Worm - No Place Like Home

[Wolf of the Sea]

AN: TRIGGER WARNING - Implied Attempted Sexual Assault

Also - a major disclaimer, I am by no means an expert on psychology regarding this sort of thing. I barely passed Psychology 101 when I was in college.

Note - I am not sure if this is the right spot to post this considering that this is my first time posting a thread here.

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Late November 2007

The girl shivered.

That told the girl she was alive.

The girl shivered in the cold white snow...save for the parts speckled pink by the blood from the knife wound that gashed her waist and right thigh as he...the girl shook and sobbed, pushing the man's lecherous face out of her brain. But it kept tormenting the girl.

Being cornered in her room.

The stench of alcohol on his breath.

The knife.

A wanting to be anywhere but there.

The cars slowly rolled by, the monotonous hum of their tires on the pavement echoing in her ears. Should she head to The Docks? The girl could find shelter from this bitterly cold weather...maybe even survive. Survive.

One of the cars ground to a stop and the girl tensed, ready to go intangible. A woman stepped out, tall and willowy with dark brown hair and wrapped up in a scarf and jacket ensemble in her hands was a box. The girl shrunk back as the woman approached but stopped about five paces away and knelt. "Are you okay?" the woman asked cautiously, holding out a hand.

The girl opened her mouth to tell this woman to leave her alone. But after a moment, the girl closed her mouth and then shook her head.

"Can I come closer?" the woman asked.

"Y-you w-won't hurt me?" The girl asked.

"I swear." the woman said.

"O-okay," The girl answered nervously and the woman approached, the snow crunching under her boots.

"What are you doing out here in the snow without boots or pants?!" The woman was shocked once she got close enough to get a good look at the girl.

"I-I-I" The girl tried to answer, but no words came, instead she gestured to the bloody line in her thigh.

"Sweet Christ! Okay, do I have permission to pick you up?" The woman asked, appalled.

Permission? The woman was asking her if she wanted to be picked up. The way she had spoken, soft yet firm, with a hint of alarm told her that maybe, just maybe she could be trusted. The girl nodded but tensed, ready to go intangible at a moment's notice.

The woman scooped her up with a heaving grunt of effort and took her away from the cold sidewalk and put her in the backseat of her car. It was warm in the car, so warm. The girl felt like she could collapse and sink into this warmth.

The woman busied herself, opening the box. "I am going to patch your wound okay?"

The girl nodded. "Hur-ry…" she mumbled.

"I will." The woman said, pulling out a bottle of disinfectant and running it over the wound, causing the girl to hiss from the stinging sensation and the cold. The woman then placed an abnormally large bandage on her wound. Then she shrugged out of her heavy winter coat and placed it on the girl. It was warm and she sank into it.

"Do you want me to take you to the hospital or do you want me to take you back to my house?" The woman asked her.

The girl contemplated. The hospital sounded like it would be safer, but she didn't want to be poked and prodded at. The girl didn't want him to find her again. The girl didn't want to see him again. To have him touch her again. The hospital would do that. "-house…" she squeaked.

"Okay, I have a daughter at home and she has a friend over just so you know. I will lay rules about interacting with you since you probably don't want to be touched very much right now?" The woman asked and the girl nodded vigorously.

"T-thanks…" The girl said, trailing off.

"Call me Annette. What's your name?" Annette asked.

"S-S-Sophia." the girl answered.

"Sophia, okay, Sophia, sweetie, I am going to buckle you in. Do you want to keep the jacket?" Annette asked.

Sophia gripped the jacket tighter and pulled it closer but didn't speak.

"Okay," Annette said gently, buckling her in, taking care to avoid touching her more than was necessary, and then slamming the door shut. She got into the car in the seat ahead of her. "Sophia, honey, do you want me to call the police so they can take whoever attacked you to jail?"

"Hurt?" Sophia asked softly.

"No, he won't."

"P-P-Please!" Sophia sobbed.

"Okay, can I have your address so the police know where to go?" Annette asked.

Sophia gave it and was surprised to hear a phone dialing followed by a tinny speaker. "911 what's your emergency?"

