FicWad

This is kind of a 'where's my knight in shining armor' one shot. I've fallen in love with the song Face Down, by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and listening to it makes me want to write this so bad. So I'm finally giving in to my urge to write, and writing. Hope you like, even though it's a bit dark for me. Sorry if it's too stereotypical for you...

----------------------------------------

Face Down

Do you feel like a man when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

Face down in the dirt, she said,
This doesn't hurt, she said,
I finally had enough.

----------------------------------------

Jade ran her fingers gently over the bruise that was forming on her side. She winced, matching her fingers up to the fingerprint shaped marks on her hips. She promised herself she'd never let this happen again. She promised herself she'd let go of him, pull herself away, and not get wrapped up in his lies.

But every time he came back to her, tears in his eyes, telling her he was sorry and that he loved her and that it would never happen again she crumbled. She let down her defenses and went back to him; she crawled back like the pathetic fool she was. He didn't love her, but she didn't know that. She thought he was the most caring person in the world, and she let it go when he beat her. She forgot it ever happened, as long as he told her he loved her, she was fine.

But she kept all those memories in the back of her mind, trying to convince herself that there was someone who wouldn't treat her like the dirt they walked on. But that was all that she saw herself as. She had degraded herself to dirt, letting him walk all over her. And she had herself completely convinced that that's what she was. Just lowly dirt that didn't deserve to be treated any differently.

She didn't know that there was someone who was just dying to pull her from this twisted situation she'd put herself in. Jade was a beautiful person, and not just because of her looks. Not that you could ever see her clearly, she always had a bruise on her face, or her arms and torso. She'd been beaten and broken for so long that her friends had forgotten what she looked like before she'd let herself get involved with David.

All of her friends but one, that is. Pete was the only one who really wanted to do something. He was the only one who never forgot what a beautiful smile she could have. But he'd never seen her smile, not in a long, long time at least. She never smiled any more, and it broke his heart every time he saw her.

David hated that he hung around her. He thought they were together, and that she was cheating on him with someone else. Not that it was true, but he'd believed it. And every day she came home from being with Pete, he'd push her around, like she was a punching bag or something.

But Jade would see Pete anyway. She'd go to his shows when they were in town, and she'd run away to his house a few times, to try and find a safe haven, a safe place to be. Even when he wasn't home she'd been there, and his mother nursed her back to life, as she had been cut badly.

His mother cared so much about the poor girl, she'd let her stay in Pete's room, knowing that it comforted her. She had a good feeling Jade didn't sleep much, so when she showed up at one in the morning, Mrs. Wentz just smiled and led her to Pete's bedroom. Jade would immediately collapse on one of the two beds and sleep, and most of the time she'd sleep for as long as she could, which could be an entire day.

She'd left a note on the table once, when she woke up at two in the morning and left for home.

Thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to me to have someone who cares so much that they'd take me in at one in the morning and let me stay in their son's room. I'm glad that you care, and you really have no idea how much it means to me. I'm sorry I've left, but I really need to go apologize to David.

-Jade xo

It brought tears to Pete's mother's eyes as she read it. She needed to sit that girl down and tell her that this David guy was a piece of shit, and that she needed to get away from him. Jade wasn't the one who should be apologizing, David was. But Mrs. Wentz couldn't bring herself to do it, she didn't want to break Jade even more, but she also didn't want to see her at one in the morning anymore.

Not because it was one in the morning, she just didn't want to see such a wonderful person covered in black and blues. But until someone got her to see how bad it really was, she'd keep opening the door for Jade whenever she needed to.

----------------------------------------

"I told you to stop seeing him." David barked at her. She was already pinned against the wall, his fingernails digging into her wrists. "Look at me." She didn't. "Look at me!" She refused to let her gaze meet his. He let her right wrist drop to her side and his fist made contact with her jaw. "I said look at me!" He shouted again, and she slowly raised her eyes from the floor to meet his frightening glare.

