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TW: mention of r*pe
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Third Person POV - Carrington Manor - February 14th

Liam's eyes welled with tears to fill the empty sight of the cold bedroom.

A small sob left his mouth as his hope was crushed faster than it had appeared, and he slowly made his way to the bed.

"Liam?"

The whisper mixed with sadness and relief, though soft, made Liam jump. With a gasp and a hand clutched at his chest, his body whirled around to face where it came from, his thoughts racing through his mind at an incomprehensible pace. His eyes widened and tears fell from his cheeks as the sight he had so long yearned to see stood in front of the open doors.

"Fallon!" he cried, dropping his arm from his heart and running across the length of the room.

Their bodies collided as he flung himself at his wife, both pairs of arms wrapping around the other. Fallon tucked her head in Liam's shoulder, his shirt quickly becoming wet with her tears. Liam stroked his hand through her hair as he cried more tears of his own

"Oh, Liam, I missed you so much!" she sobbed.

"It's okay, baby. I missed you, too."

He planted a kiss on the top of her head.

For the next few minutes, they just stood at the entrance of the bedroom, arms around each other, until their cries had calmed down into slightly uneven breathing.

Not losing contact with each other, the two sat on the little bench that stood at the end of the bed. Liam left another kiss in her hair as he slowly pulled away, looking at Fallon's face. He analyzed her features, and, to his surprise, she looked really good. Now, she always looked good, but for someone who had been supposedly kidnapped for the past three months, she looked good. Her makeup was done and her hair sat nicely on her shoulders, and she was, in fact, wearing a white button-down shirt and blue skinny-jeans. Aside from a few bruises along the length of her arms and on her cheek, no one would had known that anything had ever happened.

Liam brushed a finger along the bruise on her cheek.

"What happened, Fal?" he asked, his voice no more than a whisper.

"U-Uhm, I know I've been gone for quite a while," she started. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt and avoided eye contact. "And I know that you want to know everything that happened, but I want to keep my explanation a 'need to know' thing. I need it to be a 'need to know' thing."

She kept her gaze away from Liam until he tilted her chin upwards. He leaned forward until their lips met, and they shared a soft kiss for a few moments. He pulled away and smiled, happy that he was able to kiss his wife again.

"As much as I'd like to know every detail of every second, you explain as much as you feel need be. So please, tell me what happened. We've been worried sick."

"I know," she responded, "and I'm sorry."

Liam furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why are you sorry? None of this is your fault."

Fallon looked down to her lap and played with the ends of her shirt again. With a questioning look, Liam urged her to go on.

"I wasn't kidnapped, Liam. I ran away."

He softly gasped and his eyes widened, but he made no efforts for any other movement.

"The second I woke up in the hospital bed, I unhooked myself from the machines and climbed out the window."

"But... But why?" was all he could get out.

"Remember, I'm keeping this strictly 'need to know.'"

He nodded, his eyes never leaving hers, even if hers were guided somewhere else. She looked up and their eyes met, but she looked away again when she started to speak.

"I had to get revenge. I couldn't lay in a hospital room with all the care I needed knowing that those jackasses were still out there. I don't know what you think happened back in the warehouse, but Eva and Evan were not left dead. So I ran away to go finish the job."

Liam remained silent, trying to process this new information.

"Well, this is quite the plot twist," he said quietly. "Definitely not what I was expecting."

"Now, please don't be mad, but I did kill them."

As a surprise to both of them, Liam chuckled.

"I'm not mad. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm not mad. They deserved it, right?"

Fallon softly smiled.

"But that doesn't explain why you were gone for over three months," he continued.

With the hard part out of the way, Fallon was able to make eye contact with Liam for more than a few seconds.

"I know. There were some... complications."

"What complications?" he asked, his voice a little harsher than a whisper.

She softly sighed and had a small smile on her lips.

"'Need to know.' Right."

"Right," she repeated.

She paused before continuing, and the smile fell from her lips.

"Finding them was the easy part. Killing them and finding a way back was the hard part. I went back to the warehouses, and luckily, they were both still around. However, they saw me, and they tried to run. It was easy to track them back down."

She smirked, and Liam lifted an eyebrow.

"I had them cornered, but one thing led to another, and Evan r*ped me again. But don't worry, I took care of them after that."

Liam's eyes widened.

"Don't worry? Fallon, after everything that's happened, I don't think I can do anything but worry!"

She ignored his comment and spoke again.

"I chased them quite a ways away, and I had no clue where I was or where I wanted to go. I met this man, Peter, and he helped me find my way back to Atlanta," she told him.

"Is this Peter still around?"

She chuckled.

"No, he had to get back to his job in New York that he wouldn't tell me about. He was a nice man; very friendly and helpful. I hope I can see him again someday.... And that brings us to now. I snuck into the manor, but I didn't have to; no one was here."

"Yeah, 'cause everyone was looking for you. They probably still are," he cut in.

"I figured."

When she didn't continue, Liam's eyes filled with tears again and he embraced her in a warm hug. She wrapped her arms around him immediately. He knew there was more to the story; something she wasn't telling him. But right now, he decided to let it go.

"God, I missed you so much," he cried.

She whispered back, "I missed you, too."

"I want to know more about your journey."

"I know, but-"

"'Need to know.' I know."

She sighed.

"Tell me as much as you want me to know," he said.

She didn't speak.

"I love you."

"I love you."
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