FicWad

Punk smiled to himself, as the warehouse he called home came into view. Being home with his sisters and his mother had been awesome, but his heart wasn't in Chicago with him, it was here at the warehouse, with Nightingale. Taking the box out of his pocket, he opened it and glanced at the pendant of the Chicago flag inside.

"It'll probably clash with the purity ring, but it's all I could afford, and I did promise to bring her something back." he sighed.

Finally a few moments later, Punk reached the warehouse door; he walked in and made his way upstairs, only to come almost nose to nose with Raven halfway up.

"Hey, boss, how's it going?"

"Get out."

Punk stared at him for a moment, bewildered.

"...What?"

"Get your shit, and get the fuck out of my warehouse."

"What did I--"

"You are hereby banished from the Flock. I don't want to see your ugly face around here again, and if you value your pathetic life, I'd better never see you anywhere near my pet again, are we clear?"

"...What did you do to her?"

"It's none of your fucking business what I do to her or with her--did you honestly think I wouldn't find out?!"

"What the hell did you do to her?!"

Rather than wait for a response, Punk leaned around Raven, and began calling out for the caged songbird.

"You don't think I see those sickening looks you two throw at each other whenever you think I'm not looking?! She is MINE, and right now, she's re-learning that lesson the hard way. Be thankful you're just being banished and get the fuck out of my sight!"

"Alright! Alright, I'll go, but I'm giving you fair warning you sick fuck, right here, right now--if you hurt her in any way, shape or form, I will fucking annihilate you."

"My songbird is no longer your concern, and if you even think about coming anywhere near here or her again, I'll see your fucking body thrown into the bay, and your head will be shipped back to your parents house in Chicago. Who knows, I might even pay them a visit--I hear you have two sisters who are turning into quite the little foxes, maybe I could put them to good use--"

"You stay the hell away from my family!"

"And you stay the hell away from my Flock."

Punk snarled at the larger man as he stormed upstairs to pack what few possessions he owned.

I'll find you Rena, I promise, and I'll get you away from him once and for all.

-

"They're throwing another party in about three weeks, we should be able to do the sting then."

"...How the hell do you manage to get all this information?" Matt enquired, as Kendrick smirked.

"The right blend of Marijuana makes you very...talkative."

"And it doesn't make YOU talkative?"

"I'm stoned constantly, by the best kind of Mary Jane money can buy, that stuff has no effect on me."

"You're lucky you get immunity for helping out our investigation." Becky retorted.

"Yeah, Randy would take you down in a heartbeat if we hadn't already promised you wouldn't face charges." Cody agreed.

"So how many girls are we talking here, Spanky?" Jeff asked.

"About fifteen, maybe twenty. All of them foreign, and all of them going through very rigorous "product testing" with the more trustworthy members of the Flock. Oh, and I've been promoted."

"...Promoted? Please don't tell me they sent you down to the docks." Cara sighed.

"Nope. Apparently I'm Nightingale's new guardian."

Cara and Jeff exchanged a dark look.

"What happened to Phil?"

"That's the tricky part. All Raven will say is that he's no longer a part of the Flock. The creepy thing is, I haven't seen Nightingale once since I got promoted. Apparently she's being punished."

"That can't be good." Jeff sighed.

"You don't think he found out?" Cara asked.

"I actually think that's exactly what happened. They were being really discreet and all, but Raven's paranoid to begin with and not much gets past him."

"Paranoid is putting it lightly. Raven is psychotic, he constantly thinks someone is out to get him. And those punishments of his..." Matt retorted, with a sigh.

"Punishments?" Becky questioned.

"They range from a kendo stick and a cat o' nine tails to what's rumored to be a box under his bed that he can imprison people in. I've heard Shannon and Mickie talk about it before, like it's something they experienced personally." he replied.

"Yeah, Daff and Laree were pretty scared of Raven while they were still with the Flock. All he had to do was glare at them and they'd go the exact opposite of what they were doing in the first place." Cara agreed.

"What I want to know is where Phil is staying. I'm worried about him." Jeff interjected.

"By my guess, he's just gotten the news." Kendrick stated.

"How do you know?"

"Because he's walking towards Shannon and Mickie's place right now with all his stuff."

-

"Take her down to the bath area and get her cleaned up." Raven ordered.

It had been four weeks since the rape. Nightingale obviously wasn't well; she was paler than normal--which was saying a lot as she never saw the light of day--and she'd been extremely nauseous during the duration. Aside from that, she was barely eating, barely functioning at all; it was almost as if the caged songbird had lost the will to live.

