Trigger warning: Things get heavy heavy heavy in this chapter.  Lots of emotions, and talk of assault.  You've been warned.

"Oh.... Fuck!  Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" Cherish pushed herself out of Seven's arms, and stumbled away from him.  Her reaction was, to be perfectly frank, not what any one of them had expected. 

"Cherish?"

"No no no no no no no no. This isn't happening..."

"Yeah, it's kinda embarrassing," Juss raised an eyebrow at her overly dramatic behaviour.  "But it's not that bad."

"This cannot be happening. Shit! I'm so stupid!" She spit the words out like she was spitting poison from her system; as if trying to get it far far away from her.

"Cherish?" Seven asked in concern, a frown creeping onto his face.

She glared at him suddenly her voice grave as she addressed him, "This is a dream.  A bad, bad, bad dream."

As he took a step towards her, wondering what had bought about her sudden change, she recoiled, "Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit!!"

"Cherish?" Ian grabbed for her.

She wildly crashed her way through her friends, banging into the back door before she opened it a crack and stumbled inside. In the seconds it took for Seven to fumble the door open, Cherish had broken into a run across the basement and up the stairs.

"Cherish! What the hell?" he yelled after her, waiting a dumbfounded moment before running after her. She was cursing the entire time, as if cursing could change anything. Two steps behind her, Seven tried to stop her.  "Cherish, are you okay?" he asked as he cleared the final steps. She didn't reply, just swore once more and slammed her door shut, turning the lock with an all too final click.

"Rish? What did I do?" Seven sighed against her door, pressing his head into the corner as if somehow that would make it open.  What the hell was happening here?  He was sure he hadn't done anything to elicit this reaction from her.  Had he?  In fact he'd been the perfect gentleman all night.  He was sure he hadn't read the night wrong.  Besides, she'd kissed him right?  Whatever this was, her reaction was making him feel all sorts of helpless.  

"Cherish?"

There was no answer, and when Harper grabbed his shoulder and tugged him towards the stairs, he followed, a little deflated.  He didn't wanted to go back outside to where he and Cherish had just been happily sucking face, but that's where they were heading.  When he stumbled out after Harper gently shoved him through the door, he found Ari dissolving in a way much similar to Cherish.

"I am such an idiot!" she wailed into her hands. Seven wanted to ask how she had anything to do with it, but some part of him knew that it was all her.

"So explain, Idiot," he said harsher than he intended to. She looked up at him and forced herself to say it, even though she could only whisper out of fear of her words being true,

"I think I just broke Cherish again."

-.-

Cherish paced her room trying desperately to keep the tears in. Where was everyone that could make this better? Her father was out of town, so she couldn't go crying to him. Then again only her mother, Ari, and her friends back home really knew about this. But her mother was too far away even for a simple hug. Besides, there was no way in hell she was calling her mother and telling her just to worry her all over again.

It's not like she could go to Ari, stupid, stupid Ari, because this was all her fault! Maybe Delia, but knowing how close Delia and Ari still were, there was a huge chance that Delia had been in on it too! Dammit! She couldn't talk to Allie about it because she had sworn to herself never to talk about it again. It wasn't necessary that any of her new friends knew about it.

She continued to pace, ignoring the inviting and comforting covers of her bed. Who could she talk to? Who would make this better? She was turning her phone in her hand, trying to think of a number to dial, someone to spew her mess of emotions at.

"Qu-Quentin?" her voice wavered when he answered. "He kissed me."

"Who?" he sounded half asleep and unsure of whether to be upset at her shaky tone or just plain confused.

"Seven. He kissed me, or I kissed him, I dunno..."

"And?"

"Quinn!" she cried aloud in exasperation. "Did everyone just all of a sudden forget?"

"Shit!" she could hear rustling on Quentin's end, like he was getting out of bed. "Rish, it's okay."

But she was already crying, "We... alone... too close... kissing... hands..."

"Rish! Rish, Babes, slow down. Breathe."

-.-

They all stared at her.

"What do you mean you just broke Cherish again?"

Ari flinched at Seven's tone, angry and accusing. She avoided looking at any of them. How was she supposed to explain it?

"Cherish has never had a boyfriend. She has lots of friends that are guys, yeah, but she's never had a boyfriend."

"What's that got to do with it?"

Ari glared at Seven now, angry at his interruption, angry that he hadn't at least noticed it. "She's afraid of guys. The one time she ever came close to being anything more than friends with a guy, he-" she looked away again, wringing her fingers.

