Thanks for the reviews Kelly & EC Brenway - can always count on you both for your thoughts!

Kelly - Fingers crossed the reunion goes well and Elly finds out about Chelly baby!

EC - Finally, the 2nd Chelly reunion...so...will there be a 3rd...? I'll just leave you with that thought to ponder!

The Chemistry In Darkness

Chapter Seventy

Wednesday 26th February 2025

"Elly," Chloe whispered softly as she watched the look of confusion on Elly's face at her arrival, "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here."

"Chloe?" Elly repeated, still not quite comprehending that Chloe had returned to her and wasn't just a figment of her imagination.

Seeing the disbelief crossing every inch of Elly's face that she really was there, Chloe did the only thing she could think of.

Taking the three steps separating them, Chloe immediately wrapped her arms around Elly's waist, smiling when the brunette dropped the guitar to the ground. Chloe brought their lips together quickly, kissing Elly gently.

"I'm here," Chloe whispered in reassurance, once they'd reluctantly broken their kiss.

"How?" was all Elly could manage to ask, running her hands across Chloe's lower back.

Chloe wanted to blurt out all her apologies about choosing Pierce over her, that she wanted to make things right between them and Aster, that she was carrying their baby, but holding Elly in her arms, it was like the past 24 hours caught up with Chloe and the lack of sleep forced Chloe's knees to buckle.

Elly caught Chloe, stopping her from falling to the ground, holding onto the blonde gently, "Chloe?"

Chloe blushed, finding herself holding onto Elly, more to keep her feet, worried that despite their kiss, Elly wasn't prepared to listen to her. The constant disbelief in Elly calling her name like she wasn't sure she was really there, left Chloe even more unsure how Elly would react to her news, "Sorry, I don't think I realized how tired I am…I've been trying to get out here to you since I only had a couple hours sleep last night."

"Shush," Elly calmed the blonde, finally seeming to understand that the blonde really had come back to her, "Let's get you to a bed, you can sleep and we'll talk in the morning…I mean…if you are okay with staying out…on the Island here with us tonight."

"I came here because Elly I…" Chloe found herself struggling over her words, her tiredness draining everything from her, feeling like a failure for trying so hard to make sure no one but Hetty knew she was going to the Island to tell Elly about their baby and yet she was now too tired to be able to revel in Elly's reaction, "I need to tell you…"

"Shush," Elly hushed Chloe once more, not realizing the importance of what Chloe wanted to tell her, "I can feel how tired you are, you're barely standing. Are you okay to walk?"

Chloe nodded, smiling when Elly wrapped her arm around her lower back, "Elly, you need to know…"

Elly leant down, pressing her lips to Chloe's forehead, "We'll talk in the morning."

"Elly, we should really talk now," Chloe insisted, before yawning wildly and feeling her eyelids droop closed.

Without asking permission, Elly swung her arm down, sweeping under Chloe's legs and picking her up. Elly smiled gently as Chloe didn't fight her and instead wrapped her arms around her neck. Leaving her guitar behind and the fire still burning gently, Elly held Chloe in her arms as she held the woman struggling to stay awake and began walking them away from the area, headed back to the tents for Chloe to get some sleep.

Ten minutes later, Elly had reached The Pack's area they had inhabited on Pierce's Island. She narrowed her eyes at the fact none of The Pack were lazing about the firepit they had created out there, like they usually did. Elly wondered if any of them had sensed or smelt someone new on the Island with them, hoping they had somehow known it was Chloe and not someone threatening them, and left them alone.

Whatever the case was, every member of The Pack had clearly gone to bed early. Elly carried Chloe over to the tent she shared with her daughter, Aster. Silently glad to see that Aster wasn't in bed and must still be with Raven for the evening. It's not that Elly didn't want to have Aster with her for the night, but the need to be alone with Chloe to find out why she'd come to the Island looking for her, was more important as was making sure Chloe got some sleep.

