Redemption

Chapter Fifty-Four

A slap on the behind woke Bobby from a sound sleep. His head jerked up with a snort, which made Danni unable to suppress a fit of giggles. She hated to wake him from such a deep slumber, yet time was of the essence. That and she couldn't stand his suddenly loud snoring.

He groaned loudly as he rested his head back upon his pillow and glanced at the alarm clock. He wondered why he hadn't heart it at all—he never slept through it—and found that it wasn't set to go off for another hour. "Too early," he mumbled, burying his face into his pillow to block out the shine of the morning sun.

A chill ran over his semi-naked body as the sheet was pulled off of him and thrown to the floor with a whoosh. "Wake up," she called to him in a sing-song voice before placing her freezing cold hand upon his bare back.

He yelped in both surprise and pain, turning over to stare at her in aggravation. It felt like she'd run her hands under ice-cold water before placing them on his skin, which she more thank likely had to get him up. "What was that for?" He ran a hand through his ruffled hair as he saw her standing by his side of the bed, arms crossed over her chest in impatient waiting. He was reminded of how his mum would stand over the bed while trying to get him up for school. There was a scary glimpse into the future, he chuckled.

"Come on, get up. We have something we need to take care of before work." She pulled the pillows out from underneath him so he wouldn't get the incentive to fall back to sleep. That was doubtful, though. She could see the goose bumps on his flesh, which was a sure sign he wouldn't be falling back to sleep anytime soon. She knew he couldn't sleep when he was cold and she milked that factor.

"Like what?" he yawned before she threw her wet towel at him. It smelled of a mesh of her body wash and shampoo, which meant she'd already taken her shower. He blinked a few times, trying to get his eyes to focus. He saw that her dark hair was still wet and she was wearing the silk bathrobe he'd bought her for her birthday. He couldn't help but let his mind wander to thoughts of what she had on under that, though if he voiced that question, he was sure to get slapped. Of course, he was sure it would be worth it just to know.

She recognized his visual scrutiny and clutched at the opening to her robe with a raised eyebrow. She was saying—though not in so many words—that if he didn't get out of bed, he'd never find out. "I'll explain on the way," was all she said with a sly smirk before turning and leaving the bedroom.

"Don't I even get a hint?" He wasn't sure what question he wanted her to answer more. Both were tempting, though he knew if he didn't do as she asked, he wouldn't know the answer to either. He chuckled to himself as he climbed out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. Jack and Myles would tease him about being whipped and D would think he'd caught onto the-woman-is-always-right mentality rather quickly, yet he couldn't complain. Coming home to Danni every night was its own reward, so they could say whatever they wanted.

Thirty minutes later, they were on the road, lucky to not yet be hit with early-morning traffic. Danni drove in silence as she tried to navigate the streets, while trying to avoid Bobby's curious gaze. She still hadn't explained where they were going and she wasn't going to until they arrived at their destination. They only had a few more hours until it would be too late and she wanted to make things right.

It was only after she'd pulled into the parking lot of the Grand Hyatt Washington that Bobby realized what had been running through her mind all night. Whatever Myles had said to her seemed to hit her hard and she wanted to make amends for whatever she had done. She was going to apologize to her parents and explain everything. He just hoped they would listen to her.

They stood outside Nicholas and Charlene's room, Danni staring at the door as if she was waiting for it to just open on its own, while Bobby waited for her to make any sort of movement to knock. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder to get her to turn toward him. She did, but she didn't seem as confident as she had thirty minutes ago.

He stood behind her, wrapping his arms securely about her waist and placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. "You're going the right thing," he whispered.

She turned her head to look into his eyes, fake aggravation in her eyes and voice. "I hate it when you're right," she groaned.

"I know." His perfect smile graced his lips as he squeezed her against him before knocking firmly on the door.

A minute passed before the door opened slowly and a head of dark hair poked out, revealing her father's puzzled expression. Check out wasn't for a few more hours, so if it had been the concierge, he really could have been confused. Although, with Bobby and Danni standing in the hallway, he was beyond confused. "Danni? Bobby? What are you two doing here?" He stepped out of the room, revealing the terry cloth bathrobe he wore and scratched the five o'clock shadow on his chin.

"We were hoping we could talk to you and mom," Danni said, softly before Bobby removed his hand from her waist. She made sure he was still behind her, though she'd realized why he'd done it. Nicholas had been please to meet Bobby at first, but after more was revealed about him, he couldn't help but let his feelings toward the Aussie change and his eyes showed his newly-found dislike.

She heard Bobby's feet shift uncomfortably upon the floor as her father looked from him o her. "I'm not so sure that's such a good idea. Your mother and I know we can't control your life, but-"

"Daddy, there's something I need to tell you and I'm not leaving until I do." A fire raged in her eyes as she put her foot down. Bobby had seen it far too many times and couldn't help but smile. For once, it wasn't directed toward him, he had the right to smile.

