When I woke up this morning, I wasn't expecting another few hours with John or to be going to my asshole ex-boyfriends house twice.

Yet here we were, on our way to James's house that I had rushed away from so quickly, hoping I wouldn't have to come back until at least tomorrow.

Despite John's hand resting gently on mine as he drove, I couldn't help the anxiety that was rushing through my body. I was terrified of what was going to happen when we showed up on James's doorstep and told him everything that needed to be said.

My heartbeat thumped in my chest and I felt shaky as I realized we were turning onto his street. At this point, I was almost hoping that he wouldn't be home, wouldn't be there to interrogate. Unfortunately for me, his car was sitting in his driveway still, just where it had been when I had left.

We pulled into the driveway slowly and John parked, turning the car off but waiting for a minute before getting out. He squeezed my hand and I looked to him.

"Hey, you're gonna be fine, I promise. Everything is gonna go the way it needs to. We're both gonna come out of this perfectly okay." He said, trying to reassure me. I nodded and sighed, trying to exhale all my anxiety before I had to get out of the car.

"Let's just hope this all goes well. I really... I really need this to go well, you know?" I told him.

"I know. We'll get the job done, okay? We got this." He said, holding his hand out. I high-fived him with a small laugh before he started to pop his door open. Taking one last deep breath, I did the same.

I can't count the amount of times I had walked up to this house, this door, been yanked inside. This time needs to be different. He can't take advantage of me this time. Not with John here.

John stopped a little behind me when we arrived at the door, encouraging me to knock. It took all the courage in my body to raise my fist and knock three crisp times on the door.

I heard him fumbling around inside, wandering to the door. He opened the door after about a minute, and gave me a look when he saw me standing there. John and I had decided that he would hide around the corner so James couldn't see him, and if things started to go awry, he could step in and help. I knew he was watching and listening carefully, peeking around the house so he could see us without James spotting him.

"Well, would you look at that! Little whore decided to come back for more, huh? Why don't we go inside, let's get this thing going." He said, trying to reach for my arm to pull me into the house. I yanked my arm back and a look of shock cross his face.

"No, James. I'm not here for that. Not today, and... not anymore." I said, trying to keep my voice from trembling or showing exactly how afraid I was.

"Excuse me? I don't think I'm getting it here, are you trying to defy me?" He said, anger creeping into his voice. I could sense his body language shifting, getting ready to lash out and grab me or something. I shifted back a little bit, just enough to be slightly out of his reach so he couldn't do anything.

"Actually..." I began, taking a deep breath in. He began to smile, thinking I was going to say that I wasn't defying him and I would go with him.

"I am defying you. And I'm stating that this... thing, whatever this thing is, it's over. Forever. You can't con me into this anymore, you can't blackmail me. I'm done with your bullshit, James. I'm cutting you off." I said, my confidence rising. It quickly dropped again when he smacked me across the face, hard.

My head whipped to the side and I knew there would be a bright red mark on my cheek in the shape of his hand.

"What the fuck, Peggy? You're not ending this. You're mine and I told you that already. Don't try to pull this again. Come inside, or you'll get worse than that slap." He spat, his face close to mine. I could feel his hot breath against my skin, and it felt like his anger was radiating off of him. Just as I began to think of him, I heard John walk from around the corner and James quickly looked up, shoving me back a little since he didn't realize who it was.

"Oh, John! Hey, when did you get here? Did you need something?" He said, moving me to the side. Holy shit, the way his attitude switched when he realized someone could've seen what was going on. He didn't seem to put two and two together to realize that John was with me.

"You son of a... you know what, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna stoop to your level and call you names, though that could change based on how this goes." He said, walking up to join me on the porch. James looked confused and angry, tilting his head at John.

"Why are you here, John?" He asked, slowly putting the pieces of the puzzle together in his head.

"I'm here to help Peggy. And by the time I leave here, she's never going to have to worry about you again. Got it?" He said, trying to keep his tone cool and collected. James laughed.

"You sound to me like you want to fight! Wouldn't have pegged you as the type to do that, but people aren't always who you expect them to be, huh? You're not taking her with you, John. I don't know what it is that you think you know, but Peggy is my territory." He said. I felt my blood begin to boil as he spoke, anger rising to a peak when he called me his territory.

