Elizabeth took a sharp breath as the steaming hot water touched her skin. Her arms trembled a little as she held herself up in a semi crouch, letting the water cover her feet, calves and part of her thighs. As her skin adjusted, she thought she heard a pause in the movement outside and, as she carefully and slowly lowered herself into the bath, she thought of Dwayne. He was out there, he was with her. He had taken her home, held her tight in his arms and asked nothing of her. She could hear him puttering around and she knew that she could hear him only because he wanted her to. He wanted her to know that he was there, that he was doing all the little tasks she should have done; putting the memo pad and pen back in their rightful place, tucking the chair back into the table, putting her sneakers in their usual spot.
Simple actions, easy tasks but ones that she simply didn't have the energy for.
His actions, the fact that he helped her without even speaking a word told her everything she needed to know. He would always be there for her, no matter what. Through thick and thin, he was hers.
She took a breath and tried not to think of Michael, of the things she had learned from both Star and the boys.
As the almost painfully hot water covered her body, she grimaced for a moment as she tried to settle herself. The bath wasn't scalding but it was hot, hot enough to sting her more than just a little. She knew that she would be leaving the bath with red skin, looking like a lobster or the victim of a very vigorous scrubbing but in that moment, it was fine.
The heat was cleansing and reviving.
Cleansing was good, reviving was good.
She took a deep breath and laid back, feeling the hair at the base of her neck dampen despite the high bun she had scooped the majority of it up in.
Breathing, she splashed some water over her face, too.
She felt both mentally and physically horrible but that was apt because the whole night had been horrible.
God, the whole day.
Not only had she found out that her brother had been attacked and all but bullied by the man and the pack she loved but she had found out that he was involved with a woman who could be described as unstable at best. Her brother's life had been upended and she was completely unaware, completely ignorant to it all. She was in her world, her happy and blissful world with Dwayne. Star was a victim, a half vampire who wanted nothing more than to be mortal yet denied the help and support of the pack. They had made a deal, agreed to trade Elizabeth for her brother and Dwayne hadn't thought to mention it.
Was her brother that insignificant to him? Did he care so little? Did he simply not think? Not see the severity of it all?
She didn't know...and she found that beneath it all, beneath the surprise and the hurt and the fear...she didn't care about the details.
She had her answer, she knew the truth, she knew that she loved him...but she didn't know how to proceed.
It was an intense feeling of shock, upset and guilt.
Marko had asked for time and she had acquiesced but could she?
Really?
Was she just going to leave it? To wait a few months until the pack acted on a plan she had not wanted to know about? It felt like she was betraying her brother and-
"-shit" she whispered, shaking her head.
She hated that word.
In her anger, that word had been rotating around and around in her head...except it wasn't her head, it wasn't her anger, it wasn't her word.
It had been a violating experience.
Painful, jarring...both because of Star and the things she had learned about the pack and yet here she was.
She was going to forgive.
She knew it, there was nothing else for her to do.
She loved Dwayne. She needed him.
The guilt was crushing but even worse than that was knowing that she had hurt her friends. When she was herself, when her head was clear and she was safe, protected and getting answers, unpleasant though they were...she had hurt Marko, really hurt Paul.
She could excuse the insults and threats, the screams she had thrown because it wasn't her that had uttered them. Even after the barrage of hurtful words she had screamed, the attempted slaps and fury, the boys still protected her and looked after her because they knew, just as well as she did, that it wasn't her.
They said they were monsters and she really believed that they were but there was no way there wasn't good in them, too.
That's what made her feeling of guilt even more palpable. Knowing she had played a part in Michael's horror but knowing she was going to chose the ones that had hurt him, hating that she in turn had hurt them. She hadn't wanted that, she hadn't wanted to upset Paul...but she didn't deserve to be upset in the first place, nor did her brother.
So many secrets.
It was a horrible, conflicting feeling.
She was upset with the pack but she was upset with herself, too.
She felt like she had been let down but that she had let everyone down, too.
A tap on the bathroom door broke her from her thoughts and she frowned, craning her neck backwards, "...come in?"
What else could she say to such a formal request for entry?
She didn't like that he had knocked.
He was always welcome in her home, wherever she was. He had seen her without clothes more times than she cared to try and count, he had bathed with her...the knock just felt weird. He knew she was just in the bath, that she wasn't using to toilet or doing anything she would be embarrassed to share with him.
She watched as Dwayne stepped inside the steamy room, closing the door behind him.
