Alrighty people, here's a longer one. Alex returns to the house to find sappy and slightly pissed off people. So yeah. Dealing with the Luce issues. Enjoy and Review, awesome people who read the rants I put in story form off of the top of my head.

Disclaimer: NO OWNAGE OF SON, psstttt but I own Coopy, Ardy, Lucy, Wiley, and Bridgey.

The Return

Alex's POV

Well, I get to come home today. I can walk, there's just a pain in my back from where I was shot, so my motion has to be limited. God, I was shot a week ago…All I could think about was not seeing Arden again. It broke my heart to see her being restrained by her sisters and crying out for me. Seeing her when I woke up was the greatest feeling, I missed her so much. When she snuggled into my side just like old times, I felt stronger than ever.

I see the door to my room swing open and in walks Ashley with the biggest grin I've ever seen. She tears up abit, "Oh, Laxxy…" She envelops me in a hug, "God, you had us all scared…Arden was a mess, Lucy is ridden with guilt, and I had to be strong for everyone. It was so hard, Al. Please next time you decide to be a hero, don't get shot…" She giggles a little and I smile. Same old, Ash. "But hey, Ethan's gonna love you for publicity, your all over the news.." She jokes and I groan and put my head in my hands.

"Seriously Ash? God we're going to have no privacy…I really don't want the hero title."

She shrugs. "The perks of being a rockstar and a hero." She pats my shoulder, "Get used to it, kid. But anyways, let's get out of this place…its depressing, plus everyone misses you." Annd knowing them…they're all waiting in the living room for me to walk in the door so they can pounce.

I walk in the door to the house and that's the sight I see. Everyone standing and grinning at me. Bridget, Arden and Spencer look like their about to cry. Kyla is all excited. Wiley winks at me and smirks. But Lucy can't meet my eyes…I'm going to have to talk to her, and now that Aiden's out of the way, I think she and Ky should be together.

I'm suddenly rushed by all of them except for Lucy who stands there. I go through the hugging and the squeezing and reach Arden who's about to cry, "Hey baby, why the sad face? Is it because you can't get carried around all the time?" I tease her and she smiles a bit, before taking my face in her hands and kissing me deeply in front of everyone. I hear catcalls from a few and flip them off while wrapping my arms around my gorgeous girlfriend. We pull away and Arden is blushing. I smirk and wrap and arm around her waist as I lean on her a bit so I can walk comfortably to the couch. All this walking has me beat. Everyone sits in the living room, praising me for being brave, comments on the media getting ahold of this or calling me an idiot for doing what I did. Lucy just remains silent and walks off.

I watch her leave and everyone goes quiet. Kyla speaks up, "Al, Spencer filled us in on what you had told her before the…incident…" I cringe, god, just say I was shot, don't circle around the word people, I'm not gonna burst into tears. "And Lucy's been leaning on me a lot these past few days..which is great but she feels so guilty about bringing Aiden here…" I shake my head. I have to go talk to her. I move to stand up, but Arden pulls my hand, motioning for me to stay a bit longer before going to talk to Lucy. I sigh and snuggle into her side.

Everyone's silent until Ash speaks up, "Al…why didn't you tell anyone about you and Aiden?" I cringe.

Flashback

I walk outside the club and I inhale a breath of fresh San Fran air. I hear a noise behind me. It's Aiden Dennison, the local dealer that I've seen Luce buy from.

He smirks at me and walks over, "Hey, Alex Cooper right? Lucy's friend, Wiley's girlfriend?" I nod. "Why aren't you in there with them?"

I shrug and reply, "Not really my scene." He snorts, "I figured, but what's a pretty little innocent thing like you hanging out with them?" I shrug. "Eh, they're my friends. I dunno we just clicked. Well Lucy is more of an acquaintance…she's a tough one."

"Yeah, you're telling me, she's been buying from me for a year now. Always down to business never wants to chat. But you, I can have a decent conversation with." He leers at me a bit and it makes my skin crawl. "So, you're a lesbian right?"

I look at him skeptically and nod, "Yeah…so?"

He shrugs, "Nothing wrong with it, no need to be defensive, but I mean have you ever been with a guy?"

I glare at him, "Not that it's any of your business, but no."

He smirks, "Then how could you possibly know?"

