Ok, the wait is over! Sorry it took so long, with school and then sports I didn't have time to write until late. Even though you're probably really P.O. at me, please review!
The crack of the bullet echoed in the forest and Tori screamed. I felt like screaming too, needed to in fact, but no sound poured from my throat. All I could think was Not him. Not Derek.
Simon's spell took effect a moment later, knocking out the guard who had shot, and I could only pray he had missed. Derek was still tussling on the ground with the other guard, but I knew that didn't mean anything. If there was a threat in the area, Derek would keep fighting to the death.
A lifetime (or more like a few milliseconds) later, the guard Derek had been fighting with was limp, blood leaking from his nose. I didn't see a ghost, so he can't have been dead, but either way I didn't really care. I dropped lightly to the forest floor and started towards Derek, scanning his shirt for telltale bloodstains. There were a few that I could see, but they could have just been from the other guy. This, at least, was reassuring.
"Chloe!" he leapt up, breathing hard.
"Are you-" I tried to ask if he was ok but was crushed by his stifling embrace.
I didn't have time to think what was going on as he pressed his lips against mine with startling force. "Don't ever, ever," he mumbled against my lips through our kiss, "do that again." I was just so relieved he was ok and we were together again that I surrendered entirely to his lips and his love, letting the danger we were still in slip from my mind. This kiss was unlike the others we had shared, more passionate and forceful. Desperate.
That was the first time I told Derek "I love you."
Finally someone coughed, a pesky sound that I was willing to ignore, but Derek gingerly unwound my arms from around his neck and took a step back. I fell back off my tip-toes and turned to Simon and Tori. Tori had a bemused expression on her face. Simon's mouth was twisted up in a ruthful smile, a slightly wistful glint in his eyes. I was glad it seemed he had accepted the love I felt for him was more brotherly than romantic.
"Ok. We should get out of here." Derek took charge.
"Oh, I don't know. This spot seems to be pretty nice." Tori waggled her eyebrows at Derek and I, turning my face crimson. By the emphasis placed on "nice" I could tell it wasn't the first word she would have chosen.
"Let's go. The road is this way."
"Oh," I blushed again as he turned in the opposite direction I had been headed.
"Don't worry, you would have found it eventually," he assured me.
"How do you know where the road is?" Tori accused.
He answered with obvious reluctance. "I can smell car fumes," he admitted.
"Of course you can." Tori shook her head. "But can you smell Chloe's-"
"Let's go." I interrupted her probably rude remark. Wait- change that to definitely rude remark, as evident by the smirk she now shot me.
We were only trudging through the forest for an hour or so when the trees ended suddenly to reveal a narrow paved road. After the cover of undergrowth for so long, I felt strangely exposed.
"Ok. Road found. Now where do we go? Right or left?" Tori put her hands on her hips.
Derek paused, deep in thought. "Flip a coin?" he suggested finally.
We didn't actually flip a coin; by mutual consensus we decided to head right. No reason, just the hope that our luck would change.
Thankfully, it did. Another several miles walked mostly in silence, no one having the energy to uphold a conversation for more than a few minutes, found us arriving on the outskirts of a small town.
It looked like one of those places that sprung up for the sole purpose of servicing the truckers and motorcycle gang members that passed through. There was only a bar, motel, convenience store, and a handful of houses. Any other stores and buildings that may have existed before were among the numerous boarded up warehouses that loomed on the edge of the town. Everything was built crudely and rickety, looking on the verge of falling down at any second. The closest comparison I could come up with was the stalls and rides at a fair: temporary structures that had to be sturdy but able to be taken down at a moments notice.
"Nice place." Tori looked about with distaste.
"Hey- do you want a bed tonight?" Simon snapped. She fell silent.
Derek led us over to the motel, pulling a wad of bills from his sock to pay the manager. "Are you sure we should be spending-" I started, knowing we probably wouldn't be able to get any more money in the foreseeable future.
"I don't know about you, but I would kill for a shower." he said. "We are getting a room tonight."
