I just want all of you AMAZING readers (who have given me the most AMAZING feedback! THANK YOU!) to know that I do not own anything, that the ages are a little jacked up because of the timeline I have started things at, and that I love you all for clicking the link that lead you to this crazy story. Thank all of you that reviewed and/or favorite-ed and/or followed my story.
To my very curious reviewer... The end of last chapter was like a preview of a future chapter. So this begins the day AFTER Nicolette leaves Haven. And this guy is most definitely dead. He was like Jack the Ripper of the USA, only more nasty. Anyway he died in the 1930s or 1940s, I think.
Chapter 8: Pictures and Pretty Things
They had just arrived in Seattle, and so far the overcast sky and the crowds of people have done nothing to impress Nicolette. The small red-head sat on the right side of one of the Escalades that had met them at the runway- the other had taken her grandfather straight to the house while they took the scenic route, while Ana sat in the middle leaning against Christian who sat on the left side of the car.
Both of them were watching her.
"Is it ever sunny here?" Nicolette asked.
"Yes, very rarely though." Christian answered her. Nicolette didn't turn around to meet his gaze.
"Mr. Johnson said you were allergic to peanuts." Ana brought up.
"Yeah, what about it?" Nicolette asked.
"Just how allergic are you? Is it something that is small and a rash breaks out or is it life or death?" Ana asked, Christian tensed waiting for her answer.
"Life or death- only if I ingest it or if it comes into contact with my skin. None of that airborne stuff." Nicolette answered as she turned to face them., "I always keep an epipen in my purse, just in case. Christian relaxed a tiny bit, but not a whole lot with the fact that now not only does he have to worry about being a good father to her- he has to worry if her food has peanuts in it or not, because it could kill his daughter and that could be considered bad parenting.
"I will also have Ryan carry one of your pens as well. Just for a precaution." Christian spoke. Nicolette nodded, her green eyes drifted to the front seats where Sawyer was in the passenger seat and Taylor was in the front seat.
"Why do you have so much security?" Nicolette asked.
"Because, people get desperate and brave when they find an easy way to make money. And taking you or Ana would be an easy way to make that money." Christian answered without missing a beat, he had thought of that beforehand.
Nicolette nodded in understanding.
"The rest of your family is at your house..?" Nicolette didn't get to finish her question.
"Yes, the rest of OUR family is at OUR house." Christian said, putting an emphasis on the words 'our'.
"Oh. Ok." Nicolette said, retreating to looking back out the window. Ana smiled.
"Don't worry, he gets touchy like that at times." She whispered to the girl, who shot her new mom a smile.
The rest of the ride was filled with silence, well silence until Taylor let out a curse.
"Sorry ma'am, and miss." Taylor said, after checking the back seat and seeing Christian glare at him.
"Paps are parked out in front of all of Escala's entrances. They are going to have to get a couple pictures of Nicolette today. That is the only way in." Taylor said with his eyes on the road as he slowly drove to Escala's garage to park- trying to avoid running over the paparazzi that were brave enough to ambush the car.
Christian looked at Nicolette.
"Ok, this is how this is going to work. Sawyer will open your door and I want you to rush to the elevator with him. Ana and I will be behind you, don't worry about it. Sawyer the main elevator." Christian ordered. Both Sawyer and Nicolette nodded.
And the plan took place. After Taylor stopped the car, Sawyer nearly flew out of the front seat and sprinted around the car, pulling Nicolette's door open and tugging the unbuckled Nicolette out of the car. The paparazzi went wild, seeing the small girl exit the car. And Nicolette was nearly blinded by all the flashes, though it wouldn't have mattered as she blindly followed Sawyer- who had a grip on her arm like it was the only way he'd live to see tomorrow.
And suddenly they were in the closed elevator- with Ana and Christian.
"Taylor went to park the car." Ana answered Nicolette's unasked question.
"You know, if they are going to be jerks.. they should at least be jerks who to turn their flashes off." Nicolette mumbled, causing Ana and Christian to laugh and Sawyer crack a smile.
"I don't think they have thought of that Baby Girl." Ana grinned, which made Nicolette smile to. Christian watched as his two girls just smiled at each other.
What felt like a hour of sitting in the elevator going up, was actually only a few minutes when the doors dinged open revealing Carrick and the rest of the Grey family.
"Jeez, guys, you can give her room to breath you know." Christian joked, or what Nicolette thought was joking.
"That's not going to happen, especially after mom always thought it would be me with a long lost child- and then it gets revealed that it was you who impregnated someone." A tall, broad, blonde headed man laughed.
"Whatever, Nicolette, the blonde asshole is your Uncle Elliot." Christian nodded.
"Christian Trevelyan Grey!" An older looking lady said, she had sandy colored hair and deep hazel eyes.
"That would be your Grandmother Grace." Elliot said.
