Disclaimers: I own nothing or anyone associated or affiliated with TNA. I own only the original characters. This is just a fictional story that came from my imagination.
Chapter Content & Trigger Warnings:

Chapter 14

Later that night, Ella and Joe decided on a movie after they ate supper. Or rather, she nibbled and watched Joe eat. She did manage to get a few small bites of the Subway sandwich eaten, but it refused to stay in her stomach. She ran to the bathroom only seconds later.

In truth, Ella was unable to make her body keep any food down at all. She had managed a few small bites of the pizza Joe ordered at lunch. But minutes later, she felt her body threatening to reject the food. Nonchalantly, she'd tried to make her way to the bathroom, and was glad she listened to her instincts as, seconds later, her stomach emptied yet again. She could see her ability to hold food was lessening with each meal.

"The movie should start here in a couple," Joe said warily, looking at his watch. Her inability to eat was beginning to take its toll on him. He knew she couldn't help it, but the fact didn't stop him from worrying.

They had decided to watch The Mummy, and after getting her pajamas on, Ella had eagerly awaited nine o'clock to get there. She needed a good action flick to keep her awake. Only a couple of minutes later, the movie's credits began.

She sat down beside him on the sofa, and watched the first few minutes of the film. She immediately saw the romantic chemistry between Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz as they shared their first on-screen kiss. She felt her face heat up as her thoughts drifted to Joe kissing her the night before.

The time seemed to fly by, and before she knew it, Ella was watching Evy being kidnapped by the evil mummy, Imhotep. She watched Rick threaten the re-generated high priest and saw the fire in his eyes as he gave Evy a very openly passionate stare, which she returned with one of her own. It was obvious that, after only a short amount of time in each other's company, the two were already madly in love with each other.

Flustered by the romantic scene, she tried to find something to do with herself, so she picked her hairbrush up off the end table and freed her hair from its braid. Running the brush through the wavy locks, she felt eyes on her. Turning to Joe, she realized he had been watching her.

Joe had his attention on the movie, until he noticed Ella's movement. He watched as she unbraided her long, thick hair and began brushing it out. He was enthralled by the way it fell in loose waves down her back. The sweet scent of strawberry wafted over to him as she brushed the dark tresses. He saw her wince slightly as she brought her arm up to reach the crown of her head. In the next instant, he had gently taken the brush from her hand and coaxed her to turn on the sofa so he could reach her. "Here, lo'u alofa, let me help."

Brushing her hair gently, he marveled at how silky the locks felt in his hands. He would not recall the point at which he laid the brush aside and simply stroked her hair with his fingers. Then his fingers wandered down to her neck, gently rubbing her skin. He deepened the massage and gently kneaded her shoulders, trying to ease the tension in them.

"Joe?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"What does that mean," she asked softly. She was sure it was a term of endearment, but her curiosity had gotten the best of her.

"You mean 'lo'u alofa'," he asked, twirling a lock of her dark hair around his fingers.

Ella nodded, "Yeah…Why do you call me that? What does it mean?"

"It means 'my love'," he whispered. "You're 'my love'."

She turned and smiled at him. "And you're lo'u alofa, as well."

Joe smiled back and pulled her close, "I'm glad." He bent down to kiss the top of her head, just as she lifted her face to gaze up into his eyes. His mouth met hers and Ella sighed softly, shifting her body so she faced him. Joe fumbled for the remote control and shut the television off, not breaking their kiss. Then his hands pulled her closer. Ella gathered her courage, and moved her lips against his.

"Ella," Joe uttered. "We don't have to-"

I was hoping we could maybe...make out a little." She gave him an impish smile.

Joe smiled softly, and reached up to touch her swollen bottom lip. He pulled her face back to his and kissed her again. "How about we take it slow, since you don't believe in premarital sex?"

She nodded with a shy smile. "Take me to the bedroom?"

Her shy question had him instantly rising from the sofa and carrying her to the bedroom.

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Jeff had finished getting Ella's furniture arranged in her room. He looked back at his work up to that point and decided he was satisfied with the outcome. He had situated her four-poster canopied bed beside the French Doors that led out to her own balcony, caddy-cornered her huge bookshelf with her books in the corner closest to the bed. Her cherry wood dresser and mirror were on the other side of the French doors and her chest of drawers stood caddy-cornered in another corner, with her television and DVD player on top of it.

