Based on the song "Never Again" by Nickelback. Going along with the song and Derek's life...I added a twist that never occurred to me before, then suddenly hit m when i was listening to this song. I'm still not sure exactly what genre it should go under...but I suppose I'll come up with something soon.

Well, I've nothing else to add. No rude reviews please, if you don't like it you don't have to finish it and leave me a rude comment. Enjoy!

Dara Tavar

Never Again

Derek was just heading to bed when he heard the door open. Seeing his father, George, walk into the house he darted around the corner. There wasn’t must room to hide in the small one story house, but he knew his father wouldn’t come looking for him. And, with it being in a secluded part of the woods as well as a good ways from town, no one was near them for him to run to.

A glance around the corner showed his mother walking out of the kitchen, a wary look on her face. She eyed her husband for a moment before slowly moving forward to give him a kiss.

With long, auburn hair and chocolate eyes, he looked like her more than he did his father. She stood at about five feet, three inches and was, by all accounts, a tiny woman. In Derek’s young eyes though, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. How his father could do the things that he did to her confused him. She wore a pair of blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt…and Derek knew, even though he was merely four, that she wore it was to hide the bruises.

She glanced to the side and gave him a stern look, but made sure that George didn’t notice, and he knew she wanted him to go to bed. He could see the fear in her eyes.

Derek could tell by his father’s slurred words that he was drunk once again.

He went to his room and changed into his pajama’s, then brushed his teeth like he knew he was supposed to. By the time he’d finished, his father was already yelling. It usually wasn’t until Derek was curled under his covers that his father started to yell.

Slipping back into the hall and peeking around the corner like only a child who knew how to be very quiet could do, he checked to see if his beloved mother was alright…in time to see his father hit her in the face, knocking her to the ground.

He knew better than to run to her, he’d since learned that it only caused her more pain. She would protect him from his father’s blows so that he wouldn’t be hurt.

He watched in fear as they fought in the living room, knowing that, in his father’s opinion, she’d done something wrong tonight. He didn’t know if she ever did anything wrong, she was perfect.

Usually when his father started clenching his hands and glaring down at his mother, Derek would run to his room and try to forget what was going on in the living room even while he cried himself into an exhausted sleep. But he found that, tonight, he was rooted in his place, frozen in terror almost as his father beat his mother.

Never again, he promised himself. One day, the words would come true and he’d be big enough to stop his father from ever harming his mother again.

Her muffled scream made tears well up in his eyes and spill over; a broken sob escaped his parted lips. It was amazing that she could talk through the pain he knew she’d be going through for days…but she never cried, she wouldn’t give George that satisfaction.

“Go back to bed!” she cried, just before George backhanded her.

“Don’t you make a sound!” George yelled at her, glaring at Derek before returning to beating her for something that he was sure she’d done.

Derek was frozen in terror still, fearing that his mother would wind up dead because she couldn’t take the pain her husband was forcing her to endure.

Never again, he promised himself. He would be big and strong eventually, and he’d do everything that he could to keep his mother safe from his father…because she did that for him now, while he was too small to take care of himself.

She took the beatings his father wanted to give him, just so her son would be safe.

She’d been here before, lying on the floor as George beat her. Derek had seen this before, heard his mother cry out in pain, but she never begged. There was something about this night though…it seemed to be worse than the others.

She was just a woman, but all George could think of was punishment, punishment for something that she’d never done, but he felt she had done and needed a reminder of why she need never do it again.

When everything was over, Derek still stood in the hallway. By now though, his mother was unconscious and his father out of breath.

With one last glance at his wife, George turned and walked into the master bedroom, since the door led into the living room.

Derek slowly walked toward his mother. She had started bleeding in a few spots and, whether it was out of habit or practice or concern, he went into the kitchen. Grabbing a small dish cloth, he pulled a chair over to the sink and wetted the washcloth. Taking it and some paper towels back into the living room, he wiped off his mother cuts and pressed the paper towels against one after the other until the bleeding had slowed.

