Author's POV

Madison slips into sleep that afternoon, her body completely shattered from the earlier trauma. Cheryl was unsure whether it was safe to leave her little girl, but she knew Kimberley would be home soon and a lot had to be discussed.

She sighs taking one last look at her daughter and quietly slithering out of the master bedroom.

The Geordie decides to clean the mess she'd made earlier in her bedroom, giving her sometime to get her working mind focused on something else.

She sighs.

Her baby. Her Madison. She... She couldn't get herself to say it, she couldn't physically open her mouth and say the five-lettered word.

Raped.

Raped.

Raped.

Raped.

Raped.

The words scream in her mind, getting her to fall to her knees and cry out in brokenness.

Raped.

Raped.

Raped.

"No!" Cheryl howls, her quivering mouth releases the sobs she'd been holding in. She clutches her chest; the cries have no end. She couldn't get the image of her little girl being pinned down to the sofa, with rough hands clawing at her body.

"No." She repeats, shaking her head. She wraps her arms around her knees, blaming herself for this mess.

Kimberley walks through the home, surprised to hear noise coming from upstairs.

I thought they were going out for a girls day? She mentally thinks, climbing the stairs and walking straight into her bedroom.

"Baby?" She runs over to her hysteric wife, wrapping the Geordie into her arms. "Baby - shhhhh." She hushes sweetly, kissing her wife's head repeatedly. "Shhh"

Cheryl clings, reminding herself of Madison.

Kimberley remains silent, giving her wife all the time she needed. The mess in their bedroom doesn't go unnoticed, but she decides against questioning, she knew Cheryl would talk sooner or later.

"You okay, baby?" She asks, sometime after the Geordie's cries turned into hiccups.

Cheryl shakes her head, her lips quivering uncontrollably.

"You want to tell me what happened? You're really scaring me now, darling."

"Sh-She.." She couldn't find the right words. Everything was a mess.

"Take your time. Take your time." The sweetness in Kimberley's tone only gets Cheryl to cry once more, her sobs returning.

"Ah." Cheryl howls out, hands gripping tighter to the blonde's shirt.

"Baby what's going on – where's Madison?" Kimberley asks, looking around in hopes to catch sight of their daughter.

"She-She-She." She continues to cry out.

Kimberley sighs, gently scooping her wife up in her arms and cautiously walking them over to the large bed, she sets her down before climbing in right beside her. She holds the Geordie, cocooning her into a loving shell.

She hushes and kisses her, whispering sweet loving words until the Geordie's tears return to soft hiccups once again.

"Are you going to talk to me now?" Kimberley asks, running her fingers through her wife's brown silky locks.

Cheryl sniffs, "I..I don't know how."

"Try.. Try in anyway."

She nods.

"M-Madison. Madison and I.. We... We were going to have a g-girls day."

Kimberley nods, making sure to take in every word her broken wife was currently uttering.

"A-And t-then." Chery hiccups, "R-R-R-Rita, Rita, Rita kept messagin' her." She sniffs.

Kimberley's jaw instantly clenches to the sound of Rita's name.

"She-She-She," She cries out, unable to speak much longer.

Kimberley holds her tighter.

"She setup cameras in our room—"

"She what?!" Kimberley pulls her wife back, her eyes screaming danger.

Cheryl sniffs, "Maddy found them after Rita threatened her to leak the videos she had against us.. because she wouldn't go see her, she, she was blackmailing her Kimba." The Geordie continues her cries.

"Don't tell me she went and-"

"She did." Cheryl cries, "She ran off to see her so she could tell her to leave us all alone.. But.. But I couldn't catch up to her soon, Kimba I tried. You have to believe us I tried."

Kimberley frowns, confused. "What happened?"

Cheryl howls out in tears.

"Baby tell me what the fcuk is going on!" Kimberley patience run out, something stirs within her – something wasn't right.

"She raped her!" Cheryl screams, bringing complete silence into the room. With the last echo of her words forever lingering in the air.

Kimberley is unable to move, she remains still as her wife's words repeat in the back of her mind.

"I.. What?" She shakes her head, needing her wife to repeat herself.

"You fcuking heard us!" Cheryl sits up, a streak of sweat lingers to her forehead, the image of her daughter returns to her line of vision.

Kimberley goes to speak, but she too is unable to speak at this point.

She couldn't believe it.

She wouldn't believe it.

