A/N: So I just started college and so far I'm busy as hell. So I can't say how often I'll be updating. But I will finish this. I promise. It may take awhile. Thank you all so much for sticking around. It means the world to me.

We were finally out of the heat, sitting in the cool house breathing heavily and sitting at the kitchen table gulping big glasses of iced tea. I wasn't even very much of a tea person, it just tasted so good after an especially hard day's work.

In all honesty, I was tired as hell and would have gladly gone to bed and let Vaughn go on his not-so-merry way.

But I needed to tattoo him to prove him wrong.

After getting over the heat, I stood and put our glasses in the sink. "In my room." I said quietly and began walking with him at my heels.

"What's your story?" He asked.

"What?" I turned, shutting my door behind him. He sat down on the floor and looked up at me.

"The tattoo on your neck says 'We all have a story to tell'. So what's yours?" He asked not making eye contact.

I smiled to myself; it was nice to not have someone disrobe me to see a tattoo. I began setting up my supplies. "It's kind of a long one." I mumbled.

He raised an eyebrow, "Well seeing as you're holding me hostage… I've got time."

I smiled and sat down next to him and continued preparing my equipment. "Well what do you want to know?"

There was a pause, in which I finished setting up, and looked at him expectantly.

He seemed to be thinking, but he spoke. "Tell me what you were like as a child. I mean… You seem pretty childish as it is." He added the last part rather hastily.

I made a face and ignored the jab. I loved being young… or acting young. Growing up sucks. Of course, parts of me are grown up. I've been through very adult-like things. I was still a child at heart though, for the most part. "It was pretty much the same as it is now. Mark was the favorite, and I was just there. What am I doing with that?" I gestured to his tattoo.

"Mark isn't everyone's favorite. I know that some people prefer you." He pushed. I was glad that he was opening up to me and talking more.

I snorted, "Hardly. Do you just wasn't a touch up? Or do you want something added?" I pointed to his tattoo.

"There have to be at least ten people that like you better than they like Mark." He ignored me.

"No one." I said, leaning over to him and pulling his arm to me. I gripped it with moth hands and began scoping out what I had to work with. His arms were relatively large… must be from all the heavy lifting.

"I do." He said quietly, looking down at my hands.

I looked up, eyes wide. His eyes met mine. I never knew Vaughn actually liked me. I mean, we fought a lot. If he did like me he sure had a funny way of showing it. I didn't care though, because the truth was I liked him, too. I liked spending time with him even if I felt like I was getting on my nerves. Even though he unintentionally reminded me of my own problems sometimes, I still liked him. Sometimes he made me forget the past if only for a minute or two. That was enough for me.

"That makes one." I breathed, staring at him. I looked away from his interesting face and leaned back. We both sighed. Relief or disappointment, I'm not sure.

"You're trying to tell me you grew up with no friends?" He raised an eyebrow, changing the subject and saving me, while subtly insulting me. He was very good at that, I noticed.

"I had some." I mumbled, trying to hold his bicep still.

"What were they like?" He asked.

"Before I dive into the woes of my childhood will you tell me what you want on your arm?" I didn't mean to come across as rude.

"Just touch it up." He muttered.

I hoped he wouldn't stop talking to me because of that. I could tell he was putting himself out there by carrying out this conversation with me. It meant a lot to me, it really did.

I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the task at hand. A red heart, "Marie" in cursive script, and a few vines and roses beneath it. I reached behind me for the ink, and he retracted his arm.

"Who were your friends?" He asked. I breathed an internal sigh of relief. At least he was still interested in my life.

"Come closer to me." I mumbled pouring some red, white, black, and green ink into separate cups. He scooted closer and sat indian style with his knee in my lap. I held his arm tightly and scanned for hair.

He sighed impatiently.

"At first I was close with a girl named Lumina." I started, and was pleased to notice his ears perk up. "She was the poster child for perfect children." I snorted. "So as you can see, I eventually lost touch with her and fell in with an… odd crowd." I mused, dabbing some water on his arm and shaving it gently.

