Part 10 (1/2)

”Don't f.u.c.king talk to her you b.a.s.t.a.r.d. She's too good for the likes of you to speak to.” He roared as he moved towards her. Throwing over his shoulder just before he pulled her to him. ”I'll be back to finish tomorrow.” At the man who was laughing with an odd gurgle that made her s.h.i.+ver. Mia was reminded by his words of the way the Hillies treated the Slum dwellers and she was worried that was what this was. That she'd stepped from one h.e.l.l into another.

Ten minutes later they walked into Doc's place. Ratchet was shaking he was so scared. He didn't want her to know about any of this. He wanted to protect her from it, but now that she'd seen what he'd done to Harry he knew that the only way to fix this was to show her the rest. So that he might be able to save what they had.

Doc was standing in the room when they entered talking with Vera, Monica's mother. They turned when the two of them enters and he saw that Vera was crying. Ratchet walked over hugging the older woman. She smiled a teary smile and hugged him back.

”Thanks, did you take care of him?” She asked looking up at him.

”Not yet. How is she?” He asked. Mia was watching the whole scene with a bit of apprehension. Why were they here? It looked like a hospital and who was Ratchet talking about?

”Out of the woods...bu-but we don't know if she'll...” The woman couldn't continue she was crying too hard.

”She's still not moving. She seems catatonic. Not sure if that will ever be fixed.” Doc's anger was evident in the way he clenched his fist and his eyes shown with a fiery hatred.

”d.a.m.n. Can we see her? I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important, Vera. Only M-Mia saw what was happening to Harry and this is the only way that she'd understand.”

Vera looked from his face to Mia who stood a few feet away. Doc glared at Ratchet. Mia didn't understand what was going on here. This wasn't showing her anything that would explain what was going on in that room a little while ago. She watched the woman s.h.i.+ver in Ratchets arms then she nodded.

”Okay. But if you do I get a favor from you. Five minutes with him. When you're done.” She said fiercely.

”Vera, I can't promise that. Bone would have to okay it, you know that.” He told her.

”You let me worry about Bone just promise Ratchet.” Vera clutched his cut in her hands her eyes meeting his. He nodded. f.u.c.k this was a mess. He didn't want either woman exposed to this violence, but it didn't look like he was going to get a choice.

Mia was ushered into the little exam room where a severely beaten girl lay on the bed. Mia was shocked seeing how young she was. Why was Ratchet showing her this poor child?

”This is why Mia. This is what he did. He violated her.” Ratchet told her.

Mia was standing beside the bed holding the girls hand. She stared at the girl who looked to be only about sixteen or seventeen. She had blonde hair and her face was swollen. Her jaw had been broken from the beating the man had given her, and her eyes were almost swollen shut. How could anyone do this to a child?

”She's my baby, only sixteen. And he-he cut out her tongue.” Vera the child's mother informed her from the doorway Doc was holding her against him as she cried.

Ratchet grimaced. He hadn't intended to tell Mia about that wanting to protect her from the cruel reality of what the man had done to this sweet little girl. Mia's lips trembled and she looked up at him with silent tears running down her face. When she spoke her next words Ratchet was glad for the first time in his life for everything his daddy had taught him.

”Go back and do it all again. Make him feel it.” Mia whispered, her face pale and the tears broke his heart.

Chapter 17.

It was after midnight when Ratchet finally walked into Bear's front door. Bear was on the couch but there was no sign of Pearl or Mia. Ratchet was tired and he felt the darkness that clung to his skin. He always felt this way after he'd been asked to do what he'd done today to Harry. Even when the man deserved it like Harry did he always felt like he'd been through the ringer when he was done.

”Mia and Pearl asleep?” He asked the man feeling worn down. He could smell the scent of blood and sweat on his skin and it sickened him.

”Yeah. Mia told Pearl about what happened. She was a little broken up about the girl.” Bear told him taking a swig of his beer.

”I know. Wish I didn't have to show her that.” Ratchet muttered, rubbing his eyes with two fingers before letting his hand drop to his side.

”She's strong. Her knowing who you are isn't such a bad thing. You can't protect her from that part of yourself. If you did it wouldn't be right.” Bear stared at him in a way that reminded him of Tiny. Huh, funny how both Racheal and her mother had ended up with quiet men who seemed to see everything you tried to hide, he thought sighing.

”Maybe. But to have to be the one to show her that it nearly killed me. I never wanted her to see that. She shouldn't know that people like that are out there in the world. I want her to feel safe with me.” Ratchet ran a hand over his head, rubbing back and forth in frustration before letting out a gruff sigh.

