In the Dark Chapter 23

Jillian woke up to the next late morning to the bittersweet aroma of coffee. She slowly opened her eyes and turned her head, seeing that Shilo was no longer laying next to her. She rose herself up and rubbed her eyes. Her sleep was continuously disturbed by nightmares the previous night and she still felt really tired. She turned her head toward the clock by her bedside her and groaned when she saw the date the hologram projected. She had about only an hour and half left until rehearsal so she had to get up. She threw off the covers and reluctantly got off of the bed. She stretched and tied her hair into a ponytail deciding to go and join Shilo in the kitchen. She walked out of her bedroom and into the kitchen. Sure enough, Shilo was there, searching the cabinet for coffee mugs.

Jillian cleared her throat to notify Shilo she was awake and the other girl turned. Jillian gave her a faint smile.

"Good morning."

Shilo smiled back, awkwardly. "Hey, good morning. Um, I hope you don't mind I used your coffee maker. I just thought you might want some."

"No, its okay, I don't mind. That was thoughtful of you. Let me help." She walked up and opened the cabinets and took out two mugs. The two girls poured their drinks and sat down at the table, drinking their coffee in silence for a moment. Shilo swallowed.

"So…how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. Thank you for staying last night."

"It's no problem. I was worried."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault but, could you at least explain what happened last night?"

Jillian froze." I'm sure you can guess what happened." She said bitterly. "Do you need me to explain it in detail?"

"No I didn't mean that!" Shilo explained. "I meant…you know…the whole parents thing."

Jillian relaxed a bit and unclenched her coffee mug. "Oh. Well to be honest, I'm just as confused as you are on that subject.""

"So you had no idea about what happened between them?"

Jillian shook her head. "Of course not. How could I possibly know? It happened before either of us was born."

Shilo hesitated before she asked another question. "Well, did Mag ever…see anyone while she was still around?"

"Not that I know of. She would leave for work early in the mornings and usually get home pretty late. If it wasn't rehearsal or working with her trainer, it was an interview, a public appearance or a performance or something."

"Are you sure she was really working though? You don't think she was secretly doing…something else?"

Jillian raised her eyebrow. "I seriously doubt it. With her schedule she wouldn't have time for dating or anything like that. She wouldn't want to piss Rotti off either."

Shilo shrugged. "I guess that's true."

"What about your dad? Did he ever work late?"

"Well, yeah, all the time. I thought he was a doctor…"

"But he wasn't. He was a repo man. How do you know he wasn't out doing other things? It couldn't have taken that long to rip someone's heart out of their chest."

"Can we not talk about that please? I don't like to think about him like that. It still freaks me out. Everyone claims he was a killer but I just can't imagine."

"I'm sorry but I was trying to make point. I was only putting your dad on the spot because you were accusing my mom."

"Our dad." Shilo corrected.

"What?"

"He's your dad too. It sounds strange to say but it's true."

Jillian stopped in realization. "I guess it is. Wow."

"You know that means that, you and I are…"

"Sisters?"

"Well, half sisters but yeah."

The two girls paused for a moment until Jillian spoke up." What does that mean?"

"What do you mean 'what does that mean'?

"Well, do you want to be my sister?" she asked.

"I don't think either of us really has a choice in the matter."

"Oh, I see."Jillian's shoulders dropped.

Shilo gave her an apologetic look and then tried to give her a reassuring smile." You know though, even though we're finding this out in a conflicting situation, I'm sort of glad about it."

"You are?"

"Yeah. I won't lie, I'm not exactly thrilled about how it happened but, knowing that I'm not completely alone anymore is really comforting."

Jillian weakly smiled in return. "I know just what you mean. In a weird way, I guess that this is a sort of good thing."

"Right. I was just thinking though, maybe we could set some ground rules."

"Rules for being sisters?"

"I just thought, since this is new for us that we could just try to make this as comfortable as possible."

"Such as how?"

"I guess to just act as normal as possible but at the same time slightly different. Um, how do I say this? I don't want there to be any bad blood between us. No pun intended."

