When John got the call, it was already 2 p.m. He was in the shop selling a record to some teenagers when he heard the phone ring. He picked up the phone, astonished. Had something happened? Flora should have been home half an hour ago. But he didn't worry too much because Mark was probably by her side. When he heard the vice-principal's voice telling him to come to school immediately because something bad had happened to his daughter, he couldn't believe his ears. John grabbed his jacket, locked the shop and stormed to the school. It took him five minutes less than usual. John sprinted up the stairs where he had met Mark and ran down the long corridor of offices until he found the right one. When he knocked on the door, he was a little out of breath. It took a few seconds before a tall man in a light gray suit opened the door for him. He was about the same height as John and smiled at him. John pulled a face. He looked very unpleasant.

"Mr. Illsley?" The man asked. John nodded and quickly wiped his hand on his jeans before offering it to him.

"Yes." They shook hands.

"I'm Mr. Smith. The vice principal of this school."

"What happened? You said there was something wrong with Flora." He said worriedly. The man sighed.

"I'm afraid I have to tell you that a teacher tried to sexually assault her. Luckily I was able to intervene." John stared at him with his mouth open. "Come in." As John entered the office, his eyes widened even more. Flora was sitting at a small table, drawing a picture with wax crayons. She was too young to understand what was going on. In the room were two police officers and the principal. The police officers flanked a chair on which a man in an orange suit was sitting. There were blood stains on his shirt. His face looked battered. His nose was broken. His hands were handcuffed together. John's eyes widened when he recognized Mark. He bit his lower lip hard to keep from whimpering. His daughter was fine. But his lover didn't seem to be doing well at all. Bruises were forming on his face and John didn't even want to know what injuries were hidden under his clothes. "Mr. Illsley, please sit down." Smith said, pointing to a chair.

"Dad!" Flora called excitedly and ran towards him. John gently took her in his arms.

"How are you, sweetheart?"

"I'm fine, Dad. But Mr. Knopfler was hit." She said worriedly, pointing to the teacher. Mark tried to smile at him, but his split lip prevented him.

"Your daughter was sexually harassed by this teacher here." Smith explained, pointing at Mark. "Fortunately, I intervened in time. The police took care of him, as you can see." He laughed. John grimaced and tried to stay calm.

"Sexually harassed?" John asked, raising an eyebrow. "Flo, what did Mr Knopfler do?"

"He hugged me because I was sad, Dad." She said truthfully.

"What does a child know?" Smith asked, rolling his eyes. "Knopfler is a danger to our students and that's why you're going to report him, am I right? We can be glad he didn't get any further than hugging her." John looked at him angrily.

"Because someone hugs a child, he's a paedophile?"

"As a teacher, that's not your place to do." Smith said firmly.

"I want to speak to the principal of this school immediately." John declared firmly. Smith looked at him in shock. "She's here, isn't she?" It took about 15 minutes before the principal entered the office. Another 10 minutes before she knew what was going on. The police officer looked at John.

"What do you want to do, Mr. Illsley? Do you want to report him? In that case, we will take him away and keep him in custody until the court date is set."

"No. I don't want that." John said firmly. He looked at the principal. "Mrs. Miller. Mark is Flora's godfather." Several people in the room gasped. "Flora was not treated better than the other students in his subject in any single case, and she didn't have any advantages when it came to exams. You're welcome to research, because she's terrible at his subject." The principal giggled a little. "Mark hugged my daughter because she was sad. Not because he wanted to sexually harass her."

"You can't know that!" Smith exclaimed. Mrs Miller raised her hand and silenced him.

"Go on, Mr Illsley." She said calmly.

"I vouch for this man. He's Flora's godfather and that's why I know that he hugged her and that he didn't do it out of sexual desire. I will not report him and I want Mr Smith to apologize publicly to Mr Knopfler. Otherwise I will complain to the Ministry of Education about this matter. I hope you're aware that this is serious mayhem." John pointed at Mark. "Officer, take the handcuffs off him or I will file a complaint for bodily harm." The room became deadly silent. The police officers took the handcuffs off Mark and apologized quietly. "What are you going to do now?" John asked, looking demandingly at Mrs Miller. She took a deep breath.

"Mr Smith." She said firmly. "There have been enough incidents with you this year. Now accusing Mr Knopfler of such a crime is going too far. I want you to apologize to him publicly next week, Monday. Furthermore, you are being dismissed from my school." Smith stared at her with wide eyes.

"But I've been here much longer than him! You know me much better!"

"Mr Knopfler is a lovely teacher who would do anything for his students. He would never harm a student, and especially not his godchild." She said firmly. She went over to Mark and helped him up. He groaned weakly in pain. "I'm sorry, Mark." He smiled weakly at her.

"How can you be sure of that!?" Smith shouted angrily.

"Stop!" She shouted. "Officer, I ask you to remove this man from the school premises!" The police nodded and got to work.

*

When Mark, John and Flora arrived at John's house, it was already 4 p.m. Mark hadn't walked very quickly and John had had to support him while he held his briefcase in his other hand. They walked slowly up the stairs to the apartment. Flora was worriedly fretting over her father as John helped Mark sit down on the sofa.

"Do you want painkillers, honey?" John asked worriedly. Mark shook his head silently. "Something to eat? You two haven't eaten all day." Mark shook his head again. John looked at him worriedly. "Do you want something to eat, Flo?"

"If Pops doesn't eat, I don't want to either." She said and sat down next to Mark. She snuggled up to his side. Mark smiled weakly and put an arm around her. John sighed softly.

"Stay seated for a while and then we'll clean the wounds, okay?"