He carried both back to the kitchen, threw the paper towels away, and put the dish cloth on the counter. Making his way to the bathroom, he got the first aid kit out from under the sink. Taking it back to where his mother lay, he sat down and opened it up. Pulling out the band aids and Neosporin, he covered his mother’s cuts before pulling everything back.

A pained groan brought his eyes up to her face. Her eyes fluttered for a moment before opening. She turned her head slowly so their eyes met and sent him a shaky smile. “That’s my little boy.” She whispered.

Derek tried to smile back, but couldn’t do it…tears still ran down his cheeks as he thought of all his mother had to go through. He hated that she had to put up with all this.

She crawled over to the couch, stifling broken sobs the whole way as pain jolted her entire, bruised body. He wished he could help her without causing her more pain, but knew that he couldn’t.

He curled up in a chair, not wanting to leave his mother, as she climbed on the couch, and tried to fall asleep. They both knew that, in the morning, George would tell her he was sorry and he’d never meant anything as he took her to the hospital to be checked…and wait a week or two before doing it all over again.

The next morning he did as they’d known he would. And when they got to the hospital, she did as she would always do…she covered for him for Derek’s sake. She couldn’t raise him on her own, since she’d never had a job while she had been with George, since he had a good paying job she’d always stayed home with Derek.

She informed the nurse, when asked what happened, that she’d slipped and fallen down the stairs and hadn’t let her loving husband bring her in until that morning. As various sore spots started to swell, they started to sting her and she was given medication for the pain.

All the time though, the nurse looked at her with a look that clearly stated, ‘I want the truth.’

She bit the inside of her lips and glanced at Derek, who’d refused to sit with his father in the waiting room, wanting to reply, ‘You want the truth? The reason I’m here is sitting right out there in the waiting room with the very hands that did this to me…looking as sweet and loving as he can.’

But she couldn’t do it…as much as she wanted out of her marriage; she needed him to help her care for Derek. And she wouldn’t give her son up if she could help it. She didn’t want to just save herself by leaving; she wanted to save her son too.

Never again, Derek vowed to himself once again, repeating the words in his head over and over again. He tried to convince himself that they could last long enough for him to be big enough to fight back, but he sometimes had the sinking feeling that his beloved mother couldn’t last that long.

He’d seen his mother’s bruises after his father would hit her, and they’d never been this bad. He’d been in this position before, having the ability to save her by telling someone, but knowing that she didn’t want that. It had never been this bad.

Even at his young age, he knew more about these things than any other child his age. His mother told him frequently that he was the smartest four year old she’d ever seen, and that she wasn’t just telling him that because she was his mother but because she really believed it.

- - - -

“Father’s a name you haven’t heard yet.” George growled, glaring at Derek. “You’re just a child with a temper.” With those words, he turned on his heel and walked away.

“Haven’t you ever been told not to hit a lady? Kicking your ass would be a pleasure.” He growled after his father, but in tones too low for him to hear. He knew he shouldn’t have said the word, but since his father always did it, he was finding it harder and harder not to use the language that would have made his mother give him a stern talking to.

Just thinking about how disappointed she would be in him made his head duck in shame and his cheeks turn a dull red. He wished she were still around…but he’d been forced to go with his father, since his mother hadn’t had a job. She’d gotten the house while his father had gotten him…and then issued a restraining order against his mother for violent outbursts so that she couldn’t come around them.

Turning around, he opened the door to the nursery to see his brother and sister sitting on the floor playing as though nothing had happened downstairs. He was twelve now, his brother about to turn six and his sister was two. He couldn’t help thinking that, when he was five, he was being forcibly taken for his mother, who was thought to be unstable, and shortly after having to deal with his father remarrying and being adopted by a woman who reminded him nothing of his mother.

“What were Mommy and Daddy doing downstairs?” Edwin asked, handing another toy to Marti as he looked up at Derek expectantly.