”Her feeling protected don't mean she shouldn't know what she may have to fight one day, boy. Take it from me. I watched men protect their women from what was out there in the dark waiting for them. Most times those are the ones who lost them when the Jackal's came with an offer of war. We're there again. Women need to know they're safe that's true, but they also need to know what they're up against. That way if they have to face it they're prepared.” Bear pointed at him with the beer, ”You can protect her, but what if you need her to give you time to get there. Like Molly needed to do before Bone got her out of that Jackal's hidey-hole.”

”Huh.” Ratchet replied really thinking about what Bear was saying. It was true, he wanted her to be strong. To live.

”It's about protecting them while still letting them be strong boy. That's what you should want for your woman. Strength. It will mean the difference in finding a dead body or her breathing even if it isn't pretty.” Bear leaned back then apparently done with his advice for the night. Ratchet leaned against the wall thinking about the other man's words. He felt the rightness of them in his soul, but it didn't make what he'd had to show her today any easier.

It also was lucky that he'd had something like that to show her otherwise he might have lost her before he ever really had her. Not that what happened to Monica was something he ever wanted to happen again. That was horrible. The girl would never be the same, and Doc was worried the she'd never return from the almost cationic state she was in.

Ratchet knew that Harry had broken Monica like he broke men but to do that to a child. How anyone could live with that was beyond him.

”Break him yet?” Bear asked suddenly startling him out of his morbid musing.

”No, don't think I'm going to either. He's sure he isn't going to live, so he doesn't care what happens to him. Or it might be there was never anything to tell. Tomorrow I'm going to try again, but if that doesn't work I'm going to call in Bone to let Vera in.”

”Vera wants to see him?” Bear asked, surprised.

”Yep, only way she would let me in with Mia to see Monica. Bone hasn't heard yet so keep that between us for now. She is going to demand it I think. Not sure he'd be able to dissuaded her from that either. She's pretty d.a.m.ned determined to have her moment with him.” Ratchet banged his head lightly back against the wall. Frustrated with the sight the woman would be witnessing.

”Can't say that I blame her. I'd want a chance to see that the b.a.s.t.a.r.d had suffered if I was her too.” Pearl said as she entered the room from their room.

”Yes, but should she see what I did to him. Is that really something she needs to live with?” Ratchet asked.

”My daughter was brutalized Ratchet. She was beaten almost to death and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d didn't suffer. He didn't feel fear or know that he was going to die. He just got shot by my girl so she could survive. And I hate that he was able to die so quickly. That he didn't feel a thousand times more pain than Racheal did. That's what she needs to survive. The knowledge that he suffered.” Pearl said fiercely.

”That boy. That right there is what you want in your woman. That fierce need to protect the one's they love and the ability to do it if it needs to be done.” Bear said as he gathered Pearl into his arms.

Ratchet looked at Pearl realizing that maybe men and women weren't so different when it came to the ones they loved. He'd forgotten that some of the most brutal things he'd seen when he was a young man learning the ways to break a man had been done by a woman. He'd once seen a man hung up by his b.a.l.l.s while they'd fed him gla.s.s. That had been a woman who'd found him raping her ten year old boy who'd decided on the retribution. His father had known that when he turned the punishment over to her. He'd recognized that she'd be crueler than any other person ever could or would be. A mother's instinct was to protect.

Ratchet nodded, then pushed off the wall. ”I'm going to head in to take a shower. Night.”

”Night boy.”

Pearl called out to him softly making him pause in the entrance to the hall. ”Ratchet, she can handle what she saw today. But it could take time for her to accept that part of you. You might need to be a bit patient with her.”

”I know.” He threw over his shoulder as he heading into the room he and Mia shared. He could see her still form on the bed from the light in the hall that poured into the room. Her hair was fanned out all around her and her hand rested beneath her cheek. The covers were kicked to the bottom of the bed and she was wearing only his t-s.h.i.+rt. He smiled, remembering how she'd laughingly told him the first time she'd stolen one that he didn't wear them anyway.

He grabbed some clothes heading into the shower to get the stench of darkness off his skin. He leaned against the wall in the shower as he let the water soothe away some of the gloom he always felt after a day like today. Somehow forcing a man to break was harder than just out right killing him. He understood now why his father hadn't wanted to share his life with a woman. It was because he didn't want to subject her to this. The evil that seemed to cling to his skin after hours of torture.

He sighed, leaning his head against the wall. He knew that what Bear had said to him tonight had merit. He didn't want Mia to become like him, but her knowing that she could handle herself was something he did want. He wanted her to be able to fight if she needed to. He couldn't know for sure that no one would get through the defenses that they were setting up at the farm.

He would have to teach her to shoot he decided. When she'd accepted that this was who he was, he thought then he'd teach her to protect herself. He didn't want to allow the darker side of the world to get anywhere near her, but if it did he wanted her to know how to handle herself.

Getting out he threw on the boxers and a s.h.i.+rt. He normally slept naked but with everything that had happened today he didn't know how Mia would feel about him. He didn't want her to think that all he needed from her was s.e.x.