Let It Be Your Shirt (Story 3 of Sev & M)

Chapter 17

Severine sat anxiously in the passenger side of the car. Even with Marcus holding him last night he had slept fitfully, too worried about what was going to happen today to sleep properly. He glanced at Marcus; he knew he hadn't gotten much sleep either because of him but he looked as composed as usual. Looking at him closer he could see that he had bags under his eyes and there was a thin amount of tension throughout his whole body. He wondered how much of the tension was from the upcoming trial and how much was from dealing with him. A wave of guilt washed over him at the thought.

"What's wrong?" Marcus asked, looking at him.

"Nothing," he answered and looked away.

"Severine."

He sighed, "I was just thinking that you look tense and tired and I didn't know how much of that was from what's going to happen today or having to deal with me all the time."

"Severine," Marcus groaned, "why would you think that? If I didn't want to deal with you I would have been gone long before now."

"I know, I know."

"I am tired and tense but it's because I'm stressed about the trial and what it's going to do to you. Not because of you, do you understand?" Marcus asked.

"Yes," he mumbled.

Marcus grabbed his hand, "Look at me."

He looked obediently, Marcus was staring at him intently. "Marcus you're driving pay attention to the road!"

Marcus ignored him and kept staring, "Do you really understand?"

"Yes! Now pay attention to the road!"

Marcus looked at him a second longer then faced the road again, chuckling. He didn't think it was that funny but Marcus had erased that fear for now.

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Severine sat on the stand doing his best to keep his voice from shaking. He'd already briefly gone over the early years of abuse from his father and was in the process telling Mr. Donahue what had happened from the time he went home until he had woken up in the agency's medical wing. There were several times that he had to stop and regain his composure before going on. Marcus was also constantly using his bracelet, sending him encouragement the best way he could.

"When you were a part of the agency why did you never go to them regarding the abuse?" Mr. Donahue asked.

"I didn't think anyone would believe me," he answered.

"But you had bruises and other signs that they would have seen," Mr. Donahue pointed out.

"Yes but I was also in training and then a full fledged hero, the bruises we can get from a fight don't look any different then bruises from abuse," he said.

"There was no one for you to confide in about the abuse?" Mr. Donahue asked.

He shook his head, "No. I pretty much kept to myself and most all social gatherings I was with my father."

"How did Jana know about the abuse?" Mr. Donahue asked.

"Marcus told her."

"And how did Marcus know?"

"When we first started living together I had gone home for a while and when I came back I had bruises on my arms that he saw. He figured it out from that," he said.

He explained how Marcus had also walked into the ballroom and found his father about to hit him and walking in on his father choking him. His bracelet went off again and he put his hand over it. Mr. Donahue thanked him for the explanations and ended his questioning. Mr. Ethelberry to all their surprises didn't cross examine. He walked slowly back to the table, his legs felt shaky. When he sat Marcus immediately put his hand on his knee, leaned over, and whispered how well he had done.