"Julia…can we…" Axel trailed off as he walked up to her at the end of one of their weekly classes and hoped that she would be willing to talk to him. There was so much that he wanted to explain to her, but he hadn't had a chance. She looked up at him and just shook her head and he nodded. While she was accepting when it came to ranger things, she had kept her distance with everything else. He couldn't blame her when it came to that, but being a ranger was hard when he didn't feel support. "Okay."

Axel gathered his things and walked out of the dojo. Julia continued stretching for far longer than she needed to as she tried to pull herself together. When she looked up- Grant and Tommy were standing on the other side of the dojo, but appeared to be feigning ignorance that she was still there. Tommy hadn't confronted her about how she was treating Axel and she was grateful for it. She had a feeling that had more to do with Kimberly explaining her past than anything else. She hadn't told Kimberly much, but it was enough that she could relay some of that information to Tommy. Really though, that was just buying her time.

She tossed her things in her bag and shook off the bad feeling she had. She looked over to see that Tommy and Grant had headed into the office and she let out a sigh. Surely it was nothing. The last two months had been hard and it must just be frazzled nerves from never knowing when the next battle would come. She headed out the front of the dojo instead of down into the Command Center- she needed to get something for dinner that wasn't healthy.

"I knew you were waiting for me," Damien muttered in her ear as he grabbed her and pulled her into an alleyway. "Did you really think you'd get away from me?"

"Damien?" Julia forced out as she struggled to break his grip and finally managed it. She stared at her ex-boyfriend turned stalker and gulped. How had he found her? "No. You can't be here."

"Oh, but I am," Damien replied as he started to move closer to her and she glanced at the door that led down to the Command Center. There was exactly zero chance she would make it in there without bringing him along, but she liked her chances better with the others being there. "You'll be coming back with me."

"I have a life here. I have friends. I'm staying," Julia said, resolutely, as she grasped her communicator and hoped that someone might be in the Command Center and hear what was going on. He grabbed her and she kicked out against him, but he started pulling her towards a car she hadn't noticed. No matter how much she had learned, she was no match for this man. She immediately went back to a scared fifteen year old with him. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no."

"You'll be saying yes again soon, Julia," Damien said as she let out a scream and he clamped his hand down over her mouth. She vaguely heard a door clatter open and then suddenly felt relief as Damien was thrown off of her. She looked up to see Axel standing between the two of them and she gulped. He looked ready to kill and that both turned her on and terrified her. She'd never seen Axel look like this before when he had protected her and that had happened more in the last month than she wanted to admit.

"Ju- get inside," Axel said as Damien stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth. Axel glanced back at Julia for a moment and she then sprinted for the door. She collapsed in the stairwell as the panic attack over took her. He could not be here- she had left that part of her life behind. When she had run away from college at the end of her freshman year, she had made herself untraceable.

"Who are you?" Damien asked as he charged at Axel and he quickly deflected the attack. He watched the man get more and more frustrated as he didn't openly fight him, but instead continued to just push him around. Axel knew how much worse it would be on him if he did injure this man. His training was a problem in this case. "Fight me!"

"No," Axel said as he held Damien up against the wall and he tried to kick out at her. "You're going to leave here and you're going to never bother her again. Do you understand me?"

"She's mine," Damien ground out and Axel pushed him a bit more roughly against the wall. "Not yours."

"She gets to decide who she wants in her life- not you. Not me," Axel ground out as he hauled back and knocked Damien out. He looked up to see Cameron and Patrick standing there and he took a step back. They knew that he cared about Julia, but they hadn't seen him show it in any way. This was definitely showing it. "She make it downstairs?"

"No- we heard it and ditched class to get back here," Patrick said as Axel glanced at the door and then motioned for him to go instead. "Axe..."

"I promise she'd rather one of you talk with her or sit with her," Axel said as Cameron and Patrick exchanged a glance. They firmly believed that he was wrong in that assessment. If Julia would just ever give him a chance, they saw exactly where it would lead. "Don't. She's made it clear and while I know I'm not like that douchebag- she doesn't. So one of you, please go check on her- I need to know she's okay."

Patrick nodded and they all turned to go into the stairwell. They were shocked as they were met with a sobbing Julia and she looked up at the three of them, completely terrified. Patrick moved towards her and she watched as Cameron gave her a weak smile, but Axel completely avoided her gaze. She stared at Patrick in silence as she heard someone thundering down the stairs.

"What happened?" Grant asked as Patrick looked back at him and then propped open the door a bit to show Damien trying to get up. "Tommy sent me down after he heard…well something…I'll call the police."

"Don't, please don't," Julia begged as the door closed and they both looked back at her. "It'll make it worse. They never believed me in the past- it's why I moved back here."

"Julia!" Damien banged on the door and Grant nodded for Patrick to take her down to the Command Center.

"Do not open that door until either Tommy or I come down," Grant said as Patrick nodded and Julia tried to fight against him. "Julia- we don't have to involve you. Go."

Patrick hauled her down the stairs as she continued to fight against him and when he deposited her on the couch she sprinted for the door. Axel and Cameron glanced at each other as Patrick grabbed her again and pulled her back.

"Can…I…get…a…hand?" Patrick forced out as Julia kept trying to escape him. "Julia. Jules!"

"I can't have any of you get hurt because of me. Please- I'll go. I don't want any of you…" Julia trailed off as Axel stepped in front of her and she stared up at him. This was the one person that she couldn't run from, not matter how much she tried. "Please, Axel."

"No- we can protect you. Grant and Tommy know what they're doing when it comes to how to handle this legally. He's not going to hurt any of us or you ever again," Axel said as she collapsed against him and he gingerly put his arms around her as she clutched to him. He looked up to see Shelby standing there and he jerked his head for her to move closer and he then gently handed Julia off to her. She didn't look up, but the others looked at him like he had lost his mind. He let out a shaky breath before he headed back to his room and locked himself away. He wanted to be there for Julia, but he couldn't pretend it was without ulterior motives and that was the last thing she needed right now.