Walking into the tent, glad she'd been too lazy to zip it up last time she left it, Elly wandered straight over to her bed, Chloe still resting in her arms. Chloe wasn't asleep but she'd been fluttering her eyes open and closed the entire trip back to the tents. She kept mumbling something, repeating Elly's name, but it was like in her tired state, Chloe just couldn't get the words out that she was trying to say and even with her super hearing, Elly couldn't make out what she was trying to tell her.

Elly struggled for a moment as she held onto Chloe above her bed, and pulled the doona back, before slipping Chloe onto the bed, and wrapping the doona back over Chloe's body.

Running her fingers through Chloe's hair, fearing she had no right to, Elly paused when Chloe rolled back over to look at her, "Sorry, I didn't mean…you should sleep. We'll talk in the morning. I'll sleep in Aster's bed tonight."

Chloe managed to reach her hand out to caress Elly's cheek, "Don't…Elly, sleep here with me tonight. I came here for you. I'm so sorry I chose to stay with Pierce. It should've been…"

"Shush, Chlo, all that can wait 'til the morning. You're tired, you need sleep," Elly reiterated, unable to bring herself to wonder if Chloe really wanted them to sleep in the same bed.

Watching Elly stand back up, Chloe reached out for her hand, "Stay with me."

Elly sighed, unable to get her hopes up that Chloe had come all this way, wanting to be with her, "Chlo…"

"I'll sleep better with you by my side," Chloe whispered, pouting her lips gently.

Elly couldn't help but show a reluctance in her silent agreement, her heart too broken to want to give into the slightest hope that Chloe wanted them to be together, despite knowing with everything in her heart that they were meant to be together.

Chloe can't just show up like this after months…I know she wants to explain things to me but is too tired yet after everything…can Chloe just turn up here months after tearing my heart into a million pieces and just…expect me to sleep with her…? Who are you kidding? You can't resist this…Chloe's your mate! We need each other…no matter what!

Elly pulled back the doona once more, slipped silently under the covers. Elly's lips curled into a sly smile when Chloe reached out to wrap her arm around her waist and pull her towards her so she was spooning Chloe from behind.

"Elly, I'm sorry," Chloe whispered.

Elly pressed her lips to Chloe's shoulder, "Sleep…we'll talk when you're not tired."

"I have so much to say…Elly, our ba-" Chloe screwed up her eyes when she couldn't halt the yawn that interrupted what she was trying to say.

When Elly didn't respond, Chloe realized she wasn't the only one tired as Elly had fallen asleep before she even had any chance to explain why she returned to her, despite knowing sleepily admitting the baby was Elly's, was not the best way to announce it to the woman she loved.

Before long, Chloe had fallen asleep too, feeling more loved and safer in Elly's arms then she ever did anywhere near Pierce's.

Hours later, when the sun had risen in the sky, Chloe's eyes fluttered open. It took her several seconds of panicking that she wasn't where she always was when she woke up. She wasn't in her bedroom, she wasn't in her bed, she didn't have Pierce's arm wrapped around her waist or his abs firmly against her back.

Instead, Chloe could feel a mess of hair against her neck and shoulders, a softer hand at her waist and a much gentler and curved body leaning into her back.

Elly…I came to the Island to tell Elly I love her and I'm having our baby…but fell asleep with Elly before I could explain…I've never felt safer and more protected in my life lying here with Elly and…and…

Chloe suddenly realized that Elly curled up against her, snuggling into her back and her neck, wasn't all that was making her feel like she'd had the best night's sleep of her life.

Chloe's eyes opened gently as she looked at the small body whom she herself was wrapped around.

"Aster?" Chloe whispered quietly in surprise at finding the youngster, lying on top of the doona, curled up in front of her, with her own right arm lying over the little girl's waist.