Sophia ignored the majority of the call until Annette began speaking about her. "The victim's name is Sophia, I've already asked if she wants to go to the hospital and she said no operator."

"Have you offered her a safe place?"

"Yes operator, I have. The address is," she rattled an address off.

"Okay, we will dispatch an ambulance to look her over"

Looking into the rearview mirror, Sophia could see Annette nod. "Sensible dispatch, heading home now."

The ride to Annette's house was nice, but Sophia couldn't help but think of what was waiting for her inside the house - she didn't know the Heberts, but Annette had been nice to her. Waiting for them outside bundled up in layers was a man who…wasn't Stephen for he was built like a tank and looked like he could bench press motorcycles for a living. Peering through a window in the house, curious looks on their faces were two young girls, a brunette and a redhead, their eyes were so full of innocence. An innocence that Sophia knew that she no longer had.

"There's Danny, he won't hurt you, okay?" Annette said as she got out of the car.

"How do you know?" Sophia whimpered out the longest sentence she had spoken since Annette had found her. Strong, she needed to be strong.

"Because he's my husband and if he were to hurt you or any guest of the house. I would probably gain powers for the sole purpose of killing him with my brain." Annette said and Sophia nodded.

"Okay,"

She watched as Annette exited the car and approached the tall, heavily built man. She couldn't hear the words exchanged but the man nodded and walked inside while Annette walked over to the car. Meanwhile, down the street, an ambulance rolled around the corner along with a BBPD squad car.

The ambulance came to a stop and the EMTs got out along with the driver just as Annette opened the door and unbuckled her. "Sophia, do you want to walk to the ambulance or do you want me to carry you?" Annette asked and Sophia, grateful for the choice, nodded her thanks.

"C-carry me," she said and Annette gently lifted her and carried her to the back of the ambulance.

A man wearing an unmarked gray jumpsuit greeted them at the back. "Annette and Sophia?" he asked.

"Y-Yessir?" Sophia said, shrinking back and fighting the urge to burrow into Annette's front so she could disappear.

"Doctor," Annette said.

"Paramedic Sawyer." The man said, introducing himself.

"Can I just call you Doctor Sawyer?" Annette asked.

"Mister. I don't have a Doctorate." Sawyer said with a grin.

Sophia, more than a little baffled, nodded. "O-okay, Mister Sawyer," she said.

"So, you'll look Sophia over, Mister Sawyer?" Annette asked, voice firm.

"I will be," Sawyer said as he stepped aside. "Annette put Sophia on the gurney."

Sophia was deposited on the stretcher and Annette made sure that she was laying down properly on it, immediately she noticed that Sawyer was fishing for something. "Like watermelon?" he asked and Sophia nodded.

"Yessir, I do!" she replied eagerly and Mister Sawyer presented an extremely large lollipop. Sophia's eyes widened at the sight of the full-sized lollipop. She eagerly tore the wrapping off and eagerly began sucking on it, unnoticed by her, the paramedic pulled off the bandage that Annette had put on with surprising care. Then he began looking at the wound and frowned, the thin red gash extended from just above Sophia's waistline down into her thigh.

Ordinarily, it wasn't deep or wide enough to require stitches. But its location meant that it would get stitches to prevent everyday movement from affecting it. "Sophia?" he asked.

"Hmm?" Sophia asked around her lollipop.

Sawyer held out his hands which had blue disposable gloves on. "I am going to touch your leg to treat it. I want you to touch my hands, okay?"

Sophia nodded shakily and reached out with her hands, leaving the lollipop in her mouth. She ran her hands over Sawyer's and after a minute nodded.

"Ready?" Sawyer asked as he grabbed a local anesthetic.

"Quick, please," Sophia said only to yelp when a hand wormed its way into hers. She looked and then relaxed at Annette's nervous face.

There were twenty quick pinches, and about halfway through Annette yelped, followed by gauze being applied and tape. "All done, thank you for being brave Sophia. Annette, I want you to get your husband so I can give him the rundown on how to take care of stitches. But I want you to take Sophia inside, okay?" Mister Sawyer asked.

