A/N: Sorry if the violence in this story seems a little over the top. I kind of wanted to establish Larry as a fierce protector and defender... as well as someone who is a bit nuts. LOL! Also, it was kind of fun doing something with his character that I've never done before!

Terri moaned in delight as she bit into her cheeseburger. After the day she had, it tasted like heaven. It took her a few seconds to notice that Larry was staring at her adoringly as she wolfed down her meal. At least, she hoped it was an adoring stare. Maybe she had mustard on her chin?

"Do I have something on my face?" Terri asked him through a mouthful, wiping at her chin with her napkin.

Larry shook his head, his eyes sparkling with mirth. He took a fry from her plate and bit into it.

"No, nothing like that. I just love how you're holding your burger..." Larry mimicked her body language, holding his pinkies up as he held an invisible burger in front of him. "As hungry as you are, you're still a lady about it. I think it's so cute."

"Oh..." Terri blushed, cracking a small smile. "I'm glad you don't think I'm being a pig...but I am pretty hungry."

"Terri, you haven't eaten anything all day! Go ahead and enjoy yourself...I won't judge!" Larry laughed, munching on another fry. It was quite amusing watching her go to town on that burger, however. He wondered where she put it all. He cringed a little, feeling guilty about the fact that Terri had left for work that morning without any time to eat. Normally, he would have visited her at the hospital in order to drop some sort of lunch off for her, as she often did for him when the roles were reversed. Unfortunately, Larry wasn't able to get away from the car lot in order to help Terri out. They had both experienced very busy days today. He just hated the thought of his girl having to eat crackers out of the vending machine, but that was the reality that she had faced that day.

"I'm so hungry, that I could eat another one!" Terri joked, although she probably could. She was already halfway done with her first.

"Great!" Larry smiled. He jumped up to his feet and strolled over to the bar to take her order.

Terri smiled to herself as she faintly heard Larry gushing to the bartender about how amazing and wonderful she was as he ordered her another burger. She loved the attention, but it also kind of made her feel a little awkward as well. She didn't feel that anyone was worthy of such praise. As Larry went on and on, Terri thought about how lucky she was too. Larry was nothing like the obnoxious creep he came across as in their first few meetings. He was sweet...almost sickeningly so. He was loving, caring, very funny, generous towards her and totally devoted to their relationship. No flirting with other women, no messing around at all. Obviously, he was pretty cute too. He was a dream. Terri wondered where the catch was. There just had to be one. Yet, other than a few minor emotional problems and surprising periods of oversensitivity and sadness, there were no real issues or problems with Larry. Truthfully, she felt the same way about him then he did about her. However, Larry was very extroverted and freely expressed himself and gushed about his feelings to anyone that would listen. Terri was the polar opposite...she was more quiet and reserved and was not the type to openly vocalize such feelings to anyone except under the right circumstances. She kept everything inside and preferred to be dignified. She was the ice to his fire.

Terri was pulled from her thoughts as Larry came back to their table. He placed a tray that had another burger, some fries and four bottles of beer in front of her.

"Ta-dah!" Larry said with a playful little flourish. He had a huge smile on his face and appeared to be completely high off of love. He sat back down in his seat across the table from her.

Terri eyed the beer bottles curiously.

"Two for you, two for me." Larry explained to her, chuckling at her surprise.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" Terri teased him.

Larry bit his bottom lip to suppress laughter. He matched her teasing tone with a playful one of his own.

"Maybe. Just how many drinks will it take for you to come home with me, Miss Alden?" Larry winked at her.

"Just a nice, tall glass of water on the rocks ought to do it!" Terri answered him, giggling lightly.

Larry laughed at what she said, his eyes shining with joy. Terri worked her way through her first burger and barely finished it before the pain began to set it. There was no way she was going to be able to finish or even start on the second one that Larry had brought her.

"I think my eyes are bigger than my stomach." She groaned her apology. "I don't think I can eat another bite."

"So, we'll take it home with us." Larry shrugged good naturedly. "I've got a microwave. Nothing better than restaurant food at home, am I right?"

"I like the sound of that." Terri admitted, her facing heating up. It wasn't just the thing that Larry had said about the food that she liked, but that word that he used...home. The fact that he said "we" and "home" in the same sentence left her feeling strangely sentimental. Larry reached across the table and grasped at her hands, holding them in his.

