Ashlee's p.o.v
"Hey, sleepyheads" someone's voice wakes me up.
"Fuck off Derek" I mutter half-heartedly, rolling over.
"Mmmm" Derek mumbles when I roll into him. His arm comes around me and I burrow into his warmth.
"You guys are gross" that voice says again with a chuckle. Wait.. I pull myself out of Derek's embrace and into a sitting position. I rub my tired eyes.
"No" Derek whines sleepily, pulling me back down. Uh, screw it. I close my eyes and fall back asleep in Derek's arms.
..
I feel someone shaking me awake. I open my eyes and Derek's smiling at me.
"It's lunchtime, we overslept" he tells me.
"Damn" I say. We get up and I can already feel the effects of too much sleep..being tired, however that works. "I just want to go back to sleep" I say.
"No, come on. Let's make breakfast" Derek says, stretching. I wrap my arms around his muscular torso. He brings his arms around my back. I yelp when he swings me up. I wrap my legs around his back. He's piggy backing me. "Hold on" he smiles.
"Brownie points" I say, kissing his bare shoulder. He chuckles and starts walking downstairs. Derek puts me down on the couch.
"Morning sleepyheads" Laura says, not looking up from her book.
"Morning Laur" I say. Wait. "Laura?!" I yelp.
"Laura!" Derek says, spinning around. Laura looks up.
"Argh! Where is your shirt and where are your pants?!" she asks us. "She's wearing it" Laura says, averting her eyes from us. I use Derek's big shirt to cover myself. Derek stands awkwardly as his chest is on full display.
"No..this is another one" I say. This must look really bad to Laura. I didn't take his shirt off his body..this is the one from the other night. Argh.
"Well..it's good to see you both as well" Laura chuckles awkwardly. I get up from the couch, holding Derek's shirt down as far as I can.
"I'm going to go..change" I say, taking off upstairs. Dammit. I forgot she was coming home today. Jesus! It was probably her that was talking this morning! Why am I such an idiot? I quickly pull on shorts and my own shirt. I grab a clean shirt for Derek and go back downstairs, handing it to him. He gives me a thankful nod and pulls it on. It's silent. "How was your trip?" I ask Laura.
"Uh.." she says, still a little shocked by what she just saw. "It-it was good" she smiles. "I think i'll be getting the promotion"
"That's awesome!" I say, hugging her. "I hate Mr Franklin" she hugs me back. "I promise it wasn't what it looked like" I whisper to her.
"I'll wake you up properly next time I leave and come back" she says. I pull back.
"So that was you this morning" I say.
"Yeah, you told me to fuck off" she says with an amused smile.
"No, I told Derek to fuck off"
"Me? Why?" he asks.
"I thought you were Laura trying to wake me up" I tell him.
"Oh" he nods.
"Well I was me trying to wake you up" Laura says.
"You know not to wake me up" I tell her.
"I now know not to come into Derek's room when you're both in there" she says, making us both turn as red as a tomato. "Anyway..I heard something about breakfast and i'm hungry so..Derek?"
"Yeah, yeah, i'm on it" he says, going into the kitchen. Laura looks up at me.
"So?" she asks.
"So.." I say in confusion.
"You guys are together now, right?" she asks.
"How did you know that?" I ask her, suprised but impressed.
"He's even happier, only you can do that" she smiles at me, making me blush. "Cora's going to be pysched" she says.
"She will" I nod.
"So, did you ask him or did he ask you?" she asks excitedly.
"Neither. Well sort of him. He asked me to go with him to see your Uncle Peter, like as a girlfriend. I agreed to go with my boyfriend" I say carefully. Laura's eyes widen a little.
"Peter?" she asks. I nod. "How is he?" she asks.
"He's good. Him and Derek get along well. Is it okay that I, you know..went there?" I ask her. She nods.
"Did Derek tell you?" she asks, her voice turning sad tells me she means her family. I nod.
"I'm sorry" I say.
"He must really trust you" she says. We're silent for a few moments. "I trust you" she says.
"Thanks. I trust both of you" I say and we share small, sad smiles. The silence is broken this time by someone knocking on the door.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock
Laura and I share a look. We don't know anyone who knocks like that. My brothers have their own knock, Cora doesn't bother knocking, just walks in. John and Mum have quiet, patterned knocks. I shrug and get up to answer it.
"Afternoon" I say, opening the door. His mouth opens to speak but i'm slamming the door in his face the second I see who it is. I turn around and make for my room.
"Ashlee?" Laura calls after me. I throw on shorts and a singlet, pull on my running shoes. I can feel my breathing picking up..i'm freaking out. I have to get out of here. How does he know I live here? When I come downstairs again, Derek's with Laura. They both look confused and very worried.
"Where are you going? What's wrong?" Derek asks, stepping closer to me.
"Is there another way out other than the main stairs?" I ask, ignoring the questions.
"The fire escape steps..Ashlee, what's wrong? Who was that?" Laura says.
"I'll be home later" I say, going towards the window. I'm jumping out and racing down the stairs before either of them can stop me. The second my feet hit the leaves, I take off as fast as I can. I have to run off this steam. How dare he come to my home! I grit my teeth as my eyes fill with angry tears. It may have been awhile since i've seen my father but i'll never forget his face. His angry face when he hurt me and my little brother. I hate him. I push myself through the tears and ache in my legs from not stretching.
