Alex's knuckles knocked lightly on Ellie's apartment door. She had got here as quick as possible when she realized how long it'd been since Ellie asked her to come. She heard a shuffling come from behind the door, and locks being undone. Wow. Ellie had a ton of locks. She thought to herself. The door creaked open. She caught a glimpse of the redhead's hair, but nothing more. Ellie had turned around and quickly headed back to her seat on her couch. Her face hidden by her hair.
"El?" Alex spoke up, while she pushed the door to a close behind her.
Ellie didn't answer. Alex made her way over to the couch. She plunked down next to her friend, and put her hand on her shoulder. Ellie shuddered.
"Ellie? What's wrong?" The redhead shook her head, and Alex felt her shoulders rise and fall.
Something was wrong. Despite what everyone thought, Alex wasn't as soft as she was when she was with Paige. Paige was something different, she brought the best out of Alex, a part of herself that others would never be able to see. She wasn't going to play games with Ellie. She knew something was wrong, and she wasn't going to wait forever to find out. She got up off the couch and kneeled infront of the redhead. She pushed her hair back, so she could see her face, but her hand stopped midway, caught in Ellie's hand.
"Don't." She whispered.
Alex ignored Ellie's comment, and brushed Ellie's hand off of her's. She pushed back Ellie's hair on both sides, and raised her eyes to look at her face, only to see a sight she never thought she'd see. Her eyes widened. The side of Ellie's left cheek was bleeding, and her right eye was started to swell.
"Ellie..." Alex breathed.
"Cra..Craig..." Ellie managed to squeak out before she threw herself onto Alex and burrowed her face into her shoulder.
Alex held onto her friend tight. Her mind racing. Craig? Craig did this to Ellie? Alex wondered. She thought Craig was in Vancouver still, trying to get himself into a music career. She felt a wetness creep into her skin, Ellie was crying again. She pulled Ellie off her, and stared her in the face...
"Ellie, I need you to tell me what happened. Please." Ellie stared at her back, Alex felt like she was looking in on her soul. Ellie simply nodded, and opened her mouth to start speaking, instead a slight shudder escaped her lips as images of what just happened flashed by in her mind.
Ellie had finished speaking, and now Alex stood up pacing back and forth between Ellie, who was still on her couch and the tv, that for some reason was still on.
"So, wait. Let me get this straight. Craig came in this morning from Vancouver, and you said you'd give him a place to stay since he was only going to be a here a few days, right?" Alex's glare pierced Ellie's daze. Again, the redhead nodded.
"You spent the whole day together, and got back here at like, what...Eleven?" Ellie just kept staring at Alex while she tried to figure out this whole scenario. Trying to wrap it all around her head.
"You headed for a shower and left Craig out here watching tv. Then when you came back he was snorting coke?" Her questions had become rhetorical now. She knew what she was saying. She understood it completely. She just needed to voice them.
"You yelled at him, and took away the coke and threatened him. Told him that if he was going to keep doing it, you weren't going to let him stay..." Alex's voice strayed off and became very faint as Ellie's mind reverted back to that scene. She had taken it all away from him. All that he had placed on the table, and took it with her, holding it over the garbage can. She couldn't let him do this to himself. She pleaded with him to stop.
"Craig...You can't. You can't do this anymore." Her voice became stronger. "I won't let you do it to yourself. I won't!" He just laughed at her, as if this was all a joke.
"Ellie, c'mon. What are you going to do, really? This isn't such a big deal. It's just for fun."
"For fun?" She countered. "Do you know what this is doing to you? For fun, Craig? This isn't fun!" Her voice rose, as she threw all of disgusting substance into her garbage can.
Craig lunged at her. Her head flew to a side and her cheek grazed the end of her kitchen drawer. She could feel the warm trickle of blood falling down the side of her cheek. Craig looked furious, he was glaring at her. He made his way to the trash can and started digging through it. Looking for whatever particle of the substance that he could scrounge up. Ellie jumped to her feet. She could handle the slight sting, but she couldn't let Craig rip apart his future. She grabbed him by the shoulders and tried pulling him back from the can.