"She's not an object, you prick. She doesn't belong to anyone but herself. And I can piece things together pretty well, you'd be surprised at what I know about this little thing you've got going on with her. Hey, if you wanna fight, let's do it then! I'm not afraid of you." John answered. His last sentence was slow and filled with confidence. My heart dropped when he said he was willing to fight.

"Guys, please don't do this, we can figure this out with no fighting..." I said softly. James reaches out to grab me again, to shut me up, but John stepped between him and me and James's hand landed on John instead.

"Oh, you really do think you're all that, don't you?" James laughed. And just like that, the two of them were on the ground, grunts and groans as they tried to fight the other off of them.

"Stop, stop! Please, stop!" I cried out once my brain registered the fact that they were fighting. Neither of them heard me, being so caught up in their punching. God, I can't watch this anymore.

I dropped to my knees next to John and yanked at him until he was sitting next to me on the concrete, breathing heavily. He had blood dripping from his nose and his lip, and was grabbing his stomach, wheezing.

"God, John. Are you okay?" I asked as James composed himself from the corner of my eye. He looked angry but his eyes still gleamed with pride when he saw just how beat up John was. I could smack him right now, if I wasn't so worried about John.

"Hit me right in that cut. That doesn't feel too nice... I'm good though, okay? Don't worry 'bout it." He said, wiping the blood from under his nose.

"This isn't over. You can have her for now, John, but listen to me when I say this: I can expose her, blackmail her for more than both of you even know. Hope you have fun with your damaged goods. I know I did." James said with a smirk, malice lacing his tone. He stood up and slammed the door behind him.

"Fuck you!" I screamed at the door, shocking myself at both the volume of my curse and the sobs that began to rip through my body immediately after.

"Hey, hey, come here. Come on, let's go to the car, it's alright Pegs." John said as I sobbed, pulling me into his shoulder. He ran his fingers through my hair over and over until my crying was a little less intense, and without a word we walked to the car.

"Let's go to my house." He said softly as I wiped away some of my tears. I nodded and took a deep breath, trying to stop myself from crying.

Luckily, my eyes were mostly dry by the time we pulled into his driveway. He pulled me into a half hug before we exited the car and went up to his room.

Nobody was home, but it didn't feel like James's house. It smelled like fresh laundry and a home cooked meal, and the house was clean and carefully organized. I knew things weren't this pretty and nice in every aspect of John's home life, but it was still much more welcoming than James's place.

John laid on his bed when we entered his room, putting his hands over his eyes for a moment and sighing deeply before speaking quietly. I knew he was doing his best to move slowly and softly, since I was so used to the loud, quick movements from James. He knew I'd probably get scared if he did something as basic as say a few words a little too loud or sit up fast.

"You can come lay with me, if you want to," he began gently. I kicked my shoes off and climbed into his bed with him, curling myself in his arm and letting my head rest against his chest. I could hear his heart beating softly, and it calmed me a little bit.

"I know he said that things aren't over and that the whole situation didn't go as planned. But I'm here to protect you now, okay? I won't let him do anything to you. I swear." He said. I nodded but couldn't help feeling some of James's words sting my heart the way his slap stung my face.

"Why would you want to protect damaged goods? They're already broken enough..." I said quietly. John shifted a little to face me, so that we were both lying on our sides, face-to-face.

"Don't listen to him. Damaged things can always be repaired. But I don't see you that way, I think you're perfect. What he did to you only means I have to go a little slower and be more careful so I don't scare you, but it doesn't change how I feel about you. It doesn't change that I really like you and I'm willing to get beat up on a front porch for you. I'd do it again and again if it meant I was keeping you safe." He said in a near-whisper.

"Thank you." I said gently, feeling overwhelmed and not knowing how to thank him properly. There have been too many emotions to deal with today.

"Of course, Pegs." He said, leaving the softest kiss on my forehead. I sat up a little bit and kissed him on his lips, which left us both smiling by the time we pulled apart.

I would've kissed him again if my phone didn't start buzzing the way it always seemed to. Always at the worst possible moments.

"Sorry." I said, and he waved it off as I reached for my phone, seeing Eliza's name at the top. I quickly answered and put the phone to my ear.

"Hey, Eliza. What's up?" I asked. She took a breath in and answered.

"Do you think you could come home? Something weird is going on."

a/n: are all my "kill james" commenters satisfied or are we feeling like he still needs a little more of a beating up and another very firm and final 'f- you'?
also what tf is a coping mechanism and where do i buy a healthy one