Welcome to the Family

“What time is it?" Emily asked, picking her head up off of Brian's shoulder so she could look at him with worried eyes.

He sighed, almost ready to yell at her since this was the third time in less than ten minutes she had asked, but he held his breath, since he was just as anxious as she was.

“It's almost fo-" Brian was cut off by the obnoxiously loud sound of Matt's truck building up in front of the building.

He, Zacky, and Emily all stood up as if they had just been called to attention as the engine cut and Matt hopped out.

He didn't say anything to the three of them though, just walked around to the passenger side, and pulled his sister out of the car, holding her sleeping body out of the car and walking towards the front door with her cradled in his arms.

“Is she okay?" Emily asked frantically, following him in the front door and up the stairs.

“Please be quiet, Emily," Matt requested, his voice almost void of emotion.

“But Matt!"

Matt stopped short and snapped his head around, giving her a look. She cut out immediately.

“I'm putting her down in my room. When she wakes up, she's got a lot of thinking to do," he said, and then kept walking.

A few minutes later, he went into the kitchen, looking more than a bit war torn and exhausted. He was surprised to count three bodies in their kitchen; he hadn't even noticed Zacky when he came into the house. He thought it took the kid a lot of balls to be there; most sane people turned and ran when shit like this went down. Then again, loving someone made you do crazy things.

“Can I have a hug?" Emily asked, looking up at her older brother with tear filled eyes. Matt didn't say anything, just nodded, gladly accepting it. He was so scared for his sisters, both of them. He knew he wasn't exactly the best psuedo-parent in the world, and he didn't think his heart would be able to take having anything else truly awful happening to them.

After they shared their moment, Emily sat back down at the table. "So, Matt, are you gunna tell us what happened?"

“I think your sister should be the one to tell you," he said, rubbing his face with his hands.

“Are you fucking kidding me?" she asked, her voice cracking with rage. "We've been waiting around for you guys for hours and you're not even going to tell us what's going on?"

Brian put his hand over his girlfriend's, trying to calmly get her attention. "Matt's right, Em. She should be the one to tell you, she's the one who got herself into this mess. It's not his battle to fight, ya know? Besides, I think she'd be upset if he told you, and you didn't hear it outta her mouth."

“I guess," she muttered, knowing that they both were right.

“I want you to go to bed, Emily; it's been a long night," Matt said, the somewhat parental tone slipping into his voice. She went to protest, but hesitated and decided against it, and instead took Brian's hand and walked out of the kitchen and went to bed.

Matt turned towards the counter to turn on a pot of coffee. "Do you want a cup of coffee?" he asked, turning around to see Zacky staring at him with a vacant expression on his face.

"What happened tonight, Matt?" Zacky asked, getting straight to the point. He was tired and agitated and just wanted the fucking truth.

"How much do you already know?"

"Obviously not enough to prevent it from happening again." Zacky continued to stare at Matt, a dark expression on his features. He was pissed, but not necessarily at anyone in particular.

Matt sighed, rubbing his face with his hands again. He didn't really want to be having this conversation, it wasn't really his to have; but he also knew that it wasn't fair to leave the poor kid hanging like this.

"Well, when Danii was sixteen, she was in a relationship with this fucking creep, Sean. To make a long story short, he really fucked her up, and tonight I got a phone call, saying she was seen in his neck of the woods," Matt explained, trying to make this as simple as possible.

Zacky just raised an eyebrow, clearly not satisfied with the answer. "Fucked up as in?" He knew about her past drug use to some extent, but he could tell that that wasn't the end.

"Knocked the shit out of her, etcetera. He fucked with her head a lot too." Matt turned and turned off the now beeping coffee pot, pouring himself a cup. "You sure you don't want any?"

"Maybe I will take you up on that," Zacky said, giving in as he wrapped his head around what he was just told. "I'm supposed to be at work in a couple of hours."

"That sucks."

"Yeah."

The two guys stood silently in the kitchen, each nursing a cup. "Since I gave you your answer, mind if I ask you a question?"

Zacky shook his head. "No, shoot."

"Why'd you stay?"

Zacky shrugged, "I'm not really sure; a gut feeling I guess."

Matt couldn't help but let out a cynical laugh. "You didn't like it when I didn't give you the whole answer."

Zacky snickered as well. "I guess I didn't. But, honestly, I'm not really sure why I'm here, in your kitchen, drinking the most awful cup of coffee I've ever had in my life-- no offense. I'll let you know when I figure it out."

Matt scoffed and walked into the living room to go attempt to be normal and watch tv. Not that there was anything decent on at nearly five o'clock in the morning.

~*~

It was around seven when Matt finally gave up on trying to sleep on the couch. His back hurt and his mind was racing and there really was no point in laying there all miserable and such. So, he did what any good addict would do and went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee before going to smoke a cigarette. Of course, he was more than shocked when there was a lump in the middle of the kitchen floor.

"Zacky?"

"Hmmm...." he groaned, sort of stretching out, his face still covered by the hood of his sweatshirt.

"Uh, why are you on the kitchen floor...?"

"I am?"

"You are."

"Oh... How did I get here?"

"I don't know, you tell me. I thought you had to go to work... And I thought I heard your car start last night?"

Zacky rubbed his eyes as he sat up. "Uh... I vaguely remember starting my car... But then I couldn't find my sun glasses and I came back inside and I guess... I don't really know what happened after that."

Matt gave him a quizzical look. "Alright then... Did you at least call in sick to work?"

"Ah, fuck."

"I'll take that as a no," Matt laughed, walking around Zacky to get to the coffee pot.

Zacky quickly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket to call his boss. After hanging up he sighed and leaned on the counter rubbing his eyes.

