A/N #1: Sorry I didn't update last month. But I'm here now.

A/N #2: All right, ladies (and gentlemen, if there are any)... this is where the story starts to get seriously dramatic. Really big changes will be occurring in the lives of our characters now. (And yes, the biggest drama is why the story has been upped to an 'M' rating. I thought it might be a little too much for 'T'.)
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"Tara! Home. I'll go home. And I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day!"

As the ending music to Gone with the Wind then started playing on Matthew's television, he stretched slightly and let out a sigh, looking down and seeing that Jamie was curled up as much as possible, resting her head on his stomach and sleeping soundly.

Chuckling to himself lightly, he bent over slightly and pressed his lips to her cheek, rubbing her back. "Wake up, sleepyhead."

After a moment or two, Jamie stirred, inhaling and exhaling through her nose deeply as she stretched and finally opened her eyes blearily, looking up at Matthew.

"Is it over?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes and stretching a little bit more.

"Yeah. Glad to see you were so riveted by it," he said rather sarcastically. He then patted one of her arms. "I think you don't get enough sleep at home."

"No, I figure I get enough sleep at home... it's just that I sleep very lightly there." She sighed and sat up straight, yawning and stretching for a third and final time. She rubbed her face with one hand as she glanced at her watch on the other. "Wow. It isn't as late as I thought it would be."

"Well, we started the movie kind of early so you could get back home at a decent hour. And since it's over, I figure you'll be leaving now to ensure that Kelli's all right and everything."

"Yeah," she murmured, standing up and picking up her nearby backpack, which she slung over her shoulders as she walked to the door. He walked beside her, placing his hand on the doorknob when they'd reached the door.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to get home all right?" he inquired. "I'm worried you're a little too drowsy to make it."

She smiled a soft, closed-mouth, rather sleepy smile and let out a short chuckle. "Yeah, I'll be all right."

"All right, then." He leaned forward slightly, pressing his lips against hers. "Go home and get to bed as quickly as possible. I really don't think you get enough sleep at home, even if you think you do. So don't stay up until the crack of dawn or anything."

"I won't," she reassured him, kissing him again. "I'll see you at the office tomorrow."

"Okay." He opened the door for her. "Bye."

"Bye," she replied, walking out the door and down the hallway to the elevator as he looked after her for several moments before closing the door.

Once she'd gone down the elevator and out of Matthew's apartment, Jamie started walking in the direction of her apartment, feeling a sense of calm within her.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt as good as she did right then. Everything seemed to be going right - she was doing well in school, she had balanced moods, she was keeping her apartment in order, and she had someone who really cared about her. She hoped it would stay that way forever.

When she arrived at her apartment, she walked inside and took the stairs up to the sixth floor. At that point, she started hearing some frightened squealing and a man's slurred shouting.

"Come on, bitch! Stop fighting me!"

Feeling slightly alarmed, she picked up her pace and soon arrived in front of her apartment door. She could hear some more of the frightened squealing coming from behind the door... that meant something had to be wrong... Hank had to be hurting Kelli, he was hitting her because Jamie wasn't around...

She quickly dug through one of the pockets of her backpack for her key, sticking it in the door's keyhole and turning it while turning the knob. When she'd stepped inside the apartment and closed and locked the door quickly, she turned to face the apartment and was greeted with a horrible sight.

Kelli and Hank were by the kitchen on the floor, and Hank was on top of Kelli. Kelli was crying softly in fear and confusion and wiggling about to try and remove herself from underneath Hank, and it was only another brief moment before Jamie noticed that Kelli wasn't wearing any underwear and Hank was struggling to get his pants undone.

"NO!" Jamie screeched, immediately running over and kicking Hank in the face as hard as she could. "GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH!"

And then Jamie started hitting and kicking Hank, at the same time trying to pull him off of Kelli, feeling a fury within her - a fury that wasn't the result of bipolar disorder, but of big-sister-hell-bent-on-protecting-little-sister syndrome. As it turned out, however, Hank was surprisingly strong when drunk, and he was roaring in protest and fighting back.

