Hey There, Delilah

Chapter 16: The Cure

A/N; topic warning. Dee talks about some violence that happened when she was a teen

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"Hey, Raph?" Delilah knocked on the wall of his exercise room. He put down the bar he was lifting and sat up to look at her.

"What's up, Dee?" He asked.

"Can I sit there?" She pointed to the chair next to his bench.

"No," he stated. "But you can sit here." He pointed to the bench. She smiled and sat next to him. "What's up?" She bit the inside of her cheek and took a deep breath.

"I trust to tell you this, but only if you keep it between us?"

"I thought we agreed to stop keeping secrets?" Raph asked jokingly. Delilah looked at him seriously. "My bad, I'm sorry. I will keep it between us, promise." She nodded and looked to the wall in front of her.

Delilah's eyes seemed to glass over and Raph got worried. Just as he was about to ask if she was okay, she started speaking.

"To start off, I am asexual. I experience sexual attraction but do not enjoy and would not enjoy the act of sex or anything similar. Understand so far?" Delilah asked, looking at her fidgeting hands. Raph took a deep breath.

"Not fully, but I will learn more as we go. I accept you anyway," Raph explained. Delilah smiled. "Can I ask a question?"

"Um, sure..." She had a feeling she knew what was coming.

"How did you know?" Close enough. She took a long breath, and Raph saw this. "You don't have to answer if you don't feel comfortable."

"It's okay. This was the next part of what I wanted to tell you anyway." She kept fiddling with her hands. Raph was innocently curious, and she trusted him, so it's okay. "Please don't get too upset."

"I won't, I promise." An odd request, but Raph followed it as well as he could.

"I was raped." That sparked something in Raph and his expression changed. "I'm sorry-"

"You did nothing wrong, Delilah." He stood up, fuming. He paced a bit. "How old?"

"What?"

"How old were you and how old was the asshole who did that to you?" He asked, snapping.

"I was fifteen, the guy was... thirty?" Raph scoffed angrily.

"Twice your age..." He shook his head. He tried his best not to lose his temper, especially in front of her.

She watched him pace and fume for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"Are you okay, physically?" Raph asked. "I know probably not mentally, but physically?" Raph asked. She looked up at him, then back at her hands.

"I... No." Raph looked at her. "I... He..." She gulped. "He had AIDs, and I contracted HIV from it. I don't want sex, and I can't have it even if I wanted it..." Raph was fuming even more. "But I have a long life expectancy, between 20 and 70 years more, due to new discoveries about it..." She tried her best to be good about it, but Raph could see she was struggling. The memories were coming back, but she was fighting them.

"What happened to him?" Raph asked, trying to contain himself.

"He got found out and taken to jail. Charged for several counts of pedophilia and several counts of rape of many children. He killed himself in his prison cell before being put on trial," Delilah responded. She shivered at the memories as they all came flooding back. Raph saw her face get pale, so he pushed his anger aside and kneeled on the floor in front of her.