Derek forced the word out that he’d been threatened if he didn’t use it his father would give him a sound beating. “Mom and Dad were just talking. I think Mom’s going for a car ride, for groceries or something, and we’re staying up here and we’re going to play a game while Dad’s downstairs.”

“What game?” Edwin asked excitedly, smiling and nearly bouncing up and down with excitement at the thought of Derek actually playing with them. Being so much older, he rarely played with his younger siblings; unless his father and their mother were fighting downstairs…he didn’t want them to witness what he had at such a young age. Their father could be a cruel, cold man sometimes.

“Der Der!” Marti cried, holding her arms up toward him with a large grin.

Derek smiled at her, picking her up and holding her close. He wished that they were full siblings, instead of just halves…but he wouldn’t have traded his mother for the world. She was the most caring, loving woman you would ever meet. And while he liked his stepmother, she couldn’t replace his real mother.

His stepmother thought that she was dead, and to everyone else George and Abby lied about how long they had been married so that she could claim that Derek was her son…but he knew he would never be her son because, one day, he was going to find his mother again and stay with her.

“We’re going to play a game where, every time you hear Dad coming upstairs, you hid and don’t ever let him find you…no matter what.” He grinned a little as the thought progressed in his mind. He was still smart, as his mother had always claimed, but that didn’t mean he showed it. “We’re playing hide and seek and Dad’s it. Now, whenever you hear him, hide…but don’t make any noise.”

“When’s he coming to find us?” Edwin asked as he looked for a good hiding place where his father wouldn’t find him.

Derek thought about it for a moment before smiling again. “He has to count to ten thousand…so, depending upon how fast he counts, he might be a while. That’s why I said to wait until you hear him.” He looked at his little sister. “Understand, Smarti?”

She nodded vigorously, smiling up at him. “Yeah!” she cried out happily, bouncing in his arms.

- - - -

He walked in the house drunk again…and Derek knew it was time to fight.

He had been walking the kids upstairs, trying to get them up there before his father had decided to stumble in…but it looked like either he was late tonight, or his father was early. A glance at the clock proved that it was he who was late. He’d let the kids stay up too long tonight.

He was nineteen now and had just graduated high school, but hadn’t moved out yet. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Knowing that Nora would be left to try and deal with not only the children, but George also was enough to make him stick around…no matter how much he wanted to leave.

He looked at Nora and saw the pleading look on her face. With a slight nod, he herded the children all upstairs and to Lizzie’s room where they would listen to music and play games until his father came upstairs to argue with him and tell him everything was over with before locking himself in his room while Nora left until after the kids went to bed.

After a while Derek excused himself, claiming he needed to use the bathroom while he really wanted to see how things were going with his father and Nora. It looked like the same old shit to him…and Nora had made it clear that she didn’t want or need his help on the many nights where he waited up for her and offered it to her. She didn’t want him getting hurt.

Why were they always so self-sacrificing?

He walked to his room as he contemplated the question. Sitting on his bed, he reached beneath his mattress and pulled out a picture that his father never knew he’d had with him all these years.

Casey slipped from Lizzie’s room, promising them she would be back soon but she was going to check something in her room quickly. Seeing Derek’s door was opened a little and that no one was in the bathroom, she walked over and peeked in.

He was sitting on his bed with a picture in his hands. The picture was of a young woman wearing a lacy white sundress with no shoes, flowers in her hair and a large grin on her face. She had hair that matched Derek’s and a curvy figure. She couldn’t see what color her eyes were, but would bet that they weren’t blue.

Even from the distance she stood at, Casey could tell the woman was beautiful as well as someone special to him just by the look on his face…and it made her heart twist painfully.

When she heard a muffled cry from downstairs, that she probably wouldn’t have heard if she’d still been sitting in Lizzie’s room with the radio on, she turned her head and listened for a moment before going to see what it was.

Derek looked up to see Casey’s confused, but curious, expression just before she walked out of his sight…and toward the steps. With wide eyes and a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, he jumped to his feet as he carefully sat his mother’s picture down and started after her.

