Warnings: This story will be on the high end of the 'T' spectrum. There will most certainly be an 'M' story accompanying this with outtakes that cannot be rated 'T', but that won't be for a little while.
Disclaimer: I do not own Nine Lives of Chloe King, nor 'Guardian Angel' by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus'. This is fanfiction, and not made for profit.
I am British, so I tend to spell things like differently. I tried to keep it American, but feel free to point out if I wrote 'colour', or 'mum', when Alek is not speaking.
As for updating frequency, I have few promises. Saturdays and Sundays will always have updates, but I can make no promises for the rest of the week. Just keep an eye out, and I'll try my best to update quickly.
Thank you for reading The Edge of Glory. Please review and let me know what you think!
"How did you get sixty points with a three letter word?"
Chloe and Amy were currently sitting on the floor of the moving RV, playing Scrabble on the coffee table. Meredith King was driving, and mumbling under her breath about the drivers on the road, while Paul was lounging on one of the couches, reading one of his many comics. Jasmine was watching the game with amused interest, while Alek was either sleeping on the other couch, or doing a very good job of feigning it. All in all, it was very quiet, for an RV, containing five teenagers, three of them Mai, but then again, it was only three hours in to their little 'road trip'. And considering they were travelling to New York, they still had quite a ways to go.
"I used a 'Y', and a 'K'. Plus, I hit a triple word score, and a double word score." Chloe said smugly, and Amy glared at her.
"Who the heck even uses the word 'yak' anyways?" She retorted, unhappy at having lost. Normally she dominated at this game with her dads. Then again, they were both psychiatrists, not English majors. And of course, Chloe was pretty much the walking thesaurus, had been for years.
"People who want to win Scrabble." Chloe said in a superior tone, and Amy rolled her eyes good naturedly.
"You know, I don't even know why you play that with her Amy." Paul finally spoke from his position on the couch. "I mean, Chloe pretty much knows every word in the English language."
"Not to mention Russian and Spanish!" Meredith piped up from her position in the driver's seat.
Jasmine glanced at Chloe curiously. It seemed that there was no end to the little things that Chloe did, or was capable of, that surprised her and Alek. Speaking of her cousin, she knew he was pretending to be asleep, so she decided to take the liberty for both of them, to learn a little bit more about the girl who was destined to save the Mai race.
"Really? You're fluent in three languages?"
Chloe shook her head, and Amy and Paul rolled their eyes simultaneously. "No, no, I'm not. I mean, I know how to speak Russian, because that's what I learned to speak. I'm not fluent though, I'm much more proficient in English. I was pretty young when I learned to speak Russian, and there were more important things to be doing, I guess. But my dad was Hispanic, so he taught me Spanish along with English. I'm hardly fluent though."
"But she is a walking thesaurus." Paul interjected, smiling kindly at his Mai friend. "Whenever we did those peer checks in English, she would always send my paper back with a ton of red marks, because she crossed out words, and put in better ones."
Chloe blushed, as Amy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, my paper always looked like it was bleeding ink. She'll sometimes even interrupt us in the middle of a conversation too. We're used to it by now though, so it's all good."
Jasmine gave Chloe an odd look. "I'm sensing a story here. Care to enlighten me? And I'm sure Alek is interested to know, while he's pretending to be asleep." Chloe and Amy glanced at the British boy sprawled out on the couch, and he cracked one eye open to glare at his smirking cousin.
"I don't know. There's not really a story, per se, I'm just interested in words, you know? I mean, it's pretty much one of the few constants, no matter where you go. No matter what language you speak, you still use words. They're the key tools in communication, and they can change people." Realizing that both Alek and Jasmine were staring, she blushed, and glanced down. "It's stupid, I know."
Jasmine shook her head. "Not at all. It means that you truly are the Uniter, if you hadn't already proved that with your first death." Chloe winced at the memory. "It was said that the Uniter would join together the races, not with violence, but with words. That's the mark of a true leader, you know. It's why my mother is slightly…lacking." Jasmine looked nervous to be speaking ill of her mother in such a way, but it was understood among the Pride that all must give constructive criticism; even the leader was not exempt.
