Recap: Dekan clicked off her flashlight and set her photo albums under her mattress and cried herself to sleep. 'Tomorrow will be better…' she told herself. She hoped.
A loud knocking awoke Dekan at 5 am the next morning. Jerry stood at her door pounding before he entered her room, and jerking the covers off her bed. "Get your lazy ass out of bed right now! You need to get in the shower and clean yourself up. I'll have your clothes set out. And don't you even think about putting anything unapproved on. You have one hour. Go!" Jerry shouted at Dekan.
Dekan sat up quickly, grabbing her robe and rushing for the bathroom. She stumbled into the sink and knocked over the soap dispenser and sent it crashing to the floor. Dekan gasped, hoping her stepfather wouldn't burst into the bathroom and release even more anger on her. After a few moments of silence, she turned on the shower and stepped in, letting the hot water cascade over her and she scrubbed her skin furiously, determined to remove every speck of dirt. After washing and conditioning her hair three times and brushing her teeth twice, Dekan rinsed off and stepped out of the shower, and immediately spritzed herself with the approved vanilla body spray. It stung, but Dekan learned to ignore it as time passed. Dekan put her robe on and ran a brush through her hair, going to her room to see what outfit Jerry had picked out for her to wear. Her face turned red when she saw that her stepfather had also picked out her lingerie for the day as well. Dekan sighed softly and but on the black lace lingerie. Running the hairbrush through her hair again, Dekan then grabbed her outfit and took it to the bathroom to spritz some vanilla body spray on the clothes before she dried her hair and dressed. After her hair was dried and straightened, Dekan slid on the black pantyhose and then the black stretchy short skirt and fitted black corset top, and finished off with black knee-high leather boots and leather and silver dog collar. She groaned. 'Great. Another sadist. Just what I want.' Dekan thought sarcastically. She supposed this look wouldn't be bad on one of those pretty stick thin boy-ish woman models. She snorted aloud. Dekan was anything but stick thin. She was more…fluffy. Rubenesque, she liked to think of herself. 'I was just born in the wrong time. Peter Paul Rubens would have had a field day painting me.' Dekan thought with a hidden smile. Spraying her hair with hairspray to lock in the straightness, Dekan finally made her way downstairs where her mother and stepfather were sitting in the breakfast nook. Lola saw her daughter and looked away, sad. Jerry on the other hand looked very pleased. Lola bit the inside of her cheek, then came up with a great idea.
"Since Dekan has a very important encounter this evening, I will take her to the dentist this afternoon and get her teeth whitened. You must look your very best, Dekan." Lola announced.
Jerry turned to look at Lola. After a few moments of scrutinizing her, Jerry said "Well you finally put that empty head to work, Lola."
Dekan nodded and sat down at the table, reaching for the eggs and bacon. Jerry slapped her hand away and instead handed her an apple. "Like you really need that food, Dekan. You're just lucky that Ronald likes big women. If he rejects you, then you're going to be sorry." Jerry threatened, his eyes hard and cold. Dekan nodded dumbly, fearing what he was going to do to her to make her sorry. She didn't want to think about it. Dekan slowly ate her apple, chewing slowly so it would last longer. She could get something better to eat at lunch, hopefully.
"I will pick you up at noon, Dekan, for your dentist appointment. Don't forget." Lola said to her daughter, trying to sound in charge. Jerry nodded approval. At 7:30, Jerry stood up and walked out to his truck to go to work. As soon as he had pulled out of the driveway, Lola grabbed a few pieces of bacon and a biscuit and made Dekan a bacon biscuit and handing it to her.
"Eat quickly, Dekan. You've got a busy day today." Lola said with a wink.
Dekan sighed as she ate, wondering if her mom had finally gone off the deep end and started agreeing with Jerry.
"Hey mom…some of my clothes is missing. Did Jerry take them again?" Dekan asked, remembering glancing in her closet and seeing a sizable gap in her clothing.
"No, baby, Jerry didn't take your clothes this time. I did. I sent them to La Push." Lola said.
"La Push? Why would you send my clothes there?" Dekan asked.
