Author's Note

I'm so sorry for how late this chapter is! Work and school have been kicking my butt. But it is finished now! YAY! I will try to make it up to you guys by publishing the next chapter early.

As always, huge thanks to everyone who reads, faves, follows and reviews my story! It gives me huge confidence boost to continue writing, so please keep it up! Thank you!

Enjoy!

Ana POV

The cab ride was thankfully short. I was suddenly exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. I wasn't sure whether it was the alcohol or Jose's attack, probably a mix of both, but either way I couldn't wait to see my bed. Elliot got me upstairs and unlocked our door, as I couldn't get my hands to stop shaking long enough to get the key into the keyhole. Thankfully, the apartment was empty, meaning Kate had gone home with whatever guy she was with.

"Do you want anything before you to bed, Ana?" Elliot asked me quietly as I sat down on my bed.

"Will you get me a bottle of water, please? There should be a few in the fridge,"

"Of course, baby. I'll be right back," he says giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before disappearing into the hallway, going to the kitchen. I get changed into my sleep shorts and an old t-shirt while he's in the kitchen.

He comes back quickly with two bottles of water as well as some aspirin.

"Here, take these now, you won't feel too hungover tomorrow," he says handing me two aspirins.

"Thank you, Elliot! I'm so sorry about tonight... I can't believe how it turned out," I said dropping my head into my hands.

"You can't possibly take responsibility for any that baby," he says raising my chin with his fingers as he sits on my desk chair opposite me.

"None of this was your fault, Ana! Now let's get some sleep, and we'll talk more in the morning," he says giving me a kiss, that I quickly deepen. At some point we end up laying down on my bed, Elliot partially laying on top of me, pushing me further into the mattress. One of my hands is on Elliot's back, under his shirt. I can feel all his muscles rippling under my hand, I can't hold back the groan from the feel of them. My other hand is his hair, my fingers running through his soft curls and nails lightly scraping his scalp. I pull on his hair slightly, making him groan.

Elliot pulls away slightly, his breathing is rough, and he whispers that we should stop. I know he's just as turned on as I am, as I can feel how hard he is against me. I'm trying to say something, but I can't seem to put together a sentence. I know he is right though. After everything that happened tonight especially Jose, I really shouldn't be jumping into bed with Elliot, plus I've also quite a bit of alcohol, and I want to be able to remember this clearly, not through an alcohol haze.

"I know," I finally manage to whisper, my breathing still a little fast from our make-out session.

Elliot slides off of me and lays down next to me, gathering me in his arms. My head is resting in the crook of his shoulder, his arm around me, keeping me close and our legs all tangled up. Despite what we were doing only minutes ago, I can feel my eyes dropping, all the events of the day have exhausted me.

The last thing I remember before falling asleep is breathing in Elliot's scent and Elliot quietly saying "I'll always be here for you, Ana Banana," as he kissed my hair.

Waking up, I'm still in the exact same position I was when I went to sleep, and so is Elliot. I'm not entirely sure what it is, that woke me up until I hear Elliot saying something, or rather mumbling something. I turn my head just a little so I can see Elliot's face, but he is still sound asleep. I realize he must be talking in his sleep, which I find super adorable. The only thing I can make out is 'Ana Banana,' which is making me swoon a little as I hear him say it.

I can't help but reach up and caress his face but right before I touch him, I hear the front door slam. Elliot wakes up startled by the noise, looking around us to see what's going on. We're both sitting up in bed when I hear, what I assume to be Kate's door, slam as well.

"It must be Kate," I mumble annoyed that she can't just walk in like a regular person.

"Does she always come home so loudly?" Elliot groans. I just shrug as Kate usually comes home in some kind of loud manner, although the door slamming is mostly when she's angry. I lay back down, pulling Elliot with me. Elliot laughs, pulling me close to him. However, our cuddles are quickly interrupted by Kate.

"Ana! Are you gonna make breakfast soon? I'm starving!" Kate yells through the door. I just sigh, thinking how I used to love cooking for Kate and how appreciative she used to be. But these last couple of months, it's been more of a demand that I cook everything for her, which in turn makes me not want to do it.

"Does she always treat you like this?" Elliot asks, propping himself up on one of his arms as he looks at me. I just shrug again not wanting to admit how my supposed best friend has treated me the past few months.

"Talk to me, baby,"

"She hasn't always been like this. Kate can't cook, and I love to cook, so I've always done most of it since we moved in together our sophomore year. Until a few a months ago, Kate used to be very appreciative and thankful for everything I did, especially the cooking. But these past few months, she's treated me more like a butler. I don't know what happened, but I guess I just wrote it off as graduation anxiety," I tell him, feeling a little ashamed about how I've allowed Kate to treat me.

"Do you think something could have happened a few months ago that could have tricked her behavior?" he asks sounding genuinely concerned.

"I don't know, she never said anything, and she hasn't gone to her usual fallbacks," I sigh. I get out of bed as I am pretty hungry and I'm sure Elliot is as well.

