Title: What Ariel Didn't Know…
Author: SneetchesToo
Rating: PG
Pairing: Ethan/Leanne
Summary: Ariel wasn't stupid. No, in fact, she considered herself quite bright.
Author's Note: I keep getting these ideas and I just can't help myself. This is just a quick little blurb about how Ariel perceives the relationship between Ethan and Leanne.
Ariel wasn't stupid. No, in fact, she considered herself to be quite bright. And whenever she doubted herself, well Leanne had sure been there to remind her of her intelligence. So why on God's green Earth Leanne felt the need to hide Ethan from her boggled the young girl's mind. She felt like they didn't trust her, like somehow she had done something to lead them to believe that she wasn't capable of handling having the man around.
It's not that Ariel didn't like Ethan, because she did. In fact, she really did. He was a great guy and he had been more than supportive of her and Leanne during their recovery. But he had been spending an awful lot of time hanging around lately and she was starting to become suspicious of just what exactly his intentions were. And the fact that Leanne was trying to be sneaky about it, well that just gave her all the more reason to question this situation.
Ariel was most certain that something was definitely going on between him and Leanne. Something bigger than she probably wanted to admit to knowing about. Neither one of them would come right out and say out. Neither one of them would treat her like the young adult that she was and confide in her with their secret. But she knew. Boy did she know. First of all, there had been clues. And looking back on it, so many of those clues she had have figured out earlier. They were small little things that had led her to believe that the Army Colonel was most definitely the cause of the increasing smiles on her new mother's face.
At first it had been subtle things. Ethan would stop by with breakfast in the morning. Then he started offering to take her to school, commenting on how he knew Leanne needed the extra rest. Then he was having dinner with them on his days off, staying to watch a movie or play some cheesy board game with them on the weekends. Next he started showing up randomly. He would come to Ariel's soccer games on Saturday mornings. He would drop Leanne off after having dinner with friends and they would linger in his car in the driveway. Ariel didn't even want to know what they were doing under the dim driveway lights, Ethan's Jeep still running for what seemed like an hour or two.
She wasn't stupid. She knew that adults who spent a certain amount of time together were probably also having sex with each other. And while she didn't want details, she would've appreciated at least a little honesty from the pair. Especially after she started finding Ethan's clothes in the washer, his brand of cologne magically appearing and disappearing from the dresser by Leanne's bedroom door. His favorite beer also started showing up in the fridge more often, and she was fairly certain that she had never seen Leanne eat a Snicker's bar in the entire 9 months she'd known her. Yeah, something was definitely up.
Then Ariel had come home early from school one day and it had all been confirmed. Her soccer practice had been cancelled and she had tried calling Leanne to let her know, but she never received an answer. Instead, she took the bus directly home after class and let herself in using her key. She hadn't suspected anything at first. The house was quiet and all the lights were off and she figured Leanne was probably upstairs sleeping after having worked a twelve hour night shift. The girl had dropped her keys onto the table by the door, noticing only slightly that there was an extra set of keys in the small bowl. Thinking nothing of it, she toed her shoes off and moved to place them on the rack. And that was when she noticed something that definitely didn't belong.
Army boots. Army boots that most certainly didn't belong to her, or Leanne. They were placed in the rack next to the pair of flats that she had seen Leanne wearing last night and suddenly her interest was peaked. Was Ethan here? She looked back outside and didn't see his Jeep anywhere in sight. Maybe he left them yesterday and I just didn't notice. Sighing to herself, Ariel made her way upstairs to her room. Dropping her book bag on the bed she plopped down with a sigh and stared at the ceiling. Her mind reeling at what this could all possibly mean.
Again, she wasn't stupid. She knew something was brewing between the two. But would they really be sleeping together and not telling her? Did they really think that little of her? Sighing again, she sat up just as she heard Leanne's bedroom door open, and she decided to go try and talk to the older woman. Hoping that honesty would be the best policy on this one. She made her way toward the door and opened it slightly as she moved into the hallway. But what she saw before her caused her to stop dead in her tracks, a gasp leaving her mouth as her eyes closed tightly at the sight before her.
Instead of coming face to face with Leanne, she saw Ethan, a half-naked Ethan, and he looked like he had probably been sleeping for several hours. She watched as the shock on her face caused Ethan's eyes to widen as well, and she threw a hand over her mouth to keep herself from losing her cool. This was not how I wanted to start my weekend. She knew this was bad. So very, very bad. And as much as she wanted some kind of closure to the situation, this was not how she wanted to receive it.
"Ariel?" Ethan's voice was soft, and Ariel watched as he stepped forward, moving further away from the closed bedroom door.
