Hey guys, I am sorry for the bit of wait for this chapter. It was out of my control as I had went camping a week and a half ago and what should have been a trip of a few days turned out to be longer as we extended our camping time, which was okay with me as I enjoy camping and the outdoors.
As I have stated before, Onyx belongs to me and you do need permission to use her. KikiJuanita owns the rights to Jeremy, Dylan and Courtney and she has given me permission to use them. The others belong to Glee.
Enjoy!
It's been two and a half weeks since Jeff woke from his coma, and he was slowly getting back into the swing of his life, not a single person that knew him wanted him to rush right back in; they wanted him to take it easy until he got the all clear from his doctor, and it was driving him crazy. Onyx spent many nights at his place, having crashed on his couch more than she has at her place.
Not that it mattered. It wasn't like her boyfriend was there and instead of being home with him, she was home with her pup or well their pup. Captain spent his nights at Jeff's as well, her brother slowly warming up to the furry guy.
"So again tell me why you're here, watching reruns of Overhaulin' when you could be at your home watching anything you want with your boyfriend?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at his sister. He wasn't at all shocked or surprised when he found out that while he was getting ran over that she was making the jump from being roommates with Seb to living with her boyfriend. He's happy for her. He can see how happy she is about living with Clint and that's all he wanted for his sister, to be happy. However, tonight she looked every bit the opposite of happy. And it wasn't like he could get into a scrap with the dude, not in his condition, he could call up Sam, Blaine, and Nick to do it for him though, but he wasn't ready to pull that card quite yet.
"Because it's an empty apartment. As it has been the last two weeks, with him spending every hour, he can at the club trying to make the remodel go faster," she sighed. "And I sure in the heck didn't move in with my boyfriend to be by myself," she stated a bit bitterly.
"Onyx," Jeff sighed, shaking his head. "You should be at home, having this talk with him when he does show up, or you know call him and tell him to come home," he told his sister.
"I know," she said, licking her lips. "I know communication is important, but it's hard to talk when it's like we're passing ships in the dark. And I am the last person that's going to pick up a phone and beg for him to come home to talk," she sighed.
"You wouldn't be begging," Jeff told her. "Either you go home and call him, or I will," he warned. "I won't let the best relationship you've ever been in end because you're not brave enough to speak up," he finished telling her. He moved slightly, picking up his phone. "Which will it be?" He asked.
"I get it," she said getting up. "Need anything before I go?" She asked, collecting her things, waiting on her brother to answer.
"Yeah, nope, I'm all good," he said, unlocking his phone to send a message.
"You could've told me the real reason you didn't want me to stay," she laughed, walking to the door. "And I can always stay back for Christmas," she offered.
"Yeah, no," he laughed. "You've got three families waiting on you back in Ohio this season; I won't be the one to make you stay. I'll be fine and there's friends here so I won't be alone for the season," he assured her.
Onyx nodded, and headed out. The first thing she was going to do was take Captain for a walk and try to get her boyfriend to come home. And if she couldn't do that, then maybe she needed to rethink her relationship with him. By no means should she be seeing less of him when they share a space. She knows she's seen more of him before she moved into his place with him.
"Oh, hey, I wasn't expecting you to be home," she said seeing her boyfriend standing in the kitchen, looking over something on his laptop.
"I wasn't expecting you to be home either," he replied back, not bothering to look away from the contract he was reading over.
"You could've called; I would've come home sooner," she told him, leaning on the counter opposite of him.
"Would you though?" He asked, closing his laptop.
"What's that mean?" She asked him.
"This is the first face to face conversation we've had in two weeks," he replied.
"And last week I told you that I was going to be home late because I had a weeks worth of detentions scheduled for everyone who covered for me when Jeff was in the hospital," she stated. "I wasn't the one gone Saturday and Sunday either," she pointed out.
"You had one week of late nights at work, what about this past week, huh?" He asked. "I was here thinking that you might just show up, but nope, you weren't here when I went in to see what I could do to fix my club up. I get that you're still worried about Jeff, but using your brother to avoid your boyfriend, is low," he said. "And if I recall you weren't here Saturday, something about the play at school," he reminded her.
