Battered

Hey guys!! Here's chapter 5. Special thanks to LAskater and KillerRomance.

Lucas came over to Hallee's house as he had been for the past few weeks. The lovely, pearly smile on his face disappeared when he saw her face. He let himself in immediately.

"What happened to you?" Lucas demanded concerned as he ran his fingers across the discolored bruise on her jaw.

She was quiet, and tried to avoid both his gaze and grasp as she managed to slip away from him.

"Hal look at me," he said as he stalked over to her, grabbing her arm.

"Luke, no."

"Tell me what happened."

"He got angry," she murmured.

"Who? Jeremy? I thought he was gone," he said immediately scanning the room.

"He came back."

"Are you kidding me?! When?" he asked furiously.

"A few nights ago. Luke, calm down," she said trying to pacify him by grabbing his hand.

"No! Look at your fucking face, Hal! Where is he? I swear I'll rip his throat open. Is he here?" Lucas pulled away from her and started searching the house.

"Luke please calm down, okay? It could have been worse."

"Hal stop taking up for him, okay? This shit's gonna stop now. It's decision time."

"Don't do that okay? Don't give me an ultimatum."

"Well I am."

"It's bad enough that I get this crap from Sabrina, but you? You don't even know me!"

That hurt Lucas. He did know her, and wanted to continue to know her. But he couldn't help her if she wouldn't hurt herself.

"Hmm...let's see... Your name is Hallee and you're twenty-one. You have a son named Santana who has to stand by and watch his mom get bruised and bloodied by his pussy of a father. You keep making excuses for him. You defend him more than you defend yourself. You stay with him. You hide things from him. I'm a fucking 'Elle' in your phone. You won't stand up for yourself. Should I continue?" he said breathlessly.

"No, but you can get out," she said defeated.

"Hal, I'd give my left nut for you. Oddly enough, I love you. I love Santana. I don't know what else to say or do. I'll fight him, Hal. I swear on my life, I'll fight for you."

"No Lucas. This is my fight. I know what I have to do."

"Do you love me?" he asked.

Silence.

"Hal?" he pleaded.

"Yes. Yes I do."

"Do you love Santana?"

She looked down at her hands.

"With all my heart," she said teary-eyed.

"Do you love Hallee?"

She looked up at him confused. He repeated the question.

"Yes."

"Then the decision's not hard to make. You do what you have to do, okay?" he said walking out. Yes, she knew what she had to do.

*************************

Hallee hadn't talked to anyone but Santana in over a month. Jeremy had called her and left a message on the machine, informing her that he was going to be gone longer than he'd expected. A month or two more. She didn't care. That just gave her more time.

She'd begun going through the house and picking out things that were hers and Santana's to bag them up. She'd decided to step up and take action. She was going to leave him this time. She'd given up so much to be with him, and it was time to get them back. Sabrina was pissed at her after she'd found out about the latest beating. Lucas was mad at her, and hadn't called her. Her mother was still oblivious to the whole thing, but she would soon find out. Hal wanted to wait until everything was said and done, until the nightmare was over before she told her mother. She was going to take Santana to her mother's house so he wouldn't be there to witness the shit hitting the fan. She didn't know when, but she knew eventually it would.

She had the slow bop about it though. Sabrina had finally called and checked up on her. Hallee told her the plan and what she was up to.

She hadn't been feeling herself lately. She'd been throwing up and feeling frumpy. Anticipation, nervousness, and fear were what she thought. Nine months was what Sabrina thought. The pregnancy test confirmed it.

"Oh my God, Sabrina!" Hallee cried. She didn't know what to do. Now was not the time for this to be happening.

"When was your last period?"

"I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?"

"No. They're always kind of irregular, you know. Stress and stuff does that."

"Oh God Hallee."

"I have to tell him."

"Who? Jeremy?"

"Yes. It must've happened when he was..." she trailed off.

"Hal?"

"Yeah?"

"What about Luke?

*************************

A few more weeks had passed, and no sign of Jeremy. Hallee battled with herself before mustering up the courage to tell Lucas. She couldn't tell him in person. She would fall short of words to say. She wasn't positive he was the father. There was a 50 percent chance. So instead of telling him face-to-face, she did the next best thing. She found her phone and dialed. His voicemail came up. He still wasn't talking to her.

"Hi, Luke. This is Hal. I just wanted you to know that I'm leaving him this time. I can't do this anymore. I just can't. I'm sorry, and I know this isn't the best way for me to be telling you this, but it's the way that's best for me. I'm pregnant."

*************************

"I have to leave him now. Santana's with my mom," Hallee said as she dropped some of her things off at Sabrina's. "Promise me if something happens to me, that he's taken care of."