She was shivering with fear, she always was. She wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else. Hell would be better than this. She sniffled as she felt hot tears sting her eyes. She knew if she cried, it would only hurt her wounds. But she couldn't help it. The pain from the punch to her jaw hurt too badly, and her salty tears were now making it sting even worse as they slid down her cheek to the spot where her skin had split.

"I told you to stay away from that fucking loser. Do you hear me?" He growled through gritted teeth, his face mere centimeters away from hers. She sniffled, more tears finding their way into her wounds. "Answer me!"

She couldn't, she was too afraid to move. She didn't want to have to stop seeing Pete; he was the one thing that kept her alive, the one thing that kept her on this Earth. But she needed to answer David, so she nodded slowly. "Good. I'll keep you to that." He said, letting her drop to the floor in a crumpled heap.

After she regained enough energy to stand, she left. She hurried out the door, she didn't care that it was raining, or that she hadn't grabbed her sweatshirt on her way out. All she had was her cell phone, a handful of money that she'd had from earlier, and her clothes. Her jeans, which were ripped in random places and missing a back pocket, were soaked at the bottoms by the time she reached Pete's front door. Her Van's were soaked through to her socks, and the tank top she had on was clinging to her body, as were her brunette locks. She wiped her bangs out of her eyes and rang the doorbell.

The blood from her face was still dripping, now mingled with rain water and tears, down her neck and to her chest, staining the white shirt. She looked down at it, and touched the cut on her cheek with her fingers gently. She winced, sniffling, as she felt it sting again. She ran her fingers through her hair, getting it out of her eyes, as the door opened.

She looked up to see Pete standing in the doorway, his jaw slack, his eyes wide. Without warning he pulled her inside and into a hug, without even closing the door. He didn't hold her too tightly; he didn't know what other bruises and cuts she might have on her body. The only visible one was the one on her cheek.

After a minute of her crying into his shoulder, he let her go. She stepped back and he let out a grim laugh at the huge wet spot on his shirt, his I heart Revenge t-shirt. But as soon as he looked over Jade, all of the cheer left his body. His shoulders slumped, and the half smile was immediately gone from his face. "Did that bastard do this?" He asked, motioning to the cut on her face that was starting to bruise.

Jade didn't say anything, she just nodded. "I'm gonna kill him," Pete growled, glaring at the bruise that stained her could-be perfect face.

Jade's eyes widened, and she started to defend David. "Please, Pete. Don't! You can't, you don't understand David, he's stressed, he doesn't-,"

"He's stressed? Don't give me that shit, I don't believe it for a second. He's a dirty rotten bastard, and he doesn't appreciate you like you should be appreciated! That's all he is. He's an evil, conniving bastard who doesn't deserve someone as wonderful as you, especially is he's going to hurt you so badly!" Pete yelled. He was furious with David, if any man could stand to see that happen to someone as beautiful as Jade, then they needed a taste of their own medicine.

"Pete," Jade pleaded, her eyes still filled with tears. "He loves me; he's the only one who loves me. I need him Pete. I need him more than anything." Her voice cracked in much the same way Pete's heart did. Hearing her say that David loved her made Pete's heart break even more. Then he remembered, he'd neglected to tell her how much he loved her, how much he wanted to rip David to pieces because of what he'd done to Jade. He couldn't tell her, it would never work. She was too head over heels for David to see the sincerity in Pete's comment.

But David was to Jade what acid is to metal. He wore her down, made her break, and fold. And again and again she went right back to him, apologizing for what he had done. Pete hated it, he wanted to tell Jade that he loved her and that he always had. He wanted to tell her that he wanted her to love him back just so he could see her smile again, hear her laugh, see her be genuinely happy.

He looked back at her, she had closed the door while he was thinking, and she was shivering from the cold. "Come on... I'm sure my sister won't mind if you borrow some of her clothes..."

Pete took her hand gently and led her to his sister's vacant room. She'd gone on vacation with a few friends, one a road trip across the country. Pete had told her she was crazy, that after a week she'd be bored as hell and want to be home. But she'd been gone for two weeks already. Pete pulled a t-shirt and shorts from his sister's drawers and handed them to Jade, who was slowly beginning to dry.

