what was i made for, walker

021. the truth

TW: talk of rape/sexual abuse/grooming

Janie gets home, it being a few hours after she was supposed to be home for dinner. Her hair is a tangled mess and she's hugging her jacket to her chest, cheeks stained with tears.

"Hey." Her father's stern voice sounds out as he walks over. "Where the hell have you been? You're not answering your phone. I was worried sick."

"Sorry." She mumbles.

"You're supposed to call or text when you know you might be late. And you shouldn't have been late, I told you to come home for dinner. You didn't even ask permission or anything. You just--"

"I think I might've fucked up." She sniffles, finally looking up, Cordell's face dropping at her wrecked state.

"Okay. Okay, hey, hey." Cordell's voice softens, approaching the girl like she's a frightened animal. "It's okay. C'mere." He wraps his arms around her. Janie tenses up for a moment before relaxing a bit, the smell of her father reassuring her she's safe. Cordell frowns in concern, lightly rubbing her back, and he rests his chin on top of her head.

~ ~ ~

Cordell eventually got Janie to sit on the couch and he kneels in front of her, worriedly watching her every move.

"You gotta tell me what happened so I can help." Cordell gently tells her. Janie sniffles, rubbing her nose.

"I, um..." Janie mumbles, keeping her head down, not wanting to look at him. "I don't know." She whimpers.

"Sweetie--"

"No. No, I-I know I know, but I don't... I can't..." She struggles to come up with any words.

"Did somebody do something to you?" Cordell asks. Janie hesitates before nodding. "Can you tell me who?" Janie's face screws up, the girl holding back a sob, though a small hiccup escapes.

"My..." She sniffles, taking in a shaky breath to try to be able to talk. "My therapist." She quietly informs.

"Wha-- Dr. Green?" Cordell asks and Janie nods. "What'd he do?" Janie leans back at the edge in his voice, anger swimming in his eyes. Cordell quickly notices her reaction, blinking and trying to calm himself down. "No. No, honey, I'm not mad at you. Okay? I want to help you. You just have to tell me what he did."

"He..." Janie trails off, a deep frown set on her face. "He did a lot." She sniffs, pulling her sleeves over her hands. "He... he touched me." Cordell's heart drops, his blood running cold.

"Baby--"

"It-- it started small." She says, her voice quiet and head down. "It-- I-I mean, the-- the first month or two was-- was totally normal. I-- he was a normal therapist. He let me trust him. But... but then he started brushing my arm or-- or accidentally bumping into me when he'd walk me out. Then he moved to squeezing my shoulder and-- and patting my back and then touching my hip and thigh and-- and then..."

"And then what?" Cordell prompts, ignoring his urge to cry and his even stronger urge to go to this man's office or house and beat him to a pulp.

"He... it got worse." Her voice cracks, tears streaming down her face. "He... he got too close to my chest and went too low down my back, he... he was just slowly working up to everything an-and-- and..."

"Did he..." Cordell clears his throat, brushing his nose, ignoring how much the sting in his eyes hurts. "Did he ever..." His heart shatters the moment Janie understands what he's trying to ask and nods. Cordell closes his eyes, leaning his head down and rubbing his forehead, his jaw tightly clenching. He wipes away the few tears that manage to escape, the man struggling to hold the rest back.