"Ethan." She didn't know what to say, and his name simply didn't seem like enough. She was mortified. Downright, embarrassed. And she just wanted to go back to her room and forget this ever happened.
"This is, um…" He ran a hand through his hair and Ariel was comforted to know that he was just as thrown off by this encounter as she was. "It's not what it looks like."
Ariel huffed, throwing her hands into the air as she stormed back into her room, choosing not to slam the door for fear of waking the woman up. Again with the hiding shit from her. She threw herself onto the bed with a groan, burying her face against the pillow below her. She heard Ethan's footsteps as he made his way slowly down the hall, and when he entered without knocking she shoot him a glare.
"Sorry." He held his hands up defensively and offered her a soft smile. "Do you wanna talk?"
"No." She growled back, turning her face away from him once more. She knew she was acting like a child, but they were the ones treating her that way, and she'd be damned if they got away with it.
"Ariel…" He moved further into the room, closing the door softly behind him as he moved to sit down in the chair. "It really isn't what it looks like hun."
"It looks to me like you've been secretly sneaking into Leanne's room at odd hours of the day and night and not telling me about it." She pushed herself up onto her arms and shot daggers at him from across the room. She wished looks could kill.
"Okay. So maybe it is what it looks like." He let out a sigh, his elbows resting against his knees as he dragged his hands over his tired face.
"Are you two sleeping together?" There. She asked it. She just went straight for the kill.
"Excuse me?" His voice shook as he barked out his question, and the slight frustration in his eyes made her even more irritable.
"Are you and Leanne having sex Ethan?" She didn't even care at this point if this was a topic she didn't want to know about. She just wanted to hear the truth for once.
Ethan let out a chuckle and leaned back in the chair, and Ariel watched as he blinked his eyes several times before bringing his face back down to eye her curiously. "Yes."
Dammit. As much as she thought she wanted to know the truth, hearing him say that, hearing him confirm for her what she had thought all along, well, turns out that she really didn't want to know that part. She didn't know what to say so she just pushed herself into a sitting position, clutching her pillow to her chest like a smile child. She eyed him warily through her bangs, expecting him to push her, but he didn't. He just there quietly, his hands clasped together in front of him, his eyes on her the entire time.
"How long?" Her voice was barely a whisper and she felt like a child again. Questioning her parents about something she really should know nothing about.
"You want the adult truth? Or the fairy tale truth?" She was reminded then of just how young Ethan and Leanne still saw her. Despite the fact that she would be 15 in less than a month, she knew that they both still saw her as the scared, fragile girl she had been when she was sick.
"The adult truth please." Her voice was still quiet, but rather from fear of upsetting the man in front of her more than anything else.
"We've been sleeping together for a little over a year." His words caused her brain to hurt. Wait? What? She had only been around for the past 9 months. So that meant? Ooohhhh...
"Oh…" She echoed the last part of her thoughts out loud and she watched as Ethan let out a small chuckle.
"It was just casual at first." He brought his arms up to cross them over his still bare chest, and he leaned back in Ariel's chair as he finally eyed her more seriously. "But the past 6 months have been… Well, they've been different."
"So you're what, dating now?" She felt her voice catch as she uttered the words out loud.
Ethan chuckled again and he shook his head. "Yeah, I guess you could say we're dating."
"But you're still having sex?" Ariel really didn't know why she kept asking him that question. This conversation had turned from strange to awkward and back again more times than she could wrap her head around and she just wanted to go back to school.
"Yes Ariel." Ethan's voice was firm and she lifted her head, their eyes connecting from across the room. "But it's more than just sex. We care about each other, a lot."
She remembered getting 'the talk' a few years back from her aunt, and while it had been the most awkward conversation she had ever been a part of, it certainly hadn't included anything other than 'don't have sex, it's bad for you' and then she had left it at that. Ariel knew absolutely nothing about how adult relationships worked, and frankly, at this point, she didn't know if she ever wanted too.
"So…" She closed her eyes tight when she heard Leanne's door open again, signally that the older woman was now awake as well, and she really didn't want to have to have this talk with both of them. She waited for the inevitable, and when she heard the soft knock on the door she swallowed back the lump on her throat as she replied. "It's open."
Leanne's head appeared around the door frame a few seconds later and Ariel watched as her eyes got wide at the image of a shirtless Ethan sitting in her pink desk chair, his arms still crossed across his chest, a small smile on his face.
"What's going on in here?" Ariel could hear the confusion in the woman's voice and she buried her face in her hands as she shook her head back and forth. Please just make this stop.
