set fire to the rain (Megan)

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Ben Del Rossi didn't have the best track record when it came to boys taking his daughters out. The first time a boy showed up for a date for his daughters, it was Miranda. She was only thirteen years old at the time. And Ben had told the kid "Just remember. Whatever you do to her, I do to you. I got a gun, boy. And I got no problem going to prison. " And as the years passed, it really didn't get much better. And he knew that when the two youngest started dating, it would start all over again.

But when he saw Jack with his arm around Megan, knowing what he had done to her, something snapped inside of Ben. This was more than a mere dislike for the boy. This was a raw hatred, an innert need to take the boy and kill him with his bare hands. And what happened next was really beyond his own control. Something inside of him took over.

He was on the phone with Grace, who was on duty. She was asking him a few more questions about Hannah and the night she was attacked. All at once, he dropped the phone without so much as another word to her and he left the house, punching the seventeen year old in the nose. The boy fell to the ground. But before he could do anything else, Grace was tackling him.

"Let me go!" he growled, but within seconds, handcuffs were around his wrists. He supposed he would have to be bailed out by one of the kids. He really didn't want to have to explain to Marco why he did it. He was helped up by Grace, who told Jack to go home and Megan to go inside. And as she walked him to the car, he looked back at his daughter. Would she understand?

[Megan Julia Del Rossi]

Megan did not want to do this. She did NOT even want to be anywhere near Jack. But, really, what choice did she have? She did not have a choice in the matter. She was scared to be around Jack but at the same time, she kept up her attitude with him as well. It did not seem like he planned on killing her. Well, at least not anytime soon, that was. She wanted to run, hide. Leave Toronto, even. But she did not. She had reluctantly agreed to go along with being his girlfriend. What would JJ think? She really needed to talk to him. Would he understand? She hated that she did not have him here, that he was in jail. A part of her wished that he had talked, told the police everything. But on the other hand, she was glad he did not talk.

When she was about to reach her front door with Jack, she saw her father rush out, and as soon as her daddy threw back is arm to punch the older boy, she ducked and rushed over to the side. She inwardly smirked. Served Jack right. Besides, he should no better than to do this anywhere near where her father would be at. He could be quite unpredictable. She shook her head. She was grateful that her dad did that. She had no idea that it was because he knew the truth about Jack, however.

Though the second that handcuffs were placed on her dad's wrists, her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched. Oh, she was NOT going to let her daddy go to jail without a fight. “Hey!” she screamed out to Grace. She stormed over and shoved the officer, before getting a punch in, her fist connecting with Grace's left cheek. In that one instant, she almost seemed like her old self. Getting in trouble, fighting. “Leave my dad alone, Bitch!” No one messed with her family and got away with it. Even a cop!

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Ben had been sat down with his feet on the ground when Megan attacked Grace. He looked up and watched for just a moment before laughing. "That's my girl!" Maybe he shouldn't be cheering her on. After all, she was getting herself put in jail. But if the thirty-six year old man had to choose between Megan in a jail cell and Megan six feet under, he would choose jail anytime. At least now, she was safe and sound from that murdering bastard. So when Grace twisted her arm behind her back and handcuffed her, he nodded and called out to her. "Don't fight it, Meg. It's not healthy for the baby." He wasn't about to let her get flipped. After all, Grace was very flip-happy. And if she had a miscarriage, he would have to sue the police department.

He watched her get put in the car beside him and he straightened up and nudged her. "Shame on you," he said playfully, but his smile made it obvious that he was anything but angry with her. He leaned back and as soon as Grace started the car up, he spoke up. "Are we there yet? I'm hungry. And I gotta go potty!" he whined, just to annoy his son's girlfriend. "hey! Hey, Officer Yorrrkeeee! What about my right to remain silent? Nobody told me I have the right to remain silent!"

Grace groaned and looked in her rearview mirror. "Ben...you have the right to remain silent. What you lack is the capacity."

Ben looked at Megan. "Did you hear her? That's mean! You're gonna make me cry." He whimpered and even went so far as to fake-cry. "I'm gonna tell on you! I'll tell your boss."

[Megan Julia Del Rossi]

Okay. Was she nuts? This wasn't her anymore. She had changed. For the better, for the worse. That was unsure at this time. But she had changed. That much was for sure. She was not about to right it when Grace placed the cuffs on her. She would in the past. But that was before Jonathon, before Jack. Maybe she was meant to be in a jail cell some place. Maybe she wasn't as good of a person as she thought she was. Maybe shenever would be. Sighing, Megan looked over at Jack before being put into the police car.

"Mommy's sorry." she whispered, looking down at her stomach. She Then looked over to her dad. Even though Megen knew that her dad was joking, she did feel bad for behaving that way. "Daddy, have you ever heard of the phrase act your age, not your shoe size?"

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Ben looked at Megan. ''Oh yeah? Well what if I lied? What if I'm a leap year baby? That would make me nine. What then?'' Some could say he and the Moose had been spending too much time together. That or that having his husband back turned him into a kid. He had been so happy to have Marco again that Ben had been cooking, dragging his kids to play games, singing as he cleaned. And he had a good voice if he did say so himself. He took Marco to eat every Saturday night. And now, he was planning to re-propose to reaffirm their vows. And for that, he wanted the help of Aidan, but the kid couldn't keep a secret to save his life.

As they reached the station and the two were taken to a bench to be processed, Ben chuckled as Grace walked away. ''Take your time!'' Now that he alone with his daughter, he looked at her. ''Talk about Father-daughter outing. Remember those? We used to do those all the time when you were a kid. We should do those again. Unless you think you're too old.'' She probably did. She was definitely growing up. Ben wished he could make her stop and go back to being a kid. He wasn't ready for her to be an adult just yet. Sighing, he cringed as he stammered out what he had to say next. ''M-Me-Megan. We gotta t-talk'' Talking was not his strong suit. But he knew they needed to discuss Jack.