"I do, too." Larry said, smiling at her very sweetly. "So, how was your day? Other than almost starving to death, I mean."

Terri opened her mouth in order to answer him when a shadow fell across their table.

"You shouldn't let her eat like that. She's going to get fat." A voice sounded from behind Larry.

Stunned, Larry's grin slowly melted off of his face and turned into a look of confusion, and then disbelief. As the words registered with him, his face fell into a frown. It was a slow motion reaction to the shock of the uncalled for interruption. He noticed that Terri was looking at someone behind him. Larry turned in his seat just in time to see a man walking up to their table. The guy stopped to stand beside Larry, but had his gaze locked in on Terri.

Larry could understand guys hitting on Terri because she was so beautiful, but the kind of attention that this guy was paying to Terri seemed really off. He was smiling at her, but the smile was not reaching his eyes. There was nothing kind or flattering about his approach and what was with the weight comment? Larry didn't like this one bit.

"Well, aren't you a ray of fucking sunshine?" Larry said to the man sarcastically. "You know what? That was really rude. Apologize to her now...right now."

The man didn't even blink. He ignored Larry completely.

"Hello, Theresa. How have you been?" He said to Terri softly, using her full first name.

Larry looked at Terri in surprise. Obviously, these two had some sort of history. Despite being full almost to the point of being in pain, Terri picked up her second cheeseburger and bit into it. She chewed slowly and defiantly, her blue eyes hard and unblinking.

"I was great until you walked in." Terri uttered through a mouthful.

The man sneered at her comment.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" He tried again. He seemed to be trying to get under her skin.

"Not nearly long enough, I'm afraid." Terri chirped with a false cheerfulness. Inside, Terri was scared but she was not going to let him see it if she could help it.

That wiped the smirk off of the man's face. He was starting to look frustrated and angry.

"Terri, who is this asshole?" Larry asked her, but she just continued to stare the mystery man down. It was the weirdest thing that Larry had ever seen in his life. He then spoke to the man directly. "Who are you, asshole? And what the hell is your problem?"

"Larry, this is David." Terri finally answered him, sighing unhappily. She was starting to feel sick to her stomach and wanted nothing more than to leave the bar.

"David?!" Larry's eyes narrowed in realization.

Terri nodded her confirmation slowly and carefully.

Larry froze, his mind going black with fury for a few moments. He stopped breathing for a few seconds and his heart picked up its pace. When he finally took a breath and let it out slowly, he glanced at Terri and noticed something strange...Terri's ash blonde hair now appeared to take on a strawberry hue. It took Larry a moment to realize that he was literally seeing red.

He turned his attention to David, glaring up at him with disgust. He should have known. He was a tall, brawny man. He was quite handsome too and had the same hair and eye color as Jack. However, Jack's blue eyes were soft and warm...David's were cold, hard and mean. He still had that stupid, porn star mustache that Terri told him about. Larry couldn't believe he didn't put two and two together right away.

"Is this the guy you're seeing?" David asked Terri, nodding his head toward Larry but still not looking at him.

"Yes, he is." Terri's voice shook for the first time that evening. "Now leave us alone."

David bent down to whisper in Larry's ear. He was still looking at Terri as he did so, whispering loudly enough for her to hear them from across the table.

"Tell me, Lenny..." David asked him, misspeaking his name on purpose. "Is she still a frigid and shy little thing? Because when we were together, she could barely get through sex without crying. It was a real drag, you know what I mean?"

Terri squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, a hot blush creeping up her neck. She lowered her gaze, embarrassment coursing through her as bad memories from her past came rushing through her mind. Larry's jaw dropped in offense to David's words. If David was willing to be this rude to Terri in public after all this time, then what was he doing to her behind closed doors during their sick relationship? Larry could only imagine, only he didn't have to because Terri told him in vivid detail. Larry began to shake in anger.

"Fuck you!" Larry spat at him, outraged.

Terri looked up in surprise and David blinked in shock.

"Do you want to run that by me again?" David stood up, adopting a tense posture.

"I said: fuck you, you cocksucker!" Larry hissed at him, loudly enough for people at nearby tables to hear.

"Do you want to take this outside?" David challenged him cockily.