"Well that's good. At least now we know Chloe isn't just plain crazy." Amy said, and Chloe shoved her, laughing slightly.
"You're one to talk." Alek snorted, and found himself on the receiving end of a glare from her. He stood and stretched his arms, which lifted up his t-shirt. He caught Amy glancing over and blushing, and he tossed her a wink. Sadly, in his opinion, Chloe was not looking, too busy with something on her phone."
"Frank and Vanessa say hello!" Meredith called from up at the front of the RV. And Frank told you kids to 'learn a lot'!" All five teenagers snorted in derision. Meredith's boyfriend, Frank, was under the impression that the five teenagers were travelling to New York for an educational trip, to immerse themselves in culture, and for some learning thing or another, hosted by their school.
Of course, that was just their cover story. New York City was the intended destination, but it was for Mai purposes. A small little convention of sorts, that required the presence of the San Francisco Pride, and of course, the Uniter.
It was only the worldwide gathering of the Mai. Nothing too important.
Chloe was nervous about it. She was terrified of saying the wrong thing, of meeting different people, of doing something that she shouldn't. It was hard, having the hopes and goals of an entire race upon her shoulders. She had already talked to Valentina about how to act at the gathering, but she was still very much in the dark. After all, she was still incredibly naïve about many Mai customs and traditions. And if she said or did the wrong thing, it would reflect badly on the San Francisco Pride. As manipulative as Valentina Cortez could be, Chloe trusted her to some degree; besides, she trusted no one else as her Protectors, other than Jasmine and Alek.
So she would just have to do her best to follow all the guidelines Valentina set out for her, in the form of a hundred page manual. Paul and Amy had accompanied her for moral support of course, and her mother had been enlightened in all things Mai. She was still uncomfortable with a lot, including the fact that her only daughter had died, but she was actually doing pretty amazing, all things considered. After all, her daughter was destined to save the Mai race, yet the freak out had been minimal. Chloe was so proud.
"Tell Frank I said 'implied!'" Chloe called to her mother, from her position, sitting Indian style on the floor. Meredith and Frank had become quite serious about one another, and Chloe had been happy to include Frank on some of the King family's traditions.
"Will do!" Meredith called, and Jasmine and Alek couldn't help but smile. They were in the agreement that Chloe had the coolest mom ever. Jasmine was envious, as her own mother was so driven to be a successful leader. Alek often missed his own mother, but he did not begrudge Chloe hers. He knew that Meredith King meant the world to Chloe, and their relationship was unique. He was grateful that she had accepted Chloe's secret life with such grace. If her reaction had been anything different, Chloe would have had to been placed in hiding. Alek knew that if her mother had not been accepting of her, it would have broken Chloe's heart. And of course, it was his job to make sure that her heart remained whole and intact, among other things.
"Well, I think we'll be winding down in about an hour or two. I'm getting pretty bushed." Chloe smiled and nodded at her mom. Alek exchanged a glance with Jasmine, and spoke up from the back.
"If you would like me to drive, I don't mind." After all, he was seventeen, he had his license. He was a superb driver, considering he had been involved in a high speed chase when he was fourteen. The Order had plagued his life for far too long, in his opinion.
However, Meredith did not seem to share the same confidence in his abilities. She glanced at him through the rearview mirror, and Alek could see in her eyes that she still thought of him as the boy who was on her daughter's bed. And Alek couldn't really blame her. After all, his intentions were always honorable, when it came to Chloe.
"That's fine. We'll only be driving for a little bit more, and then we'll stop at an RV park. We can figure out the sleeping arrangements then."
All the teenagers exchanged glances. This was going to be fun.
"So, let's figure out who's sleeping where. We have a queen sized bed, a single bed, and two tents. Who wants to take the beds?"
