She didn't think her hands had ever shook so much as they were in that moment.

She was cold despite the warm clothes, wearing yesterday's jeans with one of Kyle's long sleeved t-shirts - he was closer to her size than Jared.

She sat waiting at the park - not the ideal place, but Craig was at the house, so she couldn't afford to go there. She had been waiting for the past ten minutes, had been given an extended lunch by Jared - who was waiting on a bench just a bit away where he could see her but not hear, so that she at least had privacy, but so that there was someone there for her in case things didn't go well.

She tapped her fingers against the bench, counting under her breath as she glanced around, looking for the woman. When she saw her approaching, she went to stand up but found that all of her strength had disappeared and it took everything in her to just raise her hand slightly as Mary approached.

"Amelia, darling, what did you want to meet me here for?" The woman asked, her familiar green eyes filled with confusion as she took in the damage to her daughter's body. "What happened? Who hurt you?"

"Th-that's what I wanted to talk to you about, Mum...it's been going on a while..."

"What has, Amelia?"

The girl tried to speak quickly, stumbling and stuttering over words as she forced herself to speak to the woman. Why was it so difficult? She had given a statement detailing everything, had allowed pictures to be taken for evidence, had done everything but just facing her mother was making her lungs seize and voice disappear."It-it was Craig, Mum. He's been hu-hurting me when...when you've been at work. It's been going on for a long time. I-I never wanted to tell you - I didn't want to hurt you, but I can't keep it to myself any-anymore. It's too much."

There had been a lot she had been expecting to see on her mother's face; concern, worry, guilt...but anger was not one of them. She watched as the woman's usually kind and gentle eyes narrowed and her soft cheeks reddened as she rose to her feet. "You dare say such things about such a kind man. You have no idea what Craig has done for you, Amelia! I will not have you making up such lies about that man! After all the love he has given you!"

"Love!" Amelia scoffed before she could help herself. "Your husband has been beating me senseless on a weekly basis for as long as I can remember! I am not lying! I swear, Mum...I wouldn't lie about such a thing...I'm telling you the truth...please believe me."

She watched as the woman glowered at her, looking down her nose. "You will not be living under my roof if you continue with this. I understand that you have not been getting as much attention as you would like, but such allegations are..."

Before she could second guess herself, Amelia crossed her arms protectively over her ribs. "I would rather live on the streets. How could you believe him over your own daughter?"

Mary didn't respond, instead turning and leaving the way she had approached.

Amelia waited until she was out of sight before collapsing back onto the bench and allowing the cries to escape. She felt warm arms over her shoulders and curled into them as she sobbed.

"She didn't believe me," she mumbled against the damp shoulder of Jared's sweater. "She didn't believe me, sh-she kicked me out."

Jared held her tighter, avoiding any bruises he could see. "You don't have anything important at the house, do you?"

Shaking her head, the girl mumbled, "no. There's clothes back there, but anything important I keep at SI."

"Perfect. You can stay with me, Kiddo, you can keep the room from last night. It's gonna work out...d'you wanna get back? Distract yourself?" He knew her, knew that whenever anything was even remotely wrong the girl would hide out at her workstation with a pair of headphones turned up to full volume, and work until her mind cleared and her thoughts disappeared. He was the same - they had bonded over late nights and cold takeaways in the early hours of the morning.

"Please...I'll be fine when we get there, it's just...everything's happening so fast."

They drove back in silence, the only noises being the singer on the radio and the irritated noise of road rage, both thinking.

Pulling into the car park but not unfastening his seat belt, Jared turned to the teenager, a serious expression on his face - a rare one, but one which had been on his face all day. "You going to be okay in there, Kid?"

She smiled slightly, giving a slight nod. "I will be. I think I just want to get to work and forget about what's going on."

"Alright." Jared gave her a teasing grin, "we're leaving at 5:00 tonight - no later this time. You need some new clothes and my fridge is empty."

"Aye aye Captain." Amelia gave a crooked salute, as she climbed out.

Entering the lab, she was surprised when Donna and Kay quietly approached her with warm smiled on their faces and wrapped her in a tight hug that seemed to pull all of her fractured pieces back together.

"Come on, ladies," Jared joked with a light chuckle. "Give her some space."

They did as they had been told, retreating to their own workstations and continuing with their projects. Amelia smiled in amusement as Kay made herself comfortable on the ground beside her desk, legs crossed with her notes on her left and a temporarily unidentifiable piece of plastic in her hand; she was working to create a camera powered by Artificial Intelligence.

"Hey, Jar'," Amelia began, "do you mind coming to test this out? I'm pretty sure that it should be working right this time."

The two grimaced at the thought of what had happened last time they had been testing this particular invention. There was a reason neither of them were allowed in the test lab alone - though Donna was sceptical that the two of them being together was much better.

Jared shrugged on his lab coat in an effort to protect his clothes, while Amelia tied her hair back. "Any chance we can test this on something other than me?"

The girl laughed. "Sorry, Boss. That wouldn't be putting it into action."

The man sighed, waiting until she slipped the slim ring onto her finger, the metallic silver plate facing him as she made a fist and pointed to him. He groaned quietly before taking a few steps forward and touching the stone.

Amelia grabbed the man as his eyes rolled back and his legs buckled, grabbing a bottle of water from the workstation for when he woke.

"Least we know it w'rks," Jared grumbled a few minutes later, propping himself up on his elbows and taking a sip of water. "That...that isn't good."