"What do you mean odd?" He asked, though I got the feeling he had a pretty good idea already.

"Odd as in… me. I started seeing this guy Gustafa. He was a wanderer, a musician, a hallucinogen enthusiast. He was basically a glorified hippie, and now that I think about it, he was a total loser as well." I snorted to myself adding that to the list of undesirable things Gustafa was. "He was five years older than me. I mean, what twenty year old dates a fifteen year old?" I felt Vaughn shudder. "He was always talking about how he wouldn't get a job because he didn't want to buy in to the government's master plan. He didn't want to get brainwashed or anything. He always told me how the government was out to get us and stifle our creativity. He was… bizarre to say the least." I trailed off. I picked up the gun and it whirred to life under my fingertips.

I decided I wanted to take my mind off Gustafa, and I changed the subject. "I also became close with a man named Cody. He's an artist." I glanced up at Vaughn and noticed his eyes were intent on my face.

"Let me guess, you picked up art from him."

I smiled, "Of course I did. He preferred sculpting, I preferred 2D art. I gave 3D a go, but it frustrated me more than relaxed me. I basically stole all of his 2D materials that he never used. But he didn't mind. I took all of his canvases and paintbrushes and paints, even sketchbooks that he never used."

Vaughn smiled.

"I became friends with the out-crowd. I picked up something from each friend and I still hold onto those things. They made me who I am." I smiled wistfully.

"Cody gave you art, what about Gustafa? And STD?"

I slapped his arm playfully before I started. "No! He was clean as far as I know." I shuddered at the thought of an STD.

"You two had sex?" He asked.

I should have been embarrassed. Normally I would have been, but not with Vaughn. "I never said I made the best decisions." I said glumly.

He nodded.

"You're not the only one."

I smiled to myself as I dipped the needle into the red ink and brought it to his skin.

He flinched slightly as it touched him, but continued the conversation in hopes of distracting himself from the pain.

"What did you get from Gustafa?"

"Appreciation of good music and incense."

"Incense?"

"Breathe in." I commanded, coloring the inside of the heart.

He took a big whiff. "Oh." He mumbled.

"Everything I own smells like it." I added, smiling.

It was quiet for a few moments, except the steady hum of the tattoo gun.

"So you and Mark were never close?" He asked.

I shrugged a bit, "We were always close, but only because we were twins… We never really hung out or played games together. We just had that weird telepathy going on, but we were always too different."

"I can tell you're different." He agreed.

"How?"

"You don't annoy the hell out of me." He said.

I laughed and raised my hand to my heart, "Why, thank you."

He grimaced as I began the outline of the heart.

"Ow…" He growled.

I ignored it and kept working.

"Why did you move?" He asked gently.

"My parents wanted to. They decided to uproot us from our home because they wanted a change of scenery. How dare they! Mark didn't even care or try to stop them. It was like he had no feelings about where we grew up. It was like there was no attachment there at all. I was the exact opposite. I pitched a fit. Of course, they didn't give a shit what I said or what I wanted. They didn't care about my issues and how much worse they would be if we left the only place I ever knew." I growled.

"Ease up." Vaughn begged.

I glanced down, I hadn't even realized how hard I was pushing. The tattoo was already turning red and swelling. There was some blood mixed in with the ink. Shit, I let my personal feelings get in the way of my work. That was very unprofessional.

"Sorry." I whispered, dabbing at the blood with a towel.

He just grunted in response as I continued tattooing him as gently as I could.

"How old were you?"

"It was my seventeenth birthday." I mumbled.

"And you ran away right after that?"

I nodded as I moved onto the vines, thorns and leaves. They were very small and intricate seeming. Or attempted at being intricate… Poor guy went to a bad artist.

"The day after that we left, and they all got off the boat here…. And I just kept going. They didn't notice until later. I just found my way to Castanet." I was beginning work on the thorns, the vines were relatively simple.

"Not getting off that boat was the greatest decision I've ever made." I said more to myself than to Vaughn.