"Carry me?" Sophia asked and Annette nodded, before with a grunt of effort scooping her up. Out of instinct, Sophia settled her head against Annette's chest. She didn't mind the steps, nor did she particularly care about the words being exchanged or the older man's voice responding. She heard the thunk of a door opening, followed almost immediately by…well if words were bullets, this would be a machine gun.

"Mom, you're home! What took you so long? Why is there an ambulance in the driveway? And who are you carrying? Is she alright? Is she going to be staying with us? Where will she be sleeping?" the words just seemed to go on and on, Annette seemed to sigh as another voice joined the first.

"Tay, stop bombarding Aunt Annette with questions. You do realize that she will explain everything right?" Another voice said.

"Jeez, Ems, can I at least be curious? This has never happened before and Dad forbade us from going outside to see what was going on, I am curious!" The first voice, Tay, replied.

"Okay, point. I will admit that I am curious too." The second voice, Ems, replied.

Sophia shrank back from the voices, terrified. She was in a white family home and she was black. "Girls!" Annette hissed and the two girls suddenly looked abashed. Sophia felt Annette heave a sigh. "This is Sophia, I found her while driving home. Someone tried to do….unspeakable things to her. As such if you want to touch her, ask her if it's okay before doing so, and if she agrees go slow, and if she tells you to stop, you stop."

After a moment, Tay spoke up. "Mom, does she need anything?"

Annette exhaled. "Yes she does, Taylor, do you mind giving up one of your Christmas presents and bringing a pair of panties?"

"No Mom, I don't. Sophia needs it more than me! She's gotta be freezing!" Taylor said and Annette nodded.

"Okay Taylor, also I want you to get your bed ready, yes I know we have moved the mattress out of the guest room to your room so we didn't need to set up an air mattress but Sophia needs to have a place to sleep. We can also set up the air mattress for you," Annette said and Taylor shook her head.

"That's not needed! I can sleep with Emma!" Taylor said and Ems nodded.

"I don't mind Aunt Annette, Taylor's an adorable cuddle bug," Emma said and Taylor blushed, then ruffled the red-head's hair, who then swatted at her hands.

Sophia felt a rumbling in Annette's chest and she realized that the woman was laughing as the woman adjusted her grip on her. "Y-you won't hurt me?" Sophia asked and to her shock and amazement, Taylor and Emma both looked appalled at her statement.

"No, we won't!" They said in unison.

"Jinx," Annette said and Sophia couldn't help it, she giggled slightly.

"You got her to laugh!" Taylor said jovially and Annette hummed.

"I did, now can you and Emma please go and get the bed ready?" Annette said jovially and the two girls nodded before running off, they vanished around a corner a short distance away and went racing up what sounded like stairs. Then likely ran to a room judging by the thudding above them. Annette sighed as a door slammed loudly upstairs.

"Alright Sophia, how do you feel about a shower?" Annette asked her and Sophia paused.

"Why?" she asked.

"It will help you calm down, you're wound up tighter than a top," Annette answered and Sophia then realized that her shoulders were taut, a tension suffusing her muscles to the point that it hurt.

"Okay," Sophia said slowly, and then a thought came to her. "Walk?" she asked and Annette set her down.

"Follow me," Annette said and Sophia followed her, Annette's house was larger than her family's apartment. The thing could probably damn near fit in the house's first floor, with room to spare more than likely. Thus even as she followed Annette to what appeared to be a large bedroom, maybe the master's? Sophia couldn't help but marvel at everything that she saw because it spoke of wealth to an extent that she was simply unfamiliar with. Her family didn't have money to this extent to be to afford something of this size.

Annette sat down on the bed and patted a spot next to her. Sophia scrambled up and settled down next to her. "Alright, I am going to change into a bathing suit and start the shower okay? Then I am going to get something to cover the gauze on your stitches. You wait right here, I'll be right back." She said and made to stand up.

"Stay?" Sophia asked, grabbing her wrist.

Annette exhaled. "Okay, I am going to go to the door and I'll call for my husband, okay? He will not touch you. Understand?" she asked and Sophia nodded. With that, Annette stood up and Sophia watched as Annette walked to the door.

"Danny! Can you come here please?" she called after reaching the door.

