Thanks for your patience! Hope you all had a great holiday season!
Kelly - I love that Chloe painted Aster & Elly too!
EC - The Pack sure are Elly's extended family, let's see what she can do to help them! Glad you enjoyed a bit of insight into Chloe's emotional journey losing Elly!
TheChemistry In Darkness
Chapter Thirty-Five
Wednesday 4th December 2024
Elly glanced back at Chloe, as she had just answered a phone call from Raven whom had interrupted Elly's teasing of Chloe after she'd found Chloe had painted a portrait of her naked. Raven sounded rattled as she had said that the Pack had messed up and needed her help.
"Raven, just give me a minute," Elly quickly said before saying to Chloe, "Is it okay if I take this back out in the living room? I'll be back in a moment."
Chloe nodded silently, watching the brunette leave the room quickly. She was relieved for the interruption as the idea of being able to turn down Elly's cheeky request to have her re-paint her with her posing naked, had thrown Chloe so much she didn't know how to react.
Painting Elly from her memory had been something Chloe had done in the privacy of her art studio, at the time it had felt like the thing to do to help her emotions with Elly missing. But now she couldn't even comprehend the idea of painting Elly's portrait again, let alone sans clothes. Something she never wanted Pierce to ever know she'd done once. She couldn't possibly risk that again when she'd kept this portrait secret for over three years.
But now with the interruption, Chloe's mind wandered to the woman whom had called Elly – Raven.
Who's Raven? Is she one of the family members Elly spent the last four years with? Why hasn't Elly explained all about her other family?
Back out at the living room, Elly put the phone back to her ear, "What happened?"
"We need help, Elly. The cabin's gone, burnt to the ground," Raven told Elly hastily.
"What? How? Who did that?" Elly fired off rapidly.
"We messed up…a bunch of humans followed us back here and they…tried to smoke us out of the cabin that they ended up setting it alight," Raven half-explained.
"Is everyone alright?" Elly asked with worry.
"Yes, we all got out. We're alive but we had to leave everything behind. Aside from Romulus's Jeep, we barely have anything except what was already on us, lucky that included my phone. The five of us are all here, we got to the closest petrol station, Romulus is filling it up, the others are in the car but we don't exactly have anywhere to go, Elly," Raven explained further.
"Why were humans following you back to the cabin?" Elly backtracked from Raven's previous comment.
"Lexa and Clarke had a run in with a group of guys last night…" Raven replied quietly, then off Elly's grunt of knowing there was more to the story, "The girls were out at a club celebrating a title fight Lexa had won, she's been working so hard to not use her strength and abilities against her human opponents, you'd be proud of her."
"Get to the point, Raven, I was with Chloe, she could come back any second," Elly asserted.
"Right…how's that going by the way, you and your mate?" Raven got distracted.
"Difficult. Chloe's my mate, I'm falling wildly for her and I know one day we have to be together but that day isn't today cause she's married. I'm trying everything possible not to destroy that for Chloe and let her marriage come to its inevitable conclusion without being the reason for it," Elly snapped, "But that's so not what we should be discussing right now. What did Lexa and Clarke do?"
"There was this drunk guy that kept making a pass at Clarke and wouldn't leave her alone. They kept moving to different clubs to get away from him but this guy wouldn't give up. He had friends with him but he was always there trying to get at Clarke. Kept saying he had a connection with her that he could feel it…" Raven explained before trailing off.
"What happened?" Elly pressured.
"This guy…Bellem…or Bellamy or something, I dunno, that's what Lexa said his friends were yelling out when they tried to find him as he disappeared from the club. Anyway, he had disappeared from his friends as he had cornered Clarke in an alley when Lexa went to take a phone call. Lexa came back to find him trying to get Clarke to be with him, Clarke was just been overly polite in her rejection of him and Lexa…lost it at him…she wolfed out and killed him," Raven admitted.
"Damnit, Lexa," Elly whispered, "How is she coping? What about Clarke?"
