Set just before Weddings, Parties, and Anything; Sorry it's been a few days. I've been really busy. But here it is Chapter 7. I hope you like it. :)

Oh and I obviously don't own Degrassi, because if I did, Sellie would still be together.

Chapter 7: Revelations…and Secrets

"Where are we going?" Ellie playfully asked, giggling in a way that she could only manage around Sean. Sean had one hand gripping the steering wheel of the car and the other arm wrapped around Ellie's shoulders. Sean looked to her, one of his signature smiles on his face.

"Well I was thinking I'd show you my place."

"Really?" She laughed again, "Are you sure about that? Once you show me, I'll know where you live. I might try to kill you in the middle of the night or something like that." Sean chuckled.

"You know, I hadn't considered that. Maybe we should turn around. No, I'm positive I wanna show you, even if you were some kind of mask-murderer coming to kill me." Ellie smiled, leaning over to kiss Sean on the cheek lightly. They drove the rest of the way, comfortably listening to radio. Sean pulled into the parking lot of an apartment building and cut the ignition. He and Ellie got out of the car and walked hand in hand to the building.

Sean's apartment was on the third floor, nestled in a back corner. Sean pulled the key out and unlocked the door, motioning for Ellie to enter first. Ellie walked in and looked around. The first thing she noticed was the pile of boxes, stacked on top of each other in a partially neat fashion. She looked at Sean, smiling. "Oh sorry. I haven't had much time to unpack." Ellie shrugged it off and kept looking around. It was a pretty good place, a lot like the apartment they'd shared way back when. Ellie walked through, looking at all the rooms. When she came to the bedroom, she plopped gently on the bed and sighed. She sat up and looked at Sean standing in the doorway.

"I'd say you got yourself a pretty nice place here." She laid back. "It's a wonder you already got a place. You've only been back two days. When did you have the time to find this place?" She mused. Sean sighed, his face getting partially serious.

"I'd been looking for a while." Ellie looked dreamily towards the bedroom window as his words began to process in her head. Her smile slowly faded and she sat up, a confused look written all over her face. She parted her lips to speak, but no words came.

"What?" She finally managed to say. Sean looked down at the floor then back to Ellie.

"I'd been looking at places for a month or two. I'd been thinking about leaving Wasaga and coming back for a while."

"What stopped you?" She whispered.

"I needed to make sure I was better. I waited until I could come back and be stable for you, because the way I left you wasn't good. I mean, I just left you. It was hell. Every time I'd try to sleep, I'd see your face, the tears welling up in your eyes, you shaking your head, rushing back to the car. I'd hear your voice, it's shaky tone, almost desperate in a way, trying to make me understand." He stopped for a bit, as if lost in thought. He bit his bottom lip, as if trying to keep himself composed. Then he sort of chuckled, "Sean, please, I…I love you. That's what you said to me. And I still left you. I mean who does that? I even told you I loved you back. I really meant it, and I still walked away from us. I let you drive away in that car! What kind of a person does that? No, I knew I had to fix myself. I had to be better before I came back to you. I had to have a stable life and emotional stability before I could face you, because I couldn't put you through that again." He was speaking faster with each word, and by the time he reached the end of his speech, the words were tumbling over one another as if he couldn't get them out fast enough, his voice rising in volume until he was practically screaming at the final word. When he was done, he looked at her, his face red, breathing heavy, water in his eyes. Ellie had started crying somewhere in the middle of the speech, and shook her head. She wiped the tears clinging to her skin before standing and walking to Sean. She took both of her hands and stroked the falling tears away, his skin trembling under her touch.

"Sean, when are you going to understand, you don't have to be better for me. I love you, for you, just the way you are, flaws and all. I just love you…so much." She left both of her hands on his face, making sure their eyes were locked as she said her words. Her eyes studied his face, as if trying to memorize it. His eyes, his skin, his nose, his lips. Her eyes stopped there and she took a shaky breath. Then she pulled him to her, her lips finding his. The kiss was soft, tender, full of honesty and love. When she pulled away, Ellie pressed her forehead against Sean's and sighed. Sean's hands cupped her face gingerly and they stood there together like that for a few minutes. "I love you Sean. I need you to know that. I need you to stop thinking that one day I'm gonna wake up and not love you anymore because you're not 'good enough.' Because that's never going to happen." She felt Sean exhale and nod.

"Yeah. Ok. I love you too El. I just don't ever wanna lose you." She gave a small smile.

"You're not going to." He kissed her again, then took her by the hand and walked her back into the living room portion of the apartment. They sat on the couch and flipped on the TV. Sean chuckled and looked to Ellie.

"Just like old times." A smile formed on her lips as she held Sean's hand in her own. "Hey, Jay's having a party in a couple of days. He wants me to come and see him since I'm back in town. You up for it?" Ellie hadn't always been the biggest fan of Jay or the influence he seemed to have on Sean, but like Sean had said: he'd waited to come back until he was sure he'd be stable. That thought in itself eased her anxiety tremendously.

She smiled. "I'm up for anything as long as I'm with you."

Sean sat on the other end of the couch, watching his girlfriend sleep sweetly. He wanted to reach a hand out and stroke her hair, but was afraid that the gentle motion would wake her up. Her breathing was slow and even. She looked peaceful. She was so beautiful, he thought. Every time he looked at her, he remembered how lucky he was to have her. He felt his phone in his pocket vibrate. He pulled it out and checked the number, his happiness draining from his face. He flipped the phone open and quietly got up off the couch, retreating to the bedroom to take the call. "Why are you calling me?"

"You know why Sean." The girl on the other end said simply.

"Stop calling me. I've said everything that I wanted to say to you."

"Is she pretty?"

Sean sighed into the phone, trying to keep his voice down for fear Ellie would wake up. "I'm not going to do this with you, ok."

"IS SHE PRETTY? It's a simple question Sean." The mysterious female lost her temper for just a second before composing herself again. "The sooner you answer the question, the sooner you can get off the phone."

Sean sighed again. "She's even more beautiful than I remember." It was quiet on the other end for a moment.

"Aw that's nice. When are you going to stop pretending with that girl?" She asked.

"I'm not pretending. You need to stop calling me."

"I wonder how she'd react if she knew." The voice took on an almost hostile tone.

"No, stop. You don't scare me with your empty threats."

"See that's your first mistake Sean, thinking they're empty threats. I may just have to have a little chat with this Nash girl. I'm sure she'd love to know all about the real you."

"Stop! You're not going to ruin this for me! I love her! I love her!" He whispered into the phone, trying to keep his voice from rising too loud.

"Sean, why are you whispering?" The voice gasped in a giggly voice. "Oh my God, she's there right now. You're talking to me while she's there, and you don't want her to know." The girl giggled some more as if she were eating the attention up.

"Just…stop calling me. I mean it."

"But Sean – " Sean hung up the phone before the girl could say another word. He exhaled angrily and threw his phone on the bed, walking back to the couch where Ellie was still sound asleep. He sat back down and looked at her again. He stomach tied in knots as he thought about the girl on the phone. She wouldn't tell Ellie, would she? What if she did? No, he thought, she wasn't going to tell her. That's just her trying to intimidate him. And he hated that it was working. He looked back to Ellie. He couldn't lose her again. He couldn't take it. He reached over and stroked her hair, pushing it back behind her ears.

"I love you El," he whispered and kissed her forehead lightly, never waking Ellie from her sleep.