"Cheryl," She breathes. "Are.. Did.. What.. What happened?" She gulps, the tears in her eyes begging to remain intact.

The Geordie tells her wife, reliving the moment even if it killed her. She was driving herself insane keeping this inside, she needed to talk to the only person who could ever calm her inner demons from vaulting out with claws ready to kill.

"I'm going to fcuking kill her!" Kimberley goes to make a run for it, but Cheryl grabs a hold of her.

"No!" She yanks her back to the bed, "You heard what Madison wanted—"

"Are you insane?!" Kimberley shrieks, "We are not leaving this alone! She needs to be hurt and fcuking punished! She touched our child Cheryl, OUR fcuking child and you're just going to let her get away with it?! What happened to you? What happened to the Cheryl that would kill anyone that looked wrongly at the people she loved?" Kimberley passionately speaks, the rising anger evident on her flaming cheeks.

Cheryl shakes her head, tears skidding down her cheeks. "You didn't see the look on Maddy's face," She sniffs, "You didn't hear her begging us."

"I don't care what you heard or what you saw," Kimberley stands back up to her feet. "I'm not sitting around and letting this b*tch get away with what she fcuking did!" She snaps, busting the bedroom door opened and rushing over to their daughter's bedroom, breathing heavily.

She abruptly stops in front of Madison's door, hands suddenly shaking.

"Don't." Cheryl whispers, standing a few feet away from her wife. "You'll scare her."

Kimberley pierces her eyes shot, looking down at the ground.

Her shaky hands reach out and rest on the door handle for a few seconds before she creaks it opened. Her eyes instantly set out at the teen, curled up beneath the white duvet.

She takes a deep breath before attempting to crawl in beside her daughter.

Madison is instantly startled. "NO!" She lashes out at her mother, "GET OFF!" She screams, eyes already building up with tears.

"Maddo—"

"GET OFF ME! GET OFF!"

Cheryl rushes in quickly, pushing her wife right off. "It's us, baby, it's us." She holds her down, witnessing her daughter's body relax after a few seconds. Cheryl's voice softens, "It's just us." Her eyes lock with Madison's, she too relaxing once knowing her daughter had calmed down.

Kimberley remains still, sitting disoriented on the bed. Completely gob smacked.

Madison breathes heavily, knees rising as she gets pulled into Chery's arms.

She doesn't cry.

She remains silent, desperately thankful her Mam was here.

"It's just us." Cheryl repeats, rubbing her hands along the teens forearm, lips kissing the top of Madison's head. "Shhhh."

Kimberley whispers, "I'm sorry," She begins. "I.. I didn't mean to startle you," She hesitantly crawls across the bed, but not too close.

Madison doesn't lock eyes with her Mother, completely dazed in the moment.

Cheryl looks at her wife disapprovingly, "Leave us." She tells her, "Let us sleep in here tonight."

"But—"

"I said go."

Kimberley nods, moving quickly, not wanting her wife and daughter to know that she was on the verge of tears.

"You're okay, baby." Cheryl hums softly, crawling into bed, but never releasing her daughter from her arms.

Madison rests atop of her Mother, nestling her head into the curve of Cheryl's neck. 

"Tell me something," Comes the faint whisper.

"What do you want us to tell you?" Cheryl replies, fingers tracing her daughters back.

"Anything."

There is a long silence as Cheryl's mind begins to work, trying to pick the perfect memory. She wanted to bring calmness back into her daughters broken world, something, anything, absolutely anything beautiful to shed some light into the darkness.

"Did I ever tell you about me first photoshoot?"

Madison shakes her head in response.

Cheryl begins with a giggle, "I thought I was a right diva ya'no," She shakes her head, "I walked into the place thinking I owned it... I thought it was going to be me big break," She chuckles, "Turns out I was just an extra for the commercial."

This gets a faint smile to paint to Madison's lips.

Cheryl can feel it.

She continues with her story, "I walked in asking where me hair and makeup crew was," Cheryl laughs, "Turns out I had to come all done up for me two second slot."

Madison giggles.

"So you weren't always famous from the start?" She asks, shuffling slightly until she caught a glimpse of her Mother.

"No," Cheryl shakes her head with a pout, "At least I thought I was."

"Wouldn't that be considered delusional?"

Cheryl giggles, "Well," She thinks, "It's always good to paint yourself out to be something you're not.. well, in a more positive way. You should always look at yourself as more and nothing less."

"Why is that?"

