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The Chemistry In Darkness

Chapter Twenty-Three

Saturday 23rd November 2024

Elly found herself skipping up the steps to Chloe's place the next day with Aster at her side, her daughter almost as excited as she was to spend more time with Chloe.

Elly turned up her nose as she got to the front door, she didn't say anything to Aster but she could smell Pierce was still at home. She'd hoped he'd have disappeared for several hours like he said he would whilst Elly and Aster came over to help Chloe plan an engagement party for Bea and Yashvi.

Pierce had better be just about to leave or else I'm really gonna start believing when Mark said Pierce is controlling Chloe's life that he's absolutely right…and that Chloe needs to be freed from that…

"Are you excited to spend more time with your mate?" Aster giggled at her mum.

"Yes," Elly answered with a smile on her face, realizing there was almost no point scolding her daughter for calling Chloe her mate when everything told Elly that Chloe was.

As long as Aster didn't slip up to reveal her secret, Elly liked that she could be honest with her, especially when she knew that whomever her mate was would have a big place in her daughter's life too. The idea of that being Chloe, brought another smile to Elly's face before she shook her head as she remembered Chloe was married and though Chloe being her mate, she knew that would not be enough to keep the two women apart, she knew she would have to be patient until Chloe's marriage ended of its own accord.

I don't want to be that person…okay, not a person as I'm a werewolf…that comes between Chloe and her husband…but if Pierce is controlling her life then I feel perfectly fine with letting Chloe know that and give her strength to leave him and hopefully she won't hold it against me and sees I only did it cause I love her.

Elly rapped her hand on the front door, unable to hide her smile when Chloe answered the door and invited her and Aster inside. It didn't take them long to spot Pierce sitting at the dining table, tapping away at a laptop, headphones over his ears as he was chatting away to whomever he was on a video call to.

Chloe gritted her teeth as she glanced over at him, "Sorry, Pierce got called into a meeting he forgot about so he decided to join the meeting from here."

"Is he gonna interrupt us?" Aster asked without hesitation or fear of being rude.

"No…Pierce will just be there chatting away to his colleagues via his meeting app on the laptop," Chloe sighed.

"We could go to my place," Elly offered.

Chloe shook her head, "Nah, we can still do this here. If it's too much of a distraction then we can maybe reschedule and do this another time."

Elly narrowed her eyes at Chloe preferring to shift their time together rather than go over to her house away from Pierce, wondering if this was another sign that Pierce was controlling Chloe. Even though she didn't have proof of what Mark had told her the previous night, she was keen to find out just what Chloe's marriage to the billionaire had become in the years she'd been away.

"We'll do this now," Aster decided then held up her arms to Chloe, giggling as Chloe reached out to pick her up and swing her onto her hip.

Elly reached out to drag her hand through Aster's hair, resisting temptation to do the same to Chloe, "Let's get this engagement planning underway then…and if we happen to interrupt Pierce's meeting, I probably won't apologize as I thought he was meant to be going to the gym to give us some free time together. Feels like he didn't want to leave you alone. A hotel meeting on a Saturday?"

Chloe swallowed hard at Elly's words, unable to argue against them or defend Pierce because she feared her friend was already picking up on some of her husband's characteristics. Pointing towards the couch, Chloe closed the door behind Elly, then holding Aster in her arms, followed the brunette to the couch.

Chloe was somewhat surprised when Elly sat down on the floor in front of the couch instead of the couch but juggling Aster against her she managed to do the same to sit down next to Elly on the floor, their backs against the couch. As Chloe was expecting Aster to crawl back into her mum's arms, she was somewhat surprised when the young girl curled up into her own lap instead.

"Have you ever wanted to be a step mum, Chloe?" Aster asked without fear.

Elly's eyes widened at her daughter's question to her best friend, knowing why she'd asked it.

Aster, Chloe will not be your step mum...for a very long time until Chloe has chosen to leave Pierce and even then, the idea of Chloe and I actually managing to make a relationship work when I'm a freaking werewolf...!

