Chapter 5

Living In the Past…Looking Forward to the Future

Right as we ran home, the whole family was there on the couches waiting for us.

"Kristie, Ian, where have you been?" James said.

I looked shy, and Ian just laughed. "We're not twelve, dad. And shouldn't you be asking Trevor what he did? I mean, just look at Kristie. Notice anything different?"

They all started and had blank looks on their faces. Before any of them could talk, Trevor came down the stairs. "So I broke her wrist. What's the big deal anyways?"

When he said that, all of them looked like they were in shock. "You did this to Kristie, Trevor?" Simone said.

Trevor smiled and said, "Yup. Couldn't be happier."

Ian instantly got furious, "Son, you know better then to say that. We all know that Kristie didn't deserve that," James said.

Trevor looked calm and collected, "And what if I think that she did deserve it? I mean, do you know what I went through when she ran away?"

"She just wanted to see me," Ian said darkly.

Trevor laughed, "I don't see why you would want to marry that…thing?"

"She didn't mean to do that to you. It's not any of our faults that she's stubborn. You're just jealous because you don't have your precious Alexa," Ian said back to match his tone.

Trevor got madder and started to fight Ian physically. "You guys," I started to scream. "Trevor is right, Ian. I deserve what happened to me, and I think I should have got worse. Now can you two just please shut up and stop fighting over this?" I screamed.

They both looked up, "No, Kristie. You didn't deserve that," Ian said sourly.

I gave both of them a blank look. "Yea. I did. I've done things like this in the past, and I've always gotten the worse."

Ian looked worried and angry at the same time. "What do you mean by the worst?"

I looked down, "I'd rather not talk about it if you don't mind."

Ian kept pushing forward, "Tell me, Kristie."

"Son, just let her be for now," Simone said.

"But mom!" Ian whined. "Think about Kristie for a minute. What do you normally think of when you hear the worst? Because what I think is physical abuse, or verbal abuse even. Just really think. All of you."

They all thought for about five seconds, "Mom, dad," Seth started, "He is right. Really, what do you think of?"

They both looked at each other for a minute, "I guess you two are right," James said shyly.

I sighed and started to walk away. Ian immediately followed me, and put one arm on my shoulder to stop me. "What really happened, Kristie?" he breathed against my neck.

I sighed and started to walk again. "For the final time, I really don't want to talk about it. It is all in my past, and I usually don't like to relive any of it. It was when I was really young, and it stopped when I was like fourteen. No big deal really."

Ian started to get tense, "Kristie. Do you realize how bad that could have been? You could have been killed. We don't want to see or hear about you getting hurt, it just hurts all of us even more. Like my parents said, we do worry about you. There are times in a family that you have to talk about past events. There have been times when I was scared, but I eventually did."

I looked up, "But I don't want to re-live those moments. They scare me, and I tried to block them from my mind. There is no way that I could ever talk about them again. They were just to horrible, and it sorta ruined my relationship with everyone I have ever known," I said in a quiet tone.

Ian laughed, "It hasn't ruined our relationship, now has it?" I shook my head. "Kristie, we are getting married so soon, I want us to be like any other married couple, just full of love, understanding, commitment, and honesty. How can we do that if you can't even talk to me about your past? I would find it really hard too. Kristie, we all love you, but we need you to cooperate with us on some levels if you can. It would really mean a lot to us if you did."

Right as he said that, I bursted out into tears. "But you have no idea!" I screamed.

Ian brought me into his arms and sat down on the sofa gently rocking me back and forward. "Kristie, please don't cry. Everything will be okay. It's all done know, and nothing like that will ever happen again. What Trevor did wasn't your fault no matter how much he tries to defend himself. I want us to just be happy, we love each other so much that whatever my idiot of a brother does can't come between that. I mean really, how much do you pay attention to Trevor? Not a lot, right?" I nodded.

My crying slowed down a little, "But it's just so hard to deal with that past, you know? None of my friends knew, and I tried so hard to keep it a secret. Trevor was really the first one to know. I never told you because I didn't want you to get mad. I just loved you so much that I couldn't even start to think of how I would tell you that."

Ian laughed, "You can tell me anything, you know. Do you want to hear a story of my childhood?"

I nodded, and he smiled.

