{ The way that Kat&Hunter meet in this story is different from how they met in LLAD }

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* 4 Months Later *

"Chris?"

I rolled over on the couch, turning to face Hunter. His eyes were red, he'd been crying. He hadn't been crying as much lately. He'd even been sleeping in his own bed for 2 months now. I was so proud of him, it made me happy to see that he was improving. But now here he was, clutching at my shirt with red eyes, staring down at the mattress as I sat up.

"What's wrong, kiddo? Did you have a bad dream?"

He nodded and held himself close to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and burried his face in my shoulder. I rubbed his back soothingly, telling him that he was ok and that he was safe, that nobody could ever hurt him.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No," he whimpered into my shirt.

"Well what do you wanna do then? Do you wanna go back to bed?" It was only 6pm and Lisa was coming round with her daughter soon, but Hunter hadn't been feeling too good. "Do you wanna stay here? Do you want-"

"I want Dad,"

I bit my lip. "Why would you say that?"

He shrugged. "I want Dad,"

"No you don't Hunter," I sighed. "Come on kid, we already went through this. Your Dad isn't good for you. He hurt you. He's dangerous. You're safe here with me. You don't need that man,"

"But-"

"No buts," I shook my head and cupped his chin. "He's not good for you. You're with me now. You're safe, you're getting better, you're-"

"You're not my Dad!"

***

The doorbell rang and I pulled myself up off the couch. Hunter hadn't moved and neither had I. We'd just sat in silence ever since he said I wasn't his Dad. Of course I knew I wasn't his Dad and I wasn't even trying to be. I was just trying to show him how life should be, how parents, adoptive or not, should treat their children. I would never try to be his Dad. His experiance of a father son relationship wasn't exactly the best.

"Stay there," I said to Hunter as I stood up.

"No,"

"Hunter," I sighed. "Stay there,"

"No!"

"Kid you have to do as I say,"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do,"

"But you're not my Dad!"

"Stop saying that!" I hissed and turned away from him. Storming over to the door, I took in a few deep breaths before forcing a fake smile and opening it. Lisa stood before me with a young girl at her side, her daughter Kat. This was going to be a good first impression. I was pissed, Hunter was pissed, Lisa was obviously going to sense that I was pissed and become worried, Kat would be scared of Hunter because he was pissed.

"Hi Lisa," I smiled and leaned forwards to kiss her cheek.

"Hi," she blushed and then gestured to her daughter. "This is Kat. She's been dying to meet you and Hunter for ages,"

"Well it's nice to meet you," I said quietly. "How are you?"

"Good," Kat giggled. "Can I see your son?"

"Yeah," I smiled and opened the door for them. "He's not in the best of moods, so don't be upset if he doesn't wanna talk,"

"Is he upset?"

"A little bit,"

"Maybe it's not a good time.." Lisa murmured. "I don't want anything to happen,"

"It wont. I'll talk to him,"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "Um, Kat doesn't know what happened to Hunter...?"

"No," Lisa assured me. "I would never tell her anything unless I knew that they were going to be a big part of each others lives. And maybe after today if things go well, we'll have an idea,"

As she walked away towars the front room, I smiled.

"So where is Hunter?" She asked.

I looked around the front room and groaned. Where the hell was he? Why was he acting like this all of a sudden? One minute we were close as ever and the next minute he was neglecting himself from not just me, but the whole world? It wasn't his fault though. 13 years of abuse weren't going to heal in 4 months.

"Um I dunno," I admitted. "I'll go check in his room,"

But by room, I didn't mean his real room. I meant the room which he thought was his. Hunter had never really stopped going to the basement. He went there when he was sad or angry or upset. So as Lisa and Kat sat down on the couch, I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me.

As I headed down to the basement, I noticed the door was open. I really had to start locking it. Hunter going down here really wasn't going to help his situation. He needed to understand that I wasn't his Dad, that I wasn't going to throw him down here whenever he did something bad. That I wasn't going to hurt him. I knew things were going to be hard but I didn't realize it would be this hard.

