* Chris' Pov * (2 Months Later)

"It's not much," i murmured as I led Hunter through the front door. He stumbled behind, head dropping down and arms sagging. He hadn't said much. Actually, he hadn't said much in the past 2 months since he moved into the adoption agency. He was scared of the workers, the man in particular. He slept in the corner of the room, but I was trying to get him out of that habit. I'd put his bed in the corner, hopefully that would help.

It took 2 months to legally adopt Hunter. Other families had been interested, but Hunter physically attacked them when they tried to talk to him. I had no idea why he was more comfortable around me, I just hoped it stayed like that.

Dropping down a few bags, I turned round to face Hunter. "What's wrong? You feeling ok?"

He nodded, something he rarely did. He hardly ever replied, I was just thankful he did this time cause he didn't look too well. He was more pale, but I guess it was just nerves, right?

"Sure?"

He nodded again.

Sighing, I shrugged it off. "Alright. Just go down lie down on the couch, I'll make us some dinner,"

***

Hunter looked at the food in front of him. He kinda gave it the evils, like he'd never seen it before. But then, he probably hadn't.

"It's pizza," I told him. "Can you say that? Pizza,"

He scrunched his face up. "Peta,"

I couldn't help but laugh a little. It was heartbreaking, but Hunter was just undoubtedly adorable. He'd been inproving in his speech though. He could speak a lot better, but then he hardly ever used his voice. He was shy, scared. Probably thought if he spoke then I'd beat him to death.

I wouldn't though. Never.

"Close enough," I chuckled. "Are you sure you're feeling ok?"

He nodded, but I knew it was a lie. His skin was more pale, eyes were red and tired. He looked like he was going to pass out at any moment. So I sighed, pushed his untouched plate of food away and stood up.

"Come on," I gently pulled him up by his arms and held him close to me. "You're tired, bed time."

As I lifted him, he stumbled into my chest so instead of risking him falling down, I scooped him up in my arms. He whimpered a little bit, feeling my hands graze over his body. But he didn't struggle, he took a few breaths and closed his eyes which made me feel a small accomplishment. Usually he'd struggle and scream and cry if anyone touched him, now he calmed himself down. In a few more months, maybe he'd talk to me normally.

Carrying Hunter up the stairs, I opened his bedroom door. There was nothing there really. A bed, and that was it. I didn't really know what to do. There was a lamp near his bed, I knew he got scared. I mean, I wanted to stay with him but I couldn't let him get completely dependant on me. Then he'd never be able to recover.

"God it's cold in here," I mumbled as I carried Hunter over to the bed. Pulling the blankets down, I lay him against the mattress as gently as I could. Then pushed his head back to the pillow and covered him up with the blankets. He looked really cute, just like a little innocent kid. Well, he was innocent. He didn't deserve anything he'd gone through.

"Want the lamp on?" I offered, which he shook his head to. "Door open?" He shook his head again and I sighed. I didn't want to leave him, I wanted to stay and hold him, make sure he was alright through the night. But I couldn't. I couldn't let him become dependant on me. That would just hurt him more.

"Night Hunter," I forced a smile and leaned down. Brushing a hand over his cheek, I kissed his hair sweeping down his forehead. But as I pulled up, his hand reached out for me.

I turned around. "What is it?"

"..don't go," he whispered and grabbed my wrist. He tried to pull me back and I sighed.

"Hunter-"

"Don't go.."

Brushing a hand through my hair, I knealed down to Hunter and lay him back as he tried to sit up. I didn't want to do this but it was necessary. I couldn't let him become dependant on me, because if I did then he'd never recover.

"I'm gonna be right across the hall," I told him. "You know where to come if you really need me. But you're safe here. The door's locked, the window's locked, nobody can hurt you. I'm going to protect you Hunter. You're safe, I promise."

***

I felt something nudge my shoulder and I groaned. I was way too tired for my girlfriend's bitching right now, so grabbing the hand, I pushed it away. "What the fuck?"

After that, all I heard was a whimper.

