Jerome ambled through the entryway, taking care to keep a fair amount of distance between himself and the girl before him in spite of his outwardly placid demeanor – she had been unnaturally quiet the entire way back to the penthouse, though he had to admit that he had not made much of an attempt to remedy the situation. He knew well enough to be able to gather when someone was upset with him, and although he was usually the type to face those kind of problems head-on, he got the distinct impression that his current situation would require a bit more tact. Rounding the corner into the living room, he cast his eyes to the side and watched with some degree of amusement as Amelia darted up the steps, her small hands clasping tightly at the straps of her backpack; he smirked, his gaze resting at the top of the stairs where she had left his line of sight before he felt a pair of eyes upon him.
"Somethin' I can do for ya, Abs?" He queried sardonically, shifting his attention to the woman who was seated on the couch. She had been fiddling with a handful of tiny gadgets, each no bigger than a thimble when he had strolled through the threshold between the two rooms, immediately catching her attention and causing her to cease her task.
"Yeah - I'm pretty sure we literally just talked about it," She snarled, gathering the devices into the palm of her hand and carefully placing them into a small, black handbag.
"Ah, yeah - ya got me. Girl needed a change of clothes, though and it's not like I had anything better to do so -"
"What was wrong with the clothes that she had?"
"Other than the blood stains? Nothin'. She seemed to be kind off-put by it, though and it's not like she really had a change of clothes ready to go when we snatched her," He explained with disinterest as he took a few steps forward.
"There are three other women in this apartment and Amelia and I aren't too far off in size – if she needed clothes, she could have come to me."
"And yet she didn't. What a surprise," The boy drawled, a vicious expression upon his young face.
"You shouldn't have taken her is all I'm saying. Besides the fact that you're supposed to be leaving her alone, that was a stupid risk to take. You two could have been spotted and been swarmed by a fuckin' army of cops before you even knew it, and for what?"
Jerome rolled his eyes, though admittedly, she did have a point.
"Yeah, well, there's a silver-lining...I mean, your girl's got some of her own clothes, so maybe she'll feel a bit more...I dunno – cozy - and if not, well, at least now I know where Cicero is."
Abbie paused, looking the boy dead in the eyes as a look of mild astonishment crossed her face.
"Cicero? The guy we're supposed to be pinnin' the breakout on? Your -"
"Yup," Jerome answered, deliberately not allowing the woman to finish her sentence, "Found him. Turns out he's been livin' in the same apartment building as your wife – they're neighbors."
"Wow," Abbie mumbled, "Small world."
"Mhm."
"He must be using an alias or something, because I've been looking for him too and I couldn't find the son of a bitch anywhere."
The boy quirked an eyebrow at her.
"You've been looking for him? How?"
"How does anyone look for anything these days," She scoffed, "Computers, internet searches, you know – technology and stuff. I'm pretty good at it."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Before my dad went off the rails and turned into a total piece of shit, he was like...a computer security specialist or something. I picked up a lot from him but mostly I just taught myself."
"Uh-huh...well, good for you, I guess," He responded slowly, figuring he ought to say something although he had no real input to offer.
"Yeah, well – girl's gotta make a living somehow."
Jerome nodded, shifting his eyes over towards the black purse that sat on the coffee table in front of her.
"So, what were those things you were messin' around with?"
"Bugs," Abbie replied simply, "Guess there's some people Galavan would like to keep an eye on, so I'm off to go take care of that."
"Need any help?" He asked, not entirely sold on the idea of aiding the brunette but finding the idea of sitting around with nothing to do to be much less appealing.
"No, Tabitha's already comin' with and this should be pretty easy."
The boy grumbled in acknowledgment, his irritation plain as day to the woman as she pushed herself to her feet and slung the thin strap of the bag over her shoulder.
"If it's any consolation, I'd almost rather go with you than Tabitha. She's kind of a bitch."
A short laugh fell from his lips.
"Yeah, well – have fun, I guess," He offered, giving the woman a curt nod as she stepped around the furniture and made towards the door.
"I'll try," She called back to him, "And for the last time – stay away from Amelia or I'll gut you!"
Jerome smirked at her threat, turning as the sound of the front door clicking shut pierced through the still air of the penthouse. Allowing his gaze to wander about the area, he was almost surprised to find Theo had emerged from his office. He stood across the room from him, dressed as he typically did, adjusting his tie before he cleared his throat and offered the boy a warm smile, or the closest thing that he could manage, anyway.
"Ah, Jerome! You're back – that's fantastic," He announced, "I have something I'd like to discuss with you."
