Work Text:
Janine was staying late at the district, she was trying her best to get an ASL interpreter for one of Jacob's students but the more she tried the harder it seemed. Working at the district was a lot of hard work. She constantly had something to do which made her want to give up on getting an interpreter. She heard a knock at her door. She looked up and saw Manny standing at her doorway.
Manny was a representative for the Philadelphia school district. Janine had been able to make friends with him and some of the others working with them. She was glad that her little friend circle was expanding now that she was working at the district.
"Hey," he said grinning at her.
"Hey," Janine replied with a soft smile.
"Are you still trying to get that interpreter?" Manny asked.
She sighed, taking her glasses off, "Yeah,".
"Yep, I get it, stuff like this can be hard when you're the only one that cares,".
After walking into her office, he closed the door behind him. During their conversation, he closed the blinds on all the windows in her office.
"Yeah, I just wish that I could get that interpreter, I want that girl to be able to communicate with everyone else," Janine said, not noticing what Manny was doing.
"I understand that, just don't overwork yourself, it's pretty late, everyone has already left". He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed tightly.
"Um... yeah," Janine stammered, starting to get a bit uncomfortable. There was a sense of him getting closer to her.
There was a bit of silence making Janine feel uneasy. "You know what? I think you're right, I'm gonna call it a night," she said. Her attempt to stand up was stopped by Manny who firmly pushed her back down onto her chair. By bending down behind her, he brought his face level to hers.
"You don't want to stay a bit longer?" He whispered into her ear.
Janine's eyes widened 'What is he doing' she thought. She immediately broke away from Manny's grasp and backed away.
She cleared her throat, "Um...Manny, it was good talking to you but I think I'm gonna go now, have a good night,". She started to gather her things. Manny stepped up to her, making her back up against the wall.
"Come on Janine, don't leave yet,". Manny rested his hand on her face,"Let's have a bit of fun,".
"Um... I'm not su-sure what you mean by that,". Janine's breath started to get shaky
"I'm pretty sure you know exactly what I mean,". He pressed his body up against hers.
"Please, get off me. I don't want to do anything," Janine pleaded. Manny kept her pinned against the wall, despite her attempts to move.
"Don't be like that, I know you want this," He said, moving his head only inches away from her face.
"Manny, stop, please, I don't want this," Janine said, turning her head away from him.
"You'll enjoy it, I promise," he said. His hands grabbed her face firmly and he forced her to kiss him. His hands slowly made their way down her body. He forced his tongue into her mouth as he squeezed her ass. Janine tried to resist but Manny was way stronger than her and kept her in place.
"Manny... stop, you're hurting me," Janine said with tears forming in her eyes.
"Shh, we don't want anyone to hear us now do we?" Manny said with a grin and covered her mouth with his hand. He started kissing down her neck leaving marks as he did. He began to unbutton her shirt.
"Please," Janine tried to say, but she couldn't make out any words with Manny covering her mouth.
"Quite now, don't worry I'll take care of you," he said. He massaged her breasts with one hand as he roughly kissed her neck.
"You're so beautiful," he said through his huffs. He slowly guided his hand down her stomach to underneath her skirt. He slowly rubbed her core through her underwear.
Janine tried her hardest to not make any noise but with Manny touching her, she started to breathe louder. The fact that she was powerless to take action made her hate herself.
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" He asked with a wide grin.
Janine was humiliated. She obviously didn't enjoy anything about this, but Manny didn't give a damn about it. He moved his hand underneath her underwear but before he could do anything else, someone opened the door.
"Get your FUCKING hands off of her!"
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Now that Janine worked at the district, Gregory rarely got to see her. He missed having her around, she was the reason why he even stayed at Abbott in the first place.
He decided that he would visit Janine at the district building. He was hoping that maybe they could go to dinner together and catch up with each other.
It was starting to get dark out so he wasn't sure if she was still there, in fact, not many people were. But he knew that Janine had been trying super hard to get an ASL interpreter for one of Jacob's students, so he hoped she might have decided to stay a bit longer.
