Thanks for your review EC Brenway! Let's hope wherever Chloe is she can find her way back to Elly! Elly going Super Saiyan Werewolf, I would like to see that! Who knows if I even know how to write that! Chloe giving birth to a litter of Chelly werewolves - anything is possible!
The Chemistry In Darkness
Chapter Ninety-Five
Saturday 26th July 2025
Elly sat awkwardly in the Kennedy's lounge room. It had been about half an hour since Shaun had turned up on the Kennedy's doorstep looking for herself and Aster, the ex-fling and the daughter he'd thought had perished at the hands of his brother, Finn, more than five years ago.
Shaun was sitting on the couch with Aster curled up in his lap. She'd been engaging Shaun in a conversation non-stop about her life. Whilst Aster left out anything relating to Elly been a werewolf and that they did live with werewolves, she did tell Shaun all about their life living a very simple life with Elly, Chloe and the rest of their friends on the Island.
Shaun had smirked at Elly that he hadn't taken her to be the type of woman to camp out on an Island. Elly had almost rolled her eyes back at Shaun and told him that he really didn't know her that well from the time they had spent together years ago. Shaun conceded Elly was right then asked if she was going back to the Island to live with Aster.
Elly didn't want to go into too many details about Chloe, their child and their plans to move back to Erinsborough after the baby had been born because now Elly was questioning their decision. Shaun been back in their lives felt like it changed everything.
If we move back to Erinsborough so our kids can have a proper school life, does that mean that Shaun will be in our lives too for Aster? Will he move back to Switzerland and come back every so often to spend time with Aster? Or is Shaun going to do what he was planning to before he got stuck in the avalanche…move his life here to Erinsborough so he could be there for Aster and I…? I don't need Shaun…Aster does…I can't deny that…am I going to end up having to give Shaun 50/50 custody of my little girl? I hate this…I don't want Shaun back in our lives…I need to find out what he wants…
Elly simply told Shaun that they did have the intention of moving back to Erinsborough later that year in order for her family to have time to prepare Aster to go to her first year of prep school. Shaun didn't seem to react to the way Elly had referred to Chloe as her family.
When Aster suddenly perked up with the question Elly had been dreading about why Shaun hadn't been a part of her life at all, Elly wanted to remind her little girl that she knew why her father hadn't been there for her. Aster had been told from a young age that Shaun had been killed in an avalanche before she'd been born and it wasn't until late last year when they'd returned home that they had both found out the truth that he had survived. In thinking that Elly and their unborn baby had been killed by Finn, he had returned to his life in Switzerland. Elly wanted to remind Aster too that they had discussed getting in contact with Shaun once they learnt he was alive but they had decided it wasn't the right time in their lives to involve him.
And now that I left it to get to this point that Shaun has found out about us on his own and now the ball is squarely in Shaun's court…if I push him away because we don't need him…he might fight back to get some form of custody of Aster from me…I miss Chloe, she'd know what to do…she'd comfort me, knowing how much I'm already fearing Shaun wanting to take Aster away from me…even if it is for the custody that he would be entitled to as her father…
When Shaun began explaining his story to Aster, it became clear to Elly that Aster just wanted to hear it from her father himself why he hadn't been in her life since she was born. Shaun had pulled out his phone to show Aster the photo that had been shared to social media by Bea. Elly felt bad for him as he explained to Aster how he'd seen the photo pop up on his phone, the shock he'd felt at seeing Elly alive and that he'd known instantly that the little girl standing with the women was his Aster, that he didn't even know if that was her name but he'd been calling her Aster to himself as he arranged to get himself to Australia as soon as possible to reunite with her.
When Karl and Susan had awoken from the sounds of talking in their living room, they were beyond surprised to find Shaun had turned up and reunited with his daughter. Whilst Karl had engaged Shaun and Aster in some brief conversation, Susan had stood by eyeing Elly's reaction to Shaun been back in their lives when she was already under so much stress with Chloe been taken from them.
Susan decided to talk to Elly about it in the morning and soon she and Karl left the newly reunited family to themselves to continue catching up.
Before long Aster was back telling Shaun all the things about her life that he'd missed and before she expected it, Aster yawned mid-sentence and was asleep in Shaun's arms.
The smile on Shaun's face at Aster falling asleep in his arms, left Elly feeling guilty that she'd spent the past hour wondering if Shaun wanted shared custody of Aster or if he would return to Switzerland and be the parent that Karl was to his daughter, Holly, whom lived in England.
Shaun practically jumped at Elly, with Aster still asleep in his arms, asking Elly if he could put his daughter to bed. Elly waved him off, letting him know which bedroom Aster was staying in, then sat there alone in the living room as Shaun pulled Aster up and took her to bed.
Several moments later, Shaun reappeared down the hallway, walking back over to the lounge, beginning to gush to Elly non-stop about how amazing their daughter is.
Elly quickly stood up, with her hands clasped together nervously as she looked down at Shaun sitting on the couch, interrupting his gushing, "Shaun, what are you doing here? Now that you know we're alive…what do you plan on doing?"
Shaun was taken aback, "Elly, I have no idea what my plans are. I saw the photo, I jumped on the next possible flight here. I barely even packed anything because I was desperate to catch the flight that was available. I haven't even checked into the hotel at Lassiters that I only booked when I was in the Uber on the way here from the airport. All I know is that I want to get to know my daughter!"
Well, at least Shaun does not want to stay here with us…with Chloe missing I just have this inherent feeling that somehow Shaun could want to replace Chloe in our lives and that is not happening! I want my mate back!