..
Derek's p.o.v
"Ashlee!" I call after her but she's long gone. I turn back to Laura. "Did you say something to her?" I ask her.
"No! Of course not!" she objects.
"What happened?" I ask, worry reaching my voice.
"She answered the door, slammed in shut, got dressed and took off" Laura tells me. "I have no idea who was at the door either" I go over and open the door, the person gone. Dammit.
"I'm going after her" I tell Laura.
"No, Derek, she's upset. Let her run this off" she says.
"She can't run through the woods, upset, by herself. She can come here and do something else to blow off the steam"
"Derek" Laura says, grabbing my arm. "After the fire, what did you do? All you ever did was run off by yourself but I knew you needed it so I left you alone" i'm shocked that Laura brought up the fire. She never does. "Leave her be for awhile. If she's not home by the time the sun starts to set, we'll both go looking for her, alright?" I sigh and nod, sitting back down. Not like I have much of a choice anyway. Laura and I are silent for awhile. Laura breaks the silence. "You told Ashlee about our family" she says. My head snaps up to her. I don't know how she'll react.
"Yeah..I did" I say.
"I'm glad you can trust her. I trust her. She said she trusts us" Laura tells me. I feel myself relax. I'm glad she didn't flip out. We don't talk about it and I don't know how she'd react to me talking to someone else about it. She took it well. She must really like Ashlee. I know I do. God..so sappy.
"So am I" I give my older sister a small smile. "We're together now" I tell her.
"Good" she returns my smile.
..
Laura and I both jump up when Ashlee stumbles through the front door, covered in sweat, face drenched with tears.
"Ashlee?" I say, walking over to her.
"I'm okay" she croaks.
"Come on, let's get you into the shower" Laura says. Ashlee lets Laura hold her by the shoulders as she's limping. I move to help but Laura shakes her head. "I've got it" she says. I nod and let Laura take her upstairs.
..
I jump up again when Laura comes downstairs.
"She's in the shower" Laura tells me. "She's got a sprained ankle, pushed herself way too hard" Laura sighs.
"Did she tell you who was at the door?" I ask.
"She said it was her Dad" Laura tells me. I grit my teeth angerily, squeezing my hands into fists. "Derek? Are you okay?" she asks.
"I'm going out. Make sure Ashlee's okay" I say, grabbing my keys and heading for the door. I jog down to my car, stab in the key, turn it over and take off. Melissa will be able to help me.
..
I knock on the McCall house door. Scott answers.
"Hey Derek, where's Ash?" he asks. When he sees my face, his drops. "What happened?" he asks.
"Is Melissa in? John?" I ask.
"Yeah..come in" he says. I follow him inside. Melissa and John look away from the tv when they hear us. John stands up.
"Hale" he says a little bitterly. He looks past me. "Where's Ash?" he asks.
"Can I please talk to you both in private?" I ask John and Melissa. John looks taken back by my deflatted voice.
"I'll stay upstairs with Stiles" Scott says.
"Thank you" I say, Scott taking to the stairs.
"What's wrong?" Melissa asks, placing a warm hand on my arm.
"Ashlee and Scott's Dad is in town" I tell them. Melissa's mouth falls open a little and John looks angry. "He came to the loft looking for Ashlee, she took off and went for a run. She's home now with Laura. She's very upset" I tell them.
"Thank you for coming and telling us" John says sincerely.
"That's okay, I should get home. Ashlee pushed herself too hard when she was running, she's sprained her ankle"
"Is she okay?" Melissa asks instantly.
"Laura's taking care of it"
"Hold on" Melissa says, leaving the room. She comes back in with bandages and some painkillers. I smile softly at her. "Take these for her"
"Thank you"
"Tell my baby she can come home whenever she wants"
"I will Melissa" I nod.
"Thank you..for looking after her" John says, holding his hand out. I look down at it with a little suprise before taking it. We shake firmly and I leave.
..
When I get home, I find Laura looking for medical supplies.
"Here, from Melissa" I say, handing the bandages to her. She nods her thanks and moves to Ashlee who's on the couch. She starts to carefully wrap her ankle which is a dangerous purple/red colour and really swollen. She must have sprained it and kept running. I go to the kitchen and fill up a glass of water. I bring it out to her and hand her some painkillers.
"Thanks" she says, giving me a soft smile. She takes two and finishes the water. I rub her back and she leans into me. "Laura, I need to tell you something" she says. Laura finishes up and looks up at her.
"What is it?"
"It's about my Dad" she says. I try to block out her voice, i've heard this story before and I don't want to hear it again. It just gets me angry. Scott and Ashlee didn't deserve that, neither did Melissa. Laura's squeezing her hand as Ashlee tears up again by the end of the story. "I don't know how he knew I lived here. He works with the FBI..maybe it's that" she says, sniffing back tears.
"We're here, he's not going to hurt you" Laura assures her. I hug tighter into her. Rafael McCall, hear this warning, if you lay a finger on Ashlee or Scott, I will hunt you down.
..
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Man I hate Rafael. He sucks! Rafael will probably hurt them..and Derek and Laura will get angry..very angry. Favourite, follow and review!