I sigh, people like him make me frustrated. Thinking that my lifestyle is a choice and that I don't know any better. "I just do."

"Well, I could help you reinforce that feeling…or you might find that you like men better.."

I start to walk away, back towards the club, "Uh…no thanks, Aid.." He wraps his hand around my arm slightly and I wince at the amount of pressure he's putting on it.

"That wasn't an offer." He starts dragging me towards the alleyway and I kick him in the shin. He howls in pain and lets go of my arm and I start to run, but he's right there and he grabs me by the hair before restraining me by holding my arms behind my back. "Feisty aren't we?" He purrs into my ear. "Well, I might be able to change that."

End Flashback

Arden is snapping her fingers in front of my face and I jump, startled. "Baby, you ok?" I take a deep breath.

"Uh yeah sorry, just had a flash back to that night…" Everyone looks at me sympathetically. Arden touches my arm and I flinch, remembering his hand grasping the same arm. She looks at me curiously. "Guys its fine…I got over it, it's just talking about it again brings back old feelings…" I inhale deeply before beginning my story of the night that I so desperately tried to block from my mind.

When I finish, just about everyone is tearing up and I shrug. "So, yeah…I never told anyone, because I felt I could deal with it on my own, and I did."

Wiley speaks up, angrily, "You shouldn't have had to Coop, you were my fucking girlfriend for fuck's sake!"

I shake my head, "Wiles…I didn't want you getting into anymore trouble than you already were."

"Coop, no one asked you to fucking sacrifice yourself for anyone else in this house. God, do you always have to be so selfless…you're going to end up with nothing."

Bridget tries to soothe Wiley, "Alyssa…baby…calm down…." She rubs her arm gently and Wiley pulls away standing up and throwing the nearest object against the wall, which happened to be a vase. Everyone flinches at the shattering noise. And I stare at her, her temper is never this bad.

Wiley pants slightly, "Coop…stop playing the fucking martyr…do you know what it does to everyone else around you? Do you? To have someone so great, sacrifice themselves for the sake of other people's mistakes? Think of Arden, huh, she's a wreck. I was crying into Bridget for a good two days. Spencer was cleaning so much I thought she would've rubbed all the surfaces off. Ashley was driving to the hospital whenever she could. Lucy was practically catatonic and Kyla had to comfort her. The album's been postponed for a good while. So where the fuck do you get off, sacrificing yourself?" She seethes out, growling. I shake my head and look down. When it comes to the people I care about, I don't care what happens to me. I need to kept them safe, it's who I am.

Ash practically reads my mind, "Alex…you can't protect us from everything…You need to stop trying…Or you'll end up dead and what good would you be to us then?"

"I can't protect you from everything. But I can damn well near try." And with that I hobble off in search of Lucy, leaving everyone sitting in the living room.

Lucy's POV

I've been listening to the whole conversation, God, Cooper. I had no idea what you went through. I'm so sorry for bringing Aiden into your life and to everyone else's.

"I can't protect you from everything. But I can damn well near try." Yeah, that'd be the stubborness of the Coop. I hear her walking/hobbling towards the patio where I'm currently at. She sits down beside me. "Hey Luce…"

"They're right you know…it was my fault…you shouldn't have been shot." She shakes her head.

"I would've been shot either way. He had nothing to lose, people knew his secret and I didn't tell anyone about the rape. Without me, there wouldn't be rape charges going up against him. He was going to off me either way." I look at her, surprised. Huh, Coop always thinking things through.

"Still, I should've brought up my issues." She snorts, "Come on Luce…you talk about issues? You're a secretive, mysterious, private person Reed, your not going to share anything that makes you seem weaker." Why is she so good a psychoanalyzing people? We sit in silence. "I don't blame you, you know." I turn to her and look at her skeptically. "I don't, if anything you saved me…telling him to leave me alone…it distracted him from putting a bullet straight through my head. So, thank you." I'm shocked. She's thanking me? After I brought a killer and drug dealer to the house…she's thanking me. She's the hero. She saved all of us…and she's thanking the low life. "Furthermore…you and Ky need to get over yourself and get together by the time I'm 40…I need godchildren here, I'm not getting any younger!" I laugh a bit, it's really impossible for her to be serious isn't it.

"I'll get on that." I say with a smirk.