mimmssg- I'm so glad you're back to reading fanfiction and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! There's nothing I love more than finding a new M7 story to read. :) Guest- thank you so much for your comment. I'm so happy you accidentally started reading this story, lol! I've been trying to figure out how to update the description since your comment, and am still thinking on it. I'm just awful at writing the description- and this *was* supposed to be a more lighthearted story with precocious teens like you said, but then it got away from me and took a slightly darker turn. As do most my stories, ha! Muses- It goes without saying (but of course I'm going to say it) that your reviews make my day. I'm so thankful that you still read and review all my stories! I appreciate your support so much!

Chapter 19

Morgan ventured down the stairs.

It was Tuesday. Vin had assured her his roommate—the one who seemed to delight in making Morgan squirm, in raking his eyes over her, in standing just close enough to make her palms sweat—was gone on Tuesdays. It had been true for the past two Tuesdays. So that was the day Morgan risked leaving the room she and Vin shared while Vin was at his job. She had tried going back to school to pass some time, but she only made it through a class, maybe two if she didn't run into him, before her breath felt like it would choke her, her hands started to shake, and she had to leave before she embarrassed herself by falling apart in front of everyone in the school. So she had stopped going.

Morgan went to through the empty living room, through the kitchen to the door that led down to the basement.

The laundry basket she had hauled her and Vin's clothes in still rested next to the washing machine. Morgan picked it up and set it in front of the dryer. There was only a minute left on the cycle, so she opened the door and felt the clothes. Dry enough to count as done.

She started pulling the clothes from the dryer. It was mostly Vin's clothes. Over the last two weeks, her stomach had expanded and she had started wearing his t-shirts and sweatshirts rather than look at the changes in her body.

She pulled the last of the clothes from the dryer, dropping them into the basket, then lifted the basket. She turned and jolted backwards, bumping against the dryer behind her.

"Hey there," Rob said.

Morgan tightened her grip on the laundry basket, feeling like it was something of a shield between her and Vin's roommate. The one who was supposed to be at work.

She tried to keep breathing, pretend she was fine. She tilted her head just enough to lift her chin. "You're blocking the stairs," she said, sounding more annoyed than anything.

Rob's lips curved like he knew what was beneath the annoyed words. Morgan swallowed hard.

"Move," she said, lacking the force she wanted.

Rob moved, but it was toward her. Morgan pressed back harder against the immoveable dryer, causing Rob to grin.

The edges of her vision blurred, then went to black. Her breath made it through her tight chest in small gasps, all that could pass through the squeezing in her throat.

Rob took another step toward her.

Morgan dropped the laundry basket, hardly noticing the clothes that spilled onto the concrete floor. She darted past him, grabbing the handrail by the stairs like it was a lifeline and taking the steps fast enough to stumble twice.

She heard his chuckle behind her when she burst out of the basement door and into the kitchen. She kept going until she got to Vin's room. She shut the door too hard and flipped the lock, keeping her hands pressed against the door like she could hold it closed with her shaking hands.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there, listening over the sound of her ragged breaths for footsteps coming up the stairs, but it was long enough for her forearms to start cramping.

Morgan hesitantly took her hands off the door and risked a step back. She worked her fingers, clenching them lightly, then releasing, trying to get the tight muscles to move again.

Footsteps sounded then and all her muscles seized, cramping immediately.

The footfalls came right to the door, then the doorknob rattled.

Morgan bit down on her lip to hold back her cry.

She had done that when he had forced himself on her. Told herself she wasn't going to cry out. Wasn't going to let him win. And then had a cut in her lip from her teeth for the next week. She had told Buck she fell and bit her lip when he asked. Had almost made herself believe that was all that had happened.

The doorknob rattled again and Morgan bit down harder on her lip. She squeezed her eyes shut, frozen in place, not sure what was happening now and what was in the past.

"Morgan."

Vin's quiet voice sounded.

Morgan shook her head slightly, trying to figure out why she heard Vin.

"Morgan, are you in there?"

Vin. Vin was at the door. Morgan opened her eyes, willing herself to see the room they shared, and not the back room she had been shoved into at the party nearly four months ago.

"Morgan, it's me. It's Vin. Can you open the door?"

Morgan tried to answer him, but couldn't find her voice. She managed to get to the door. Her fingers fumbled with the lock. She finally got it unlocked and turned the knob.

Vin pushed the door open slowly. His blue eyes were a darker shade with worry that only darkened more when he looked at her.

"What happened?" he asked. He started to reach out toward her, but stopped when she instinctively flinched.

"You're bleeding," he said softly.

Morgan lifted shaking fingers to her lip and looked at the blood there when she pulled them away. "I—it's—I just…" she couldn't gather her thoughts to get a full sentence out.

Vin ducked into their shared bathroom. He came back with a washcloth. This time he moved more slowly. He lifted the cloth and waited for her to see it before he dabbed at her lip with the warm water.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Morgan was scared she would never be ok again.