"You should take the queen sized bed Mom." Chloe immediately said, and all of them agreed. Meredith had been doing the driving, besides, she was the adult here. The privilege belonged to her. However, the rest of them still had to figure out where they were sleeping.
Meredith seemed to have come up with an idea that sounded good, however, when she spoke it aloud, several flaws were seen.
"Why doesn't Chloe sleep with me, Alek can sleep in the other bed, Jasmine and Amy can share a tent, and Paul can have his own tent." Meredith was wise in the fact that she had tuned in to Alek's irritation towards Paul, but Paul did not like the idea of sleeping alone. At all. Surprisingly, it was Amy who had the solution.
"I have a better idea! Jasmine can take the other bed, Chloe and I can share a tent, and the boys can just suck it up and share." Said boys exchanged a glance; Paul's excited expression was comical, while Alek's dark glare was equally humorous.
Chloe knew that Amy was planning something, but she decided to go along with it, and see how things panned out. "I'm cool with that."
However, Chloe wasn't the only one who noticed that Amy had something up her sleeve. Meredith seemed uneasy about accepting Amy's proposal, but in the end, she was tired enough to finally concede, if only to go and fall asleep as soon as possible.
But as soon as the four of them were outside, tents in hand, Alek turned to glare at Amy. "You had better have a different idea, if you want your boyfriend to survive the night." Of course, as always, Paul looked far more eager than scared, but Amy simply rolled her eyes.
"Don't be dramatic London. Of course I have a better idea. I'm going to sleep with Paul, and you're going to sleep with Chloe."
Instantly Alek relaxed, and shot a smirk to Chloe, who was staring at Amy in horror. "Oh, well that I'm fine with."
Yet it seemed that Chloe was not fine with that. "You're kidding, right? I am not sharing a tent with him! My mom would kill me, then him, and then you Amy! We are sticking to the original plan, and like you said, the boys will just have to suck it up."
Amy shook her head. "Clo, you're the only one who has a problem with it. Therefore, the majority wins." Chloe glared at her best friend, and then glared at Alek, who simply held his hands up in a peaceful gesture. He had nothing to do with it, and he didn't plan on being blamed for taking advantage of Amy's ingenious plan.
"Fine. I'll sleep with Alek." Chloe grumbled. When Alek dropped his mouth open to make a comment, but before he could even utter a word, Chloe had turned the full intensity of her glare onto him. "Don't. Say. It."
Surprisingly, Chloe and Paul were the only two who knew how to set up the tents, and they took advantage of that, rubbing it in Alek and Amy's face. Well, mostly Chloe rubbed it into Alek's face that she had finally found something that she could do something that the British Mai couldn't.
Not that Alek was really complaining. After all, the view from where he was sitting was quite nice, watching Chloe bend down, and reach up. Amy too, seemed to enjoy it, though she was having more fun watching Paul act masculine for once.
"So, are the tents ready yet?" Amy asked, and Chloe rolled her eyes. She loved her friend, but she couldn't help but wonder if she had ever even seen a tent. Because the exoskeleton was not usually what people thought of, when they thought of camping.
"Well, if you're okay with rain and bugs possibly getting in, then yes. But at the moment, we still need to put the canvas on."
Amy nodded lamely, unable to come up with a better response then, "Well, you do that."
A few minutes later, Chloe and Paul deemed their work done. While Alek was all for climbing in the tent he would share with Chloe, and falling asleep, he was forced to endure five minutes of alone time with Paul, as the girls got changed. Chloe was changing in Amy and Paul's tent, while Paul was changing in Alek's tent. Well, Alek and Chloe's tent.
Finally, Paul left, and a few moments later, Chloe entered. As she did, Alek tried not to stare. What she was wearing was fairly simple, just an oversized t-shirt, and a pair of tiny shorts, but she still looked stunning. Her long legs were completely on display, her beautiful blonde curls had been pulled back into a messy bun. The t-shirt was loose around her body, but it clung tightly to her in certain places. And all Alek could think about was how much he would enjoy seeing Chloe in his clothes.