"I am a step mum," Chloe answered the question nonchalantly, the reason why Aster asking her going over her head, "Pierce has two children that I'm step mum to. Hendrix lives with Aaron and David, he wasn't home last night as he was with his wife, Harlow. Alana lives in Sydney with her mum so I've only met her a couple times. Hendrix is 22 and Alana turns 18 soon."

"Oh," whispered Aster, trying not to sound like she was sulking.

"You've only met Alana a couple times?" Elly asked, wanting to move the conversation along.

"Yeah, well Alana's busy in Sydney with school. Pierce talks to her a couple times every month. I guess whenever we've gone on holiday it's generally been to Adelaide to see my brothers and my mum before she... We're just lucky that with Harlow living in Sydney for this year for Uni, Hendrix hasn't gone with her given what his relationship with Pierce is," Chloe shrugged.

Elly decided not to question it further, unable to stop smiling at the way Chloe held Aster curled up to her, wondering if Chloe could one day accept Aster into her heart as her daughter and how long she would need to wait before the three of them could be together as a family.

Steady on, Elly, you've barely being back in her life a few days...but I want it to be just the three of us...

"Is that okay, you having Aster curling up on your lap? Cause she can come curl onto my lap if you want, Chlo," Elly offered.

"It's more than okay," Chloe reassured, tickling Aster gently, grinning when the youngster squealed at her, "Auntie Chlo is very used to having kids crawling all over her."

"Stop it, Chloe!" Aster giggled.

Elly struggled not to sigh when she saw Chloe glance over at Pierce and the way he looked at the three of them sitting on the floor of his living room across the room from him, "So, we need to get down to planning this engagement party for my little sister and her beloved. I've locked in the date with Bea and Yashvi, Friday 13th December."

"Friday the 13th?" Chloe repeated, "Isn't that kinda bad luck to have it on a Black Friday? Is Yashvi working on the Saturday night of that weekend and every other weekend for a while?"

No, I'll be turning into a werewolf that Saturday evening and it's best you don't find out about that.

Elly turned to face Chloe, suddenly becoming aware that she could overhear Pierce's conference call meeting coming to an end as everyone was saying 'goodbye,' wondering if he would leave them alone to go to the gym like he was supposed to, "Yashvi's working nights for the next 3 weeks. That's the first evening she's free. We could have it on the Saturday night but the thing is I want this to be a really great party for the couple...and great parties continue into the next day and-"

"You don't want Sunday morning blues then Monday workday blues ruining that," Chloe interrupted and finished off for Elly, "I like the way you think, Elly."

Elly winked at Chloe, "I know you do. Plus, the girls want to have the party before the year is over and if we leave it later then-"

"It'll clash with all the Christmas parties' people will be throwing," Chloe once more finished Elly's words.

"It's like you know exactly what's in my mind," Elly teased.

Or not...I'm a werewolf, I'm dangerous, I'm a killer, you're my mate, my one true love that I will wait eternity for you to fall in love with me like I'm already falling for you as nothing in the world comes between the bond of a werewolf and their mate...and why the hell didn't Pierce say goodbye to his colleagues when his meeting ended and take off his headphones?! OMG is he pretending he is still on his meeting call except he isn't so he's able to listen in to what Chloe and I are talking about without us knowing he isn't listening to his meeting? Except I can't tell Chloe that cause she's not meant to know I have super hearing that can detect Pierce's meeting ended! Or maybe he has another meeting to join...I'm keeping my eyes on you, you not so sneaky SOB, Pierce!

"Elly?" Chloe's voice called out to the brunette until she seemed to register that she'd been distracted and hadn't heard what her friend had been saying.

"Sorry, Chlo, I got distracted. So, engagement party. We have the date locked in. We need a venue and to work out who to invite," Elly moved the conversation along.

"I was kinda thinking we should see if we could have the party at the Rebecchi's house. Dipi loves cooking, I bet she'll put on a feast for us. Not a sit-down meal kinda feast but the cocktail canapes kind," Chloe suggested, "Or I mean if you'd prefer to have it at yours…?"

"The Rebecchi's house sounds good. I like the idea of having a family centric party. We can always stop by the Waterhole later in the evening if we want to continue the party after most of the kids have gone back home with their parents…oh wait, that's me," Elly blushed.

