I had a lot to cover here so it's a long one! Thanks to 'Godlovesbonie' I think you'll like the bit at the end. thanks to everyone for your reviews, likes etc x
Christian was up early and sitting at the breakfast bar drinking coffee, Grace had come over and was sitting next to him, reading a newspaper. Ivy had changed into a pair of high waisted shorts and a lacy white top underneath, her skinny legs were visible and Christian noted the tattoo on the inside of her left foot as she padded into the main room with bare feet.
He slipped off the stool 'Ivy, this is my mother' she glanced awkwardly at Grace who smiled and got off the stool too 'my names Grace, dear. How did you sleep?' she nodded awkwardly and fiddled with her hair which was in a long side plait 'uh, really well, thanks'. She swallowed and looked towards the floor as Grace watched her 'we've got breakfast in the other room if you want it'. Ivy put her hand into her shorts pocket and looked uncomfortably at the two adults as she took out a small clear packet with fine brown power in it, placing it on the side. 'I haven't used any...I just have it...I don't want to...I know you're trusting me...and stuff' she looked up, judging their reactions warily. Grace glanced at the packet 'Heroin?' it wasn't really a question and Ivy gave no response. Christian was silent for a little while, his body rigid 'I'm glad you handed it over, now let's eat'
The three of them were sitting in the dining room area and the table was full of pancakes, bacon, fruit, eggs, coffee, tea and juice. Ivy had been given three pancakes by Christian- without her asking for them- and had taken some strawberries. She ate the fruit easily and drank only water, saying nothing whilst Christian and Grace ate heartily and spoke at length.
Christian glanced over at Ivy, who was pushing the breakfast around her plate uselessly, looking down at the table. 'You need to eat' she glanced up but simply nodded, still pushing the food around until Christian sighed, sitting back in his chair, an empty plate in front of him 'look- please just eat? I have a thing about food' she swallowed and took a tiny amount of pancake on her fork 'yeah, well maybe I do as well'. Her voice was hollow and Christian had no idea what to say, watching her very slowly eat tiny parts of the pancake. He was about to say something else but he saw Grace shake her head out of the corner of his eye.
Christian had worn Ivy down over the morning; eventually she had agreed to have Grace check her over. She had only agreed so that he would stop going on about it. Grace wanted to do a full medical check-up and blood tests, she didn't say so but Ivy was aware that it was because of the drug taking. 'So, I can schedule you in for some time this week if you want dear?' Ivy shrugged lightly, she actually found herself liking Grace's calm, sincere attitude 'sure'. Grace smiled kindly 'I'll let Christian know in the week. My husband Carrick and I were hoping that you would join us for a dinner sometime this week? With our other two children of course. They want to meet you' Ivy blinked in surprise 'Uh…okay'. She sounded less than enthusiastic and Grace smiled widely at Christian 'Tonight dear? Your father is working tomorrow night and I'm working late Wednesday'. Christian thought for a minute 'Well…I suppose get it over with sooner rather than later from Ivy's point of view'. Grace nodded 'I'll let your sister know; Elliot is staying at ours tonight already, so we'll all be there'.
Christian had told the rest of the Grey's that they should have the dinner aboard his boat, Ivy had vaguely mentioned that she wanted to get some fresh air and he wanted a neutral setting for her to meet them.
Christian and Ivy were aboard the boat before everyone else and he was watching her thoughtfully, she was dressed in a tight black jeans and a blue top with a thin grey cardigan and converse, her hair was down and slightly curly.
Christian heard the sound of voices approaching and stood up, glancing over and seeing his family approaching. Ivy glanced warily over the Grey family who were getting closer, laughing and talking loudly as they came up the boat. The greetings were a little awkward, the Grey's were hugging and kissing her cheek whilst Ivy awkwardly nodded, slightly smiled and stood there quietly. She said nothing as everyone spoke and Carrick looked around, smiling 'I don't know about you Christian but I could really do with a drink'. They moved over to the bar area at the back of the deck and started pouring drinks, Elliot smiled at her 'Ivy, you want a drink?' he motioned to the wine bottle in his hand and she shook her head 'I don't drink, but thanks'. Elliot looked a little surprised but gave her a soda drink instead.
The conversation was easy between the Grey's, as much as they tried to include Ivy, she was only giving stilted, minimal responses. Christian was watching her out the corner of his eye and didn't know what to say, watching as she watched the conversation but said nothing as the boat went out of the dock into the gentle water. Suddenly she glanced up, muttering quietly 'I'm gonna go for a swim' Christian quickly asked 'can you swim?'. She narrowed her eyes, 'Yes...I wouldn't be getting in water if I was going to drown in it'. There was an awkward pause and Ivy turned and moved towards the main area, where her things were in a bedroom.