"Come on stud, we are making breakfast," I say trying to lighten the mood as I pull him out of bed. I realize he's wearing pajama bottoms, but I have no idea when he put them on, it must have been after I fell asleep.

We walk out into the kitchen hand in hand, Kate is sitting at the breakfast bar with a cup of coffee.

"Morning Kate," I tell her, opening our fridge to see what I can whip up for the three of us.

"Morning," she mumbles.

"So how does everyone feel about pancakes with eggs and bacon?" I ask both of them but only looking at Elliot.

"Whatever you make is fine with me, baby."

"Yeah sure, whatever," Kate says looking at her phone.

I can tell Kate's behavior is pissing Elliot of, but at the same time, he doesn't want to say something to make everything worse.

I set about cooking our food right away and even get Elliot to whisk the eggs while I make the pancake batter.

Our food is quickly done, and we get ready to eat. Elliot tried to help by cooking the bacon but promptly burned the first ones as well as himself, so I took over and told him to put his finger under cold water.

Kate continues to ignore us and just eats her breakfast, still playing around on her phone. The second she finishes, she leaves the table and goes to her room, not saying a single word or even taking her plate to the sink.

"I'm sorry baby, but how can you stand that?" Elliot asks me the second Kate's door closes and we're by ourselves.

"I guess I've kind of learned to ignore it, but I really hope it ends when she comes back from vacation with her family," I tell him. We are interrupted by Elliot's phone, he quickly apologizes and tells me it's his brother, and he'll be right back.

Hearing the mention of his brother, Christian, I'm suddenly reminded of the picture of my mother and so-called aunt I found this weekend. I actually brought it back with me to Portland, debating whether to talk to Elliot about it or not.

I know that Elliot isn't sensitive about his adoption, but some people are, and I don't want to bring up things, that might be a sensitive topic. I keep forgetting that I've only Elliot for a little more than a week, it feels like I've known him forever. But what could bringing this up, do?

Elliot is in the living room talking, so I get started on the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. Everything is cleared away, but I can hear Elliot is still on the phone, so I go to my room to get my phone. I know I have to call my dad and tell him about Jose and I also need to mention it to Kate. The picture of my mother and aunt are on my desk next to my phone, so I pick it up instead of the phone, hoping to delay that conversation with my dad as much as possible.

"Sorry about that baby," Elliot says coming in with his phone in his hand.

"It's fine, is everything okay with your brother?"

"Yeah he is okay, it was about your graduation. He is flying out here tomorrow for the ceremony on Thursday and wanted to know if I needed a ride. But I was actually thinking of staying here in Portland until this weekend when we're moving you to Seattle," he says looking a little nervous.

"I think that sounds great and you're more than welcome to stay here, but I have my last shift at the hardware store tomorrow, and I can't miss it. The owners have planned some kind of goodbye thing for me. But otherwise, all I have to do is pack up the apartment," I tell, hoping he'll still stay.

"Well, I'll be happy to help you pack," he says, spinning me around in his arms, giving me a sweet kiss.

"Should we talk about what happened last night?" Elliot asks, looking into my eyes as our foreheads are leaning against each other.

"There's not really anything to talk about. I'm fine, I just can't believe Jose did what he did. I'm going to have to tell my dad somehow though," I tell him honestly.

"Is he still going to be helping with the move this weekend?" Elliot asks carefully.

"Hell no! Right now, I don't want to see him at all!"

"Thank god!" Elliot says relieved, making me giggle. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about what happened, but I just want to forget it.

"What's this?" Elliot asks, noticing the picture that is still in my hand, which is now pressed against his chest. I feel my entire body tense up, and my brain working in overdrive as Elliot turns the photo so he can see it.

"I... I... It's..." I try to string together a sentence.

"Ana, what's wrong?" he asks concerned. He hasn't looked at the picture yet as my reaction distracted him from the photo. I take a deep breath, trying to prepare myself for this conversation, and the possible outcome of it. I grab the picture from his hand and turn it so he can see it.

"It's a picture of my mother and her older sister when they were young. I saw it at dad's this weekend, and I couldn't remember having seen it before. I didn't even know my mother had a sister. It turns out she ran away when she was 15 or 16, and they never knew what happened to her,"

"Sounds horrible," Elliot says, I can see him staring at the picture, but I can't tell which person he is looking at.

"El, I'm not sure how to say this or even if I should, but I need to," I tell him nervously, taking another deep breath.

"When I first met your brother at brunch Friday, something about him seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it, so I ignored it. But when I arrived at my dad's later that day, I found this photo and asked dad about it, I realized why. I have probably seen this picture during my childhood, and my aunt, Ellaine, reminds me a lot of your brother Christian. They have the exact same grey eyes, same hair, same lips. I don't know what this is or what it means. But I have been wracking my brain trying to decide whether or not to tell you. From what little I know of Christian, he is very private, and I'm not really sure how he'd react to something like this," I finish. My hand holding the picture is shaking, I can't read Elliot's face, it's like it's frozen.

"Please say something," I beg.

Finally, Elliot looks away from the photo and looks into my eyes. He seems utterly shell-shocked, maybe even a little scared.