He backed up slightly, his shoulders hunched. "Baby," he said quietly. "It's me. It's Jack. Can you at least tell me if you're okay?"
There was a pause before the door opened slightly, and she peered out with wide eyes. Her hands covered her nose and mouth, as one or both were bleeding.
It took a moment for the image to reach his brain, but when it did, his mouth opened slightly with surprise and he stepped forward. "Oh, baby," he murmured, his head tilting as he reached a hand out to her. "What happened to you?"
He fell back, a frown on his face as he studied her, his hands raised in surrender. "Okay. Okay. I won't. But can I at least clean off the blood to make sure nothing's broken?"
He entered the bathroom slowly and held his hand over a rag, watching as it grew damper with warm water before he turned to her. "This may hurt, okay? It'll just sting a little."
He hesitated before offering her his hand. "I'd never hurt you, Avice," he told her quietly, although his voice trembled slightly.
He sighed and knelt beside her before slowly cleaning the blood off, his eyes searching hers. "Can you tell me what happened?" he asked gently.
He resisted the urge to hold her close and never let her go. Instead, he lightly moved her head to the side to get a better angle, his fingers lightly brushing her jaw, trying to keep his hands from shaking with anger. "What happened? How did you get out?"
"Good," he said immediately, not meeting her gaze as he gently wiped away the blood. "You did the right thing, baby."
