Hiding From the Past

Disclaimer: I don't own Shake it Up, but I also don't own "Malevolence"

A/N:


Chapter 9 (Running)

"Where is Mom?" Cece glanced around the living room, muttering at Flynn, who was sitting on the couch. Rocky passed her and made her way into the restroom. Flynn looked up at her, concerned. Her face was red, her chest afire, and her breathing heavy. She was starting to worry if she might have an asthma attack, as she'd had breathing problems as a kid but hadn't had any major issues since then. This was really the most stressed she'd been in her life. "Flynn? Where is mom?"

"She went out on a jog…" She rolled her eyes and quickly wiped away her tears with the end of her sleeve. "What's wrong, Sis?" He hopped from the couch and hurried over. Always, he made her smile, but this was one time she didn't want to talk about her problems with him. He might not understand why she was so upset, especially over a simple lie. She shouldn't even be so worked up, that was the problem. It seemed like the simplest things got her worked up, it was always this case with her. Unlike her mom, her dad, or anyone else in the family, she was the only one to get extremely worked up over the smallest of things.

Yet, this was not small. This was overbearing for her, too overbearing.

"Want me to call mom?"

"No, let her jog…" It was how her mother dealt with stress, after all. Only, Cece was confused, why would her mom be stressed? "It doesn't matter, I guess. I don't want to tell Flynn mom might have had an affair…That I wasn't even the result of two people who loved each other…" Why not? Flynn was also the result of an affair himself, but even he knew his birth father. She didn't. Her eyes widened, and without thinking, she made a mad dash for the door. She heard Flynn call out to her, but didn't bother to respond. She had no clue where she was going, or even why she was running off, but it felt right to run.

She needed to run, there was no other way out from all this stress but to run. "Too much…too, too much…" She didn't want to go back to the studio, not when a murder happened. She didn't want to go back home, not where her mom would return later to, and if she went to the Blue household, they'd just tell her to go back.

Out in the streets of Chicago, she felt lost in a giant city when on her own. She always felt like there was something more out there, something that she was missing, an answer to the emptiness and coldness inside of her.

Loneliness

It beat against her like a double edged sword striking at her body. All her life, it was there just like the spirit she saw as a girl. Whenever that spirit was around, she felt warm. Safe. When it left, she only ever remembered how alone she truly was. The smile on that woman's face was enough to fill some sort of hole within, something that her family couldn't do for her. What was it?

When she finally stopped running, she found herself in front of a strange house in one of the older neighborhoods of Chicago. She looked around, trying to make sense of her location, but didn't recognize anything. Her thoughts haunted her still, reminding her there was no escape. "Maybe…Maybe the person here might know where I am…"

She started making her way towards the door. The porch was rundown and the wooden pillars rising up to the ceiling of the porch were chipped and cracking from top to bottom. The house was a very pale blue color with its wood splintering and rotting away. There were two windows, one on each side of the nauseating green door. The left window was cracked in the lower right pane while the right was smeared with some sort of strange substance.

Her face scrunched and her eyes turned towards the mailbox on the wall beside the door. Phil, the executive producer's name was on it. She stopped in her tracks, shocked that he would be living in such an ugly house. After a second, thinking nothing of it, she continued her trek to the front door. If it was Phil, he would certainly point her in the direction out of this neighborhood.

Darkness swept over her and with each step, her body grew colder as fear gripped her heart like a cat's claw digging into its prey. Her arm began to shake as she raised it up, ready to strike the doorbell, though she wasn't even at the first step yet. Her heart began to pound erratically and the sweat from her running was washed over by new sweat, causing her hair to stick in tiny strands to the back of her neck and her forehead.

The overpowering fear created the sensation that she must run, but she was so tired of running. "I'll just ask Phil to drive me back home, or maybe the studio. Yeah, that's what I'll do." She did not feel safe in this neighborhood.