Larry muttered something under his breath in Greek and then he did something strange...he laughed, although it wasn't a normal laugh. It was a dark, menacing chuckling. Larry's dark eyes flashed dangerously and he smiled...but the smile looked more like a wild animal baring its teeth. He stood up out of his seat in order to face David.

"Larry, don't! Let's just go!" Terri warned him, a worried edge coming to her tone. Although Terri was no longer the shy, abused girl she had been when she was with David and she had taken self defense classes since then, she knew she couldn't take on David. As Larry stood to his full height, she didn't have much hope for Larry either. Terri was a tall girl who stood at 5'7, but she was slender at only 120 pounds. Larry was not that much bigger than she was at 5'10 and 150 pounds. David was 6'2 and very muscular...he towered over the both of them. He was also very cruel as Terri knew all too well. Terri really didn't want to see Larry getting hurt and she doubted she could be of much help to him if David wanted to cream him. Larry had mentioned to her in passing that he used to be a bit of a fighter as a teenager but, frankly, she didn't believe him and just thought he was exaggerating or trying to impress her. Although he was trying to turn over a new leaf and trying to become a better person for her, old habits died hard and this wouldn't be the first time he'd lied in order to impress a girl. Her heart began to race. Terri could easily see David snapping Larry like a twig.

"I'd love to, you sick fuck!" Larry seethed, his voice low and shaky with fury. "But first, you're going to apologize to Terri before I break your fucking neck!"

Something interesting was happening to Larry's speech. His thick, native New York accent was coming out in full force now, hard and sharp. It twisted his vowels and made him a little hard to understand if you have never heard someone from the East Coast. Terri, being a fellow East Coaster from Massachusetts, understood him perfectly however. He sounded like a 1930's gangster and David snorted in surprise, both laughing at the way he sounded and at what he said to him.

"I mean it!" Larry asserted, raising his voice even more. "You are going to apologize to Terri for everything you've ever done to her. And then if you still want to fight...then come on and hit me, you motherfucker! Hit me and see what happens. Do it, you bastard!"

"Apologize for what, exactly?" David glared at Larry.

"Terri told me everything, you son of a bitch!" Larry snarled through gritted teeth. He began to clench and unclench his fists. His eyes were bright with anger. "So bring it on, fuckface! Or am I too big for you to smack around? Come on, you piece of shit!"

The two men were at a stand off, each looking at the other unflinchingly. Rage was building in Larry by the second, marring his face and twisting his features into something hideous as he stood there, daring David to make the first move with his eyes. Larry knew that once David took the first swing, that he would be free to go after him in self defense. Larry wanted nothing more than to destroy him after what Terri said he did to her...he just never thought he would've gotten the opportunity. Larry hadn't felt this pissed off in a long time. He remembered back when he was a high school freshman, his father committed suicide. Teachers and students were mostly kind and considerate to him and his siblings aside from one notable exception. The leader from a group of troublemaking boys made it a point to go up to Larry in the hallway and to sarcastically wish Larry a Happy Father's Day. Imagine his surprise when Larry, formally a class clown type, broke his jaw in response to the cruel comment. It was the start of a period of life marked with violence and trouble for a while for Larry. It was a long time ago and Larry didn't act out like that anymore. He'd learned to control his temper and to harness it while serving in the Marines later on, or so he thought. He'd mellowed out a lot since he was a teenager and saw himself as a totally different person now. Even so, having this bastard mocking the woman he loved was every bit as painful as a classmate making fun of his dead father and just pulled him back to those dark times and unwell mindset.

The bar went dead silent and Terri's heart was going 100 miles an hour as she looked at the two men. Terri started sipping from her glass of water in order to try to calm her nerves. Ever so slowly, David's stare started to waver as Larry began to look more and more enraged. In order to save face, he cowardly focused once again on Terri, trying to intimidate her with more than just a menacing and dark sneer.

"You've been telling lies about me again, girlie?" David asked Terri with a threatening undertone. He reached over the table toward her, probably to brush her bangs back.

Terri had held her own that night pretty well up until then, talking back to David in ways that she could never have imagined she was capable of years ago. But something about this physical act rattled her badly. It wasn't violent, but it made her heart leap into her throat nonetheless. Terri flinched back into her seat as David reached toward her, shrinking back in fear.

