A Tiva Story Sequel {REINSTATED}

Forget

"Please tell me Taylor is there," Tony asked Steve over the phone.

Steve, who had just picked up his phone, looked at Taylor leaning on him. He kissed her head and told her, "I'm gonna step outside real quick; it's work."

Once in his apartment building hallway, he answered, "Yeah, she's inside..."

"Oh, thank God..." tony sighed. "Alright, I'll be right over as soon as Ziva gets home."

"Uh, actually, uh sir... I don't think that's a good idea..." steve stumbled over his words.

"Excuse me???"

Steve licked his lips, nervous. "Mr. DiNozzo, she isn't doing well... she's hurt, and she feels like it's her own fault. She doesn't think she can come home... I-"

"Well, of course she can come home!"

"I- I know, sir. But she thinks she will hurt Ashley again, and I'm not going to force her to face that right now. She just needs a while to calm down. She can stay with me tonight, I'll take care of her..."

Tony sighed. He didn't say anything.

"Sir, please. I'll take care of her. Just, leave her be. Don't show up here."

"Okay..." Tony rubbed his eyes and thought for a moment. "Okay... I won't come.. but please make sure she's okay."

"Of course. I need to go back in now. I'll update you later." Steve hung up and went back to Taylor. He sat her up and let her lean on him again.

"Do you wanna watch a movie with really bad graphics?" Steve offered.

She looked up at him pitifully, then she smirked a little and nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Um, Taylor..." Steve said cautiously as she stirred the rice she was making for dinner. It had been 4 days since the whole fiasco with Ashley, and Taylor hadn't left his apartment once.

"Yes?"

"Uhm, no big deal or anything but... when are you planning to go home?"

Taylor stopped stirring and turned around to look at him. "What??"

Steve immediately began defending himself. "I'm just worried about you! That's all. Your dad is worried about you and wants to see you."

"You've been talking to my dad!? What, are you guys best friends now?"

"Taylor, no... he's just concerned for you, and I don't want him to think you're dead."

"Well, if I did go home, my sister would probably be dead, so would he rather have that? Why don't you ask him, since you guys are so close now?" She turned back to her food to add the chicken to the rice.

Steve walked up behind her and touched her arm. "Taylor..."

"No!" She yanked away from him. "Forget it! I'll be out before bed tonight. You won't have to worry about me another night! I'll just go stay at a freaking hotel!" She stormed off, leaving the pot of food behind.

Steve made sure it was mixed and then turned off the stove. He followed her to the bedroom, where she was furiously shoving the few things she left at his house previously into a bag.

"Taylor, stop," Steve pleaded. "Just talk to me."

"Why!?" She yelled back. "You're just gonna report it back to my dad!"

"I never said I report back to him everything you do! All I do is let him know you're alive! It's not a big deal!"

"Not a big deal!? I'm trying to AVOID contact with them. Maybe if I wait long enough, they'll forget why I left, and hopefully everything can go back to normal! So stop messing with my plan!"

Steve let out a frustrated growl. "Of course things won't be back to normal, Taylor! You were abducted and abused! You're allowed to be a little messed up!"

"Stop talking about it! I'm past all of that. I talked to the stupid therapist, I got help. I'm done with that!"

"Why wont you confront it, huh?!" Steve got closer to Taylor's face. "Why are you so scared of admitting you were hurt?"

Taylor took a step back, becoming scared. She whispered, "stop..."

"Why won't you talk about how you were tied to a chair?"

"Stop..."

"Or how he threw the knife at you!?"

"Please, stop..." Taylor's eyes started to water.

"Or how he grabbed a freaking baseball bat and beat you!!"

"... please," she cried.

"Again! And again! And again!"

"Just STOP IT!" Taylor screamed. She was visibly crying and shaking now.

Once she yelled, Steve froze. He was breathing heavily through his rage. He turned around and walked away from her, mumbling. "Crap...."

Taylor sobbed and sat on the bed next to her half packed bag.

Steve turned around and walked back to her, "Taylor, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I got carried away and-"

"No," she choked out. "You're right..."

Steve froze.

She forced her tears to stop and continued, "You're completely right... I... I can't talk about it... I'm not- I'm not- okay..."

Steve sat next to her. He was still beating himself up for basically tormenting her. "Taylor, I-"

"I don't want to hear it. While you are right, I know I can't talk about it..." she sniffed and met Steve's eyes. "But what you did was wrong. What you did was torture... and that is not okay." She closed her eyes to hold back the tears. "And I cannot Forget that..."