"Little miss here is on to us." Ethan's voice was soft, and the slight hint of humor in his words made Ariel roll her eyes behind her hands. She looked up when she heard Leanne chuckle softly and she eyed her angrily from her spot on the bed.
"We were wondering how long it would take you." Leanne's voice was soft just like Ethan's, and while Ariel knew that they were just trying to lighten the mood, she hated that they found this so humorous.
"It's not funny!" She knew the second she shouted those words that it was a mistake. Leanne had a strict 'no yelling' policy in her house, and Ariel had done her best to abide by over the past 9 months. She let her head hang again, sighing defeatedly.
"No Ariel, you're right, it's not funny." She felt the bed dip beside her and then Leanne's arm was around her and she growled lightly at the woman's movements. "We really should've told you sooner."
Nodding her head up and down Ariel shot them both a look, hoping that her frustration was conveyed without the use of words. She hated this. She hated that they had kept this from her. She hated that they had hid this behind closed doors and covert phone calls. She hated that they didn't trust her enough to let her know that they were together. She was a big girl. She could've handled it. Even if they weren't in a real relationship. They were adults. They could do whatever they damn well pleased. She just wish they hadn't lied to her.
She felt Ethan's hand on her knee and she brought her head up again to shift her eyes between them. "Why didn't you tell me?" She could hear her voice shaking and she hated it.
"I don't know." Leanne's voice was soft in her ear and she could tell the woman was just as confused by the whole thing as she was.
"We honestly have no good reason for hiding it Ariel." Ethan's voice was soft, and the look in his eyes was softer. "Really, no reason at all."
Ariel let out a breath of relief when she realized that this whole situation was something none of them wanted to deal with. At least there was that. At least they hadn't been keeping it from her because they thought she was too immature to handle it. Or that they didn't trust her. They were simply stupid. Something she already knew to be true in a variety of ways.
"I'm not stupid you know." She stated matter-of-factly, eyeing them both sternly as she crossed her arms over her chest before scooting back on the bed.
"We never thought you were kid." Again, Ethan's voice showed no signs of frustration and Ariel was beginning to wonder if the man ever lost his temper.
"You weren't very good at hiding it." She said again, cocking her head to the side to see just how far she could take this.
Leanne let out a chuckle and eyed her playfully. "Is that so?"
She let out a snort and nodded her head. "Yeah." She crossed her legs in front of herself before continuing. "First of all," she gestured back and forth between them as she spoke, "no one, and I mean no one, works that many night shifts in one week." They both snorted and Ariel knew she had busted them once and for all. "Second of all, you leave your underwear on the floor," She pointed her finger at Ethan this time, raising an eyebrow when he let out a huff, "a lot." She punctuated the last two words and when Leanne let out a chuckle she turned her focus to her. "Third of all," She aimed her finger at Leanne this time, and the look she received in return could've killed, "you, do a horrible job of covering up hickeys."
Ethan let out a howl that earned him deathly glares from both women and he held his hands up in front of him defensively. "She has a point." His gesture towards Leanne made Ariel chuckle this time. "You really should get some better concealer for those things."
Leanne chucked the closest pillow at him and glared, eyeing Ariel from the side when she let out a chuckle. "How about you just stop leaving them in such visible places?"
Jesus Christ. "Guuuuys…" She dragged out her words and covered her face with her hands once more, the mental images that flashed into her brain most likely causing permanent damage. "Groooossss."
She heard them both let out a chuckle and she couldn't help but let a squeal when she felt the bed dip on the other side, Ethan tossing himself next to her on the bed, pulling her into a hug. "We're sorry we hid it from you." He whispered against her hair.
"It's okay." She whispered back, her arms falling to her sides as she eyed Leanne curiously, the woman moving to hug her from the other side.
"We promise we won't hide it from you anymore." The older woman's voice was soft and Ariel knew exactly what she meant. They were supposed to talk to each about things. That's what they had agreed on when Ariel had moved in. That they would work together to get through stuff, not alone.
"Good." Ariel wrapped an arm around each of them and she shook her head back and forth quickly when they both tried placing kisses on her cheeks. "Gaaah! Stop!" She squealed again, her face twisting up in faked disgust.
"Love you kid." Ethan whispered, dropping a kiss to her head, and Ariel was certain his eyes probably connected with Leanne's over her head because then she said the same thing, her head shifting to allow her eyes to look in his direction in return.
"Love you guys too." She whispered softly, hoping that they both knew just how much she meant it. Because as crazy as they drove her. As insane as they were both going to wind up making her. She couldn't deny that they weren't the two most important people in her life. Even if they did think she was blind enough not to notice they're very obvious relationship blooming right before her very own eyes. But then again, what she didn't know, probably wouldn't hurt her.