Gregory asked the lady at the front desk where he could find Janine's office, to which she replied "Office 237,". He thanked her, then climbed up the stairs to the 2nd floor. He was a bit nervous but he didn't know why, it's not like he was asking her out on a date, it was dinner, as friends.
He felt like this was also a way to apologize to her, he couldn't help but feel like it was his fault that Janine left Abbott for the internship at the district after the conversation they had.
As he looked around for her office, he couldn't help but feel like something was off. He quickly shook off the feeling and found Janine's office. All the blinds were closed. He was afraid for a moment that maybe she had already left. He opened the door, expecting to see Janine working at her desk, but what he saw instead made him horrified.
Manny, the new district representative, was covering Janine's mouth with his hand as tears streamed down her face. Her blouse was unbuttoned low enough to see her cleavage. With his other hand, he was slowly reaching down her skirt. Gregory immediately went from being shocked to infuriated.
"Get your FUCKING hands off of her!"
Manny jumped at the sudden noise and instantly took his hands off Janine. Before he could do anything else, Gregory grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground.
"Stay the FUCK away from her!" Gregory yelled.
In a rage, Manny glared at him but got up and left not wanting to further agitate the situation. In an instant, Gregory turned around and walked over to Janine.
"Janine, are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Gregory asked, worried.
She didn't respond, she just looked at the floor as she cried softly. Gregory came closer to her and gently grabbed her shoulder.
"It's okay, Janine. He's gone," He said softly, "Please, talk to me,".
Janine breathed in, she opened her mouth to say something, yet she could not bring herself to speak.
It broke his heart to see her this way, he was definitely gonna beat Manny's ass for what he did. He wanted nothing more than to give her a hug and comfort her but he wasn't sure if she would be okay with him touching her, especially because of what just happened.
Janine looked into Gregory's eyes for a second, before looking away.
"He... he um...". Janine couldn't even finish a sentence before she started crying again.
"Hey, it's okay, just breathe,". Gregory tried his best to comfort her, he gently rubbed her shoulder.
"He touched me,". That was all she was able to say.
Words couldn't express how angry he was right now. How dare Manny hurt Janine. His heart ached to her in this state, she was the sweetest, most cheerful person he knew.
"I'm gonna kill that bitch," Gregory muttered under his breath. He so badly wanted to chase after him and beat the life out of him, but Janine grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
"Please, don't leave me here alone," Janine cried.
She pulled him into a hug and cried into his chest. He felt her body trembling against his as she sobbed. He hugged her back tightly.
"Don't worry, I'm not leaving you,".
Gregory rubbed her back gently as she cried. Though he didn't say it, he wanted Janine to know that he would take care of her. They stayed that way for some time before Janine pulled away.
"Um... sorry if I got your shirt wet," she said awkwardly, wiping her tears with her sleeves.
"It's fine, don't worry about it,".
Janine sighed and turned away from him, she forgot that she was exposed to him and started buttoning up her shirt.
"I'm sorry you have to see me this way,". Janine apologized. She wasn't just upset about the situation, she was also embarrassed.
"Stop apologizing Janine, none of this is your fault," Gregory sighed "Let me take you home, you're safe with me,".
"Thank you," she said softly, with small tears still rolling down her cheeks.
Gregory walked her to his car and opened the door for her. The drive to her home was silent. Janine didn't want to talk to him about anything that just happened and he didn't want to bother her by asking more questions. He knew that she needed time to process what happened.
Gregory walked her to her apartment and waited at her door as she unlocked it. She walked in but he stayed outside, not knowing if she wanted him to leave.
"Gregory, could you stay with me, please?"
He didn't even hesitate to say yes, even if she didn't ask, he wouldn't feel right just leaving her after what happened.
He walked into her apartment, it wasn't the first time he came over, but this time it was under much different circumstances. Janine sat down on her couch and Gregory sat next to her.
"Hey um... listen, could you not tell anyone what happened, please?" Janine asked.