"Why don't you get a shower, and I'll throw these clothes in the dryer," he said pointing at her attire, "So you have something dry to wear later. And you're staying tonight, I'm not letting you go back." Jade opened her mouth to protest, but Pete raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

He put his hand on the small of her back and pushed her into the hallway and to the bedroom across the hall, the one she had woken up in so many times, his bedroom. She smiled as she took a deep breath, breathing in his scent as she walked to the bathroom attached to his bedroom. He handed her a towel, and closed the door.

"Thanks again Pete," she said through the door as she slipped the shirt over her head. She dropped it on the tile floor and sighed, examining the bruises on her ribs in the mirror. She pulled off her jeans, socks, and shoes and piled them on the floor. She stood in front of the mirror and examined her cuts and bruises for a minute.

"No..." She breathed. "He loves me. He doesn't mean to hit me. He's just too caught up, too stressed." She whispered to herself, running her fingers over her torso. She had scars from past nights, when he had used things other than his fists to hit her.

She gasped, and started crying again. "I'm such a fool..." She cursed at herself. She wiped the tears from her face and peeled off the remaining clothing that was clinging desperately to her skin, and climbed in the shower.

Pete heard the water start running and knocked on the door. "Can I get your clothes, Jade?"

"Yeah." She replied, but her voice sounded distant, and not just because it was coming through the door. Pete opened the door slowly and watched for a moment as her shadow moved behind the shower curtain. He wasn't being perverted, he just cared for her; he cared for her and her well being. He shook his head sadly and picked up her clothes then back out slowly, closing the door behind him. He pulled the things out of her pockets, her cell phone and a wad of wet money, and dropped them on his bed on his way out.

He went down to the laundry room and piled her things into the washer, all save for her bloodstained shirt and bra. He looked around for the box of stain removers his mom kept in there. Peroxide always worked on blood, he'd know. He'd used it a hundred times, having done some pretty stupid things and staining lots of clothes. He poured it on the shirt and watched the stain fizz and bubble until it washed off. He did the same to the bra, and put them in the washer.

As he made his way back to his room, he could still hear the water running. He just wished that there was some way to show her that he loved her, show her that there was someone better then David in her life.

He wanted her to love him, because he knew it would make her happy and keep her away from danger. She'd been so close to death so many times, and she was still blinded by David's lies. How could she possibly believe that he loved her? If someone loved you, then they wouldn't beat you for hanging out with your friends.

Yes, Pete knew that David didn't like it when Jade was around him. But David would just have to deal, there was no way in hell Pete would ever let Jade go, especially with him.

A shrill ringing ripped Pete from his thoughts. His cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the screen. Patrick's name flashed across the screen, and he flipped his phone open and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" Patrick's voice sounded far off, like he was in a tunnel or something.

"Hey, what's going on?" Pete responded glumly, sounding awfully uninterested.

"Nothing, just checking in. You sound upset, what's wrong?" Patrick asked, his voice fading for a moment as he switched his phone from one ear to the other.

"Jade's here again."

"You haven't told her yet have you? You really need to say something, you know how badly she's getting hurt."

"I know Patrick, I know. I just," Pete paused. He didn't really know where to go with this. He wanted so badly to say something, but he couldn't bring himself to. What if Jade didn't respond in the right way? What if she didn't think he was really sincere? What if, what if, what if?

"Pete?" Patrick asked a minute later.

"Whuh? Oh, sorry. Look, I just don't know Patrick, I can't say anything." Pete said, burying his free hand in his pocket.

"So, what you're saying is, you want her to keep getting beaten and abused? You're saying that you don't want her to be happy? You're saying that you want him to keep scarring her, physically and mentally? You're saying--," Patrick was about to go on, but Pete quickly cut him off.

"Fine, you win! I'll tell her that I fucking love her, okay? Are you happy?" Pete shouted into his phone.