When she appeared again she was wearing a plain black string bikini, holding a small bag and a towel, not aware that they had all looked over at her, Christian looking surprised. She was far skinnier than he had first realised, whilst the bottom of her rib cage was slightly visible on her tiny frame, she also had what he could tell were slight muscles on her stomach. He recognised the signs of someone who exercised harder than they should on the food they took in. She was clearly not eating as much as she was running.
The other thing that he noted, after her scrawny arms and bony shoulders, was the tattoos. He hadn't even realised she had so many before now. On one hip bone was a small dove, and on the other was what he assumed was Afrikaans or something foreign, it was short but he had no idea of what it meant. On her Ribcage was a short script, he couldn't see but thought it was in English, the other side had what Christian recognized as an Egyptian symbol but wasn't sure for what.
Ivy dumped her things in a pile on one of the sofa areas on the back of the deck and stretched her ribs and hip bones becoming more prominent. Christian couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth 'Ivy, when was the last time you ate a proper meal?' she looked up, startled 'at lunch, when you practically force fed me that chicken'. She looked annoyed but didn't wait for more conversation and did a perfect dive off the edge of the boat.
Ivy was in the water for nearly twenty minutes, every now and again going to the edge of the boat and sitting on the platform at the back. Christian knew what she was trying to do, she didn't want to have to interact with him and his family any more than was actually necessary. He understood of course, it must be difficult to suddenly be put in a position where you have a brother and he has two siblings and parents of his own in the package.
The chef called down to tell them dinner would be in twenty minutes and Ivy got out of the water, drying herself off quickly and walking back up to the deck they were on. Carrick smiled warmly 'good swim?' she nodded, slightly smiling back 'Yeah, in Ruston we swim a lot but not normally off of anything this fancy'. Carrick laughed and Ivy looked more at ease. 'I'm going to go get changed'. Elliot was peering at her 'what does that say?' she glanced down at the tattoo he was looking at. 'Oh, it's Afrikaans, it's a Van Ransburg saying, I had it done in Cape Town last year, it says 'If you don't live for something, you'll die for nothing'. Elliot nodded, looking a little impressed and she walked back down to the bedrooms to dry off and change.
Dinner was a fairly elaborate occasion by Ivy's thoughts, feeling a little out of place when the soup arrived as a course. Elliot glanced over at Ivy 'so, are you at school at the moment?' 'I've already graduated'. He blinked 'a year early?' she nodded, looking fixedly at her soup 'well that's impressive' she made a noise that barely passed for agreement and Carrick tried to join the conversation. 'So are you thinking of going to University?' she shrugged, moving the soup spoon through the dish slowly, trailing a pattern 'I don't know what I'd take...and I don't think anywhere would have me to be honest' 'I heard you had a better than perfect GPA and you were good at languages, any University would be lucky to have you'. Ivy snorted with laughter 'yes well, it doesn't matter how smart someone is does it. If they were caught with drugs at their last school then it's unlikely they're getting a place isn't it'. Ivy had made it clear that was the end of the conversation and continued to stare at her soup and not eat any more of it.
It didn't matter how much Ivy tried to direct conversations away, it seemed that the topic of conversation always seemed to include vague references to her drug usage. Mia smiled 'So you graduate early?' 'yes, well the only reason they asked me to was because they knew I wouldn't have managed another year. They said I could take all extra classes and graduate early…then I was arrested on site and uh, they kept it quiet and pushed me through the classes'. Elliot looked up at this 'You were arrested in school?' she blushed slightly 'they were doing locker and bag searches and I had…stuff…on me. I uh, well I tried to sneak out but they caught me on the edge of the grounds, I had some left and I was completely out of it- got me arrested but the school wanted me to graduate because it looked good for them with my GPA'. Elliot looked intrigued and Carrick was listening intently. 'Drugs…can I ask what drugs?' There was a pause and she muttered 'Heroin' under her breath. Ivy saw everyone's quick glances at the crook of her arm and shook her head 'Not there. I'd have been caught a long time before'. Carrick clenched his jaw, looking sad 'you've got marks…?'. She glanced up and saw Christian's curious expression watching her closely.
Ivy looked annoyed and one by one the bracelets came off and at the end of it she thrust her arm on the table, looking pissed off 'there. Happy now?'. Everyone looked over at her left forearm, Mia gasped slightly and Elliot inhaled sharply between his teeth. It was clear Ivy was right handed as most of the damage was on her left. Her left wrist had four obvious track marks, dark purple and clustered around her vein. Despite the fact they were small marks, Ivy's pale skin made the marks even more visible. Her pale skin also highlighted the cuts that had been hidden by the bracelets. The slightly twisted, tight skin of the scars were dark, numerous and criss-crossed over her forearm.
