Introductions

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Part 8

Trevor honestly didn’t care who it was banging on the door of the hotel room. Anyone at all would be better than him, seeing as he hadn’t been able to do ANYTHING right so far.

Thank the Powers the door wasn’t fully latched when he’d gotten there, though, or he never would have gotten in himself.

He almost wished he hadn’t.

He’d gotten there and lucked out, although he figured it was more likely the Powers at work, when a young couple had slipped out the back door, giving him access to the secured building without having to pass the front desk. All the clerks would have done was slow him down while they tried to call room 1736… if they’d even tried, what with Trevor not knowing whose room it was or anything else, for that matter.

As it had gone, though, he’d slipped in through the back and managed to get onto the elevator without being seen. He’d found the room easily enough, suffering a bad moment when he knocked and got no answer repeatedly. Finally, he’d noticed the small gap between door and jamb. It hadn’t been enough to let the door swing open under his knuckles, but his shoulder was another matter.

He’d slammed himself against the wood-faced steel door and almost fallen into the room when it opened. And that was when he heard the hopeless whimpering, so soft he would have missed it if there had been any sort of noise in the room.

"Hello…?" he’d called softly, not wanting to scare whoever was making the sound, his eyes opening wide as his greeting was answered with louder whimpers and moans of ‘no, no, no…’.

The bathroom was the obvious place since there was nobody apparent in the rest of the room and Trevor had slowly approached the open door, frowning at the humidity he’d just noticed. "Hello," he’d said again, almost whispering the word as he looked through the door, only to freeze in shock. It was…

"Robert!" his voice had broken, seeing the young man all curled in on himself under steaming, pounding water.

The younger man had looked at him, horrified, then screamed although it wasn’t a particularly loud scream. "No!" Trevor had heard, "Get out, get out, get OUT…"

That had been almost an hour ago and every time since that he’d tried to even enter the bathroom, the blond had freaked out, one time badly enough to crack his head on the edge of the tub, leaving an angry-looking welt.

He had no idea of what to do. SOMETHING had obviously happened to the younger man but it was equally obvious that Robert didn’t want HIM there.

Trevor had been sighing deeply when the hard banging at the door started, and…
He rushed to it, flinging it open. "Thank Gods, I need… ELLIOT?"

Elliot stared at the confused look on his lover’s face and nodded, then kissed him hard. "Where is he?" he demanded, his eyes darting around the room quickly.

"Uh, bathroom and he… fuck, El, he screams every time I try to… and I don’t know what happened and… FUCK! El, I… I think he hates me…"

And as much as Elliot wanted to go to Robert right then, he didn’t. Instead, he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, then wrapped his lover tight in his arms, holding him close.

"No… no, Trev… how could anyone hate you?" He kissed the brunette’s hair softly, trying to make him hear how much he meant it. "But, baby… I… you don’t know how…"

Elliot sighed and pulled away, anxiety racing through him at the thought that he was neglecting the young man in the bathroom. "He was raped," he said softly, meeting suddenly horrified brown eyes. "Your sister says he was drugged first so chances are he doesn’t remember it, but… he knows what happened."

"Oh… Oh, Gods El… I should... I mean I don't… what can I do?"

He reached into his pants pocket and handed Trevor the credit card Spike had given him earlier. "Get him some clothes. Sweats… some of those boxer-briefs. They’ll make him feel more secure. Things that will fit him closely. Then a set of looser things he can wear over them. He’ll… need to feel safe. New toothbrush, hairbrush, comb… new razor. Everything." Elliot gave a sickly smile. "The last thing he’s gonna want is to be reminded of who he was before it happened. For a while, anyway."

Trevor swallowed hard and nodded. "I… yeah. But… fuck, baby… how do we get him out of… there." His eyes were haunted and damp as he nodded towards the bathroom and the shower he could still hear running.

The blond sighed softly, kissing Trevor’s cheek apologetically. "WE don’t, love. I do."

"But…"

Elliot shook his head. "Trevor, I love you. I do. But… you don’t know what he’s going through."

"I can imagine…" the brunette said softly, staring as his lover with concern.

Elliot sighed again. "No. You can’t. Nobody could EVER imagine what it’s like to be… violated. To have all control taken away. Not unless it happens, and then…" He shook his head. "Please, Trev. Just go. Get what he’ll need and… call up when you get back. This is gonna be… hard."

Trevor blinked quickly. "You…? El…"

The blond smiled shakily. "It’s a long story, baby… now do what I asked and let me get him out of there, okay? I’ve… also been on the friend of the raped end before. With my unit. I’ll handle it." He kissed Trevor again, this time on the lips and even more softly than the cheek kiss was. "Love you, Trev."

The man swallowed hard and nodded. "O… okay… I… Gods, El, I love you, too." And with a swift returned kiss, he was gone.

* * * * *

He removed everything but his underwear before moving towards the open bathroom door, his eyes sad and hopeful at the same time. The last thing Robert needed was to be shamed by his own nakedness when confronted with someone fully clothed, but he also didn’t need to be threatened with a penis.

"Robert," he murmured softly, not looking past the door jamb, "It’s Elliot."

He heard the soft mumbling of ‘no, no, no’ and shook his head, the east Texas drawl coming out as it hadn’t done in years. "Yeah, darlin’… it’s me… I’m coming in."

His eyes closed for a moment as the mumbles became whimpers but he didn’t let that stop him. He stepped over the threshold, then opened his eyes and looked at the tub.

