Thanks Kelly & EC Brenway as always for your lovely reviews! They keep me writing!

Kelly - I think you may be right

EC Brenway - I think you may be right on just about all your predictions there! You're getting good at seeing what these versions of Chloe, Elly and pierce do in this story! But will you see what happens at the end...?

The Chemistry In Darkness

Chapter Twenty-Six

Tuesday 26th November 2024

Elly raced into the hospital after overhearing Pierce's phone call that Chloe, whom had been minding Aster for her, had been in a car accident. Spotting Karl at the front desk chatting to one of the nurses, Elly rushed over to him, "Karl, is Aster okay?"

Karl narrowed his eyes at his niece, "Ah why wouldn't Aster be okay?"

"I overheard Chloe was in a car accident and she was looking after Aster for me," Elly answered in a panic.

Before Karl could answer Elly, Pierce rushed into the hospital room too, "Karl, have you seen Chloe? Is Chloe…okay?"

Pierce suddenly frowned as his eyes fell to Elly, "How did you get here so quickly?"

Yeah…I outran your little car…

Elly shrugged, ignoring Pierce's question, hoping he wouldn't think anything of her beating him to the hospital, let alone that she was only there because she'd listened into his private conversation, "Karl, I need to know Aster's okay."

And Chloe…

Karl flummoxed between the pair of them, "Slow down, the both of you. I haven't seen Chloe or Aster. What's happened?"

Elly glanced up at Pierce, letting him take the bait to speak up first, "I got a call from the hospital saying my wife was in a car accident and I needed to get here asap…what car? Chloe doesn't even have a car…she wasn't a pedestrian in a car accident, was she?"

"Chloe was taking Aster to the movies for me as I had to cancel on her when my friends turned up unexpectedly, I loaned Chloe my car to take her," Elly started to explain and then as she was about to add that she'd gotten a phone call about Aster to lie about how she knew to be there, Pierce turned on her.

"You let Chloe borrow your car? Why would you do that?" Pierce demanded.

"Because I promised my daughter that I'd take her to the movies and I was a shit parent who decided to put my friends before Aster but Chloe stepped in to rescue me by offering to go with Aster instead. I loaned her my car, I didn't think they'd end up in a car accident," Elly replied, angry at herself for putting her need to talk to Lexa and Clarke about Chloe then spend time with her daughter.

Karl intervened between the pair once more, stopping them from arguing, "Just give me a minute to find out where they are. We did have two people involved in a car accident come in here half an hour ago but I wasn't on the case and I didn't see them come in so I don't have any more details then that. I'll be back in a moment."

As Karl turned on his heel to go find out more info, Pierce turned on Elly again, "If Chloe's hurt, this will all be your fault!"

"My fault? How?" Elly demanded.

"Chloe shouldn't have been driving your car! My wife shouldn't have been minding your daughter just cause you got busy and wanted to dump her on someone! Why did you even come back here? You should've stayed with your friends wherever it was that you've been hiding out for the last four years!" Pierce accused.

"Chloe was helping a friend, Pierce, that's all. We don't even know how the car accident happened. You can't go blaming me for lending Chloe my car when the accident might not have been Chloe's fault," Elly told him.

"Chloe shouldn't have been near your car," Pierce claimed once more.

"Oh what, like Chloe should've been at home being the good lil wife to you not working or doing much of anything with her life?" Elly accused.

"What would you know? You've been gone for years; you've barely gotten to re-know Chloe the past week. Chloe studies art history and is an artist in her spare time. She's making something of herself. I don't see you been gainfully employed or doing much of anything with your life or your daughter's," Pierce yelled at Elly.

Elly couldn't help but let out a gentle growl at Pierce, she was so angry at him she almost wanted to give up her secret of being a werewolf so she could terrify him into being unable to control Chloe any further. Elly's growl unnerved Pierce but Pierce wasn't to know it was an inhuman growl because to him, nothing inhuman existed.

"I know enough to know Chloe has changed over the years and being with you is the only thing consistent with that. Like you'd have a clue about anything to do with my life," Elly pointed out.

"Alright, enough of that," Karl intervened between the pair once more as he walked back over to them, "Yes, Chloe and Aster were both brought in. The car slammed into a light post on the driver's side of the vehicle. Chloe had to be removed from the wreckage. Aster's fine, she's just got a few bruises from the car seat straps digging into her. Chloe's still unconscious but she has no other injuries so as long as she wakes up soon then she should be perfectly fine within a few days."

Elly sighed in relief at both sets of news, yet was still concerned about Chloe being unconscious.

"What if Chloe doesn't wake up?" Pierce asked, his worry evident.

Karl held out his hands to calm him, "Pierce, I'm sure Chloe will be perfectly fine. We don't have any need to be worried yet. If Chloe's not awake within the next few hours then we'll reassess. Why don't I take you in to see her?"

"Just tell me which room my wife is in?" Pierce demanded.

Elly watched on with annoyance that Pierce got to go see Chloe because she was desperate to see her too but scolded herself as she was just as worried about Aster and should be focusing on her more than her best friend.

