Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

"So, do you really think that not going to trial is the best thing?" Georgie desperately wanted to support Dillon's choice, but the entire scenario made her nervous no matter what. He took her hand.

"I do, Georgie, I really do," he said softly. "Look, you heard what your dad said. It would mean a lengthy trial, a lot of people would have to testify, and if the jury isn't right, I could still get convicted. It just makes more sense. I'll just - do what they say, you know?" She nodded. "I'll try to stay out of trouble for a year - who knows? Maybe I'll be good at it. And then we can, you know, apply to college together..."

She smiled. "You want to go to the same college as me?"
Dillon shook his head and kissed her nose. "Oh, I'd love to, but let's be honest, I'm not getting into the same college you are. But think Harvard... there are lots of colleges in Boston..." Georgie raised her eyebrows. "Or, you know...Stanford... or you could always go to the Sorbonne... we could live in Paris..."

"Robin went to the Sorbonne."

"See, you could see your cousin, go shopping on the Champs-Elysees or do whatever it is girls like to do in Paris." Georgie giggled. Dillon's voice softened. He stroked her hair. "We could get an apartment in Montmarte, right near the Place du Tertre... eat at little sidewalk cafes...they have the best ice cream in the world at this place on the Ile St. Louis...and every night we could go home and light about a hundred candles and just listen to the voices and street musicians..."

"Dillon! You have to stop!"

He looked at her, confused. "But why?"

"Because," she told him, tugging at the leather cord around his neck, "how can you expect me to be able to be able to go back to boring PC High and stay sane if you keep filling my head with these fantasies?"

He kissed her cheek. "You've got to have fantasies Georgie...and just believe that they'll come true, you know?"

Georgie blushed. Dillon looked curiously at her. "What is it, Georgie?" he teased her.

She looked away for second. "It's just that - I've kind of gotten a fantasy..."

Dillon arched his eyebrow. "Oh?"

Georgie swatted at him. "Well, yeah," she admitted. "You know, guys never looked at me before - it was always 'Maxie's little sister, the brain,' and then you came along and you saw me as Georgie. And I just, well, I didn't feel like the most important thing to you was whether or not I was pretty-"

"-You are pretty, Georgie," he interrupted. "You're beautiful."

She flushed. "Thank you, but you don't have to say that. What I meant is, you...you respect me. You make me feel appreciated and like I'm important to you because of who I am, the way I think. You make me laugh. I feel...cared for when I'm with you. You know? That's its own kind of fantasy. Not as exotic or romantic as Paris, but well..." she trailed off, looking at him shyly

Without a word, Dillon took her in his arms and kissed her. Georgie felt her body go weak as his lips stroked hers. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling her body into his. He moved tentatively to deepen the kiss, brushing his tongue along the inside of her bottom lip. Georgie whimpered into his mouth and shivered. Dillon brushed his thumbs over her cheeks, feeling the softness of her skin and...
...wetness. Tears. Georgie was crying softly as they kissed.

Dillon quickly pulled away, stopping the kiss, but keeping her close. He wiped her tears with his thumbs and drew her head down to kiss away the ones that were falling.

"Baby, baby, what's wrong, what is it?" He spoke tenderly, wanting to soothe her, but somehow the timbre of his voice only made her cry harder. Dillon felt tears burning at his own eyes. He made soothing noises and showered soft kisses all over her face, wanting desperately to comfort her. She sobbed.

"I love you." Dillon was on the edge of crying himself. Seeing her so upset was killing him. "Georgie, baby, I love you so much. Tell me what I can do to help you."

Georgie clung to him and mumbled something indistinctable into his shoulder. He massaged her neck. "What?"

She pulled away from his shoulder and finally looked directly at him. The sight of her red-eyed, her cheeks streaked with tears broke Dillon's heart.

"What's the matter?" He repeated patiently.

Her lip quivered. "You...you could have been killed." Saying the words just made her start crying again. Dillon pulled her closer to him, resting her head against his chest and stroking her hair.

"Shhh..." he soothed. "It's okay, I'm all right, I'm fine."

"But you could have...you drove right into a tree, Dillon!" She made choking sounds against his shoulder. "I was so terrified for you."

"I know, I know you were." Dillon rubbed her back in soothing circles. "Emily told me how scared you were. I'm so sorry I made you go through that. Don't cry...I'm so so sorry..."

Georgie lifted her head to look at him. "Don't do things like that!" Her voice was a little more fierce than before. "Don't try to take down psychopaths or drive cars into trees or off of cliffs. Don't jump off of bridges or run into burning buildings. I can't stand the idea of losing you."

Dillon kissed her several times, trying to kiss away the sobs. Slowly, she calmed down, sniffling and whimpering, but the sobs had subsided. Dillon pulled up the corner of the bedsheet and used it to wipe the tears off her wet cheeks.