It took so much effort that Jamie felt as if her arms were about to come out of their sockets, but she finally managed to pull Hank away from Kelli. She then placed Hank in a choke hold so that he would no longer be able to fight her as much, having to make a mighty effort to prevent herself from falling because Hank was still trying to fight back as best he could.

"Kelli, go to the bedroom and lock the door!" she instructed her little sister, who was still halfway lying in the floor, staring at Jamie and Hank and looking as if she was paralyzed with fear, loudly over Hank's angry, somewhat choked roars. "And don't you dare come out until I tell you you can!"

Without a single word, Kelli grabbed her nearby underwear and ran to the bedroom she and Jamie shared, slamming the door behind her after she'd entered.

In a brief moment during which Jamie was slightly distracted by watching Kelli go to safety, Hank managed to reach up and slap her on the face - hard.

Jamie made a little noise, but did nothing else to express the fact that his slap had hurt her. She instead grabbed the base of Hank's neck with a death grip, pushing his head down towards the floor in order to try and restrain him. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold him for long; even when drunk, he was still stronger than she, and he would eventually overpower her... and then she'd receive the worst beating of her life...

After several moments in which Jamie and Hank fought against each other to be the one in control of the situation, Hank won by grabbing Jamie's arms and practically yanking them away from their current positions. Jamie staggered for a moment before managing to catch herself, and as Hank rather unsteadily rose to his feet, she made a run for the bathroom, where she'd be able to lock herself in until Hank passed out or left and she and Kelli were safe. Maybe she could avoid the beating... if she just managed to make it to the bathroom...

Three steps away from the bathroom, however, she felt a hand take hold of her wrist in an iron grip, and she let out a light yelp as Hank pulled her towards him, slapping her on the face with his free hand as hard as he could.

"Stupid bitch!" he shouted at her. "Trying to stop me from getting some, were ya?"

"She's your daughter, you sick bastard!" she shouted back, trying to free herself from his hold by struggling as violently as possible. "So I'm gonna get out of here real soon, and when I do, I'm taking Kelli with me... and I'll get custody of her and you'll never see either of us again!"

"That'll be just fine, but not until I get some! And since you let her get away from me, I'm gonna have to have you... but that's okay; I'm sure you're much more fuckable, anyway, 'cause you're older and you're a slut, anyhow!"

"No!" she exclaimed, kicking him between the legs.

He let out a howl of pain and released his grip on her so that he could put his hands between his legs, and she started for the bathroom again, slamming the door behind her and starting the lock the door as she then heard him let out a shout of rage.

Before she managed to get the door completely locked, there was a loud thud as Hank apparently threw himself against it, trying to break it down so he could get to Jamie, and the door opened alarmingly wide. Jamie tried fighting against him as he then continued pushing on the door, trying to get it opened completely.

After a few moments of struggling, Hank won the mini-battle a second time and pushed the door open so roughly that Jamie was knocked to the bathroom floor. And as he stood over her for a brief moment, she felt so filled with fear that she didn't know what else to do but try and make herself as inaccessible as possible. She therefore curled up into a fetal position, covering her head and face with her arms and pulling her knees to her chest.

He laughed loudly and drunkenly. "Trying to play hard to get, huh? Your mom was kinda like that, too... but I kept buying her drinks and she kept drinking them until she couldn't even stay conscious... and, you know, when you can't stay conscious, you can't play hard to get too well."

Jamie moved her arms so that her face was no longer covered and looked up at Hank in horror. "So you... you weren't even drunk that night? Only she was... she was so drunk that she didn't even know what you were doing to her?"

"Well, I was a little buzzed," he replied, shrugging rather nonchalantly. "But yeah, she didn't know what was going on. And when she woke up the next morning, she didn't remember anything about the night before except that she'd seen me and I'd bought her drinks. So it was pretty easy to tell her that we'd gotten drunk and hooked up... which we sort of had."