"I wouldn't expect you guys to get it, because you've only really seen a tiny bit of that side of her. Cherish has always been hanging with the guys, and when you hang with guys all day, you're bound to get used to the way they're always talking dirty, right? And you're gonna talk dirty like them sometimes, right? But Cherish isn't exactly a tomboy...

"Cherish and Len, they were always loud and obnoxious and joking dirty with the guys. So they got a lot of attention. Cherish hated it when guys would assume they were the kind of girls who'd give it up easy. Just because they didn't blush when the guys talked about it, or because they weren't afraid to talk about it either. She always said no 'disgusting hormone driven guy' was worth her attention- they only wanted one thing and she wasn't willing to give it."

An intense battle of should-I-shouldn't-I fought itself on Ari's face as the story came to mind. Either way, no good would come of this whole situation, and either way her sister would hate her. Regardless, at this point, the story would have to be told, and if it not her, then Cherish would have to go through the pain of it again. She fidgeted nervously, this time looking at Seven when she spoke.

"They were really close friends, the kind of friends you trust your life with, you know? She was fourteen when he asked her out, and of course she didn't worry about him being older, or a being jerk like other guys because they'd been friends for years. They went to the movies, I think, and then after they went to Audrey's place because her older sister was throwing a party. Len said she saw his car pulling into Audrey's place but she didn't see any sign of either him or Cherish for a while, so she went to see what was taking them so long. I'm not sure exactly what happened, neither was Len really, but when Len got there, he was on top of her, just pounding on her."

Letting out an unsteady breath, Ari shook her head, clearing the awful images that were playing through her mind. Seven's glare was making her all sorts of uncomfortable, so she looked away again, staring out into the yard. She shivered, but it was more an effect of the memory than of the cold night air.

"Len said Rish wouldn't let Cash or Jeb or Quentin go near her for the longest time after that because all she could think of was the way he'd looked at her when... She made Len swear not to tell anyone. She started acting really strange around everyone. Even our Dad when we went to visit her that summer. She was awkward and not herself and excessively happy whenever people were around. But the rest of the time she spent locked in her bedroom by herself, and she only ever let Len in. I don't know, it was like she was ...

"Like she was a happy zombie! And then one day when I was visiting, Len got really mad at her. Totally flipped out on her. Like, 'Fucking see if I care, Cherish! I hope you die! I hope you fucking die because you'll be saving me a lot of fucking grief!'. Funny thing is Cherish actually came out of her room that day, for the first time in days. That was the day she told us, Mom and me, and then she went to Len's place and we didn't see her for a good four days. She was kinda different when she came back. A little more bitter than she'd ever been before, and more attached to Len, like her life depended on it.

"I guess her guy friends found out about it because one of the guys just stopped showing up at the house. We found out it was because he'd been jumped on his way home the night she came back. They'd totally destroyed him, and when he was found by the cops, he had "rapist" and "child beater" and "woman abuser" written all over him and his car. Len said he moved away a month or two later because the guys made his life a living hell."

There was a silence, a long silence in which they all stared at her. Why didn't anyone say anything? Even Delia avoided her gaze, choosing instead to stare intently at the wood grain in of the deck. Ari found the silence all too much to bear and so she filled it with her voice yet again,

"Cherish has pretty much avoided guys since then. Jeb and Cash don't count, though, they proved themselves when they tore that guy to shreds and ran him out of town. But when she started hanging out with you guys, just you and her, I figured she was over it. I guess I just thought she was denying how she felt about Seven because she was dealing with the whole Len thing. I thought she just needed a little push... God! Why am I so stupid?"

Delia fiddled with the edge of her sweater as she watched Ari fret. Beside her Ian was close to being in tears, no doubt because he now felt like shit for being a part of this mess.

"You are pretty damn stupid."

Ari looked up in shock to find that the words had been uttered by Delia, her oldest and closest friend who was now regarding her with pity and anger. It was worse than Seven who was looking at her with disgust and absolute hatred.

"I'm so sorry guys," she muttered as she got up and opened the back door. "I have to go."

Ari was two feet from the stairs when Delia pushed past her, blocking her from going up to Cherish's room. "Tell everyone the party's over," she said firmly and disappeared up the stairs, leaving the guys behind to barricade Ari from doing any more damage.

-.-

"Cherish?"

Cherish jolted and glared at the door, "If that's my sister, that bitch is sorely mistaken if she thinks she's getting into this room."

"Rish, calm down," Quentin's voice was worried, careful. "I'm sure she meant well."

Meant well?  She'd chained her to a guy and forced her demons to the surface again.  Yeah sure, she meant well.

"Cherish?"

"What?" she barked, unable to stop her voice from cracking due to being spent crying.

