~Disclaimer: I own none of them, I'm just playing with them, and I'll be returning them when I get through. I also stake no claim to any episodes that I use for the Flashbacks. They belong to the writers and FFC. I do however own Alex Wallace, his father and his secretary Connie, as well as anyone Scott knew when he was at home with his father.~
~There are also a few lines that I have taken from one of my other favorite shows, BTVS. I thought that Joss's words would fit better in this type of subtext. I am not changing the words in any way shape or form. They will also be returned when I'm done.~
"The eyes are the window to ones soul." ~Unknown.
Silance was shattered with a single cough. Even Peter was silant to hear Shelby talk about why she was here. "One sentence?" She repeated Auggie's request slowly, rolling the words over her tounge to see how they sounded. "One THOUSAND maybe." The walls of the lodge echoed with quiet laughter, as Alex suddenly realized he had missed so much in Shleby's life to the point where he didn't even know what they found so funny. All Shelby could offer him was a semi kind smile. "One sentence." She rapeated again. "I'm here because..." Her voice lifted slightly. "I'm here because......" The little stick rolled from one hand to the other as her thoughts progressed. "Because my heart couldn't handle what my mind had convinced my body to do." Auggie nodded knowingly, and her eyes scanned the rest of the room. When her eyes met Scott's, however, fear flashed in his eyes and he forced himself to break the connection their eyes made. Tears welled up in Shelby's eyes and she forced them back as long as she could. "Looks like it's not the only one." Her voice disapeared after the last word. The stick threaetened to slip from her grasp, and she threw it at Scott's head before she stodd and raced out the door. Scott stodd as soon as he was sure the stick wouldn't hit him and moved to follow her. His way was blocked, however, by Alex's tall form. He tried to move around him, only to remain blocked by the sheer size of Alex's broad shoulders.
A small man, Alex was not, but it wasn't his size that scared Scott more than the fact the Alex could definately use what he had against Scott. And Scott knew he would. Alex wasn't about to let him passed to get to Shelby. "I think you've already done enough." Alex gave him one solid push back, before turning and following Shleby out of the large wooden door. It boomed shut leaving them in silance.
The silance was deadly, as all eyes fell on Scott. Everyone was thinking the exact same thing. Scott really screwed up this time. There was no mistaking that he had a snowballs chance in Hell of getting Shelby to take him back. And this was BEFORE they found out the real truth. David still sat in his usual spot next to Jessica and the fire. "Well," he said simply. "That went well." He turned to Ezra. "Don't you think. Ezra went to nod and stopped because of the look on Scott's face.
White hot anger flashed in Scott's, and David hopes he could hold it sucessfully seeing as thought Peter was still in the room. "Step off Newbie." Scott turned to look at avid one more time. He was more angry at himselfthan anyone else in the room. The only reason he couldn't look her in the eye was because of the stupid act that he had committed. It had cost him her joy. He had taken so so much from her in the past few days. First with him showing up, and then again with his mistake with Britany, of course, Shelby didn't know about that one yet. The phone rang, shattering the silance.
Alex found Shelby crouched in the far end of the gazebo. The place where the light hid her features so he almost missed her. The thin lines on her face showed many tears, though she had calmed her sobs to where they were almost unaudible. If anyting happened to her, Alex held his breath. Scott would pay. "Shelby?" He asked calmly. He wasn't sure what to expect, he hadn't seen her like this in a very long time. Her small jerked, and her large blue eyes looked up at him. "Aw....Shell." Alex picked her up from her hiding spot and carried her over to one of the wooden benches. "He knows nothing about you. About the world, the streets. He catches footballs and sleeps with cheerleaders. You're better off without him."
"Am I?" Shelby removed her sweater to show a light blue blue tanktop and moved her arm so the moonlight reflected off the bandage. After knew what itwas right away. "Who am I? Am I that completely scared girl, waiting in her bed? Am I that runaway, that junkie, that whore? Am I this girl who climbs mountains? Maybe I'm nothing. I'm nothing but the fear." She ran her hands over her face and through her hair.
There was no correct answer to that question. There wasn't aeven a correct THOUGHT to that question. Then he remembered something Patty told him once. About Shelby's one little flaw. Her pride. "I know you think you can handle this. And you've gotten used to being on you're own." He took her chin in his hand and turned her face to look at his. "You've got you're tough loner act down pretty well. But even I can see you're killing yourself over this guy. He's not worht it Shells. You have to be stronger than this."
