Clare was startled from her light sleep by a knock on the door. She slowly lifted her head from her pillow and slid her body out from under the warm blankets. A cold chill reached her body the moment she placed her foot on the floor. She was instantly awoken and she made her way to the direction of the knocking. Clare reached her front door and opened it. She was hoping that she would be pleasantly surprised with a late-night visit from Eli but to her dismay Fitz was standing in front of her.
"Hi Clare." Fitz said as he stood at her doorstep.
"Fitz. What are you doing here this late?" Clare asked puzzled. "You know Eli doesn't like it when you're here."
"I know. But I needed to talk to someone." Fitz replied innocently.
Clare thought for a moment. She didn't want to leave Fitz out in the cold. Although Eli may have been bothered by Fitz spending time with Clare, she figured he'd understand.
"Okay." Clare answered. She opened the door wider and moved to the side and waited for Fitz to walk in.
Fitz walked into her house noticing the picture frames that were hung on the wall. He stopped to look at a family portrait of Clare, her mother and father that had been taken years before their separation. He looked that picture with jealousy. His family never had a tight bond like that, not even for a little bit. Clare continued walking and she suddenly noticed that Fitz was no longer following her. She stood next to Fitz at the frame on the wall and watched him.
"So what did you need to talk about?" Clare asked with her eyes fixed on Fitz.
Fitz was taken out of his trance-like stare and faced Clare. "I just needed to get out of my house, and I needed to be somewhere where someone actually cared." Clare looked and realized that she truly was the only one that cared about Fitz. She started to feel horrible for the way she had treated him. Always rushing him out the door to spare Eli. Eli was fine other than his incredibly controlling psychotic-like spurts. Fitz was the one who needed help.
"Well." Clare started hesitating her next sentence. "You can stay here as long as you need to." She said almost being afraid of the reply.
"I'd like that, Clare. But what about Eli." Fitz asked.
"Well it'll only be for a night or two, and it's not like you'd be anywhere near me at night." Clare defended.
"And what about your parents?" Fitz questioned.
"My mom loves you. She shouldn't be a problem once I tell her what's going on, she'll understand. I'll tell her in the morning." Clare reassured him again.
Fitz nodded and Clare gestured for him to sit on the couch.
"Can I get you anything?" Clare asked.
"No, I'm okay. Can we just talk?" Fitz asked innocently.
Clare, feeling sorry for Fitz, agreed and sat on the couch next to him.
"About what?" She asked.
"What do you see in Eli? What do you like about him, I mean." Fitz asked as his eyes moved from the television to Clare.
She felt pressured on how to answer the question. She didn't want to truly tell him why to spare his feelings. She also didn't want to sound like there was nothing about Eli to like because that wasn't true either.
"Well, he's just a nice person who cares for me." Clare answered.
"Oh." Fitz said in a sorrowful tone. After a few moments of a somewhat awkward silence, Clare broke in "We should probably go to bed. Are you fine sleeping on the couch?"
"Yeah I'll be fine." Fitz answered
Clare reached for a throw pillow that was sitting on the chair next to the couch. She stood up and grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and handed them both to Fitz. He set himself up under the blanket and rested his head on the pillow.
"Clare?" Fitz called quietly as she started to make her way back upstairs.
She turned around and replied "Yeah, Fitz?"
"Thank you for caring about me Clare." He said.
"You're welcome. Good night." Clare said as she turned back around and walked upstairs. Eli would probably never forgive her for helping Fitz let alone let him sleep at her house. As much as she hated to hurt Eli, she knew it was better to help Fitz, who really needed her help.