Jillian couldn't help but smirk at Shilo's attempt to be humorous while acting so serious at the same time. "Alright, go on."

"I think we can agree on no more secrets. No offense but it seems that each time you reveal something about yourself, some type of drama unfolds."

"I can't argue with that logic. I agree. No more secrets. From now on, we'll be completely honest with each other."

"Good. Also, I don't think it's a good idea to talk about our parents, at least for a while. It will only make things more difficult."

Jillian nodded. "You're right. It's probably better not think about it right now."

"Thank you and I'm sorry again about yesterday. I was out of line."

"It's okay. I forgive you."

"Good but I do have another question for you."

"What is it?"

"Don't get mad about this but what are you going to do about the whole Pavi situation?"

Jillian tensed up once again. "I really don't want to talk about this, Shilo."

"After the way he attacked you last night-"

"He's attacked me before, Shilo. It's nothing I can't handle."

Shilo shook her head in disgust. "It's just so wrong."

"I know but I can't let it bug me right now." She rose out of her chair and rinsed out her coffee mug. "We have to start getting ready. Rehearsal starts in less than an hour. We're already behind schedule."

"Jillian-"

"Just drop the subject okay? Either come to room and I'll lend you something to wear or you can stay here but I have to get dressed."

Shilo rolled her eyes. "Fine but I'm going to keep bringing it up until you decide what to do."

"That's fine but I'll just keep changing the subject." Said Jillian as she walked away.

Shilo sighed and proceeded to follow Jillian to her room.

After getting dressed, they headed out to the opera house for rehearsal. They were only about seven minutes late but when they got there Amber was waiting for them, clearly pissed. She stood with one hip swung to the side, her arms crossed and tapping her foot.

"There you are! Where were you? You're late!" she yelled.

"Crap." Jillian muttered. She walked up to Amber and sighed. "I'm sorry Amber, I accidently slept in."

"I don't want to hear your excuses! Just get up on that stage and do your thing! We'll talk about your slacking later."

"She wasn't slacking, she wasn't feeling well." Shilo protested.

"Shilo, don't." Jillian said in a hushed whisper.

"Are you talking to me, little girl?" asked Amber addressing Shilo.

"I'm not a little girl and I don't appreciate you talking down to me or her."

Amber smirked. "Well listen to you. Did you grow some balls over night or what?" She bent down and got right in Shilo's face. "You may think you're brave now but don't forget that I'm in charge around here and you're under a contract. That means that I practically own your cute little ass so I wouldn't push it if I were you."

Shilo scoffed. "You don't own me."

"Oh but I do. In fact, I own just about everyone here. I'm the employer and you, my dear, are my bitch. That includes your friend and you're precious graverobber. How is he by the way? Oh, I forget you two broke up didn't you?" she laughed wickedly.

Shilo narrowed her eyes and made a noise that sounded like a growl, making Amber smirk all the more. Jillian panicked and grabbed Shilo's shoulders.

"Shilo just drop it, okay?" she hissed. "Don't piss her off."

Shilo just kept glaring at Amber before she finally grit her teeth. "Fine." She hissed.

"That's a smart girl. Now, get to work." With that, Amber strut away on her high heels and left everyone staring after and whispering about the scene that just unfolded.

Shilo shook her head and made a noise of disgust. "I can't stand that woman."

"Neither can I." Jillian agreed.

Shilo turned and gave Jillian a look that indicated she was pissed off.

"What?" asked Jillian

"Why didn't you defend me?" Shilo demanded. "You just stood there and let her insult me!"

Jillian sighed. "I'm sorry, Shilo. I appreciate you standing up for me and I don't like how she talks to you either but we're both in enough trouble with the Largos already. You know how Amber feels about the both of us. I don't want you want you getting hurt anymore because of me."

What was she even doing here in the first place?"

"She occasionally stops by to check on her employees in person. Not that she doesn't constantly have us under surveillance anyway." Jillian explained.