Mostly submerged in the hot water as she was, the small draft from the briefly open door felt even colder than usual and when she spotted the clean clothes he was holding in his hand, she was grateful. She wouldn't have to dry off in the relative warmth of the bathroom and then emerge into the cold and drafty house, scuttle up to her room and change.
He had thought of her comfort and yet again, that just made her feel worse.
There was no denying there was good in him, in them all.
"Thank you" she whispered, not knowing what else she should say to him.
He nodded and she watched as he put the folded clothes on top of the stack of towels and took a seat on the closed lid of the toilet, silent and tense.
He looked so awkward and uncomfortable and it was so difficult for her to reconcile the two images. Dwayne as a monster, as a brutal man who enjoyed taunting and playing with people...one of those people being her own brother...versus the Dwayne she knew, the silent, strong and stoic man who could be so vulnerable, too.
The man that loved her, the man that cared for her.
The man that she loved.
"I...I trusted Marko before...when he told me about the um...the nature of the pack" she whispered, feeling foul but needing to break the silence between them, "I just...I love you..more than anything, I do and-"
"-and now you know the truth about it?"
She nodded.
What else was there to say? He was right, of course. Now she really did know the truth.
Vampire laws, territories, enjoying torment, hurting her own brother, the need for blood that could crush a half.
She didn't know what to say and so she murmured, "..he's my brother, Dwayne.."
"If I could go back-"
"-you wouldn't do it?"
He nodded.
It seemed that was all he could do.
His face was hard and set but there was something in his eyes, too. A desperate sadness, a fear that she could tell he was trying to hide.
"I know but..you wouldn't do it because of me..not because of him, not because what you did wasn't nice.."
Nice was an understatement but she wasn't trying to fight. She wasn't trying to argue, she just wanted to talk it through. She was tired, she was aching. She felt guilty, torn. It had been a long night and there was no point in laboring the point. It was the same with Paul. He was sorry for what he'd done only because it had hurt her.
Dwayne nodded silently and she found that he wasn't looking at her.
He was staring, his jaw hard, at the silent faucet near her feet.
She wondered if he would have been able to hide the pain in his eyes if he was speaking with someone else. Could she see it so clearly because he was her mate?
She thought so.
"I feel really horrible about this, Dwayne.." she whispered and when he said nothing, she carried on, "Star..that was so..so sudden. It felt like my world..my everything with you was just imploding but I was...I was going to be reasonable, you know? I wasn't going to..to lose it, to panic. I didn't want it to be like that night..I was upset but I was going to be strong about it but in the end..Star took that away from me. It was so violating..."
His eyes flashed to her, so filled with pain and she closed her own, continuing.
She had to speak.
She had to share her thoughts, she had to get it all off her chest.
"From the start Marko was like..'hey, we're brutal you kinda got to get on board with this' and I was fine with it because I love you. I do, with all my heart there is..there is no doubt that I love you, that we're meant to be together and I knew that I would accept you no matter what. If you had a dark side, a brutal side, a monstrous side...I would accept it..but..Michael is my brother-"
"Elizabeth-"
"-and he's in a bad spot right now and that's because of you guys and also because of me. You wanted me, Star wanted out and-"
"-please-"
"-no wait, please...I need to..I need to say this.." she looked at him and this time there was no hiding the look of pain and almost panic on his face, "I hate that we're in this bathroom again, having a conversation like this again and I hate that you hurt my brother. It...it breaks my heart. Michael was..he's been..he's an amazing man, he really is. I can't tell you how good he's always been to me, all the things he's done for me..and he's been sucked into something that's just..God, it's so fucked up-"
The look in Dwayne's eyes was unbearable and Elizabeth's voice broke when she said, "-and I feel so guilty that I'm choosing you"
"What?"
His voice was hard and thick and all she could do was nod.
"Even knowing what happened to Michael, knowing that I should put him above everything...I can't. It's you, it's always you and I feel guilty because I don't feel guilty. Not at all, you're my everything..even knowing what I know and-"
"-I thought-"
"-don't, don't say it" she interrupted, shaking her head.
She could only guess as to where he thought the conversation was going and it added another layer of guilt to her already frazzled feelings. The hurt on his face said it all and she shook her head again, "don't ever even think that...I love you, OK? Everything else aside, no matter what. I love you.."
He nodded, his jaw twitching. She had never seen him look so torn, his eyes were like a stormy sea, his eyebrows furrowed.