Then suddenly she froze, her startled eyes caught a glimpse of a mist in front of the door. Was she seeing things again? "God I'm going mad!" The mist started to take shape. Fighting the urge to faint, and trying desperately to calm down her racing heart, she began whimpering as the mist took a human appearance. Now standing guard in front of the door was a tall, muscular man with his arms crossed. He had short brown hair, a pair of shades covering what she was sure would be a deadly glare, and a vicious scar on his cheek that looked almost like a bullet hole.

This man's presence filled her with a fear worse than what she had been feeling previously, and yet, it seemed almost like this ghost was trying to ward her away from this place. If so, then the job had been done, as the desire to run struck her once more and she took off without a single thought. The air in her lungs was all but gone, she couldn't muster a scream, and her legs that had already been burning now felt ready to fall off.

When she looked over her shoulder, she saw the ghastly figure still on the porch. Watching her with the same deadly sneer that he'd held on his face from the moment he appeared to her. She wasted no time turning the corner and bolting across the street, screaming as she was nearly struck by an oncoming car.

She clutched her chest and fell onto the sidewalk, gasping for air and listening as the car screeched to a halt. She put her hand to her forehead and started to sob. All the anger from her mother's lie, all the fear from seeing that ghost, and all pain she felt from running was causing far too much stress for her. Her vision was beginning to blur. She feared losing her sanity, losing touch with reality. Why had she even left the apartment?

"Cece?!" Her eyes shot open and she quickly looked over her shoulder, seeing Jessica standing outside the car with the door open. She started to smile as the woman rushed to her side. "Oh my god! Are you okay?"

"What are you doing out here, Jessica?"

"I was getting some shopping done, took a wrong turn. I hate this part of town, why are you out here?"

"Just…running…not a good idea." She gasped once more and clenched her eyes shut. Her body was fighting her as she tried to pull herself up. Jessica knelt beside her and started to help. "Out of breath…Tired, scared, lonely…a little hungry, actually…"

"All right, well come on…let's get you some rest."

"Don't want to go home right now. I'm a little angry at Mom." Jessica raised her eyebrow and Cece looked up to her, reading the woman's slightly irritated face. Did she know her mother? It seemed she recognized her and was irritated as well for whatever reason. "How's Gary doing?"

"He's great. Seems he's got a headache and has been sleeping all day. Anyway, if you don't want to go home right now, maybe you'd like to help me make some dinner? I'm getting back to my place with the groceries, and it seems we both could use getting out of this neighborhood."

"Please and thank you."

Jessica's house was nice compared to the house she'd just seen. The outside was made of a fancy stone and the inside was decorated with beautiful paintings! Cece was doing much better now, having been struggling to catch her breath the whole car ride over. Now she was eating a small barbeque hamburger with honey glazed fries all prepared by Jessica. She helped too. "I haven't had an asthma attack since I was a kid. I think all my problems were because mom had me prematurely."

"Oh?" Jessica looked surprised. Cece didn't mind sharing this info with her, for some reason she felt close to her. The woman was close to Gary, so she figured if that was the case, then there must not be anything wrong with her. Jessica forked one of her own fries and bit into it, swallowing after a couple chews. "So what's going on with you and Georgia?" For some reason, Jessica absolutely refused to refer to Georgia as 'your mother'.

Cece shrugged her shoulders and took a bite of her hamburger, closing her eyes and sighing as the spices and flavor spiked her tongue with brilliance. She swallowed it down in one bite and reached for the glass of water beside her. "I think Mom's lying to me…about how I was born. It's a long story." Jessica raised an eyebrow. Cece was certain she heard a scoff under the woman's breath, but she brushed it off as her imagination. Lately, it was her imagination that was running away from her, it seemed. "Mom says James is my dad, right? Well dad and his fiancé say that's not possible, Dad's impotent! I don't know if that's true or not, but if it is, then that means Mom had an affair. All I ask of her is to be honest with me! She won't tell me she had an affair, I don't know why!"

She was getting worked up once again, she felt her anger rising up to enormous levels. Jessica hummed, then reached over and put her hand over Cece's. Her warm, comforting gaze was reassuring to her, helping her to relax and smile as the woman withdrew her hand. "You know something?"