Amelia had barred herself up in her room, wasting no time unpacking the bag of clothes and taking the opportunity to reflect on her situation – she was lucky to even be alive at this point, that much she knew, and although she had seriously considered the possibility of ending her life, she had come to the realization that that was not truly what she wanted. She felt foolish for having contemplated it as a viable option, knowing it was simply that it had seemed like the easiest way out of her predicament at the time, but honestly...what would be the end result should she actually try to save herself and fail? Death was most likely, she reasoned – so why not try? Admittedly, she had placed herself in a rather precarious situation, having acted on impulse and given in to the bizarre attraction she felt towards the cruel, if not charismatic leader of the small band of criminal lunatics – it had been a terrible idea, an unjustifiable mistake, though she found that she still felt a somewhat alarming fondness for the boy and that, as much as she did not want to acknowledge it, it was a mistake that she had thoroughly enjoyed making. She knew it was insane to even consider, but there had certainly been a few times where - if she hadn't known better - she would dare to say that she had caught a glimpse of something that seemed almost decent and human within Jerome...and perhaps just the smallest amount of partiality towards her. It was a long shot, but all that she could really do, she reasoned, was bide her time, try to come up with a sensible plan for escape, and hope that maybe she wasn't crazy – that the boy had actually taken a liking to her...at least enough of one to make it possible for her to persuade him to help her, or if nothing else, to not try to stop her from leaving when the time came.
Plucking the discarded bath towel from the other night from foot of her bed, she draped it over her arm and made her way out into the corridor. She was not particularly in need of a shower, but her body was bruised and sore, she didn't feel like socializing, and she figured that standing beneath a torrent of steaming hot water might soothe her a bit. She only made it a few steps outside of her door when she heard movement behind her – turning, she watched as Jerome pulled the door to his bedroom open, coming to stand just within its frame as he propped himself against it using his shoulder. He studied her face for a moment, his eyes briefly resting on the light bruise that had begun to form along her jaw where he had grabbed her, his expression flat and difficult to discern.
"What do you want, Jerome?" She asked quietly, shifting slightly where she stood.
The boy shook his head gently.
"Nothin'," He muttered, "You, uh...you mad at me, doll, or are we good?"
Amelia smiled inwardly, not daring to let it show for fear of how the sociopath might interpret it.
"No. We're good."
Tilting his head, he shot the woman a skeptical look.
"C'mon now, princess – I know I got a little...carried away back there -"
"Yeah, you did," She interjected softly, enjoying the mildly taken aback look upon the man's face "But I get it. Doesn't make it okay, mind you, but I get it. You didn't want to talk about it and I shouldn't have tried to make you...you don't ever have to tell me anything that you don't want to, but I expect you to extend that same kind of courtesy to me in the future, okay?"
After a moment, the ginger bobbed his head lightly.
"Okay," He answered, his voice barely audible.
Offering him a tiny smile, Amelia thanked him and continued on her way towards the bathroom, feeling his eyes at her back all the while.
"He's my dad."
The girl stopped dead in her tracks, turning her gaze back to Jerome with a solemn look of understanding etched across her face. She watched as he shifted uncomfortably in the doorway, fidgeting with his hands and biting softly at the inside of his cheek.
"You asked if I was alright back there and...I wasn't, but of course, you figured that one out on your own. But, uh...yeah – that's pops! Been lookin' for him, so it's a good thing I suppose, but it wasn't exactly my idea of a pleasant surprise," He explained, scratching absently at the side of his head as he worked to suppress the giggles that wanted to burst forth from his mouth.
She stared at him for a moment, her head reeling from this new information as she struggled to find her words.
"P-Paul? Paul is your father?"
"Yep," Jerome confirmed tightly before sucking in a sharp intake of air, "Anyways, I've got stuff to do so I'll leave ya to it."
With those words, he promptly took a step back and swung the door shut, leaving Amelia to stand, dumbfounded, in the hallway alone.
A/N: Hey! So, not too much to say this time other than that I feel like Amelia is slowly (very slowly) maybe beginning to pull herself together a little bit and that she composed herself fairly well here. Jerome had, understandably, frightened her with his hostility in the last update and although there was a small time frame here in which she did not speak to him and she very deliberately put distance between herself and him upon getting back to their hideout, she did not cower from him, she did not go into her room and panic as she has done before. She merely went into her room, put her shit away, and contemplated her situation for a bit before deciding she wanted a shower...and when he came out to confront her, she didn't try to shy away from it at all, she wasn't really confrontational or submissive, and I feel like she handled it in a really good way, where she acknowledged his reasoning for feeling the way he did and doing what he did in response to it, though she did not condone it, but she admitted that she should not have tried to press him, either. She basically told him that it is understandable and okay to NOT be okay with someone trying to push him into doing shit he doesn't want to, but that he needs to be willing to extend that same courtesy unto others. I dunno...maybe I'm just nuts but I really liked writing that and seeing that conversation go down in my head. I imagined it as a very gentle, mature kind of conversation between these two characters that ultimately led to him offering up this information, this explanation as to what exactly his problem was, something that was deeply troubling to him, in spite of the fact that she had just told him that he did not have to. Anyways, I apologize for any errors I may have missed and I hope that you enjoyed this update – and if you would be so kind, **Pleaasee leave Feedback/Reviews** – I'd love to hear from you!