He made no move to speak and she wondered if he could speak.
"..are you OK?" she asked him meekly and he turned his head to the side.
"I thought..."
"Dwayne" she shook her head, heart beating.
She hadn't intended to make it sound like she was vocalizing a Dear John letter. She would never leave him, she could never leave him. She had spoken her thoughts honestly and openly, speaking them as they came to her head. She thought she was being careful and thoughtful but apparently not.
He kept his face away from her, saying nothing.
It was as if he was hiding himself from her and, alarmed, she made to stand up. As the soft chill of the room met her skin and she moved to step out of the bath, he almost shouted at her.
His reaction was an immediate and worried bark of, "don't!"
"But-" she began, confused and he looked at her with hard concern splashed over his face, "-it's cold, sit down. Don't get sick because of me"
"But you're upset?" she protested, taken aback and shocked by his reaction.
She had always thought of him as strong and stoic and completely unflappable. Even hearing the story of his past, remembering the way he had looked after her when she found out what he was. Those times it was clear that he was hurting but he was strong, too.
Strong and indomitable and completely in control but now?
He was none of those things.
He looked torn, he looked upset, he looked worried.
Everything he was feeling was there, clear on his face.
It was unsettling to see and she forgot about her own feelings, her own turmoil.
In that moment, seeing him visibly cut up took the wind clean from her sails and it was all she could think about.
"Dwayne?"
"Sit down" he commanded and she did as she was told, the hot water warming her once again.
There was no room for argument in his voice.
He stood, fluid and graceful and came to sit on the tiled floor, facing her. She knew that he had only moved to her in an effort to make sure she remained in the water and she watched him with furrowed brows.
He was tall, still, despite her being in the raised tub.
"You look so...Dwayne, please pass me a towel. This is-I didn't..I want to get out, I want to help you-"
"-help me? I don't deserve you're help, Elizabeth. After everything you've learned tonight-"
"-I still love you and want to see you be not upset? Yes, of course" she interrupted, hearing the disbelief in his voice. She had never once thought that he would be so affected by what had happened, "please pass me a towel"
"I thought you were going to leave"
"Dwayne" she whispered, shaking her head, "I was-"
She fell silent when he held up his hand, a deeper frown cutting into his features, "-your grandfather is here"
"What? No, he's at his girlfriend's house-"
But there no was nothing else to say.
There was a loud thudding from the stairs and she stared in concern at Dwayne.
Grandpa was supposed to be with the Widow, he wasn't supposed to come home.
She couldn't imagine a worse interruption, nor a worse time to interrupt.
The fact that he had made it through the front door and towards the stairs before Dwayne noticed his presence told her that her mate wasn't his usual self.
She loved her Grandfather but she'd never wanted him to disappear more than now.
"Lizzie? That you?"
"Yeah. Uh, yeah I'm in here" she called out, trying to keep her voice neutral and usual.
"Little late for a bath, eh kid?"
"It's cold tonight" she replied, raising her voice a little to be sure he could hear, "I couldn't sleep...the wind picked up, too"
It hadn't, not really but her lie was so lame, she wasn't sure he would fall for it. She just wanted to pad it out a little.
"You want an extra blanket? Attic isn't so well insulated, huh?"
"I'll be fine, thank you. Um, aren't you supposed to be with The Widow?"
She glanced at Dwayne and found that he was still sat rigidly and silent.
She was worried about him.
"Yeah yeah, I'm just popping back. Forgot something 'sall. Came to pick it up"
"What did you forget?" she asked, not wanting to engage in conversation but kind of morbidly curious.
Her eyes flickered back to Dwayne.
The old man was right, it was kind of late. What on earth could he have forgotten that he needed to pick up so badly? It was about time for people to be heading to bed, yet here he was, having driven all the way home to pick something up?
"Never you mind that" the old man said, his voice further away.
She heard the door to his room open and she looked to Dwayne in confusion.
Her mate simply shook his head and asked lowly, "he's your Grandpa, right?"
"Yeah" she whispered, "what did he forget?"
"He's got a girlfriend?"
Elizabeth nodded, noting that Dwayne's tone was still flat.
Grandpa's interruption hadn't given him pause from his feelings.
She heard the old man's room shut and she thought she could hear the rustle of a bag, but she wasn't positive.
"You sure about that blanket, kid? There're tons in the closet, I can pick one out for you?"
"I'm fine, thank you. The bath's doing its job"
"Hot water bottle?"