She moved a little more, now simply sitting on the bathroom floor. "So you basically raped my mom!"

"Now, when you say rape, you make it sound bad," he said, laughing.

And at his laughter, the same thing that had snapped inside of Jamie when she'd beaten up Patrick Walton snapped once again, only this time, it was much more intense. So with a scream of rage, she sprang at him.

Letting out furious shrieks, she tried hitting him as frequently and as hard as she could, but he very quickly got the upper hand and punched her, knocking her to the floor. He then went for her.

"You keep your hands off me, you son of a bitch!" she screamed, struggling against him as he straddled her.

"Oh, stop fighting me!" he shouted, slapping her. "You're only making it worse - now it's gonna hurt because you keep fighting and you're pissing me off! Just hold still, God-damn it!"

But she didn't listen and instead kept struggling, letting out screams and shouts of rage and protest. And when he saw that there was no way he was going to weaken her enough to be able to "get some" from her, he let out a howl like a child who wasn't allowed to have a cookie and started beating her. With every slap and every punch, she felt the wind getting knocked out of her and felt the bruises forming on her face, but she kept fighting back as best she could... until she could fight back no more.

When she'd stopped moving, he stopped hitting her, and she clenched her hands into fists and squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as possible despite the fact that it hurt to do so, praying to every higher power she could think of that he'd be quick in having his way with her. Her heart was pounding in her ears so loudly that it hurt.

And then, much to her complete surprise, he made no movement that showed any intent of raping her. He instead rose to his feet, sniffing and passing his hand across his nose as he looked down at her.

"Aw, shit," he said, his voice a slight growl. "Stupid bitch. I'll bet you're not even worth how tired you made me by hitting you. So just stay there. I'm leaving - I'm going to Rita's."

Without another word, he then turned and halfway stumbled away, and after a few moments, she heard the apartment door close and lock as he apparently left.

As Jamie lay on the floor for several moments, she thought about what a total idiot Hank was. She couldn't believe that he'd gone to all the trouble to hit her so that he could have his way with her... and then he'd decided that she wasn't even worth it and he was too tired. Not that she wasn't glad, but now it seemed as if she'd gotten a surely-brutally-bruised face for nothing.

But she felt tired and dizzy... she couldn't think straight any longer...

And so, without another word, she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes as she allowed her world to be swallowed by darkness.

When Jamie opened her eyes next, the first thing she noticed was that she had a headache unlike any other headache she'd had before. As she gathered her thoughts, she briefly wondered if this was what it felt like to have a hangover.

At the thought of hangovers, she remembered the real story of Kelli's conception, which Hank had revealed to her, and felt an unspeakable outrage. So not only was that son of a bitch a drunk and an abuser... he was a rapist as well.

She pondered upon how indescribably furious she was at Hank and every bad thing he'd ever done to her and those she loved, and as she did, her head began to hurt worse, causing her to wince and moan lightly.

Taking a deep breath, she placed her hands on the tile floor and pushed herself up lightly so that her head and torso were no longer lying on the floor. She then weakly managed to prop herself up with one elbow as she looked at her watch on the other wrist.

It was 2:59 in the morning.

She let out a long sigh and closed her eyes briefly, feeling slightly as if she was about to pass out again. But then she lightly shook her head in order to make herself wake up a little, for she knew that if she and Kelli were still around when Hank came back, they would have to go through the whole nightmare again.

With the thought that she and Kelli had to leave quickly in her head, she unsteadily rose to her feet and noticed with dismay that there was a light smear of blood where her face had previously been on the floor. She then looked at the mirror so that she might see just how badly Hank had damaged her face.

He had damaged it badly, all right - so badly that she could barely recognize her own reflection. The entirety of her face was swollen and bruised to some degree, and she also noted that there were several open cuts on her face.

She let out a long breath. How was she possibly going to explain all this...?

But then she realized that she'd have to figure out all that explaining business when the time came to explain. Right then, she and Kelli had to get out - and fast.