"Darlin’," he sighed sadly, moving closer and dropping down outside the porcelain enclosure, "Please… look at me…"

The younger man’s head shook wildly and all Elliot could do was reach out to touch one shuddering shoulder, gasping at the temperature of the water. "Robert… God, darlin’… you’re gonna cook yourself!"

* * * * *

He was having a nightmare. He had to be. There was no way that any of this was happening.

Maybe he’d never gone to Tulsa, or gone to that club. And if that were true, then he wasn’t slowly par-boiling himself, and that was good.

Then again, if it was a lie, then… Elliot wasn’t there and he so BADLY wanted Elliot to be there… but if Elliot was there… then he was dirty and soiled and worthless and…

"No…" Robert whispered, shaking all over. "I’m not… don’t… don’t touch me… not your darling… never anyone’s darling again…" He shivered in the heat pouring down over him.

And that was enough, Elliot decided. ENOUGH. God knew how long the young man had been under that water. HE didn’t. Obviously for as long as Trevor had been there, though, and that was more than long enough.

He shifted, turning the knobs until the water stopped, leaving a shuddering, shivering Robert cringing against white porcelain.

"I’m going to get a robe," the older man murmured, "and wrap you in it. Then I’m going to carry you to the bed and wrap you up safe and warm in the blankets, darlin’. There’s nothing to worry about. Nothing’s gonna hurt you, okay?"

And the soft words, almost a promise, made him nod slowly, even as his body tensed.

The robe he found hanging on the hook behind the bathroom door was one of the very thick white terry cloth variety, Elliot noticed with satisfaction. It would give Robert one more layer of protection between him and the world. He was glad the boy had been drugged, though. Things would have been much worse if Robert remembered the particulars of the rape.

He moved back to the side of the tub and sat on its edge, waiting until the younger man looked in his direction-not AT him, but in his direction. "Come here, darlin’… I’m not gonna hurt you. You know that, right?"

He didn’t deserve to be treated so nicely, Robert knew, but… he wanted to be. He wanted the comfort of those arms that held out the robe and he didn’t have the right to want comfort because it was his own fault, but… he slowly stood, his knees knocking, skin bright red from the water, his head hanging as he stared at his feet. "I… I…"

"Hush, darlin’," Elliot insisted, wrapping the thick cloth around the shivering young man as he deliberately didn’t look at the exposed form. "You didn’t do anything wrong," he continued in a softer voice. "I know you didn’t." He lifted the blond, glad he’d been training again for the last few months because he didn’t want to seem all soft and out of shape; not to this man, and not even in this situation.

He carried him slowly from the bathroom then set him down on the end of the bed while he pulled the covers back before moving Robert to the center of the huge bed and pulling the top sheet, blanket and bedspread up to the young man’s chin.

"There, darlin’," he said softly, fingers stroking the hot, sweating brow, "Nothing’s gonna touch you now. Not while I’m here to watch over you, okay?"

Robert swallowed hard, still unable to look Elliot in the face. "I… I was…" and to his own horror, he burst into tears, the great, wracking sobs convulsing through his entire body. He felt the arms pulling him close over the blankets and he sobbed harder. "D-don’t deserve… never clean enough… never again…"

All Elliot could do was hold him. He had no choice. His arms had wound around Robert, keeping the covers between their skin, as soon as the younger man had started crying.

He held on, tight enough to comfort but loose enough that the other blond didn’t feel trapped. And all the while, all he could think of was… finding the person who had done this to the boy… and killing him. Slowly. Painfully. Messily.

* * * * *

It had been half an hour since he’d finished embarrassing himself, Robert thought. Thirty minutes since he’d been able to stop sobbing and wailing.

He figured he should have been asleep due to his ‘ordeal’, but… he didn’t want to sleep. He had a sneaking suspicion that his mind would provide all the details he didn’t want to know about… and sleeping might mean the man beside him would leave.

He wouldn’t blame him, Robert knew. Hell, he was surprised Elliot was still there, seeing as the man seemed to know what had happened.

Useless. Worthless. Dirty. No good.

Those were the things Robert now knew he was. If he wasn’t, then… he wouldn’t have trusted Ricky. Believed the man was a nice person. There were NO nice people, Robert realized…

And then Elliot rubbed his cheek against his hair and he re-evaluated.

There were no nice people aside from Elliot… and Lily… Spike and Harris… and Trevor.
That last name had him tensing and pulling away from the man holding him.

"What?" Elliot said softly, afraid Robert was having some sort of drug-induced flashback. "Darlin’…"

"W-what about… I…" Robert bit his lip as Elliot dragged him back into his chaste embrace. "T-trevor…"

The older blond sighed. "I sent him shopping for you, darlin’… so we could talk."

They hadn’t done much talking, Robert knew, but… he was managing to NOT freak out for the moment, so… "Talk, then."

And Elliot did, beginning at the point that would matter to Robert and his current emotional situation.

"It was a good eight years ago now," he began then stopped. "But if this is gonna make sense, darlin’, I have to tell you some things you might not know about me, so… when I was seventeen I signed up. The military. And after a few months…"

He told Robert about his past, his training, his missions… he even told him about John.

And then he told him about what had happened to him in Cleveland. He was sure it wouldn’t make Robert feel any better, but… it would hopefully help him feel less alone to know he wasn’t the only one who’d ever been… violated.

* * * * *

(A/N: Thanks to TheShadowCat for the review on part 7. And yes, this IS the story where we find out about Trevor and his sis. Just not quite yet. LOL But believe me, it's coming... eventually. *snerk* And as I believe I said at least once before... I'm EVIL. :P)