What Casey saw shocked her more than anything she’d ever seen. George was hitting her mother repeatedly…and her mother was taking it like it was something that occurred every day. A hand clamped over her mouth just as she was going to say something to get their attention, to get George to stop.

Derek pulled her away from the railing, holding her tightly against his chest. He moved away so that she wouldn’t be able to see his father or her mother in the living room. She struggled against him, but he managed to pull her into her room and close the door behind them softly.

The moment he released her, Casey turned on him. She hit his chest repeatedly with her fists, fighting tears. “Why did you do that?” she asked, a broken sob escaping as an image of her mother popped into her head. “He’s beating her! I have to help her!”

“Listen to me Casey!” he cried, grabbing her upper arms and forcing her to look up at him. “There’s nothing you can do about it. If you go down there he’ll only hit you too…and I won’t allow that to happen. He’s not going to lay a finger on you.” He told her fiercely.

She stared into his eyes for a moment before reaching up to cup his face and pulled his face closer to her own. Her lips closed over his in a desperate kiss, temporarily distracting him.

Finally though, he pulled away. “Casey, we can’t…not right now.” But he didn’t sound convincing.

“Make me forget what he’s doing to my mother Derek…please.” She whispered, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

After a moment of debating with himself, he gave into her plea and kissed her. She turned them so it was her back to the door and kissed him with a mindless need. After a while, she pushed on his chest and forced him to back up before shoving him down onto the bed.

But she didn’t come down on top of him. Instead, she sent him a guilty look and whispered, “I’m sorry, but I have to.” Before the words could register in his mind though, Casey was opening the door and rushing out into the hallway once again.

Derek jumped to his feet, silently cursing his need for her even as he ran after her. He knew she would have never used their relationship in that way if she’d not been so worried about her mother. And he understood her worry completely.

He caught her just as she reached the top of the stairs, and froze at the sight downstairs. His arms banded around Casey like a steel vise, not wanting her down there as Nora raced toward where they hid the only gun in the house.

A shudder ran through his body as the scene below reminded him of another that was too familiar…one of his own mother running for the gun, only to find that it wasn’t loaded. She’d used it to hit his father over the head and had run when he went down, taking Derek with her.

That had been when she’d filed for divorce and he’d been forced to go with his father.

He prayed Nora had more luck than his own mother had.

“George, get back!” she cried out, aiming the gun at him with slightly shaking hands even as she cocked it. Tonight she’d had enough and she’d find out how tough this man really was.

In his drunken stupor, his survival instincts didn’t kick in in time and Derek and Casey were frozen at the top of the stairs, so they couldn’t help him even if they’d wanted to.

He still stalked toward her, thinking that, like his first wife, the gun wouldn’t be loaded and if she left him he could say she’d attacked him and everyone would take his side since his injuries would be worse if she hit him over the head.

Nora’s finger tightened, squeezing, as she pulled the trigger as fast as she could.

No one moved, breathed, even twitched.

George looked down in shock before falling to his knees as the blood started to flow from his injured shoulder. He clutched at it. The kids had all gathered at the top of the stairs by now.

Never again, was the first thing that popped into his mind as he looked upon the scene below him. His father lay on the floor, clutching his shoulder, and Nora stood with the pistol still clasped in her hands, eyes wide as though she couldn’t believe what she’d done.

It had never been this bad with Nora, and only once with his mother. Derek just couldn’t understand it…she was just a woman. Never again rang clearly in his mind, the promise he’d silently made to himself all those years ago. He’d been here before, seen this before, and it had never been this bad. Never had he seen it this bad.

Derek was the first to move, walking down and taking the gun from Nora to look at how many bullets were left. None…if she’d have missed, she wouldn’t have had another chance. Next, out of old habit, he did as he’s always done to his mother. He cleaned George’s wound with skilled hands before dressing it and binding it.

His eyes met his father’s. “I never thought I’d be doing this to you. She’s just a woman” He stated very quietly. And then, with a small, victorious smile he told him, “Never again will you do this to another woman. Do you hear me? Never again.”

