***Trigger warnings for mentions of abuse, mentions of pedophilia, and mentions of violence.***

Start the song. It's Honeybee by Seahaven.

Tyler woke up when the blankets on the other side of the bed lifted. Anxiety shot through him at the thought that Jenna might have followed him here. He let out a breath of relief when Tatum simply tucked his sleeping niece into bed beside him and offered him a smile.

"Will you watch her while I make dinner?" She whispered. "She'll probably just sleep."

He nodded tiredly, his migraine having dissipated and been replaced by exhaustion. Still, Tatum reached over to press her hand to his forehead, making sure he didn't have a fever. It wasn't uncommon for him to stop at their house instead of going home when he got migraines at work. Zack and Tatum lived closer to his office than he did, so they generally didn't question it when he stopped by with a prescription bottle in his hand and a need for rest.

"How are you feeling?" Tatum asked softly, pushing his hair back off of his forehead.

"Lots better," Tyler replied, not really wanting to address the emotional pain searing throughout his entire body.

Tatum smiled, her hand leaving his hair to tuck a pillow on the other side of baby Pepper so she wouldn't fall off the bed if she rolled over. "I texted Jenna to let her know you came by with a migraine, but I haven't heard back from her yet."

"You probably won't," Tyler replied regrettably, his chest feeling like it was full of cement.

Tatum looked confused. "No? Is everything okay?"

Tyler took a deep breath to steady himself before climbing out of bed and picking up his pants from earlier in the day. He pulled Jenna's engagement ring out of the pocket and handed it to Tatum before climbing back into bed beside his niece.

His sister-in-law stared at the ring in her hand for a moment before she seemed to even be able to comprehend what she was holding. As soon as it clicked, she was climbing onto the bed beside him and P, looking like she was going to cry.

"Are you okay? Did this happen today? Oh my gosh, Ty. I'm so sorry," Tatum told him instantly, looking incredibly apologetic as she grabbed his hand.

"Just before I came here," Tyler told her, mumbling the words slightly. He drew in a few breaths before adding, "I came home from work early because of my migraine, and she had another guy there. I sort of lost it. I took back the ring and told her she has to move out by tomorrow."

"Good!" Tatum encouraged. "She doesn't deserve you if she's going to pull crap like that. I'm proud of you for getting out of there. I'm sorry I texted her. I swear that if she shows up here, I'll make her leave. You made the right choice getting out of there."

Tyler hated knowing that she was probably only this supportive because she'd known him while he was with Kennedy. She'd seen him stay in a situation like this before and have to be yanked out of the relationship by his family after already having been cheated on over a dozen times. Tatum was one of the people who'd had to sit down with him and spend hours convincing him it wasn't his fault Kennedy kept bringing home other guys. Tatum had seen this go horribly wrong before. Of course she was supportive of him getting the hell out of there.

"I'm gonna have to burn my bed," Tyler told Tatum, making her jaw clench. "I had to walk through our room to get my medicine, and they were just...." He trailed off. "She tried to convince me it was my fault because I work all the time, but that's not fair."

"If she wants you to be home more often or needs something to do while you're gone, she can get a job. That's not fair at all. She's part of the reason you have to work so hard. That's definitely not your fault," Tatum reassured him. "Besides, you love your job. She should support you doing what you love."

He sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "I do work a lot though," he admitted in a whisper.

"No!" Tatum snapped so quickly that it made him jump in surprise. "Do not do that. This isn't your fault. No part of this is your fault. You deserve better than that, and Jenna is...she's...well, she's a bitch if she doesn't see that."

Never before in Tyler's life had he heard his sister-in-law swear. He laughed at the sound, making her smile slightly as he squeezed her hand before releasing it. He rubbed his temples lightly before looking at the ring still sitting in her other hand.

"I'll be okay," he promised her. "I've survived this before, right?"

"You're stronger this time," Tatum told him, although it didn't feel true.

"Thanks, Tatum," he replied, trying to sound positive despite feeling like he was about to erode entirely. "I'm gonna try to get some more sleep, but I'll keep an eye on P," he added, selfishly wanting to be alone at the moment.

Tatum appeared to understand, giving him a sympathetic smile before kissing her daughter's head and climbing off of the bed. She hesitated, not seeming sure where to put the ring in her hand but not wanting to make him hold it again.

"Wanna do me a favour and hide that from me for a while?" Tyler asked hopefully.

Tatum nodded easily. "Yes. Absolutely," she insisted as she headed for the door with the ring in her hand. She stopped when she reached it, looking seriously at Tyler. "Hey, do you have idea how much we love you?"

"I'm hoping at least a little bit," Tyler replied, making her smile widely.

"Definitely more than a little bit," she told him sincerely. "Get some rest, okay? And let me know if you need anything. Zack should be home in about an hour or two."

Tyler offered her a smile in place of a reply, and she accepted it easily. He waited until she'd left the room and closed the door behind herself to go find his phone in his jeans. He had several missed calls, voicemails, and apology texts from Jenna, but he ignored them. He looked at the time instead, finding that he'd only been asleep for a few hours.

Just as he was about to set his phone aside and climb back into bed with his niece to try and get a couple more hours of sleep, an update popped up on his News app. All he saw were the two words "Joshua Dun," and his finger was moving to click the notification before he could even process what he was doing. He froze when he saw the headline: "Arsonist and Killer Joshua Dun Allegedly Assaults Inmate and Guard in Franklin County Correctional Facility."

