When She Cries

I turned as quickly as I could, but ran into a hard chest. Their arms wrapped around me as I buried my face into their chest. "Hey, what's wrong?" Matt asked softly, stroking my hair and back. I was so used to being pushed away and not used to affection, that I pulled away from him.

I backed up from the group until I hit a wall. "Noelle, Sweetie, what's wrong?" Val asked softly.

"Nat..." Blue Eyes murmured as water gathered in his eyes.

I closed my eyes tightly, always used to the punishment after looking into those eyes. "Noelle, please, tell me what's wrong," Matt said softly, touching my cheek.

I flinched away from him and slid down the wall, pulling my knees to my chest. When I curled into a ball, I felt safe. I felt like nothing could hurt me; it was my safety zone.

*Matt's P.O.V.*

My heart pained seeing this fragile girl. I just wanted to take her into my arms and take all her pain away. She seemed so crumbled, so defeated.

No one could go near her. She would just continue to flinch away. Even from the girls. We had to let her cry herself to sleep. I didn't want to do that, but there was no other way.

As I lay her on the couch, I saw the questions swimming through Jimmy's eyes. I covered Noelle up with a blanket and walked back into the kitchen.

"Tell me the truth, Matt," Jimmy said, solemnly, but still held sternness in his voice. I sighed, sitting down. "Is she Nat's?" I could only nod slowly.

"If she's Nat's, then why is she here?" Michelle asked, confused.

"Because I'm her father," I said quietly, staring at the floor.

"And you thought you would just keep this from me?" Jimmy hissed lowly.

"No, that's why I asked all of you to come over... Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, seeing as it back fired."

"Why did she keep flinching away from us?" Johnny asked softly.

I looked up at him. "I wish I had the answer to that. She doesn't let anyone touch her, and she's very skittish."

"I swear to God if that son of a bitch-" Jimmy's angry rant was cut short as we heard a small whimper come from the living room.

I got up to go check on Noelle, the others following me. She was tossing in her sleep, tears streaking down her face again. As she rolled over onto her stomach, a visible bruise was on her lower back as her shirt and sweatshirt rose up.

My hands shook as I gently pulled the fabric up even more, to see the bruise was bigger than the fabric showed, and many more decorated her skin.

I saw red as I clenched my hands into fists. Who the fuck dared to lay their hands on her like that?!

I walked away, trying to breathe and not let my anger get the best of me. "Matt, tell me what's going on. Where's Nat? Why is her daughter suddenly here without a word before now?" Jimmy asked, following me.

I sat down on one of the patio chairs and ran my hands down my face. "Nataly and Connor were just in a car accident about a week ago.” He stared at me, fresh tears coming to his eyes. "She wasn't the same Nat you remember, Jim, believe me."

"What do you mean?"

"Before they left Huntington, I found her. Things were obviously different. Connor had her under his thumb like no other... It was bad."

"And you let her leave?!" He jumped at me, but luckily Zacky and Brian were able to hold him back. "How could you do that?!"

"Jimmy, listen to me! I was supposed to meet up with her the next day, but she never showed! She was the one that lied to me about meeting and skipped town. If I would have known that, I would have had her come with me that day."

He broke down, fresh tears coming over him as he slid down to the ground. “I don‘t believe this..."

*Noelle's P.O.V.*

I woke up to shouting in the backyard. I sat up slowly, feeling my stiff limbs shout in complaint. My eyes felt heavy and tired from lack of sleep and crying.

I hesitantly stood up, and looked around. "Oh, you're up." A petite woman smiled as she walked in, seeing me standing. "Do you want or need anything?" She asked gently, not advancing towards me. I shook my head slowly.

It was silent for a few more moments, before I spoke. "Am I in trouble?" I asked, my voice raspy and barely above a whisper.

"God no, why would you think that?"

"Because that's what usually happens." I mumbled, looking at the floor.

"Oh, Sweetie... Come on." She held her hand out, still not making a move towards me. When I noticed she wasn't going to hurt me, I took her hand and she led me back into the kitchen.

The voices out back had calmed down, and now I saw the one man in a heap on the floor. The sentence that came out of his mouth, made me stop in shock. "She's my niece, isn't she?"

Was he talking about me?

When Matt said yes, I was even more confused. If this man was my uncle, then why did Mom want to keep him away from me?

The woman looked at me when I stopped. She gave me a confused look, but then followed my line of vision.

"I'll be right back," she said softly, before walking out back. I saw her go over to Matt and one of the others, before they walked in.

"How you feelin'?" Matt asked, walking towards me.

"Okay," I whispered, looking down at the floor.

"You gave us a bit of a scare," se said, starting to walk closer.

"I'm sorry," I said, backing away, not wanting to be in touching distance of him.

"Why won't you let any of us near you?" The other man asked. His voice was soft, not stern, that was a surprise to me.

"Are you mad?" I asked, not brave enough to look up at Matt.

"What? Why would I be mad?" He asked, confused. This confused me. "Hey, look at me." I slowly dragged my eyes up to meet his. "I don't know why you keep thinking that I'll be mad at you for something, but you don't need to be afraid of us. You haven't done anything wrong, and you'd have to do a hell of a lot to piss us off."

"Which I'm sure would be impossible for you," the other one said.

"Really?" I was scared to ask, wondering if they were trying to trick me into trusting them.

"Come here," the other one said, patting the counter top softly. I walked over cautiously and easily jumped up, trying to not disturb my ribs. He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a tub of vanilla ice cream and three bowls and spoons. He got some for Matt, him and myself, before handing it to me. "Don't tell Val," he whispered, trying to be sneaky about it. I smiled softly, and looked down into the bowl.

"Do you not like vanilla?" Matt asked, watching me.

"No, I do, it's my favorite."

"Then why haven't you attacked it yet?" The other one asked.

"Because I wasn't allowed to eat any..." I mumbled, recalling the events.

"Matt, can you come here real quick?" One of the girls asked, poking her head through the back door. He sighed and set his bowl down, before walking out back.

"Mind if I sit with you?" I was a little hesitant about letting him sit next to me, but he had given me ice cream, so he must be nice. I shook my head and scooted over so he had enough room. "So, why weren't you allowed to eat ice cream before?"

I sighed, deciding to take a small bite. It was just becoming too tempting. "Because Mom and Dad said that I wasn't allowed to. They never said why, though."

He frowned, but didn't say anything about it. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Really," he said, looking at me surprised. "You're so tiny!"

I smiled softly. "I've been told that a lot."

"Well, don't worry. We'll get some meat on those bones in no time." He jumped off the counter and set his now empty bowl in the sink. But I still hadn't finished mine. "Here, we can put it in the freezer for later. I'll tell the others that it's your's and not to touch it."

I got down from the counter and handed him my bowl. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Being nice to me," I mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"Hey, Kiddo, look up." He was now standing in front of me. "I don't know what was going on at your house before you came here, and I won't ask, but you don't have to worry about anything now. We might seem like a pretty crazy group, but we're probably the most protective and caring guys that you don't find much of anymore." I smiled softly. "If you ever need to talk, just come talk to Uncle Zacky. He can help with anything," he said, smiling widely. "Hug?" He asked uncertainly, holding out his arms but not making a move. He seemed like I could trust him, so I let my guard down, and slowly stepped into his arms.

"You're with us now, I don't want you to worry about anything else."

For once, I felt safe in a man's arms. That's something I could never have said before...