I'm sorry to say, but this story is no longer alive. Over the past month I've realized that I don't like this story, and I don't want to continue it, so there will no longer be any chapters posted.

Again. I'm sorry.

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JUST KIDDING! APRIL FOOLS DAY :D

I'm back, and better than ever! (I hope) So, here's chapter 17 of Is there and Elephant in the Room, and I hope you greatly enjoy it :D (my real authors note will be on the next chapter)

Again, enjoy, and review :D This chapter is from Ellie's POV, so be prepared for more things about Ellie and Riku XD

Full chapter title: Hello, can't work today, still queer.

"Yes, I'm aware of this, but Sir, my client is not to be held accountable if you jump off the balcony of a two story room and break your leg. That's on you, not my client," Ellie sighed, staring out the window with a frustrated expression played out on her face. "No… no, Sir, please listen to me, I know-" she let out a yelp as a strong arm wrapped around her waist, and the phone was taken from her hand.

"Hello Sir, I appreciate you talking to our lawyer before suing us, but really, is there any point? Nothing she says is going to change your mind, and I would appreciate if you would leave her alone as she's in the hospital right now. Thanks. Bye."

Ellie nearly growled, struggling against Riku's tight grip that kept her locked against his body. In his other hand, Ellie's cell phone had been snapped shut and was held high above her head, almost tauntingly. Her boyfriend smiled down at her before pocketing the phone.

"You, little missy, should be in bed," Riku said, "you're still recovering from a concussion." He reached down quickly and picked Ellie up bridal style, extracting a small screech from the woman. "You really want to almost die again?"

With a huff, Ellie wrapped her arms around Riku's neck, leaning away from him slightly, and said, "I didn't almost die. You're being melodramatic again." He grinned and took a step towards Ellie's hospital bed.

"Well," he began, his voice lowering slightly, "can you really blame me? You scared the shit out of me. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you." He closed his eyes and finished walking to the bed. "Now then, let go of me." Confused, Ellie obliged, but regretted it almost immediately as Riku tossed her on the bed.

"Oi! Whatever happened to me being injured and needing to rest?"

Riku laughed, pushing Ellie down on the bed as she tried to get up again. "I'm trying to get you to rest, but it's very difficult when you're being annoying and attempting to do your work," he scolded. Now irritated beyond all belief, Ellie stuck out her tongue, and Riku laughed again, ruffling her hair. "Wow, childish much?" His teasing tone was laced with affection, something that Ellie noticed immediately, and it caused her to blush.

"Shut it," she muttered, crossing her arms and pulling her legs up to her chest as she glared up at Riku.

He was the only person she had ever run into that could make her feel embarrassed like this, and of course, it always pissed her off when he tried to ridicule her during work, and even now, anyone could just randomly walk in and see that she was flushed. Surely four years of telling him to stop being like that would change a guy. But it didn't.

"You're so cute when you're embarrassed, you know that, right?" Ellie wanted to murder her boyfriend at this point.

"I am not cute. Don't say that."

"Stop being so hard on yourself. You're absolutely adorable." He placed one hand on the headboard of the bed, and the other on Ellie's shoulder as he leaned down to kiss her. She responded to him easily, her own hands coming up to rest against his face lightly. One week of being in the hospital was not good for a woman, especially when her boyfriend visited everyday and they could only kiss.

Ellie was sure it was messing with Riku as well, but he had been acting reserved recently, and even now, he pulled away from her, despite the groan of protest.

He laughed again, this time at the nasty look he was getting, and walked over to the other side of the room with a smirk on his face. Ellie, on the other hand, was glowering. "Thanks, Riku. Thanks a lot. You just love teasing me like that, don't you."

Messing with the flowers that Ellie had received from her adoptive father, Riku muttered something to himself which the sick woman didn't hear, so she asked him what he said. All he did was laugh and look at his watch.

"Oops. Sorry. Gotta go. Cloud only gave me an hour to come visit you, which is annoying, because it takes a long time to get here."