“How did you know what to do?” Casey asked, having been watching Derek as he’d taken care of his father.

Derek glanced at her before meeting his father’s eyes again. “Practice.” He replied quietly. “That’s all I can do though, he’ll need to be taken to the hospital.”

Never again he silently promised himself, trying as hard as he could to believe the words. He stared down at his father for the longest moment as Casey and the kids asked Nora what had been going on.

Soon after the police showed up after the neighbors had called in about hearing a shot fired and took everyone’s statements. One of the paramedics complimented Derek on his work with taking care of his father’s wound and told him that, with some more training and a good college education, he’d be a wonderful doctor.

It was eventually decided that Nora had only been acting on self-defense and it was George who was charged with violent outbursts and was going to be headed to jail because of abuse. Derek found it ironic that the very thing they were claiming he had done was what he’d claimed Derek’s mother had done…violent outbursts.

They were all heading to George’s hospital room days later, to tell him the news. The police had already been there though, since George was currently handcuffed to the bed.

Edwin and Marti were still confused at how he could have done such a thing when he’d never been known, to them at least, to have done it before.

“How could you do this? You’ve never been violent before.” Edwin stated in obvious confusion as he looked at his father.

“I wouldn’t say that he’s never done this before.” A voice stated from the open door.

They all turned around to see Abby standing in the doorway, a wary look on her face as she looked past them to see George lying in the bed.

“Are you saying he did this to you Mom?” Edwin asked in shock, moving over to hug her.

She nodded and quickly embraced her children. She walked over and stood before Derek, looking up at him for the longest moment. “I shouldn’t have run off on my children…they didn’t deserve to have to live through that and neither did you.”

“It’s fine Abby.” He replied quietly, ignoring everyone’s confused expressions…and George’s outraged one. “We made it through the years perfectly fine. And, obviously, they didn’t know about what he’d done to you or what he’d been putting Nora through.”

She shook her head. “But he could have turned on you.”

Derek turned to George. “Long ago he made a promise that he would never lay a finger on me.”

George sneered at him. “She’s not here to save you now.” He snarled at his son.

“I don’t need her protection anymore.” He growled back. “I can take you on my own.”

“Who are you talking about?” Edwin asked in confusion, the others in the room having matching expressions. The only ones who didn’t look confused were George and Abby

“No one Ed...We’re talking about no one.” Derek replied quietly. He turned to look at Nora and Abby. “What I would like to know, is why neither of you ever let me help you. Concern for my safety possibly?” he asked.

They both nodded, but it was Abby who answered. “You were younger when I was there. I never knew what you went through before our marriage, but I didn’t want him to hurt you if you tried to protect me. You were only six when we were married and twelve when I left.”

“Are you saying Derek’s not your son?” Casey asked, looking between Derek and Abby.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Derek is George’s son through his first marriage. Though, his mother’s dead now.” Abby stated, looking over at the shocked group of people in the room.

“She’s not dead.” Derek commented, getting shocked looks turned his way before moving on. “You should have let me help you though.” He stated, returning to their previous conversation. “I wouldn’t have allowed this to go this far, with either of you.”

“That’s my boy, fierce and defiant until the very end.” A soft, musical voice came from the open doorway.

Every muscle in his body froze at the sound of her voice. It was impossible…she couldn’t be here now. He’d not been able to find her so far and she’d never been able to come near him.

“How did you get in here, Annabelle?” George raged, vaulting upright in the bed before crying out in pain and dropping back down onto the bed. After he’d composed himself he glared at the newcomer.

Derek turned around slowly to watch her drift into the room, laughing her beautiful laugh. “Simple. I walked up to the desk and asked what room you were in. When asked who I was, I simple replied that I was your very worried ex-wife. At the time, of course, I didn’t know that you were claiming that I was dead. If I’d known, I would have told them that I was your very worried, deceased ex-wife.”

