I am so sorry this didn't go up sooner! Alison was just not talking to me the way she usually is, and I had to rewrite this chapter a few times. Things were just going too fast. I hope you all stick with me, despite the fact that i take too long too update! Thanks for all the reviews, and the kind words. YOU GUYS ROCK!

They were packed and in Quinn's car in a matter of minutes. Alison had seen how fast shifters can heal, but the way Quinn was moving was miraculous. Given the fact that only a couple hours ago he had been in a nearly fatal fight with a vampire, he was doing pretty well. He even carried her duffell bag downstairs, despite her pleas not too. Frannie was less than pleased with the plan and Michael and Alison stood awkwardly in the foyer while the siblings had it out in the living room.

"Quinn, you can't just leave me here! Take me with you, I'll help, I'll-"

"Frannie, no. This time you gotta stay here and I'll come back for you, when the dust settles. It's too dangerous."

She was silent, and Alison stole a glance towards the two. Her eyes were welling up with tears.

"Fine." She spat out, her voice practically hoarse with venom. She turned and walked hastily towards the staircase.

"Frannie...." He yelled, reaching out to grab her, but she was too fast and already up the stairs. Alison and Michael glanced at one another, and he nodded.

"Okay then, you two better hightail it outta Texas. I'll take care of her, Quinn."

"I can't thank you enough for this."

"Don't bother. It's the least I can do." He nodded, and Michael turned back to Alison. "Take care of yourself, and be careful." She nodded and he hugged her, something she wasn't exactly expecting, but welcomed it. "Good luck."

She nodded again and turned to follow Quinn out the front door and over to his car on the far side of the driveway. Once safely inside, Quinn drove with a sort of stoic intensity that told Alison to be quiet, that he was probably thinking things that didn't concern her and she should just stay out of it. So she leaned her head on the cool window and watched the lights of Dallas whizz by as he sped forward. She didn't know where she was going, she didn't know what she was going to do and, frankly, she was getting sick of having to trust people she barely knew. It was a bad trait to begin with, but this was just getting ridiculous.

She didn't notice that she had drifted off to sleep until the car jerked forward, and then she was upside down, coughing and frantic. Quinn was cursing loudly next to her and she stared at him, her eyes wide. It was nearing morning and she could feel that morning mist hanging in the air, she heard the sound of glass crunching beneath someone's feet and her eyes got impossibly wider.

"Come on you two. Wiggle on out of there."

Johnny. She wasn't sure how long he had been chasing them because she had been asleep, but she prayed Quinn was alright enough to fight. She had the feeling Johnny wasn't there to have a heartfelt conversation about his choices regarding the fellowship. She unlatched the seatbelt and fell onto the hood of the car with a thunk. "Ugh," She uttered, and proceeded to wiggle her way out of the passenger side window, making sure she avoided the broken glass. She looked up to see Johnny staring down at her, smiling. "Asshole."

"By all means sweetheart, carry on. I'm just enjoying the view." She managed to make it all the way out and stood up, she immediately backed around the car to stand by Quinn who was growling and staring at Johnny with as much fury as any other angry tiger. Alison positioned herself mostly behind him, glaring daggers at Johnny. "I'm really sorry about this," he said, motioning towards the car. Quinn was completely still, something Alison found very unnerving. She momentarily glanced away from johnny and over to the car he was driving. 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible. Jake's car, her fathers car before that. Well, she would be damned if she saw it go to some asshole shifter with a bad attitude.

Johnny was staring at her, ignoring Quinn completely. "You and I, We could have been something, babe. You don't have to work for those vamps, I'll give you a chance, just come with me and leave all this behind. I don't want to fight you, Quinn. I just want the girl."

Alison thought for a moment, and Quinn looked utterly stricken when her face softened and she moved out from behind him towards Johnny. She ran to him, letting him catch her in his arms, raising her head to his ear, she smiled. "I'm not your babe, and that's my fucking car." She said and rammed her knee between his legs with a strength she didn't even know she had. He was down in less than a second, and Quinn grabbed her from behind, practically throwing her towards the wreckage that was his car. He picked Johnny up and began yelling, Alison busied herself by pulling her duffel bag out from the back seat, and transporting it to the Pontiac.