"It's a moot point, Clint. I may have spent my time with my brother helping him out, because hello he's my family," she said. "And yes, I am supposed to be here with my boyfriend, if only he was here. What's the point of being at home to spend time with my boyfriend, when he's not here?" She questioned.
"Because it's your home, or at least, it used to be," he said, grabbing his laptop and moving to the kitchen table, instantly regretting his choice of words.
"If that's how you really feel; I'll leave you to your little bachelor pad," she spat out, turning right around and storming out of the door, ignoring the exasperated sigh of her boyfriend.
She sighed, trying to keep her stupid tears where they belonged and not running down her cheeks. She fell to the floor, bringing her knees up to her chest, laying her head on her arms that rested across her knees. She wasn't going to run away from her problems; she was going to let herself have a chance to calm down so she didn't say the wrong thing and really mess everything up with Clint, because no matter what one said, you could never take it back; it would always be there between you and used against you in the next fight. That and she didn't want to regret saying the wrong thing. She may have many regrets but saying the wrong thing to ruin her relationship isn't one she wants hanging over her head.
And because she left her pup in the apartment, and she didn't want to storm back in after already making her exit. She'd just chill in the hall for a few minutes, and they could talk like the adults they are and work through the problems they have.
"Why don't you come back inside, and we can salvage the rest of our night," Clint suggested, sitting on the floor next to her.
"You sure you want me in your space?" She asked, refusing to move her head to look at him. "Because if not I can be moved out in a matter of minutes," she tacked on, finding it hard to keep all emotions out of her voice, when all she wanted to do is break down and cry her eyes out.
"I am sorry for making you think that I didn't want you living there," he apologized. "It was wrong of me to say such a thing. I am sorry. It's our apartment and I want you there, Onyx. I don't want you anywhere else than with me in our home," he softly told her, lacing his fingers with hers.
"I don't want to be anywhere else either. And it hurt when you said what you said. It made me think that I am not good enough, that you're tired of me, tired of our relationship," she sighed, licking her lips.
"I'm not tired of any of this," he assured her. "The only thing I am tired of is us not being together," he said. "You have to admit that we've spent more time with each other when we lived separately than we have now, and we sleep in the same bed," he sighed.
"I do admit to that, but it's not just me, Clint. I did have to stay late at work; I did want to check on Jeff and help him, and I thought you were understanding about that and I am sorry that I haven't been here supporting you with the club needing repairs and whatnot, the way I should've been," she apologized.
"You shouldn't be worrying over my stuff, Onyx. I do get it, but it's feeling like you don't want to be here, living together or even in this relationship," he sighed.
"I want it all with you," she assured him, crawling into his lap. "I love you," she smiled, kissing his nose. "I only spent so much time with Jeff because you weren't here."
"And we're going to change it all," he told her. "I love you and the world is ours to take," he smirked, kissing her.
"We should really take this inside," she giggled, feeling his lips skim over her neck. "And before we get carried away, I need to walk Captain," she said, lightly pushing him away.
"Already did," he told her, getting up. "He'll be good until tonight," he said, helping her up.
She stood looking in the fridge to see what she could make for a late dinner, after having the best make-up sex in her life, she grew hungry from the activities in their bed and the shower mixed in with the fact, she really hasn't eaten a full meal since the day prior. She grabbed am energy bar on her way out the door this morning to work and for lunch, she had some fruit. And when she got to Jeff's place, she had a few cookies, but now she was starving.
"We could always order some take out," Clint commented, opening his laptop once more to finish up what he had been doing when Onyx returned home.
"I actually don't want take out; I'd much prefer a home-cooked meal," she sighed, not seeing anything that was really catching her attention in the fridge.
"How about you put some pants on to go with my shirt, and I'll sort dinner out while you take Captain for a quick walk around the block," he suggested.