"Are you sure you shouldn't get two rooms?" Tori asked. "So you and Chloe can share one-"
"Tori?" Derek glared at her. "Shut up." She did, but from the gleam in her eye I knew she wasn't done with the jokes.
Our room turned out to be decent enough, considering the rest of the "town". It had two twin beds and a bathroom jutting off of it. Hardly the Marriott, but at least there were no noticeable bugs in the sheets.
"Ok, now we have time to catch up." Derek said, locking the door. "Chloe, are you ok?"
I knew he meant emotionally as well as physically but I nodded.
"How's your…injury?" Simon piped up from where he was lounging on one of the beds.
"A little sore but fine. Although I still think we should take the bullet out-"
"We know about the 'tracking bullet'" Tori made air quotations around 'tracking bullet'.
"So you know we should probably get it out-"
"No. We don't know for sure." Derek interrupted.
I opened my mouth to argue but Simon cut me off, "Ok, since we all seem to be in one piece, we should probably scrounge up some food. Anyone want to risk walking across the street to the convenience store with me?"
"Not in this hell-hole of a town." Tori shook her head and crossed her arms resolutely.
"Let's go." Derek stood up and stretched. "You girls going to be ok here?" Though he addressed us both, his eyes were on me.
"Relax. I'll make sure no one kills your girlfriend while your gone." Tori told him.
"Ok." He seemed to accept that locked up in our room with a super-powerful witch I was relatively safe. "We should be back in a half hour. Hour tops."
"Ok. Try not to get the most bruised apples," I teased.
"Come on, bro." Simon opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
"Hang on a sec," Derek leaned back into the hotel room, green eyes staring deep into mine. "Chloe? I can trust you won't run away again, right? I need to know you won't be going anywhere."
The fact that he assumed that I would leave again stung, but I knew it was only what I deserved. Ignoring the sudden tears pricking the back of my eyes, I nodded solemnly.
"Ok. We'll be back soon." Then they were gone.
"So," Tori said when the other two had left, "you and wolfie are pretty much official now, huh?"
Even though she hadn't said anything particularly offensive, my cheeks flared red again. "Yeah, I guess."
"You guess? Girl, there's no doubt after that heavy lip-lock."
"It wasn't a 'heavy lip-lock'" I defended.
She nodded knowingly. "Ah, the denial stage."
"Denial stage of what?"
"Dating. An area that, no offense or anything, I have much more experience in than you do."
"We're not dating…" And we weren't. Not in the intended sense of the word, anyway.
"Mm-hmm." she nodded knowingly. "I repeat: denial."
"Why don't you tell me about all of your boyfriends." I just wanted to direct the conversation away from me.
It worked. Tori launched into a steady stream of babbling about every relationship she was ever in. As she talked I nodded, pretending to listen. I think she knew I didn't really care but she still talked, gazing into the distance with a wistful expression on her face. I knew it helped her to focus on happier, normal-er times.
Did I miss those times? I though about it for a minute before deciding I didn't. Initially I would have given anything to go back to my prior life but now that I have Derek, and Simon, and yes- even Tori, I couldn't imagine living without them.
Right on cue the guys walked in looking glum, laden down with plastic grocery bags. "Any luck?" I asked as they plopped the bags down on the floor.
"Depends. Do you like moldy bread, brown bananas, and stale raisons?" Simon said.
"De-lic-ious." Tori dragged out the word, wrinkling her nose.
"That was the best they had." Derek pulled out a (bruised) apple and tossed it to me. I missed and it thumped to the ground, adding another bruise.
"Nice," Tori nodded at my lack of hand-eye coordination, bringing on more blushing. My face was on the verge of becoming a permanent tomato.
"Dinner" was eaten mostly in silence and then we took turns showering. Never before had hot water felt so good, and I would have been content to stand there letting it peel away the layers of dirt for an hour. Unfortunately, Tori's pounding on the door insisting I "Don't waste all the hot water!" hurried me up.
After that we were all so tired we decided going to bed sounded like a good idea. Since our door locked it was reached the conclusion that we didn't need a sentry. From the look on Derek's face, though, I suspected he wouldn't dare fall asleep anyway.