"What?" She asked in an annoyed tone. Evidently she had noticed him staring. "We're in a tent, I'm not about to wear silken Victoria's Secret pajamas. Especially not when I'm sleeping next to you." She muttered the last statement under her breath.
Alek simply smirked. "Ah, so you admit you do have Victoria's Secret pajamas then. Interesting tidbit to know love." Colour flooded Chloe's cheeks, and Alek smirked to himself. So it was true. He might have to catch her wearing them some night.
"Don't call me love." She muttered, and began arranging the sleeping bag, placing her pillow on the end, giving Alek a lovely view of her backside. He lounged back against his own sleeping bag, hands behind his head.
"Force of habit love. It's just a term of endearment. You'll get used to the lingo eventually." Chloe rolled her eyes and began nestling into her sleeping back.
"I certainly hope not. That would require inordinate amount of time spent around you. I have better things to do." Alek raised his eyebrows. Chloe was becoming quite the snarky little vixen under his watch. Oh, he was so proud.
"Your flattery is overwhelming darling. Please, continue with your Shakespearean words, worthy of a cheesy love song."
Chloe frowned at him. "Hey, I love cheesy love songs! They tend to produce great music."
Alek frowned at Chloe. "You listen to too much music. It's no wonder you're attacked at every waking moment." Chloe glared at him. "But what's your favorite band?" He decided he might as well reach for common ground. Chloe was a music junkie, and he appreciated good music.
The blonde Mai gave him a serious look. "You know that's like asking me to pick a favorite child. If I had children?" Alek simply continued to give her a stare, and she sighed, and finally answered him. "I don't know. It really depends. When I'm depressed, I'll listen to anything from Mumford and Sons, to Adele. If it's a good day, I might turn on the Beatles, or Snow Patrol. I just like music."
"Any particular reason?" Alek asked curiously. He had never understood Chloe's fascination with music, but he acknowledged it had to come from somewhere, and what he had seen of her mother, he doubted that it came from Meredith King.
Chloe looked at the ground, covered by the canvas of the tent. "I don't know. I've always loved music. I don't remember much of the orphanage, I was only three when my dad adopted me, but I remember listening to this music box, every night as I fell asleep. My birth parents left it for me. And then when my parents adopted me, my dad would always sing me a lullaby at night."
For a single moment, a fragile silence lay suspended in the air between the two Mai. It was not awkward or out of place, rather perfect, and appropriate for the setting. But as much as both wanted to linger in the moment, they both knew that it couldn't last.
"Well, after that completely awkward, and exposing confession, I think I'll be going to bed now." Chloe said, a pretty blush tainting her pale cheeks. Alek's hand instinctively shot out and grabbed Chloe's slim, delicate wrist.
"No. I mean, no, don't be embarrassed. It wasn't awkward. It's good to know that you trust me with the serious stuff."
Chloe met his eyes, surprise evident in her own. "Alek, I trust you with my life. All of my lives." She said honestly. "And as much as you don't want to hear it, I would sacrifice any one of my lives to save you." Alek wanted to protest, to say that Chloe's lives were so much more important, but they had already had this discussion. "I mean, I would do it for Jasmine, or Amy, or Paul, or my mom too."
As the tension in the air rose, and the awkwardness grew, both shuffled slightly in their sleeping bags, and finally settled in for the impending night's sleep. Turning to glance at Chloe, Alek said in his cocky tone, "I'll be alert tonight. Go ahead and listen to your iPod." Chloe shot him a grateful smile, before placing the earbuds in her ears. Alek watched with fascination as she drifted off to sleep within a few moments.
Shifting his head, he stared at the top of the tent, letting the lyrics of the song she was listening to float into his ears.
I will never let you fall.
I will stand up for you forever.
I'll be there for you through it all.
Even if saving you sends me to Heaven.