The next morning at breakfast Mr. and Mrs. Grower noticed that Danny seemed to be quieter and Teresa had not yet emerged from the bathroom. "Danny, did you talk to her last night?" his mother asked.

"Yes, but don't get mad. I just told her that I'm here for her if she wants to talk."

"You care about her, don't you." His father was asking a question, but said it as more of a statement.

"Yes.. is there something wrong with that?"

"Honey, you know what kind of stuff she's been through, and well frankly, as much as we care about here, we don't want you falling in love with her or something. Just stay on 'friend' terms, please? We don't want a mess and a family scandal or something."

Danny couldn't believe that his mother would even dare to say something like that, but he held his thoughts safely inside himself and just nodded silently.

In the bathroom Teresa carefully took a damp tissue and wiped away the crusted salt left from last night's tears. She stared at her reflection. "Monster," she thought. The events of last night came flooding back to her in broken fragments. ...unbearable memories....pounding the floor.. falling... Danny's arms...his promise.. his soothing nature ... being carried to bed .... fear.... tears .... the hug ... feeling protected ...

The worry lines on her forehead seemed more noticeable than before. Teresa tried to relax the swollen lids of her eyes with some cold water, but gave up and headed down to breakfast.

By the time she reached the table Mr. and Mrs. Grower had finished breakfast and Danny was the only one at the table. She turned her face away from his just slightly. She did not feel sure whether she could allow herself to trust again. All the people she had ever trusted where gone from her life, never to return again. Bernie, Jesselle, Jeremy, her mom, her dad, and the form of Gary that she had fallen in love with. She didn't feel as though she could risk it again.

Danny wondered if Teresa would speak to him first, but he sensed her hesitation and distrust. "Um, hi. So...how are you feeling today?"

Teresa turned quickly from the omelet she was trying to prepare for herself. "Uh, well..not good, not completely horrible..nights are the worst... so I guess, um, fine." the word choked in her throat. The same answer she would give her mother everyday after school. A sharp pain ran through her mind, giving her slight chills.

"So, do you think you'll be ready for school?" Danny attempted to keep the conversation alive, but away from her terrible memories.

It was as if he had heard her thoughts running along the idea of school, she gave another turn. "Well... I'm just. Well. I don't know, honestly. It's going to be so different. And hard. I just, well. Really, I don't know."

"Oh, ok."

Danny continued to sit at the table and waited for her to finish her breakfast. They passed so in complete silence for nearly fifteen minutes. "Teresa?"

"Mmm?" she kept her eyes trained on her plate. For some inexplicable she could feel tears rising to her eyes.

"I'm guessing it's too soon for you to talk more, right? I mean, well, yeah. that's what I meant I guess. You probably don't want to talk about any more that happened."

Teresa's heart throbbed. Oh how she wanted to tell him! To have someone to share the pain with, unburden the horrendous load. But could she? Could she trust? Should she? And how? How could she say everything? Wouldn't he judge her? And she couldn't just start crying now, for if she said even a word she felt she would be threatened with choking on her sobs. Every time a painful memory arose she couldn't just let the pain overcome her and take control and make her cry and run to his arms. Or could she?

Teresa broke down under the weight of the argument in her head. The salty tears dropped like rain onto her plate. Hundreds of sparkling droplets fell straight from her eyes down, flooding her plate and covering her unfinished omelet. Her shoulders shuddered with the overwhelming inner pain and her arms hung limp.

Danny eyes watered. What had he done? Entirely shocked and stunned he got up from the table in a daze.

Through her blurred eyes Teresa could not see Danny any more. All she could see was the figure of Gary drawing closer. She jumped from the table, her plate falling to the floor and smashing into a million tiny glimmering pieces of china. She tried to run but couldn't. Her feet felt nailed to the floor. Her whole body tensed and went ramrod straight. Fear and terror gleamed through her tears. Everything was a blur. She had to stop him. But how? She grabbed regained control over her limbs and grabbed a glass from the table. Unable to judge where the figure's head was, she blindly threw the glass. A spatter of red blood and she felt her knees collapsing under an unearthly weight.

Despite the numerous open, bleeding cuts on his arm, Danny drew closer. He had no regard whatsoever for his own pain. He felt only Teresa's terror. Once more his heart broke for her. She didn't deserve this, no one did.

Once again Teresa felt someone catch her before she fell. Her memory of the present broke through the shrouds of the traumatic past. Those arms...those deep dark eyes.... Danny! Oh god! What had she done? She saw blood dripping from his left arm, glass and china littering the floor. Tears still blurred her eyes and her mind could not focus on what she had done for more than brief, broken seconds. "Oh god..." she whispered in a strangled voice.

His right arm supported her, he kneeled beneath her, her body laid across his lap. Her tears mingled with his blood. "Oh god.." she whispered again.

"Shh, it's okay. Everything's fine."

"Danny?" she croaked.

"Yes? I'm right here."

"I.. I..sorry... I thought you were Gary. I saw him coming closer....glass...blood...oh god....the knife and gun...shattered..everything.... Jeremy....ohhhh...." a deep sigh escaped her lips. It seemed to come from her very soul, as if it were too weak to go on. "I... Danny... how could I compare, even think, you were Gary for a second? ...You're so different...the opposite.... I.."

"Shh, it's okay. Nothing you can do to me can hurt me. It's not your fault." He shifted her seemingly frail body.

She bit her lip. "Yes it is...everything was my fault. None of it should have happened. God! I'm so sorry!" she buried her head in his shoulder and screamed silently. "Mommy, Dad.. little brother...my friends...god I'm sorry..I'll never have a chance to tell you how sorry I am... I'll never join you in heaven..." Her breath was short and quick, burning hot tears seeped through his shirt. Each tear burned a hole through his skin straight to his heart. And each tear caused a rip in his heart.

Despite his cuts he wrapped his arms around her and held her close in the circle of his arms. There were no words that could soothe her, only gentle actions. She pressed her face deeply into the folds of his shirt and allowed him to stroke her hair. From this position she could see nothing, feel nothing, think nothing, hear nothing. Nothing but the warmth of his body, his beating heart, his breathing, his careful touch, and his protection.

It being summer and both the Growers were at work, the two sat on the kitchen floor in the protective embrace for hours amid the shattered china and glass and each other's tears and blood.