"What? Oh come on. It's Saturday. You never work on Saturdays," Ellie protested, turning to sit on the bed. In an instant, Riku was by her side again, pushing her down onto the bed. "Hey! Let me get up!"

Letting out a little laugh, Riku kissed Ellie again, which caused her to submit and fall back onto the bed. "You're sick," he muttered after pulling away, "you really think I'm just going to let you get out of bed and collapse again? Like I said, I don't know what I would do if something happened to you."

He pushed away from her, a smile on his face, but Ellie just sighed. "You're impossible. I made a mistake, alright?I had no idea that hitting my head against a cabinet by accident would cause me to get a concussion. I'm sorry. I'm only human."

"You won't be if you don't take care of your body," Riku said, rolling his eyes as he turned to leave. "Corpses aren't very good at living, you know." Ellie grabbed the pillow from underneath her head and threw it at Riku, though he dodged before it actually hit him. Laughing, he continued with, "If you want to get out of the hospital sooner, then stop getting out of bed and just do what the doctors say. 'Kay?"

Ellie muttered a 'shut up' under her breath, then crossed her arms and leaned back. She ignored Riku as he waved goodbye, even though she desperately wanted to jump him right then and there.

One more week. She had one more week of laying in a dull bed, in a quiet hospital where nothing interesting happened. Didn't seem like a long time to a lot of people, but to Ellie, who ran four miles almost every morning, was a lawyer for a very successful company, and had a boyfriend who she had a very physical relationship with, it was a long, long, long time.

Time she wanted to spend living her life, not being observed by doctors. Sure, she had fainted after hitting her head, but that didn't mean it would happen again. Not to mention the fact that her symptoms had gone away completely, she was on medicine for the concussion, and everyone was waiting for her to come back to work.

Being in the hospital was just hindering her, not helping. Ellie was convinced that she could go home and rest there with the same results as staying in the hospital. Laying in bed was pointless, especially since she had a guy who was trying to sue Cloud because he was an idiot and jumped off a balcony for sport.

No one else in the main building knew how to handle idiots like that, or, at least not in the way the Ellie needed them to. If he actually took this stupid case to court, it would cost a lot of money, money that the company didn't need to waste for some idiot.

Of course, the only other person who would be able to get this guy to drop the case would be Eraqus, the other lawyer, but he was on vacation and wouldn't be back for another two months.

He just had perfect timing.

Sighing, Ellie crawled under her light blue covers and closed her eyes, hoping that sleep would overcome her, but of course, it didn't. She had too much on her mind for sleep to come.

So instead she slipped out of bed, glad Riku wasn't there to push her back because she had work to do.

Stepping lightly across the cold floor she made her way across the room to the bureau that stood alone in the corner, but it wasn't empty. Ellie had hidden some work in there after Roxas had been kind enough to bring it to her. Of course, it had to be hidden, because there was a high chance Riku would confiscate it when he found out. He had been so anal about keeping Ellie resting that it was driving her slightly insane.

Once she had reached the cabinet, she tapped her fingers on the top, debating whether or not she actually wanted to do work. It was such a difficult decision. Slowly, she began to open the top drawer where the papers were when...

"You know, Riku would kill you if he knew you were hiding your work in there." Ellie's hand slid over the front of the drawer she had just opened, and slammed it shut, whirling around as though her life depended on it.

Leaning against the doorway was Axel, arms crossed across his black, punk t-shirt, a file folder handing from one hand. A grin spread across his face as he pushed off the door-frame and headed over to Ellie.

"Oh God, Axel. I thought you were some kind of mass murderer. Don't startle people like that," Ellie growled, yanking open the drawer again. She ruffled with the papers inside, looking for something random to do while she was stuck in this hellhole.

With a laugh, Axel replied, "No, you thought I was Riku. Which is weird, because I said Riku's name." He finished walking over to her in a few strides and held out the folder. "You know, there's an easier way to do your work while you're here."