"Yes dear?" A man's voice said, just out of sight but causing Sophia to flinch anyways.

"Can you please go get some seranwrap? I need it to cover the gauze on Sophia's leg." Annette said and after a moment she heard Danny grunt in acknowledgment. Annette then walked back to her and then walked into the bathroom, from which the shower began, it didn't sound like a regular shower.

Sophia curious, stood up and walked to the shower, and cautiously poked her head in. The shower was unlike any shower she had ever seen before. Glass reached from the raised edge all the way to the ceiling while from a large silver square in the ceiling, water fell like rain. Sophia blinked at the sight of it and was about to walk in to investigate the shower when Annette walked out of a closet somewhat closer to her wearing a multi-shade blue one-piece swimsuit - which caused Sophia to gawk, it was night out and there was snow on the ground! "Why?" Sophia asked and Annette startled.

"Why? It's for your comfort, Sophia." Annette said, walking up to her. Sophia gently reached out and ran her hands across the fabric and then looked up at Annette.

"Thank you." She said and allowed Annette to guide her back to the bed, there was a box sitting on it, open, with clear plastic having been pulled out of it. Sophia sat down as Annette grabbed the box, measured out a length of the clear plastic, and gently applied it over the gauze, pressing down to make sure it covered it.

"There, all set," Annette said, Sophia considered taking her shirt off but then said one thing instead. "Clothes?"

"Give me a second." Then Annette vanished again and then she heard running feet.

"Mom!" Taylor said as she burst into the room. "I got-oh!" she paused, realizing that Sophia was sitting on the bed. Funnily enough, she had a pair of panties in her hand, but the dark haired girl very slowly approached Sophia. Then she smiled at her. "I am Taylor!" she introduced herself.

"S-Sophia," Sophia squeaked as Taylor sat down on the bed a couple feet away.

"Hey, I won't hurt you," Taylor said leaning in and looking her over. "Do you have a favorite hero?" she asked.

"Eh?" Sophia asked surprised at the question.

"Heroes? Mine is Miss Militia, though Alexandria is a close second and let's not forget Armsmaster!" Taylor said excitedly and Sophia wasn't sure how to react to that statement. She had heard of Capes, who hadn't? But she didn't exactly have a favorite cape now that she thought about it.

"I-I don't really have one," Sophia admitted she knew that she was a cape. It was after all how she had managed to escape, but prior to that, she hadn't really followed that much.

Taylor smiled hugely. "Okay, what about power genning? You know, creating your ideal power set?" she asked and Sophia wanted to reveal that she was a cape. But decided against it.

"I've never done anything like that," Sophia admitted it irked her, her irked nature turned to concern when Taylor seemed to get if anything even more energetic.

"We can fix that after you're cleaned up!" Taylor said eagerly, a little too eagerly, Sophia shrank back a little. Taylor's exuberance was wearing on her.

"Taylor Anne Hebert!" Annette's voice was a wonderful reprieve, it cut through the conversation with the subtlety of a knife. Taylor shrank at the sharp tone that her mother was using.

"Yes, mother?" Taylor asked weakly.

"You were being too pushy regarding Sophia," Annette said firmly and Taylor seemed to quail under Annette's gaze. Either Annette was a hard-ass or Taylor honestly dreaded the idea of making her mother unhappy. Given her experience so far however, Sophia was willing to bet that it was the latter more than likely.

"Sorry Mom," Taylor said and Annette exhaled.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Sophia," Annette said, she was holding a wrapped box that was very clearly using Christmas wrapping paper. Right, wasn't Thanksgiving only a week away at most? So it would make sense for the present to have been wrapped.

"Sorry, Sophia." Taylor said, abashed - her expression downcast.

Sophia nervously reached out her hand and put it on Taylor's shoulder. "Apology, accepted. Just, don't get that energetic again." She said.

"Thank you, now Taylor can you please go and wait for Sophia in your room with Emma? I'll be up with her and some ice cream for the three of you later." Annette said and Taylor's whole face lit up like the Fourth of July and she was gone from the room in a flash. Her feet pounding on the floor.