With this thought in mind, she turned and walked out of the bathroom and to the bedroom she and Kelli shared, pulling the hood of her jacket Matthew had given her for Christmas so Kelli wouldn't see how badly she was hurt. She opened the door to see that Kelli was lying in her bed with the covers over her as she slept.

"Kelli," she said softly, noting that her speech was somewhat impaired because of her swollen lips. She placed a hand on Kelli's shoulder, shaking it lightly. "Kelli, wake up."

After a moment, Kelli stirred and looked up at Jamie rather warily.

"Jamie?" she whispered. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, kid. Now come on, get up and put on some shoes and your jacket... and then pack up as much as you can. We're leaving."

Jamie then turned on the light, grabbing a nearby duffel bag and starting to pack it full of clothing while Kelli somewhat slowly moved from the bed and pulled on a pair of slippers and a jacket. Then she followed her older sister's example, packing up and placing things into her own duffel bag.

"Jamie, where are we gonna go?" Kelli then asked.

"Dr. Horner's."

Kelli yawned and sighed. "What time is it?"

"It's late. No, it's really, really early, actually... I don't know." Jamie sighed, feeling tired, defeated, and slightly frustrated. "Just quit asking questions and pack your stuff, all right? We've gotta go."

After several moments that followed in which the sisters silently packed as much as possible, Jamie then zipped up her duffel bag and looked at Kelli just enough that she could see her but also that Kelli couldn't see her face. "You ready to go? Do you have your backpack for school?"

Kelli picked up her nearby backpack, then nodded.

"Then let's go."

They then walked out of the bedroom and headed for the door, Jamie going to the kitchen and pulling her bottle of bipolar medication out of one of the cabinets. She stuck it in one of her jeans pockets as she picked up her own backpack and slung it over one shoulder.

"What's that bottle for?" Kelli inquired.

"I told you to quit asking questions. Now come on - get out the door; let's go."

Without a word, the two sisters walked out the door, Jamie closing and locking it behind them, and then they headed for the ground floor before going outside and starting to walk towards Matthew's apartment.

"Jamie, why are you wearing your hood?" Kelli asked after several moments of silence. "I can't see your face."

"I know you can't. I'm just wearing it, that's all."

"Oh... okay. Jamie?"

Jamie let out a long sigh. "What?"

Kelli placed her hand in Jamie's. "Thank you for stopping Daddy from hurting me."

At this, a rather large lump rose in Jamie's throat and tears welled in her eyes. Then she took several deep breaths, making a mighty effort to control herself, before managing to respond in a somewhat choked voice.

"You're welcome, kid. And I really did stop him, right - he didn't do something that hurt you anywhere?"

"No."

Jamie nodded. "Well, good. Then I did my job."

"Your job?" Kelli sounded confused. "You get paid to stop Daddy from hurting me?"

"No. But I'm supposed to stop him, and I did, so that's good." Jamie lightly squeezed Kelli's hand. "And if you'd told me that he had hurt you, I'd be hunting him down so I could kill him. But that doesn't matter. I'm going to take you from him, Kelli. I'm going to be responsible for you and make sure he never hurts either of us ever again. I promise."

"How are you gonna do that?"

Jamie let out a sigh. "I don't wanna explain it... I don't wanna talk anymore. I'm really tired. Let's play The Quiet Game, all right? Whoever wins gets as many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as she wants for lunch tomorrow."

Kelli nodded silently, and then all was quiet while they continued their journey to Matthew's apartment.

When they'd finally arrived at Matthew's front door, Jamie let out a sigh, for she didn't feel inclined to go searching for her key to unlock the door, and knocked on the door.

"Come on," she murmured. "I know you're in there. Please wake up and open the door."

After several more moments in which Jamie continued knocking on the door, she and Kelli heard the sound of the door being unlocked. It then opened to reveal a very tired - looking Matthew.

"Jamie?" he mumbled sleepily. "What...? What time is it?"