"Um, Rish, it's me Deals. It's just me... Can I come in?"

Cherish shuffled across the room and opened the door cautiously, sighing shakily when it was only Delia and returned to her bed. Delia squeezed through the small opening of the door and shut the door heavily behind her, making sure to lock it.

"Are you okay, Rish?" she asked as she sat gently beside Cherish on the bed.

Shaking her head, Cherish gathered the blankets up around herself again, recreating the cocoon she'd been sitting in and mumbled something unintelligible at Quentin.

Delia sighed and separated the phone from Cherish's hand, "Hello? Oh, Quentin. Don't worry, I've got it from here."

Cherish took the phone back from Delia with a grudging look, "Quinn?"

"Rish, Babe, Delia wants me to say goodnight now. You okay with that?"

Cherish frowned; he had a life to live, one that shouldn't include her keeping him up all night crying. "Sure."

"You sure, Cherry?"

"Yeah. Goodnight Quentin."

"Night, Babe."

As she hung up the phone, she looked at Delia and the unmistakable expression on her face.

"She told you, didn't she?" Cherish sucked in her lip as Delia nodded, "She told all of you, didn't she?" When Delia nodded again Cherish frowned, clenched her jaw and growled as she pulled her blankets up over her head. "FUCK!"

"We made her tell us, I'm sorry! I should have stopped her when I realised where it was going, but I was..."

Cherish shivered under her blankets and launched herself into Delia's lap, "Deals, this wasn't supposed to happen! I'm supposed to hate him! He's not supposed to touch me, or kiss me- and I'm not supposed to let him! I let him!"

Rubbing Cherish's back gently, Delia hummed, "It'll be okay, Cherish. He's not a bad guy, I promise you. But, I know this is hard for you, so it's a good thing that it happened because it made Ari take those cuffs off, and now you don't have to be near him again. You can avoid him."

Cherish stiffened, "You think I'm just avoiding my problems."

"No," Delia's voice was calm. "You've always had Len's help, though, and now... I... I'm sure you feel a little lost. I know you're not avoiding your problems; I just think... you're not sure how to face them yourself."

She was hugging Cherish in her lap, stroking what she thought was her head beneath the blanket. Delia wished she hadn't chosen to say those words, at least not for another day or two. Cherish bawled into her stomach, her fists locked around Delia's body in a death grip.

"But you need to get over this, Cherish. You can't go on living life thinking you can avoid relationships. They'll always be there. And if you don't... if you... you'll be lonely, Rish. I know you..."

Okay, so her second try was no better than the first. What was the rule with interventions? No accusations? No allegations? No assumptions? She wished she could remember, so her conversation with Cherish would lean more to the calming down side instead of the angry, messy, emotional side. She tried to think of what Len would say, how Len would calm the storm raging inside Cherish.

"Shhh, Cherish. I'm here with you now, Babes. I promise I'll help you out. I know this all new to you, and it has got to be terrifying, but you can deal with this. I know you can. You're Cherish. Malice, Babe, you can do anything. You started your own clothing company! I know you had Len, but it was all your idea, and you set everything up, and you were the one who learned how to do it all. You did it by yourself, and then you dragged Len along for the ride! Gosh, Rish I've always thought you were fearless! You've done so much more than I could ever hope to do!"

Delia found the opening in the blanket and pulled it so she was inside Cherish's cocoon. She raked her fingers through Cherish's hair, smiling as she noticed Cherish's sobs weakening.

"Do you remember that time when you and I wouldn't go on that weird upside down loopy ride with Ari and Harper because we were afraid of it? You were the one who was brave enough to go on it and you dragged me along! I remember I cried like a baby the whole time and you were so bold and strong, even though you puked after we got off and you didn't stop shaking for, like, twenty minutes."

Cherish hiccoughed a strange garbled noise, somewhat between a laugh and a snotty snort. Delia grabbed some tissues off the bedside table and stuffed them into Cherish's hand.

"That's how I know you can deal with this. Even though it terrifies you, you've got to face it- you always told me that, right? I wouldn't have learned how to skateboard if it weren't for you. And you made me do it by myself, because you said I shouldn't always be Ari's tail, and I shouldn't always do everything she wants to do, and I shouldn't always let her and Harper take care of me like I couldn't do it for myself. Because they said I'd get hurt skating and you said I shouldn't be afraid of getting hurt.

You told me if it doesn't hurt it's not worth it, because you asked your mom and that's what she said. I remember thinking you were crazy. But you were right. So, I'm right here, Cherish, I promise. But I know you can do this on your own. You need to do this on your own. For you."

* Title song is by Connie Francis