"What?"

"You remind me a little of the woman Gary talks about being his ex." Cece scoffed and started to turn away. It was clear that if Gary and Julian were connected, then his ex was likely that Marylin girl, in which case, the woman was crazy.

"Wasn't she always mean?"

"No, not always. He tells me some great things about her." A wrinkle formed between her eyebrows and she leaned forward, gazing into Jessica's eyes. She felt an unexplainable sadness inside of her. Why? "He says she tried to make things right. She was always letting her anger get the best of her though, that was her fault. She didn't know how to deal with things without running, and up to meeting him, was running almost all her life. She didn't get a chance to really shine, the poor woman's light was snuffed out too early…"

"Oh…" She bowed her head and frowned. The urge to cry startled her, she wanted to break down and weep over this girl. She didn't know why, maybe it was simply caring about someone who Gary had once been close to. "You…You're Gary's girlfriend now?" Jessica folded her hands together and rested her chin on her knuckles, sighing as she gazed up at the ceiling.

"I'd like to be, but he doesn't really trust relationships all that much right now. Besides, I'm not sure if I'd be right for him."

"You seem like a great person." She paused for a second, then leaned back in her chair. "Did they…Did Gary have any kids, by any chance?" She had to know, because if so, it would further cement what Rocky told her about this Julian guy.

Jessica studied her for a second before slowly nodding her head, "Yes. They had one child but some jackass officer used something stupid against him and so he was separated. He thinks about his child all the time, though." Cece started to smile, thinking warmly of this alleged child. On the other hand, she hated it because that meant less attention for her if this child was ever found. She wasn't sure why she cared so much, she just did.

"Gary's almost like a dad to me, you know. More so than James…"

"I can understand that."

"Yeah…do you think-do you think he'll ever meet his kid again? Do you think the kid might be nice?"

"What do I think?" Jessica gave her a smile, then stood up from the table to take her plate over to the sink. "I think he has a very beautiful and loving child out there that would love to meet him for real under the right circumstances one day. When that day comes, I think they're going to be happy."

"I hope so…Gary's a nice guy, he deserves some happiness in his life."

"I agree." She watched as Jessica washed the plate off under the faucet. After a few minutes, the woman turned back to her, "Now I think it's about time we get you back home, Cece…"

"Yeah." She was right after all, but it had been fun talking with her. She did like Jessica, and she did think the woman would be good for Gary, so long as she made him happy. Now the only thing would be getting him to actually start dating her, but that would require the scheming mind of Rocky. "Hey Jess?" She tapped her fingertips together and let out a small sigh. "I know you're an escort girl…I saw the 'escort service' business card in your car." Jessica frowned and lowered her arms.

"Yes…"

"Do you…have sex with people?"

"No. I usually get paid to talk to people, to be a companion to someone when they're feeling down and out. Some escort girls, yes, but I make it a rule and anyone I work with understands that I don't do that sort of thing." She was glad to hear this, because in no way did she want Gary to ever be hurt. She gave Jessica a smile. "It was actually how I met Gary. He was even reluctant to turn to my escort service because of how shady such a job seems, he didn't have anywhere else to turn so I guess I was a bit of a last resort for him…"

"Well…I'm glad you're there for him. If you make him happy, then that's a plus in my book. I approve." Jessica laughed once and her smile grew from ear to ear, intriguing Cece. "You're happy?"

"Yes. Don't be surprised though…you don't know just how much it means to me that you would think I'd be good for Gary…"

"I don't see why my opinion matters. It's not likely to matter to anyone else."

"Well believe me…it matters. Now, let's get you home."

"All right…"


Well what are your thoughts here? Tell me what you thought of Max's ghost showing up just brisky, and the conversation with Jessica. Also as I wrote this chapter, I predicted what people would ask in regards to Jessica and Cece. The reason she didn't tell Cece about Gary being Julian or about the parent issue is: It is not her place. She understands that as well, the truth ought to come from either Gary or Georgia. Jessica revealing it could also lead to negative reactions from those around them.