"Craig! Stop! Craig! You're better without this!!" She was tugging on him and she felt his elbow shoot back into her stomach. She was fresh out of any air. He started laughing. He had found his packet.
"This..." He turned around and looked at her, waving the package. "This is what makes me. I do need it. More than I need you. You're such a bitch Ellie." He was getting up from kneeling on the floor when she lunged at him, trying to grab the packet. He had seen it coming, and as soon as she leapt forward Ellie could feel the back of his hand slide across her face. It didn't slide though, it slammed. And Ellie fell backward. Craig had grabbed his stuff and run out the door, saying nothing, leaving Ellie on the floor, heartbroken and bleeding.
"Ellie?" Alex snapped Ellie out of her silent reverie. Apparently, Alex had finished recounting the even to herself.
"Ellie, you need to report this. You can't let Craig get away with it. He'll find help Ellie. This is the best way to put a stop to all this, you can't let yourself go on like this." Alex was actually pleading with her.
She was as soft as she seemed when she was with Paige, Ellie thought to herself. Or maybe, it had just been Paige. Maybe Paige was the reason for the change.
"Ellie, are you listening to me?" The redhead's eyes found Alex's, and Ellie managed to squeak out a "Yes."
"Good." Alex nodded. "Now, are you going..."
Ellie cut her off. "Alex! I can't. Can't you see that? Can you understand it? I can't do that to him. As much as Craig has changed, I can't...I just can't do that to him. He's...I...I just, can't." She shook her head frequently while saying this.
Alex found herself on her knees infront of Ellie again, she tilted the redhead's face so she could see her square in the eye, "You still love him, don't you El? Even after all this, you still love him..?" Ellie didn't say anything, but her eyes didn't lie. "You do." Alex sighed. She couldn't help that. Alex understood. Probably better than anybody. Paige had hurt her quite a few times, but it had never been anything physical. If anything, Alex could overpower Paige in any physical activity, but she wasn't about to tell her that. But still, she loved Paige. Nothing could overpower the love she felt for the tiny blonde. Alex moved over to sit beside Ellie.
"Well, what are you going to do El?" Ellie looked up at Alex, the only thing Alex found was a ton of confusion.
"I don't know. I really don't."
Alex sighed again. The blood had crusted over on the side of Ellie's cheek.
"Okay. Well, let's not rush into anything right now, let's get you cleaned up first."
Alex made her way to the kitchen and found the First Aid Kit. Paige had taught her how to really work this thing. She cleansed all of Ellie's open wounds and got her an ice pack for the eye.
"Listen, El...Maybe it's better if you get some rest, instead of sitting on this couch and staring at that tv."
Alex knew that wasn't what she was seeing. The images that were on the tv weren't registering in her head, all she could probably see was Craig, and his radical behaviour. Ellie nodded. Alex helped her up and took her to her bedroom. She pulled the covers up to Ellie's chin, and brushed her hair back.
"I'll check up on you later."
She checked Ellie's bedside clock, it was 6:30am. She had spent over three hours at Ellie's. She hoped Paige hadn't woken up just yet. She was about to make her way out of Ellie's room when the redhead spoke up.
"...Alex?" Alex turned around, and looked at Ellie. "Don't tell anyone, please?"
Alex nodded, and then made her way out of the apartment, hoping to get back in time for Paige not to notice she was gone.
A/N: So, we're getting somewhere. I think I know where we're going. Thanks so much to nOwHeRe89 for all her support. It helps a lot! This is a lot longer than the other one. And I suppose you guys would need a sort of backstory. Well, this is past S6. Everyone's got their own places in Toronto, Alex and Paige have obviously stayed together and are working things out. Craig still has a Coke problem and Ellie is on her way to becoming a star journalist. A few more characters might pop up. But, we'll just have to wait and see. I'm thinking of bringing in Marco, Dylan and maybe Jesse. Review please! Now, onward!
