Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or anything affiliated with it. I am just totally in love with the Clare/Eli relationship. This story takes place after the Waterfall episodes. So if you have not watched the Waterfall episodes this story is a major spoiler.

Love, Faith and Everything In Between

Clare was looking at the framed picture of the article that she had published in the Toronto Interpreter. Eli was so proud of her and all that she had accomplished and hoped that her article would be the final thing to help his NYU application. All Clare could think about is how much she hated Asher right now for what he did to her and how he cost her,

her co-op position. His boss signed her papers to keep her out of their hair and so they would not have to explain to Miss Oh what Clare was saying about Asher. At the same time she was thinking how sick it was that someone could get away with sexual harassing a minor. All her thoughts were interrupted by her phone going off alerting her that she had a text message.

Clare walked over to her desk and picked it up and smiled because she saw it was from Eli. It said "Hey Blue Eyes, I am parked in front of your house waiting for you so we can go for coffee like planned."

Clare felt really bad that she had forgotten about coffee with him but with all that was going on coffee with Eli was the last thing on her mind. "Sorry was a little distracted I will be right down." She text back.

She quickly grabbed her coat and purse and ran out of the house where Eli was sitting in Morty waiting for her. "Hey Blue Eyes you look really pretty today."

"Thanks Eli." She said as Eli leaned in to kiss her. She was still shaken up by what happened yesterday with Asher and she pulled away.

"Clare Bear what is wrong." Eli asked with concern laced in his voice.

"Nothing is wrong Eli I am just a bit tired." She said.

"Well then it is nothing a good cup of coffee from The Dot can't fix." He said as he pulled away from her house.

They drove in silence to The dot all she could think about was how she was going to keep this from Eli. It seemed every time he was trying to get close to her she was pulling away, like she was scared he was going to try something like Asher did. The logical side of her brain was telling her that he was nothing like Asher he loved her so much and did not want to do anything to hurt her. But her emotional side was so scared of being touched right now. He had tried to hold her hand while they were stopped at a red light and she just pulled away. She looked over at Eli he looked rejected because she was being so distance.

A few minutes later she was pulled from her thought when Eli was opening her door because they were at The Dot. They went in and Eli ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake for him and Clare. Personally he was not a fan of chocolate milkshakes but he knew it was her favorite so he got one hoping that would it would shake whatever was bothering Clare and make her smile. He knew she said, she was tired but something was bothering him that she was not being honest. He then let that thought go cause he knew when she was ready to talk she would tell him what is on her mind.

Once he placed their order he went and sat down at the booth with Clare and she looked lost in her thoughts. "Penny for your thoughts?" Eli asked as he sat down at the booth with her.

"I told you Eli I am just tired." Clare said

"Clare, I can't help but think you are hiding something from me." Eli said.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I am just tired… Don't you trust me?" She yells as she storms out of The Dot.

Eli puts some money down on the table and runs out of The Dot. He looks around for Clare but does not see her anywhere so he gets in Morty and starts driving around looking for her. After driving around looking for her for half an hour he pulls up in front of her house. Think that maybe she came here after her blow up. It was the last place he thought she would go but Clare always did the last thing he expected her to do.

He walked up to her door and knocked on it. He knocked on it for a few minutes and he got no answer so he tried turning the door knob and he was surprised when the door opened. He walked in the house and he yelled her name. She did not answer so he started to walk into the living room when all of a sudden he heard glass crushing beneath his shoes. When he looked down he saw that there was glass all over the floor and that the article he had framed for her was sitting in front of the wall with all the glass smashed out of it and the frame was cracked. He looked around the living room and found Clare lying on the couch crying. He hurried over to her and picked her up off the couch and sat her up so he could hold her in his arms while he talked to her. "Blue Eyes what did I do to upset you so much." He asked.

"Eli you did nothing wrong, something just happened and I don't want to talk about it." Clare said.

"If I did nothing wrong then can I ask why it looks like you threw the framed article I gave you at the wall." He asked as he kissed her forehead.

"I am scared that if I tell you, you will be disgusted with me and leave me." She cried.

"Blue Eyes, I would never leave you I love you way to much but at the same time you are starting to scare me. Why do you think I would leave you?" He asked.

"I will tell you but promise you will not freak out and just keep holding me please. I feel so safe in your arms." She said.

"Clare an hour ago you would not even let me hold your hand now you feel safe in my arms… That does not make a whole lot of sense." He said.

"Well let me tell you my story and then maybe you will understand a little bit better. So you remember the other day when I wrote the article about the play and after I sent it to Asher I found that grammatical error and then I ran down to the office to talk to him about fixing it. When I got there he was editing it to make it better and he offered for me to stay to help him edit it. After we had it all fixed up he kissed me. I ran away Eli I was so scared. I could not bel-." Clare said before Eli cut her off.

"He kissed you Clare? That was totally unprofessional of him." Eli said.

"That is not all Eli there is more can I finish my story?" Clare asked.

"Of course Clare Bear sorry I interrupted you." Eli said.