"I'm OK"
"Alrighty. Well, the storm should hit tomorrow, things'll warm up again"
"I hope so" she glanced at Dwayne, "be safe, Grandpa"
"Always am" he replied through the door.
True to his word, he had left as quickly as he arrived.
Popping in, indeed.
"Did he leave?"
Dwayne nodded.
That was such a surreal interruption, she blinked and shook her head.
"What did he pick up? Do you know?"
"It's late at night and he raced home to pick something up" he told her, face and voice flat.
"Yeah, I know that. What?"
"He raced home, late at night to pick something up and bring to his girlfriend's house"
"But what?"
Dwayne shook his head, "I don't think you want to know"
She paused for a second before revulsion dawned over her face, "ew? Is it something sexy?"
Dwayne nodded.
"Ew!"
She froze in the tub and pressed her hands into her face.
Could the day get any worse?
"I want this day to end already"
Dwayne said nothing and she grimaced, looking at him.
He didn't react and she took a breath, "...you're not as disgusted by this as I am?"
Dwayne simply shrugged.
"He's my Grandpa" she replied cringing, knowing that when everything had settled down she would find her mind flicking back to what he could have possibly come to pick up, "it's like God sent him here to try and distract me from everything that happened today..."
He didn't reply and she splashed some more water onto her face.
"Dwayne? Please. Please, can we talk about it?"
"Your Grandfather?"
She shook her head.
"No. I don't-he's ancient. I meant us. You. Please-"
"-it's nothing" he said, his voice low and hard, "I don't want you to focus on me, you have to work through your feelings. I'm sorry"
"Don't say sorry but-"
"-please, just give me a few minutes. I'm not trying to gaslight you, I just need..I just need a minute"
He was speaking so formally, so rigidly.
It must have been taking all of his power to keep his own feelings hidden. Here she was, heart on her sleeve, open and honest and there he was...hiding.
"I don't know what that means?" she said, watching him with a frown. Not knowing what the heck he was talking about aside, they were a couple. He was entitled to have feelings too and she wanted to help him. Wasn't that what people in relationships did? She was hurt, she was feeling guilty, she did have to work through her feelings but why couldn't he?
"What?"
"Gaslight?" she shrugged and pointed at the ceiling, "we use electric here?"
He exhaled a laugh, snorting a little in disbelief at her words and for a moment his face brightened. Just for the briefest, smallest of moments but the difference it made was wonderful. She must have said something really stupid to get such an honest reaction and as his face fell back into stormy seriousness, he looked at her.
"It's from a movie"
"Oh" she shrugged, "the last movie I saw was The Goonies but Sammy sneezed on my popcorn, so I don't have good memories of it. I mean, the movie was great but the experience wasn't...what movie are you talking about?"
"It's from the forties"
"Oh" she repeated.
Sometimes it was easy to forget that he was old, "are you going to tell me what it means?"
He said nothing for a moment and she wondered if she should have waited, if she should have given him the few minutes of silence that he had asked for.
"It's manipulation. Making the victim doubt themselves, doubt their feelings or emotions or doubt even what they know to be true"
"I don't understand?"
Dwayne frowned for a moment before saying, "it's a form of mental abuse-"
"-no, no I understand the term now, you explained it fine but why are you talking about it? That's what I don't get..."
"I'm trying to...I don't want you to concern yourself with me. I'm not trying to detract from your feelings, Elizabeth. This is about you, this is about you coming to terms with everything you've learned. I don't want you to focus on me-"
She scoffed at him, shaking her head, "-well I do"
"Elizabeth-"
"-Dwayne!" she interrupted, sitting back in the tub.
As some water splashed upwards, threatening to slosh over the edge, she shook her head.
Star had tried to control her feelings and now Dwayne was trying to tell her how to feel, too. She knew it was different, that he was doing it out of love but she was tired.
She was tired of everything.
She was tired of feeling foul, she was tired of not being in control of herself.
She was tired of feeling weak, of feeling guilty, of needing to be protected and comforted.
"You're my mate! I'm skeeved out about my Grandpa. I'm hurt and I'm sad and I feel a billion different layers of guilt about my brother but none of those feelings are exclusively mine" she looked at him, "and your role in this relationship isn't to just listen and help. Yes or no, am I your mate?"
"Elizabeth-"
"-yes or no?"
"Yes"
"Yes! Exactly. Yes or no, are you my mate?"