"Deal," she smiled, walking to the bedroom to slip a pair of leggings on, along with socks. "My recommendation is something quick," she told him, grabbing her keys and some doggie bags and placing it by the door while she clipped the leash to Captain's collar.
"I'll try," he assured her, looking through the pantry to see what he could toss together.
Walking Captain had taken longer than she would have liked, as he was being stubborn as ever finding the perfect spot to go to the bathroom. So by the time she made it back to the apartment, Clint already had the food at the table, and the aroma alone made her mouth water, and her stomach start to gargle at the enticing smell.
"Babe, I sure in the hell hope this tastes as good as it smells," she commented, placing her things on the counter as she washed her hands in the kitchen sink.
"It will," he smirked, shutting the fridge from where he was getting the bottle of wine.
Onyx rolled her eyes, drying her hands off. "It almost smells as good as the baked Mac N cheese," she commented, taking her seat at the table, seeing the skillet Mac N cheese, with tomatoes and bacon mixed in.
"Then dig in," he chuckled, pouring her a glass of wine. She did just that, moaning with the first bite of food. "Someone loves it," he joked, digging into his own food.
They eat in silence for a few minutes, Onyx not having the time to do anything other than eat with how hungry she suddenly felt and Clint letting her eat, knowing he wouldn't get anything out of her anyway.
"Have you booked the flight?" She asked, pushing the noodles around on her plate now that she's full and couldn't eat anymore.
"Yes," he confirmed. "The flight is at 6 on the 23rd. So I figured I'd pick up from the school, and we can head straight to the airport," he told her.
"Sounds good," she nodded.
"I also booked a hotel room; it made more sense that way, especially with how late we'll be getting in," he told her. She nodded; she'd much rather preferred to stay at a hotel rather than crash in her old childhood room. Nothing against her room or her mothers, she just wanted to have a bit more privacy than she'd get at her childhood home.
"The only thing there is the time we need to be up on Christmas to get to my mom's place, as breakfast is at like 7, but I can convince them to push it back a few hours, so we have time," she told him.
"Christmas is meant to be spent getting up early," he chuckled. "I also booked the return flight for the 28th. Figured we could spend bringing in the New Year with our friends here," he told her.
"I love you for that," she smiled. "I love a white Christmas, but I hate the cold," she laughed. "That and I would much rather spend the New Year here with everyone," she told him. When really the only person she needed to ring in the new year is sitting across the table from her. She didn't need to go out and party; she would very much like to curl up on the couch or in bed and watch the ball drop on TV.
"Is that the only reason you love me?" He teased, getting up and taking her plate along with his to the sink.
"You know the answer to that question," she replied, getting up to find a dish to put the leftovers in.
"That I do," he laughed, filling the sink with hot water. "I just wasn't sure how pissed you'd be if I ended the trip before you wanted to come home," he shrugged.
"We could have left the day-after Christmas, and I wouldn't have cared. Out of all the traditions that I do around Christmas, the only one that I need is the one where I spend it with you," she stated, wrapping her arms around him from behind, kissing the middle of his back. "Let me help," she said, standing next to him to rinse the dishes. She knew it was no use to tell him they could've waited until morning or to use the dishwasher, as there just wasn't that many, and it wouldn't take that long to begin with.
"Aren't we being all cute," he teased, hip checking her.
Instead of replying she stuck her tongue out at him, splashing him with water. Clint gasped, spraying her with water. And chaos ensued water getting everywhere in the kitchen as they had a water fight, laughter filling the small apartment. Once they called a truce, they changed into dry clothes and worked together to clean up the water mess they had made before they fell into bed together.
"Are you looking forward to meeting the parents?" Onyx questioned her best friend, before the morning bell, standing in his classroom.
"No and yes," he sighed, straightening the papers on his desk. "It's scary," he laughed nervously. "Not to mention that it's a ranch for troubled teens."
"You can handle the teens," she laughed, watching a few of his students trickle in. "You're afraid of the horses and the other animals they have," she teased him.
"Shut up," he grumbled. "Sure teens are the easy part," he nodded. "But those dang horses get me every time. You know how it is," he said.