"I still can't believe you fell asleep on the fucking kitchen floor, we have another couch you know," Matt said, laughing at Zacky.

"I know-" Zacky started, but they both stopped when they heard a noise. The two guys turned around to see Danii standing in the doorway looking dazed and confused; instantly making the atmosphere in the kitchen more awkward.

"Well, this is awkward," Danii mumbled, turning around to walk away.

Matt gave Zacky a sympathetic glance before swiftly walking after his sister. Once he was right behind her, he grabbed her wrist. "You get your ass into that kitchen right now, and talk to your boyfriend. Got it?"

Danii didn't answer, she just stood there, unable to meet his eyes. She turned around and shuffled back into the kitchen, although she couldn't directly look at Zacky either.

"My sister would like to talk to you," Matt said, practically shoving her in the direction of the back door. "I think it would be best if you joined her outside, on the balcony."

Zacky nodded, giving Matt a weak smile, before following Danii out the door.

"So..." she mumbled, after a few moments of supremely awkward silence.

"I'm not mad at you, you know. But, uh, I would definitely, uh, like to be clued in on what the fuck is going on," Zacky said, clearly attempting to think and talk at the same time. He wasn't exactly eloquent on a normal day, let alone under pressure. Oh well, at least he was trying and not just shutting down on her. Conversation wasn't his strong suit.

Danii sighed, peering over the ledge. "I don't really know what to say... I'm not used to having to explain myself, ya know?"

Zacky nodded, although the look he was giving her made it clear that he didn't really care what she was used to-- he just wanted an explanation. From her. Right now.

"Well, when I left work yesterday he, Sean, was leaning on the hood of my car... And so I was like, 'what are you doing here?' and he was like, 'I just wanted to stop by,' and so at first, I was thinking, oh shit this, can't end well. And I guess it didn't... But, uh, anyway... He kept saying how he wanted me to go up the coast with him, or whatever, and I kept saying no. But I couldn't get into my car, 'cause he was blocking the door... And if you think Matt is scary, Sean is like twice his fucking size. Like, legit, he could kill me with like, three fingers... But, uh, yeah, and I don't really know what happened next.. I just sort of got into his car..." her voice drifted off as her eyes started to tear up.

"Danielle, I know you know why. What happened?" Zacky asked softly. He knew she wasn't stupid. Reckless, sure, stupid, nah.

She sniffled, hesitating for a moment longer. "He told me he'd go after Matt and Emie if I didn't go with him..."

Zacky sighed, "You know Matt would never let anything happen to himself or to Emily."

Danii nodded, trying to wipe away her tears before they fell. "I know... But I wasn't thinking straight. You have no idea how fucking scared I am of this guy, Zacky."

Zacky took a step forward and hugged her, inwardly beating the shit out of himself. He hated the fact that someone could have this kind of hold over her, and the fact that he wasn't there to protect her. "I'm not gunna let him hurt you, I promise. But you kinda gotta work with me on this, okay? You can't just disappear."

She nodded, not really listening. She was too busy crying her eyes out into his shoulder. Her face was still make-up stained from the day prior. "I'm sorry," she managed to blubber.

"I know that is all that happened though," Zacky said, as he ran a finger over a bruise that was clear on her shoulder.

Danii flinched as he touched the bruise, she sniffed a few times trying to gain her composure so she could continue the story, "While we were in the car driving up the coast, Sean was going on and on about something that I wasn't really paying attention to. When he realized I wasn't paying attention to him, he turned into a parking lot somewhere. Then, he forced me out of the car. Before he dragged me inside the bar, he punched me on the shoulder," Danii sniffed, taking a deep breath as she tried to calm herself so she wouldn't start crying again. Zacky soothingly rubbed her back, silently telling her to continue. "I though I recognized the bartender, Mike, one of Matt's old friends, but I wasn't really sure. I couldn't get too good of a look at him since Sean was pulling me towards the bathroom..." Danii's voice started trailing off once again.

Taking in a shaky breath, she willed herself to continue, just to get the rest of the story over with. "Once we were inside the bathroom, he tried to force me to-" She didn't get to finish her sentence before her voice cracked and she started crying once again. Zacky's body went rigid in her arms, figuring out for himself what the end of her sentence was.

"He raped you, didn't he," Zacky said in a stony voice.

Danii quickly shook her head, "I kicked him in the balls before he even got close." She soon felt Zacky shaking slightly from laughter. "I managed to run out of the bathroom before he could grab me again...But, uh, I kind of had it coming to me when he caught up with me in the parking lot..." She thought for a moment. "Let me just show you what happened after."

She took a step away from him, before pulling her shirt over her head. Her whole side was a mess of different colored bruises. She let out a bitter, cynical laugh. "Sean was always one to take things literally. Kick her while she's down was one of his favorite sayings."

Zacky's face went white with horror as he stared at her battered body. "I can't fucking believe this. I'm gunna fucking hunt him down and-"

"Zacky, stop. You're pulling a Matt."

He stopped muttering, now just staring in disbelief. "And you went through this for years?"

Danii just nodded as she put her shirt back on. Being topless on the balcony wasn't exactly how she wanted to start her day. "Day in and day out. Can I ask you something?"

Zacky nodded, still scowling a bit.

"Promise me you'll never hurt me like he did?"

Zacky didn't answer for a second. He couldn't believe she was actually asking that, not that he didn't get why she was asking. But even considering the idea of putting her through that kind of pain was unthinkable in his mind. Zacky didn't answer, instead, he took Danii's face in both of his hands and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

Matt, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, made his presence known, "No sex on the balcony," he said walking away from the back door.