Annette put the box in front of her. "You can open it," she said and Sophia eagerly tore into the paper, it ripped and tore at her fingertips quickly revealing a plain white box. She pulled the top off of it and paused, black and silver fabric met her eyes, along with a splash of blue. With trembling hands, Sophia pulled what she assumed was a shirt from the box only for it to reveal itself fully as a onesie.

An Alexandria-themed Onesie. Her family probably wouldn't have been able to afford something so high-end normally. The merchandise around the Triumvirate was something that Mother had always said was beyond their budget. Whatever that was. "F-for me?" Sophia stuttered, her mind shocked.

"Yes for you, don't worry about Taylor. I know how much she loves Alexandria, so I bought her two because I know that one will probably be worn to death inside a year." Annette said and Sophia couldn't help it, she giggled at the thought.

"Now, are you ready for your shower?" Annette asked and Sophia nodded, she stood up and carefully peeled off her shirt. Then with her skin as bare as the day she left her mother's womb, she followed Annette into the bathroom and towards that fascinating shower. As she walked towards it, however, she passed a mirror that showed her whole body and it caused her to stop and stare. This was fascinating actually - in a good way as she had never seen one of these outside of Sears. The white of the gauze stood out sharply on her brown skin to the point that it was almost comical, but what also stood out were the bruises. She looked away and dashed to where Annette was standing and then stepped into the shower.

Water, hot water, fell upon her skin like a constant rain. She yelped at the temperature, but it felt good, great even. The door closed behind her and Annette then said gently. "Sophia, can you sit down for me? I am going to rub your shoulders and then shampoo your hair okay?"

"Alright!" Sophia said, sitting down as Annette began to work her fingers over her shoulders. Questing, hunting, finding knots, and working them out with a gentle ease that defied belief. Her arms felt easier to move, her shoulders felt lighter, she rolled her shoulders as Annette worked her magic on her shoulders. The hot water felt so luxurious as the tension in her body slowly unwound, it felt so damn good.

"Better?" Annette asked after a bit.

"Much!" Sophia exclaimed as she rolled her shoulders. "I feel like I can move again!" she said moving her arms.

"Alright, I'll move on to shampooing your hair, okay?" Annette said and a moment later, she heard the pop of a bottle being opened followed by something cool being squirted onto her head. Then she felt Annette's hands start working the shampoo into her hair, between her locks, and carefully getting any tangles out. Soapy suds washed down her body and Sophia watched as they cascaded down with minor interest until she noticed something on her chest, more specifically around her left breast.

Indentations, nailmarks.

The man's voice boomed in her ears as his legs trapped her's, one of his hands going up under her nightshirt and squeezing her left breast painfully - the stench of beer assaulting her nose. "Let's have some fun!" he said cackling.

Sophia shuddered, everything turned blurry, and her wails began as tears cascaded down her face and cheeks. Mixing with the water from the shower and the suds from the shampoo. She was vaguely aware of turning around and despite her cries hugging the one person who had taken her in to shelter her from The Man as she buried her head into the woman's chest. Along with hearing the words "Let it all out Sophia."

How long she cried, she had no idea. Minutes? Hours? Who knew? She cried and kept crying, her innocence shattered, her virginity stolen away, the safety that was home gone. She had lost oh so much and thus she kept crying as she mourned the loss of this.

Singing, someone was singing softly to her in a language she didn't know - but the language was sweet and beautiful. Sophia kept crying all through the song…and the next one…and the one after that. Until finally, the tears came to a stop and she looked up, sniffling, into Annette's face. Annette brought one of her hands into view and very gingerly touched her cheek and she said very firmly. "As long as you are in this house Sophia, you are safe, okay?"

Sophia nodded, teary-eyed. "O-okay,"

"I'll do everything in my power to have you fostered here, okay?" Annette said.

Sophia shuddered and sobbed some more. "O-okay."

"We'll work you through this and I will be your champion for it, okay?" Annette said.

Sophia hiccuped, a series of yip-yip-yip sounds, nodded, and still sobbing she let out a weak trembling "Okay."

"And if anyone wants to hurt you, they'll have to get through me first," Annette said and she moved her grip down so that it was around Sophia's back protectively. "And nothing is getting through me."