"Yes, yes I am." Patrick replied. "See you later Pete. Good luck with that." There was a click, and Pete knew Patrick had hung up on him. Pete rolled his eyes, and left the room as Jade opened the door to the bathroom.

Her eyes were wide, and her mouth hung open. "He loves me?" she breathed, not knowing whether to believe it or not. It would only make sense though, he cared so much about her. But it was deeper than just caring, he loved her with all of his heart. All of his heart that she'd broken when she said she loved David. His heart that she broke a little more every time she had ended up at his house.

She wished he had said something a year ago, when this all started. She'd already been with David for two years by the point, and he proposed to her. She'd been so happy then, but David hadn't. He'd started verbally abusing her whenever she came home from being out. It started with when she was out with anyone, she'd walk into their apartment and he'd immediately curse her out for being out. He didn't trust her with anyone but himself.

It got steadily worse, and Pete was there to witness all of it. He'd saved her from David once, and he had hoped that he wouldn't have to do it again. He and Jade used to fool around, piggy backs and tickling, but that all stopped. Jade didn't laugh like she usually did, she winced when he tickled her sides.

Pete got more and more curious as time went along. And one day, when she wasn't paying attention, he pulled her shirt up the littlest bit. There was a reddish purple mark on her side, and it made him wince looking at it. "Jade," he'd said, catching her attention. She gasped as she noticed he was looking at her bruises. "Where did you get /this/?"

"I fell." She lied, trying to end the conversation. Well, she didn't completely lie, she had fallen, but she had been pushed.

Pete groaned, thinking back to that first time he noticed her bruises. He wished then he had pushed her to get out of that relationship. He knew she'd lied to him, and he'd accepted that if she didn't want to tell him what was going on that he wouldn't ask. He pulled her clothes out of the washer, holding up the shirt to inspect it, before putting it in with the rest of her clothes. He shut the door a bit harshly and started the dryer.

By the time he had made it back up to his room, Jade was sitting on his bed, the towel still wrapped around her. She looked up at him, but didn't say anything.

"Why aren't you dressed?" He asked, looking at the pile of clothes next to her. "Oh, right. Bra and underwear. Forgot about that. It'll take like a half an hour for them to dry, I don't know what you wanna do until then." He said, looking at her. The cut on her cheek didn't look half as bad now that it was cleaned up.

"I'm so sorry Pete." She said, her toes tracing patterns in his carpet.

"For what?" He asked, only a little bit confused.

"For putting you through this. I shouldn't burden you with my problems, they're mine and I should take responsibility for them..." Jade let her voice fade as she looked down at her toes.

"Don't be silly, Jade. I care, of course I'll help you if you need my help." Pete moved over to her, and kneeled so that he was in her line of sight. "Jade, can I be completely honest for a minute?" She nodded, looking into his eyes. "David is an idiot for doing this to you, and you need to let him go. I'm sure there's someone so much better out there for you, and I'm sure you can find him if you just try."

Jade felt her eyes tear up again. She bit her lip to stop it from trembling. Pete raised his hand, placing it gently on her cheek. "Hey, come on now. Don't cry." He said with a smile on his face, trying to cheer her up. He ran his thumb along the bottom of her eye and wiped her tears away, making sure he didn't put any pressure on her chin.

"Pete," Jade said quietly, her eyes closed.

"Jade," He replied, hoisting himself up so he was at the same level as her. She opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Jade said, hanging her head.

"No, I'm sorry." He shook his head as her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"You're sorry? For what?" She asked, cocking her head to the side a little bit.

"For never telling you how much I love you. For never saving you from that jerk off of a fiancé you got there." He reached for her hand and pulled off her engagement ring. "Fuck him," he said as he tossed it to the ground. Jade's mouth hung open in shock. "He doesn't deserve you. I don't know if I do deserve you, but I know I'd treat you more than a hundred percent better than he does."

