Katie shakes her head. "No," she says softly, "Tara... It doesn't mean you did anything wrong, you hear me? Sometimes terrible things happen. And it doesn't matter how good you are or how hard you try, they happen. It doesn't mean you deserve it." It's something she's struggled with for years. Even now, saying it, she knows it's true for Tara, but it's harder to believe it for herself. Sometimes she catches herself thinking that all the terrible things David said about her were true. Sometimes she finds herself wondering if things will really be okay or if she'll start making the same mistakes again, the ones that made David hurt her like he did. Reminding herself it isn't true, that he hurt her because he was sick and something inside him was twisted and wrong, is a feat she finds herself having to take on time and again. She never deserved it.

She hesitates, thumb running over the back of Tara's hand. "Is he... does he do things he shouldn't?" she asks. "I mean, has he... ever hurt you?" I can never leave him. God knows she's said that before. Oh, how she was wrong.