"I won't," he said, cuddling her close and stroking her hair, "I'll be more careful."

"Promise me!" She demanded, grasping a handful of his tee shirt. Dillon was too annoyed by hospital gowns and had taken to the tee shirts and sweats that he had convinced Ned to bring by. He rubbed Georgie's cheek.

"I promise," he told her seriously. "I never want to do anything to make you cry like this, ever."

She seemed satisfied by this, and lay against him, the sniffles and whimpers lessening quickly. Dillon held her and listened to her breathing resume itself to normal. A gentle rapping came on the door. Dillon sighed.

"Just a second," he called out. He drew Georgie up to a sitting position and wiped away as many traces of tears as he could. "You okay?" She nodded, putting on a smile. "Okay then... Come in!" He called out.

The door opened and Ned came in the room. He smiled at the two of them and moved to rub Dillon's shoulder in greeting.

"How are you feeling?" Ned greeted him, then noticed Georgie's tear-swollen face.

"What's wrong?"

"She's just...upset about everything that's gone down," Dillon told his brother.

"Yeah, really, I'm fine," Georgie flustered, not wanting Ned to think she was a baby. He looked at her with kindness.

"Georgie, it's perfectly normal to feel upset about this whole ordeal-"

"I know, I know..."

"-something like this just feels like a complete loss of control, I'm sure. Even without the accident, a woman like Faith was can make people feel powerless and weak and not-"

"Wait a minute," Dillon interrupted. "You knew Faith-"

"in a good way," Ned finished.

"-I didn't know that."

Ned hemmed and hawed, looking very uneasy. Dillon went on.

"So wait, what kind of thing did she do to you?" Ned was avoiding Dillon's gaze and shifting his eyes like a teenager. It dawned on Dillon. His pupils dilated. "Oh my god, you didn't...did you..."

Ned looked up to see Dillon and Georgie staring at him with huge eyes, both looking slightly nauseated. He tried to think of an appropriate answer, but none came. He could only lock eyes with Dillon and then quickly look away.

That was all the response they needed. Georgie looked as if she were about to be sick.

Dillon groaned. "God, I need mouthwash."

Ned looked disturbed and Dillon quickly tried to cover his tracks. "No no no - look man I'm sorry, it's just that well-"

Ned held up his hand. "No need to explain. Believe me, it wasn't one of my prouder moments. She was a very, very determined, very manipulative woman. Once she decided that she wanted something, well, there wasn't much anyone could do to stop her-"

"-you're not kidding," Dillon muttered, half under his breath, but Ned still heard. He jerked his head to look at his younger brother.

"You didn't..."

Dillon shook his head vehemently. He sighed and looked at Ned, nodding slightly. "She tried." Ned tried hard, but couldn't mask his shock. Dillon sighed again, tracing his fingers in a pattern along the inside of Georgie's wrist. He looked at Ned. "You know how I told you that I drove the car into the tree because Faith threatened Georgie?"

"Uh huh." Ned nodded carefully, following along.

"Well, the missing part of that story is that she threatened to kill Georgie if I didn't-" Dillon stared at the end of the bed, unable to look at his brother and definitely unable to look at Georgie. "-if I didn't sleep with her," he finished.

"Oh..." Ned began slowly. It was the only thing he could think of.

Georgie had been quiet the whole time, but suddenly she spoke up, her voice disgusted. "Oh my god, do you think she knew you guys are brothers?"

"Yech." Dillon's mouth tasted bitter.

"Even if she did," Ned reasoned. "I don't think it mattered. Faith was manipulative, but she was also a coward. She made her life about gaining power by exploiting people's weaknesses, and that's what she did with Dillon."

"But what's Dillon's weakness? What, she thought that just because he's a teenager he would be all over the chance to have sex with-" Georgie sounded incredulous, and just a bit angry.

"No Georgie-" Ned began, as Dillon caught her hand. He rubbed the back of it with his thumb and finished Ned's sentence.

"-My weakness is you."

They stared at each other, almost oblivious to Ned, when a knock sounded on the door, jarring them out of their reverie.

"Saved by the bell, well, so to speak," muttered Dillon, then called out for whomever it was to come in.

The door opened and to everyone's surprise, Maxie slipped inside. She looked shy and a bit uneasy.

"Hi." She said.

'Maxie, what are you doing here?" Georgie asked. She couldn't help feeling just the tiniest bit threatened. She and Maxie had been getting on better lately, and she trusted Dillon, completely, but no matter what, it always seemed that once guys looked at Maxie too long, she was immediately forgotten. "But Dillon is different," she told herself fiercely. "He loves me. That - means something."She pushed the thought from her head.

