A/N:
Lani: LIFE IS A WORK OF ART, YOU GOTTA PAINT IT COLORFUL. YOU CAN MAKE IT ANYTHING YOU WANT, DON'T HAVE TO STICK TO ANY RULES. YOU DON'T NEED A HIGH I.Q. TO SUCCEED IN WHAT YOU DO. YOU JUST GOTTA HAVE NO DOUBT, JUST BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!
Po: Thank you Lani, for those lyrics of advice.
Lani: I wasn't finished!
Roxy: You are now.
Me: Anyways! As promised, here's a new chapter! Sorry that it's like a day late, but I was really busy yesterday. So here it is, not a moment too soon! Enjoy!
Lani: THAT GIRL WAS A-
Everyone sat silent, a few sobs and sniffles were heard from the kids, but other than that everyone stayed quiet. Lauren still worked on Casey, cleaning up the wound and stitching her up. Tuck was in one of the stalls with a group of his friends, trying to calm down from his blow out with Chloe. Lauren had told him that Casey would live, and that had helped him a bit.
Chloe and the others stayed away from the rest of the wolves. All of them couldn't help but think that it was their own individual fault for Casey's accident. They each thought that it was their fault for bringing her to this situation, especially Chloe. She knew better of it, but she let the words Tuck said to her eat at her.
"He's just upset, I'd probably do the same thing to Casey if you were the one Lauren was working on." Derek said, in any attempt to comfort her. Chloe didn't say anything, and just laid against him, letting his arms warm her, and his torso support her. She didn't want to think anymore, she didn't want to feel. She closed her eyes in an attempt to close out the rest of the world.
"How did Natasha even find her?" Simon asked, talking to his dad. Kit shook his head, going over it through his own mind. "I mean we were so careful. We even covered up her sent." Simon added, still trying to figure it out.
"Simon, shut up." Tori shoved him. Simon glared at her, but Tori just shook him off. "Chloe feels bad enough as it is, you don't have to add onto that." She scolded. Chloe was too tired to even thank Tori.
"But if Natasha was there, then Alexander couldn't be far behind." Drake said, coming over and sitting down next to Tori. They all looked at him curiously, wondering how he knew what they were talking about. As if he knew what they were thinking, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I heard you guys from over there, werewolf here." He pointed out. They sighed, just going with it.
"How is she?" Kit asked. Drake sighed, rubbing his arm.
"She lost a lot of blood, Lauren's just finishing her up, and she hasn't so much as twitched." Drake explained, his voice becoming a little shaky. Tori reached over and rested her hand on top of his trying to comfort him. He grabbed her hand, and squeezed it thanking her.
"Where's Alec and Liana?" Derek asked. Drake nodded towards the stall next to them.
"They're tired." Drake said. Simon nodded, pulling and playing with the hay that they sat on.
"We should all get some rest." Derek said, looking down to Chloe who seemed to be sleeping. The rest of them nodded, and got up to get to bed.
"You guys can take the second story. The rest of us can stay down here." Drake said, pointing up to the loft. They nodded, and headed up to the top of the barn.
There was already a bunch of blankets and pillows stowed away up there, and they put them to use. They all snuggled together to get more warmth, and all settled down for bed.
An hour later after everyone was asleep; Derek woke up to the sound of crying. He looked over at his side where he had placed Chloe. When he looked, she wasn't there. His heart began to beat rapidly, in fear of her missing. He listened carefully for her, and all he could hear was the silent sobs. He crawled over to the hidden space in the corner, where the cries originated. That's where he found Chloe.
"Chloe? What's wrong?" he asked. She sniffled, and he pulled her closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her, letting her bury her face in his already messy shirt. She continued crying for a while, and he let her. It hurt him to see her cry, and wanted to stop her from crying, but he knew that she needed to let it out. When she was done, he wiped away her tears and kissed her head.
"It's okay, you're alright now." He said. She nodded, resting her head against his chest. She listened to his beating heart as she calmed herself down. Just listening to him breathe helped her a lot. She looked up at him, and he kissed her gently on her forehead.
"I'm sorry for waking you." She said. He shook his head, pulling her closer.
"No need to be sorry." He said.
"I just couldn't sleep." She said. He nodded, not saying anything. They just sat there for a while, comforting each other. Chloe knew Derek was concerned for her, and wanted to know why. But she was afraid to she would start crying again. She didn't like it when she let herself be weak around Derek.
Derek was strong, and he needs her to be strong too. But she couldn't help but feel so fragile and delicate in his arms.