"Then Thursday he asked me to go down to city hall with him for a press interview with the Mayor he thought it would be a good experience for a budding journalist like me. So I agreed to go along, in the car he apologized for acting inappropriately towards me. He explained that his wife had asked for a divorce and he was stressed out about it. I told him I could forgive him, we all make mistakes. So after the press conference we got back into his car and he pulled out his Ipad to show me the article that was going to be published todays paper I was so excited. Then he reached out to stroke my cheek and he tried to push my hair behind my ear so he could have access to my neck. I got scared and I tried to get out of the car but he kept pushing the automatic locks. Finally I got the door unlocked and managed to get out of his car. I have never been so scared in my life Eli." She said as she was starting to cry.

"So this morning when I went down to the office and complained to his boss about what he did to me. She told me that Asher told her that I was harassing him and that she said she had my twitter feed and all kinds of evidence to support his claim. She told me that they were just going to sign my co-op paper and that I was being released. I asked her what information she had from my twitter feed, she told he she had a tweet where I said I loved him. So they had me escorted from the building. That is also why I was scared of your touch and leaned away from your kiss earlier today I was scared you were going to try and hurt me or push me too far. But now that you are here and holding me close to you I feel so loved and safe. I am so sorry about earlier." Clare confessed as she was crying.

"Oh Blue Eyes please don't cry none of this is your fault. I think we should go down to the office and have a talk with some people, you do not deserve to be treated like this and frankly I want to kick Asher ass for laying a hand on my Clare Bear." Eli spoke.

"Please Eli do not make me go back down there I do not want to face those people ever again." She said.

"Of course I would never make you do something you don't want to do or are not comfortable with." Eli said softly as he pulled Clare closer to him and she rested her head on his shoulders.

"You are handling this so much better than I thought you would. I thought for sure you were going to freak out and try to go kick Asher ass." She said.

"I want to go and do that but I know you need me right now a whole lot more than I need to go kick his ass." Eli said

"That is very true, but I could use some help cleaning up all this glass that is sitting around the house before we get to comfy sitting on this couch." Clare said as she got up off Eli's lap.

"Yeah we should defiantly get this cleaned up before you mother gets home and sees the mess." Eli said.

"Well mom is not coming home till Monday night, her and Glen are gone out of town for the weekend and Jake is over at Jenna's for the weekend." Clare said.

"What about your dad?" He asked.

"I have not seen him in over 3 months he is always away on work meeting and work trips. He is in Halifax this weekend." Clare said.

"So you are here all alone this weekend?" Eli asked.

"Ya." Clare said as they were finishing sweeping up the glass.

"Well I don't like the idea of you being here alone by yourself after what you are, after going through. So I think you should come back to my place for the weekend. I would offer to stay here but I don't think the two of us will fit very well in your little twin size bed." Eli said.

"Eli is that really not a good idea. I mean I don't want you to get the wrong impression with me sleeping in your bed plus I don't want to intrude on your family." Clare said.

"Clare I am not expecting anything from you I just want to be there for you this weekend and be able to take care of you. I just want to be there to dry your tears and hold you when you want to be held. I also just want to be able to cuddle you at night to keep the nightmares away. Plus Mom and Dad said you were always welcome at our place." Eli confessed.

"Well when you put it that way I would love to stay with you this weekend. Just let me pack a bag after we are finished cleaning up this mess." She said.

"How about you start packing a bag and I will finish cleaning up this mess, we are almost finished anyways. Plus I have to call mom and tell her that you are coming over so she puts on enough for supper." Eli stated.

"Ok, I will be right back after I finish packing my bag." Clare said and she leaned to give Eli a quick kiss.

Eli watched her as she ran up the stair to pack her bag. He swept the last of the glass into the garbage bag and then called his mom to let her know that Clare was coming over. After he was done that he sat back down on the couch and thought about how brave and beautiful she was and how strong she was for telling him the truth. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard her coming back down the stairs with her bag. "Okay Eli I am ready to go." She said.

"Ok well than let's get the on the road Blue Eyes. I am going to take the garbage bag with us so your mom does not get suspicious." Eli said as he got up off the couch and grabbed the garbage bag full of glass and the frame.

"Sounds good." Clare said as she walked out the door behind Eli so she could lock the door before they left.

After Eli put the garbage in the back of Morty he walked back towards the passenger side of the car and opened the door for Clare. Before she got in she wrapped her arms around Eli and gave him a hug. As she was pulling away Eli slowly lifted her chin and gave her a kiss and said "I love you so much Blue Eyes."

"I love you too Elijah Goldsworthy." Clare said with a smile.

"Clare…" Eli said with a warning tone.

"Sorry Elijah I got caught up in the moment." She said.

"Clare you know how I feel about my name." He said.

"Sorry, I love you Eli." Clare said as she got in the car.

"Love you too Clare Bear." Eli said as he closed her door and walked around to the driver side of Morty.

Then he pulled away from her house and started the drive to his house where he would spend the weekend taking care of her, cuddling her, holding her and wiping her tears when she wanted him too.

A/N: Well that was my attempt as some eclare fanfiction. Please review and let me know what you thought. Plus let me know if you think I should do another chapter about their weekend at Eli's place.