"Actually I was wondering if I could have a minute-"

"Yeah, sure," said Georgie, sliding off the bed. "What's up?"

Maxie bit her lip. "Um, actually, I was wondering if I could have a minute alone with Dillon."

"With me?" Dillon was surprised. He and Maxie had been civil to one another, even cordial, since that conversation in the hall, but he couldn't imagine what they had to say to each other that merited privacy. Nevertheless, he nodded.

So did Georgie, with a slight reluctance. "Okay," she said.

Ned rose from the chair. "Take care Maxie." She smiled. "Dillon, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see ya." They shook hands and Ned walked out, followed by Georgie, leaving Dillon and Maxie alone. She traced a pattern on the tile floor with the toe of her shoe.

"So...when do you get out?" Maxie asked, sounding like she was stalling for time.

Dillon raised an eyebrow. "Tomorrow morning."

"Oh that's-that's great."

Dillon narrowed his eyes at her. "Maxie, what's up?"

She smiled slightly and went over to the bed, standing next to Dillon. "I heard Mac on the phone," she began, "talking about how you caused the accident to, you know, to save Georgie..."

Dillon nodded, not quite following. "Yeah..." he said slowly.

"And I wanted to, well I wanted to thank you, for well, you know..."

"Yes..." he prodded.

"For, you know, for protecting my sister," Maxie responded. "For, 'defending her honor' or whatever the expression is, I don't know-" She was flustered.

"Maxie," Dillon interrupted. She looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"You're welcome."

"Okay."

She took a breath and they looked at one another for a moment. She shifted her gaze around the room and cracked an ankle. The silence was getting thick.

"Hospital food sucks, doesn't it?" She blurted out.

Dillon grinned.

Georgie contemplated her choice of nail polish. Next time she was going to do something unusual like green or blue.

"You know, Georgie," she Ned say. She looked up. "-ever since you and Dillon have gotten, well, gotten close, he's not angry or seeming so alone anymore. I want to thank you for that."

She turned pink. "It's no big deal," she demured. "Dillon is, he's great, I really enjoy-"

Ned's phone rang. "Excuse me a moment," he said, picking it up. "Ned Ashton." His eyes narrowed. "I beg your pardon? No, no, no that merger was supposed to come through from the Tokyo office at 9 a.m. this morning!" He was clearly annoyed. "No, no, don't bother. I'll be right in." He hung up the phone and turned to Georgie. "I'm sorry, I have to go in to the office. Will you tell Dillon that I'll stop back later tonight if I can, otherwise I'll come by to take him home tomorrow morning?"

Georgie nodded. "Okay. Bye Ned."

He smiled warmly at her. "Bye Georgie."

Georgie, alone in the hospital corridor, looked around. Dillon's door was still closed. She looked at it for a moment, wondering if Maxie was about to emerge, but when she didn't, Georgie turned away.

She meandered down to the cafeteria and paid for a cup of chocolate pudding, eating it absently at a corner table, her mind wandering back to the day that she and Dillon had shared their first kiss.

"You think I did good?" Dillon was doubtful.
Georgie shook her head, wrapping her arms around him. "I think you did great."
He returned the hug, but when they pulled away, the energy between them changed. He started to move in, but then turned his head quickly, looking flustered.
"Well, you know, I-" and before Georgie knew what she was doing, her hand was on the side of his face and she was pulling him back to look at her.
They stared at each other. Georgie's eyes were vulnerable and Dillon sought permission in them. Finding it, he placed a hand on her cheek and moved in slowly. She lifted her chin, tilting her lips up toward him. Another moment's hesitation and he closed the space between them, kissing her in a way that made her knees weak.

Georgie felt a shiver go through her body, remembering the intensity of the kiss. It had been her fourth kiss, technically, but her first true kiss. The first time she had kissed someone or been kissed because of a mutual connection, not because she was desperate or needed practice, or because Lucas was mad at Maxie. She stood up and threw the empty pudding cup in the trash, heading back upstairs.

She knocked on Dillon's door but received no response, so she slipped inside quietly, not wanting to surprise him. He was lying on the bed, seemingly asleep. Georgie watched him for a moment, smiling tenderly, and turned to leave.

"Wait," he called out. She turned back.

"Get your rest," she told him quietly. "I'm gonna go."

"No, don't," he implored her. He held his arm out. "Come here."

She walked to the bed and he took her hand, pulling her up next to him, arranging her in his arms. He kissed her cheek.

"Wonderful, beautiful Georgie..." he murmured sleepily.

She shook her head. "I'm not-" but she was silenced by his finger gently stroking her lips.

"Shhhh..." he hushed her.

Dillon shifted Georgie in his arms so that her head was lying on his chest. He kissed the top of her head and absently played with her hair.

They both closed their eyes.