"Strong." Her voice came out louder than she expected it too. "You know nothing about my stregnth." She was telling half of the truth. Alex had gotten a good look at Shelby's stregnth the first night after Patty died. "You can only trust yourself. up here, I should have learned that by now...I should have remembered it."
The look on her face was tearing him apart. The bandage on her arm was meant to make her point, but it only made HIM feel more about her. No words could be spoken to try to ease her pain. He knew that he shouldn't even attempt it. "You don't have to pretend for me, Shelby. I'm not like them. You don'ot have to be scared of me learning about you. I know too much."
Shelby let out a short, startled laugh. "The only thing worse than a person trying to read you," she said off handedly. "Are the ones who get it right." They both had heard it many times, both knew where it came from.
"Well, Patty you're not." Alex started to say.
"I'm stronger then that." Shelby laughed to herself.
Alex looked out into the trees and noticed something moving. "Hey." He asked the trees loudly. Shelby thought she was crazy until Daisy stepped out into the light. Alex relaxed. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough to know you're right."
Shelby turned away from Alex. "What brings you out here?"
"Peter." Her voice was sterdy, as if mocking the fact the Peter would be worried about her. "He wanted to make sure you were okay. It was either me or Scott coming out and since Scott got a phone call..." She paused and watched the look on Shelby's face change from sorrow to anger. "And right now you're wondering who in their right mind would call our Scott Barringer while he's up here on this rock? Well her name would be Britany Woods. Ezra told me Scott told him about her on our way back from the cabin. According to Ezra, they got pretty 'close.' She's a cheerleader at his school. I know I know...Go figure." She paused and watch Shelby rise and head up to the lodge. Alex went to leave and Daisy grabbed his arm. "You want me to help you with her?" Alex nodded. "Okay, Lets say I help, and you start a conversation. It goes great. You like her, she likes you. You spend time togeather. Feelings grow deeper, and one day, without even realizing it, you find you're in love. Time stops and it feels like the whole world was created for you two and you two alone. Until one day one of you leaves and rips the still-beating heart from the other, who's now a hallow mockery of the human condition."
It only took a second for Alex to realize the she was helping him. "Yeah. That's pretty much the plan." Daisy nodded and all was fine. Until they heard the crash.
Both of them went running into the building. Shelby stood on the other side of Sophie, her hands trying to smooth out her hair. Scott was standing a few feet from the necklace box that had crashed into the table. No one else was remotely close to him. Auggie was standing next to the stairs, Juliet standing next to him on the first step. David and Ezra were sitting on either side of Jess next to the fire, and Peter was standing off to the side next to the piano. "Why didn't you talk to me?!" She said into her hands. Remaining calm wasn't one of her stronger points. "I knew, I knew you...ass hole! And you just stood there and told me everything was fine!" Alex took a step to her then stopped. "That's as bad as....as...."
"I know how it feels." Scott couldn't look her in the face. He was so ashamed, not of her, but of what he let himself do. "I remember." He knew that he had made a mistake the second the words escaped his lips. Her eyes told him.
"Oh, so what? This payback?" It took everything she had not to hit him. "I had this coming?"
"No, that's not-"
Becaus I thought the was behind us!" Shelby forced herself to take a step away from him. "And you know what happened back then with...I just doesn't compare! Not with what you and I have." She bowed her head and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Or had. And not with whatever you have been doing with HER." Sophie too a step closer to Peter, her eyes searching for a sign about what she was to do. Peter just stood there. What Shelby was going to say needed to be said. He put his hand on her shoulder to hold her back from anything drastic.
"I don't know what Britany and I did." Scott tried to explain to her. To them. He knew she wouldn't listen, but it still needed to be said. "You know when I'm wasted, it's like I'm gone and....." He wasn't sure what he was more ashamed of. What he did with Britney, or to admit that he fell when he was at home, and the temptation was too much for him. "Something else takes over."
"Shelby didn't want to listen to the rest of it. She'd heard enough. There was only one more question that her heart wanted to know. One more question for her head to ask. "But before that, when you were...just normal Scott. You had feelings for her, didn't you?" Scott didn't answer at first. "DIDN'T YOU?!"
"I might have sensed something, yes. But-"
"BUT! You wanted her!" Shelby threw the closest item to her at him. Scott thanked God that it was only one of the pillows from the couch. "You wanted her." Peter looked away for only a moment, and when he looked back, Shelby was on the floor. He didn't want to know how she got there. "Mo-More than you wanted me?" Only a select few heard Shelby's final words and her sobs became louder and she burst into tears. Daisy was at her side immediately, followed by Juliet. Auggie moved himself between Scott and Alex, knowing all too well what the older boy would do to the other. He prayed it would be enough.