"Shit," I bolted up in bed and face palmed myself. What the hell was I thinking? My girlfriend hadn't been my girlfriend in over 2 years. And now Hunter was hiding away from me behind his hands, shaking and whimpering as i approached him.

"Hunter it's ok," I tried to pick him up but he slapped me away. He was scared, breathing heavy and shaking uncontrollably. I'd really scared him. I'd really freaking scared him. "It's ok, I'm sorry. You scared me, that's all.What's wrong Hunter? Are you ok?"

Shaking his head, he played with his hands. He just stared down for a bit, until the thunder broke through the wind again and he jumped forwards into my bare chest. Literally gripping onto my skin and causing me physical pain, I realized he was probably just scared of the storm.

"You don't like the storm?" I asked, which he shook his head to. More thunder cracked and Hunter whimpered, squeezing my skin even tighter.

"It's ok," I promised as I pulled back the blankets. "You can stay in here with me. I'll keep you safe, ok? Is that ok?"

He nodded, still holding onto me.

I wrapped an arm around Hunter's waist and pulled him to my chest. Lying back down, I spread the blankets over the both of us and held Hunter to try and make him feel secure. The side of his face was pressing against my chest and his fingers were still gripping onto me like he was afraid I'd dissappear.

"It's ok," I soothed as lightening struck and Hunter cried out. He grabbed his lip, holding it so tightly I could almost feel his pain. So I removed his hand from his face and rubbed it between my own. It was cold. He was cold. So I just held him close and tried my best to calm him as the storm continued.

***

I woke up in the middle of the night expecting to see Hunter beside me. Which is why I shot right up once I saw he wasn't. He didn't really know the house, he wouldn't know where to go if he needed something. So if he went out it was probably to his room or the bathroom or something, right?

I stood up, pulling on a shirt to go with my boxers and then I went out to the hallway. Hunter's room was right next to mine, incase he needed me, so I simply stepped through to check if he'd gotten back into bed.

"Hunter?"

It was empty. Shit.

I walked around to the bathroom, stuck my head in and felt my heartbeat increase as I saw no one was there. Pulling back, I raced down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Hunter? You in here?"

No.

I ran around to the front room.

"Hunter?"

The front door. I checked that it was still locked, fortunatley finding out it was, and then I did the same with the backdoor. Where the hell was Hunter? How could he just dissappear into thin air?

Maybe he got scared of the storm again when I was asleep. Maybe..I dunno. I had no idea what to do. Thinking back all the information I knew on him, I tried to work out whatever the hell he was doing And then I realized where he was. Because when living with his parents, Hunter didn't exactly have a bedroom. He slept somewhere else.

***

I opened the basement door, hating myself for not putting in the new lightbulb. The door had been kind of open, and it had been shut last night so Hunter had definitley came in.

"Hunter?" I called. "Hunter, it's Chris. Where are you, buddy?"

Suddenly a hand touched my ankle and I fell down to my knees instantly. Looking forwards, I saw Hunter curled up in a ball on the floor, holding himself, shaking, crying.

"Hey what's wrong?" I soothed as I traced my fingers over his back. "What's wrong?" I placed my hand on his shoulder and slowly turned him round, meeting his blood shot eyes and tear stained face. His lip was bleeding..and so were his wrists. His wrists and his legs and his stomach.

"Oh my God," I gasped. "Hunter, what did you do?!"

He whimpered and fell away from me, probably because I raised my voice. Taking in a deep breath, I crawled forwards and took his hands,

"You're not in trouble," I said slowly. "I just need you to tell me why you came down here,"

He shook his head and I sighed. "Hunter,"

"Mine," he said quickly. "Mine,"

"Yours? What's yours?"

He pointed to the basement door. "Mine!"

"Your room?" I guessed and he nodded slowly. "No Hunter, this isn't your room."

"Mine!" He cried and slapped my hands away from him. "Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mi-"

Thunder growled from outside and Hunter stopped shouting, falling into my arms instantlly. He wrapped himself around my body and hid his face into my neck.

I didn't know what to do so I just rubbed his back to try and get him to calm down. "It's ok," I murmured as I reached down to take his hands. Flipping his wrists over, I inspected the cuts. "What did you do this with?"

