Wow, what a long hiatus. What was that, like four and a half months? Wow. Sorry Dx

Well, here's something - hopefully it'll get my creative juices a-flowing again. Enjoy!

P.S. oh my god you guys give me more reviews than I deserve I love you all

CHAPTER STATS

Word Count (excluding A/N): 1364

Date Updated: 4-15-12

Current Review Count: 623

Chelsea sighed through her nose, calming herself down. Vaughn was really mad and, as she watched him hang up the phone and try to regain his composure, she realized that he had every right to be. Over the last few seasons, Chelsea and he had steadily become better and better friends. Now they were—well, Chelsea wasn't really sure what they were—but they were close enough that he deserved to know that she was leaving.

She had just up and left without telling anyone. It hadn't occurred to her before, but Vaughn would have absolutely no idea where she was. Like he'd said, everyone might even think that she was dead. With her track record, it wouldn't be surprising.

But now that Vaughn had saved her, it put a new perspective on things. She wasn't completely alone anymore. She had Vaughn—and she wasn't sure she wanted to lose that, even if it meant she could be with her parents again.

Pursing her lips, Chelsea took a step closer to where Vaughn was near the phone. He looked at her, his face visibly weary. He looked like he hadn't gotten much more sleep than she had.

"I'm sorry," Chelsea said quietly, her voice tired. "I shouldn't have run away. It's just—when Daisy—"

"I know," Vaughn said, cutting her off. He was avoiding eye contact. "But you should've—hell, I don't know. Called me. Or waited for someone—anyone—to get back, at least."

"I thought you were mad at me," Chelsea muttered, willing herself not to cry again. It was easier than she thought it would be—maybe she'd managed to cry herself dry.

"Mad?" Vaughn rolled his eyes. "Naw. I thought you were mad at me."

"What?" Chelsea frowned, surprised. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Never mind," Vaughn sighed. He glanced out the window at rainy light coming in from under the blinds. "I'm gonna run and get some sort of breakfast. You hungry?"

"I guess," Chelsea nodded. Then she offered him a weak smile. "Thanks. For everything. Again."

Vaughn nodded and put his hat on his head, hoping to conceal his blush as he walked out the door.

Ooo

Vaughn watched his boots step over the wet sidewalk as he made his way to the fast food restaurant. His fists were clenched until his knuckles turned white and his jaw was clenched.

She was such a damn klutz.

What was she thinking? She was going to kill herself. Maybe she was actually trying to. She was suicidal. That was the only explanation for her coming to the city like this. Had she really thought that it was a good idea to just sit outside in the storm and wait for morning? She couldn't possibly be stupid enough to not realize the danger that she was in. Why hadn't she found him—called him? Or just waited on the Island?

Vaughn grimaced. It was his fault. If he hadn't overreacted about those damn cookies, she wouldn't have thought he was mad at her and she probably wouldn't have hit rock bottom so quickly. She would have been safe the whole time, back on Sunny Island.

Vaughn sighed as he walked into the restaurant, rain dripping from his hat. He really was in deep with this one.

Ooo

Chelsea sat down on the futon, her breathing and the rain's pattering the only things breaking the silence of the apartment. She laid down on her side with a sigh. She was so glad Vaughn wasn't mad at her… But what was she going to do? She'd spent all her money on those boat tickets. If she didn't go to Mineral Town, she wasn't going anywhere. She was still as broke as she'd ever been only now she was stranded in the city.

At least she had Vaughn…

With that thought, all of the stress and sleep loss of the last several hours caught up to her and her eyelids fell shut.

Ooo

"Hey, Vaughn!" Riley called, opening the door to his friend's apartment with the spare key he'd managed to procure. He glanced around the one room quickly, and, not seeing the usual angsty cowboy he usually did, shrugged and plopped down on the futon. It was much firmer and bumpier than he remembered.

A small grunt came from beneath him as the blankets stirred. Riley shot up.

"Who's there?" He asked, his arms raised up defensively. "You better get out of this apartment—I swear to God, if Vaughn knows someone's been breaking in, he'd—"

He stopped short as the intruder sat up, pushing the blankets off of her sleepy form. She looked up at him, her blue eyes meeting his. In the brief moment that they watched each other, Riley noticed a few different things. The first being that she was very cute. The second being that she was wearing Vaughn's clothes. And the last being that her familiar eyes were growing larger by the millisecond.