There was a slightly stunned pause from the Grey's as Ivy snatched her bracelets up from the table and stood sharply up, her voice icy 'as nice as this was, I have to be somewhere'. She moved so swiftly across the deck that it took Christian a few seconds to catch up 'Ivy!'. She ignored him until he grabbed her arm, she turned around and slapped his arm away with quite some force. 'I don't need your pity Christian and most of all I don't need you to buy my happiness because you can't- nothing you do is gonna make me one of your perfect little family- do don't fucking try'. Christian blinked in surprise 'you think I'm trying to buy your happiness?' 'Yeah. It stops you needing to use your feelings doesn't it. You'd rather give me thousands of dollars than talk about THIS- wouldn't you?'. She motioned to her left arm and Christian gripped it, looking pissed off, knowing she was referring to the clothes, car and new phone he had offered her that morning.
'You want my 'feelings'? Every one of these marks and cuts makes me feel sick, my biological mother was a drug addict and she died when I was four. When she overdosed I was left with her body for a couple of days, I was starving hungry and alone. That is why it makes me feel sick to know that my own sister is using like this- and that is why I hate to see you so fucking thin'. Elliot and Mia glanced at each other in surprise at this revelation. Ivy looked coolly at Christian 'you're hurting me' he quickly released her arm and she gave him a hollow expression. There was a long pause where the two sets of grey eyes stared at each other heatedly in silence other than their heavy breathing.
In her pocket, Ivy's phone started ringing. She took it out and answered it, moving a step away from Christian 'Hello...Oh- Mum...what the fuck do you want?' Christian and the others all looked up at the mention of her mother 'how did you even get this number?...oh I see...hmmm...I'm not I'm Ruston...none of your business...oh don't pull the 'I care about you card' I think we both know it's bull shit...well why would I?...I'm donating it to him...yeah well we've got on pretty well without you so far...what is that supposed to mean?'
Ivy looked annoyed and turned slightly so the Grey's were facing her back but her voice got louder as she got angrier 'maybe it's not Dad that made me use- maybe it's my pathetic excuse for a mother-...What is wrong with you? I'm your DAUGHTER?...you know what, I graduated last summer and you didn't even bother with a call, I think that says something about you...' whatever was said on the other end of the phone angered her even more and she exploded in anger, screaming down the phone 'how fucking dare you!'. She didn't even bother hanging up and threw the phone with quite some force into the calm water, creating a huge splash.
Christian watched his sister closely 'Ivy?' she shook her head 'I'm fine' 'well you don't look it'. She clenched her jaw tightly 'I didn't know you were a psychologist all of a sudden'. Ivy looked pale and sat down heavily in her chair again, a plate of pasta now there. Christian opened his mouth to say something but decided against it when he saw the heart wrenching sadness in her eyes before she looked down obviously at the plate, blinking furiously to keep tears away.
Ivy ate slowly and in tiny amounts whilst staring vacantly at her plate. They tried speaking to her but she didn't even manage a nod in response. Christian was glad she was eating until a quarter of the way through she put down her fork and pushed the plate away a little. Grace raised an eyebrow 'I hate to be like this dear but at the weight you currently are it's unlikely that they would use you for a transplant' she paled slightly 'but I want him to sign over his rights'. Christian narrowed his eyes, 'what's the point? You're 18 in six months' 'six months? It's two''but your father said-'. Ivy cut him off 'yes, well, he never seems to remember'. They all looked a little horrified and she shrugged 'anything is better than my Mother at least'.
Ana assumed that Christian would be home by now, it was fairly late in the evening. He had been incredibly busy the last two days and his responses to texts and emails had been both vague and short.
Ana had become a little impatient and had taken it upon herself to take charge of the situation. Now she was standing in the lift in a short black dress with brand new Victoria's Secret underwear, it was small, lacy and black, and she was pretty sure that Christian was going to be more than happy with her little purchase. Ana sashayed her way out of the lift and into the main room where she could hear noise from. She had a smug smile on her face until she opened the door to the main room. The first thing she noticed was Christian standing in the middle of the room, the second thing she noticed was the girl. She was fairly small and crying into Christian's chest and he was holding her tightly. Ana blinked, she didn't recognise the girl and Christian was allowing the physical contact between them that she'd had to work so hard at.
Ana's mind went to the worst case scenario. She knew that Leila was currently on the loose and thought maybe this was another crazy ex. 'Christian?' he glanced up and looked shocked 'Ana...' 'and who the fuck is this?'. The girl turned and Ana saw the identical grey eyes to her Fifty and gasped slightly. 'Ana, this is Ivy- my sister'. Ana opened her mouth to say something but Ivy glared at her, tear stained cheeks and red rimmed eyes. She saw the judging, accusatory glance from the elder woman and wiped a tear away 'I'm going to bed'. Christian looked worried 'Ivy-' she looked at her brother with dark eyes 'I'll see you in the morning' she threw a look at Ana and slammed the door behind her.
A.N- Sorry if this is too long. Probably should have done it as two chapters x