"I do and the best advice I can give you is that it's time to overcome your fear of all animals you think are out to get you. The horses aren't going to hurt you; the chickens aren't going to eat you. The geese might chase you; the goat might headbutt you, the sheep; I'm not sure whether they will hurt you," she told him, trying her hardest not to laugh. "The cows won't bother you; the bulls might attack; I don't know; you'd have to ask your girlfriend about them," she said with a shrug.
"Want to know something?" He asked her. "You're not helping me out here," he told her, not waiting on her to answer him.
"Seb just put your big boy pants on, and you'll be fine," she told him, walking to the door, waiting on some students to enter the classroom.
"The only plus side to this whole thing, you get to deal with Jeremy," he laughed.
"Well there ya go, if you can deal with your brother, you can deal with a few farm animals," she laughed, making her exit and joining her students as they entered the classroom.
"With the unit test yesterday, and for the few of you that weren't here, I will be taking you to the library, so we can get the test taken before Winter break, the rest of you will be staying in the classroom and watching a movie," Jake informed the class after taking attendance.
"Pick a movie and that's what we'll be watching today and tomorrow," she told the class once Jake was gone with the few students who needed to take the test.
Each of the three classes was the same. Jake taking the students who missed the test to the library while the others watched a movie. On her lunch break, she had texted Clint to say that she would be home late as she wanted to stay after and grade some tests. She and Jake had worked out what half of the tests would be and split them up, so that way, neither one had a whole bunch to correct over Winter Break, ruining what they had planned with family and friends for work.
Once the end of the school day approached she decided that what work she had could be done at home. She did just have a fight about not being home enough, and she didn't want to fight about it yet again. She did stay an extra half hour wanting to make sure that she was available if any of her students needed to speak with her. Once that time was up she headed home, wanting to be there instead of at school, she wanted to curl up with her boyfriend and pup on the couch while she graded the tests.
If only he felt somewhat the same way as she did. She walked into her home seeing that her boyfriend invited over his friends, Jeff among them.
"I thought you were staying late at work?" Clint asked, looking up from the video game being played.
"That had been the plan, but I can easily grade the tests at home," she replied, setting her bags on the table.
"I can kick them out," he said, following her into the bedroom so could change into something more comfortable.
"As wonderful as that would be, you can't kick them out," she told him, stripping down to her undergarments. "To be fair you didn't know I was going to be home this early. I can curl up with Captain in bed and grade, and you enjoy your time with your guests," she smiled, sharing a kiss with him.
"Well now that you're home, Jeff can be your guest since he's your brother," he smirked.
"Yeah, nope, not gonna work," she laughed, exiting the bedroom and going straight to the kitchen to find a snack. "How'd they rope you into this?" She asked Jeff taking the open seat by her brother and Jay.
"Clint asked if I was bored yet, and if I wanted to come hang out, and this is better than an empty apartment any day," he nodded letting a soft sigh out.
"I know what you mean," she nodded. "But isn't Courtney supposed to be coming to stay for the next two weeks?" She asked him.
"Uh yeah," he said, taking a look at his phone. "She should be here within the next few minutes," he said getting up. "Do I still get your dog while you're gone?" He asked, walking to the door.
"Yep, Clint will bring him by on the 23rd, and we'll pick him up on the 28th while dropping off your presents," she nodded.
"I can handle five days," he nodded. "Thanks for the invite," he said looking at Clint.
"No problem. Stop by anytime," Clint told him, grabbing some beers for his friends.
"I take it all is good?" Jeff asked, pulling the door open.
"Yep," she nodded, giving her brother a hug. "I'll see you when I get back. You can open the present under your tree on Christmas or wait until I get back," she told him.
"We'll see," he laughed. "I'll be seeing you and have fun," he told her. "Your present is under your tree, and I guess you can open it tomorrow before you leave," he told her.
"Got it," she laughed, shutting the door now that Jeff was halfway down the hall waiting on the elevator as he didn't feel like taking the stairs. "Enjoy," she said, grabbing her bags and walking to the bedroom. "Captain, come," she said, getting the pup to run into the bedroom before she shut the door.
