༄ 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗍𝗒－𝗌𝗂𝗑 ༄

THALIA PASSED OUT on the dock, and she didn't wake up until after JJ had spent all of the money. But she had no clue anything was happening, because she was just sitting there, stuck in her own mind. Her flask was empty, most of her joints had been smoked. And her father had beaten the shit out of her, and tried to take her money away.

        Pope and Kiara embraced JJ, and Pope asked again. He was terrified, he needed to know. "JJ, where's Thalia? Is she okay?" Pope grabbed a distraught JJ's shoulders, focusing him. If JJ was this beat up, Pope knew Thalia was even worse.

        JJ wiped at his eyes. "The... the dock. I think." JJ muttered, still being held by Kiara.

        Kie nodded when Pope looked at her, and he left the hot tub as quickly as he could, tripping as he ran down to the end of John B's dock. He saw the back of Thalia's blue sweatshirt and the small flame of her lighter, and he relaxed, because she wasn't dead or passed out. Pope slowed down and moved towards her, taking a seat next to her on the edge of the dock. She wasn't looking at him, her head was pressed to the post of the dock. "JJ told us what happened with your dad." Pope started boldly, and Thalia audibly sighed.

        "How nice of him." Thalia muttered, her voice muffled by her sweatshirt.

        "Let me see it." Pope said suddenly. If Thalia was in the right frame of mind, she would've cracked a joke.

        Thalia looked over at him, flicking her lighter closed. "See what?" the redhead questioned, face covered.

        Pope turned his back against the opposite dock post. "I want to see what the piece of shit did to you." the boy practically demanded.

        Normally, in any other circumstance, Thalia would've never showed anyone her bruises, not even her cousins. But Pope was different. She knew he wouldn't make her talk about it if she didn't want to. He wouldn't judge her, he just cared. So, wincing, Thalia tugged her hoodie over her head, wearing a white crop beneath it. "Happy?" Thalia said, tossing her sweatshirt to the side.

        Pope's eyes widened as he saw the harsh bruises covering Thalia's tanned skin. Without her hoodie on, he saw the swollen cut under her black eye, and he could've killed someone right then and there. His eyes trailed lower, landing on her knee. It was red and purple and swollen. Thalia bit her lip to stifle the pain in her knee as she rotated to face Pope, pressing her back against the dock post. "What happened to your knee?" Pope asked with concern. He could tell by the scars on her leg that it was Thalia's knee she had to have surgery on that was banged up.

        Thalia pulled her sweatshirt into her arms, needing something to hold on to. "He had a hammer. Here, and here." the redhead pointed to her eye and then to her knee.

        "Did you tell Ward and Rose? They can help." Pope said quietly, trying not to overstep the clear boundaries Thalia had set up.

        "Asking them for help is admitting that I need it. I'm fine." Thalia said with a scoff. No one had ever looked out for her, she could make it on her own.

        "But you do need help." Pope deadpanned, eyes widening when he realized what he had said.

        Thalia stared blankly at him. "Are you here to make me feel better or worse?" she asked. Thalia leant forward with a groan and dug into her back pocket, pulling out her last bag of cocaine. She tossed the bag at Pope. "An addict would've already taken this."

        Pope held the bag up, unsure of what he was supposed to do with it. Thalia just shrugged. She wanted it gone. Pope pocketed the bag, deciding he would dispose of it later. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked quietly, tentatively.

        Thalia tugged her sweatshirt back over her head, grunting in pain as she did so. "Is JJ okay?" she questioned to change the subject.

        "Not really," Pope answered, deciding just to go along with the topic. "He got wasted and spent all the money on a hot tub. Kie's with him." he explained.

        "That tracks," Thalia spoke. She then hauled herself to her feet. "I should get home. Ward's probably waiting for me." Thalia said, Pope standing up with her.

        "Did you know he's taking John B fishing in the morning?" Pope asked.

        Thalia nodded, trying and failing to take a firm step with her knee. She leant against the dock, frustrated. "I did not know that. I try not to pay attention to anything that goes on in that house." Thalia said through gritted teeth.

        Pope ignored her whines that she could walk herself and looped his arm around her waist, tugging her arm and placing it over her shoulder, moving with her back towards the house. "It's pretty late. I can drive you home, if you want." Pope offered shyly.

        Thalia looked over at him as they continued to walk. He was too good to her. She didn't deserve him. "Yeah. Thanks." Thalia said quietly.

        They remained quiet until they reached John B's living room. JJ was passed out on the pull-out with Kie sitting near him. He was safe, so Thalia hauled herself into Heyward's truck, and Pope drove her back to Figure Eight. "Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow? So we can get the rest of the gold?" Pope asked while he drove along the quiet streets of Kildare.

        Nodding slowly, Thalia kept her gaze focused out the window. "Yeah. When's your scholarship interview?" Thalia questioned gently. Pope's heart swelled because he had only told her once, and she remembered.

        "Day after tomorrow." Pope answered.

        He pulled up to the front door of the Cameron estate. "Thank you, Pope." Thalia said quietly, squeezing Pope's hand once as she got out of the truck and shut the door, leaving a flushed Pope inside.

        Thalia hobbled into the large house, hoping to go straight upstairs. But Rose was waiting up for her. "Where have you be–?" Rose began to ask, standing from the sofa in the sitting room, but she stopped herself when she saw the state of her step-niece. "What the hell happened?"

        Thalia sighed, knowing she couldn't escape now. "It's nothing." she said, trying to hide her face from Rose.

        Rose marched over to Thalia, prying her off of the wall she was leaning on. Rose pulled the redhead's hood off, gasping when she saw her bruised and swollen eye. "Who did this?" Rose asked. She lifted up Thalia's sweatshirt when she got no response, eyes widening as she saw the bruises on the girl's torso. She trailed her gaze to her knee, the very same one she had just started healing from. Rose knew, and Thalia hated that she knew. "Was this Luke? Did your father do this to you?"

        The next thing Thalia knew, she was crying into Rose's shoulder, willingly hugging the woman. The only people in the Cameron family Thalia hugged were Ward and Rafe. Thalia missed Rafe more and more with each day he was ignoring her calls and responding to her texts with one word answers. Thalia had barely seen Ward, Wheezie and Rose lately, and she knew she was in trouble for never being around. But she was hugging Rose, crying, while Rose held her.

        Rose made quite a few promises that night as she sat with Thalia on the couch. She promised that Ward would go to Peterkin, try to get Luke arrested. She promised to get Thalia a new psychiatrist, at the redhead's request. Rose promised to get Thalia in with her doctor to correct her knee. She even promised that Thalia would always have a home with the Camerons. Thalia didn't believe that last part.

        She couldn't sleep after she had showered and changed and smoked, so Thalia limped into Sarah's room, climbing into her bed, as Sarah did all the time. "You okay?" Sarah muttered in her sleep, buried under her sheets.

        "Yeah. Just lonely." Thalia answered, and Sarah nodded, falling back to sleep. Finally, after what felt like hours, Thalia managed to fall asleep and stay asleep, all throughout John B waking Sarah up as he left to go fishing. When Thalia did wake up, it was morning, so she slipped out of Sarah's room before the blonde woke up. No one needed to see her the way that she was ever again. It would've been so easy for Thalia to just end it all, to never have to go through that pain again. But it was Pope's voice in her head that kept her out of painkillers.

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