Tearing her eyes away from the spot where her brother vanished down the street, Taylor trudged up the steps to the school, rung out. She shouldn't be there. She would barely be able to find the right classrooms let alone be able to retain any information forced upon her.

The thought of jumping back to her room, hiding in her closet and falling asleep amongst her shoes was an idea she seriously considered. It was the thought of Dominic's concern and her promise that gave her strength to complete the task of putting one foot in front of the other.

As she pushed through the front door to the school, she found the silver lining of the day, she had arrived during the lunch break. Even from where she was, she could hear the clatter of the cafeteria. When she passed at the open double doors into the cafeteria, she spotted Dominic laughing with his friends, all ease and vibrato. He didn't notice her, caught up in a storm of testosterone.

Turning away, she headed to the library, typing out a message as she went.

"I'm in the library."

When she entered the book smelling enclosure, the praying mantis at the front desk eyed her over the rim of his book in greeting. But instead of returning to his reading, he lowered the book, a line of concern disturbing his smooth forehead.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Taylor didn't want to know how she looked if the impassive librarian was worried.

"I've had better days," she said, continuing on. 

At their designated corner, she leaned against the bookcase, needing something else to hold her up rather than her own depleted strength. She closed her eyes but opened them a moment later when she heard the hurried beat of footsteps.

Dominic let out a breath when he saw and dragged his hand through his hair, smiling in a way that said he was trying to cover up his obvious relief. Another shovel full of guilt was added to the mountain already growing inside Taylor's chest.

"Hey," he said. "What happened?"

"It was a rough night, so my mom let me sleep."

Crossing his arms, Dominic rested against the bookcase beside her, studying her. "Rough as in you had bad dreams? Or rough as in you spent hours taking down bad guys and didn't get home until morning?"

Taylor ducked her head and scuffed her shoe against the carpet. "The second one."

Dominic shook his head. "Seriously, Taylor? I thought you were going to work on this? You need to take care of you. You deserve a life as well."

He bumped his fist against her arm in exactly the wrong spot. Taylor let out a small cry of pain and pressed her forehead into the bookshelf, trying to keep herself from crying. Dominic froze.

"What's wrong?"

Taylor took a shuddering breath, waiting for the shock to subside.

"Nothing, I just hurt my arm."

Her voice sounded weak counteracting her dismissal.

"Did that happen two nights ago?"

Taylor nodded but didn't lift her head off the shelve, willing her arm to stop tormenting her.

"What happened?"

"It was nothing."

"Taylor, don't do this with me, tell me what happened?"

She had no desire to tell him. She wanted him to let her be. She wanted the pain to stop. Realizing there was a way to achieve at least one of those, she sighed and dropped down to the ground. Without question Dominic followed her, stretching out his legs. When she touched her shoe to his the Time Stop fell around them and the pain was wiped away. Taylor relaxed, hit by how much energy her arm was constantly stealing from her.

"Now tell me," Dominic said.

Bracing herself, Taylor brushed her fingers over her now pain-free arm and met Dominic's gaze. Unable to hold it, she dropped her focus to the ground.

"Two nights ago there was an attack on my brother's precinct." She swallowed. "I was helping deal with it but because of that...I was shot in the arm."

The silence that followed wasn't like one Taylor experienced with her brother. At least in the car there had been the sound of the engine, the distant honk of car horns, the rush of wind outside, the rumble of the tires on the ground.

But now there was nothing. Nothing but the pounding of her heart and her shallow breathing. She wasn't even sure Dominic's breath was included.

"You were shot." The words were slow like he was either processing them or needing her to hear how it sounded. Both were not good signs.

Taylor folded her arms, hugging them close to her, half-aware that she could do the gesture without feeling discomfort.

"You got to be kidding me!" Dominic said. Taylor flinched. "This!" He stabbed a finger at her. "This right here is why I told you to get a life! To stop putting yourself in danger because of something like this."

