Thanks EC Brenway for your review! Actual explanations, questions being asked or just lots of yearning - always expect yearning is all I'll say!

The Chemistry In Darkness

Chapter Fourteen

Tuesday 19th November 2024

Bea knocked on Elly's bedroom door early in the morning, something she hadn't done in years. In fact, she'd barely taken a step into the room for almost as long. As long as they didn't need the room for any family members staying or waifs needing a roof over their heads, it had stayed the same from the way Elly had left it before she disappeared.

When Bea heard Elly's words of "Come in," she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief that perhaps her sister returning yesterday hadn't being a dream.

"Morning," Bea said quietly as she smiled at Elly curled up in her bed with her daughter next to her, obviously having a very animated talk with her mum despite Elly looking exhausted, "Just checking you were still here."

Elly sat up gently, allowing Aster to curl up in her arms, seeing the sheepish look on Bea's face, "I told you, I'm not going anywhere…I'll have to go back to see the family I stayed with next month sometime for a few nights as I don't just want to abandon them but aside from spending a bit of time with them every so often…I'm back, Bea."

Bea nodded, still not sure what to make of Elly seemingly fitting in with a whole new family and wanting to split time with them, "I take it that it was you that got Karl and Suze to put on the impromptu celebration last night with Dipi and Shane for Yashvi and I?"

"You deserved to celebrate your engagement sans sister and niece returning after years apart. I can get the attention from everyone about my return another time. I'm glad you got to celebrate last night…very loudly after Shane and Dipi went home…you know we have a young child in the house now, Bea," Elly teased as she clapped her hands over Aster's ears, her daughter wriggling out of them.

Bea winked proudly, "Yashvi and I are not going to change how…loud we are after all these years. Karl and Suze got over it years ago, deal with it, sis!"

Elly rolled her eyes, "Am I going to have to hear you two every night?"

"Of course not…you have those nights you'll go back to the other family where you won't be here to hear Yashvi and I," Bea teased back.

"You're probably lucky this little one got used to how loud our friends Clarke and Lexa were. Their room was on the other side of the cabin…we could still hear them," Elly admitted.

Bea chewed on her lip, wanting to ask about more info on the couple or the so-called cabin, Elly had mentioned a couple times but worried if she asked too many questions, Elly may have had more reasons to stay away from Erinsborough after all these years, "Anyway, what are your plans for today?"

Elly chewed on her lip, "I want to catch Chloe, I need to explain things to her. Then I want to spend the rest of the day hanging out with you and Aster, get her used to being here in what's a new place for her. I spoke to Suze about turning the guest bedroom into Aster's room. I'll leave it for now but it's something I want to tackle before the end of the week so she can finally have her own bed for once. I'm really lucky Suze and Karl have taken us in so quickly without any hesitation after what I put y'all through these past few years."

Trying not to dwell on all the thoughts that had endured her in worrying about Elly for so many years that had all being for nothing as Elly was alive and well with Aster, Bea then realized she had no idea how Elly had made a living the past few years, "You have the money for that or do you need…?"

"Did you see my car, Bea? I'm good for money…the family I fell in with…they're pretty well off and I did a lot of tutoring and random other things to help them…they didn't mind sharing to enable me the help I needed to raise Aster," Elly explained vaguely, "Anyway, I'm going to sleep a bit more, then I'll catch Chloe before she goes to work."

Bea couldn't help but scoff, "Sorry, not you. Chloe doesn't work at the hotel anymore…anywhere really. Pierce didn't like the idea of her continuing to work after they got married, he's such a priss. Chloe's at home most days but she looks after Mark and Aaron's kids before and after school for them. In fact, if you want to catch her…she's normally out for her morning run that she leaves for in…ten minutes…or I guess you can see her after she drops all the kids at scho—where's the fire?"

Chloe? Run? Short shorts? Tight gym top? I'm up.

Elly dragged herself out of bed, leaving Aster curled up in the middle of the bed, grumbling at her mum, "A run sounds good. I've got all my running gear here with me, I've kept up with my running whilst I was away…well after I recovered from child birth. If I can catch Chloe then I can hopefully spend a bit of time with her before I spend the day with you and Aster…"

Bea watched as Elly stared down at her daughter, "It's okay, I can look after Aster for an hour. Yashvi will be up soon. We'll get Aster dressed and sort out breakfast. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," Elly agreed, then grinned at her daughter, "You cool with spending the morning with your Auntie Bea and Yashvi while I catch up with Chloe?"

Aster bounded out of bed, almost flinging herself over to Bea, "Cool. You go spend time with your mate."

"Friend," Elly replied instantly, her mind still swirling since she'd encountered Chloe and she wasn't sure if she was excited or worried about the prospect of Chloe being her mate.

"Chloe's your mate, muma, you'll see," Aster grinned.

"Aster," Elly almost glared at the youngster.