*I'm gonna be mean and ask for 15 reviews again. Come on....You can do it. You can even make them short ones.
~There are also a few lines that I have taken from one of my other favorite shows, BTVS. I thought that Joss's words would fit better in this type of subtext. I am not changing the words in any way shape or form. They will also be returned when I'm done.~
"The eyes are the window to ones soul." ~Unknown.
Silance was shattered with a single cough. Even Peter was silant to hear Shelby talk about why she was here. "One sentence?" She repeated Auggie's request slowly, rolling the words over her tounge to see how they sounded. "One THOUSAND maybe." The walls of the lodge echoed with quiet laughter, as Alex suddenly realized he had missed so much in Shleby's life to the point where he didn't even know what they found so funny. All Shelby could offer him was a semi kind smile. "One sentence." She rapeated again. "I'm here because..." Her voice lifted slightly. "I'm here because......" The little stick rolled from one hand to the other as her thoughts progressed. "Because my heart couldn't handle what my mind had convinced my body to do." Auggie nodded knowingly, and her eyes scanned the rest of the room. When her eyes met Scott's, however, fear flashed in his eyes and he forced himself to break the connection their eyes made. Tears welled up in Shelby's eyes and she forced them back as long as she could. "Looks like it's not the only one." Her voice disapeared after the last word. The stick threaetened to slip from her grasp, and she threw it at Scott's head before she stodd and raced out the door. Scott stodd as soon as he was sure the stick wouldn't hit him and moved to follow her. His way was blocked, however, by Alex's tall form. He tried to move around him, only to remain blocked by the sheer size of Alex's broad shoulders.
A small man, Alex was not, but it wasn't his size that scared Scott more than the fact the Alex could definately use what he had against Scott. And Scott knew he would. Alex wasn't about to let him passed to get to Shelby. "I think you've already done enough." Alex gave him one solid push back, before turning and following Shleby out of the large wooden door. It boomed shut leaving them in silance.
The silance was deadly, as all eyes fell on Scott. Everyone was thinking the exact same thing. Scott really screwed up this time. There was no mistaking that he had a snowballs chance in Hell of getting Shelby to take him back. And this was BEFORE they found out the real truth. David still sat in his usual spot next to Jessica and the fire. "Well," he said simply. "That went well." He turned to Ezra. "Don't you think. Ezra went to nod and stopped because of the look on Scott's face.
White hot anger flashed in Scott's, and David hopes he could hold it sucessfully seeing as thought Peter was still in the room. "Step off Newbie." Scott turned to look at avid one more time. He was more angry at himselfthan anyone else in the room. The only reason he couldn't look her in the eye was because of the stupid act that he had committed. It had cost him her joy. He had taken so so much from her in the past few days. First with him showing up, and then again with his mistake with Britany, of course, Shelby didn't know about that one yet. The phone rang, shattering the silance.
Alex found Shelby crouched in the far end of the gazebo. The place where the light hid her features so he almost missed her. The thin lines on her face showed many tears, though she had calmed her sobs to where they were almost unaudible. If anyting happened to her, Alex held his breath. Scott would pay. "Shelby?" He asked calmly. He wasn't sure what to expect, he hadn't seen her like this in a very long time. Her small jerked, and her large blue eyes looked up at him. "Aw....Shell." Alex picked her up from her hiding spot and carried her over to one of the wooden benches. "He knows nothing about you. About the world, the streets. He catches footballs and sleeps with cheerleaders. You're better off without him."
"Am I?" Shelby removed her sweater to show a light blue blue tanktop and moved her arm so the moonlight reflected off the bandage. After knew what itwas right away. "Who am I? Am I that completely scared girl, waiting in her bed? Am I that runaway, that junkie, that whore? Am I this girl who climbs mountains? Maybe I'm nothing. I'm nothing but the fear." She ran her hands over her face and through her hair.
There was no correct answer to that question. There wasn't aeven a correct THOUGHT to that question. Then he remembered something Patty told him once. About Shelby's one little flaw. Her pride. "I know you think you can handle this. And you've gotten used to being on you're own." He took her chin in his hand and turned her face to look at his. "You've got you're tough loner act down pretty well. But even I can see you're killing yourself over this guy. He's not worht it Shells. You have to be stronger than this."
"Strong." Her voice came out louder than she expected it too. "You know nothing about my stregnth." She was telling half of the truth. Alex had gotten a good look at Shelby's stregnth the first night after Patty died. "You can only trust yourself. up here, I should have learned that by now...I should have remembered it."