Gregory was bewildered at her request. "Absolutely not! We have to report him immediately. You're crazy if you think I'm just gonna let this go like nothing happened,".
"Gregory please..." Janine grabbed his hand as tears started to form in her eyes again, "I don't want anyone else to know about this,".
Gregory looked down at her and saw that she was silently crying. Her hands were shaking as she spoke. He always respected Janine and her decisions but there was no way he would let Manny get away with what he did.
"Look Janine, I understand that you're afraid, but he can't get away with what he did to you, I can't let that happen," Gregory said.
Janine slowly shook her head. "Please Gregory... please don't tell anyone," she begged through her sobs.
He was surprised. Why was she being like this, he only wanted to help her. He couldn't understand why she didn't want Manny to be reported.
"Why not, I'm sorry but I don't understand,".
Janine didn't feel like explaining herself, she already found the situation humiliating, so humiliating. She couldn't believe she let this happen to herself, how could she be so weak, how could she be so stupid? She's an adult and still can't help herself. And what would everyone else think? Would they think she's stupid too? They probably already do.
Janine didn't answer Gregory, she just sat silently as she cried. She hated this feeling, the feeling of being helpless. She hated even more that Gregory had to see her this way. The last thing she wanted was to know what he was thinking about her right now. He was probably mad at her. Mad for not answering him, mad that she was being careless and let this happen...
Gregory put his arm around her and pulled her towards him, interrupting her thoughts. Janine looked up at him with her big teary eyes, confused. "Janine, I'm so sorry that this happened, I'm sorry I didn't come earlier and stop him before he could do anything. I really want to help you, trust me I do, but I can't if you don't let me,"
'He must be mad at me,' Janine thought. "Gregory, I... I'm sorry, please don't be angry with me, I know that I probably could've avoided this, I was just being so stupid and I wasn't paying attention to what was happening, and then I panicked and... I'm sorry," She cried and buried her head in her hands.
It hurt Gregory how upset she was. Clearly, she hated herself for something that wasn't even her fault. He wasn't mad at her at all, if anything, he was upset at himself for failing to comfort her.
"Oh Janine, I'm not mad at you at all, and please don't be mad at yourself. I promise you, this isn't your fault. It was normal for you to panic, he took advantage of you and you didn't know what to do and that's okay. But what isn't okay is to let Manny get away with what he did,"
"I'm just... embarrassed," Janine said quietly.
"It's okay, I promise everything is going to be okay,".
Gregory pulled her in for another hug and waited for her to calm herself. Janine then pulled away and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Could you stay with me tonight?" Janine asked.
"Of course," Gregory replied, ignoring the fact that he would eventually need to head home to get dressed for work the next day. Or maybe he and Janine could both take a day off. He knew Janine needed to at least.
"Do you mind if I put something on TV? I just kinda need a distraction from everything,".
"I mean, it's your home, you can do whatever you want," said Gregory in a lighter tone.
Janine gave him a small smile and put on a movie. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep on Gregory but he didn't mind. He knew that all her crying must have drained all her energy, not to mention the fact that she had been working so much that day.
Gregory carefully carried her to her bed without waking her up. He laid her down and gently took off her shoes and jewelry. He wanted her to sleep as comfortably as she could. He looked at her and sighed, she looked so peaceful when she was asleep. He gave a small smile and left her room.
It was only around 8 pm but he was starting to feel a bit tired too. He headed back to the couch and stayed there to sleep. His plans, of course, didn't go how he wanted at all but he was still glad that he had gone to Janine's office that day, or only the lord knows what horrible things could've happened.
Though Gregory was tired, his anger didn't die down. He cared Janine so much that he was so mad at himself that he wasn't there to protect her. He wanted to go to the police station right away but he knew that he shouldn't leave Janine. Instead, he laid down on the couch and fell asleep.
He knew that he would always be by Janine's side no matter what. Though he didn't admit it, he loved her so much. He knew that she was strong enough to overcome this horrible incident, and he would be with her each step of the way.