Jade didn't respond, then again, Pete didn't expect her to. He'd just told her that her fiancé was a jackass, took off her wedding ring and thrown it to the ground, and told her that he loved her.

"It's okay. I can take it if you don't care. I just care so much about you; I want you to be safe. It kills me every time I see you like this Jade, every cut and every bruise makes me want to do twice as much damage to David. I hate the guy and I've met him for like, ten seconds." Pete stopped rambling for a second and looked back to Jade.

She opened her mouth to speak, but didn't say anything. She closed it for a moment, and then opened it again. "You love me?"

Pete laughed. "Yeah. Yeah I do."

"Why?"

"Because," he paused, thinking for a moment. "There really isn't any specific reason Jade, I just do."

"Pete?" She asked, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking down as well.

"I love you too." She said quietly.

"What?" He asked, his head shooting up to look at her.

"Yeah. I always have, I just never knew you cared about me at all. That's why when I'm in trouble I come here. That's why I've memorized all the books on your shelf, all the stains in your carpet, all the lumps in your mattress." Jade admitted, a bit embarrassed.

"Are you serious?" Pete asked, completely not believing her words.

"One hundred percent. I don't want to be with David any more. I was just too afraid that he'd hurt me if I left him. Hurt me worse than he ever had before. So I put up with it, hoping maybe he would get tired of me and move on. He's already got another girl; I've seen him with her around town."

"He beats you and cheats on you? That's it. I can't take this guy any more. I swear to god--," Pete growled through his teeth.

"Pete, come on. Please? I know he deserves it, but I don't want to cause any more trouble right now." She shivered. He ran a calloused hand up and down her arm. He stood up, and she stood with him.

Pete desperately wanted to say something clever about her beauty, but he couldn't find his words. His wit had gone when his breath did, just as he realized there was only a towel and a layer of clothing separating their bodies.

He looked into her eyes as she looked into his. They were completely silent, then Jade's arm moved, and her fingers tangled into his hair as she stood on her tip toes, pressing her lips gently onto his. He put one hand gently on her face, being careful of her bruises, and snaked the other behind her back.

Her eyes fluttered closed as his did, and she leaned back onto his bed. This was so sudden, this rush of passion, but it felt so right. Jade broke the kiss and looked into Pete's eyes. He had climbed on top of her on the bed, and was already breathing a little bit oddly. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"This..." Jade breathed. "This feels right."

"This is what you want?" Pete asked, holding himself up with one hand as he brushed her bangs out of her face with his other hand. Jade nodded, and Pete smiled as he leaned down to kiss her again.

The moment got more heated with every kiss, every movement, every moan. Pretty soon everything but Pete's boxers had been thrown to the floor. He pulled them off quickly as she pulled the sheets over their bodies. He kissed her again, pressing his body into hers.

"You're sure?" He asked, leaning up on his elbows.

"Completely. I've never been surer of anything in my life," she said, and Pete frowned. She laughed, "Except when I said I love you."

"I love you too." He breathed, leaning down to place a kiss on her lips. He pulled away for a second, and she groaned, disappointed. He laughed and kissed her lips quickly, then led a trail of kisses to her ear, then down her neck to her collarbone. "You know, I like this," he said, his free hand roaming over her torso carefully.

----------------------------------------

Mrs. Wentz clapped her hand to her mouth as she opened the door to her son's room the next morning. The last thing she expected to see was two bodies among the sheets on his bed. She lowered her hand and smiled. Mission accomplished, as far as she was concerned. If Jade was with Peter, then she wasn't with David. And without David was a good place to be.

She knew that Peter would treat Jade as any woman would deserve to be treated, and she was happy about that. And she was happy that she would be able to sleep soundly now. She was always so worried about Jade, and she was always wondering if the pool girl was alright.

She smiled, and closed the door slowly. The knob clicked, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Pete stirred in his bed, yawning as his arms stretched over his head. He rolled over, draping his arm over Jade's body as he fell asleep again. He had a smile on his face, a smile identical to her smile. A smile that said everything was right for once. That everything was good.