The look on her face was tearing him apart. The bandage on her arm was meant to make her point, but it only made HIM feel more about her. No words could be spoken to try to ease her pain. He knew that he shouldn't even attempt it. "You don't have to pretend for me, Shelby. I'm not like them. You don'ot have to be scared of me learning about you. I know too much."
Shelby let out a short, startled laugh. "The only thing worse than a person trying to read you," she said off handedly. "Are the ones who get it right." They both had heard it many times, both knew where it came from.
"Well, Patty you're not." Alex started to say.
"I'm stronger then that." Shelby laughed to herself.
Alex looked out into the trees and noticed something moving. "Hey." He asked the trees loudly. Shelby thought she was crazy until Daisy stepped out into the light. Alex relaxed. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough to know you're right."
Shelby turned away from Alex. "What brings you out here?"
"Peter." Her voice was sterdy, as if mocking the fact the Peter would be worried about her. "He wanted to make sure you were okay. It was either me or Scott coming out and since Scott got a phone call..." She paused and watched the look on Shelby's face change from sorrow to anger. "And right now you're wondering who in their right mind would call our Scott Barringer while he's up here on this rock? Well her name would be Britany Woods. Ezra told me Scott told him about her on our way back from the cabin. According to Ezra, they got pretty 'close.' She's a cheerleader at his school. I know I know...Go figure." She paused and watch Shelby rise and head up to the lodge. Alex went to leave and Daisy grabbed his arm. "You want me to help you with her?" Alex nodded. "Okay, Lets say I help, and you start a conversation. It goes great. You like her, she likes you. You spend time togeather. Feelings grow deeper, and one day, without even realizing it, you find you're in love. Time stops and it feels like the whole world was created for you two and you two alone. Until one day one of you leaves and rips the still-beating heart from the other, who's now a hallow mockery of the human condition."
It only took a second for Alex to realize the she was helping him. "Yeah. That's pretty much the plan." Daisy nodded and all was fine. Until they heard the crash.
Both of them went running into the building. Shelby stood on the other side of Sophie, her hands trying to smooth out her hair. Scott was standing a few feet from the necklace box that had crashed into the table. No one else was remotely close to him. Auggie was standing next to the stairs, Juliet standing next to him on the first step. David and Ezra were sitting on either side of Jess next to the fire, and Peter was standing off to the side next to the piano. "Why didn't you talk to me?!" She said into her hands. Remaining calm wasn't one of her stronger points. "I knew, I knew you...ass hole! And you just stood there and told me everything was fine!" Alex took a step to her then stopped. "That's as bad as....as...."
"I know how it feels." Scott couldn't look her in the face. He was so ashamed, not of her, but of what he let himself do. "I remember." He knew that he had made a mistake the second the words escaped his lips. Her eyes told him.
"Oh, so what? This payback?" It took everything she had not to hit him. "I had this coming?"
"No, that's not-"
Becaus I thought the was behind us!" Shelby forced herself to take a step away from him. "And you know what happened back then with...I just doesn't compare! Not with what you and I have." She bowed her head and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Or had. And not with whatever you have been doing with HER." Sophie too a step closer to Peter, her eyes searching for a sign about what she was to do. Peter just stood there. What Shelby was going to say needed to be said. He put his hand on her shoulder to hold her back from anything drastic.
"I don't know what Britany and I did." Scott tried to explain to her. To them. He knew she wouldn't listen, but it still needed to be said. "You know when I'm wasted, it's like I'm gone and....." He wasn't sure what he was more ashamed of. What he did with Britney, or to admit that he fell when he was at home, and the temptation was too much for him. "Something else takes over."
"Shelby didn't want to listen to the rest of it. She'd heard enough. There was only one more question that her heart wanted to know. One more question for her head to ask. "But before that, when you were...just normal Scott. You had feelings for her, didn't you?" Scott didn't answer at first. "DIDN'T YOU?!"
"I might have sensed something, yes. But-"
"BUT! You wanted her!" Shelby threw the closest item to her at him. Scott thanked God that it was only one of the pillows from the couch. "You wanted her." Peter looked away for only a moment, and when he looked back, Shelby was on the floor. He didn't want to know how she got there. "Mo-More than you wanted me?" Only a select few heard Shelby's final words and her sobs became louder and she burst into tears. Daisy was at her side immediately, followed by Juliet. Auggie moved himself between Scott and Alex, knowing all too well what the older boy would do to the other. He prayed it would be enough.
*I'm gonna be mean and ask for 15 reviews again. Come on....You can do it. You can even make them short ones.
