Start the song. It's No More Home, No More Love by Soko.

Being alone with Ashley wasn't as scary as Josh was expecting. She held his hand while she drove, talking for the entire duration of the drive about things that had happened over the past year. It wasn't to guilt him. She was just catching him up. He was relieved that she didn't make him talk about his year of absence.

"-and so now Tyler is on the basketball team. He was really nervous about people seeing his arms at first, but it scares the shit out of other teams so it's actually been a good thing. JJ doesn't like going to the games because they're loud, so our parents kind of alternate being the babysitter. They're cool about it," Ashley continued calmly.

That made Josh smile. Even if it was just because they helped with basketball, Josh was glad that Tyler wasn't scared of his scars. Even Josh had trouble with that from time to time.

"What about you though?" Josh asked, realising Ashley had only really caught him up on Tyler's life. "What have you been doing?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I spent most of last year being pregnant. That was kind of rough. Physically and like...every other way. Tyler stepped up and said it was his baby, which made Brendon really mad. We have a weird relationship right now. I think he wants to be my boyfriend, but guys who aren't you or Tyler really freak me out at the moment. He was extremely mad when JJ was born and looked exactly like you. The school had a field day with that."

"What's a field day?" Josh asked, earning himself a smile from his wife.

"I just mean that the school went crazy. Some people said I'd given birth to the anti-Christ. One girl said it was you reincarnated. That was ridiculous. The best one was when someone said I'd pretended to be pregnant and stolen a baby from the cult. That was creative." Ashley was grinning as she pulled her car into a driveway.

It wasn't until Josh saw the other car in front of the house that he realised Ashley's family was probably here. He'd never thought about having to face the families who'd spent so long looking for their children while he was just going to school and seeing them whenever he came home. How could he ever make that up to them?

"So no one knows he's mine?" Josh asked curiously, looking back at JJ, who was fast asleep in his car seat. He wasn't offended. If he were Ashley, he wouldn't tell anyone.

"They didn't until they saw him. He's kind of obviously yours," Ashley replied as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Do you wanna grab him and I'll get-"

She laughed when Josh shot out of the car. Of course he wanted to take JJ. Carefully, he unbuckled his son from the car seat, lifting him out just as gently. Apart from stirring a little, JJ was unaffected. Ashley was smiling at Josh when he stood up, holding his son close to his chest.

"What?" He asked as a blush rose on his cheeks.

Tears shone in Ashley's eyes as she smiled, shrugging slightly. "I don't know. I've just kind of been wondering for a long time how you'd react to him and this is like...way better than anything I imagined. Plus, he loves you so much. I don't know. It just is nice to have our whole family here."

Josh closed the car door and went over to Ashley, wrapping her in a hug as best as he could with one arm. She buried her face against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. JJ continued to breathe evenly between them, sleeping peacefully.

Josh couldn't help thinking back to when he'd skipped half the school day just so he could safely let her take a bath. She'd had to trust him back then, but now she was doing it willingly. Back then, she'd told him she wanted to have babies with him and that she was willing to let him hurt her in order for that to happen. Now here they were a year later, out of the community but still clinging to each other with a baby who'd been conceived violently pressed between them.

"I missed you," she told him quietly. "I didn't want to, but I did."

"I didn't want to miss you either," Josh said quietly. "But I did."

Ashley chuckled sadly. "We're so fucked up."

"Sorry about that," Josh replied quietly.

Ashley sighed as she broke the hug, taking Josh's free hand in hers as she scooped up the diaper bag. "Titus was the one who picked me to be taken. Your dad was the one who let them hurt me. Titus made you hurt me, and you didn't consent to any of that either."

Unable to think of anything else to say, Josh followed Ashley up the steps of her front porch in silence. Her hand was soft in his, like she wasn't worried at all about what her family would think when they saw Josh. Unfortunately, Josh wasn't so lucky. His heart rate was through the roof. In his mind, he kept reminding himself that he deserved whatever punishment they gave him. He'd hurt Ashley, and he'd done nothing to let her family know she was safe while she was in the community.

The door closed quietly behind them, but the house was louder. A young boy ran across the landing, laughing loudly as a large animal ran after him. Josh's eyes widened.

"What was that?" He asked Ashley quietly.

"I think the technical term is brother, but I'm still not sure if he's actually human," she replied calmly as she led him upstairs.

"No the...the other thing." His voice was even quieter as he tried to find words to describe it. Why the hell was there an animal in Ashley's house?

Ashley looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened. "Oh my god. Do you not know what a dog is?"

That only confused Josh more. "No, I know what a dog is is, but why is it in your house? And why is it so big?"

"He lives here. His name is Spike, like the Vampire on Buffy...which you wouldn't know about. Okay. Um, he's a pet. We feed him and love him, and he loves us back. He's big because he's a Saint Bernard," Ashley explained as they walked into a living room. "They didn't have pets in the community?"

Technically, some people had pets, but they were really just goats that they were raising until they were big enough to slaughter. They were used for milk and such, but they never came inside. As for dogs, he'd only ever seen them be used for sacrifices. The thought of them being some sort of treasured creature baffled him. He shook his head.