And then she screamed.

It was maybe a few seconds later that Vaughn burst into the apartment and had Riley in a chokehold against the wall—until the cowboy recognized him and let him go.

"Damn it, Riley," Vaughn sighed, the tension visibly draining from his body. "What're you doin' here?"

"You were acting weird on the phone earlier," Riley grimaced, rubbing his neck where Vaughn had nearly strangled him. He raised an eyebrow after shooting a pointed glance Chelsea's direction. "I guess now I know why."

"Can I talk to you—in private?" Vaughn twitched. He didn't wait for Riley to answer before dragging him into the hallway and closing the door behind them.

"Dude," Riley said, his voiced hushed. "I can't believe you didn't tell me she was here! Or maybe I can, you dog."

"It ain't like that and you know it."Vaughn rolled his eyes, fighting off the urge to punch his friend. He looked at Riley seriously. "I didn't even know she was coming in, anyway."

Riley's expression hardened slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I found her."

"Found her?" Riley repeated. "Found her where?"

Vaughn scowled at the wall.

"What happened, man?" Riley asked, his voice quiet again. He could tell that something was bothering Vaughn, and not the usual irritating way—this was more… serious. Like Vaughn was worried.

A moment of silenced passed as Vaughn drew in a deep, calming breath. He brought his steely gaze up to meet Riley's confused one. "She ran away."

"From the island? Why?"

"Some bad shit happened. It doesn't matter now. She spent all her money on a ticket to go back to Mineral Town—"

"Without telling you first?"

"Shut up," Vaughn glared. "She got stuck at the docks in the middle of the night on account of the storm. I found her in the alley—"

"Was she okay?" Riley asked, a million sketchy faces flashing through his mind. This city was full of weird people.

"She's fine now."

Silence engulfed them.

The door opened slowly then, and Chelsea poked her head out. Riley noticed the bruise on her cheek for the first time. Poor girl, he thought.

"Uh, Vaughn?" Chelsea squeaked, glancing nervously between the cowboy and his friend. "Who's this?"

"Oh," Riley said suddenly, straightening up with a laugh. He held out his hand to her. "Sorry—I'm Riley. You must be Chelsea, right?"

Chelsea took his hand and shook it, smiling as much as her swollen cheek would allow. "That's me."

"I've heard a lot about you," Riley smiled back at her, releasing her hand.

"Really?" Chelsea asked. She glanced over at Vaughn, surprised. "I hope it wasn't all too bad."

"You kidding?" Riley laughed. He sensed Vaughn's death glare and decided not to say anything else on the subject. "Anyway, you're probably hungry, right?"

"Oh," Chelsea said, turning back to Vaughn. "Did you—?"

"Got it," Vaughn said, holding up a slightly damp bag of food from the nearest fast food place.

"Mind if I join you two?" Riley piped up, grinning.

Chelsea smiled, giving him a little shrug.

Vaughn rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long day.

Whew! Well, this turned out short and filler-ish. To be honest, it's been partially-written for months, so it may not match up well. Anywho, it's something and that's better than nothing, am I right? Hopefully this will give me the inspiration I've been lacking...

Also, I'd be lying if I said that writer's block was the only thing keeping me from writing. Do you know how much crap they make Junior do at my school? I mean, my God! It's amazing I'm still alive, I swear. Anyway, I have a month and a half of school left, then I'm on summer break. Before that, though, I have AP tests and finals and all sorts of crap to do. I already visited colleges and took the freaking SAT and ACT, though, so that's over... Man, when I'm in college, I'll be so much better off. I'm going to go to the University of Alabama. Well, maybe. Probably. Ideally.

Okay, so, I'll try to get another chapter up soon, but I'll be honest. It won't happen until net weekend at the very soonest, and I have Prom on Saturday, so... yeah, probably not. But the weekend after that is kind of long (we have an all-school beach day on that Monday, which means no classes), so that's looking more likely. Then the weekend after that is the weekend that Avengers comes out, I turn seventeen, and I cram my butt off for my AP Calc and AP US History exams. After that, I'm basically checked out and that means writing time!

Long author's not is long.

Thanks for bearing with me, guys! Trust me, I hate it more than you do. See you soon!