"Well," he began. "When I was a little kid, both of my parents were die hard Christians. But I was best friends with the atheist, Josh. My parents did everything to get me away from him, but we would never separate. Believe it or not, Josh spent so much time at my house that he started to believe in God. When my parents found out, they couldn't be happier. They actually took Josh in as like their third child."

I cocked my head to the side, "Third? I thought you were an only child."

Ian laughed, "That's probably what you heard at school. I actually had a sister named Lea. She was beautiful, and Josh would always crush on her. It was actually funny…most of the time. Lea and Josh were at the hip at school. You actually look a lot like her. Brown hair, green eyes, but you have different facial characteristics. Josh and Lea started dating in like eighth grade. We were twins actually." Ian laughed. "I found it funny of how we looked nothing alike. We always called her the odd ball out of the family.

"Josh wouldn't give up on her no matter how hard he tried. One day, Lea broke his heart and fell for a man named Ashton. He was a jerk, and I stopped talking to her for a while because of what she did to Josh. But it was the day that the fight broke out that changed all of our worlds. You know, I always thought of our families like Rome and Juliet. I mean, like my family was the Caplet's, and Josh's as the Montague's. The only difference was that we didn't fall in love but for them, it was enough to loose their sons, but they had to die in order to achieve that goal.

"When Josh and I were on our own, we were at our happiest. But two days later, that is when we got separated. Josh got turned into a shape shifter, and I into a vampire. We finally met up our 'freshman' year of our second time around of high school. We were so excited, but at the same time mad. Josh was all on his own for those years, and I got the best family that I could ask for. He finally forgave me towards the end of that year.

"So you see, it doesn't matter what side of the family you are on, but in order to really get what you want, you will have to sacrifice something in return. We had to give up our families, but we learned to cope. Like I said before, I couldn't be happier that that happened. I gained the most beautiful wife I could ask for, and some pretty amazing family members," he said in a smile.

"I love you, Ian," I said matching his smile.

He laughed, "And I love you, too, Kristie."

Before we were about to kiss, Seth and Nathan came in the room. They both looked sad, but Nathan was brave enough to talk. "We're sorry about Trevor, Kristie. And Ian was right, you don't deserve what happened to you."

I laughed, "One day Trevor will just have to realize that he can't get everything he wants. But he has hard a hard life."

Ian was the next to talk, "And you've had it twenty times harder. Kristie, what he did was no excuse. I mean sure, he lost Alexa, but you lost parents, and almost get killed. He's going to learn how to cope with me being happy. I know this what has started everything. As you know, we use to be really close, but when you came that changed everything."

Seth talked next. "Ian's right, Kristie-" he started to say before I interrupted. "You seem to say that a lot," I snapped.

All three laugh, "But it's true," Nathan said. "I mean, how many times has Ian been wrong, Kristie? Because from what I remember, he really has never made the wrong decision from what I know."

I looked down to the floor, "I guess you guys are right."

Ian came over and lifted my chin with his finger, "I'm usually right because I love you so much."

I wrapped my arms around his neck, "And I love you, too." I said as I looked up to kiss him.

A few minutes later, "Uh hem?" Seth said.

Ian and I came out blushing, "Sorry," I said embarrassed.

They all laughed, "Well your wedding is in a few weeks. I guess we could maybe cut you two a break." He said as I ran up to hug them both.

They both laughed, "C'mon, Ian. Join our group hug," Nathan said.

Ian smiled and came over. "I guess I have to love you guys, too. But Kristie, I have to love even more. Sorry guys."

They both laughed and smiled, "Hey man, we have our ladies, too!" Nathan said.

Ian laughed, "We all have some pretty amazing women on our hands, don't we?"

"Totally," Nathan answered.

We all laughed and walked into the living room together; Trevor, James, and Simone were all sitting on the couch, with Trevor in the middle.

"What's going on mom, dad?" Ian asked.

"Trevor wants to apologize to you, Kristie."

As Trevor stood up, he looked dark and dangerous, "Oh don't I."

As he came closer, I started to back away. Ian got in his way of me to block me from Trevor. "Dude, what's up with you?"

Trevor still looked dark and dangerous, "Giving Kristie the apology she deserves," he said right before he knocked Ian out of his way and punched me straight in the face, knocking me into the wall bleeding all over.

"Kristie? C'mon, hang in there!" I heard Ian shout before everything went black.