Taylor wanted to shrink into the bookcase and become another layer of dust no one would find.

"Technically, it was an accident."

"And that makes it better! Taylor! That makes it worse! At least if it had been on purpose you would know where you had gone wrong and next time..." He growled and pulled out his hair looking at if he wanted to storm off but knew he couldn't right then. "No! There shouldn't be the thought of a next time, why? Because you. Were. Shot!"

"Yeah! I know!" Taylor exploded. "But I couldn't do nothing while someone was in danger! I'm not like you, I can't just sit around and ignore the world."

Dominic glared at her and she shot the look right back.

"Is that how you see me? Some pathetic guy who does nothing to help people?"

Taylor flung out her arm towards the library and the general world. "Well, you sure aren't out there at night helping people!"

"No, I'm not! Instead, I'm at home taking care of my nephew, helping my sister, supporting my dad. I'm there for the people who rely on me. Who need my help. Who asked for it!"

"Other people need help too. I can help them."

Dominic balled his fists. "Until you can't because you're dead in some alley somewhere."

"I can take care of myself."

The second the words left her mouth, Taylor knew it was the wrong argument because it wasn't an argument at all.

"Really?" Dominic said, his scorn like a knife thrown at her. "Because the last time I checked, you were SHOT!"

Taylor sagged, staring at the floor. "Police officers could have been hurt. Men the city needs."

"That's a pathetic excuse and you know it. Those men chose to go into that line of work, knowing the risks. They spent months training for it."

Taylor hated hearing the echo of her brother's defense. Apparently, it was clear to everyone that she was unqualified to help people.

"This is insane, you understand that right?" Dominic said, eyes still blazing with anger. "You go out all alone with no one there to help you or have your back and you assume that you'll be okay." He dragged his hand down his face. "You want to know the stupid part of all this is? I was seriously worried."

Taylor blinked, startled by the confession. "What?"

He glowered. "You didn't reply to my messages or answer when I called. All I could imagine was you dead somewhere and I wouldn't know until days later and there would be nothing I could have done to stop it." He shook his head. "The worst part would be that I did try to stop it, to stop you but you didn't listen."

Guilty, Taylor squeezed her arms tighter, not meeting his gaze. "I'm sor-"

"No! You don't get to apologize and think that it's okay."

She jerked her head up. "I don't think it's-"

"Yes, you do! You think it's okay because you helped those men. You don't see the people in your life that hurt when you're in pain."

Taylor opened her mouth but nothing came out.

"That's it." He tossed up his hand in surrender. "I can't do this anymore. I can't live with the constant threat of someone in my life getting taken away. You're on your own, Taylor. I'm done."

Without warning, Taylor was thrown back into the world, pain spiked through her arm, and Dominic was gone.

**********************************************************************

"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good."

(Cause might as well make everything worse)

🗯💬💭😡😭😫🙄👉🕳👈🦹🏻🦸🏿‍♂️🦸🏼‍♀️
(In other words leave your anger, sorrow and annoyance here, supers)

*walks up to you and hands you a pass*

You: What's this?

Me: It's a Guilt Free Pass.

You: What's a Guilt Free Pass?

Me: It's a pass that means you don't have to feel guilty about hating me for the remainder of the book...which happens to only be 5 chapters.

*you stare at me shocked*

Me: See you can use it now while you're annoyed the book is ending so soon.

*hands you a safety harness*

You: Now what in the world is this for?!

Me: *slowly starts to back away* It's to protect you with all the...*takes another step* Cliff hangers.

*you growl and I dart away*

Me: I told you you would need that pass!

*jumps off the edge of the cliff, grinning*

So...yeah this author's note is a little different and a little 🙃🤪 I blame it on my week. A Secret Service got published and I've been a little overwhelmed with that! So that's my - pretty valid - excuse for this author's note!

Vote, comment, follow but only if you stand...oh who am I kidding, I'll be lucky if you don't all murder me after this chapter.

Here's something to cheer you up!