"You always want to be better, you always want to be a better person, a better artist, a better anything. You are your own competition I would say, I always believed everyone was competing with us and that there was always going to be someone better than us."

"Isn't that true? I mean, well, when I used to live with Mum and Dad they always wanted me to be like someone."

Cheryl clears her throat, "People like that never deserved to be in your life," She says, hands growing tighter around her petite daughter. "I'm sorry I wish I would have raised you," She breathes. "Self-doubt is good at times.. but too much of it will only leave you trapped in your own little bubble.

"Why is self-doubt good?"

"Because it will push you to make something better of yourself."

It goes silent, comfortable and peaceful for a few minutes.

"You think I have potential to be something?" Madison asks.

"Yes."

"Why? I... I really don't see myself being anything."

Cheryl places a kiss to her daughters' head before speaking, "Self-doubt," She whispers. "Your passion will find you and when it does... you'll build a fcuking kingdom out of it."

They fall into a peaceful silence, Madison finally releasing her troubles into sleep. She liked being held this way, protectively and lovingly. She found safety in the comfort of her mother's embrace, almost as if all the bad never happened and life was filled with endless possibilities.

Cheryl never slept that night, sleep wasn't her friend. She found herself mentally writing self-notes. Telling herself that nothing like this would ever happen again, that this was a wakeup call, that her little girl would always be cared and loved and that she would make sure to pay attention to the way Madison's eyes silently spoke. She was so caught up with life these past few days... and suddenly it all caught up to her now.

The sun rose that morning, and her eyes followed the horizon, casting an orange glow into the large bedroom that once belonged to no one. Now, now this bedroom was her daughters'... life was unexpected she'd thought.

Madison stirs in her mother's arms that morning, Cheryl silently thankful the teen didn't have any nightmares.

She places a few kisses to Madison's forehead until her peaceful soul awoke.

"Mmm." Madison groans, rolling off her mother and stretching. "My body is sore." She whines, lying on her back with a faint frown.

Cheryl sighs softly, rolling onto her side and taking in her daughters' expression.

"How are you feeling this morning?" She asks, daringly.

Madison shrugs, sighing. "I feel on edge." She surprises her mother with honesty.

"I don't want you to hide the way you're feeling. Don't be afraid to tell us what's going on inside your head, sweets."

Madison rolls over too, looking at her mother with reflective eyes. "It's hard talking about how I'm feeling when all my life I've been told that a girl shouldn't be vocal with her problems, that it was unladylike..."

"You're a fcuking Geordie. Everything about you is unladylike."

This gets a giggle to erupt from Madison, and Cheryl was silently thankful.

"Now talk to us."

Madison takes a deep breath, "I don't know how it all happened, I know I've talked to you about this but I genuinely don't know how... how her and I happened. She said she had a thing for me from the beginning, I, I, I just didn't ever think anyone would.. would have a thing for me.. you know what I mean?"

"You're bright as a star but sometimes you're pretty fcuking stupid Madison." Cheryl says seriously, "You don't go giving attention to anyone with a fcuking heartbeat just because they think you're pretty." She rolls her eyes, controlling her temper all while. "Hasn't Clara taught you anything?"

Madison shrugs, "Not really."

"Well then let us tell you this," Cheryl pulls her daughter in closer. "Don't ever, and I mean ever, think you have to settle or lower your standards for anyone. If they're not everything you want and if they're not fitting to the pieces of your puzzle, don't force it. Everything is supposed to come natural. Meeting and dating is natural. Don't force yourself into something you don't want just because the other person wants it. You are not anyone's possession, you are your own individual, you have control over your own life." The Mother advices her daughter and in that moment, she realizes that this was the first time she'd ever given her little girl life lessons.

Madison remains silent, taking in everything her mother was pouring out to her.

"Do you understand us?" Cheryl whispers, running the palm of her hand along Madison's messy morning hair.

The Teen nods in response.

"I never want you to be taken advantage of, I know you act all tough and hard... but I know you're soft. You're too soft for this harsh world, but it takes courage to have a soft heart in a cruel world. You are special, you are me baby. I won't let anything bad ever happen to you... I promise to always protect you," Cheryl speaks from the heart, "I promise to always be there for you. I'll never neglect you."

The tears build up in Madison's green eyes, enhancing their unique color.

"I promise." Cheryl repeats, pulling her daughter completely into her arms... And they lay like that for hours, with the Geordie speaking in soft words sounding in whispers.