"Hunter?"

"Fuck off,"

I approached him on the floor as he sat in front of the mirror. He just stared at his reflection, glaring at it like it was the most horrible thing in the world. It wasn't though. With his dark black hair, pale complexion and oak green eyes, he was the opposite of horrible.

"You're beautiful," I said honestly.

"Fuck off,"

"No," I said and sat down next to him. "And stop swearing, ok? It's bad,"

"I don't care,"

"I know you don't,"

"Fuck off,"

"No,"

"Fuck off,"

"No,"

"FUCK OFF,"

"No Hunter," I placed my hands on his shoulders and gently spun him around to face me. "I want you to calm down, I want you to take a deep breath and I want you to come back and see Lisa and her daughter,"

"No,"

"Yes Hunter. You don't get a choice. I'm in charge now and-"

"Dad's in charge of me,"

"Dad's not here," I reminded him. "So I'm in charge of you,"

"No. You're not my Dad,"

"I know I'm not your Dad. You've reminded me enough today,"

"So fuck off,"

"Do you not want to be here? Do you not want to live with me, Hunter?"

He shook his head.

"So you'd rather live with your Dad? You'd rather get hurt everyday? You'd rather sleep in a basement instead of a bed? You'd rather be neglected instead of loved?"

"You don't," he said quietly.

"Don't say that," I sighed. "I love you Hunter,"

"You don't show it,"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "How am I supposed to show how I love you?"

He bit his lip.

"Do you want me to show it?" I suggested. "I can try harder if that will make you feel better?"

"No," he whimpered. "No,"

"But-"

"I don't want you to do it!"

"Do what?"

"...what Dad did," he whispered. "To show..he..loved..me,"

And then it clicked. Looking into Hunter's watering eyes, I stroked his hair and shook my head. It broke my heart to know that he thought that loving someone..to show that love..it meant to rape them.

"Hunter I will never do that to you," I promised. "That's not how you show someone you love them,"

He nodded in protest.

"No you're confused," I explained. "If you love someone..then there are..some forms of physical way to show.." no I could not have this conversation with him. I hadn't prepared. Maybe when he was 16. "It doesn't matter. I will never do that to you and neither will anyone else,"

"But you said you love me,"

"And that's why I'm not going to do it. It hurts you. And I care about you that much that the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you. I promise I wont hurt you,"

"But Dad-"

"I'm not your Dad," I murmured. "I'm your friend,"

"I want my Dad," he whimpered and I mentally groaned. I thought we just finished this! Taking a deep breath, I sighed.

"No," I said and took his arm. "You're not getting your Dad. But you're coming downstairs to see Lisa and Kat. They want to see you,"

"I want to see Dad!"

"No Hunter," I tried to keep my patience as I pulled him up the stairs and out onto the hallway. "You're not seeing him. You're seeing Lisa,"

"She's a whore!"

Anger flickered inside me and I grabbed his shoulders. Slamming Hunter against the wall, I snatched his chin and forced his eyes to meet mine.

"Don't you ever say that about Lisa again," I hissed. "Do you understand me?" He didn't answer so I pulled him back and slammed him down on the wall again. "Do you understand me?!"

I stared into his dark green eyes and my whole expression changed as I saw them watering. His body shook in my hold and his lip quivered. I found the energy in me to let go and as soon as I did, Hunter ran.

"No Hunter!" I cried, chasing after him. He was fast though, faster than I'd imagined and within split seconds he was out the door. "Hunter come back!" I yanked the door open and ran out into the street. "Hunter?!"

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{ Hunter's Amazingly Cute Pov }

"Hunter?! Hunter I'm sorry! Hunter where are you?!"