"If you have any brilliant ideas, I'm all ears," Ellie replied. She took the folder from her red-haired friend with a sigh and opened it up. She quickly scanned over it, face dropping with every sentence. "Um... Axel?" She turned towards him, eyebrows raised and folder held up, "What is this?" Ellie closed the folder and placed it on the bureau. "I thought I told you that you needed to drop-"

"Yeah, but before you told me that, you promised you would help me."

"That was ten years ago. You know, when we you graduated from high school and you found out that-"

Axel quickly closed the distance between him and Ellie and placed his hand over her mouth. "Not here you idiot! Anyone could be listening, and you know, I really don't want some random nurse or doctor knowing about my personal life!" Ellie rolled her eyes and pushed Axel away from her, uncovering her mouth in the same instance.

"Not here? If you didn't want me to talk about it, why would you bring this-"

"Because you're here."

Sighing, Ellie snatched up the file and began reading it again, eyes barely skimming the words as she muttered to herself about how stupid Axel was being. After reading the first page, she walked back to her bed, head shaking sadly. "Look, Axel, I know you really want this, but you said you were letting it go."

"I was letting it go. Then I found this," Axel explained. He followed Ellie to her bed and collapsed in the chair next to it. "Do you know how long-"

"Fifteen years, two weeks, and five days. Ever since that party your dad's forced you to go to," Ellie muttered, curling into a ball. "This information... it's so detailed..." Biting her lip, she turned to Axel, eyes wide. "There's no way you just came across this. You've still been searching, even though you promised me-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I promised to leave it alone. But, I came across something, and I dug deeper, and voila!" He leaned forward and tapped the paper. "This could help me find him! I could actually-"

"No! Drop it, Axel." Ellie leaned forward as she threw the file on the bed. "You need to move on or you're just going to fall into a pit of despair and hurt all the people who care about you!"

"Oh? People care about me? Like who?"

A silence fell over the two. Axel was sitting there, absolutely furious, and Ellie's hands clenched around the blanket next to her. She looked down at her knees, feeling a harsh sting at the back of her throat as tears formed at her eyes. "Get out," she hissed, trying hard not to let her voice crack. Axel's angry expression disappeared in an instant, his face over coming with confusion.

"W-What?"

"Get the hell out of my room."

Axel stood up. "W-Wait. I'm sorry. Ellie I didn't mean-"

"I said get out," Ellie screeched, grabbing the file and throwing it at Axel. Tears flowed down her face, a sure sign to Axel that Ellie was seriously upset, and that he needed to leave. Without another word, Axel grabbed the folder and walked out of the room, leaving Ellie alone with her thoughts. Curling into a ball, Ellie did everything she could to stop the tears from leaving her eyes. Three years ago, when Axel had been hired by Cloud, he promised Ellie that he wouldn't go searching for things in their past. Both of them had agreed to let go of what had happened to them as kids.

But she knew, somewhere, that he couldn't.

She cared about Axel, a lot, like he was her brother, and to see him obsess over something that could hurt him, was in turn, affecting Ellie. She'd always wondered what Axel did while he was supposed to be working, and now she felt as though she knew.

Another five days passed with Ellie in the hospital, leaving her extremely agitated. Despite Riku telling her that she only had two days left, Ellie felt as though the time was going by slower than the last week of high school. Two days... Ellie didn't feel as though she could survive for that long, especially with all the work that was being dumped on her.

"-and this is the last thing my dad wanted me to give you," Roxas finished, biting his bottom lip. "Sorry about all this. Apparently a hotel business can't run without a lawyer..." Laughing, Ellie took the last piece of paper from Roxas and placed it on her bed, not feeling any kind of amusement at all.

"It's fine, Roxie. This is what I was hired for." She laughed again. "So, I'm guessing you have to go now?" No one every stayed for very long, as they had work to do, or dinner to prepare, or strange obsessions that caused their best friend to never want to speak to him again. Axel, being the last one, of course.

