Hero (Tom Hiddleston)

13

 She was only blacked out a few seconds, not even enough time for Scarlett, who had whipped out her cell phone, to finish the job and call an ambulance. Tom dropped to his knees beside her and Chris, grabbing her hand as her eyes flew open again.

"Shae," he said steadily. "Shae, it's me. I'm here, you're safe."

She looked at him with utter confusion in her eyes, her panicked breathing slowly steadying. "I..." she started, then froze as realization dawned in her eyes. "Kye."

"What?" he asked.

"My... my phone..." she attempted shakily, looking around until her eyes found it where she'd dropped it when she blacked out. Her hand was trembling as she reached out to it and picked it up.

Now that he was focused on it, Tom could hear a faint, frantic voice coming from the little device that she was now raising to her ear.

"Kye," she whispered. "It's okay. I'm alright."

Tom could just hear the reply.

"Oh my God, Shae, what happened? Where is he? I'm gonna murder him! Oh my God, I'm gonna murder them all! Where are you?"

"I..." She shook her head slowly, and Tom saw that she was beginning to cry. "I just ran into... Tom. The guys who were... back there... ran off when I screamed. I don't know, Kye. I'm so confused."

"You're with Tom?" the voice on the other line pressed. "How?"

"I have no idea," Shae breathed. "I... I just..."

"Hey," her friend said steadily. "you know by now he's looking out for you, Shae. I don't know what you could call this except a God thing."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I know."

"You're gonna be alright," he enforced softly. "I'm gonna let you go, but call me when you get everything figured out. Okay?"

"Okay," she sighed.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

She ended the call and slid her phone into her back pocket, but she kept her head down.

Gently, Tom reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Look at me, Love."

She was almost shaking as she forced her gaze up to his.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

She shook her head, attempting to look away, but stopping as he squeezed her shoulder gently. "I... I'm fine..."

"Shae," he sighed. "I know that's a lie."

"I was... I was just out for a walk, and a guy started... solicitating me and threatening me. And I just... panicked."

"Out for a walk with your backpack, huh?"

She opened her mouth, the desperation in her eyes making it clear she thought she had to lie to keep herself safe. It was a defense mechanism for her, to hide everything that she truly felt... like it was weakness. Because in the world she'd been living it, it was.

"Darling, I'm not going to hurt you," he murmured.

That was finally too much for her. Her eyes snapped shut, but the tears started flowing down her cheeks anyway. The two words she choked out were all she could manage. "I know."

He nodded, feeling tears bite at his own eyes, just because it broke his heart to see her so shattered, so terrified. "Alright. Good. Now. Let's go to the police station and get it all worked out, yeah?"

She swallowed hard and nodded.

He rose, then reached down to offer her his hand and lifting her up as well. Without even really thinking about it, he slipped his jacket off and wrapped it around her shoulders, turning to his group briefly.

"I'm going to get her taken care of," he told them quietly. "But thank you all for coming out." He met Chris's eyes and nodded to him. "And thank you, Chris."

The Australian reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "Anytime, alright? Call me and let me know what happens, or if you need anything, alright?"

Tom nodded, offering him a tight smile and repeating, "Thank you."

"Tom," Scarlett cut in, "let me come with you, alright? So she has another woman here just in case she needs one. Yeah?"

He immediately saw the logic behind her words and nodded in gratitude, saying yet again, "Thank you."

She turned to the shocked, shaking teenager and offered her a small smile. "Shae, right?"

The girl managed to nod, her eyes wide as she realized who she was talking to.

"I'm Scarlett," the older woman told her anyway. "Is it alright if I come with you two?"

Once again, Shae nodded.

"Alright," Tom said, amazed at how calm he actually felt, despite everything that had happened in the past five minutes, "let's get it all sorted out."

Well, guys, that was about a ten month wait for a short, sucky chapter. A million apologies to anyone who's actually still reading. This year was insane in a lot of bad ways, not to mention this part was giving me horrible writer's block, but I'm hoping I'm through the block, and it's finally summer. See you soon, and thanks for reading.