A Troublesome Teammate

Why The Change?

"Paul! What took you so long? Is everything alright? What's that?" Dawn asked pointing to the basket in pails hands.
"Just a few things I picked up. Here." Paul handed Dawn the mini bouquet of roses and sat the basket down on the table.
Dawn's eyes walked up with tears as she ran to hug Paul.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now go put them away. The basket is full of movie stuff pick a movie and put it in while I make this popcorn.

Time skip 1 hour.

Dawn and Paul were watching another scary movie. This one was about killer clowns and Dawn was scared shitless. During a particularly gory scene she jumped and buried her head into Paul's shoulder, gripping onto his shirt for dear life.
"Scared troublesome? It's just a movie, even if it wasn't they wouldn't hurt you. Not with me here."
Paul reached his arm up and wrapped it around dawn and let her burry her face in his chest. She looked at him with tears in her eyes and he decided to pause the movie.
"Dawn, what happened to you?"
"What do you mean?".
"You used to be so bubbly and optimistic. It was pretty annoying actually how happy you always were. And what's the story with the glasses freak stalking you?"
"A lot happened Paul. Things I'd rather not say."
"You didn't answer my second question."
"Conway stole something from me that I can never get back. It was very Pretious to me and he destroyed it. It'll never be good for anything because he tainted it. And now every time I see him I can only remember the pain he put me through."
What did he steal?
"I don't wanna talk about it."
"Ok."
Paul turned the movie back on and decided to let the conversation go. He was perfectly content with dawn in his arms. It took him nearly 30 minutes to realize how happy he felt for the first time in his life. He had never felt as calm and comfortable as he did at that vwry moment on the couch in front of the fireplace dawn snuggled on his chest and the two of them sharing a blanket. It felt so natural but foregin at the same time. He had never experienced this and he became nervous. As if she could hear his thoughts dawn sat up and started talking.
"I'm sorry. Im laying on you, I know you don't like physical contact." Dawn got up to go sit on the other side of the couch when Paul stopped her. He grabbed her wrist to sit her back down but she flinched.
"Dawn," Paul spoke softly. Dawn was a little shocked as she had never heard Paul talk like this. "Why do you flinch when I touch you? Are you scared of me? I may be mean but I would NEVER hurt you dawn. Look at me." He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her eyes up to his. "I would never hurt you. I want you to tell me why you are so different, why you're so scared. I don't like it. You're not as troublesome like this and it doesn't seem right."
"I know you wouldn't hurt me Paul. I trust you. I will try to talk about it one day, I'm just not ready. Please be patient with me."
"Ok dawn."
Paul once again wrapoed his arms around dawn and pulled her close to him. She could hear his heartbeat and hers began to beat in sync with it. She felt herself beginning to drift off to sleep when she felt Paul brush her hair from her face. She opened her eyes to see Paul gazing at her. They sat in silence for a full 2 minutes just staring at each other.
"Are you ready for bed?" Dawn broke the silence.
"Yes, are you?"
"Yes. Do you mind t-t-tucking me in? I'm not sure why but I feel safer with you around. " She blushed as she spoke.
Paul got up and walked her to get room. He waited for her to lay down before walking over to her and covering her up. As he turned to walk away dawn stopped him.
Will you sleep in here tonight? I'm still very scared and don't want to be alone. "
Paul was shocked but agreed. He said in the bed next to her and heald her until she fell asleep. He then closed his eyes and began to dream. In his dream he saw Dawn and himself traveling together and having adventures. He was the happiest he had ever been and the world seemed perfect. His dream was disrupted about 4 hours later when he heard dawn taking in her sleep.
"Get off of me! Don't touch me! It hurts please Conway get off of me! I said NO!"
Paul was furious as all sorts of sanarios ran through his mind. What had that pervert done to dawn to make her like this?! He looked at her and noticed for the first time that Dawn's arms were covered with self inflicted scars. He shed a tear at the sight before waking dawn from her nightmare.
"Dawn, dawn, wake up!"
"Make it stop!!! Paul please make it stop. I'm so scared you're going to leave!" She burrows her face deep into Paul's chest and began sobbing!
"Dawn please tell me what's going on? What are you afraid of?"
"When you find out you'll want nothing to do with me."
"Why did you do this?!" Paul pulled Dawn's arms up showing her her scars.
"My body is full of dishonor and shame."
"Why? And why do you say I'll leave?"
"Because I'm impure Paul. You want to know what changed me? Conway changed me. The night he raped me."