Chloe nearly jumped when Elly whispered behind her, not having known that Elly was awake, "I think Aster crawled onto the bed with us about an hour or so ago after spending the night in Raven's tent. Is this okay…that she's curled up in your arms? This single bed really isn't big enough for the three of us…"

Chloe tilted her head to look back at Elly, then down at Aster sleeping peacefully, before glancing back at Elly, "This is perfect…it's all I ever wanted. We can make the single bed work for us…we'll just have to sleep tightly together."

Elly was confused, not wanting to get ahead of herself that Chloe was talking about the three of them been curled up in the bed for any other future night, that she didn't just mean until her daughter awoke, because Chloe would have to return home and leave them, "We should wake Aster…I really didn't want her to find out you were here until we'd…"

Chloe shook her head, finding herself holding onto Aster even tighter, "Don't wake her, I love Aster sleeping here with us. I love been in the middle of you two…it feels like what I've always been searching for. But I get it…I'd wished we'd talked before Aster found us together…"

"Because finding us in bed together…might get her hopes up?" Elly gently asked, not wanting to admit it was her own hopes that she was afraid of being crushed if all Chloe had come out to the Island for was to prove that she'd tracked Elly down.

Chloe chewed on her lip before nodding, "We should talk…"

Elly leant up on her elbow, above Chloe, unable to stop herself from smiling at the sight of Aster curled up in Chloe's arms, before clearing her throat as her fears of what Chloe could possibly say that would result in them being torn apart once more.

Chloe watched the look of fear come across Elly's face, reluctantly removing her hand from Aster's waist and instead slipping it up to Elly's cheek, caressing it gently, before leaning up softly and kissing Elly.

Elly blushed as they broke apart once more, "Should we…ask one of the girls' to look after Aster and go…talk?"

Feeling that Aster was sound asleep lying next to her and not wanting to waste any more time in case they got side tracked again, Chloe blurted out, "I made a mistake not choosing you, Elly. Please forgive me. It's you I need to be with…and Aster. I need you both. I love you, Elly, I came here because I want you to know all that and that I will do everything for the rest of my life to prove to you that you are not my second choice behind Pierce…you're my only choice…I just took far too long to admit it to myself and know that I needed to do everything to find you to tell you all this…that if you can give me a chance, I'll never not choose you again. I love you…"

"I know," Elly whispered simply in reply, deciding that overcomplicating things with Chloe wasn't necessary when she was her mate and she knew they were to be together, no matter what, forgiveness was easy if it meant they could have their entire future together beginning now, "I love you, too."

Chloe was a little taken aback by how simply Elly had taken her words, then smiling as she remembered the baby she was carrying and needed to tell Elly about, "Elly, there's something else I need to tell you. I know how this will look that it's the reason why I came to find you to choose to be with you...and the truth is...it is...it shouldn't be...it should be because I was brave enough to finally admit that I still love you as much as I always have and I will prove that to you every day I can...Elly...my baby..."

Elly stroked her hand through Chloe's hair, thinking she knew what Chloe was about to say, "I know you're still pregnant, Chlo..." then off Chloe's surprised expression, "I can hear the baby's heart beating. It's strong, I think when you stepped on that branch last night and snapped me from my...the baby's heart beats were the first thing I heard. I know you're having the baby...and I know I said this the night you told me about your pregnancy but I still mean every word. I will raise this baby with you. I don't care whom this baby is biologically related to. I want this...you, me, Aster, the baby...the four of us...our family. I'll love this child just as strongly as I love Aster."

Chloe couldn't help but fall more in love with Elly in that moment, that she was still willing to put aside any feelings for Pierce for the sake of the baby, even though she didn't need to.

Smiling up at Elly, Chloe proudly told the woman holding her in her arms, "You are going to love this child as strongly as you love Aster...Elly, this baby isn't Pierce's...this baby is yours...we made this baby together when we made love to one another...you're the baby's Mum!"

Chloe immediately looked down at her stomach before glancing back up, about to lean up and kiss Elly passionately to celebrate their baby together but instead frowned when Elly wasn't lying next to her and she heard the crashing sound of a painful bump, "Elly?"

Next time - how does Elly react to the news of Chelly baby?