Kendall is at home with Rava when he gets the call from Shiv. It's late — or early, depending on how you look at it — and he and Rava are curled up in bed, sound asleep.

His phone ringing at this time of night can't mean anything good, so Kendall is already panicking slightly as he reaches for it. When he sees Shiv's name his first thought is that something has happened to one of their parents — or to Roman, maybe.

"Shiv, hi," he says, his voice thick with sleep. "What's up?"

"Hi, Kendall." Shiv sounds like she's been crying, which makes Kendall's heart speed up. "Uh, I need you to come to my apartment. I'm locked out."

Kendall relaxes. It's not a real emergency. Shiv just lost her key after a night out. "Jesus, Shiv. You scared me. You're locked out?"

"Yeah. You still have the key I gave you, right?"

"Yes, of course, but it's…" Kendall looks at the time on his phone. "It's 3am. Don't you have anyone who lives closer to you with a key, or can't you stay with a friend tonight—"

"No," she interrupts harshly, then adds in a smaller voice, "I'm on the balcony."

"You're… locked out on the balcony?" Kendall repeats, rubbing his eyes. "How? It's locked from the inside?"

"Yeah. Tobias, he… he pushed me outside, and he locked the door. I think he's gone out."

Kendall pauses. His heart is starting to beat harder again.

"Tobias locked you out on the balcony?" he says finally. He's never liked his sister's boyfriend, but this is too bizarre. "Why?"

"We had a fight. He gave me my phone and said I'd have to call someone to get back in." Shiv's voice quavers and she adds quietly, "I'm in my underwear."

"What?" Kendall is fully sitting up now. Rava is stirring beside him. "Okay, I'm coming to you right now." He's getting his other phone out of the bedside drawer, calling for a driver. "Stay on the line, okay?"

"What's happening?" Rava asks sleepily.

"Shiv's in trouble." Kendall is pulling on last night's clothes over his boxers. "I need to go to her apartment."

Rava is used to drama with Kendall's family, so she doesn't question him. She just nods. "Okay. Do you need me to come with you? I can get someone to watch the kids…"

"No. Thank you, but it's just me she needs." He leans down to give her a quick kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow — later. I'll call you when I know what's happening."

"I hope Shiv's okay," she calls after him. Kendall is still fumbling with his clothes, one phone held against his ear, the other in his pocket.

He manages to get hold of a driver — it's Fikret's week off but he has a few alternatives — and arranges to get collected outside. He calls a hushed goodbye to Rava, trying not to wake the kids, and steps out into the cold night.

Once he's outside he brings the phone in his pocket to his ear. "Shiv?"

"Yeah?" She sounds like she's shivering.

"I'm on my way, okay? I'm just waiting for my driver."

"Thanks."

"Tobias, he — you said he went out?"

"Yeah, I think so. I heard the door slam."

"Do you think he might come back?"

"I don't know, maybe." Shiv sounds increasingly agitated.

"Can you get a neighbour's attention, maybe?"

"I don't want anyone to see me like this."

"Right. Okay." Kendall nods. "Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?"

"No. I'm fine. Just cold."

There's a navy blue car coming around the corner. It comes to a smooth stop. "Shiv, my car's here." He climbs into the back, nodding at the driver. "Stay on the line in case he comes back."

"Yeah, okay." Shiv sounds calmer now he's on his way.

"So, what else is new?" he asks, settling back in the leather interior.

She gives a begrudging laugh. "How's Rava?"

"She's good. She's worried about you."

"Did you tell her—"

"No, no. Just that you were in trouble."

She takes a shaky breath. "Sorry I dragged you away."

"It's fine, honey. Did I tell you Iverson is sleeping through the night now? Not a peep out of either of them when I left."

He keeps up the inane chatter throughout the car journey, anything to avoid thinking about his sister half-naked on a freezing balcony with a maniac boyfriend who could come back at any second. When the car finally arrives outside Shiv's apartment, he jumps out without saying a word to the driver.

"I'm here, Shivvy. I'm coming up right now."

He lets himself into the building, nodding at the doorman as he races past — the doorman doesn't try to stop him, maybe he recognises him or maybe he can see that Kendall would probably punch him if he tried. He jumps in the elevator, pushing the button to the fifth floor frantically.

He gets to Shiv's door and lets himself in after fumbling to find the right key on his chain. The apartment is dark, the lights are all off.

He turns the main light on and heads for the balcony. He can see Shiv through the window, a glimpse of bare shoulder. He grabs a blanket from the couch on his way.

The door to the balcony is bolted. He slides the bolt and yanks the door open. "Shiv—"

She's standing with her arms wrapped around herself, barefoot in matching purple underwear. He holds the blanket out to her.

She takes it, wrapping it around her shoulders and pushes past him to get inside. He follows her inside after a moment and shuts the door, bolting it again.

Shiv sinks down onto the couch, still shivering. "Don't look at me," she says.

"Sorry." He sits down beside her, within reaching distance but without touching her. He looks at the floor.

"He didn't hit me, if that's what you're thinking," she says eventually.

"I wasn't thinking that," he lies, although his first instinct on the balcony was to check her for bruises. "Has he done anything like this before?"

Shiv shrugs. Kendall looks at her. It's like looking at a stranger. He can't imagine his tough, fiery sister, who can take both him and Roman in a fight, being pushed around by her boyfriend.

"He has photos of me," she says and Kendall's heart sinks. "So I can't leave him. If I do he'll go to one of our rival news outlets."

"Okay." He nods. "How bad are the photos? Is your face in them?"

"Yeah. You can see it's me." She glares at him although he hasn't said anything. "Don't judge me, Mr Unconscious-on-the-bathroom-floor-at-Thanksgiving."