"Did something happen?" he asked.

"I just…the memories…" Morgan said.

Vin kept the rag at her lip and lifted his other hand to brush at the strands of hair that fell across her forehead.

"You're here now," he said. "You're with me."

Morgan nodded slightly. She was safe right now. She was safe with Vin.

She wished she wasn't the cause of the worry on Vin's face. She wished she wasn't a shell of who she used to be.

#

Sam walked in the front door and dropped her backpack on the floor. The house was silent. Chris was working second shift with Buck and there was a good chance they would be working the third shift, too, and he'd be gone for the night.

Sam pulled her phone from her pocket and texted Chris.

I'm back in my cell.

If Chris and Buck were in the middle of something, she might not hear back from him for an hour or more. But her phone buzzed with the return text.

Call me.

Sam sighed heavily, but pulled up the video calling app. That was the deal. If she didn't want Chris hiring a prison guard to make sure she came directly home from school and stayed there, she had to video call him and prove she was at home, where she belonged.

She hit the button to call him. He answered almost immediately.

"You're home?" he asked, without any preamble.

Sam held the phone away from her face and swung it around the living room. "Your daily proof of life," she said. "How about tomorrow I send a picture of me holding up a newspaper with the date on it?"

"Ms. Travis said you went to all your classes," Chris said.

"I told you I would," Sam retorted. She hated being watched. Being checked up on. Especially when it meant she couldn't leave to check in on Morgan. She hadn't seen Morgan for a week, and their calls hadn't done much to reassure her about Morgan's mental state.

"Do you have homework?" Chris asked.

"I'll get it done," Sam sighed.

"I'll check when I'm home. Show me before you leave for school tomorrow."

"Yes sir," Sam said, sarcasm heavy. She stopped herself just short of saluting him.

"Hey Sammy," Buck broke in, leaning into the frame.

Sam hated how haggard Buck's face looked. Not that she held it against Morgan. None of this was Morgan's fault. She was reacting and doing the best she could…no matter how destructive her best might be.

"Hey," Sam answered him. She braced herself for what was coming next.

"You heard from Morgan?"

Not as often as she used to. But she didn't tell Buck that. "She's still ok," she reassured him.

"And her…that…the…"

"Vin's taking care of her," Sam said, it coming out more grimly than she intended. She hated to say it, but so far the guy Morgan had hitched herself to seemed decent enough.

The screen swiveled back to Chris. "You stay put. No going anywhere or your car is going up for auction."

Chris had finally fixed her car, on the condition Sam drove nowhere but to school and home. Ms. Travis personally checked in on Sam at the start of every class to make sure Sam was in the seat she belonged in.

"Got it," Sam said. Chris' face showed he picked up on her tone. "I have homework to do. See you tomorrow," she said. She ended the call before one of them said something that escalated the call into her losing her last bit of freedom or her car.

Sam ignored the backpack holding her homework and went to the fridge. She pulled out the orange juice, poured a glass, and took it to the living room. She opened the door to the small cabinet where Chris kept the hard liquor. Two splashes of vodka wouldn't be missed. Three splashes. She put the bottle back carefully, right where Chris would expect it to be.

She took her drink out onto the deck, but didn't pay attention to the fall calves up on the hill behind the barn, or the fall leaves drifting to the ground. She took a gulp of her drink and numbed herself to all of it.

#

Vin eased himself out of bed, past Morgan's sleeping form. She wouldn't elaborate on what memories had caught up with her, or why she was locked in their room when he got home, but he could imagine. She hadn't said much about what happened when she was attacked—nothing, really, other than she didn't like to feel restrained—but it didn't take much to see how easily it could overwhelm her.

Vin picked up his phone from the floor near the mattress and left the room, leaving the door open a crack and moved out to the third floor stairwell, sinking down on the top step.

He turned on his phone and flipped to his text messages.

Three messages that the cars he had texted about were already sold, one saying the guy wouldn't lower his price, and a final message telling Vin when he could come look at the vehicle.

Vin didn't have much set aside. Barely enough for a car that ran. But he was going to need something better than borrowing a roommate's car. Especially once Morgan was toting a baby along.

If she kept it.

Morgan hadn't said anything about the baby. She had barely said much about the pregnancy. Vin had no idea what she was thinking.

Vin rubbed a hand over his face and took a breath. He'd find out eventually, when she was ready to tell him or the baby was born he figured. For now, a car would make things easier on her.

Vin tapped out a message saying what time he could meet to look at the SUV that was more rust than pain on the outside.

He set his phone aside and listened to the sounds that drifted up the stairwell.

The sound of a late night movie, laughter, someone cursing, a door opening and closing.

He'd figure out a car, then he'd figure out where they could go away from this house filled with cigarette smoke and harsh words.

He hadn't taken his marriage vows, his promise to stick with Morgan and take care of her, lightly. This was his first chance at having a family since entering into foster care fourteen years ago and he was going to do everything he could to not lose it.

#