned fast, uneven.

"What did Kyler do to you?"

"He put his hand under my skirt," Sky forced the words out of her mouth hastily, her voice was barely audible. "He tried to pull down my— my panties. If Miguel hadn't been there—"

Time seemed to slow down. Suddenly all the rage, all the roaring fire was gone from Cody's chest and all that remained was a cold, dark realization.

I am going to kill Kyler Park.

A memory from a month and a half ago hit him like a punch in the face. He saw himself standing in Kyler's garage, wearing all black like an angel of death, holding a gun and pointing it at Kyler's head. He should have pulled the trigger then, he should have put a bullet in Kyler's head that night. Had he not chickened out, Kyler wouldn't have been here to put Sky through all this shit.

He wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

"I— I just froze. I couldn't even defend myself. I— I thought I was going to die—" Sky's voice was thin, wet with tears. It pulled Cody back into this moment, he gripped her hand hard in his.

"You're safe now," Cody met her eyes. "You're safe. I'm not going to let him hurt you again, okay? I promise."

He tried to keep his voice even, but maybe Sky noticed the hint of steel, the slight tremor of anger in it because her tears started flowing again as she gripped Cody's hand with both hands, almost begging. "Please, don't do anything stupid. Please. I don't want him coming after you too."

"I promise," he lied. "I promise. Don't worry about it."

Sky's worry for his well-being was touching. Despite everything she'd been through, she was kind, she was innocent, almost child-like. Cody didn't want to break that. He didn't want her to know anything about this darkness he carried within him, the violence, the hate, the need for revenge. He had shared many things about his past with her during her time in rehab but had left at least as many things untold.

Sky knew nothing of the gun. Lately, Cody had kept it loaded and close to his bed at night, waking up every half an hour in fear that there was someone in the house, in his room. He had gotten rid of all the drugs, sold them to anyone who was willing to deal, had delivered the money to Enrique, had told him he was out, that he wanted nothing to do with the business anymore… but the silence that had followed made him scared.

He had told none of that to Sky. It was his burden, not hers. He didn't want her to worry about him, he didn't want her pity. Had she known about Enrique—

No, Cody would never tell her. Like he would never tell her about the night when he had confronted Kyler in his garage, had pointed a gun at his head.

He had humiliated Kyler, and guys like him didn't take that lightly. Cody had seen the hate in Kyler's eyes at school lately - he knew Kyler wanted to get back at him, by any means necessary. So was the attack on Sky a message to him? Cody doubted it. Kyler wasn't smart enough to plan something like that, besides he didn't know how much Sky meant to him. No one knew.

"I'm scared," Sky breathed silently, and Cody forced away the violent fantasies of painting the wall with Kyler's brain and blood. That would have to wait. Sky needed him, she needed him here, now, holding her hand while she cried. "I'm so scared of Kyler. And I hate that. He makes me feel… like I'm with Matt. It's the same kind of fear. I'm scared he's gonna hurt me. Or hurt someone I love."

Someone I love.

Her eyes met his at those words, and Cody's heart thumped heavily against his ribs. She didn't say she loved him, she could have meant anyone, but still, his whole body reacted to those words. His chest ached as if his heart was trying to beat through his ribcage.

"I'm not gonna let that happen," he rasped. "Okay? And neither are your Dad, or your friends. You're not alone, Sky."

"I should have thanked them," Sky said, tears suddenly filling her eyes again. "Shit– I'm the worst friend ever! They helped me, and I— I just— I didn't even say anything—"

"Sky—" Cody started, then looked down into their hands, the emotion suddenly getting caught in his throat. "Did you— did you know that Hawk switched sides?"

Sky didn't say anything, but Cody felt how she stiffened. Her hand went still in his.

"He was here, you know. With Sam, Demetri, and Miguel." Cody went on, silently. "They told me he quit Cobra Kai and that he helped them to win the fight."

Sky was silent for a couple of more heartbeats, then let out a trembling sigh. "I— I wasn't sure if that really happened."

There was something in her voice that made Cody's heart twitch painfully, a hesitation maybe, an undertone that told Cody she wasn't telling him everything.

"I– I guess I just wanted to know if this changes anything?" Cody forced those words out of his mouth. "Between us, I mean."

"What?" Sky sounded almost offended. "No! Of course not."

Cody raised his gaze to meet hers. Sky was looking at her with wide, teary eyes, her face was pale and tired, her lips were bloodless. He felt like the worst person in the whole fucking universe, for asking her about this now, after all the times she had told him she was trying to get over Hawk, that she was fucking done with him.

They were dating. She knew he loved her. And he was a fool to start digging this pile of crap now, this disgusting pile of his insecurities, his fears, his jealousy.

But with a jolt came the memory of Hawk, standing on Sky's front steps, yelling at him: "She fucking loves me–! She'll never love you the way she loves me! I bet she's thinking about me when you fuck her!" and he had to know, he had to ask.

"You sure?" His voice broke mid-sentence. "Cause— If you wanted to talk to him about this, I would understand—"

"No! I don't wanna talk to him!" Sky replied, her voice shaking with unnamed emotion. "I don't care what he says, he fucking broke my heart. I want nothing to do with him!"

"Okay," Cody breathed. "Okay, I'm sorry I brought it up."

Sky turned her eyes down and pulled her hand away from his, to wipe her tears.

"I'm tired," she said, her voice small and raw. "I want to sleep now."

Something in Cody's chest was breaking, and he didn't even know why. The sadness that overtook him, was like a heavy cloud, it took the air out of the room, making his lungs ache.

"You want me to leave?"

Sky rolled to her side and looked at him through her lashes that still had big, clear teardrops in them. She reached a hand, and he took it again, held her cold fingers in his with a firm grip as if he could thus repel all the horrors of the night, the monsters, the fears, his own stupid insecurities, the anger that was still burning somewhere deep inside of his chest.

"I want you to stay," she sighed, gripping his fingers hard. "Please, stay with me."

Thank you for all the reviews! They mean the world to me.