"Hal, you're not thinking straight. You can't risk it. Just go now before he comes back."

"Sabrina, this is the straightest that I've been thinking for these past few years of my pathetic life! I'm tired of being scared of him. It's do or die time."

She wasn't going to chicken out. She was going to confront him even if it meant another beating. And then she would leave him. She only had one thing to lose. Her life. But she would lose so much more if she stayed with him. Only two things could happen: she would make it out alive, or she wouldn't. Either way, she was done being Jeremy's punching bag.

Everything was set. The only thing she was waiting on was for Jeremy to come home.

*************************

Jeremy came home to find his house a little empty. He was immediately certain things were missing. He put his keys on the counter and called out for Hallee. She appeared from the back room.

She found that there was no need to beat around the bush with him. First thing was first.

"I'm pregnant."

"How?" Jeremy asked harshly.

"We had sex, Jeremy," she said plainly. "I'm pregnant."

"No you're not."

"Yes, I am. I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive. That technically means I'm pregnant," she said smartly.

"We aren't having another kid. We'll go down to the clinic first thing tomorrow to get this shit taken care of."

"Jeremy, I'm not..."

"You can, and you will. You don't have a job. You sit around on your ass all day. I work. Can you afford another brat?"

"Brat? Santana's not a brat. If you took up time with him, maybe you would see that."

"He's a sissy ass bratty mama's boy."

"Don't talk about my son that way!"

"Are you raising your voice at me?" he asked stepping closer to her.

She said nothing, but glared at him.

"That's what I thought."

"No."

"No what?"

"No I'm not getting an abortion, and yes I was raising my voice at you."

"Who do you think you are? I'll beat your ass and make you lose that fucking baby. So shut your mouth and go sit down. And where's all my shit?"

"My shit," she corrected.

He was about to respond when her phone went off. She looked over at it, and then at Jeremy. He walked over to it and looked at it.

"Elle?"

Jeremy pressed send and held the phone up to his ear, but didn't say anything. He was taken back by what he heard. A masculine voice.

"Hal? Are you there? Baby I'm sorry it took me so long to call you back, are you okay? Should I come over?"

Jeremy stared at her before speaking into the phone.

"No."

He hung up the phone and charged at her. Hallee didn't have time to react.

"Bitch!!"

He slapped her hard across the cheek and sent her to the floor.

"You fucking whore. Get up. Get the fuck up!" Jeremy pulled her up by her hair and pushed her up against the wall. "You want to act like a slut? You'll be treated like a slut."

He yanked on her purple blouse causing a few of the buttons to trickle onto the floor. She clawed at his shirt, causing it to rip while leaving a huge scratch across his chest.. She felt his fist crush into the left side of her face, before she fell again. He screamed at her before lifting her up and shoving her into the freestanding lamp, causing it to go over and break. He kicked her hard in the side while she was down. She felt so weak. She normally would have curled up in a ball and waited until it was over, but not this time. She found the strength to scoot her way into the kitchen, as he towered over her. Teasing her. She found the knife she had hidden. She reached it and rose to her feet.

"Fuck you, Jeremy!"

He stopped dead in his tracks. He stood there. He had a confused and frightened look on his face.

"You treat me like shit and I'm supposed to just be a good wife and take it? I'm tired of it. I refuse to do this anymore. I'm leaving you one way or another. Either on my own two feet, or in a body bag. So take your pick, mother fucker," she said, spitting blood at him.

He remained rooted in the same spot, dumbfounded. He blinked rapidly, as if he were seeing her for the first time. He never meant for it to get to this point.

"Put the knife down, Hallee."

"So you can hit me again? NO! You don't care about me. I don't think you ever have. I loved you Jeremy!" she said crying. "I tried to be good to you, but you took advantage of me. You've taken everything away from me! You've caused me so much pain, it's ridiculous. You talk shit to my son! The only thing he's ever done was love you, and you couldn't return it. If I don't leave, he'll resent me for the rest of his life, and I won't let that happen. I'd choose him over you any day of the week. We don't need you, Jeremy, and I'm going to prove that to you.

There was a long period of silence, while they just stared at each other. He stared at her bloodied, angered face, and she stared at his as different emotions played across it. He finally broke the silence.

"Hal, I'm... I don't know what to do or say to make you... Please. Don't leave me. I'm sorry."

"No, Jeremy.

I'm

sorry. I shouldn't have let this go on for as long as it did."

"We can make this work, babe. I'll change. I'll do whatever. You want me to get help? I will, I swear, baby. Please." He walked over to her with his arms out. She couldn't risk it. She went around the other side of the counter, grabbed his keys off of it, and ran out the door before he had a chance to fathom what was happening.