Unbroken (a danisnotonfire fiction)

Chapity Eight

"Yeah sure Phil." I said quickly wiping tears away from my eyes.

Phil gave me a big hug. "What's the matter?" He asked me thoughtfully.

"I-I." I swallowed. "I'm worried that D-dan will get get hurt." I managed to stutter. Phil smiled at me. "You know how there are those superheros that get strength from people in trouble?"
"Yeah..."

He smiled again. "Well Dan is one of those people. When he hit Brad he was in a moment where he had the strength because it was something that he really believed in." Phil continued. "Well Dan is not going to give up that strength when you're still in trouble."

I was still uneasy. "You don't know how hard Brad can hit."

"Well for one." Phil interrupted. "I can see that with your face here." He pointed to my bruised cheek.

"Yeah well what if Dan gets hurt?" I crossed my arms. "And over something like some girl he just met."

Phil sighed and then straightened up with a gleam in his eye. "I'll go too."

"No." I groaned and put Dan's pillow over my head. "I can't have both of you getting hurt."

"I've fought in the Sims 4 before as my virtual son." Phil said playfully. "I can handle it."

Phil gave me another hug and left to go get changed. I put on my shirt and rolled up the sweatpants. I walked out of Dan's room and found Dan wearing just black socks and deep in concentration editing a video in the office.

"Dan?" I asked uncertainly. He jumped.

"Geez Jess you scared me!" Dan said indignantly holding his hand to his chest and catching his breath.

"You total dork, all I want is a brush!" I whined playfully.

Dan jumped up and walked to his room and I was struck by how tall he was.

"How tall are you Dan?" I asked as he searched for a brush in his room.

"6 ft 3 inches." Dan replied distractedly. "Ah here it is." He went to hand the brush to me but it slipped out of his hand and fell onto the floor.

I grabbed the brush off the floor and started brushing my hair.  Dan sat on his bed and watched me.

"So how did he even get you?" Dan asked.

"What?" I stopped brushing my hair and looked at him.

"How did Brad even get a girl like you?"

I sighed and pushed my hair over my shoulder and divided it into sections. I sighed and spoke softly as I braided my hair. 

"He used to be nice. He said that he loved me." My vision went blurry and my eyes stung. I squinted both of my eyes to stop the tears. 

"But I didn't leave him when he started to leave more and more." I said fiercely. "He would go out and drink or be with other girls and I just pretended not to know."

Dan reached out and held my hand and squeezed it, and I took a shaky breath and continued. 

"One day I was sick of it. I wanted to move out. I confronted him about it ." 

Dan asked quietly. "What happened?"

I lifted up my shirt just enough so he could see the bruises and scars. "This."

 I sat down next to him and he held my hand and squeezed it tightly.

"You are so much better than him Jess." He said with the same rigor as the first time I met him. "He never deserved you."

I leaned against Dan and took a breath to steady myself and we sat there silent and breathed.