"Because, baby, that is where you're going. This afternoon. I'm sending you to La Push to stay with your Aunt Noni and cousin Sam. I'm so sorry I didn't see what Jerry was doing until it was too late, you have to believe me. I don't know how I could have been so blind, baby, and I can't even begin to apologize for it. But I'm getting us out of here. You're going to La Push for a little while and I'm going to start a new life somewhere and once I get enough money and a good place to live, I'll send for you to come back." Lola said in a hushed whisper.
"Are you serious, Mom? I don't have to go to Ronald? Or be around Jerry?" Dekan asked, sounding hopefully.
This broke Lola's heart. Hearing her daughter sounding so excited about leaving so she won't be hurt anymore made Lola feel like a bad mother. Lola put on her bravest smile and hugged her daughter tightly. "Yes, baby. You're getting away from that horrible man and his horrible friends. They won't hurt you anymore. I bet you're excited to see Sam, too." Lola said.
"More than you can imagine, Mom!" Dekan said, ecstatic. Dekan was smiling her thousand watt smile. She excitedly ran up the stairs as fast as she could in her boots, and packed a few extra things in her purse to take with her. She packed her secret stash of money she had been hiding since she was 13, since Jerry moved in and took control of everyone and everything. Stuffing that into her purse as well, Dekan quickly came back downstairs where her Mom was waiting to take her to school.
"At noon, I'm going to pick you up and drive you to the airport. Your flight leaves at 1, so we can't be late." Lola said, rushing her out to the car. Dekan nodded and got into the car where she would spend her last few hours at school.
Oh how excited she was to be getting out of this hell hole! Dekan couldn't wait especially to see Sam and Auntie Noni again. And to meet Sam's fiancée. She could almost scream, that is how excited she was. 'Finally, Dekan, life is going to be good for you!' she said to herself.
Noni came through the house and knocked on Sam's bedroom door. Sam grumbled something untranslatable and Noni walked on in.
"Sammy, your cousin Dekan is getting ready to get on her plane to come here. I thought maybe we could have her a little coming home party. You could get the pack and their imprints together and bring them here. We could decorate and have a little party; don't you think she'd love that? Oh I'm so excited!" Noni said, sitting on Sam's bed.
"Mmhmm…" Sam mumbled, still half asleep. "Wake me when it's time for me to pick her up."
Noni rolled her eyes and chuckled at her son. "That's what you get for trying to patrol all night long, Sam. You can't keep wearing yourself out like this."
"No one else can, all the rest of the pack has school." Sam said, trying to bury his head in the pillow.
"At any case, I'm going to see if Emily and Kim can come over and help me decorate and set up for the party. Don't make me send them in here to drag you out of bed too, sleepy head." Noni said.
"Okay, okay I'm up." Sam grumbled, sitting up. Really, 10 hours of sleep wasn't enough for him. Sam stumbled sleepily to the bathroom to grab a quick shower before Emily came over. He had to look good for his Emily. Noni went into the kitchen to call Emily and Kim, asking them to stop by the store in La Push and pick up a few things for the party. Of course Emily was excited to be helping, dragging a sleepy Kim out of bed and to the store and then to Sam's house. Emily came in a half hour later, carrying big bags full of party supplies. Kim trudged in a moment later, dragging her bags and then flopping on the couch beside Sam, ready for sleep again. It was her fault though, for keeping Jared up too late last night. She could only imagine how Jared must be feeling. Kim grinned.
Emily started putting up the "Welcome Home" banner and decorated every available surface with balloons and streamers. She saw that Sam wasn't helped, so she went to go sit in his lap.
"Hey baby…come and help me?" Emily asked, giving him the sad puppy look. She knew Sam couldn't resist it.
Sam smiled and pulled her closer, planting a kiss on her lips. "Awe, you know I can't resist that face. Not fair."
Emily smiled and then gasped as Sam stood up and held onto her, taking her with him to the kitchen and setting her on the table. He took the streamers and balloons and walked outside to decorate the front of the house, along with the gate. Emily watched him, a proud smile on her face. 'He's going to make such a great father someday.' She thought to herself.
Meanwhile, while Sam, Emily, Kim, and Noni were decorating, Dekan was saying her teary goodbyes to her mother and boarding the plane to La Push.
Author's Note: Thank you to my two lovely reviewers thus far, coco swift and lecia! I hope you all like this fic! It's getting ready to get exciting! What will Jerry do when he comes home to an empty house and a pissed off Ronald? What will the La Push pack do when they meet Dekan? Stay tuned, kids!