Brennan's Monologue

"I know what it's like to be different, Evie," Brennan said soothingly.
He knew how volatile Evie was right now and was only trying to calm her. "No, you don't!" She exploded, "You have never been bullied! You have always been 'cool' so you have never been called names, thrown around in the hallways or embarrassed everyday. You always had friends while I had no one. I was raised so dependent on my parents that I could never go against them when they said that my studies were more important than anything else. Do you know how hard I had to fight not to skip more grades than I did or to go to some insanely academic private school? I'm smart but they would've broken me there," Evie was almost in tears, her emotions getting the better of her.
My parents see me as a resource that needs to be protected while everyone else thinks that I'm a freak just because I'm smarter than them. It's as if my IQ means I'm another creature. It always has. I never wanted to be different, Brennan. I wanted to be a kid, but as soon as I took that test I was an adult. I never had a childhood and I hate my brain for that." Wiping a tear from under her eye, Evie turned away and rushed into her room. She was upset and embarrassed, not to mention scared that Brennan would leave her after her outburst. They weren't in a relationship, but even so she still had come to rely on him. He made her feel normal. In the living room in a stunned lack of movement, Brennan thought over everything he knew about Evie. She had never talked about things like her time in school before college so he hadn't known about her being bullied. It made something possessive rise up in him and made him want to protect
Luckily, Evie had been in too much of a hurry to lock it behind her. He threw the door open and walked quickly into the room. He could easily see Evie's bed on the opposite wall from the doorway. "She's not wrong," Evie whispered, "she's not wrong to be afraid. He doesn't know - we didn't tell him. He thinks I'm okay. He pushed for me to come here and get a good education because he didn't know. I couldn't tell him." Brennan paused, "Who couldn't you tell, Evie?" She sniffled, "My dad. I couldn't hurt him like that. I was his only kid, his baby girl. He was so protective of me. If he knew that I was being bullied and that I had mental issues he would be so upset." Brennan decided to throw caution to the wind and grabbed her, pulling her into his lap as he sat down on her bed. Curling her up into his body, Brennan held Evie tightly against him. She was still crying but it was quieter now. She took comfort from Brennan's hand running through her hair and the way his other hand rubbed her back as if she was a child needing comfort. For those moments, she was. "It's okay, Evie. You're okay," he said softly as he worked to soothe