(Clare & Eli's Secret Hideout – 4:43 PM)

Pain.

That was all she knew right then and there.

Tears, loneliness, and pain.

Clare slowly whipped a phone out of her bag and flipped it open. She began to scroll through her contacts. She didn't care if he couldn't make it, he needed to at least talk to her.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up…" Clare muttered to herself through tears as she put the phone to her ear.

"Hey."

"Eli-"

"I can't make it to the ph-"

Clare hung up immediately. He wasn't there. Where was he?

Of course the worst things started to fly through Clare's mind.

"He's not cheating, he's not… cheating…"

Clare took deep breaths as she tried to reassure herself. She trusted him, right? At this point in time, Clare really didn't know who to trust.

The two people she'd known so well, for so long, who had helped her out through her entire life… Fighting. Constantly fighting. And the assumptions that her mother had made about her father cheating.

"I thought you and dad loved each other?"

"I thought so too."

The only thing Clare was able to find peace in was this little hideout her and Eli had found a while ago. They hadn't told a soul about it, not even Adam. It was just their hideout, and that was that. And it was like Eli was there with her, comforting her.

But he wasn't. He wouldn't even answer his phone.

She tried another time, but just couldn't get an answer.

Tears, loneliness, and pain.

Clare began to wipe her eyes and stood up to leave, but not until she heard a voice from behind her.

"Clare?"

Eli?

She whipped her head around.

That was most certainly not Eli.

"What are you… D-doing here?"

"This is probably hard to believe, but, uh, sometimes I come here to think."

Clare raised an eyebrow. This was where Mark Fitzgerald spent his time. He hung his head as if it was a shameful thing, to find a place alone and think.

"Think about what?" she muttered, as she started to walk towards him.

"Everything. Why are you here?" Fitz finally raised his head and looked back into her bright eyes. His mouth slightly dropped as he saw the tears pouring out from them. "And why are you… Crying?"

Fitz sat her down and reached an arm around her shoulders, but quickly figured out that was a bad idea by the way Clare pulled it off.

"It's nothing," Clare said as she stood up, "I have to go."

Did she really have to go? Where was she even going?

Clare sure as hell didn't want to go back into that awful house of hers, where there was nothing but fighting going on – she could go and find Eli. Maybe he was with Adam. Maybe they're playing video games and he couldn't answer his phone. Maybe they went to see a movie and he turned his phone off. Maybe they-

"No!"

Clare whipped her head around, to see Fitz standing, but he reluctantly sat back down.

"Or I guess if you really have to go…"

"My parents are fighting," Clare stated, catching his attention again. She needed somebody to talk to. Anybody to talk to. Even if that meant Mark Fitzgerald.

That crossed loneliness off the list.

"Every time I walk into my house, it's just endless yelling and arguing. I've tried to get them to sit down and talk about it, but that's all it is. My mother accused my father of cheating, and-"

She had to stop when she burst into tears again.

And this time, she didn't reject Fitz's arms around her.

There he was again. Mark Fitzgerald. The boy who asked her to Vegas Night, who brought her a corsage… Who almost stabbed her boyfriend.

And then he apologized. But was it honest?

"I know how you feel." Fitz said suddenly.

"N-no you do-don't." Clare whimpered, as she soaked his shoulder with tears.

Finally, she looked back into his eyes, and he quietly spoke, "I guess I don't come here just to think, but to escape," he said, "I know all about broken up families. It's not a topic I'd enjoy talking about, but… I just want you to know that… You're not alone."

Clare just stared at him, as he looked off and continued.

"My mother cheated, she walked out, my father does nothing but drink all day…"

And for once, Clare knew.

She just knew.

This wasn't an act. This was Mark Fitzgerald. Under the scars and bruises he got from fights, under the drinking and the hooking up, he was a real person. He was a real person with real emotions and real problems in his home.

And at that moment, Clare swore she even saw a real tear fall down his face.

"Wait… That corsage…"

"My own money," Fitz commented, still speaking quietly, "I wanted you to see that I'm not a bad guy. But…" He shrugged, leaving Clare able to tell he was reflecting on the rest of the events of Vegas Night.

"You aren't a bad guy, you're just… Misunderstood," Clare stated, as she began to wipe tears from her eyes. She was forgetting about all her problems and focusing on the problems of Fitz. How could she not see? This was so much worse than what she was going to, and he was trying to stay strong throughout it.

She wasn't alone.

There was a silence shared between the two.

"I still have your corsage, you know. It's really pretty."

Fitz glanced up at her for a moment, but looked away too fast. Not fast enough for Clare not to notice the small smile that graced his face.

"I… I have to go," Fitz nodded as he looked at her. "I hope things get better for you and your family. I hope they don't end up like mine. You don't deserve it like I do."

With a small kiss on the cheek, he vanished.

Clare sat in silence for a moment, until she heard her phone ring. She gave a tiny glance at the caller ID.

Eli Goldsworthy.

With no second thoughts, she shoved her phone back in her bag and was on her way.

A/N: Review please! I don't like this chapter, it's short and not that great. But next is the Anya/Wesley chapter, and I have so many ideas, I'm excited about writing it! So, hope you guys are still interested, though I take forever to update with lame chapters, haha.