This was enough to set Larry off. Before David's fingers touched a hair on Terri's head, Larry reached out and grabbed his outstretched fingers, bending three of them back toward his wrist until they broke with sickening snaps. This caused David to scream in pain. David's scream was cut off when Larry head butted him in the nose. A loud pop was heard as the action broke David's nose and blood began to gush down the lower half of his face. David stumbled backwards as white hot pain seared through his head. Larry growled, grabbing David's shirt in a fistfull and pulling him back towards himself. Larry held him steady with his left hand as his right hand brought all four of the beer bottles that he'd gotten for himself and for Terri crashing down onto David's head in rapid succession, one after the other. As they shattered over David's skull, his scalp was busted open and this caused more blood to pour down his face, mixing with the mess of beer and glass. Larry then punched David in the face, sending David sprawling to the floor heavily. Larry was pretty sure he'd gotten glass embedded into his knuckles from the punch.

Terri choked on the water she had been nervously sipping on, stunned at the speed and brutality of the attack.

Holy crap...Terri thought to herself as she coughed. This was certainly unexpected. She'd only really ever seen Larry angry twice. This one time she'd insulted him (before they were together) and it struck a chord with him. She used to always hurl insults his way, mostly due to some buried resentment towards him because of his awful treatment of her when she first moved in with Jack and Janet. Well, he had gotten especially offended at something she had said to him and had started to dramatically storm out of the apartment, prompting a shocked and guilty feeling Terri into apologizing to him. Another time, Larry's youngest sister Diane came to California to visit him. A misunderstanding took place, and he had gotten the idea that Jack was trying to seduce Diane behind his back. Larry had ended up punching Jack in the face over it. Aside from that shocking punch, however, Larry acted the way Terri would expect an angry Larry to act...he sulked, huffed, whined and pouted until the whole mess between himself, Jack and Diane was resolved. Yes, he was angry...but really, he was mostly hurt and feeling protective over a family member. The punch he had delivered to Jack hurt his hand as if he'd never thrown a punch before in his life and he ended up tearfully apologizing to Jack over it later on. An angry Larry was a rare sight and reminded Terri of a moody little boy...until now.

Larry wasn't just angry here, he was enraged and crazed. Terri never saw it coming...he always seemed so laid back and good natured, like he couldn't be bothered with negative feelings because they took too much energy, other than a few bouts of sadness here and there. It was almost as if he was a different person here. Was this really the same guy who hated horror movies? Who screamed and ran from large spiders? Who cried in joy over spotting a double rainbow last month? Who cried while watching Old Yeller with Terri last weekend? Who spent longer preening in front of the bathroom mirror than Terri did most mornings? Whatever emotion Larry felt, he always seemed to express it 1000 percent, and this was no exception. Watching Larry launch into attack mode was very unexpected...it made Terri feel safer in a way. God help any rapist or molester that tried to attack her or any future children she may have ended up having with Larry. Yes, Terri could take care of herself now...but it was nice to know that she had a man willing to fight to the death in order to defend her. The cruelty and ruthlessness in which Larry fought was also aided by the element of surprise...watching Larry fly into a rage was like watching Ronald McDonald come after people with a butcher knife. A bad guy wouldn't see it coming. Given Terri's history with a violent man, she should have felt afraid but instead she felt fascinated. Terri shook her head, realizing that she'd just envisioned a future with Larry...a future with children. Why did she think of that?

When David went down, Larry paused in the beatdown but he didn't do it out of good sportsmanship. Larry began feeling his pockets in search of his lighter, forgetting that he had quit smoking in order to please Terri. Larry muttered frantically under his breath to himself, something about setting David on fire, and Terri gasped in shock. David swore at Larry and had started to get up off the floor...

Larry launched himself forward and started kicking David over and over again as hard as he possibly could. He kicked him in his stomach until he vomited and lost his breath, kicked him and broke a few of his ribs, kicked him in the chest. He kicked him in the face and a sickening crack was heard as Larry sent a few of David's teeth flying into the back of his throat. People had began running out of the bar as they realized this wasn't a typical barfight but was starting to look more like an attempted murder. Terri cringed, both in pain as a nurse (not that she felt sorry for David, but she knew that he must have been in some serious pain now) and with the realization that those who were brave enough to stay behind were now looking at Larry in horror.