She looked over her shoulder to see Quinn elbow Johnny hard in the face and drop him to the floor. Leaning down, he pulled the keys from Johnny's pocket and tossed them to Alison. "Let's go." She caught them easily sliding fluently into the drivers seat and running her hands along the steering wheel. Quinn folded himself into the passengers seat, and leaned his head back onto the headrest. "Drive."

"Where?"

"Just drive."

So she drove and they didn't talk, there was only a few awkward moments when she thought she felt Quinn staring at her but looked over only to see him turn his head and look out the window. The sun was high in the sky and she figured it was about eleven o'clock, they had been driving for maybe four hours. Her head was starting to hurt, her butt was numb and her stomach was growling about every thirty seconds. Quinn spoke first.

"Take this exit, we should get something to eat." She nodded and merged to the left towards the exit, she only had to drive about a mile or two before they found a Carls Jr. Alison always tried to stay away from fast food, but figured that now was no time to argue with herself about her diet. They parked in front of the small establishment and were back in the car within fifteen minutes armed with cheeseburgers, french fries, chicken stars, and sodas. Alison imagined that she had never eaten anything so delicious, but was distracted from her meal by Quinn. "I can't believe you scared me like that."

"What do you mean?"

"When you ran to Johnny."

Alison was quiet, pondering what his words meant. Scared because she might be willing to give up everything and just go to the Fellowship, or because she ran to Johnny so easily and he thought she might leave him. She found herself hoping for that latter. "Why were you scared?" She figured asking directly would be the only way to get a direct answer.

"Because you're smarter than that, and because you deserve better than him."

After leaving the Carls Jr. they switched off driving for a couple of hours and finally stopped just outside Amarillo, Texas. Quinn turned into the parking lot of a seedy motel, one that Alison would have never felt safe at if she weren't with him. They rented a room for only one night and Quinn gave the guy a wad of cash to say he never saw them if anyone ever asked. She lugged her duffel bag through the door and plopped it down onto the bed. The room was stale and hot, and covered in bad seventies prints, florals and plaids in greens and yellows. She sat down on the bed and watched Quinn change his shirt. She tried not to stare, but when a specimen such as Quinn presents itself for viewing, she didn't think it was appropriate to look away.

The muscles on his back were so defined that Alison nearly quivered, they flexed beautifully with every movement he made, the long scars from his time in the pits clearly visible. He turned around to face her abruptly and she coughed and looked down, wiping her nose. "How are your, uh, ribs?"

Quinn reached down and started to unwrap the ace bandage Alison had wrapped around him the night before. He looked unhappy, like what she had said brought back a string of events he would rather have forgotten all together. "Just a little sore, you fixed me up real good." She smiled, knowing for a fact that nothing she had done helped him. He was a shifter, he healed abnormally fast. She remembered once when her and Jake were younger he had fallen from a tree and landed on his side, cracking his arm basically in half. He sat up, holding it and crying it, and she ran to get her father. By the time they came back, the bone had almost mended itself completely, they never even went to the doctor.

"So, what's your plan?"

"What?"

"You said you knew someone who could help us."

"Oh," He sighed, sitting down on the other bed, facing her. "Yeah, I didn't really think that one through. I have a friend who owes me a favor in Santa Fe, that's where we're headed. He won't be happy about it, but he can't really refuse me."

"Why does he owe you?"

"I saved him from The Drow."

"Excuse me?"

"The Drow is a dark race of elves, after the first Fae war they were forced underground. Evil fuckers." Alison stared at him, her mouth agape.

"Elves?"

"Yes, elves."

"You saved him from a dark race of elves?"

"Yeah."

"I think it's time for bed."

He laughed. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one, because I've only slept about four hours in the last twenty four hours. That's not nearly enough sleep to even fathom the fact that under the world there is a dark and evil society of elves."

"Okay, that's good enough for me. I'm going to jump into the shower. I'll wake you in the morning."

"Thanks for everything, Quinn."

"Don't mention it, Doll." He said as she laid on her side, the last thing she saw before she fell asleep was Quinn flashing her a wide, toothy grin.

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