We didn't speak for a long moment.

Evelyn's eyes captured mine, threatening to drown me with the pain that had flooded them. The storm for once was calm, which scared me more than I wanted to admit. "You don't have to continue-" I tried but she shook her head at me, a very faint smile on her lips.

"I am fine, I just need a moment." She breathed, leaning forward in her chair.

I kept still as her hand reached out, she brushed the tips of her knuckles over my cheekbone. I reached up and grabbed her fist, unclenching it and lacing our fingers together. Returning my gaze to hers, she surprised me by lurch forward in her seat and pressing her lips to mine. My body molded to hers perfectly as everything else melted away. Her fingers wrapped in my hair, tipping my head back slightly, and mouth opened immediately for her.

My hands gripped her neck, the sides of her face, her waist, anywhere they could touch. I could feel her tremble underneath my hold, and I knew then that she was worried for me, that she would scare me away with this gruesome story. I was not afraid of her. I was not afraid of her past, of her scars. Lord knows I have enough for the both of us. But this, this was something beyond me. This was a crime for the headlines, something that he FBI would've looked into.

But as I kissed her back, I put everything I had into that kiss. All my pent up anger and fear and pain, I shoved it all into her. And as expected, she pushed back, throwing all her pain and fear and desperation at me with equal force. This was why we worked well together, this was why we were meant for each other. Because we not only used our pain to solidify our bond, but we had come to terms with it in such a way that allowed us to heal each other.

She pulled back and rested her forehead against mine. Her breathing was slightly labored, as was mine, but it was barely noticeable as we stared into each others eyes. I brushed my thumbs over her cheekbones, as she's done for me so many times before.

"I love you." I spoke, the three word phrase tumbling out of my mouth.

Evelyn's eyes flashed with pain, then joy as she pulled me to her, cocooning me into her soft embrace. Her breath unsettled my hair and tickled my ear, but I didn't care as I wrapped my arms around her, softening into her body.

We stayed that way for lord knows how long, but when she did pull back, it was slow and deliberate.

Her eyes grew unfocused again, making the hole in my heart grow bigger. I hated that she was back in that place of pain and fear. She spoke again, this time the pain was gone from her voice and it was blank. "When I got back, I called their names, storming through the house. I was determined to get my way. I knew I was being a brat, but as I pushed open the bedroom door, nothing could've prepared me for what I saw." Her delicate lashes fluttered closed as she recalled the scene.

"I remember my father was already dead, his throat slit ear to ear. He was draped over my mother in a protective way. His back was littered with gruesome lashes, his hands and feet bore red rope burns. There was a hook maker chain attached from the ceiling from where I assumed the killer had hung him and whipped him. Carved into the skin of his chest was the word liar. My mother fared no better. Her clothing was torn, her body ravaged. Her throat was also slit, but carved into the skin of her stomach was the word filth." Tears fell down my cheeks, I couldn't imagine, didn't want to believe what she was telling me. Such horror stories were just that, stories. But not this one.

"As I entered the room I heard the last of my mothers gurgling cries, her eyes met mine and she mouthed "run" but it was too late. He was there as I turned, the knife with my mother's blood on it in his black-gloved hand. I screamed but he grabbed me and covered my mouth and nose until I was unable to breathe and passed out from lack of oxygen." She paused for a moment, flicking up her long lashes.

Now there was pain in her eyes. A pain so deep and profound that I almost had to look away. "Evelyn." I whispered, feeling my cheeks wet with tears for her. Her pain was mine. I felt it all.

My hands gripped her face, and she covered them with her own, moving them down to her neck, tangling them into her hair. "They found me three days later, a neighbor walking by had smelled something awful from the house and called it in. I was hanging from the ceiling of my basement. The killer was gone and I couldn't remember how I got there." She pushed my fingers further through her hair, and I knew she wanted me to find something. My fingertips brushed something strange towards the back of her scalp, the skin of her head was raised. Horror tore through me as I followed the patterns with my fingertips, piecing together exactly what I was feeling.

Sinner.

He had branded her with the word, searing it into her scalp. A harsh smile lifted the corners of her lips, full of pain and sadness and self-loathing.

"My thighs were bloody, my body bruised and broken. I slowly began to remember what he had done to me. He had tortured me, though not in the same way as my parents. He took his time with me. The story of The Judge, became my life. He was a notorious serial killer with a body count roughy dating back thirty years, authorities say longer. He targeted parents who supported their children's sexuality, and also the children themselves. He stalked them, learned their ways until he chose the opportune moment to strike. I didn't understand at first, why I was left alive. But then I realized it was a warning; he wanted me to acknowledge that who I was born as was wrong. That I was a sinner. He left me to live with what he'd done to me. A trophy, a warning to other people like me."

She broke then, tears pouring down her face and he body wracked with violent sobs. My own sorrow made itself known as I pulled her to me, tucking her into my side. For as long as we'd been together Evelyn had been my rock, my safe place, and my home. But I realized then that those three things were something that she never had. It was my turn now to protect her. And I knew without a shred of doubt that I was not going down without a fight.

I struggled to process all that she'd told me. I could hardly believe that her story was true, you just never heard anything like that unless it was off of Criminal Minds or written in a Stephen King novel. It was horrifying and awful but I wasn't afraid. Evelyn's story was just beginning and I vowed with everything in me that I was going to make sure she had the happy ending she deserved.

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