He blinked at her, "of course"
"Why 'of course'?"
For a moment there was silence and when Dwayne spoke, his voice was hard but there was a resigned, soft element to it, too, "because being a mate isn't a one way thing"
"Meaning?" she pushed, her voice stern.
For a second, his lips quipped upwards, "meaning I feel the same way about you as you feel about me. We both need each other, we're both destined to be together"
"So we're a team?"
"That's a simple way of looking at it"
"Simple but on the ball, right?"
"I've never heard you reference sports like this before"
"Dwayne"
"Yes"
She nodded at him, finally feeling in control of herself for the first time that day, "thank you. So don't forget that, alright? We support each other and from now on that's how it's going to be, OK?"
"OK"
"No secrets. No, no hidden feelings. No smothering how you feel, no putting me over you"
"I'll always put you first"
She paused.
She didn't doubt that.
"...stop putting yourself last"
He nodded and she took a breath, trying to relax her shoulders.
She hadn't shouted but she had been stern and she wasn't sure what to do next.
What else was there to say?
As the minutes ticked by, she shook her head and looked over at him.
He was still sat on the floor but the tension he was carrying had left him and she gave him a small, half smile. It wasn't much but she could do no more, "would you like to talk about it?"
"No, not now. You?"
She felt horribly guilty for choosing Dwayne and the pack despite knowing what they had done to Michael. She felt guilty because she didn't feel guilty, not really. It felt like an easy choice and that's what made her feel bad. She was hurt that Dwayne hadn't told her about it, hurt that he had known Star was a half vampire but had allowed Michael to get sucked into a life with her. She was disgusted with herself because she had been so easily influenced by Star, attacking the pack she loved but forgetting her brother, too. She was hurt that David had embraced Star and allowed her into the pack but was keeping her at arms length. She was sad that she had missed the mark so much and had hurt Paul. She was still kind of grossed out that her Grandfather was engaging in what she could only imagine to be sexual deviancies with his widow and she was so damn tired.
"You'll make it right with Michael?"
He nodded.
"If...if he needs help sooner than you planned to um...intervene...you'll help him?"
"Yes"
"And you'll stay away from my family?"
"I've had no contact with them, nor will I"
She looked down, feeling bad for asking, "sorry...I didn't...sorry"
She hadn't meant to insinuate that he would go after her family. She didn't know why she'd even said it.
"It's been a long day for you"
"Yeah" she laughed bitterly, "but not a walk in the park for you, either"
He didn't reply and she tugged at the plug with her toes.
As the water gurgled for a second, she frowned at it, waiting for the little whirlpool to appear.
"Dwayne...one thing...why did you agree to do the switch? Star gets Michael, you get me.."
"Because I was afraid"
Shocked by the honest and blunt reaction, she turned to stare at him.
"What?"
He shrugged, "I didn't know how to make myself known to you. I needed you, Star presented the idea and we knew it would work. It was easy to agree to. What's more natural than an introduction through your brother?"
"You didn't think to just introduce yourself?"
"I could never come up to you alone"
"Why not?"
She couldn't understand it.
The water had receded to just below her breasts and she watched him.
"I didn't know if I could. Just your scent, Elizabeth. You had visited the boardwalk once by the time we began to formulate a plan and it was..it was everywhere. I could smell you and feel you and taste you and you had only been there once. I couldn't approach you alone. I didn't trust myself"
He sounded almost ashamed and she found herself looking at his chest instead of his eyes.
"I was weak. I needed the support of the pack-"
"-then you could have introduced yourself as a group" she interrupted, the idea springing into her head. Michael wouldn't have had to be involved at all, they could have come to her as a bunch of friends and-
"-you would never have been alright with that"
His voice was firm and she closed her mouth.
He was right.
If four random, handsome and totally wild looking men had come to her...she would have run a mile.
"Do you remember speaking with Marko?"
"...yes" she said cautiously.
"How did you feel?"
"..fine.." she shifted in the tub as the lowering water exposed her hips, "but..yeah, I didn't..he was too cute to be talking to me. It felt weird..nice but not quite right"
"That's when I knew it would be impossible to just approach you"
"But why?"
"When we approach women, they want us. They're drawn to us"
"Alright?"
"You weren't attracted to Marko at all"
"You're my mate"
"But you didn't know it"
"...OK?"
"Your reaction wasn't normal for us. I had no idea what your reaction to me would be, I couldn't even fathom a guess and that scared me. I couldn't control your or begin to know what you would do, how could I control myself?"