"Thank you, Elliot, and no Nicolette he isn't really an asshole. He and your father believe that there should be a game when it comes to verbally abusing each other." Grace sighed. Nicolette cracked a smile.
"That is your Aunt Mi-" Christian didn't finish as he took a step back when Mia pulled Nicolette into a hug.
"Umph!" Nicolette breathed as Mia continued to hug her.
"Mia... she needs to breathe." Christian warned, Mia let Nicolette go.
"I'm your Aunt Mia, and I want you to know that if you need anything... and I mean anything that I am the person to come to." Mia winked at Nicolette, who grinned in response.
"You know, Carrick."
"Who wants me to call him, Grandpop." Nicolette nodded, as Carrick pulled her in for a light hug.
"And this is Elliot's fiancé Kate, Ana's best friend." Kate gave Nicolette a small wave.
"Now, to show you to your room." Christian said as he took two steps into the apartment with Ana by his side. Nicolette stayed in front of the elevator.
"I'm afraid I'm going to break something." she muttered to Sawyer- who grinned once again.
"Easy solution, don't touch anything." Sawyer muttered back.
"C'mon Nicolette, you are going to love your room." Mia sang, pulling Nicolette into the apartment by her arm.
Nicolette was led up a set of stairs and into a hall that was white with two wedding pictures of Christian and Ana other than that the hall's walls were bare. With the exception of a dark mahogany door that had a blue framed-white board hanging off of it. The white board had the words, 'Nicolette's Room', written on it. Christian stepped to the side and motioned for Nicolette to be the first to enter the room. Nicolette took a breath and pushed the door open.
Before she suddenly forgot how to breathe. The room was shaped like half of an octagon - probably done by Elliot, whom she was told was a carpenter and construction worker- and the walls were an off-shade of white, with black lines that made the walls look as if they were old music sheets, actual music notes filled the lines on the wall.
"Beethoven's first symphony." Nicolette breathed. "The notes, they are the flute's parts in Beethoven's first symphony." Nicolette breathed.
Two doors were nearly hidden by the paintings on the walls- as they were painted and decorated just like the walls.
"One door leads to the bathroom, the other leads to your closet." Christian said as he noticed her looking at them. Nicolette turned away from the doors to see that the walls on the far side of the room were the height of the high ceiling, though still painted like the rest, the wall also cut off in the middle, creating a hallway that Nicolette had to explore.
She walked down the hall to see that there was just a large room that's far walls were all glass, with a door that led to a balcony. And a small sitting area down, with cream colored couches and an ottoman. The walls were different on this side of the room, the walls (it is the wall that led to this area) facing the glass wall had built in bookshelves, that were not filled with books, but instead were bare, with the exception of a row of books on each shelf. There was a lamp with a turquoise shade that matched the two walls on the opposite sides of the bookshelf walls and glass wall. They had wooden blocks with quotes here and there. The floor throughout the room was white tile, and there was a turquoise rug that covered nearly all of the space in this part of the room.
But what she noticed was that the ceiling was lower here than in the main part of the room. She turned to ask about it, and saw Elliot's wicked smile.
"You noticed. I knew I liked you." Elliot laughed causing everyone to laugh, Nicolette knew she was nervous to meet the rest of her family, but seeing how laid back and happy everyone was, she felt like she actually belonged.
Elliot walked over to the bookcase and checked over his shoulder like he was trying to keep a secret. He reached behind a book- Nicolette noticed that it was labled, "The Complete Works of Ludwig Beethoven", on the fourth shelf from the bottom- an easy reach for her and typed in a number.
The bookshelf slid open, Nicolette's eyes bugged out of her head when she spotted a staircase behind it.
"The password is your six digit birthday." Elliot smiled, "After you." Nicolette nodded and walked up the steps, she heard talking behind her.
"How the hell did you finish this in three days?" It was her dad asking the question. Dad? When did I start thinking of him as dad? Nicolette asked.
"I started the day you left, put everything else on hold and had my entire team come down here. We had this built and the room shaped that day, the room painted and electronics put in yesterday, we put in heaters that dried the paint quickly and had the furniture in here and everything decorated in like two hours today. It wasn't that hard bro." Her Uncle Elliot spoke. Nicolette froze when she got to the top. It was like a freaking game room. Her instruments were out and on the shelves of one wall, each instrument fit in an exact place, and it looked freaking awesome to have her instruments safely in the dark wooden shelf. Like the room below there was the wall that was all glass, though there was no balcony or door here. But there were shades that made the room absolutely dark, a giant flat screen TV sat in front of a long turquoise couch, with two white arm chairs on either side and an turquoise ottoman. The remotes were on top of the ottoman, the only light sources were two lamps that sat in the corners of the wall without the glass. A mini fridge and snack bar, lined the wall facing the windows complete with a microwave and popcorn machine.