"I wasn't. We just need to work out what we're going to do."

She nods.

"How about you go and get dressed, and I'll get someone to come and change the locks, so he can't get back in."

"Yeah." She appears to be calming down. She gets up, tightening the blanket around herself.

"It'll be okay, Shivvy," he promises her. She nods again and walks slowly towards her bedroom.

…

In her room, Shiv pulls on her favourite pair of green pyjamas. She looks at herself in the mirror, trying to see what she looked like through Ken's eyes. She's very pale and there are traces of last night's make-up around her slightly puffy eyes. Her arms feel bruised from where Tobias grabbed her.

She carefully takes the traces of mascara off, then goes to the bathroom to splash water on her face. When she meets her eyes in the mirror again, she looks more like herself. Taking a deep breath, she walks back out into the kitchen where Kendall is making tea.

"I got an emergency locksmith," he informs her, sliding a steaming mug towards her across the counter. "He'll be here in 20 minutes."

"Thanks." She picks up the mug, warming her hands around it.

"I've been thinking and," he hesitates, "I think I need to talk to Dad about this."

"What? No." She stares at him, the mug halfway to her lips.

"I don't have to tell him everything. But he needs to know about the photos." He adds gently, "He can do things that I can't. He can keep the photos out of the press."

Shiv closes her eyes, tears of humiliation threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"Okay," she says finally. It makes sense, even though the thought of her father knowing about the photos makes her want to jump off the balcony. "Just don't tell Rome or Connor, please?" She doesn't have to ask him not to tell their mother, that goes without saying.

"I won't," he says. There's the sound of keys jangling at the door and Shiv nearly drops her mug. Setting it down, she turns to see the door opening and Tobias stepping in, holding a bunch of flowers. He stops when he sees the two of them.

"Hello, Tobias," says Kendall politely. Shiv has never heard her brother sound so menacing.

"Kendall." Tobias looks at Shiv. "Are you okay?" He sounds genuinely concerned.

"Are those for me? Thanks." Kendall steps forward, taking the flowers out of Tobias's hands.

"Look, I don't know what Shiv told you—" Tobias begins.

"Why don't you tell me how my sister came to be locked outside in her underwear at 3am?" Kendall puts the flowers down and grabs Tobias by the shirt, dragging him towards the balcony.

"Look, we had a fight, that's all. I came back as soon as I could."

"Uh huh." Kendall is opening the balcony door, shoving Tobias outside and unbuttoning the younger man's shirt.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Tobias splutters as Ken rips his shirt off, then yanks his trousers down.

"Cold out here, isn't it?" Kendall comments, pushing Tobias closer to the edge.

"Shiv, please," Tobias pleads. Shiv stands by the door to the balcony, looking impassively at her lover. "Call your junkie brother off."

"What was that?" Kendall lifts Tobias with surprising strength, hoisting him over the edge of the balcony. There's only Ken's grip on his arms keeping Tobias from plummeting to the ground below.

"What the fuck — please!" Tobias gasps, looking at the ground from where he's dangling.

"It's a long way down," Kendall threatens. "I could do it, you know. I could just let go and we'd say it was suicide—" He nods at Shiv. "And no one would ever know. My dad can cover anything up."

"Don't — please." Tobias is gripping Kendall in return, clearly terrified.

"Here's what's going to happen, TK. You're going to leave and never come back. You're going to delete any photos of my sister that you have in your possession. And if anything about her makes it into the press, I will literally hunt you down and kill you. Is that clear?" Kendall's voice is steely and for a moment Shiv thinks yes, her brother could be a killer.

"Yes — yes." Tobias is about to lose his grip on Kendall.

Before Tobias can fall, Kendall yanks him back over the edge and dumps him on the floor of the balcony. "One more thing." He kicks Tobias hard, in the chest, in the stomach, then hauls him up and punches him in the face. Blood spurts from his nose.

"Kendall," Shiv calls, because she doesn't actually want to see her brother go to jail, as enjoyable as watching Tobias get reduced to a bloody mess is. "That's enough."

Tobias staggers to his feet. He pushes past Shiv, desperate to get off the balcony. She turns to watch as he stumbles towards the door.

"Hey," she calls after him. "Take these with you." She picks up the flowers and thrusts them against his chest. "I'll have the rest of your stuff sent on."

He takes the flowers, then looks at her through tear-filled eyes. "I loved you."

"You'll get over it," says Kendall, appearing at Shiv's side. "Now fuck off."

Tobias sniffs as he finally leaves.

"Well," Shiv says, once the door has closed behind him. "That was actually one of my better break-ups."

"I think he broke my fucking hand," says Kendall, wincing.

Once the locksmith has been and gone, it hits Shiv how tired she is. She sways slightly as she starts to walk towards the bedroom.

"I'll crash on the couch," says Kendall. "Just in case he comes back."

"Actually, could you stay with me?" she asks. She hates how childlike she sounds. She remembers how she and Roman used to crawl into Kendall's bed after one of their father's rages.

"Sure," he says. "I'll just call Rava and let her know you're okay."

She gets into bed and waits until Kendall comes to join her, pulling back the sheets and lying down beside her. He hasn't touched her since he arrived at the apartment, but now he holds out his hand and she takes it.

"Can this be one of those things that we never ever talk about?" she asks.

"Sure." He nods. "I'll add it to the list."

She falls asleep not long after, and when she wakes a few hours later Kendall is up and making coffee. She didn't think he even knew how to do that by himself. He says he'll talk to Logan later today, and she nods, dreading the inevitable conversation with her father.

They never speak of the balcony incident again.