"What do you mean control me?"
"What?"
"...you said you couldn't control me. What..."
"We know how mortals react and you didn't-"
"-what's that go to do with control?"
Dwayne looked away and when he spoke his voice was low, "you didn't react to a lure in the correct way"
"What?"
They had used a lure on her?
She had no idea, none at all.
"I'm sorry. I was desperate"
"When-what?"
"That night, with Marko. It was nothing nefarious, I swear to you. We just wanted you to meet us, I wanted to see you and to just be near you. I needed you"
"It didn't..it didn't work?"
She felt a little numb.
To think that a lure had been used on her?
"No. Marko said that you were fighting it and then a bell rang right beside you both and it broke. The lure broke and he couldn't get you under again"
"So..so you did try to get me-"
"-not get you, never" he looked at her, his voice imploring "it was never like that. I only ever wanted an introduction, I just wanted to meet you, never hurt you, never trap you. It sounds bad but I swear-"
"-it's OK..."
The water gurgled, giving one last belching glug before the tub emptied itself and Elizabeth swallowed.
"Please, Elizabeth it's not OK, I understand how you feel right now-"
"-but I don't understand anything about you...about how you feel"
"This isn't about me"
"It is" she whispered, shaking her head.
The whole night had been about her. Everything had been about her.
It had been a darkly edifying night.
Star was a half. Her brother had been involved with the pack. She herself had been on the wrong end of a lure. The boys were dark, they enjoyed playing and toying with people.
And Dwayne?
There was a whole side to him that she had never considered.
She had learned so much but he remained a mystery.
She was trying to understand. He had said it was hard for him, he was desperate, that he could smell her, that he didn't know if he could control himself.
Was that why they had acted the way they had?
Had they really gone for her brother in an attempt to soften the challenges Dwayne was facing?
Could it really have been so terrible for him?
She was a mate, too but her experience had been totally different.
She was trying but she couldn't understand it.
She could understand his words, she could understand the words he was speaking but nothing more.
"...Dwayne?"
His eyes were dark.
"..Dwayne, I want to understand. I need to understand"
She needed the night to come to an end. She needed clarity, complete and total understanding.
"I've told you everything"
Still, she could never understand.
This time she knew that words alone wouldn't be enough.
"Marko said that you can show me"
She spoke quietly and he stood, reaching for a towel before stopping in his tracks.
"He said something about seeing memories during sleep. Could you show me? Everything?"
"I can"
The reluctance and hesitance in his voice broke her heart.
"Will you?"
Holding out the towel to her, he nodded.
"If that's what you want"
She took the offered towel and stood, wrapping it around herself, "it's not that I don't trust you but..everything Star said was new to me. Everything you've said is new to me and I want...Dwayne, I want to be in control of myself and my feelings. I want a clear head, I need to have..I need to know" she whispered, "I understand the words you've spoken and I trust you but they're just words...I want to know. Please.."
"I'll show you"
"..how?"
"When you sleep" he didn't look at her.
"How does it work?"
"I share my memories with you" he murmured.
"I just fall asleep like usual?"
He nodded.
"Will I remember when I wake up?"
He nodded again.
He reached out and used some of the towel to dry the damp skin of her chest. It was a nervous gesture and she looked up at him, "will you stay with me?"
"For as long as I can"
He sounded resigned but the fear was there in his eyes.
"Dwayne, it won't change anything. I've chosen you. I just want to see it all.." she stepped towards him and he automatically opened his arms to her, "it's me, OK? I'm taking control, that's all this is. I swear. I love you. Nothing I see would change that. I..I've listened to Star, I've listened to Marko and I've listened to you. I trust you. I just need to see"
She looked up at him, "nothing changes"
"I'm afraid everything will change" he murmured, kissing her head.
This time, there was no disguising the fear in his voice.
A/N: Happy New Year to everyone. I hope 2019 was wonderful and that 2020 is even better! Thank you all so, so much for staying with me! The reviews are, as always, beyond appreciated.
MissRuthless, you're right - things are certainly coming to a head and building to something big but I think the end itself is still a little way off! I've got a lot more writing in me haha. MrsTallBlondeandDead...you may just get your Dwayne's POV wish! I wanted Elizabeth to no longer be a victim and I hope her way of taking control works out for her. Poor Dwayne. He's far more vulnerable than he lets on.
Happy holidays to all!