"I'm sure Suze and Karl can mind Aster if you want to continue the celebration," Chloe pointed out.

"Okay, I'll drop by the Rebecchi's tonight to okay it with them. I haven't seen them since I got back. Still taking my time to settle back in here," Elly decided.

"Sounds good. We can always have the party at yours if they don't want to but as if Shane or Dipi wouldn't want to do this for Yashvi and Bea," Chloe reassured.

Elly was distracted for a moment as she overheard Pierce throwing out some questions to his computer screen.

To no one…Pierce isn't even on the conference call anymore…he's just pretending to be…presumably to listen in to my conversation with his wife…only I can hardly explain to Chloe how I know what he's doing…Mark was right about how controlling he is…I hope this kinda shite is as bad as it gets…then again it feels like Chloe has been isolated away from her brothers despite living so close to them and looking after their kids for them.

"Perfect. Now, what about the list of people we're inviting. Everyone from the street, obviously. Yashvi's cop mates at the station? Bea's boss at the garage? I'll give my mum a call to see if she wants to come down to Melbourne for it…that was an awkward conversation I had with Liz the other night telling her I was back. Do you think Kirsha or Jay would make the trip too?" Elly listed off all the people she could think of.

"I think that sounds like everyone the girls will want to celebrate with. We should be able to get most of the people to join us. Hope your mum can make it. Kirsha might be able to, Jay seems like more of a mystery man we've never met but you never know," Chloe replied.

"It'll be good to catch up with everyone else on the street I haven't seen yet," Elly realized.

"Everyone should be there, except maybe Paul and Terese but they don't get out much nowadays," Chloe sighed.

"How come?" Elly asked.

"I guess you haven't heard, Paul's been through a lot the last few years. He suffered a stroke and is mostly wheelchair bound. Terese does what she can to look after him. Dee's been his carer since they got him home after the stroke. Dee had only just returned and reunited with Toadie for good when it happened so a job as close by as you can get. Paul hasn't been able to return to work at the hotel but cause he's Paul, he never can give up so he tries to run things from his living room and laptop. Pierce's role, along with Terese's, has increased so much without Paul around that he has to be at the hotel a lot more often than he used to," Chloe explained.

"Wow, that's a lot. I'll have to make sure I stop in on Paul and Terese to say hi to them sometime this weekend…and Dee too. I'm glad to hear Dee and Toadie are finally making it work," Elly smiled.

Elly then struggled not to roll her eyes at the sound of Pierce 'ending' the conference call he hadn't been on for the past few minutes but was glad he wasn't going to fake it for the rest of the time she and Aster were spending with his wife. Pierce then stood up from the dining table, "Chloe, I'm going to grab some reports I need to read through from the car that I left there last night."

Chloe barely waved her husband out the door, as Aster looked up at her, "So, now can we discuss the music and food we're gonna have at the best engagement party ever?"

Chloe grinned down at the little girl in her arms, then over at her mum, "I think it's time for Aster's input into this incredible celebration we're planning."

"I think you're right, Chlo. We make a good team, the three of us, don't we?" Elly winked at the woman she was ever but surely falling for.

Family…a good family…

"Yeah we do," Chloe smiled back at Elly.

As Pierce walked down his driveway, he muttered to himself about his frustration at watching his wife sitting so comfortably with Elly and her daughter. He hated it. Elly hadn't even been back for a week and already Pierce was worried about the trouble she could cause to his marriage. Even though there were no signs that Elly or Chloe still had feelings for one another, he didn't want to take the risk they could.

Pierce wanted Elly out of the picture.

As he opened his car door to grab the reports he needed, he stared across the road towards the Kennedy's house, an instant feeling of jealousy washing over him when he spotted Elly's car in the driveway. The fact that an unemployed woman had found herself in possession of a car that was fancier then his car, made Pierce want to upgrade his car to a better one than Elly had.

Pierce ran his tongue across his lip as he continued staring at the car as another idea came to him instead and he hoped Elly would be out of Chloe's life within days…

Next time - When Elly cancels on plans with Aster, Chloe steps in to help out. Will it be a great time for Chloe & Aster to bond or turn into a nightmare?