Raven half-smiled at Elly's concern for her family, "Lexa's a bit of a mess but it's not the first time she's done this but it is the first time she lost complete control because someone was trying to hook up with her mate and she got viciously territorial about it. Clarke's trying to remind her that it's not her fault…she lost control and the wolf took over when she attacked this guy."
"I know the feeling too," Elly remembered, "Except for the part that Finn wanted to kill Chloe, not try to hook up with her…and also he did want to kill Bea. So, Lexa killed this guy and…how did that lead to the cabin being burnt to the ground?"
"The guy's friends, they followed Clarke and Lexa back to the cabin. They were in a state of shock and panic after what had happened, their wolfy instincts weren't kicking in like they normally do, they didn't know they were being followed. I don't think these guys had any clue that they were following werewolves but they waited out by the cabin til sunrise…for more of their friends to arrive then…the place went up in flames. We only knew it was them cause when Lexa got Clarke out of the burning cabin, they saw the guys running away. Lexa wanted to run after them to make them pay for nearly killing us all in a fire but Abby stopped her, made her see two wrongs don't make a right," Raven explained.
"Poor Lex," Elly consoled, "What can I do?"
"Got a place for us to stay, Elly?" Raven asked quietly.
Elly shook her head, "No, the Kennedy's is filled to the brim, even if I bunked back in with Aster, they'd only be one room free. All my friends' here their houses are packed too…I mean Chloe and Pierce have like…two spare bedrooms here but-"
"We'll take it," Raven interjected.
Elly scoffed, "I am not moving in a bunch of wolves to my best friend and…mate's place…who lives here with her husband. Even though the idea of Pierce Greyson living with a bunch of wolves and not having a clue is absolutely hilarious. What's the rush to find a place to stay anyway? The moon cycle isn't 'til next weekend, can you stay at a hotel for a couple nights 'til you find a place longer term?"
"I know, we're just panicking after losing everything we had in moments and the set-up we had at the cabin. The bunker, the wide-open spaces…it was just perfect for us during the full moon cycle but it's all gone. Finding a new place with the set-up like we had…it takes time, Romulus and Abby can't get out of their important jobs at the bureau and hospital. I don't think we realized just how good we had it and how long it'll take us to find the perfect spot to…be ourselves," Raven replied.
"I wish I could help more," Elly said, "I'd love to be able to take off back to you guys with Aster to help find you a new place to live…I'm finally getting Aster settled here…and okay there's a selfish part of me determined not to leave my mate so I continue building the bond between us."
"It's okay, Elly, I get it. We'll be in contact as soon as we find a place to stay," Raven decided.
"I wish I knew of a place for you guys to…go…" Elly trailed off as she picked up a piece of paper from the coffee table, "Hang on…why didn't I think of this earlier? I have the perfect place you and the Pack can live…no one will bother you, not for some years at least and I should be able to get some warning of when you might need to leave. It is the perfect spot to be yourselves whenever you want to be…"
"Sounds promising," Raven mused, "Tell me more."
The hair on Elly's arms suddenly stood up and Elly straightened her back after she placed the piece of paper back where she found it, "Can I give you a call back soon? I just realized Aster's due to wake up any minute so I should go check on her first."
"Okay, I'll hear from you soon, looking forward to hearing all about this place you think we can live," Raven smiled happily, "Bye Elly."
"Bye Raven," Elly replied, hanging up the phone then turning to Chloe, standing in the hallway, "Hey, sorry about that…one of my friends from the family I lived with just needs some help, I'll sort her out after I get back to Aster to make sure she's up for the rest of the afternoon. So…were you waiting for me long?"
What the hell? How did you not sense Chloe standing in the hallway…what did you lose your sense of smell and super-hearing?
What was that about Elly not leaving her…mate and building a bond between them? Who's that? Aster? And, why was Elly holding that page and talking about it being the perfect place where no one will bother her friend…? Why would that place be perfect to anyone?