Hunter pulled a hand away from me and pointed to a knife on the floor.

"Where did you get that? From upstairs?"

He nodded and I sighed. I'd have to safety proof them or something, put the child locks on the drawers with the knvies in.

"Hunter you don't need to do that," I told him. "You don't hurt yourself with knives,"

He nodded in protest, which I shook my head to.

"Daddy," he whimpered.

"Your Dad said you hurt yourself?" I guessed and he nodded, making me cringe again. What kind of a man could do that? Especially to a cute little kid like Hunter?

"Daddy said," he whispered. "Daddy right,"

"No he's not," I promised. "Dad's not right. Chris is right. And from now on, you don't hurt yourself ok? I'm gonna take you upstairs and bandage your wrists, ok? Doesn't it hurt?"

He nodded his head.

"I'll get you some sleeping pills," I murmured as I scooped his body up into my arms. Holding him bridally, I managed without effort to carry him upstairs and back into my room. Laying him down on the bed, I pushed the blankets over his body again.

"I'll be back in a second,"

I rushed into the bathroom and took out the first aid kit. The cuts weren't deep, but I didn't want him picking with them. So I took 2 small bandages, filled a glass of water and took the tube of sleeping pills Hunter had been perscribed.

"Here you go," I said as I walked back into my room, but as I looked at Hunter, I saw that he was looking at a picture.

A picture of a sonagram. The one of my baby. My dead baby.

"Do you know what that is?" I asked casually as I sat down on the bed. Hunter shook his head and wiped some blood off his lip, holding his wrist out to me as I reached for it. "It's a picture of a baby,"

"Ba..by?" He whispered, making me smile.

"Yeah baby," I confirmed. "Baby Andy. He was my baby,"

"Where's baby Andy?" Hunter asked, looking around the room in confusion. "With Mommy?"

"Baby Andy's in heaven,"

"Like Daddy?"

I really didn't know what he meant, so I moved on, hoping that was just a misunderstanding.

"Do you know where heaven is?"

"For good people," he murmured. "Daddy wont let me go there. I not aloud,"

"Of course you are," I promised. "I promise you'll go to heaven cause you're a good boy. You're the best boy in the whole world?"

"No," he shook his head and smiled a little bit.

"Is that a smile?" I gasped. "Oh my God, Hunter's smiling!"

"No, no, no!" He cried as I reached for him and held him tight to me. He giggled as I ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead.

"I love seeing you smile," I murmured. "It's beautiful. And you know what else is beautiful?"

He scrunched his face up before leaning over, taking the sonogram and pointing at it,

"Baby Andy's beautiful as well," I chuckled. "But so are you,"

"Me?"

"Yes. You,"

"Oh," he looked down and smiled a little bit, before yawning and stretching his arms around.

"You tired, buddy?"

"Tired," he groaned.

"Come on then," I pushed him back down to the mattress and got under the blankets with him. Holding him tight to me, I stroked Hunter's hair.

"Is Baby Andy sleeping?"

"Yes he is," I sighed. "Why?"

"Don't want Baby Andy sleeping,"

"You don't want him to sleep?"

Hunter shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Daddy hurts me in sleep. He hurt Baby Andy if he goes sleep,"

And that's when I realized, that Hunter was not only remarkable, but admirable as well. 13 years of abuse, rape and violence, and he still showed signs of caring.

He still had his humanity and with that, we'd be able to build his life back.

***

(AN) AWH.

O MY EFFING GOD, HOW FUCKING CUTE IS HUNTER? I seriously just wanna hold him and love on him all night long<3 The picture is of John, and what i imagine the basement to look like. please keep in mind that this actually happened to my friend, so it just proves that this type of thing does happen.

Anywhore, got 4 complaints about me swearing in my AN;s. But I have strong language in all my stories. Why can you read that and then get upset when I swear here? 4 people in the past 3 days. It's funny. But I understand i may be offending you so simple solution, don't read the AN's, ok lovelies (: ?

ima go to bed now, i've got school in  like...holy shit, like an hour. ohmyfuckingod, you better love me for this.

<3