Thanks for your review Kelly! Pierce really is an idiot but I enjoy writing him as so! Gotta love Hendrix!
Chapter Fifty
Friday 14th February – 1:00pm
"Elly, would you slow down for a minute so we can talk about this?" Chloe asked her girlfriend as they walked into Ramsay Street, "I know you asked to leave as soon as Pierce turned up and I didn't listen. I should've stopped him from saying what he did or walked away with you when you asked me too."
Elly had wiped the tears from her eyes, "I don't want to talk about the fact I'm not good enough for you. I just want to go to your place, pick up my son, go home, curl up into bed and pretend the last hour didn't happen."
"You can't seriously think you're not good enough for me, Elly, that is not what I think about you," Chloe stated.
Elly finally turned to Chloe, stopping the blonde in her tracks, "No, but the thought that you are compromising by being with me every single day...I'll be thinking about that."
"I am not compromising by being with you. I love you. If you think I'm compromising, then I'd still be doing so with Pierce because I'd be compromising material things I don't need for the love of my life. C'mon, Elly, do not let Pierce ruin us," Chloe begged.
"I'm not, I'm not ending this with you, not over this," Elly decided.
"Thank you," Chloe felt assurance.
"But Pierce has ruined today for us. Maybe Pierce was right...there's a reason why I haven't told my mum about us...maybe I am ashamed of us, I just didn't know it 'til he pointed it out," Elly said quietly.
"You don't mean that," Chloe insisted, "You're not ashamed of us, Elly. You reconnected with your mum last year when you stayed with her twice during your pregnancy. It was the first time in your life you didn't have a go at her and her with you. You're afraid of your relationship with Liz going back to what it was if she isn't okay with us being together or that I'm helping you to raise Elliot."
Elly looked away from Chloe, "How do you know me so well?"
"Because I love you," Chloe answered, "Is there anything you want to talk about from what happened at lunch?"
"Why'd you open Pierce's Valentines' Day gift to you?" Elly asked.
"Cause I knew I was gonna throw whatever it was back in his face," Chloe told her.
"You didn't need to open it to do that, Chlo," Elly pointed out.
Chloe nodded, "Okay, you're right, I didn't need to...but you saw the look on his face when you told me you wanted to make love to me in the city of love. That was worth it."
"No, Chlo, I was looking at you the whole time...and you were looking at Pierce," Elly realized hurt, "Whatever, our first Valentines' Day has been ruined. I just want to go get my son and go home."
Chloe threw her hands up as she followed Elly inside her house.
Aaron and David looked up with surprise as the girls walked into the living room, with Aaron immediately noticing Elly's blotchy eyes, "Ah...hey...you two are...well...really, really, really...early."
Chloe looked at her watch, "We're not that early...I mean a little but..."
"I just want to pick up my son and go home," Elly announced.
"We just put him down for a nap in his cot we have here for him after we fed him a bottle you left us," Aaron explained.
"Which room?" Elly asked, not in the mood to talk.
"The cot's in Chloe's room...seemed appropriate," Aaron answered.
As Elly took off down the hallway, Chloe was puzzled, "Why'd Elly bring a bottle for him, we were only going to be gone an hour and she fed him before we left here?"
David indicated to Aaron he was going to go help Elly and left the room. Aaron looked up at his sister from the couch, "You're here to pick the lil guy up way early, Chlo. What happened at lunch?"
"We didn't even get to eating lunch, Pierce showed up, took a seat at our table and ruined the whole date by getting at Elly that she's not good enough for me and that I'm compromising by being with her. I think Elly just needs some space. I'll let her go back to hers with the peanut, I'll chill out here for lunch then go apologize to her," Chloe suggested, "I'm not interrupting any plans you and David had for Valentines' Day, am I?"
"Just our plan to babysit Elliot for the rest of the afternoon," Aaron told her, "Like I said...you two are back here...really, really, really early."
Chloe stared at Aaron blankly, "I only asked you to babysit for an hour or two."
Aaron stood up from the couch, walked around to lean on the side of it in front of Chloe, "Pull your head in, Chlo."
"What'd I do?" Chloe frowned.