Mate, love of my life, when will Chloe be mine? There's nothing about the mate theory that doesn't mean Chloe giving into our connection won't take years and years…

Elly turned her attention back to Karl as Pierce stalked off in the direction of the hospital room Karl had told him Chloe was in, "Can I see Aster now?"

Karl nodded then led Elly in the opposite direction down the hallway. Karl opened the door to Aster's hospital room, where she was lying on a small hospital bed. Aster lit up at the sight of Elly, "Mummy!"

Elly quickly swept past Karl, over to Aster's side to swoop the young girl immediately into her arms, "Hey, baby girl, you okay? I was so worried as soon as I heard you'd been in an accident. I came as soon as I could."

The nurse in the room whom had been looking after Aster frowned, asking Karl if he'd called Aster's mum as Aster didn't know Elly's phone number off the top of her head and they were about to start tracking Elly's details down as the woman in the car with Aster was unconscious.

"I thought you said you got a call about Aster being in the car accident?" Karl queried, misremembering that Elly had said she'd overheard a call.

"I did, must've been from someone else who saw Chloe had been brought in and realized it was Aster with her…like David and got another nurse to call me," Elly lied, knowing she could hardly tell her Uncle she'd overheard Pierce's phone call at the Waterhole with her superhuman hearing when Pierce was surprised to see her at the hospital, Elly went along with Karl thinking she'd gotten a call herself.

Then changing the subject, hoping Karl wouldn't go around asking David about if he knew Chloe or Aster had been brought in to the hospital, "Can I take my lil girl home tonight?"

Aster curled up in her mum's arms, already out of the bed and swinging herself onto Elly's hip, "I wanta go home with my Mama, can I please? Please?"

The nurse nodded, telling them all Aster only had some bruises on her upper body from the car seat straps doing their job to keep her restrained in the car during the accident and only needed the doctor who'd seen her to give the sign off for Aster to be discharged so offered to go chase him to organize it.

After she left the room, Aster looked up at Elly, "Is Chloe okay? They wouldn't tell me. Chloe saved my life today, Mama! She swerved your car into the light post to avoid a truck that was gonna collide with us when the breaks on ya car failed. Chloe didn't think I saw the truck but I did, it was so scary, Mum."

Elly stared at Karl in concern after hearing what Chloe had done, "Chloe's gonna be okay, baby girl. She hasn't woken up yet but she will soon and we'll need to go and tell Chloe how thankful we are that she saved you. I'm so glad you're okay and didn't get hurt, Aster, I couldn't live without you, you know that?"

"I know that, Mama, I couldn't be without you too. Chloe will be okay, she has to be for you, you know that," Aster insisted.

I know that…Aster knows that…Clarke and Lexa know that…nobody else can know that yet…

Elly glanced back at Karl, "The brakes of my car failed?"

"I'm sure it'll be investigated properly to find out what happened. Do you and Aster need a lift home?" Karl offered.

Elly held Aster a little bit closer to her, still scared by how close she came to losing her daughter, "I was with my friends, Clarke and Lexa, when I found out about the accident. They were following me to the hospital so I'm sure I'll catch them soon to get a lift with them. Do you think before we go home, we can go in and see Chloe?"

Karl shrugged, "Pierce is with Chloe now, I'm sure he'd be okay with you popping your head in to see Chloe, right?"

"Well, he was kinda blaming me for Chloe being in my car so I guess we'll see," Elly sighed, frustrated that as he was married to Chloe, Pierce was entitled to be there for the woman she was falling in love with.

Over in Chloe's hospital room, Pierce was sitting next to Chloe's bed, holding her hand, glaring at the doctor treating his wife, "When will my wife wake up?"

"We're not sure, we never are with head injuries, but there's no major damage done. I'm sure she'll be awake soon," the doctor reassured.

"Chloe shouldn't have been in that car. Why would she take that kid to the movies without telling me? Chloe knows I like to know where she is," Pierce muttered nonchalantly to the doctor, "I don't want to have to worry about something like this happening. I just want Chloe and I to be happy. We're trying for a baby. I need Chloe to make it through that so we can have everything we want together…she's always so selfless, putting our niece and nephews ahead of herself but she shouldn't have been driving that car. What would've happened if the accident had of happened on a deserted road? I might never have found her."

"I'm sure your wife's phone could've been tracked had she been missing for an extended period of time. Your wife will be awake soon, you and her can go back to trying to be parents in a couple days," the doctor shrugged, not seeing the concern in his patients' husbands' controlling nature.

Pierce glanced up at the doctor, feeling like this doctor was more negligent then his colleagues, "How much would it cost for an off-the-record procedure to be done?"

The doctor raised his eyebrows at Pierce, "Depends what you want done. Your wife's unconscious…I don't want to lose my license."

"I'll pay you 10 grand right now if you do what I ask," Pierce proposed to the doctor, without even telling him what he wanted.

"I think we can work something out," the doctor shrugged gleefully agreeing to hear Pierce out.

Next time - Just what in the what did Pierce want done to Chloe...? Or will I keep that on the backburner to bring back at a later time?