Tyler's eyes scanned the article fearfully. Josh wasn't dangerous, was he? He wouldn't assault anyone. What kind of assault had he supposedly committed? Surely this headline was just written for shock value. Abbie had been at the prison today. Josh wouldn't have done something dangerous while she was in the prison, would he?

A clip from a news broadcast was embedded in the text, so Tyler clicked on it, turning his volume down low enough not to wake the baby sleeping beside him. He sighed when the same reporter who'd spoken about the anniversary not too long ago popped up on the screen. His familiar plastic face made irritation spike inside of Tyler immediately, but that emotion was rapidly washed away and replaced when the man started speaking.

"According to a source from the Franklin County Correctional Facility, Joshua Dun, the culprit behind the Birchwood fire, allegedly broke his streak of nonviolence today. For the past eight years of his conviction, he has reportedly been the model prisoner, not even fighting back when he was allegedly attacked by another inmate two years ago. However, according to a source from inside of the prison, today, Dun broke the nose of that same prisoner who had attacked him two years ago," the reporter said seriously despite the strange way his lips were pulled up into a smile that Tyler wasn't so sure he was capable of relaxing.

A mugshot of a man with blue eyes and reddish blond hair appeared on the screen. He looked smug as he stared back at the camera, a complete contrast from the familiar mugshot of a terrified little boy that was featured beside it.

"The victim of Dun's attack was convicted pedophile and sex offender Conor McCarthy, aged thirty-seven. Following the attack, Dun reportedly also punched Officer Tanner Blackett in the face. However, when our team reached out to Blackett, he was appalled by the idea that Dun had hurt him on purpose. In fact, he stated, 'Dun wouldn't hurt a fly. He's a good kid. He definitely had no intention of hitting me when he did, and if you had been in that room when it had happened, you'd be painting a very different picture of that kid.' I suppose we'll let you make your own judgment about this puzzling event."

The video ended, and Tyler drew in a deep breath before going back to the two mugshots side by side. That was the man who had assaulted Josh when he'd first been transferred from juvie. That was the man who had abused Josh so terribly that he hadn't even wanted his mother to find out about it, only for her to show up and blame it on him not twenty-four hours after it happened. He hated that man with every fiber of his being.

Tyler couldn't help but think about his letter from Josh. He left the bed again to retrieve it, sitting on the floor as he reread Josh's words, looked at the silly drawings again, and found himself repeatedly being drawn back to the part where Josh told him it wasn't fair for Tyler know his backstory if Josh didn't know his. Here Tyler was, collecting more and more of Josh's story through the news, and Josh still didn't know anything about him.

He sighed, fishing through his briefcase for the paper he'd started a new letter to Josh on and a pen. It took ten pages of paper for Tyler to write out everything: his childhood, his family, his abusive relationship with Kennedy, Jenna. He wrote it all out for Josh, making sure to specify that he wasn't writing this out just to dump his dirty laundry on Josh and disappear on him. He was levelling the playing field. He was letting Josh know that he didn't have to be afraid to tell Tyler about mistakes he'd made or bad things that had happened to him because Tyler's life was a fucking disaster too. They had that in common.

When the letter was finished, Tyler tucked it into an envelope, not writing the address down on it yet in case his brother happened across it. He could send it tomorrow when he went home. God, he didn't want to go back to that house. He didn't want to have to use any of the furniture in there that Jenna had used. He didn't want any of the food out of the fridge because she'd touched it. He didn't want to breathe the air inside of that house because he knew it was filled with particles of Jenna's betrayal. He was going to have to move, wasn't he?

Tyler didn't know what time it would be safe to go back home either. When was Jenna going to leave? When would her stuff be gone? He didn't want to go there and run into her. He didn't want to talk to her ever again. He hadn't even been able to breathe again after Kennedy until she'd moved to a different city, but he doubted Jenna would leave her hometown and family after this. Maybe he'd have to leave. Maybe he'd have to learn to exist within the same city lines as the woman he'd told all about Kennedy's abuse and how afraid he was of it happening again, only for her to practically recreate the whole thing in the house he'd come to consider a fortress. It wasn't a fortress anymore. It had been compromised, and now he was afraid to ever return to it.

When his niece sniffled in her sleep, wiping at her face with tiny hands, Tyler smiled slightly. He let out a deep breath, climbing back into bed beside her once again. He really did feel exhausted from both his migraine and the sheer amount of emotional overload he'd endured today. He softly stroked P's hair, pressing a kiss to her forehead before relaxing beside her and closing his eyes.

He smiled and peeked an eye open though when he felt her tiny fingers close around his pointer finger. P sneezed herself awake, looking around the room in confusion as she slowly eased herself back to consciousness. She smiled when she saw Tyler, babbling sleepy nonsense at him. He grinned, pulling her close against his chest and pressing another kiss to her forehead. She beamed at him before blowing a raspberry and giggling.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," he told her softly, soothing her silky hair back. "If anyone ever hurts you, you just let me know. I'll take care of it for you."

P giggled, grabbing a handful of his shirt with one hand and sucking on the fingers of her other hand as she watched him trustingly. For some reason, that made Tyler feel a little bit more confident that he could be strong enough to get through all of this again. He had to.

Who else was going to look out for his niece when she had her first boyfriend or girlfriend someday? Who else was going to be able to tell her from a point of experience that she never deserved to be treated poorly in a relationship? He needed to be here to have her back, so he had to make it through this. He could do that. Tatum was right. He'd done it before, and he wasn't as strong then as he was now.