Helloooo everyone. I'm sorry it took me forever to get this one up. Hopefully I'll be more diligent about updating this week. Love you guys!
The twins stayed and talked to their brother for the entire rest of the night.
Turns out when someone's been 'dead' for a year there is quite a bit to catch up on.
They filled him in on the past year in their lives, and he returned the favor. They discussed the big things like Domino, Pryce, and Cyrus, but also went over sports, politics and everything else they thought they'd never have the chance to.
Above all else, they talked about their father.
It seemed like everything paled in comparison to the loss of the great man.
It wasn't until the sky began to lighten with the first hints of dawn that the long lost prince decided it was time to turn in. His siblings were reluctant to leave his side but knew he needed rest, and they did as well. Like Robert had said before, everything was going to change, and soon.
Jasper sat on Eleanor's bed with his shirtless back against the headboard.
After ensuring the safety of the family, the security had decided to give them some privacy, so he'd returned to the room with the idea of sleep.
No such luck.
Instead he sat staring blankly across the dark room at the door, waiting for her to walk through it.
Robert's return was a wildcard that Jasper hadn't expected to be dealt. It's not that he wasn't thrilled to find out Robert was alive, but the prince was a huge threat to everything he'd been trying to build with Eleanor.
The thing was, he had done some really fucked up stuff, and he knew in all honesty he should probably have been in prison rather than in the princess's bed. If Robert was told the whole truth about him, he honestly didn't think that what he'd done to make amends could out-weigh the crimes he had committed.
He was happy for the family's reunion, truly, but he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
He hadn't realized how much time had gone by until the edges of the curtains began to glow with the rising sun. He glanced at the clock. 6:24 am.
Not a minute later the door quietly opened and she slipped inside. She closed it behind her before looking up at him witha blank expression.
"Hey," she greeted with a small, clearly forced smile.
"Hey," he replied with slight surprise in his voice. He sat up and moved toward the edge of the bed. He'd thought over alot of Eleanor's possible reactions in his head in the past 2 hours, but melancholic reserve wasn't one of them.
She walked across the room slowly, and the nearer to him she got the even more apparent it was to him that something was wrong. She tried to walk past him to her closet but he shot his hand out and grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.
"Len..." his voice pleaded with her not to shut him out. She was purposefully avoiding his gaze and he knew it. He could hear her shaky breathing and see her clenched jaw.
She finally looked at him. His brows were knit with worry and his stormy blue eyes were watching her intently. She knew she couldn't hide from him.
"I know I don't seem happy, but really I am." she swore in a strained voice, trying to convince herself as much as him. "So incredibly happy. Everything is wonderful it's just.." she had to pause to try and swallow the lump in her throat. It wasn't working. Tears welled in her eyes against her will. "I can't help but feel like it's not going to last."
He slowly pulled her closer to him. "Why wouldn't it?" he asked gently.
The tears began to stream down her face. "Because it never does." She could hardly get the words out as she broke down into sobs.
He stood and pulled her into his embrace. She buried her face in his neck as his arms wrapped around her.
His heart broke as he felt her slight frame shake. The mask of a strong, fierce, woman had crumbled away to reveal the fragile girl who'd had her heart broken one too many times by the cruel, aloof world she'd been born into. A world with the promise of everything you could ever want but nothing you really need.
He didn't know all the details of her past but what he did know was that she had been let down by everyone and everything she'd ever put her faith in. The other shoe always dropped. There was no reason for her to think this time would be any different.
He let her cry it out into his shoulder, until her breath evened out a bit and the stream of tears lightened. He waited for her to speak, not pushing her faster than she was willing to go. Eventually she broke the silence.
"When we first lost Robbie I was a mess." The tears threatened her eyes again and she pulled back from his shoulder to take a deep breath. Her voice was shaky when she continued. "and when my dad died I... I didn't think I would survive it, and honestly I probably wouldn't have if you hadn't followed me around the world," she admitted, "but I did survive it and-" Her voice broke as she couldn't fight the tears anymore and the words began to tumble out of her mouth. "And I was just getting my bearings back but it turns out Robbie's alive and everything is going to change again yes for the better but nothing is ever that simple and I'm not sure I can survive another false hope." Her voice cracked on her last word and she squeezed her eyes shut to try and regain some semblance of control.
She furiously wiped her tears away and scoffed cynically, "God look at me, Roberts alive and I'm crying for myself. I'm such a piece of shit."
"No, you're not," he insisted, "You are just a person trying to keep their sanity in a fucking insane life. You've been through way more than you're fair share of pain Eleanor, you don't ever have to apologize for protecting yourself."
As she looked back at him she felt a familiar warmness in her diaphragm. The same one she felt every time there their eyes had met for as long as she could remember knowing him. The feeling reminded her of their somehow now even more complicated situation.
"I don't know how much he knows about you," she told him nervously.
He took a deep breath. That was the thing that scared him most. The king of england was not necessarily inclined to be merciful toward someone who had tried to exploit his little sister and fucked his mom in the process, even if he had busted his ass and put his life on the line to make it up to her.
But he had just gotten her back. He couldn't bear to be ripped away again.
He sighed. "Don't worry about that right now, just get some rest." he told her, pushing a stray lock of hair from her face.
She nodded wearily before moving toward the bed to lie down. She grabbed his hand and pulled him with her, wrapping his arm around her waist so his chest was pressed against her back.
She couldn't say those words yet, hell, she never said them to her father and even struggled to say them to Liam, so all she could do was say it with her actions.
He heard her loud and clear and pulled her tighter against him. He stayed awake and listened to her breathing until he knew she had fallen asleep, before finally relaxing and drifting off after her.