"I may not be the biggest supporter of your relationship with Elly but are you trying to ruin what you have with Elly? Pierce may have ruined your lunch but whatever reason that Elly has been crying whether that was some hurtful thing Pierce said or you didn't stick up for her enough...you ruined the rest of Elly's plans for Valentines' Day," Aaron tried to explain.
"What plans?" Chloe was still clueless.
Aaron ran his hand through his hair, "The ones where we were looking after Elliot all afternoon and you and Elly would have the house to yourselves for a few hours because the Kennedy clan are all working."
"To catch up on sleep?" Chloe puzzled.
"You really are dense sometimes, sis," Aaron admitted, "Elly didn't want to catch up on sleep, she wanted to sleep with you."
"I didn't think she was ready. We've been waiting until she is ready," Chloe was surprised.
"Elly's not ready for you to sleep with her yet but she had planned to with you as she didn't want to wait any longer," Aaron informed his sibling.
"How do you even know all this?" Chloe queried.
"Because your nervous as hell girlfriend asked if we could babysit until this evening and then felt humiliated that I knew what the pair of you would be doing after your lunch so I went and told her my own sexy plans with David to calm her down. Elly put herself out there and whatever happened at lunch has probably ruined Elly's confidence," Aaron explained.
"Elly doesn't need confidence to be with me like that," Chloe insisted.
"Elly needs confidence because even I can see that she's afraid that if she takes things to the next level with you and it doesn't go...well...you won't want to be with her. She doesn't need to have told me that," Aaron pointed out.
"How do I fix this?" Chloe asked.
"Go convince Elly to leave the peanut here with us, you might not be able to salvage the afternoon Elly had planned with the sexy times but you can at least go make out with your girlfriend uninterrupted by Elliot for a few hours," Aaron encouraged.
"Right, I can do that," Chloe smiled, then glanced up as David walked back into the room, "Elly still here?"
David shook his head, "No, she booked it straight away as soon as she got Elliot out of his cot and I gave her the bag with all the baby supplies she'd brought with him."
When Chloe looked back at Aaron, he sighed, "You shouldn't need me to say it, go after her. Bring the peanut back here if you can convince Elly to...spend the afternoon alone with you."
"Right, thanks, Azza," Chloe yelled out as she turned around to head to Elly's.
"Oh, and Chlo," Aaron called his sister back, when she turned back to him, he added, "Whilst I'm at it throwing out advice on your life...pull your bloody head in with your work life."
"What does that mean?" Chloe tried not to take offence.
"It means...stop working all hours of the night and being Pierce's lap dog as well as Terese's when you are only paid to be hers. In case you haven't noticed, you have a girlfriend and her son that you go home to every night...how about you spend more time with them instead of at the office trying to prove to no one that you can juggle everything...that might also help you and Elly in the love life department," Aaron advised.
"Got it," Chloe accepted as she took off after Elly.
"Never thought I'd hear you give advice to Chloe on fixing things with Elly," David commented to his husband.
Aaron shrugged, "It's still weird to me they're together. I don't know if it'll never not be weird. If it works out, it works out, if it doesn't, it doesn't. Long as Elly doesn't hurt Chloe like she did Mark, I'm not against them, if she does, I'll be here picking up the pieces for Chloe."
Chloe found Elly curled up in her bed at her place, Elliot already in his cot, "Hey, you feeling okay?"
"Terrific," Elly mumbled.
"Can I take the peanut back to my place for Aaron and David to look after him for us?" Chloe asked.
"Why?" Elly asked, then realized, "Great, Aaron told you. No point, Chlo, I am not in the mood to sleep with you right now so you can get that idea out of your head."
Chloe put her handbag and the gifts down on the bedside table, crawling under the covers of the bed, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend, "Can I just simply sleep here with you in my arms? I'm not here to throw your son back to Aaron and David so I can get you back in the mood for us to...I get I screwed the mood for that with what happened at lunch...but I would very much like to spend the afternoon making out with you if you'll have me."
"Maybe later," Elly decided, "Don't bother about taking Elliot back to yours, he can stay here with us."
"I'm sorry for what happened at lunch and for ruining the plans you had for us," Chloe said as she curled herself against Elly's back.
Elly rolled over so she was facing the blonde, wrapping her arm around Chloe's lower back, "Sorry, not used to be spooned by you."