Casey studied the tiny woman. She was beautiful with auburn hair and chocolate eyes. She wore a pair of faded blue jeans and a light blue t-shirt. Her skin was creamy white, her lips red…it was obvious she was the woman from Derek’s picture, only older.

The woman stopped next to Derek and looked up at him. Tears immediately welled in her eyes. “Look at my little boy, so big and strong…and so handsome!”

Derek fought tears at seeing her again. He’d started to feel that he’d never see her…and now he couldn’t believe she was really here. “Mom!” he whispered raggedly before pulling her into a hug. “I missed you so much.”

Annabelle wrapped her arms around him and held him for a moment. “I missed you too.” She finally let him go, reaching up to gently stoke his cheek, before turning to glare and George. “I told you that you’d never be able to keep me from my son. It may have taken me fifteen years to find a way to get him back, but now you can’t take him from me ever again.”

“What happened to my restraining order against you? You shouldn’t be allowed in here.” George hissed back. “I know there’s a cop around here somewhere…he’ll get rid of you.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” She replied smugly, crossing her arms and smirking at him, a smirk that looked exactly like Derek’s. “You see, when all this happened with your newest wife, they looked into our divorce. And, you see, they came across a ton of papers stating that I’d come into the hospital with strange bruises and always having claimed to have fallen down the stairs. Going back to our old house they discovered something…we never had any stairs. Well, they found me and asked me a few questions and, eventually, I was talked into telling them everything. Those charges against me were dropped and now it’s you they’re charging on my behalf.” She snickered. “You see, I have a very good lawyer now whose been looking for a way to get Derek back for me.”

Derek looked down at her. “You’ve been working on getting me back?” he asked, startled at the thought of his tiny mother working diligently to find some way to get him returned to her.

“Of course I have. I knew your no-good father would never willingly allow you to come back to me…so I decided I need to find a way to get you back on my own. Unfortunately, neither my lawyer nor I could find a loophole anywhere. You were legally your father’s until he decided to drop the charges against me or you found me on your own with nothing from me telling you to.”

“I would have found you eventually.” Derek vowed, his arm tightening around her shoulders. “I just didn’t want to leave Nora alone with my father. I didn’t want to leave the kids either…or Casey.” He stated, meeting her eyes and sharing a smile with her.

“Hmm…” his mother made the sound absently as she looked Casey over with a practiced eye. She studied her for the longest moment before walking over to her, a calculating expression on her face.

“Mom?” he asked, moving to her side to look down at her in confusion.

“Do you love him?” she asked Casey, ignoring her son’s questioning tone as well as the shocked looks she was given after her question. At Casey’s silence she arched an eyebrow, calmly studying her again.

Casey was startled, staring at Annabelle in shock. The woman was tiny, the top of her head maybe reaching her own nose, but was obviously very intelligent and observant. She glanced at Derek, but he looked just as taken off-guard as she did. Finally, she looked back at his mother who was staring at her intently with a knowing expression. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself for whatever the woman said, she replied, “Yes.”

Annabelle was quiet for a moment as that one word soaked in to everyone else. “Alright.” She stated with a slight nod before turning away and walking back to where she’d been standing before.

“What do you mean by alright?” Casey asked when she finally found her voice again.

Annabelle looked at her, raising her eyebrows. “I mean that as long as you love him, I’m happy. It’s obvious he loves you and I wasn’t going to stand by and watch unless I knew that you felt the same.” She stated as though this were something Casey should have realized.

“Are you telling me that you and Derek have had a relationship and none of us ever knew it?” Nora asked, sounding shocked as she looked between Derek and Casey. “For how long now has this been going on?”

Annabelle was the one to answer, shrugging as she gave her opinion. “By the familiar looks I’ve noticed them giving each other when they think none of you are looking and the intimate smile they just shared a moment ago, I would estimate that they’ve been seeing each other for two to three years…at the least.” She turned to her son for confirmation.

Derek shifted, never having been good at lying to his mother and finding it difficult even after all these years. “Something like that.” He mumbled.