"That's not necessary." Mark muttered. "They're just bruises."

"Just!? Just!? Mark, those bastards hit you for no reason!"

"John." Mark scolded. "Flora is in the room." The record seller quickly put a hand over his mouth.

"Whatever." He mumbled. "I'm going to heat up the food now and you're both going to eat it." With that, he went into the kitchen. Flora snuggled closer to Mark's side and took his hand.

"I'm sorry, Pops." She whispered. He swallowed.

"It wasn't your fault. Don't worry, love." Mark kissed her forehead. It wasn't long before Mark fell asleep. His head was tilted back, Flora snuggled up to his side. That's how John found them an hour later. The curly-head put the plates of food on the living room table and couldn't help but smile a little. He slowly picked Flora up in his arms and carried her to her bed, as she had also fallen asleep, before gently waking Mark.

"Hey. Honey." John kissed his swollen lips gently. Mark opened his eyes tiredly. "The food is ready." Mark groaned weakly as he leaned back on the sofa and took the plate John offered him onto his lap. They both ate in silence.

"Why did you do that?" Mark whispered quietly when he was finished.

"What do you mean?" John asked, baffled.

"Why did you help me? They would've locked me up."

"Why wouldn't I?" John asked indignantly. "You're my boyfriend. My lover. Flora is our daughter. You would never have sexually molested her. Why on earth would I have accused you of that?" Mark lowered his head weakly.

"I was... I was just careless." John looked at him sadly.

"Flora was sad and you wanted to comfort her. I bet any other teacher who found you would never have thought you wanted to mistreat her." Mark sighed deeply. John kissed him gently and stroked his hair. "Come on." He took Mark by the hand and led him into the bathroom. Mark stood silently in the room while John began to unbutton his shirt. Mark didn't move as the taller man pushed the shirt over his shoulders and it landed almost silently on the floor. John gasped sharply. Tears formed in his eyes. "Damn, they beat you like you were a felon." Mark's entire upper body was swollen and blue. John could see many old scars. Especially on Mark's back. But he decided against saying anything. He didn't want to scare the younger man away. John began to gently wash Mark's back and chest with a washcloth, kissing every inch of skin.

"I love you." Mark whispered. John smiled softly and kissed his lips.

"I love you too." When John was finished, he put the washcloth aside and wrapped his arms around Mark's upper body. He pulled him gently to him and stroked Mark's bare skin under his hands. He had never touched Mark's bare back before. After a while they pulled away from the embrace. John carefully reached out and ran his fingertips over Mark's swollen nose. The smaller man winced violently. "Your nose is broken." John said worriedly. "We should go to the hospital." Mark shook his head weakly.

"I can fix it myself. Don't worry."

"Damn it, that's out of the question!" John shouted angrily. "Do you think I'm going to watch you or what!? Get dressed, we're going to the hospital. Your car is in front of the house anyway." Mark sighed deeply and did as he was told. Just as the two were about to leave the apartment, Flora came out of her room and rubbed her tired eyes.

"Dad? Pops? Where are you going?" She asked sleepily. John knelt down in front of her and kissed her forehead.

"I'm taking Pops to the hospital. Go back to sleep. We'll be back in an hour." Her eyes widened.

"I want to come with you!" She called. John looked at his watch worriedly.

"It's already very late."

"I don't care! I want to come with you!" She quickly got dressed and the three of them set off.

*

Mark sat shirtless on a treatment gurney while Flora and John stood in the treatment room and watched the doctor at work. The doctor was in his mid-40s, had a black goatee and wore thick glasses. He felt Mark's upper body, which made the younger man wince.

"Well, it looks like you have two broken ribs." He said. "Are you having trouble breathing?" Mark shook his head silently. "Your nose is broken too. I guess you know I have to put it back in place, right?" Mark nodded and let out a shaky sigh. The doctor carefully placed his fingers on Mark's nose before turning around and looking at John, who was anxiously holding his daughter's hand. "Perhaps you would like to leave the room with the child? It will only take a few seconds but it will make an unpleasant noise." He explained calmly. John shook his head.

"I would rather stay here." The doctor nodded and with a jerk and a disgusting, cracking sound he put Mark's nose back. The teacher groaned loudly and slammed his fist on the stretcher. Tears welled up in his eyes. The doctor pulled away after handing him a tissue. Blood was streaming from Mark's nose, which Mark caught with the tissue. Mark groaned loudly and tried to normalize his breathing.

"Shit." He gasped in pain and tried to blink the tears from his eyes.

"I'm going to prescribe you painkillers and you should stay in bed for at least the next few days. Less because of your nose, but more because of the two ribs. They're already on the right track to healing back together, so we shouldn't have to worry about that." The doctor said calmly. He stuck a bandage over the bridge of Mark's nose, holding the bone in place, before giving them the painkillers and dismissing them from the emergency room.

*

20 minutes later, Mark was sitting on the edge of John's double bed. He was wearing only shorts, a bandage wrapped around his chest. John came through the door after putting Flora to bed.

"Come on. Let's sleep. It's been a long day." The record salesman sighed and lay down on his side of the bed. Mark sighed and lay down too. "Something's bothering you, my handsome." John whispered and gently brushed a strand of hair from Mark's face.

"John...do you really think that I...that I could do something like that to someone? That I could...abuse someone?" Mark breathed sadly.

"No. I don't. And we're not thinking about anything like that now, okay?" John turned off the light and kissed Mark's lips gently, being careful not to bump Mark's nose. "I love you and you're going to rest now, alright?" John wrapped his arms around the smaller body and pulled him close. "Sleep well."

"You too." Mark sighed. But he stayed awake most of the night.