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anya folded her legs over each other, sitting at the table with the rest of their friends, sipping on her white wine and trying her best to not look at shawn. she sighed gently, her eyes trailing to brian, who raised his eyebrows in consideration.

"you okay?" he mouths, as she shakes her head, shifting in her seat. "uhm guys? i'm gonna go get another round of drinks, anya, help me out?"

"yeah sure," anya responds, quickly standing out and flattening her dress, noticing shawn looking between them both. "round of shots, everyone?"

"let's do it," andrew says, making shawn chuckle. anya and brian both escape to the bar quickly, ordering the round of drinks.

"don't order me one, i need to get out of here," she mumbles, placing her hand on her back and rubbing it slightly. "i'm not feeling too good."

"it isn't because of shawn being here, right?" brian asks her carefully. "he told me what went down yesterday morning. outside your condo."

"i just-" she sighs, cutting herself off. "it's stressing me out way more than it should be, and i don't even know why because he pisses me off all the god damn time and-" she cuts herself off again. "i need to quit my job."

"what? anya that's fucking stupid, don't quit your job," brian bursts at her. "you're earning way more than anyone your age, and anyone older than you for that matter, and you're travelling the world! andrew has so much lined up for you, just stick at it," he guides.

"i guess you're right," she sighs, looking back at the table. "look, i'm just gonna head back to the hotel, i'm not feeling too good anyway, tell everyone i said goodbye."

"sure thing," he nods. "feel better soon, are you gonna get a taxi back?"

"yeah," anya says. "i'll see you later," she quickly leaves the bar, heading outside into the warm air, rushing around to hail a taxi. she waits outside anxiously, the darkness of 11pm making her slightly worried that she's travelling alone.

"alright, little lady?" a man wanders up to her, a mischievous smirk on his face. "a girl like you shouldn't be on the streets alone this late at night."

"uhm actually i was just-"

"what's that? you need a ride? come here," the man grabs onto her arm, digging his finger nails into her skin, making her yelp slightly.

"let go of me!" she yells, clawing at his arm, trying to pull away from the man. "let go!"

"bit of a naughty girl, aren't you?" he smirks again, moving her around so he's man handling her much smaller body. it was no use to her to fight, so she did the only thing she could think of, and that was to scream.

"help! someone help!" she screams. "someone-" she gets cut off by the man grabbing onto her mouth, before slapping her cheek firmly.

"shut up!" the man growls into her ear, dragging her down the street to a black car. he opens up the door, beginning to push her in, but anya continues to fight him off.

"hey! what are you doing?" shawn yells, walking outside, andrew and jon following him. shawn sees anya struggling, and something snaps in him, making anger consume his features. he rushes forward, dragging the man off of anya, and punching him in the face. "you fucking dick! leave her alone!" jon and andrew quickly grab a now sobbing anya, andrew immediately bringing her into a hug, watching shawn punch and injure the guy. "i hope you fucking rot it hell," shawn spits, before pushing the guy onto his car, making the man groan loudly.

"come on, let's get you back to the hotel," andrew says to anya gently, as she nods, her sobs turning into silent cries.

"andrew wait-" shawn says, cutting himself off. "i'll take her back."

"n-no i'll be fine, i-it's your birthday drinks," anya tells shawn softly, wiping away her tears. "i-i'm fine."

"you're not going back on your own without someone who knows how to punch a guy out cold," shawn tells her, making her feel slightly fluttery inside. "come on," he says to her, holding one of his arms out.

"i'll be okay," she says to andrew quietly. "thanks gerty."

"no problem," he says to her, before letting shawn carefully wrap his arm around her. "hey shawn?"

"yeah?" he says to andrew, turning around.

"don't you dare say an offensive word to her, watch your god damn mouth," he warns, holding his finger out. shawn glares at him, rolling his eyes.

"i won't," shawn mumbles, looking down at anya. "i'll make sure she's back safe, and i'll stay in the hotel too," shawn says to him, sliding his hand into his pocket, and pulling out his wallet, taking out about 100 euros. "buy everyone drinks from me, please."

"shawn-"

"gerty, buy everyone a round of whatever they want, on me," he says firmly, not taking back the 100 euros. "i'll see you guys in the morning, goodnight."

"stay safe, you two," shawn nods, hailing a taxi, and helping anya into it, who still hasn't stopped crying. shawn tells the driver the hotel name, and immediately he drives off, leaving anya and shawn to talk between themselves.

"anya-"

"i'm sorry," she cries, nestling her head into shawns shoulder. "you didn't have to do this, i'm sorry for leaving early and causing me to get into this-"

"woah, anya, it's not your fault," shawn says gently to her. "it's that stupid guys fault, not yours. don't ever think it's yours."

"why did you help me?" she asks through her tears, looking up from his shoulder. "i thought you hated me."

"come here," he sighs, holding his arm out, and wrapping it around her, as she sighs gently, nestling herself close to his chest. "no one deserves to go through what you did. i just did what i had to do to keep you safe. if something happened to you, i would never forgive myself, because i knew you were feeling uncomfortable because of me."

"it's not because of you-" she says softly, sniffling. "i didn't feel good anyway, my back is aching, and my head is pounding. i just wanna go and sleep."

"okay," shawn nods, as anya leaves his embrace, making a frown appear over his face.

the rest of the journey was silent, as was the short walk through the hotel to the corridor of rooms which they had booked out. anya took her key out from her bag, and quickly unlocked her door. she stepped inside for a moment, but then immediately turned around, facing shawn.

"thank you," she says gently to him. "for what you did."

"you don't have to thank me," shawn says nervously, shoving his hands into his pockets. "i'll see you tomorrow, okay? goodnight."

"shawn, wait," she says again, looking down at her watch which says it's midnight. "happy birthday."

"thank you," he grins softly, nervously smiling at her.

"i um, i got you something," she blushes softly, opening her bag and taking out the wrapped up rectangle. "i found it when i was cleaning up, i hope you like it."

"what is it?" he asks her, opening up the wrapping carefully. he takes out the framed photograph, smiling gently at it. "oh anya, i love it," he stares at the picture of him and anya when they were a mere 10 years old, both wearing each other's clothes as a dare. "i didn't think anyone had this photo anymore."

"i kept my copy," she smiles sadly at him. "goodnight."

"sweet dreams," anya closes her door softly, walking into the room.

she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep and forget about that day completely.