Chloe leant forwards and pecked Elly on the lips, "My girl prefers to do the spooning."
"I do," Elly whispered, "It wasn't your fault. Pierce just...got at me with all my insecurities. I couldn't afford the lunch you wanted...let alone 1st class business tickets around the world. You are compromising by being with me."
"I'm really not," Chloe insisted, "The only compromise I am doing is choosing true love over stuff that is not at all important to me. Can you please be reassured by that and don't ever question it again?"
"Okay," Elly nodded, "I'm sorry I can't offer you the life Pierce can."
"I'm not sorry at all," Chloe insisted, "The life you can offer me is everything I could ever want. Believe that. Y'know...I wish you had of told me you were ready to take the next step with me. I feel like a clueless idiot for not reading the signs. I thought we were waiting until you were ready."
Elly cupped Chloe's face, "I know...we were. I wasn't sure how to say the words to explain to you I want you. We should wait. A few more weeks...is that okay?"
"Whenever you're ready...I'll be ready," Chloe promised.
"I want this time to be special between us...hence the Valentines' Day...trying to go for the romance with you," Elly blushed.
Chloe kissed Elly softly, "We can still put a lil bit more romance into the rest of our Valentines' Day because I would really like it if you gave me the necklace you bought me."
Elly scrunched up her face, "No, it's tacky."
"It is not tacky," Chloe insisted.
"You haven't even seen it yet. It's tacky," Elly buried her face in Chloe's neck.
"Just because Pierce said it's tacky does not make it so, Elly," Chloe assured.
"I'll go to the shops and buy you a new one in the morning that isn't tacky," Elly decided.
Chloe ran her hand through Elly's hair, gently pulling her face back to stare into her eyes, "You are not buying me a new one. I don't need a new necklace when I already want the one you chose for me."
"It's still tacky," Elly said sadly.
Chloe smiled wildly, "Okay then...it's tacky. Can I please have my tacky necklace so I can put on my tacky necklace, tell everyone all about my tacky necklace that my beautiful girlfriend gave me and never take my tacky necklace off?"
Elly finally giggled at Chloe, "Okay fine, you win," Elly dug the necklace from her pocket and held it up in her hand above Chloe's head, "Here's your tacky necklace you'll never take off."
Chloe reached up for it, holding the necklace in her hand, "I love it! It's very me, it's not even close to being tacky. I'm still never going to take it off."
Elly kissed Chloe gently, "I'd better put it on you then."
Chloe tilted her head forwards into Elly's chest to allow Elly to clip the necklace on, "Perfect."
Chloe kissed Elly again, quickly deepening the kiss before breaking apart, "I know we're not going to take the next step this afternoon but how do you feel about a nice romantic make out session?"
"Like that would dramatically improve my Valentines' Day, my love," Elly decided, then as Chloe leant in to kiss her again, Elly placed her finger over Chloe's mouth, "We should order some lunch to be delivered since I ran out of the Waterhole before we could have our meals...crap I should probably go back tomorrow to pay the bill."
"I wouldn't worry about it, bet Shane got Pierce to pay since he stuffed us around. But yes, to ordering lunch to be delivered," Chloe agreed.
"Hey, we should probably thank Hendrix for everything he said about us to Pierce...that was...unexpected of him to be there and throw his support behind us," Elly remembered.
"We're having lunch on Sunday at Harold's, you and the peanut should join us," Chloe offered.
"I love that you hang out with him and care about him...more than Pierce appears to. If Hendrix doesn't mind us crashing your catch ups, we'll be there," Elly decided, "Now, what do you want for lunch?"
A few minutes later, Elly told Chloe, "All ordered...lunch will be here in half an hour."
"Oh, whatever should we do to keep us busy until our lunch arrives?" Chloe teased then answered her own question, "I can think of one thing."
"So, can I," Elly winked at Chloe but surprised the blonde instead of pulling her into another kiss, started typing on her phone again, "You owe me a weekend away to Sydney and for that to happen...I need to make a phone call."
Chloe leaned up to rest her head on Elly's shoulder, "I'm proud of you."
Elly kissed the top of Chloe's head as the call was answered, "Hey, mum."