"Late. Early. Whatever," Jamie replied, and she and Kelli brushed past him so that they could enter the apartment. She nudged Kelli in the direction of the bathroom. "Go to the bathroom and get yourself ready for bed... whatever you need to do."

Kelli nodded silently and headed for the bathroom, and after a moment, Jamie turned towards the sofa and began converting it into the pull-out bed, getting two pillows from the linen closet and placing them on it.

"So are you gonna tell me why you're here?" Matthew inquired. "Did you have another fight with your stepdad or something?"

"Yeah, something."

"Oh, sorry." He stepped closer to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, at which she stiffened slightly. "So do I still get a kiss... or even a hello? I'd like you to look me in the eye, at the very least."

She didn't look up at him, instead stepping away from him and bowing her head as she shrugged in a noncommittal gesture. Then she sat down on the nearby recliner, letting out a long sigh and hugging her knees to her chest.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked, walking over to her and squatting down slightly so that their faces would be more level. "Jamie, look at me. Tell me what's wrong."

There was no response.

His eyes narrowed. "If you don't at least look at me, I'm not going to let you stay here... you and Kelli will have to go somewhere else."

This was an empty threat, of course, but he felt genuinely concerned about her. Her whole attitude, the fact that she wouldn't even allow their eyes to meet... it made him uneasy. She had to look at him so he could know for sure whether or not something was wrong.

For several moments, Jamie hesitated, but she felt slightly fearful that he might, in fact, make her and Kelli go somewhere else if she didn't look at him. So, taking a deep breath, she looked up at him and allowed him to see what Hank had done to her.

He let out a gasp, his eyes widening in horror as he covered his mouth with his hand for a brief moment. Then he reached forward and removed her hood from her head so he could better see just how badly hurt her face was.

"Who did this to you?" he exclaimed in indignant horror.

The bathroom door opened.

"My daddy did it," Kelli said, her eyes slightly wide with seriousness. "He hits her a lot."

"Shut up, Kelli!" Jamie snapped angrily, turning towards Kelli and pointing a finger at her. "Don't say anything else."

"Hey, don't talk to her like that," Matthew scolded her lightly. He then turned his attention back to Kelli and nodded to her. "Go ahead, Kelli. You said your daddy hits Jamie a lot?"

"Yeah. She lets him so he doesn't hit me. And tonight he was trying to hurt me... but he wasn't really hitting me. I don't know what he was doing... but I didn't like it. It was weird."

He narrowed his eyes again. "What do you mean? What was he doing to you?"

Jamie turned away from him so that her back was facing him.

"Well, he hit me a couple of times, and then he pushed me onto the floor and was sitting on me," Kelli said solemnly, starting to look as if she was a little bit afraid. "And he was touching me in my special place. I didn't like it. But he kept doing it, and then he took off my panties."

Out of the corner of his eye, Matthew could see that Jamie's shoulders were starting to shake.

"That's when Jamie showed up. She screamed at my daddy and said a bad word and kicked him in the face. Then she pulled him off me and told me to go hide in the bedroom, which I did. Then I heard her and my daddy yelling at each other, and my daddy was talking about getting something... I don't know what he wanted to get, though."

Matthew nodded. "And was there anything else?"

"My daddy told Jamie that she's more fuckable than I am. I don't know what fuckable means, though. And because she was more fuckable, he was going to get something from her. Then there was some more yelling and screaming... and they were talking about my mommy and some word I don't know."

"What word is that?"

"Rape."

A couple of soft whimpers came from Jamie.

"Okay. Anything else?" Matthew asked of Kelli.

"No. It got quiet after a while. And then I fell asleep."

"All right, Kelli. Thank you. And by the way - fuckable is a very, very bad word. Don't say it again, all right? And don't say rape, either. It's not as bad as the other word, but it's still not a good word. Okay?"

Kelli nodded. "Okay."

"Good. Now go into my room and sit there for a while so I can talk to Jamie out here, okay?"

"Okay."

