Frozen and Alone

Brett DiBiase stumbled down the road toward his brother's house, occasionally stopping to pull his bloody jeans back up around his waist. The wind chill was sub zero and he'd gone completely numb an hour ago. Frozen tears clung to his face, he couldn't get the horrible images out of his head as he practically crawled up the driveway, whimpering like a beaten puppy. He was so cold he could barely see straight, if he didn't get inside soon he would literally freeze to death. Pulling himself up to the front porch, he banged on the door, and then did a double take at the driveway. Ted's car wasn't there,nor was the car belonging to his boyfriend Randy, which meant only one thing: he'd come to an empty house, there was no help for him here...

Too weak to move any more, Brett curled up on the icy front steps and tried in vain to keep warm, sure that he would be dead before long.

Ted pulled in a few minutes later, eyes wide when he nocticed the nearly frozen form of his younger brother on his porch.

"Brett!" Ted said, rushing up to the younger man. "Brett, what, what happened to you?"

"T-T-Teddy..." Brett's teeth were chattering wildly and his lips were blue "H-Help me...."

Ted gently lifted his brother into his arms and carried him into the house, grabbing a blanket off the bed, he wrapped it around the younger man and held him close, desperate to bring Brett's core temperature back up.

Brett shuddered as his body tried to warm up, he weakly tried to move closer to his brother's warmth and whimpered when he found he couldn't move.

"Easy Brett easy, I've got you now," Ted said.

"So cold...." Brett whispered, still shivering under the blanket "Thought I was going to die...."

"It's alright now, it's alright," Ted said.

"Teddy..." Brett's voice was trailing off as he began to fall asleep "Somebody....raped me...."

Ted's eyes widened.

"Who?" Ted asked, anger boiling.

Brett didn't answer, he'd fallen asleep in Ted's arms, his body finally coming back to a semi-normal temperature.

Ted smiled a little, seeing Brett was asleep. He'd worry about the rest later. Brett was safe, that's all that mattered.

Later that night, Brett began to whimper in his sleep, having nightmares of the man who brutally hurt him,

"No, NO!" he twisted and turned, crying out in pain "No, Teddy!!!"

"Brett, Brett wake up," Ted said, shaking him gently. "Wake up you're okay."

"Teddy!!" Brett latched onto his older brother and clung to him like a child "I'm so scared, it hurt so bad, please keep him away from me, Teddy I'm scared!!"

"Shhhhh, shhhh Brett it's alright, I've got you nobody's gonna hurt you anymore," Ted whispered.

"Why did he rape me?" Brett whimpered, continuing to sniffle and cry "What did I do to deserve this?"

"You didn't do anything baby brother, you didn't deserve it," Ted said softly.

"I feel dirty" Brett whispered, his chin trembling slightly "I tried to fight him off Teddy, I really did, but he was just too strong! I'm pathetic..."

"No you're not Brett," Ted murmured. "Don't you ever let me here you talk like that again."

"Teddy..." Brett looked up at his brother, tears shining in his eyes "There's something you need to know...about the man who raped me."

"What is it Brett?" Ted asked softly.

"I..I..." Brett's voice shook "I don't know who he was!!!"

"Shhhhh, shhh now, it'll be alright," Ted said softly.

Brett was still crying when he fell asleep again, tears streaming down his face.