Tori and I were nominated for the beds and no amount of protesting (mostly mine) could change the guys minds. "We're good on the floor," Simon tugged the comforter off my bed and grabbed one of the surplus pillows.
"If you're sure…" I didn't really want to argue anymore; the thin stained mattress looked more inviting than any tree branch I had dozed off on in the past few days.
"Go to bed Chloe." Simon advised. So I did.
I woke up to a dark room, lit only by the glowing red numbers of the alarm clock. The comforting sounds of my friends' breathing filled the room, steady with sleep. All but one.
I cautiously disentangled myself from the sheets and stood up, wincing as the mattress creaked. The figure sitting leaned up against the wall near the door turned towards me.
"Hey." I greeted, slumping down next to Derek.
"What are you doing awake?"
"What are you doing awake?" I retorted.
"Touché."
I cut right to the chase, needing to talk to him alone. "I want to take the bullet out."
He groaned softly. "Chloe, we've already established-"
"Just listen, ok? They will be able to find us wherever we are because of this. It's putting all of our lives in danger." My whisper had risen with the force of my argument and I dropped down to breathing the words again "it's got to go."
"Chloe, we can't."
"Why?" I challenged.
"You could die. Whether from blood loss, tetanus, or god knows what else."
"So you won't do it because you're scared I might die?" I clarified, glad I had an argument against this.
"Yeah." he sounded wary, clearly he hadn't missed the barely concealed triumph in my voice.
"Ok, so there's the slightest chance I'd die if we tried to get the bullet out. But what if the Edison Group showed up here while we were all asleep?" Derek would have to sleep sometime. "Then we could all die. Are you really willing to risk your life," he snorted, "Tori's life," his shoulders were shaking with silent laughter, "Simon's life," he instantly sobered, thoughtfully silent, "all for me? Because if they came here they'd find me too. Either way my life's in danger. Are you willing to put the others' in danger too?"
He was silent for so long that I feared he wasn't going to answer. "Have you ever thought of becoming a lawyer?" he said at last.
I elbowed him. "I'm serious."
He sighed. "You are very persuasive-"
"So you agree?" I felt hope rising in my chest.
"No. I see your point but I still think you're overreacting. We have no proof that the bullet's really how they knew where we were-"
"But Liz heard them!" I countered.
"Liz could be wrong," his voice was steady and even.
"Liz wasn't wrong about the trap! She wasn't wrong about-" I stopped. I had been about to say 'your dad'. "Anything." I finished lamely.
"Well that doesn't mean she's not wrong this time-"
"I trust her." I said firmly. "She-" several feet away Simon mumbled and rolled over in his sleep. I waited until his breathing deepened again before continuing, "She's helping us. And what she says makes sense."
"Chloe? The answers no. We will try to find a hospital that will take you without making us filling out a gazillion forms, but if that doesn't happen, you're just going to have to live with it. Ok?"
"No." I mumbled, crossing my arms dejectedly like a pouty child.
"Chloe…" he sighed.
"Fine. We won't do anything. Yet." I wasn't about to let the matter drop.
We sat in silence for a few minutes. "You should probably try and get some more sleep," he whispered after a while.
"What about you?"
"Not tired."
"Liar."
"Chloe, I'm fine."
"You haven't slept in god knows how long-"
"I'll sleep once we get further away from this place, ok?"
"Derek, please?"
"Go to bed Chloe."
Shaking my head but knowing on this he was adamant, I went back to my bed. "'Night Derek." I whispered before slipping back beneath the covers and into a blissful sleep.
You didn't think I'd really kill Derek did you? Hahaha. Sorry this chapter is kind of long and uneventful, but I really wanted to include this dialogue. And yes, I know the intense kiss between Chloe and Derek right after they are almost killed is kind of unrealistic/OOC, but I imagined he would be so relieved his emotions would just spill over. Besides, I thought it would be a really sweet reunion (although it kind of sucks for Simon). Speaking of, thanks to the TEN people who responded to my poll! Simon loves you all! Please, please, please, please take my poll if you haven't already! It's on my profile.