He watched me tattoo quietly for a while. I finished the thorns and leaves and the roses. All that was left was the name.

I dipped the needle in the black ink and kept my eyes on the tattoo as I whispered, "My middle name is Marie."

Vaughn tensed up for a moment and quickly changed the subject. "So tell me about this Julius." He tried to seem aloof.

I understood that he didn't want to talk about it, and that was fine. I sighed deeply to myself before speaking. "I can't even begin to describe Julius. We could be here for hours." I chuckled softly.

He shrugged, "Fine by me."

I bit my lip and finished the name before wiping the ink. "He's very similar to me, but at the same time we are both totally our own. I've never been as connected to someone as I am with him. We're two halves of a whole."

"Where did you meet? I thought you said you were an antisocial misfit." He teased.

"I never said that!" I laughed and slapped his knee that was still resting in my lap. I dabbed the soothing ointment on his tattoo.

"Well it was implied." He countered.

"I don't even know. Things with Julius were always so easy. Everything came natural. It was never a problem talking to him, it was different than with everyone else. The first day I met him, we just clicked. It's like we're soulmates. Not romantically, but just… meant to be. Know what I mean?"

Vaughn nodded, prompting me to go on.

"He made me who I am. Well, the part of me that is not a cynical asshole. I have friends, I talk to other people, I'm not as shy anymore. He made me a better version of me. He's someone that gets me most of the time."

"Most of the time?"

I looked at him for a moment, cocking my head. "Well, yeah… Nobody understands all of me. There is always something that someone doesn't understand. I wish there was someone that could." I said as I put the bandage around his tattoo.

"You're complex." He said simply.

I shrugged, "But I-"

"But I've understood everything you've told me so far." He cut me off.

I looked up, eyes wide. "Really?" I squeaked.

"You haven't said anything that I haven't thought myself."

I smiled, finally someone got it.

"Good." I leaned back and laid on the floor. Vaughn laid next to me.

"I'll bet I can scare you off." I smiled to myself, staring up at the ceiling.

"Try me." I heard the smile in his voice.

I thought for a moment. "I see people die on TV and movies all the time and it doesn't faze me." I began.

"Me too."

"But when an animal dies, I have to stop watching."

He laughed, "Nice try, but I'm the same way."

I laughed loudly and let out a very unladylike snort. I covered my face, embarrassed, which caused him to laugh at my discomfort. I couldn't help but laugh along. It felt natural with Vaughn.

"You turn off sad movies?" I giggled, trying to settle down, but having a very hard time imagining this rough and tough cowboy turning off Old Yeller when it got too intense.

"Only when animals die!" He defended himself.

I laughed again, and caught my breath. "Why do you like animals so much?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Genetics?"

"No pets or anything?" I asked

"Nope. I just love them. What about you?"

"Grew up on a farm. I cared for the animals because mom, dad, and Mark were strictly business. They'd go in and milk the cows, shear the sheep and take the eggs. I'd go in and feed them, and talk to them, cuddle with them. They all took a liking to me. Their grade of product was so much better with me around. I was always so loving towards them." I boasted.

He smiled, "That's good. Animals need tenderness. That's why they've all been doing so much better since you got here. Especially that runt. You know it would have died without you."

I felt a blush creeping up my neck, when realization struck. "Ah. I forgot the pill today." I grumbled sitting up. Even though he just gave them to me this morning, and I had tended to the animals already, I forgot them. I'd have to learn to be a little bit more careful.

"What would you do without me?" He sat up.

I groaned when I noticed the tattoo equipment that I had neglected to clean up. I began gathering it all into a pile and decided that I'd clean it up tonight. Before I forgot the pill again.

I grabbed the tiny box of pills from the top of my dresser and walked to the door, where Vaughn was waiting.

We opened the door and came face to face with an angry-looking Mark flanked by Julia.

"We've been looking for you two for hours." Julia narrowed her eyes. I could see Vaughn's hat clenched in her fist on her hip.

"You didn't check the house?" Vaughn asked skeptically, voicing my thought. Were they really that daft?