The drummer of the band, Travis, jumped down from the stage and joined in on the conversation. "Why should she care about what we do all of the sudden? I always thought she was a zydrate addicted junkie."

"I wouldn't put it past her to continue to smuggle some Z for herself but I admit becoming the head of the company definitely gave her a new sense of power that she obviously loves."

Travis shrugged. "I guess that makes sense. I always assumed that her new business attitude was a façade and that her brothers were the real evil masterminds."

"It's never good to assume, Trav. Don't want to make an ass of yourself. Hey, you." Someone stepped in from behind Jillian, placing a hand on her shoulder and making her jump. She turned and sighed in relief when she realized it was David.

"Whoa are you okay?" he asked, clearly concerned.

"I'm fine, you just startled me."

"I'll bet he'd love to know what's been going on with you." Shilo muttered under her breath.

"Just shut your damn mouth!" Jillian hissed.

"Is everything okay?" David asked.

"Everything's fine." Jillian lied. "Shilo, can you please go help Anya set up her keyboard?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Before she went she motioned Jillian to talk to David.

David raised his brow. "Who did you think I was a second ago? You seemed pretty freaked out."

Jillian gulped. "Nobody. I guess I'm just a little jumpy. I had a horrible nightmare last night." She said, partially telling the truth.

David frowned. "Oh. I'm sorry. What was it about?"

"I don't really want to talk about it. We have a rehearsal to start right?" She began to walk onstage but he gently grabbed her arm and stopped her. He gave her look of concern.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, David. Why do you ask?"

"You haven't been returning my calls the past couple of days and I've been thinking about the other night at the party. You wanted to talk to me but then the whole issue with Shilo happened."

'Oh, right.' She thought sadly. 'I was supposed to break up with you.' Instead she gave him a weak smile. "Oh, that. I had almost forgotten. It was nothing, don't worry about it."

"Clearly it wasn't 'nothing'. C'mon, I can tell that you're hiding something. You're a terrible liar." He stated.

'If only you knew.' She thought. She sighed. "You aren't about to let this go, are you?"

He shook his head. "Maybe if it was something else but we're talking about you here." He smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back. On the inside she was screaming in frustration, in knowing that she would have to hurt him soon.

"Okay, we'll talk later but just not here. We have to wait until this is over and we'll discuss it at my house."

"Sounds like a plan." He leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek but she instinctively turned her head. "What's wrong, I can't kiss you in public anymore? Everyone's figured out about us by now."

"I know it's just…I can't have any distractions right now. I'm sorry." She quickly stepped away from him and proceeded to set up her microphone, leaving David confused and a bit hurt.

After rehearsal was over, Jillian contacted Graverobber and asked if he keep Shilo busy so she and David could be alone. At first Shilo protested, claiming that she didn't need a babysitter but finally agreed when Graverobber arrived and offered to buy her dinner. Her stomach growled and she agreed while insisting that it was not going to be a date. After the two had left, Jillian called David over. She had also called one of the Largo's assistants to see if Pavi was at home. He wasn't but it turned out he had an interview with some magazine. Luckliy for Jillian someone's "face time" with Pavi meant that she wouldn't have to worry about him, at least not for another night. David arrived and led him inside, still a bit paranoid that someone may be watching. Once she shut the door she embraced him tightly and led him to the couch.

"I'm so glad that you're here." She smiled.

"Glad to be here. Now then, can you please tell me what's been bothering you? You were avoiding me again today."

Jillian frowned. "I'm sorry. I just have a lot on my mind and I didn't want to bother you with it."

"Jillian, you know that you can talk to me, right? It's what I'm here for. You're not going to bother me. I want you to be able to confide in me."

"Are you sure about that? You may not like what you hear."

"Don't worry about it. Just tell me what's wrong and I'll do my best to try and fix it."