And then, without another word, Kelli walked into Matthew's bedroom and closed the door behind her. Matthew looked after her briefly, but then he turned his attention towards Jamie and placed a hand on her shoulder.

At this, Jamie let out a sob and turned towards him. Tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"He tried to... he tried... if I'd been five minutes later, he would have...!"

She started crying, letting out long, awful sobs and hiccuping along the way. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her to him and resting his chin on her head.

"And when I got him away from her, he was gonna do it to me... so he hit me because I was fighting back... and he was about to, but then he just decided that he was tired and I wasn't worth it!"

"Thank God," he murmured.

"He told me... he told me that, that night, he got my mom so drunk that she was unconscious... so she couldn't fight back. He raped her!" She sobbed, taking several deep breaths as best she could. "I hate him! I'll never let myself or Kelli be around him again... I can't do it anymore!"

"Jamie," he then said softly, pulling away from her slightly and having their eyes meet. "Has this been going on the whole time he's been part of your life - ever since your mom left?"

She nodded, sniffing. "I would have left with Kelli back when she was a baby and gone to be with John or Casey and their families, but I didn't want to be a burden to them. And I didn't know it would get this bad... I never thought..."

"Of course not," he said. "No one ever thinks that horribly of someone. And besides, you were only thirteen when all this started. You couldn't have known how things would end up being. But Jamie... I swear to God I've never known someone as brave as you."

After a moment, she let out a long breath and looked up at him. "Brave? If I were brave, I would have left a long time ago. But I kept putting it off... I kept saying I didn't want to be a burden to John or Casey, like I did just now... I kept saying it would get better... I kept saying all the wrong things."

"Maybe so, but the point is that while you were saying all those wrong things, you were putting yourself in harm's way so that nothing bad would happen to Kelli. And you especially did that tonight... you could have been raped and, eventually, you would have said, Well, better me than Kelli. And with all these cuts and bruises on your face... you're probably thinking exactly that right now, aren't you?"

"No," she whispered. "I'm thinking how I never wanna be around him again... how I have to get custody of Kelli. But... I think that I'll eventually think that."

"See? You're talking about taking on legal responsibilities concerning Kelli for the next thirteen years of your life. Some people would run away from the mere thought of taking on such responsibility. But you... you really want it. I can tell."

"Well, I..." Tears welled in her eyes for a moment before she started crying again. "God-damn it, I love that kid!"

"I know," he murmured, hugging her to him again. "And she knows."

For several moments, he simply held onto her while she cried, but then her sobs eventually subsided. It was then that he pulled away from her and looked into her eyes once again.

"Come on," he said softly, gently wiping her tears from her face so that he would hurt her a little as possible. "Let's get you cleaned up so Kelli can get to sleep. I wouldn't be surprised if she's already asleep in my bed. Just sit here while I get peroxide and everything."

"No, wait - do you have a camera?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Yeah. Why?"

She pointed at her face. "This is evidence that my stepdad shouldn't have custody of Kelli. If we take pictures, use them as evidence in court, and prove that he's the one who hurt me, that'll surely allow the court to grant me custody."

"Good thinking. Let me get the camera."

Then he turned and went into his bedroom, and she heard him say something to an apparently-still-awake Kelli about how he and Jamie were almost done and she'd be able to have the sofa bed soon so that she could go to sleep.

"Here we go," he then informed her as he arrived back in the living room, turning on the camera and then pointing the lens at her. "Be as expressionless as possible."

She retained a blank look while he snapped several pictures from several different angles.

"All right," he said, turning the camera off and placing it on the nearby coffee table. "Now I'll go get all the medicine and stuff."

She nodded silently, and then he rose and headed for the bathroom, where he got Band-Aids, hydrogen peroxide, Neosporin, and cotton balls. Then he sat down in front of her, lightly cupping her chin with one hand while reaching for various items with the other, and began to try and fix her up.

For several minutes, she was silent as he cleaned her up, but then she made an inquiry of him.

"Wanna know the real reason why I always wear a hat?"