"We did. We just didn't check Chelsea's bedroom." She said.

I had to roll my eyes, "That would have been the first place I looked for someone. Their own room. Sorry, I wasn't aware of your open door policy." Were they really this concerned? God, they sounded like overprotective parents.

"Well we only decided to look here after we found your clothes thrown all over the barn." Mark spat.

Vaughn and I exchanged confused looks.

"What are talking about?" Vaughn growled, stepping forwards.

"Oh, act like you don't know." Mark had his arms crossed, but his eyes held fright, as they should. He was getting an attitude with Vaughn, and he was not the type of person to handle that well.

"You are accusing me of-!" Vaughn got louder and redder as he spoke.

I put my hand on his arm to relax him and it worked.

"Mark, it was like one hundred degrees outside, we got hot."

His eyes were still narrowed at Vaughn, as if he cared about me at all.

"You would know that if you gave a single fuck about this farm." I muttered.

I noticed Vaughn shaking and suddenly he exploded, "You wouldn't be standing here accusing us of this… this shit if you had been out there helping your goddamn sister!"

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but Vaughn turned his attention to me, and I have to admit I was kind of scared for a minute. "I know, I know, you're capable, but shit. I almost passed out doing it and I'm twice your size. Everyone needs help sometimes." He said softly to me, and turned back to Mark. "If you gave a shit about this farm, this island, or your own damn sister, you'd be slaving away in that goddamn heat with her, not me." He snapped, and his eyes flitted to Julia, "And who the hell do you think you are following him around like a damn puppy? You have no right to be here accusing Chelsea and I, the only two that do any work, of anything at all."

Mark and Julia's expressions were priceless. Their jaws literally dropped and they stared at Vaughn with disbelief and fright etched across their every feature.

Vaughn grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind him as he marched towards the door, only after snatching his hat from a startled Julia. That action alone may have been enough to make her cry. The sun was setting and it was not nearly as hot as it was earlier, which was a relief.

He tossed me into the barn and after shutting the door behind us, he released me.

He was positively fuming. His fists and jaw were clenched tightly, and he paced back and forth.

I silently walked to the piglets and found my runt. I easily fed him the pill, then turned back to Vaughn, the slightly more immediate problem.

He was faced away from me, running his hands heavily through his hair. What a temper on this one. I could have guessed. I mean, he was always relatively quiet, but he never took shit. It was admirable in a way.

I walked over to him, unafraid, and laid my hand on his shoulder. He tensed only momentarily, before his breathing slowed and he turned to me.

"Are you okay?" I asked gently.

He nodded.

I took his arm in both of my hands and led him to a bale of hay, we sat quietly together. I'd love to get inside his head, but I still felt some of his walls resisting. He was such an interesting human being. I wish I was privileged enough to learn things about him.

We continued to sit silently, still I felt somehow responsible.

"I'm sorry Mark's an asshole." I mumbled, not looking at him.

"Don't you ever apologize for someone else's behavior. You didn't make him that way." Vaughn said, surprising me at how he didn't sound nearly as angry as I thought he would.

I laughed quietly.

"You don't see me walking around saying 'Sorry Julia's a slut'. I just let her do whatever the hell she wants to do."

I smiled gratefully. He really did know how to help me without even realizing it. I glanced at the door and saw our shirts rolled up next to it. I laughed in spite of myself.

Vaughn smirked when he saw what I was laughing at.

"That's not fucking funny, Chels. We were accused of something serious." He sounded serious, but there was a hint of humor in his voice.

I smiled at the way he called me Chels so easily. It seemed so natural and friendly and I really enjoyed it. I was glad he was this comfortable around me. "But we didn't do it." I pointed out.

"But they think we did." He answered.

"Who gives a fuck what they think?" I smiled at him.

He stared at me with a small smile on his face, he nodded, "You're right."

"I know." I said, smiling smugly.

He playfully punched my arm, "Don't get used to it."

A/N: Just kind of a fluffy chapter, showing some of Chelsea's past. Do you like how their relationship is progressing?