She sighed in knowing that he couldn't but she began to talk anyway. She told him about the events that occurred during the previous night, omitting the part about Pavi. She just didn't have the heart to tell him. She decided that she would have to break up with him without him knowing. She knew that the truth would kill him even more so. Before she carried out the deed she really didn't want to do, she stalled by telling him about the situation between her and Shilo. She told him what Mag and Nathan had done, and what the consequences of their actions turned out to be. When she finished, his nodded in understanding.

"Wow that must be pretty tough. I can't believe your mom did that to her friend."

"That was all I could think about for a while and it's also why Shilo was so angry."

"Is that why you two were so tense towards each other today?"

She nodded. "We talked it out this morning, and she apologized but it's still pretty awkward."

"I can imagine. That's a lot to take in."

"What were your parents like?" she asked him, realizing that they hadn't discussed it before.

"I was pretty much raised by my mom. She and I my dad were married when I was born but they divorced when I was three. I remember how he used to make an effort to come and visit me for a while but then eventually he just stopped showing up. My mom never remarried after that."

"I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "It's no big deal. I haven't given it too much thought. It happens to a lot of people and I've been through more fucked up things in life."

"Yeah, I hear you there."

"You know, you're going to be okay."

"Huh?"

"I understand that you've been through a lot but you're strong. You'll get through this."

"I'm not strong at all." She whispered.

David took her hand and lifted her chin. "You may not think so but I can tell. You have a passionate heart and a great mind."

"How can you say that? How can you possibly know that?"

"I just do. Listen, I know that we've only been going out for a short time but I hope you know that I care about you. I'm here for you, Jillian, and I promise that I will do everything I can to help you. You've got an amazing smile, you know that? I'd love to see it more often. If there's anything you need from me, name it and it's yours."

Jillian just stared at him, amazed and teary-eyed. How could someone make her feel so much better with just a few kind words? She never thought it was possible to feel this way, romantically, towards anyone. She had given up on the idea of love and affection so long ago. There was no way she could break his heart now. Truthfully at first she wasn't sure of a future with David at all. With a non-malicious intent she had accepted his affections as a way of forgetting about her troubles. It felt different now. Now for the first time, she was positive that she felt a true connection with the man sitting next to her. Before she knew what she was doing, she grabbed his shirt collar, pulling him in and kissing him hard. A sudden new feeling of boldness had erupted inside of her, along with something else.

She released him and his stared at her in shock and blushing. Blushing!

She smirked and then looked deeply into his eyes. "Do you know what I really need right now? A distraction."

"Distraction from what exactly?" he asked.

"Everything."

"Okay, what can I do to help?"

She gave him a meaningful look and ran her fingers through his hair. He still appeared to be confused so she sighed and pulled her shirt over her head. His eyes widened and did his best not to stare.

"Um, wow."

"Like what you see?" She leaned him to kiss him again and he backed away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just hold on a second."

"What's wrong?" she pouted.

"Nothing it's just…this isn't like you."

"You don't like the way I'm acting?" she asked

He hesitated. "No it's not that."

"You don't…find me attractive?"

"No! I mean not at all! I find you very attractive but this is just so sudden."

"If you don't want to, I understand…" she began

"It isn't that I don't want to, I do, but…are you sure?" he asked

She nodded "Of course I am. You've been great about not pressuring me and I'm ready." 'Plus I want to actually have consensual sex for the first time in my life.' She thought.

"With me?" he asked, as if reading her mind.

She smiled. "Yeah, I do. Only if you want to though."

He sat down next to her and grabbed her hand again. "I want what you want."

Jillian thought for a moment. What did she want? She finally decided and looked at him. "Well, I want this." She said, placing a hand on his chest.

He looked down and centered her hand on his heart. "You already have that." He assured her. "I just hope the feeling the mutual."

She took his hand and repeated the gesture. "Take it. Its yours." She whispered.

He smiled and kissed her softly as Jillian cried tears on joy. He pulled apart for a moment to wipe her tears away. He kissed her gain and she wrapped her arms around his neck. As the kiss grew more heated he swept her into his arms and carried her off into her room….

So you may be thinking "What happens now?" Keep reading to find out and PLEASE review!