Bea frowned at the pair, wondering if they had some kind of secret that they weren't telling her, "C'mon, kiddo, let's go wake Yashvi up so we can let your mum attempt to catch Chloe."

Ten minutes later, Chloe was bounding down the steps out the front of her house, heading for her morning run that she'd gotten up on time for that day. As she reached the bottom of the steps, she saw the front door of the Kennedy's house open but continued jogging down her driveway.

Is that Elly? Should I go over to see her? No, let her be, go on your run, you can catch up to Elly later on when she's ready. She'd be busy catching up with her family.

As Chloe reached the end of her driveway, she nearly tripped over her own feet as out of nowhere, Elly was leaning casually against the fence by the mailbox at her house, calling out to her, "Need a running partner?"

How the absolute frecking freck did Elly go from exiting the Kennedy's house to standing right here at the end of my driveway within several seconds cause I'm fairly certain it only takes me a few seconds to jog down my driveway?

"How did you get there, weren't you just at the Kennedy's front door?" Chloe asked quickly.

Drats, Chloe spotted me leaving my place, play it cool, not like you can say you have super powers as a werewolf and rushing across the road within seconds is something I can do now…

Elly shrugged, "I wanted to catch you. Bea told me you go running most mornings at this time, she's looking after Aster with Yashvi to get her dressed and feed her breakfast for me so I thought I'd come find you for a bit. Do you mind if I join you on your run?"

Why do I feel like Elly's lying about something…?

"I thought you wanted to catch up with me when you were ready to tell me where you've been for the past four years?" Chloe wondered, "Running doesn't quite gel with conversations like that."

Chloe's so cute when she's worried…why do you have to call her cute?

Elly smiled at the blonde, "I know and I will, Chlo. What do you say we run to Grease Monkeys for a milkshake, we can catch up about our lives the past few years over a drink before running back here? Do you have time for that or do you need to get back here sooner?"

God, that smile…

"I can make time for that; my run normally takes me much further than Grease Monkeys. I won't bother with having a milkshake there as I've got breakfast waiting for me here after my run but we can stop for a bit if you want to have a drink. You think one milkshake is enough for both of us to catch up over what's happened to us the past four years?" Chloe questioned.

"Good point, there's a lot I want to tell you…it's a good thing I'm back for good and have all the time in the world to catch up with you, not just this morning," Elly agreed then smirked, "Last one to Grease Monkeys has to tell the other three things about what the other missed?"

Chloe didn't even have a chance to agree, before Elly winked at her and took off down the path leading out of the street, "Oi, your head start shouldn't count."

As Elly heard Chloe's feet pounding the pavement after her, she turned back to the blonde, "Catch me if you can, Chlo, to learn all about my life that you missed."

Chloe rolled her eyes as she ran after the brunette but was determined to catch up to her.

A few minutes later, Chloe had managed to catch up to Elly and they were running side by side headed to the Lassiters Complex on their way to Power Street where Grease Monkeys resided. Chloe couldn't help but smile wildly at the feeling of having her best friend back in her life. There weren't even any words needed between them.

I missed Elly so much. Did she miss me too? What has her life being like?

Running at Chloe's pace is actually hard, I know I can run faster, way faster, but damn it's actually hard to run slower than I can and not make it look like I'm running weirdly. Why did you have to make that stupid bet? The point of this catch up was for you to explain things to Chloe but the stupid competitor in you wants to win…and I'm not sure I can handle running behind Chloe cause then I'll be forced to check her out cause she's smoking hot and irresistible and maybe you definitely do have feelings for her and…she's married!

Compelled by being unable to accept if she let Chloe run ahead of her that she'd just spend the entire time trailing behind the blonde checking her out when she knew Chloe was off-limits even if she was her mate, Elly sped up, pushing ahead of Chloe to outpace her, calling back to her, "See you at Grease Monkeys, Chlo."

"Ugh, how does Elly run like that…? Wow she looks incredible," Chloe grunted out when she thought Elly was out of earshot, not knowing that Elly's super-powered hearing heard every word and silently smirked to herself.

Chloe said I look incredible…maybe running on ahead of her and giving Chloe a chance to check you out isn't so bad…ugh stop it, you don't want Chloe, your married friend, to be checking you out…she's not your mate…she can't be…it's too complicated if she is…this is just unresolved feelings for Chloe after she broke it off with you cause she thought you could never have feelings for her and maybe you still do…right?

I can't believe I just thought Elly looks incredible…I mean she does but you're married and you don't even know what Elly's been through the past four years or why she disappeared…and Elly doesn't have feelings for you…and bloody hell woman, how the hell is Elly running so damn fast…? So much for checking her out…she's barely in my eyesight anymore, she's running so damn fast, I'll never catch her…did you just say to yourself you were checking Elly out?

Next time - Elly continues to struggle trying to be a normal person and Chloe opens up to vaguely explain how the past 4 years have turned out for her...