You're Automatic.

Suddenly, Shawn's face went from wicked victory to pure shock as the car pulled away and he was left holding my shoe. I laid my head back against the window, letting the sobs I had been choking back come freely.

After a couple minutes, Skye slowed the car down a bit. "Is everyone okay back there?" He looked at me in the rearview mirror and I nodded.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and crawled over to Bill, looking at the side of his face. Where I had kicked was covered in mud and was starting to bruise, "I'm so sorry, Bill!" I rubbed away as much of the mud as I could then gently kissed his cheek.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine." He smiled at me and looked me over, checking to see if I was alright. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and smiled. "My ankle hurts but, otherwise, I'm okay." He smiled at me, giving me a half hug from the seat. I looked over at Skye, "Are you alright?" He had a bright red handprint on his cheek, but looked fine otherwise.

He looked back at me and nodded with a smile, "Yeah, I'm good." He glanced at my ankle before looking back to the road. "Does it hurt from him grabbing it or from when you fell? I'm stopping at Brey's for a minute..."

"It hurts from falling on it; he grabbed the other leg." He looked up as he looked at me in the rearview mirror. "I think I may've just twisted it or sprained it, nothing terrible." He didn't look convinced but he didn't say anything.

He pulled the car up to the house, pulling into the gate that lead to the backyard of the house. He climbed out and unlocked the gate, opening it. "Gustav, pull the car in for me? I'll meet you guys inside, just remember to shut and lock the gate behind you." He walked into the house through the back door.

Gustav climbed over to the driver's seat and looked at us for a second before pulling under the little car port by the shed. We all got out and, while Tom and Gustav shut and locked the gate, Bill and I walked in the same door Skye had disappeared through. We walked through the kitchen and the hallway to the living room. I heard talking upstairs, easily picking out my brother's voice but unable to hear what was being said.

I sat on the couch and sighed. "You guys can sit, this is the closest thing to home to me since mom remarried. Same as Skye." I smiled as the guys reluctantly sat down.

After a few minutes, Skye came down the stairs with Aubrey behind him. Skye stood in the living room and asked if Aubrey would check my ankle.

Aubrey Mikkel, my brother's best friend and like a second brother to me. He and Skye pretty much grew up together and the Mikkel's were like a second family to the both of us. Aubrey was the only person we had ever told about Shawn, but he'd had a similar situation with his parents before his aunt and uncle gained custody of him and moved from Germany to America when Aubrey was four.
He walked over and sat on the coffee table, lifting my foot into his lap. "Alright, Amanda, what'd you do this time?" he teased, rolling up my pant leg. He pushed his purple hair from his eyes and looked over my ankle. He gentle squeezed parts and poked others, asking if it hurt and how bad. "Well, it's sprained, but nothing's broken. What happened?" He looked up at me.

"I fell from the roof," I muttered as Bill pulled me into his lap and nuzzled his face into my neck. I half expected him to start purring like a cat because of that gesture.

He nodded slowly. "You fell or you were pushed?" He looked skeptically at my ankle then back to my face.

"I fell. But it was kinda Shawn's fault, so I guess it doesn't really matter." I shrugged, putting my foot back on the ground. "So, am I gonna be okay or do you need to amputate?" I giggled.

He smirked and shook his head. "You'll be okay, but... You're gonna hate me. I'll be right back." He walked back up the stairs.

"Who's that?" Bill whispered as soon as Aubrey was gone, his eyes curious and making him look like a little kid.

"That's Skye's best friend Aubrey. I've known him my whole life. He's like a brother." I smiled as he came back down the stairs, but my smile vanished when I saw what was in his hands. "Crutches!? But you said nothing was broken," I whined, pouting.

Aubrey snickered and rolled his eyes, "Would you like some crackers with that whine?" He made a face and walked over to me. "One or the other, it'll heal faster." He laid the crutches down and put an ankle brace on the table. "You'll be less likely to make it worse if you stay off it." He looked pointedly toward the crutches, but shrugged.

I sighed. "I'll take them both, I guess... just to be safe," I mumbled unhappily, looking the objects over. I really didn't want to wear a brace or use crutches but, if Aubrey said it'd hear faster and prevent me from making it worse, I couldn't say no.

Aubrey half smiled and took my shoe off to put the brace on. When he was done, he stood up, "There you go. Now, which one of you really pushed her off the roof?" he asked teasingly as he looked at the twins and Gustav.

I snickered as I got up, grabbing the crutches. "Well. Bill is too much of a teddy bear," he blushed when I said that, "and Tom loves me too much. And I'm Gustav's... hasi?" I looked at Gustav for approval and he nodded with a grin. "He's kinda like my other other brother." I giggled as Gustav shrugged and nodded. I looked back at Aubrey, "They're German, just like you."

Aubrey chuckled, "I figured when you said you're his 'hasi'." He smiled at me then looked at the guys. "Es ist sehr nett, Sie zu treffen alle." He bowed politely with a smile. "Ein Freund von Amanda und Skye ist ein Freund von mir."

Bill bounced with excitement. "Es ist nett, Sie zu treffen auch," he and Gustav replied. He grinned and looked at me like a child waiting for praise.

I sighed, wishing I knew German but decided to just leave what I didn't know at that. So I just pat Bill on the head and smiled. I looked over at Tom as he sat silently, glaring at my ankle brace and crutches. I wondered what he was thinking.

[Tom's POV]
Seeing her standing there with one foot in a brace and crutches under her arms just made me even more furious with that sorry excuse of a man called her step-father. What had she ever done to deserve this, to be treated the way she had been? I looked at her arms and face, her bruises from the other day just making things worse in my head. What kind of man regularly beat up a young woman? His wife's child, at that! It made me sick that he could do something like that then just play innocent like he didn't feel an ounce of guilt.

I could hear the others talking, but it was just an indistinct buzz in the background. I had too many thoughts going through my head, too many impulses to deny. I was so deep in my own mind that I couldn't realize everyone was talking to me.

"Tomi?" Bill waved his hand in front of my face and snapped. "Hallo?" He frowned and continued to try to get my attention.

Finally, I blinked and ended my train of thought. I looked at the others as they stared at me and I cleared my throat, "What?"

Bill giggled and rolled his eyes. "We were asking what you thought." Before I could ask, he read my mind and answered my question: "About where we should go now." He smiled in amusement. He laughed at how out of touch I had been until it annoyed me. What annoyed me even worse was the way he looked over at Amanda... my Amanda, even though she wasn't really mine... yet.
[End POV]

I stopped laughed and my smile faded at the look Tom gave Bill, full of annoyance, jealousy, betrayal, and anger... I could practically feel the heat from that look and it wasn't even aimed at me. How Tom could look at his twin brother like was unfathomable.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Let's just stay here, I don't want to leave yet," I said as I sat down half on Skye and half on Aubrey. I hoped it would dismiss the look Tom was giving Bill, but it was like I hadn't said anything at all.