The hardest part of preparing Ella's room being done, he began looking through the boxes of her things, dividing the boxes into sections of clothing, knick-knacks, cosmetics, and various other items.

Nina came into the room then, and hugged him close. "It's time for you to go downstairs and have a late supper. I'll take care of the rest. Decorating is my forte you know," she teased.

Jeff chuckled, and ran his hand over the back of his neck. "I guess I could go eat a quick sandwich and then come back up and help."

"Nope, I have a plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and my famous roasted green beans and tomatoes for you in the oven," Nina said. "Take your time and eat. And then if you still feel like helping, you can help unpack her stuff, and I'll get the decorating done."

"Okay, okay," Jeff relented, kissing his wife quickly. "I'll go eat and then come back up."

Nina giggled and then shooed him away as she began working.

A couple hours later, she had managed to get Ella's clothes all put away, her makeup was displayed on her vanity, her bed was made up with the lavender bed set, and lilac and cream draperies were hung on the windows. Nina continued with the decorating after everything was unpacked. She spotted Ella's decorative bed pillows in a box by the bed and fluffed them before situating them at the head of the bed.

She went to the large hall closet then, to get the wallpaper border for the room and grabbed the small ladder as well. She also spotted some clear, indoor Christmas lights, which she thought would look lovely hung around the canopy of Ella's bed. Within another couple of hours, Nina had the room completely ready for her niece. She gazed at her handiwork and smiled softly. Then, remembering that Jeff said he would be back up after eating, she began to worry he had over-worked himself to the point of illness.

She bounded down the stairs to find him, but didn't have far to go. Within seconds, she found him asleep on the sofa, an empty dinner plate in his lap. Smiling at her husband's sleeping form, she quietly took the plate and headed to the kitchen to load it into the dishwasher. Then she went back to Jeff and gently nudged him awake.

"Baby," she whispered, brushing some of his pale blond hair off his forehead.

Jeff woke slowly, grogginess evident in his bright blue eyes. "Hon—what time is it?"

Nina chuckled. "It's about two in the morning. I'm done with Ella's room. Do you want to see?"

"There was still so much to finish. How in the world did you do it," he asked, rising up from the sofa and following her up the stairs.

"I told you…Decorating's my forte," she smiled, her brown eyes lighting up.

They reached Ella's bedroom then, and Jeff gaped at the transformation. The room had shown potential to begin with, but now as he saw all the furnishings and the elegant touches Nina made, Jeff knew the room would be just the refuge Ella needed to escape in.

"It's…amazing," Jeff uttered. "Even better than I imagined."

"Thank you," Nina smiled happily at his reaction. "Though you had a hand in it too, you know. The caddy-corned shelves and chest look really great. You have a knack for situating furniture."

"Thanks, baby," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"I think she'll love this room once she's able to move past all that's happened," Nina said, reaching over and hugging Jeff. She looked up at him, "Ella really needs a beautiful place where she can go and try to forget the bad things. A place where she feels safe, and secure. Somewhere that looks like a princess' chamber from one of her favorite fairy tales when she was little."

Jeff smiled at her. "Have I told you what an amazing woman you are?" He felt so lucky to have married a woman with such a big heart—a woman who was more than willing to take in a teenage girl, who was of no legitimate relation to her, and love her like a blood niece.

Almost as if she had read Jeff's thoughts, Nina spoke softly. "Well, she's my niece too—blood or no blood." She smiled at him in return and kissed him softly on the mouth. "I love you."

"And I love you," Jeff whispered, kissing her back and brushing a wavy lock of auburn hair behind her ear.

"You should get to bed and get some sleep," she told him. "Tomorrow's a big day."

Jeff nodded, "Yeah, the room's finished, thanks to you, and it's pretty late. Why don't we both get to bed?"

Nina could not stop the girlish giggle erupting from her lips as she caught the look of anticipation in his eyes.

"Well, I'd redecorate a room every night if it meant you'd look at me like that."

"Come here darlin'," Jeff teased with his southern drawl. "I wanna do a lot more than just look at ya," he said, as he tugged her toward their bedroom.