Roxas continued to bite his lip before plopping down in the seat next to Ellie's bed. Confused, she looked over at him, wondering just what was going on. "Um... actually, I have a question for you..." Roxas muttered, somewhat hesitantly. Ellie picked up the cup of water next to her bed and took a small sip.

"Sure. What do you need?" waved her hand as a beckon for Roxas to continue speaking. The teen opened his mouth to speak, and after a moment of hesitation, said;

"You know um... how do I... um...," Roxas stuttered, his cheeks painting a light pink. Ellie smirked, then took a wild stab at what Roxas wanted.

"Does this have anything to do with Axel?" Roxas' face turned a deeper shade of red, and he nodded. Ellie laughed. "Alright, what do you want to know? Is he lazy? Why doesn't he ever help you with work? Why is he adopted?"

"Is he... gay?"

The water draining down Ellie's throat suddenly got caught in her trachea, and she began coughing, trying desperately not to choke. She had not been expecting Roxas to ask that question. Dense, stupid, young, Roxas, was finally wondering if Axel was gay. Had it seriously taken him this long? After nearly choking to death, much to the concern of Roxas, Ellie looked up.

Roxas' face was even more flushed than before, and Ellie groaned. "Oh shit. What did Axel do to you?"

"Nothing," Roxas cried indignantly, standing up. His teeth clenched, obviously embarrassed, but he sat down again. "Well? Is he?" All Ellie really wanted to do was laugh at the poor teen. There's no doubt Axel did do something to the poor guy, but Ellie wasn't going to push Roxas. She wasn't that mean.

"Yes, Roxas. He is. I can't believe you haven't noticed this before." Ellie placed her cup on the table next to her and picked up the papers again as Roxas muttered something. Looking over at him, Ellie asked, "What was that? Did you say something?"

"Shut up."

"I take it whatever Axel did to you isn't something you really want to talk about, so I'm just going to assume it was embarrassing, and finally made you realize something you should have noticed months ago." She glanced over at Roxas, wondering how he was taking the news, and much to her surprise, he had no reaction at all. He was just sitting there, a blank expression on his face, not saying anything at all, and Ellie wondered for a second if he was even breathing. He was, of course, but it still worried her. "Roxas?"

Suddenly, the boy stood up, grabbing his coat as he went. "Thanks, Ellie. I really appreciate it. Um... I have to... I have to go now." Ellie scoffed at the boy's sentence.

"See ya."

"Yeah."

Roxas had finally figured out Axel was into guys, though she highly doubted he knew that Axel really, really, really, wanted to get into Roxas' pants. That might come later, though, and Ellie was kinda looking forward to it when it happened.

"Hey, Ellie, can I talk to you?"

"No."

"Oh come on!"

"Go away, Axel."

"Please? Please, please, please, please, please?"

"Alright, fine. What do you want?"

"I'm sorry, okay?"

"... Are you going to give up?"

"No... sorry, I can't do that."

"Axel..."

"Look, Ellie, this is important to me. I know you've let go, but I haven't... I need this."

"... Fine."

"Is all forgiven?"

"Axel, you're my best friend. I can't stay mad at you for that long."

"Ha! I knew you couldn't!"

"Oh shush."

And tomorrow, chapter 18 :) Want a preview?

"You're really bad at listening, aren't you?" Again, my arm was grabbed, and Axel dragged me out of the hotel. It was much colder when we walked outside to the parking lot, and snow had begun to fall in sheets. Axel looked absolutely furious. "Fuck!"

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"Mr. Lea won't drive back?" On the other side of the phone, I heard my father sigh, "I should have guessed that would happen. Alright. I understand."

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"What do you mean?" He didn't reply, just shaking his head. Silence fell over us,and I continued to watch Axel's back, feeling completely calm. There was something strange about me tonight, like I'd been possessed or something along those lines. I especially wondered if that was true when I asked, "Why did you kiss me?"

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:) See you tomorrow!

~Sunechirei