"Will do, bossman."

Nightingale shot her new guardian a thankful stare as soon as they got out of Raven's sight.

"How's Punk?" she asked.

Kendrick winced, even her voice was weaker than normal.

"He's alright. He's taken a job with the wait staff at Matt's restaurant, and he's crashing with Daffney and Laree until he can get up enough money to get a place of his own. He's worried about you."

Nightingale smiled sadly, as they reached the bath area.

"I'm glad he's okay." she replied, before walking in and closing the door behind her.

Kendrick stood in front of it obediently, making sure Nightingale didn't get out, and nobody else got in. From what he gathered, the poor thing had been through enough as it was.

Nightingale sighed heavily, her hair pooling around her as it floated on the surface of her bathwater.

He's gone. I'm never going to see him again, and that kills me. Raven keeps leering at me and making comments...I don't want him to touch me like that again...he's too rough, it hurts...and I know he's going to if something doesn't give. But I don't have a choice.

Tears welled up in the redhead's eyes and rather than furiously wipe them away as she normally would, Nightingale just let them roll, her eyes focused on the top corner of the room, where the window was; she could see the sky, clear and blue, and a portion of a fluffy white cloud as it slowly drifted by.

I can't go on like this. I can't live like this. Punk is gone, and Raven took the one bit of honor I had left. I have nothing to live for, there is no reason for me to go on. If death is my only way out of hell, then so be it.

Nightingale took a deep breath, and slid down into the tub, preparing to drown herself.

At least she was going to until she saw that the water was no longer clear, but rather a dark, blood red. She'd been bleeding heavily for a few minutes without even noticing.

Kendrick threw the bathroom door with a bang as he heard a blood curdling scream from inside.

"Oh my God--SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

-

Over an hour and a half later, Punk sprinted into the ER, skidding to a stop in front of the nurse's desk.

"Can I help you?"

Punk nearly snarled at the poor woman in frustration.

"I'm here to see Gail Levy."

Bastard made her use his last name. God I hope she's okay.

"I'm sorry sir, only immediate family--"

"I'm her brother!"

"I'm sorry sir, right this way."

The nurse walked him to room 167, and then headed back to the front desk, mumbling under her breath about how rude people with tattoos were.

"Rena!"

Before she had time to speak, Nightingale's nose was nearly crushed against Punk's chest where he was hugging her so tightly.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"I don't know, I--"

A knock on the open door stopped their conversation. A man in a white lab coat, with dark brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail entered the room.

"Miss Levy? My name is Dr. Richards, I was the physician who treated you when you were admitted to our facility earlier."

"Hi..."

"I'm so very sorry to be the one to inform you of this, but you suffered a miscarriage earlier."

"What...?!"

Punk's eyes widened and he shot a horrified glance at Nightingale, who was tearing up.

"The good news however, is that both you and the other fetus seem to be in perfect health. This happens sometimes with fraternal twins, especially when there's a severe birth defect."

"They're okay? You're sure?" Punk questioned, almost pleading with Dr. Richards.

"Absolutely. Of course we're going to keep you overnight for observation, and I'd like to do a follow up here in about two weeks to make sure everything is progressing as it should. When you get home, no stress, I want you to relax, make sure you get plenty of food and water, and I want you to take the prenatal vitamins I'm going to prescribe for you."

Nightingale nodded quickly, still in shock from the news she'd just receieved.

"Alright. I'll let you and your visitor have some privacy, and I'll be back in later to check on you."

And with that, Dr. Richards disappeared down the hall.

"Come on, get dressed, I'm getting you out of here."

"No."

"Rena, I'm not letting you go back there, especially not now!"

"I don't have a choice. I'm going to leave on my own, and I'm going straight to an abortion clinic."

Punk stared at Nightingale, horrified. Tears were streaming down the redhead's face as she pulled on the jeans and t-shirt that Kendrick had dropped off for her earlier.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing, why--"

"Because if I carry it to term, he'll kill it as soon as it's born. If I go with you, he'll find us--he'll kill you, and it'll be the same result. I will not let my child go through that. This is the kindest thing I could do for him or her in the long run."

Punk shook his head, and pulled the distraught woman into his arms.

"No. No, I won't let you do that. We're leaving here, we're leaving this whole damned city behind. You're going to have this child, and I'm going to help you raise it."

"Punk, I can't ask you--"

"Rena, I love you, and I will raise this child and love it as though it were my own if you'll give me a chance."

Nightingale stared at him for a moment, before finally nodding her agreement.

"Alright."

"Come on, let's get you out of here."