I closed my eyes and put my hands over my ears. I didn't want to hear Chris. I didn't want to see him. He made me upset. He kept saying he wasn't going to hurt me but then he did. He told me to tell the truth and I did. I told him that Lisa was a whore because that's the truth! I saw her kissing Dr Brown last week. She was lying to Chris.

I sat in the corner of the street behind house. It was really cold but I couldn't go in and get a jumper because then Chris would see me and shout at me. I didn't want him to be mad at me. I just wanted him to stop lying to me.

He didn't understand. I needed Dad because he was the only one that ever told me the truth. I needed Dad to tell me that Chris was really nice. I needed Dad to tell me that Chris wasn't going to hurt me because I didn't believe anyone but him.

I didn't want my Dad, I wanted Chris. But I needed Dad.

***

I was crying now. I was really cold and scared and I didn't know what else to do so I cried. I tried to keep quiet but i couldn't. I couldn't stop shaking because I was really really cold and upset and scared. I didn't want anyone to find me. I wanted to go and die with Dad.

"Hunter?"

I looked to the side and saw a girl. She had really blonde hair and she looked like Lisa. Was it Kat? She was probably a whore too. Cause kids were always like their parents. Dad was bad and so was I. If Lisa was a whore then so was Kat.

"Hunter?" She stepped forwards and I whimpered, hiding into the wall. I didn't want her to see me! "Hunter, Chris is looking for you. He's scared,"

I heard her kneel down and I whimpered again. She was getting closer and closer and closer. I felt her breath on the side of my cheek. It was warm, it felt kind of nice. But only because it was warm. I didn't like Kat or Lisa. They were whores and they were going to upset Chris.

"My name's Kat,"

Whore. Your name is whore.

"Aren't you cold?"

I nodded a little bit, closing my eyes so I couldn't see her. I just wanted her to fuck off! She needed to fucking fuck the fuck off because her Mom was a whore and she was going to upset Chris with all the whore shit that she did!

"Do you wanna come back inside?"

I shook my head.

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

I shook my head.

"I don't care. You're coming inside. You'll get sick if you stay out here,"

I didn't care. Maybe if I got really sick then I'd die. That would be good. I wish I was dead.

"Hunter..I wont hurt you, I promise. I don't know what happened to you but I know it's bad. I know you're scared. But I wont hurt you. You're stronger than me so even if I tried, you'd probably kill me."

She had a point there.

"Come on," she held her hand out and smiled. Her smile was nice, it was small but nice. Her lips were pink. "Take my hand,"

I slowly held my hand out and then placed it on top of hers, clutching onto it like it was going to keep me safe. I pulled myself closer to her as she stood up, scared that she was going to leave me on my own again.

"Come with me," she murmured and pulled me up. We were the same height so i could look straight into her eyes. They looked nice. They were like Chris'.

She started leading the way back to the house, pulling me with her. I whimpered as we got to the door, shaking my head. I didn't want to see Chris. He was mad at me. He was really mad at me.

"It's ok," Kat whispered as she opened the door. "It's ok,"

"Hunter! Where have you been? I'm so sorry! I've been so worried and-"

I hid into Kat. She wrapped her arms around me and everyone fell silent. I didn't want to talk to Chris, I just wanted to go to sleep.

"I think he's tired," Kat said. "Do you want me to take him upstairs?"

"Um..yeah," Chris replied. He sounded confused. "Yeah go on. I'll check on him soon,"

***

Kat took me upstairs. I thought she was going to take me to the basement but she didn't. Maybe she wasn't mad at me. She pulled back the blankets and watched me as I quickly got into bed. Then she pulled them up over me, it was nice because it was warm now.

"Are you ok now?" Kat asked.

I didn't reply. I wasn't ok. I never was.

"I'll stay here until you fall asleep," she said quietly. Taking my hand, she stroked her thumb over mine. I didn't mind it when she touched me like that. It felt weird..but in a good way. It didn't feel like when Dad did it. It felt different.

It..It felt nice.