Larry paused once again in the beating as he looked like he was trying to get a hold of himself. His hands balled into fists as he grasped tightly at his own hair. He turned from David for a moment and had started pacing back and forth. Larry was hyperventilating, almost crying because he was so angry. He could think of nothing he wanted more than stabbing David a few billion times. As he tried to calm down, Terri's words once again echoed through Larry's mind. All of the ugly imagery came to Larry once again as he recalled what that bastard had done to Terri...of all the violence he had inflicted upon her. Larry turned to face David once again and picked up a chair from an empty table. He hoisted the chair high over his head, gripping two of the legs in white knuckled hands. He pitched it downwards, aiming toward David's head with all of his might. He was going for the killshot.

Time slowed down. Terri realized that this was going too far. She didn't care about David anymore and had been freed from the chokehold he'd had over her, but she cared about Larry very much and she didn't want him to end up in prison for David's murder. It was kind of hard to carry on a romantic relationship with a guy who was behind bars.

"Larry, wait! Stop!" Terri's scream split the air.

Larry pulled up on the chair at the last possible second because Terri told him to, stopping it from smashing into David's head by less than an inch. The rapid action caused white hot and burning pain to shoot through Larry's body as he pulled muscles in his arms, shoulders and back. Larry wailed at the top of his lungs...both out of pain and because he'd been denied the satisfaction of bashing David's skull in.

"GOD DAMN IT!" Larry roared. He threw the chair across the room, sending it smashing into a nearby wall.

You could hear a pin drop as everyone just stared at Larry as he stood over David's bloody and broken body, shaking from head to toe in rage. Terri could see that he was trying very hard to restrain himself and trying to stop himself from killing David but that he was having a very hard time with it. He was in need of some help. Terri rose up out of her seat and carefully approached Larry. He wouldn't turn on her, would he? She was about to find out. Gingerly, she reached out to touch Larry's face with a shaking hand. Terri hoped that physical touch would help bring Larry back around to normal and would flip whatever trigger that David had switched back off. She just wanted her Larry back.

To Terri's relief, Larry melted into her touch. He let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes. The tension in his body finally released somewhat as he nuzzled his face into her hand. In a matter of seconds, he'd gone from a rabid, wild and murderous beast ready to fight to the death into a tame and mellow housecat.

"Larry?" Terri spoke to him in a soft and calm tone.

"Hmmm?" Larry opened his eyes and wearily looked at her. He looked very tired. The fit of rage he'd had sapped all of his strength.

"Let's get out of here before you're arrested, okay?" Terri whispered to him awkwardly, aware that they were both being stared at by everyone in the bar.

"Okay." Larry shrugged simply. His voice was hoarse from yelling.

The two of them turned and had started to head out of the bar. Terri stopped just short of the doorway and paused, casting a glance over her shoulder to where her former tormentor lay on the floor, a bloody and half conscious mess.

"Hold on, Larry. I have to do something first." Terri took a step toward the direction where David lay.

Larry reached out and grasped at her wrist firmly, looking at her with a questioning gaze.

"It'll be alright. I'm going to be just fine." Terri promised him.

Larry sighed and let go of her wrist. The last thing he wanted to do was to control her, but he hated the idea of her being anywhere near that guy. He supposed this was why he loved her so much. The compassionate and kind nurse was willing to help anyone in need...even an abusive former boyfriend. Even so, Larry grabbed a steak knife off of a nearby table and stood poised, ready to pounce on and stab David to death if he made any type of move toward Terri whatsoever.

Terri calmly walked over to where David was laying on the floor and crouched down. She grabbed his chin and raised his head, making him look up at her.

"David?" She smiled sweetly at him.

David made a gurgling noise, looking up at her weakly.

Terri dropped the false smile and spat in David's face. This caused Larry to grin.

Terri let go of him and stood back up, joining Larry once again in the doorway of the bar.

"That's my girl!" Larry said proudly, flashing her smile in spite of his exhaustion. He tossed the knife to the floor.

Larry and Terri linked arms and strolled out of the bar triumphantly.

The bartender watched them leave in a daze, his hands over his mouth and his eyes huge and round in shock.

THE END

A/N: Happy Memorial Day, everyone!