"Not long," Chloe answered vaguely, "I locked up the art studio. Everything okay with your friend…Raven?"
Elly shrugged as she shifted to pick up her handbag, "Yeah I just have to sort out something for her. Don't worry, I'm not…"
"Gonna rush off and abandon us all again?" Chloe finished for Elly, the worry evident in her voice.
"I'm not going anywhere…except home as Aster needs to get up from her nap," Elly replied as she flicked the baby camera back on her phone screen, glad to see her daughter was still asleep.
"Right, yeah of course, go home to your girl," Chloe encouraged, feeling relieved Elly wasn't up and leaving her.
Elly smiled at the blonde, her ears picking up the sound of Chloe's heart beating incredibly slowly.
Is that why I got surprised by Chloe behind me? Chloe's heart always beats at that pace around me, long, slow beats… Ugh, don't be ridiculous, Chloe's heart beats don't mean anything…you're just off your game around her.
Before Elly could thank Chloe for spending time with her, Elly turned her head to the front door as she heard a noise down the end of the driveway.
See I heard that!
A few seconds later, Chloe caught up to the sound Elly heard though it was much fainter to her ears, "Crap, is that Pierce home?"
'Crap'…even Chloe doesn't want him home! Oh, right cause we were working out, the living room has had all the furniture moved to allow space for us to work out and…I'm here…
Elly watched as Chloe quickly shifted to rushing around the living room, shifting the coffee table back onto the middle of the carpet. Elly then helped Chloe shift the couch back into position as silently as they could, hearing Pierce slam his car door shut and make his way up the driveway and stairs.
Should I ask Elly to leave via the back door so Pierce doesn't see her here? Is that bad if I try to hide Elly?
But there wasn't time as Pierce came through the front door as soon as Chloe and Elly stepped away from replacing the couch, "Chloe, how…? Elly, surprised to see you here."
"I just stopped by to…ask Chloe if she wanted to go shopping with me to look for a dress for Bea's engagement party sometime before next week," Elly lied convincingly quickly.
"Right," Chloe agreed just as quickly, "We'll decide on a day to do that next week."
Pierce eyed Elly up and down, "You came over to ask Chloe to go shopping…wearing that?"
Elly glanced down at her crop top, realizing she hadn't put her jacket back on after training with Chloe, then shrugged, "I went for a quick run around the block whilst Aster was napping. Stopped by after that. There a problem with the way I dress?"
Pierce looked over at his wife, who was also dressed in her running gear, but he hesitated to ask if the pair had been spending their time together, fearful of finding out they were.
"Elly was on her way out," Chloe told her husband before asking, "What are you doing home from work so early?"
Pierce couldn't help but stare between the two women, "I want to spend more time at home with you, Chloe. Work from home a bit more. After your accident…I couldn't bear to lose you."
Chloe sidled up to Pierce, touched by his compassion, and feeling the need to reassure her husband and herself that she was committed to him and whatever she felt for Elly, she needed to get past it, "Working from home more sounds good, I know how hard it's been on the hours you do since Paul had to give up helping at the hotel on the day to day tasks. But I don't want you home all days of the week, it's still important you focus on the hotel most days. I'm glad you didn't lose me either."
Elly had to stop herself rolling her eyes at the couple as Pierce leant down to kiss Chloe's lips with Chloe leaning into the kiss gently.
Ugh, could this get any worse? Having to stand here and watch my mate be in love with someone who doesn't deserve her? Cripes, would you listen to the way Chloe's heart races a million miles an hour. It's so different to when Chloe's alone with me and her heart beats slowly. I guess the way Chloe's heart is racing when she's with Pierce really shows how deeply she's in love with him…how am I supposed to wait for the pair of us to be together…? Wait…is Chloe's heart racing when she's with Pierce because she loves him…or…she's scared of him?
Next time - On a normal everyday unimportant kinda day, Elly & Aster bump into Chloe at Harold's. Seriously, there's nothing special about this day...