Once again, it's been a long, long time. Sorry! I've been reading too much instead of writing! Thanks to Aglaia di Willow, Vampyric, God'sgurl, Natli, HannahluvsB2D, and Cat2000 for reviewing. The next chapter will be up very, very soon! I promise!
6. Spotted
After 6 hours of waiting Mary-Lynette was glad to finally see a doctor. They had quickly patched her up and given her pain relief when she had first arrived, but several ambulances had arrived soon after her, and understandably, the doctors and nurses had mostly vanished to take care of the people who were in more need than her. They told her to wait until someone came to put in stitches on the deeper cuts on her hand.
Ash had been good company, telling her stories of himself and his sisters when they were small, and making silly jokes. It had kept her mind off her hand at least, but 6 hours was a long time to wait.
The doctor who came to do her stitches was a chatty young man, obviously fresh from med school. Despite that, his stitches were small, even and promised little in the way of scars.
As the doctor finished, he gave her a smile and warned her not to fall off couches anymore. "And you had better take good care of her," he said to Ash, who gave him a rueful smile.
"Right folks, just go back to the reception to the way out and you'll be free to go home to bed, even though the sun has risen now! You've had a tiring night." He stood up and pointed them back to the reception area.
Walking down a long corridor, a nurse bustled past them, his arms filled with papers. He gave them a momentary glance as they walked past had then stopped. So did Ash.
Mary-Lynette kept walking for a few more steps, not realising what had happened. Then she turned too, to see the look of hatred passing between Ash and the nurse.
The nurse spoke quietly, with an English accent. "You're nicked Ash. Everyone with the council knows about you now, and your father has offered an enticing reward for anyone who sees or finds you. You're mine." He grinned, showing his teeth, and his eyes flickered sliver.
"Tell my father he has to catch me first. And so do you." With that statement, he grabbed Mary-Lynette by her good arm and began to run.
"We need to get out of here, now," said Ash. "That guy wasn't an ordinary nurse. He's a night person, someone I used to hang out with in fact…" Dammit all! Ash thought to himself as they reached the reception. We came so close to everything here being perfect…
"Damn glass coffee tables…" muttered Mary-Lynette next to him.
Ash looked down at her with concern. "Are you going to be okay? You know that we're going to have to move again…"
"Is there no way we can stay?"
Ash sighed dejectedly. They had reached the pickup truck in the parking lot. He didn't want this anymore than Mary-Lynette did, but knew it was the only way for them to stay together. "I think we're going to be spending a lot of time in your truck-"
"Let's talk about this when we've got a bit more time on our hands," said Mary-Lynette practically. "We're going to have to leave the apartment aren't we?"
"Yes," said Ash as they drove away from the hospital. "But we're both too tired to go anywhere today. We'll find a hotel for the night and leave first thing tomorrow morning."
The drive back to the apartment was tense to say the least. Ash drove as quickly as he could without attracting any unwanted attention, but Mary-Lynette felt like she had spent most of the trip glancing over her shoulder, making sure that they weren't being followed.
"I guess that the only good thing is that we haven't really unpacked yet," said Ash as they went up the stairs to the apartment.
"Where are we going to go Ash? Just to another part of the city? Sure, it might not be so good for going to college, but-"
"Mare," Ash broke in, "we can't stay in LA. They know that we're here and they will search everywhere for us until they find us. The logical place for them to start would be the university. If you were to step foot on campus they would get you."
Mary-Lynette started at him in disbelief. "Are you saying that I can't go to university? That I'm going to have to give it all up?"
Ash looked at her woefully. "Yes. Unless…"
Mary-Lynette narrowed her eyes at him. "What."
"Well it's either give up that, or we don't see each other. Ever." Ash let out a sigh. It had cost him a lot to say that, but he had to give her the choice.
They had reached the door to their apartment
"No. I don't want to give you up again. University can wait another couple of years. It will still be there."
As brave as she was trying to be about being violently uprooted yet again, as well as being forced to give up her dreams, Mary-Lynette just couldn't hold the sobs back. Ash pulled her into a rough embrace and she cried into his shirt.
When she was done, she smiled at him ruefully. "Sorry. I think the last few weeks have been a bit too much. I don't usually lose it so badly."
Ash held her good hand as they went into the apartment. "I wish none of this had happened too. Why can't we just be left alone? Sometimes I feel like I completely wrecked your life." He looked away from her and his hand trembled slightly in hers.
"No. You most definitely haven't." She dropped his hand and turned him to face her. "You are by far the most wonderful, amazing thing to happen to me. No question."
"And you are the most wonderful, amazing, incredible thing to ever happen to me," said Ash, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. He still felt guilty though, no matter what she said to him.
Ash moved to start getting the bags out of their room. Poppy, James, can you come down here? Something has happened. "I thought we better let them know, they might have to move too."
Thirty seconds later they had their stuff piled in the hallway when James and Poppy arrived. "What's going on?" said Poppy, looking at Mary-Lynette with concern. "What happened to your arm?"
"I had a slight accident involving the coffee table. We had to go to the hospital…"
"…and we were spotted by Fredrick Blackreed. He'll have gone straight to my father with the news. And we left our address at the hospital so they could contact us for outpatients' services. My father will be able to trace us back."
"And even if we're gone, they might find you," added Mary-Lynette.
Poppy and James shared a look. "This has gone far enough. I think it's time for you guys to ask Thierry for help," said James.
"And we haven't been to Vegas for awhile either, so we'll come along until the dust settles," said Poppy. "In fact, I think we'll drive you, as you guys don't look too good."
James had already snapped out his mobile phone and was talking animatedly. "Yes! Again! We need to get them to you. Yes. Yes. Thank you Thierry. We'll see you soon." He clicked his phone shut and looked up at the others. "Thierry's going to send us an escort to meet us halfway. Meanwhile Poppy and I had better pack up some stuff. We'll meet you guys in the carpark." The two vampires dashed off up the stairs.
"Here we go again," said Ash.
A/N: Sorry about all the clichés, but hey, that's what you guys want really, isn't it? (Let me know if you would like to see a few less clichés…). Please review!