Being a teacher to a bunch of teenagers helped her block out the noise coming from the living room and let her focus her attention on each test, helping her fly through them in record time. She had just finished up grading the first-hour tests when Clint entered the bedroom leaving the door open.
"They all headed home; they dropped off some presents, and it's up to us when we want to open them. I gave them the presents we bought for them and their spouses, told them under no certain circumstances can they open them until the day of Christmas," he explained to her with a teasing tone.
"Jeff told me the same thing, but I don't think I'm going to have time tomorrow morning to open any presents, and I sure don't want to add more to what we have to take already," she told him, placing the tests back in the right spot of the folder.
"How about we open them after dinner," he suggested. Onyx nodded; she was okay with that plan. "Alright, I'll fix something up while you finish grading tests," he informed her, sharing a quick kiss. "Anything you're in the mood for?" He asked, pushing himself up off the bed.
"Nope, just whatever you can toss together without going out to get anything," she told him.
"I'll see what I can do," he nodded, letting her get back to work, leaving the door open since it was just the two of them.
It took a total of 10 minutes before she moved from the bed to the couch to finish up the small stack of tests she had to grade. Second period had been the class where the stack of tests were split in half. Grading those tests was easier than the first bunch, and she was done in time to help her boyfriend set the table for dinner.
"I talked to Jeremy and Dylan today when they found out that I was bringing you along for Christmas Eve dinner," she told her boyfriend as she dug into her plate of food. She had talked to them in the half hour she stayed after school for a few minutes. "They had just gotten in and were told."
"Yeah and are they just waiting to make my life hell for being in love with their pseudo sister?" He asked in a joking manner hiding the fear he really felt.
"Dylan promised to be on his best behavior, Jeremy says he will, but you've met him so you know partly what to expect there," she told him. "But the joking for them means they've accepted you. You'd really have to worry if they didn't tease and joke with you," she explained to him.
"Can't say that makes it any better," he sighed. "I've met your dad, and that was alright even with you being on the outs with him and in such a horrible situation, but the guy likes me, your moms adore me and wanted us together from the start," he smirked, remembering back to the first encounter he had of the two woman. "But now I have to impress and prove that I am good enough for you to people that you do see as family, that see you as a daughter to them. And I think that's scarier than meeting your real parents," he told her.
"The fact that you're coming with me, is all they need to know that you love me, and that you are good enough for me. Do you think that they hadn't grilled Seb about our relationship, and if you're good enough?" She asked him. His eyes went wide.
"Have they been quizzing Seb about us?" He asked.
"Yep," she confirmed. "Clint, no worries," she told him, taking his hand from across the table. "Just be you and they'll love you, not as much as I love you, but close enough," she teased.
"Gee thanks," he laughed.
"And besides if anyone should be freaking out, It should be me," she told him. "Meeting your parents the first time hadn't been under the best circumstances," she laughed.
"They love you; I've talked to them all since plenty of times, and they all remind me not to screw this up," he assured her.
"How about this," she said, licking her lips. "I won't screw up what we have, if you don't screw this up," she said.
"I can handle that," he agreed. "You do know that we have to actually talk about things and not let a repeat of what happened the last two, and half weeks occur again?" He asked.
"I know," she nodded. "We both knew that communication was key to us lasting and yet we both ignored it for too long, and I don't understand how or why we let it go on that long for," she sighed.
"I wish I had an answer for you, Onyx, but I'm just as baffled as you are as to why we let it go on that long for. That's not us," he sighed. "We've been somewhat good at talking."
"But really we've been good at hiding away from the other until it explodes like it had, so really that is us, and we need to change that behavior. Because I love what we have, and I only want it to change for the better," she told him.
"Same here," he agreed, kissing the back of her hand. "Now how about we leave this for now, and I'll deal with them later, and we go open some presents," he suggested.
"Now that is something I can do," she smiled, getting up, to move to the living room to open up a few presents and enjoy their last night in their apartment for the next five days.