Nicholas smiled as well. She was so like her mother when she wanted her way, which hurt him slightly. He'd missed that fire in her eyes. Perhaps giving her this chance would be the start of something new. Besides, he was sure if he didn't invite them in, there would be more than Hell to pay. "All right. Come in and sit down while I go get your mother."

He let them in, motioning to the two couches that adorned the small living room, while he went to retrieve Charlene. While they waited, Danni admired the beautiful suite. The architecture was beautiful, though the bright colors of the motif were something she could do without. Plain and simple was her motto; this was a bit over the top for her liking.

She flinched slightly when Bobby grabbed her hand, though she warmed to the touch a second later. It was because of him that she knew she was doing the right thing. He'd made many good points that she'd turned a deaf ear on; she only hoped it wasn't too late.

"You okay?" he asked to which she only nodded before she saw her parents returning.

She'd expected the aggravated expression on her mother's face as she was dragged out of her bed this early in the morning, though she knew it wasn't because of the early hour that she was irritated. They crossed the room and took a seat across from the young couple, though only Nicholas seemed truly interested in what they had to say.

Charlene eyed the two visitors curiously before she cleared her throat in a way that would make Danni shake in her boots when she was little and she had gotten into trouble. She raised a questioning eyebrow to the young couple's hands as they clutched together in a supportive hold, though said nothing about it. She only waited for someone to speak up, because she was most certainly not going to be the one to open her mouth first.

Bobby couldn't help but find such a similarity in Charlene that he did in Danni. He guessed that all of the Thomas women had that stubborn streak about them. This would be the third person he met with such a noticeable quirk. He tried not to smile, but he couldn't hold back the curl from the ends of his lips.

Danni drew in a deep breath, her mother's anger still evident and still able to shake her to the core. "I wanted to talk to you about yesterday," she began, her eyes averted from the cool ice-blue of her mother's and focusing on a picture that sat on the wall behind her. This was really hard to say and she could barely look her mother in the eye. Oh, yeah, this was going to turn out good.

The loud sniff from the older woman silenced the conversation as her blood boiled still from yesterday's conversation. "I think we talked enough yesterday."

"But, not about everything," she said when she saw Charlene begin to get up from her seat. She wasn't going to give her the pleasure of walking out on this conversation. The courage to do this had finally come together inside of her and she was going to say it even if her mother didn't listen.

The older woman returned slowly to her seat, her expression more confused than before. "So, there is more to the story than my daughter being arrested for assault and her boyfriend being an ex-felon?"

Bobby opened his mouth so say that he was never a felon, but he was stopped from doing so when Danni squeezed his hand to silence him. She wanted to explain first before everything got blown out of proportion again. "I didn't do anything. Someone else attacked him for something he deserved. I was acquitted when the real culprit came forward, you know that."

"Yet, why do I not believe that's true?" The cynicism in her voice was loud and clear as if she was accusing her daughter, which she was. Why should she believe such lies when the truth was right in front of her?

Danni paused before speaking, taking a deep breath to calm her own anger before she delved into the story. "The guy's name was Vincent Jessup; I later found out that he was one of my teammates—someone I'd trusted—but, before that, he was known as the University Rapist…" she began with detail about her attack and her almost assault, but how she was able to get away and escape back to her dorm. Tears had leaked from her eyes as she explained how another woman became his victim and was killed when he tried to silence her. "The man who attacked Jessup was her boyfriend. And the scary though is that it could have been me." She tried to hold back the sob in the back of her throat, but it escaped anyway and because of that Bobby had to pull her to him.

"But, it wasn't," he whispered into her hair.

"I honestly had no idea," Charlene breathed, tears forming in her own eyes.

"You have no idea how many times I wanted to pick up the phone and call you just so I could talk to you about it, but I was afraid." She sniffled loudly, her nose tingeing a light shade of pink.

"Sweetheart," Nicholas began as he reached out and took Danni's free hand in his, giving it its own comforting squeeze, "you had nothing to be afraid of. We would have been there no matter what." He saw the proud expression on his daughter's face instantly crumble as she jumped from one couch to the other, searching for the warm, loving embrace of her parents. He was more than happy to wrap her up in his comforting embrace, shushing her sobs as he stroked her hair and while Charlene cradled her in her lap.

It was really a touching scene, Bobby concluded, though he felt like he was intruding on the rather touching moment. Usually, he didn't feel like a fourth wheel, but he was almost certain that he should not be witnessing this. Of course, he was pleased that Danni finally took that final step; he was very proud of her and his heart soared with love for her. She may be slow on the uptake, though when it comes down to it, she always knows what she wants and things usually turn out better than expected. It was too bad that eight years had to pass before this reunion finally occurred.

Perhaps, now, it would not take seven years for another miracle of this caliber to happen.