"Help."

After those words came out of her mouth she almost collapsed onto the floor. I quickly rushed over to her side and managed to catch her upper arm just before she fell. She immediately flinched away.

"Shh it's okay i'm not gonna hurt you. You're safe now. Okay?"

She softly nodded, but still looked uncomfortable. I carefully guided her to the living room and sat her down on the couch.

"Dear god.." Vanessa blurted out.

"Sweetie could you get me our first aid kit." I said my voice as calm as possible, even though I was anything but.

Vanessa sensed that I didn't want to cause any panic, so she took a deep breath, nodded and left for the first aid kit.

I took a seat in front of Sara not wanting her to flinch away again.

"Hey" I said.

She looked up.

"I'm glad you came."

Vanessa immediately understood she needed to be the one to take care of the wounds, remembering the story of how she had flinched away from me at the bodega upon touching her. I went to grab a glass of water.

When I came back V had asked her to remove her shirt in order to take care of the wounds and bruises underneath. As soon as I laid my eyes on her I was stunned into silence. Her entire upper body was covered in bruises. And these weren't all from this evening, that was clear. Some were blue or purple and some had turned green and yellow. I made a silent promise to myself that I would never let that man near her ever again.

V finished up cleaning and putting bandages on her wounds, while she quietly sipped her water. She seemed to be dreading the conversation that was about to take place. I couldn't possibly blame her. I spoke up.

"It's late. Do you just want to go to sleep and we'll talk in the morning?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Please"

"Alright, i'll show you to our guest room. Vanessa can she borrow a pair of pajamas from you?" I said turning to my wife.

"Of course! I'll go find some."

I guided her towards the guest room and Vanessa came in with a pair of pajamas and a toothbrush she could borrow.

"We're headed to bed too." V said. "If you need anything during the night you can always wake us up, sweetie." She added.

"Thanks, both of you."

"Were really glad you're here." I told her. "Goodnight Sara."

"Goodnight."

As Vanessa and I laid down in bed I turned to her.

"So what now?"

"Well, she's clearly beat up. So know we finally have prove that he's been abusing her. We can press charges."

"Well luckily we have the best lawyer in the world on our side." I said grinning while moving my hands from her back to her ass.

"Stop it you little flirt." She said laughing.

"But seriously Lin, you can be proud of yourself. You made clear that our house was a safe place that she could come to if she needed to and she did. She's safe now because of you."

"I just hope I can keep her safe." I said sighing.

"We'll figure this out."

I nodded. After I softly kissed my wife we both closed our eyes and fell asleep.

The next morning Vanessa and I were up early. We wanted to make sure the kids were dressed and breakfast was ready before Sara wakes up. As I set the table while Vanessa was baking the last couple of pancakes a voice softly called me from behind.

"Lin"

"Sara! Good morning! How did you sleep."

"I slept great. Thank you! Can I maybe take a shower before breakfast?"

"Of course! I'll get you a towel."

I walked her to the bathroom, gave her a towel and showed her how the shower worked.

"The lock works pretty easy, so you don't have to worry about anyone walking in on you." I said, sensing she was slightly uncomfortable.

"Thanks Lin."

"No problem." And I left, closing the door behind me."

As I walked back to the kitchen V was finishing up the pancakes. I stood behind her and snaked my arms around her waist, pressing gentle kisses to her shoulder.

"Sara's up?" She asked me?

"Yup. Taking a shower."

"You seem tense." She spoke up after a while.

"I'm nervous."

"About what?"

"It's just... what if she doesn't want to press charges." I said, now leaning against the counter, facing my wife.

"Well that's definitely possible. It's the cycle of abuse right, she probably thinks she can't lose him that he's all she has. And since she's an adult we can't exactly force her to do anything or keep her away from him."

I sighed hoping that wouldn't be the case.

"Hey, all we can do is show her love, and make her see that she's better off without him."

"I know."

Just then Sara walked in. Her wet hair swept up in a bun and she was dressed in some clean clothes that she must have quickly packed before she got here.

"Good morning Sara." Vanessa said

"Good morning."

"We have pancakes for breakfast, how does that sound?"

"Sounds good." She said smiling.

As we had breakfast we didn't talk about anything too serious. After we had cleaned up V told the boys to go play in the other room while Sara and I sat down at the table. She seemed to be dreading what was about to come. How could she not. Poor kid.

I was the one to speak up first.

"Sara, there are a couple of things we need to know." I began.

She nodded.

"First of all, how long have you and Steve been together?"

"3 years now."

"How old were both of you when you started dating?"

"I was 19 and he was...." She paused for a moment. "32"

Vanessa and I both sighed. She looked down embarrassed.

"Hey, none of this is your fault okay. You don't have to feel embarrassed." Vanessa said quickly.

As Sara continued her story both Vanessa's and my stomach had turned upside down.

She talked about how both her parents died in a car accident. She had met Steve a month before the accident. She told us how he had been there for her. How he was the only one there for her and she had held onto him for dear life.

She had held onto him when he started drinking. She had held onto him when he started forcing her to cook and clean and do everything in the household. And she had held onto him when he started beating her.

She talked about how he was drunk last night and got extremely mad out of nowhere. He went completely insane and there was nothing she could do. At some point he fell asleep from the excessive amount of alcohol and she was able to sneak out of the house.

By the time she finished her story she had started crying and Vanessa sat close next to her holding her hand while I was trying to keep it together myself.

I took a deep breath and spoke up.

"Sara listen. You're not alone. At least not anymore. You have me and Vanessa and there are so many more people out there. People who treat you with love and respect. You deserve that."

"I'm just not ready to lose him."

It was quiet for a moment.

"Haven't you already lost him?" I said.

She looked up at me somewhat confused.

"What?"

"The man you fell in love with. The man who was there for you when no one was. He's already gone. Can't you see that."

"I just..." she started crying again. "I guess I believed that things would go back to normal. To the way the were before."

"Maybe it's time to realize that that's not going to happen."

"Sara, do you understand that it might be good to press charges?" Vanessa said.

"Press charges?"

"No one is allowed to to this to another person. He deserves to be punished for what he did to you."

She shook her head

"No! No, I can't do that."

"Sara calm down. Let's talk about this okay." I said

"No!" She told me firmly "We're not gonna talk about this! I'm not gonna send him to jail!"

She stood up and ran off to her room.

"Sara!" I yelled, standing up, ready to follow her.

"Lin calm down." Vanessa said, grabbing my arm so that I was unable to move.

I sighed, as I sat back down at the table.

"This is a lot for her. Give her some space."

I placed my head in my hands in defeat.