[Megan Julia Del Rossi]

To be perfectly honest, Megan did not want to talk. She never wanted to talk. Except maybe to JJ. She had yet to tell her daddy about that. She was not sure how he would feel about his daughter dating the school BULLY. But other than that, Megan often kept to herself a lot more than she used to. Besides, why did HE want to talk to HER? If Megan knew anything about her father, it was that he was NOT a talker. Megan was not much of a talker anymore either. Maybe she did get something from her daddy. No, she was not going to talk. She knew that her dad hated Jack. Hell, she even hated him. But what else could she do? She thought she was protecting herself, her child, her family. It was best for everyone if she went along with it. She suddenly shook her head and looked away.

“You? Wanna talk? You do not talk.” She sighed and looked down at the floor. “And I don’t want to talk, either. Guess I got something from you, after all. Huh?” Megan believed that and she did not think it to be a bad thing. She loved her daddy more than anything. He was her hero. He saved her from so much. If it wasn’t for Ben, she probably would have been dead a long time ago. When she first got taken away from her father, she was so sure that no one had wanted her. She often ran away from her foster homes. She wanted to disappear from this earth so much. She did not believe that she had anything else to live for. “We don’t need to talk, daddy. Let’s just wait and get this whole thing over with.”

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Ben scoffed. ''When have I ever not wanted to talk?'' If Marco was there, he could name a few times. Like the last time he had a daughter ask if she could ask a question about a boy. He said he'd rather she didn't and ushered her to Larisa's house. But hey that was different. That was about boys and boys led to grandbabies. As far as Ben was concerned, he was savoring his youth by refusing the question. Then there was the time he took a belt just now to Aidan when the boy had been tricked by Hannah. Oh well. That was disapline though. And when it came to that, Ben punished first and asked questions later. But again that was different. Ben did talk. Hey, he had told Hayleigh good job on her grades. See? He talked. Ben decided that counted enough to warrant the question.

But she didn't want to talk. He sighed. ''Fine. I'll talk. You listen. I understand that you are sixteen, you are a beautiful girl, and you want to date boys. And there aren't too many guys out there I would disapprove of. But this guy, Jack-'' He lowered his voice to a whisper. ''-I am saying no. Hell, no. And you don't want to fight me on this. I will send you to a convent in Japan or China or one of those Asian countries, just so he cannot find you. I am doing this to protect you, Megan. And I will protect you, no matter what it costs me. Is that understood?'' He didn't think she knew what Jack was capable of. But he wouldn't tell her. He didn't want her scared. He'd rather do the protective dad act.

[Megan Julia Del Rossi]

Different. He did not act like this about Jack before all of this had happened. Something was definitely up. Did he…? How was that possible? Uncomfortable, Megan let out a rather nervous chuckle. What was she supposed to say? Oh, yeah dad. I know all about Jack. I know what he is capable of. Yeah, right. But she needed to say something. Maybe she should just let him know what she knows. She thought she would have plenty of time before having to have this talk with her father. Well, looked like time was up. She sighed deeply and looked towards her daddy. How would he react? Would he be mad at her? She did not think that she could handle anyone else hating her. No. It was time. Time to let everything out into the open.

Megan forced a smile on her face. “You know, daddy.” She shook her head, sadly and stared straight ahead. “You know about Jack. Then hear me. Hear me loud and clear, daddy. It does not matter what you say. Nothing matters. He wants us to be a family.” Tears began smarting her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. “You think I want this? Do you think I want him raising my child? I don’t want this baby anything like him. No. No, Daddy.” She looked towards him. “This isn’t about love. This is about survival.” Her forced smile then turned into a frown. “No, what I want is to be happy. What I want is to be normal for once in my fucked up life. For once, I finally found someone who loves me, who I can trust. And I have no idea how I am going to explain all of this to JJ. Yes, dad. JJ. I love him. I want to be with him. But no. I can never be happy, never get what I want. Because I have to be with him. To protect my family. Don’t even pretend like you understand or act like you can protect me from this.”

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Chance had once told him that he had a temper. Ben just didn't understand that. He thought his temper was normal. It was the shit that happened that was the reason for his anger. But those times when he got mad (which he thought were rare) it was normal. So what if a table had been flipped just seconds after asking his son when he ever got mad? That didn't mean anything. It was normal. And the thoughts that flooded his mind that he needed to kill Jack-they were normal too. Talking mode had left Ben. He was now in murder mode.

The problem was these damned handcuffs. If anything could make him angrier than he already was, the cuffs managed it. So when the nurse approached him for the medical clearance questions, Ben couldn't help but glare at her. The woman ignored him though and the questions started. Was he injured? Was he on medication? Had he been doing drugs or drinking. Ben stared at his feet, answering each with a monotone. No. No. No. And then it came. Was he a danger to others or to himself? Slowly, he looked up at her. ''You bet. Now get these fucking handcuffs off.'' He should have known better. He had been arrested enough times to know that saying yes would land him in the padded cell for 72 hours, or in the mental hospital. Why he thought he could scare her into letting him go. It was like he had the mind of a caveman. Jack bad. Ben kill Jack.

When it was Megan's turn, Ben gave a small chuckle that her answers were ultimately the same. After the nurse left, Ben stared at his feet again. ''He's dead. I'm going to fucking kill him. There. Problem solved.'' Well, in his mind at least.