"Remember the time Tori tied me up in the crawl space, back at Lyle house?" she asked him. Derek grunted, not liking the memory of Tori doing that to Chloe, but nodded in response. "Remember when you came for me and all those corpses were attacking me?" she asked, shivering from the feel of those bony fingers clawing at her legs. Derek pulled her tighter, and nodded.
"I dreamt about that," Chloe said, on the verge of tears. Derek looked down at her concerned. "Only, the bodies attacking me were people I knew." She said her voice cracking.
"Who were they?" Derek asked.
"One was Casey." She said, blinking back tears. "She kept screaming at me, blaming me for her death." She took in a shaky breath.
"She's not dead, Chloe, and you know she wouldn't blame you if she died protecting you." Derek tried to reassure her. Chloe only nodded, and continued with her dream.
"The next was Rae." She said. This got Derek to stiffen. "She was crying over something, she said something but I couldn't make out what she said." Derek rubbed her arm to make Chloe feels safe, but the Chloe began to cry again. She stared off into space, tears running down her cheeks.
"The last was my dad." She said. "He kept asking me where I was, and why I hadn't come back to him." She looked up at Derek. "The strange thing is, I couldn't answer him. As much as I wanted to, something didn't let me." Derek wiped the tears from her face.
"Don't worry Chloe, you'll see him again. When it's safer." He said. She nodded, and rested her head against his chest.
"I just miss him so much." She said. That's when she broke. She covered her face to hide the fact that she was crying. Derek didn't need x-ray vision to know Chloe had begun crying again. He could feel her shake in his arms. He held her for the rest of the night, letting her cry it out.
The next morning, everyone was startled to hear a loud whistle. Everyone woke up, groggy, but on the alert. In the middle of the barn, stood Casey, looking banged up, but okay. Her hands where on her hips, and she was looking around the barn like a mother would at her child's messy room.
"Everyone up!" she shouted. Everyone was too shocked at seeing her up and moving, that none of them moved. Just last night she looked like she was near death. Now she looked as if nothing had happened.
"Don't tell me y'all forgot everything I taught you over one night." She teased. Cheerfully, the kids rushed out from their sleeping places and rushed to the middle to hug Casey. She laughed and hugged each one of them.
"Casey?" Tuck called, looking dazed, and if he didn't believe that Casey stood where she stands.
"Damn, Tuck. You look like you just saw a ghost." She teased. He smiled so brightly at her that it made everyone smile. He rushed over to her, and carefully folder her into his own arms.
When they pulled back they smiled at each other for a few seconds, and then they kissed. Their arms wrapped around each other, and you could see the passion in that kiss. The grownups smiled with approval, while the younger kids covered their eyes in disgust. Tuck and Casey pulled back and laughed.
Casey looked over Tuck's shoulder to find Derek and the rest of them standing off to the side, smiling at her, glad that she was okay. She pulled away from Tuck to go over and talk to them. She turned to Lauren and hugged her.
"Thank you for once again, coming to my rescue and saving my life." Casey said. Lauren smiled at her.
"No problem." She replied. Then she turned to Chloe and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"I can tell that you're stressing over this. Don't worry, the pack will help protect you." She said. Chloe smiled at her, grateful for the offer, but she didn't know how to tell Casey the news. She looked up at Derek, hoping he would break it to her.
"Actually, Casey, that won't be needed." Derek said. Casey looked at each of their faces curiously.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. Derek looked at his dad, and Kit sighed, knowing he was the one who was going to deliver the news.
"We talked about it, and," Kit said, pausing, wondering how they were going to take it. "We'll be leaving soon." He said. Everyone stared at them like they just announced that someone was dead. They were leaving?
Roxy: Again with the cliff hanger?
Me: yeah…
Po: You should know this by now Roxy, BW likes suspense.
Lani: So chill!
Roxy: Okay, fine.
Me: Besides, I think next chapter will be the last.
All: WHAT!
Roxy: But there's so much more!
Me: Not really.
Lani: You can't do this!
Me: Why not?
Po: What about the readers?
Me: I'm pretty sure they'll be okay with me ending this story.
Roxy: I doubt it!
Lani: I think they'd hate you for it.
Po: Why are you ending it?
Me: I don't think anyone's interested anymore. I think this would be the perfect time to end it. Leave it to their imagination.
Roxy: WILL SOMEONE KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO HER!
Lani: You still have Natasha on the loose!
Po: What will the readers think?
Me: The readers don't care!
All: GASP!
Roxy: I can't believe you just said that!
Lani: SLAP YO SELF!
Po: Of course they care!
Me: yeah, ok.
Roxy: I'm going to hit you!
Lani: So am I!
Po: I don't think the readers would want you to quit this story.
Me: Well it's up to them. Do they want me to continue?