Chris carefully carried her to her bed and wiped the blood away from her mouth, cursing silently at the damage that her husband had done to her. He put some ice on her cheek where she had been hit with the knifestick, carefully running his hand over the area to see if her jaw had been broken, and sighing with relief when he confirmed it hadn't. He gently unbuttoned a couple of the bottom buttons of her nightshirt, and winced at the bad bruises that covered most of her midsection. Her ribs had to be broken, or at least some of them had to be cracked, and he tried to be as gentle as possible as he rubbed some special pain relief cream on them. She stirred weakly, and Chris stopped and rested his hand on her forehead, and gently taking the ice pack from her cheek.

"Hunter?..............," she mumbled weakly, opening her eyes a tiny bit. She was tense, and Chris realised she was scared that he would hurt her further.

"It's only me Steph, Hunter's gone," Chris said softly, waiting till she remembered who he was before making any furthur movements.

"Chris.....what happened? Where's Hunter?" She asked, and Chris helped her to sit up.

She leaned against him carefully, and he wrapped his arms around her gently.

"I dragged him outside and locked all the doors. I left the keys to his car and that was that, now let me take a look at you ribs, i'll re-tape them up, and you can have a rest."

"No, please don't, it hurt so much when he ripped the bandages off," she mumbled softly, buring her face in Chris's shirt.

"Come on, I have to, just let me put some tape around your ribs and i'll leave you alone,"

Chris rubbed her back gently, and she looked up at him, her blue eyes clouded with pain.

"Please don't make it hurt more than you need to," she said quietly, and stood up, placing her hands on his shoulders so she didn't colapse as he gently wrapped the tape around her midsection. She winced in pain as he accidently brushed against her side, but he fastened the tape, and let her lie down, promising not to let Hunter into the house again, and reluctantly agreeing not to tell her dad.

Chris watched as she fell into a deep sleep, and gently kissed her forehead, before going out and getting a glass of water and a couple of Panadol* To put next to her bed. She was sleeping soundly, and Chris decided to go to bed, and if she needed his help, he would hear her, as he had been sleeping lightly since he had found out Hunter had been abusing his wife.

He went back to his room, got changed, and fell into a restless sleep, mentally checking to wake up at the slightest shuffling of slippers on the carpet.