A/N: Lawl. I think i wrote and re-wrote the first David pov about ten times. I wanted to imply the uh... aciotn going on, but didn't want anone to outright say it. In the end it came out good i think... Although I think Griffin is a bit OOC compared to the movie. I'm trying to show a small change in his character slowly. Dunno if it's working.
Read, review, and let me know!!

Chapter 18: Connection

(David POV)

'Tori must be deep in thought.' He looked over and Tori had her eyes shut and her lips pressed into a thin line. Her glasses were off and arms were crossed. David looked at his watch. 'Almost noon. It's been almost half an hour now.' "Um Tori… Shouldn't we find them and get to training?" Tori sighed and sat up, picking her glasses up from the table and putting them on carefully. "I'll go ask Griffin where we're relocating to," he told her. David jumped to the lair and looked around. 'A noise?' He heard a noise coming from Griffin's room and slowly walked towards the entryway. "Griffin? Ashley?" David called.

"Bloody fuck," he heard Griffin groan. "Go away David," Griffin said in a ragged voice.

David thought he heard a yelp and he moved closer to the room. "Um… Is everything okay in there?" he asked curiously.

"Damn it David!" Griffin's voice echoed through the lair. He appeared in front of him, clad in only a pair of dark blue boxers. His hair looked a bit messier than usual, too. David raised an eyebrow at him. "You can leave," he said with a scowl, "as in now."

He furrowed his brow. "Look, I just need to know where the new training site is gunna be," David said.

Griffin rolled his eyes. "We'll come back to your place when we're through," he said in a low tone through a clenched jaw.

David was confused but then something clicked. He widened his eyes and said, "Oh, sorry… Didn't mean to interrupt anything."

Griffin nodded and said, "Then go Rice-boy."

David gave him a swift nod and jumped back to his living room. He looked around and found Tori paging through a book as she leaned against one of his many bookshelves. "Where are they?" she asked, closing the book.

"Um… He said they'll drop by then. They were sorta…busy," David told her unsurely. Tori dropped the book and an expression of awe came across her face. The book hit the floor with a thud and startled her. Tori flinched back before leaning down to pick it up. She mumbled a sorry and David said, "Yeah, it shocked me too. I though they didn't like each other."

Tori gave her head a shake. "They do. They just show it through anger. They've got the whole angst thing goin' on." David simply shrugged at her response before turning and picking up the remote from the coffee table. He walked over to the couch and sat down. Tori followed shortly after. The television went on and Comedy Central showed up. "Ooh! Demetri Martin's on," Tori squealed. David smiled and put the remote between them.

---

(Ashley POV)

She had her head on his chest, lying completely still as he played with a lock of her dark hair. Neither of them had spoken in minutes, not knowing what to say. "So uh," Ashley began, "that was weird, huh?" She rolled slightly onto her stomach to look at Griffin. He had a peculiar look on his face. "David showing up, I mean."

Griffin snorted and said, "Impeccable timing he has." Ashley snickered and gave a small nod. "To tell you the truth, I don't have a clue where we can train right now. Mind's kinda…blank."

She let out a small laugh. "I wonder why." Griffin sent her a glare and she just smiled. "We should get back," Ashley said, holding the blanket against her as she sat up. She felt the bed move and Griffin had sat up too. She glanced over her shoulder and saw his eyes were on her. "What?" she asked in a hushed voice.

He smirked. "Nothing. You're just so eager to go nowhere." Ashley gave a shrug as she inched over to the edge of the bed and picked up her clothes. She was getting dressed when she heard Griffin ask, "Can we not tell Tori and David?"

"Why?" she asked in a curious tone.

"Well," she heard him begin, "Paladins can use your connections against yeh. If they know then, uh…yeah."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Fine," she sighed as she pulled her shirt on over her head. "I don't know why you're trying to protect me though," she trailed off as she sat and started to pull on her boots.

Griffin appeared in front of her, wearing a pair of dark jeans and a white t-shirt with a slight v-neck under his leather jacket. "I've lost too many people to the Paladins already. I don't exactly wanna add another to the list," he mumbled.

She stood up, smoothing her favorite blue flare jeans. "Alright." He grabbed her hand and he jumped them to David's place. Ashley set eyes on Tori and David, who were watching TV. Tori was leaning on David and he had his arm across the back of the couch. "Cute," she muttered. The two turned around. Tori looked at her knowingly and David looked as if he would laugh any second.

"Hello," Tori said musically. "Where have you been Ash?"

Ashley narrowed her eyes. "I've been…gaming. At Griffin's." She pulled her hand away from his and walked over to the kitchen. She opened a cabinet and pulled out a pack of pocky Tori stashed.