His eyes briefly met hers. "If you feel so inclined to tell me now, sure."

She took a deep breath. "Well, back when my stepdad started hitting me, I didn't wear a hat - at first. But he had a habit of pulling my hair whenever he hit me so he'd hurt me further, so eventually I started wearing a hat all the time so that no one, including him, would be able to get to my hair and pull it."

He let out a soft, sad sigh and briefly stopped his ministrations. "Oh, Jamie..."

But then his voice trailed off, and he said nothing, instead simply shaking his head as he placed a Neosporin-covered Band-Aid on the final uncovered cut. "There. All finished."

"Thank you." She sighed and turned towards his bedroom door. "Kelli... come on out now, kid. Dr. Horner and I are all done out here, so now you can go to sleep."

At this, Matthew's bedroom door opened, and Kelli walked out, going over to Jamie and hugging her.

"Are you gonna be okay, Jamie?"

A small smile briefly flickered across Jamie's features as she hugged Kelli back in a somewhat tentative manner. "Yeah, kid. We're all gonna be okay."

Kelli nodded in satisfaction, and then she walked over to the left side of the sofa bed, lying down while Jamie rose, walked over to her, and tucked her in.

"Get as much sleep as you can, all right?" Jamie said. "You've still gotta go to school tomorrow. Sorry I kept you up so late, but it had to be done."

"It's okay," Kelli sighed, closing her eyes. "Good night, Jamie."

"Good night."

As Jamie then walked over to the right side of the sofa bed and sat down, removing her shoes, Matthew addressed her.

"Well, I'm going to bed, too. I have to be at work in..." - he glanced at his watch and saw that it was 4:15 in the morning - "three hours and forty - five minutes. Is there something else you need from me before I turn in?"

She shook her head silently, letting out a soft sigh as she lay on her back and covered herself up.

"All right, then. Just come get me if you need anything, all right?"

"I will."

"Okay. Good night."

"Good night."

And then he turned off all the lights so the two sisters would be able to go to sleep before turning and going into his own bedroom, where he once again prepared himself for bed.

Before he even managed to climb into bed, however, door was opened.

"Hey, Doc?"

He glanced up and saw Jamie standing at the doorway.

"Yeah?"

She lightly swayed from side to side in a rather tentative manner for a moment. "Could I, ah... could I sleep in here with you?"

"Sure. Of course."

Another brief smile crossed her features as she stepped inside the bedroom and closed the door behind her. Then she walked over to the bed and crawled onto the right side.

"Would you prefer that I sleep on the left side?"

"No, you can be right there," he replied, letting out a soft sigh as he climbed into the left side of the bed. Then he turned off the bedside lamp and covered both of them up. "There you go."

"Thanks... for everything."

"You're welcome."

For several moments, there was silence, and he thought she might be asleep, but then she spoke.

"Doc?"

"Yes?"

"I... I don't wanna go to school - not until I'm pretty much healed up. I have make - up, but not enough that it'll cover everything... especially the swelling."

"That's fine. You don't have to go to school until you feel like it... you can just stay here and do whatever while Kelli's at school and I'm at work. You don't even have to take Kelli to school or pick her up from daycare; I'll do that as long as you tell me where she goes."

"Okay."

"And you know, you don't have to call me Doc. You can actually call me by my first name."

"Matthew," she murmured. "Matt. Do you prefer either of those over the other? Or do you prefer to be called some other form of your name?"

"Most anything that has Matt in it somewhere is fine, really."

She let out a soft sigh, and through the darkness, he could make out that she was nodding. "Okay. Good night... Matt."

He smiled softly and scooted closer to her, locating her hand and pressing a soft kiss to it because there was nowhere on her face he could kiss because she was all bruised. "Good night, Jamie."

Then all was quiet, and shortly thereafter, they fell asleep.
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A/N #3: There. Now everyone who's been asking, "But why does she wear a hat all the time?" has been given the answer.

Please review... and you'll get your cookie, of course.