She nodded her understanding. "Okay. Well, that's what he's for. He's kind of dumb, but he's cute."

Keeping a useless animal around didn't make sense to Josh, but he didn't argue. Maybe this was just something he couldn't understand. "Okay."

"Luckily for you, my dad is working at the moment, so you won't encounter him just yet. My mom will have time to calm him down first. She is a little more understanding of all of this," Ashley told him as she walked through another doorway.

Now they were in a kitchen. It was yellow and had lots of weird sun-themed items, which confused Josh even more. His grandma's kitchen was plain and the one they'd had at their old house was dark and dated. Ashley's was cheerful. He'd never even thought about what her house would look like. This is where she was supposed to have been during her four months within the community.

If he wasn't holding JJ, Josh probably would've panicked by now. This was the type of thing he'd learned to avoid. Being around people and places that were normal depictions of what life should be made him more anxious than anything else. That was part of the reason he didn't want to go back to school. Nothing scared him more than normality. It didn't make sense to him, yet everyone else seemed to understand it.

His heart nearly stopped when he realised there was a woman sitting at the kitchen table. She was reading something on a computer while she sipped some tea. Her nose was the same as Ashley's. This had to be her mom. This was the woman Ashley had been taken away from.

"Hi, Mom," Ashley said calmly, lifting herself up to sit on top of the counter. Josh was frozen.

The woman looked up, smiling warmly at her daughter. "Hi, sweetie. Hi-Oh. You're not Tyler." She chuckled as if this was such a simple and non-stressful situation. "I'm Ashley's mom. You can call me Nicole."

Josh nodded, too scared to say anything or introduce himself. This was just like when he'd met his grandparents. He'd been too scared to speak, petrified of saying the wrong thing. Ashley looked worriedly at him. Her mother seemed unsure of what to do with his silence, but her face remained kind.

"Does he look familiar?" Ashley asked her mother curiously.

"Familiar?" Nicole asked. Her eyes scanned Josh, which only made him more terrified. "I don't think so."

Ashley took JJ from Josh carefully, making him feel even more scared. She held the baby up beside Josh. "How about now?"

It took a moment before Nicole's eyes widened. "Oh my god," she whispered.

She shot out of her chair, making Josh's heart nearly burst out of his chest from how hard it was pounding. To his surprise, she hugged him. He looked at Ashley with wide eyes, finding her smiling as she held the sleeping infant carefully.

Josh tried and failed to swallow the lump in his throat. He wrapped his arms uncertainly around Ashley's mother. Ashley chuckled. "Mom, release. You're scaring him."

Instantly, Ashley's mom released him, taking a step back. There were tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I just-We might have never gotten her back if it weren't for you. You saved Ashley. That's...Thank you."

This was all happening so fast and Josh wasn't really sure what was happening. Why was she acting like he was some kind of miracle? He'd hurt her daughter. The only reason she had a baby at seventeen was because of what he'd done to her. That wasn't exactly praiseworthy.

"Tyler found him yesterday," Ashley explained to her mother, tugging the back of his shirt lightly so he'd moved closer to her. When he did, she rubbed his back softly with her free hand, soothing him gently. "Apparently their mom got them out before everyone drank the poison. They're all safe."

"Even the prophet?" She asked nervously, glancing at Josh.

Josh shook his head, fiddling nervously with his hands. "No," he said in a whisper that sounded far more like a breath. "He's dead."

Surprisingly, Nicole looked sympathetic as she nodded. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

Josh shrugged, feeling slightly less nervous now that he knew she viewed him as a person and not a product of The Family. Even his grandmother had taken longer than this to accept him. In fact, she still hadn't. "He wasn't a good person. The world won't miss him."

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean you can't. He's still your father. I mean, if that's something you need. I don't claim to know the whole situation. That's not my business," she said easily, simply brushing away the topic.

"She's a counsellor," Ashley told Josh. "Do you know what that means?"

Josh nodded. "Yeah."

She smiled. "For someone who didn't know what a pet was until two minutes ago, you've learned a lot since you got out."

"Not enough," Josh replied quietly, looking at JJ when he let out a soft sound. The infant remained asleep, but turned his face toward Ashley.

"It'll take some time, but you'll be okay," Ashley's mother assured him.

Josh nodded, feeling a blush stain his cheeks as he looked down at his feet. The only thing
keeping him from panicking right now was Ashley's palm gently massaging his back. This was so strange, yet all he needed was to feel his wife's hand against his back and he felt less anxious. Still, he wished Tyler was here. He was the only one who could erase Josh's anxiety completely.

Hopefully by the time Ashley's father got home, Tyler would be here. He was terrified to have to meet another man who could quite possibly want to hurt him. Just like with all of the other men who'd wanted to hurt him, Josh didn't blame Mr. Frangipane. He'd hurt his daughter. Mr. Frangipane could hit him or beat him or kill him. That was okay. Josh deserved it, and besides, he owed this man the respect of allowing him to administer whatever punishment he saw fit to give Josh. Josh deserved that.