Annabelle sent him a stern look. “You know what I want to hear young man. I don’t want any of your vague answers…a specific time period if you don’t mind.”

Derek shifted once again, moving to her side. “Three and a half years.” He stated quietly. “We started dating not long after Nora married Dad.”

Annabelle nodded, as though she’s suspected something like that. “I thought as much. Are you being safe?” she asked without hesitation.

Derek felt his cheeks grow warm. He never blushed. “Mom!” he hissed.

Annabelle didn’t smile, but he did catch the amused glimmer in her eyes. “We’ll talk about it later.” She turned to George. “Well, I’ll be leaving now. Just wanted to tell you how sorry I am to hear that you’ll be going to jail.” She stated sarcastically.

George sputtered for a response, but she wasn’t paying any attention to him.

Annabelle turned to Derek once again. “Would you like to meet your stepfather?” she asked with a warm smile.

Derek’s eyes widened. “I have a stepfather?” he asked quietly.

His mother laughed. “Don’t you remember me mentioning that lawyer of mine? Well, he’s here and waiting outside just to meet you. Of course, he wanting to come in and meet George, but I told him he wasn’t allowed because, while he’s a lawyer and doesn’t believe violence to be the answer to anything, he’s also an enraged husband at times who thinks the only answer is violence. Though he wouldn’t hurt a woman, child, or man who didn’t deserve it.”

“You married your lawyer?” Derek asked in amusement as he smiled down at her.

Annabelle shrugged before walking with him towards the door. When they got there, she stopped and turned around. Walking back over to Casey she took her hand and pulled her along with them. “I have a feeling you’ll be a part of this family soon enough, so you can come too. You’ll be meeting him sooner or later, so why not now.”

When they reached the waiting room, they found one man. He was tall, a little taller than Derek, and he stood with his back to them. His long, jet black hair was held back by a strip of brown leather. He was muscular, which surprised Derek since he was a lawyer. He’d never come across a lawyer that looked like a warrior.

When he turned around, his green eyes found Annabelle and stayed trained on her. When they were a little closer, he opened his arms without a word and she immediately went into them. “Yer no’ hurt, are ye Belle-lass?” he asked in a deep, accented voice. His deep burr obviously proclaiming him to have come from Scotland.

Annabelle raised her head to smile up at him. “Of course not. I told you, my son would never have allowed my ex-husband to hurt me again.” She turned to look at Derek. “Ian McKellan, this is Derek and Casey.”

They made introductions and, while Casey and Ian were caught up in a discussion about politics, Derek pulled his mother aside. “Promise me he’s never hurt you.” He’d seen the love in the man’s eyes when he looked at Annabelle, but he felt the need for confirmation.

Annabelle smiled up at him. “He’s never laid a finger on me. Not even by accident has he hurt me. I swear, if anything the man acts like I’m the most fragile thing in the universe and that I’ll break if I do anything rough.”

Derek saw the love in his mother’s eyes when she looked at Ian and in the smile on her face as well. With a slight grin he nudged her. “You were right by the way.” He stated softly.

“I’m always right.” She teased, smiling at him. “But about what this time?”

Derek pulled out a black velvet box and showed his mother a beautiful diamond ring. “If I get my way, Casey will soon be your daughter-in-law and, therefore, in this family. I just haven’t gotten around to asking her yet.”

Annabelle clapped her hands quietly in delight. “She looks like a lovely young lady.” She commented, smiling up at him. “You never answered me before though…are you being safe?”

Derek cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks start to burn again. This had never been a conversation he thought he would have with his mother, even when he did find her. “There’s no need…we’ve not done anything. Casey wants to save herself for our wedding night and I respect her decision.”

They talked for a while about how Derek would propose to Casey, discussing the most romantic way that he might do it so that she would remember it for years to come.

After a while, Annabelle looked up at him. “This is all over with him, isn’t it? He can’t do this to any other woman?” she asked, sounding worried.

“No, never again.” He replied seriously before hugging her once again.