Elly sighed, "I'm sorry…my life is just such a mess right now with Chloe missing. Every moment I am worried over whether I will see her or get to hold our baby that she's carrying whilst I am trying to keep everything together so I can be there for Aster and everything she needs. It's why I'm not the one out there searching for Chloe. I am trusting my people to bring her home to us."
Shaun nodded, "Chloe…? Tall, blonde? I think I recall seeing her when I was last here but never formally met her. You really love her, don't you?"
"As much as I love Aster," Elly admitted, not sure how to take Shaun's reaction to her been with a woman, nor him not questioning Chloe been pregnant with her baby, before realizing he would never think the baby was biologically hers and Chloe's.
"I'm happy you found that with Chloe," Shaun smiled gently, "I completely understand that my arrival back to Erinsborough from Switzerland has come at an inopportune time and how difficult it must be for you to be coping without Chloe…but I can't let what you're going through stop the reason I'm here. Aster. I want to be her Dad, I want to know everything about her and be there for her. Me been here can actually help you, Elly. You're so worried about Chloe and your baby…and I'm sure you are doing everything you can to be there for Aster but maybe you don't need to be as much. I can be there for Aster."
"You're not taking Aster from me," Elly spat out, "No matter what I am going through waiting for Chloe to be found, Aster comes first too."
Shaun placed his hands up defensively as he stood up, "Is that what you think I'm here for? To take Aster from you? I would never do that to you. I understand that you had reason to believe I was dead when you were living away from your family. Just like I had reason to believe you and my little girl weren't alive as I thought Finn had killed you both. Whilst I am trying not to judge you nor Aster for deciding not to contact me when you found out I was alive, I just want to make up for all the lost time without being in Aster's life. I want to spend time with her, I want to get to know my daughter. If that gives you an opportunity to spend more time searching for Chloe…there's nothing wrong with that."
Elly tried to remind calm, "I'm sorry, okay. I'm sorry we didn't contact you…we were trying to put our lives together here after spending so many years away from everything for reasons you'll probably never understand, Shaun. Then things with Chloe…happened unexpectedly," Elly tried not to smirk knowing that Chloe been her mate meant that they were always expected to be together then worried how much she needed to remind herself of that with Chloe missing, "Things just got away from us with how perfect things were with Chloe, Aster and I…I guess we didn't want anybody coming in and…threatening that perfectness."
"We can't change the past, Elly, otherwise I'd have been there for Aster every day of her life. I can forgive the feeling of not wanting anything to come in between your family with Chloe. I'm not about that. I want to make up for the past and be there for Aster, which I don't want to have to point out to you that I have a right to as her father. We can make this work so I am still part of Aster's life and when you get Chloe back, we can work this all out between us," Shaun insisted.
"How does this work, then?" Elly wondered.
"I want to come back in the morning and spend time with my daughter. This works by you letting me into Aster's life. If you need time to go and search for Chloe, then I want to be able to mind Aster for you when you do," Shaun suggested, "You can trust me, Elly. Let me prove it to you by being there for Aster."
Elly thought for a moment, somewhat reluctantly agreeing with Shaun despite having deep reservations that letting anyone else into her life in the manner Shaun would be part of it, "Okay…we can make this work…come back in the morning and you can…spend time with our daughter."
Shaun smiled wildly, "I'll see you both soon then. And Elly…concentrate on Chloe…I'm sure you'll be reunited with her soon."
"Thanks, Shaun…I pray you're right," Elly replied softly, shyly happy at how reasonable Shaun was being.
Meanwhile, back at the mansion where Chloe was been held against her will, the heavily pregnant blonde was arguing with the werewolf who had captured her over the food he had brought her to eat.
"I'm done been handed what you deem to be food and kept here away from my family. Let me go," Chloe demanded.
"No," growled the man that Chloe hadn't gotten any info from, let alone his name, "Eat the food or don't, starve yourself and your baby if you want. You're not going anywhere unless I get orders to let you go."
"Orders? From who? Pierce? Who are you working for? Why me? Why was I taken?" Chloe rattled off her questions, most of which she had already asked multiple times over the course of the last day and a few hours that she'd been taken.
"Whose Pierce?" was the man's only response.
Chloe stared into the man's eyes, trying to work out if he honestly didn't know who her ex-husband was. Chloe turned away from him, staring around the bedroom she'd been locked in since she'd been taken and was looking at spending another night separated from her family. The anguish of wondering if they would ever find her weighed on Chloe heavily.
Chloe had free reign of the bedroom and ensuite, not that it helped her with any plans to escape. She knew the man that was holding her captive was a werewolf, even if she wasn't nearly eight months pregnant, all her martial arts skills likely wouldn't have been able to outwit a werewolf with the speed and strength he had. She may've been able to do so to Elly but as Elly had pointed out to her several months ago, when they were training in martial arts together, Elly was quite happy for Chloe to knock her to the ground in order for them to have some physical closeness.
Chloe looked back at the man, frowning when he looked towards the bedroom door, clearly hearing something she did not.
"He's coming," the man grunted.
"Who's coming?" Chloe asked timidly.
A moment later, Chloe finally heard the sound of someone else entering the mansion, walking down the hallways towards the bedroom.
It has to be Pierce, right? He escaped and he still wants to break Elly and I apart? Unless it's some revenge plot against one of The Pack members and I was the weakest link been the only human…besides Aster? Who else has anything against me…or Elly…or any of our family or friends?
The man who entered the room was not anyone that Chloe could have suspected of abducting her, as he immediately addressed her, "Chloe, it's been a while."
The look on Chloe's face matched Elly's look of confusion that she had on her face two hours prior, "Shaun?"
Next time - Shauny-Shaun-Shaun-Shaun - how is it even possible you know anything about Chloe's abduction? You've been in Oz for 3 hours and most of that was with Elly and Aster...right?