"Is that what they're calling it nowadays?" Tori asked with a laugh.

"Shut up," Ashley groaned, opening the box of pocky. She noticed Griffin walk over to her and she whispered to him, "I'm pretty sure they know…"

Griffin shook his head and stole a stick of pocky from the package. "Don't worry about them." He bit off the end of the stick and moved towards the chair by the couch. Ashley fumed and jumped into the seat before he could sit. Griffin growled angrily at her and sat on the couch, closest to her and farthest from David and Tori. Ashley stuck out her tongue before nibbling on the pocky and turning her attention to the television.

---

(Tori POV)

She stretched her arms out in front of her. The four of them had been sitting around for about an hour, watching some stand up specials on Comedy Central. Tori yawned and said, "Are we going to training?" She turned to Griffin, looking at him with a questioning look.

Griffin looked at Ashley, then David and shrugged. "Gotta find a place first. Maybe we won't today."

She nodded and Ashley said, "It's boring. Do something. Let's go find a Paladin and beat him up if we can't train." Her tone sounded as if she was joking, but her expression didn't look it.

"Do yeh have a death wish?" Griffin exclaimed. "They would kill you!"

"Okay, but let's say they don't. It would be considered training, right?" Griffin sighed and said, "Fine, you can get beat up then. There's a Paladin I was tracking. I last saw 'im near the Eiffel Tower."

Ashley stood up and Griffin did the same. She looked at them and said, "I wanna go too."

Griffin glared at her. "You definitely can't."

Tori looked to David, who shrugged. "I'll go if you want to that bad." Tori nodded and hugged David tight. She uttered a thank you before leaping up from the couch. She felt David's hand in hers and she looked at Griffin, who was rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"Follow me," Griffin said in a huffy tone. He jumped, taking Ashley with him. David walked to the jumpscar and followed through, Tori in tow.

---

(Ashley POV)

She looked behind her and saw David and Tori stumble through the jumpscar. Griffin was still holding onto her hand. "That outta bring 'em to us."

Ashley looked around and saw they seemed to be directly under the Eiffel Tower. She craned her neck to look up. "This is neat. I've always wanted to go up there. Tori's scared of heights though," she mumbled.

"Hey! I heard that!" Tori yelled.

Ashley snickered and Griffin started to walk towards a building. "Stay here David. I'll go to the top with Ashley. Get this over with faster." Ashley looked at David, who gave a nod, and next thing she knew, she was looking out at a beautiful scene of rooftops and the sky. "This is the top. See?"

Ashley nodded quickly. "It's cool. But what's the hype all about?"

"On the perfect night, it's the most romantic place in the world," he whispered to her.

She felt a blush creeping its way across her cheeks. "I bet…" At that moment, a shrill scream could be heard. Ashley peered over the side and saw a man pulling Tori towards a silver SUV. "Tori!" Instinctively, she jumped back down to the ground and saw David grappling with someone. "Damn Paladins," she grumbled as she ran to help Tori.

The man who had her pulled a knife from his coat and held it to her neck. "Best get back if yeh want 'er to live," he said through a thick accent. Ashley stopped dead in her tracks. She felt a ping in her mind and Griffin pulled her backwards. She struggled to pull away. "No! We can't leave her!"

"Too late," he said before jumping them to the lair. David popped in after them, with a smear of blood across his cheek. He was panting and looked as if he would cry. "It has to be like this. Do you understand?" Griffin asked, his hand forcing her to look at him.

Ashley's felt tears stinging the corners of her eyes and lowered her head in defeat. "I understand," she said softly, her voice barely audible.

Griffin's hand brought her to face him once more. His eyes had hints of pity and remorse she noticed. "They won't hurt her. They need her to get to us, so she's safe for now."

Ashley choked back a sob and inhaled as she squeezed her eyes shut. She nodded once before throwing herself into Griffin's arms. He petted her as she said, "We shouldn't have went to the top. We should've stayed with them. None of this would've happened," she said into the shoulder of his leather jacket as tears made their way down her face.

---

(David POV)

'I can't believe it. After all those hours of training… I could've helped her.' David cursed himself mentally for not watching closer to his surroundings. He pounded his fist into the ground of Griffin's lair as he heard Ashley sobbing. David looked up and saw Griffin holding her in a tight embrace. 'Even Griffin looks upset about this.' He saw that Griffin didn't have a smirk or smug look on his face; it was more of a frown at the moment. David got up from his spot on the floor and said, "I'm going home. Ashley, why don't you stay the night with Griffin?"

Ashley pulled away from Griffin and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. She nodded. "Okay," she sniffled, "Will you be alright on your own?"

David sent her a nod. "I'll be fine," he said before sending her a weak smile and jumping home.