"Whoa... You went all out Elliot." Ana breathed.
"Yeah this was the fun part. I always wanted a secret hideaway like this, so I thought I'd give her one." Elliot smiled, Nicolette threw her arms around his waist and hugged him- he hugged back of course.
"Thank you so much! I've never seen something so cool in my life..." Nicolette thanked him.
"No worries about it, Nikk. I would have done this for any other long lost niece of mine." Elliot joked.
"Thanks."
"C'mon, let's get back down stairs and catch up." Carrick suggested. Everyone nodded and walked back down the stairs, Elliot showed Nicolette how to use the secret door, before they all left for the Great Room, where Nicolette met the staff- taking a great liking to Gail. Before anyone knew it, it was late in the evening and the family had to go back home.
Christian and Ana said goodnight to Nicolette, Ana pressing a kiss to Nicolette's forehead, at 09:46 that night and both stood in the doorframe watching her sleep until ten something.
They only left because they had a guest.
000...000...000
Nicolette groaned as she turned over in her comfortable California King bed, her turquoise ruffled comforter wrapped around her as she tossed and turned.
It was dark in her dream. And she was all alone.
"Hello? Is anybody here?!" After what felt like hours of screaming for someone, Nicolette crashed to the dark floor and started sobbing.
"I'm all alone..." Suddenly faceless people surrounded her.
"They will never love you.
You are unlovable.
You deserve to die bitch." It was like their chant.
"They will never love you.
You are unlovable.
You deserve to die bitch."
Nicolette shot up and into sitting position. Her wild green eyes instantly shot to the alarm clock on the nightstand next to her bed. 2 in the morning. Her throat was dry, completely forgetting about the drinks and food that were in her secret area, Nicolette crawled out of bed, in her leggings, long blue nightshirt, and blue fuzzy socks, her hair thrown up in a messy bun, and patted out and into the hall. She was almost to the kitchen when she heard the screaming.
"Just who the hell do you think you are?!" It was Christian.
"The woman that made you into the man you are today!" This was a different woman- not Ana.
"Made him into the man he is today- oh please, that was me!" Ok, that one was Ana. Before Nicolette knew what she had done, she was peaking around the corner of the room, the screaming match was in.
Sawyer, Taylor and Peters were standing back, but looked like they were ready to intervene at any given time, and her mom and dad were screaming at a very plastic looking blonde lady.
"I'm just saying that you should be thankful I am here! Who else could whip that small country brat into shape?!" The plastic looking blonde shouted.
"She is not a small country brat! She is a well behaved teenager Elena!" Christian shouted.
"Well behaved? She ran away from you the first time you met her!" 'Elena' shouted. How did she know about that? Nicolette questioned.
"How the hell do you know that?" Ana asked, At least I'm not the only one with common sense. Nicolette grinned.
"I am not stupid. When I heard that you were going to be brining that slut of a daughter home, I had someone shadow her and you." Elena hissed. Slut!? That bitch is going down.
"Excuse me but that slut of a daughter is right here." Nicolette hissed, as she revealed herself. Ana and Christian turned to see their daughter standing the opening that led to the Great Room.
"Nicolette what are you doing out of bed?" Christian asked.
"I wanted to get a glass of water from the kitchen, when I overheard that I was a small country brat and a slut." Nicolette glared past her parents and straight at Elena- who snorted.
"Because you are. Women need to be controlled to be considered good people, and so far your 'father' isn't doing such a good job with you or your 'mother'. I figured I could save him some time and energy with you." Elena said, as if it were the most simple thing in the world.
"Is that why you are being such a bitch right now? No one is controlling you?" Nicolette asked cocking her head to the side and scrunching up her face as if she were thinking. That comment earned a laugh from both of her parents and a cold glare from Elena.
"I well... I..."
"I guess you don't have any witty comeback, nice try though." Nicolette glared, though her voice was sarcastic.
"You need to be taught a lesson in manners. I guess that's why your father didn't fight for you. He didn't like you enough to even consider keeping you as a daughter." Elena hissed. Nicolette reacted before she thought...
She punched Elena, right in the nose. Elena shrieked in pain, even though Nicolette must have broken Elena's nose, the nose looked a bit more natural now.
"Well, I guess I did you a favor, because now, it actually looks like a real nose. You might want to change your plastic surgeon, he did a real shitty job on it." Nicolette hissed through gritted teeth. Christian wrapped his arms around his daughter's waist.
"Bring her back to her room." Nicolette didn't know who she was being handed off to until she saw Ryan's face.
Ryan leaned against the wall of Nicolette's room by her door. Nicolette laid in her bed, thinking.
"You want to talk about why you woke up? I know you had a nightmare." Ryan spoke. Nicolette threw her legs over the side of her bed again and walked towards the hall that led to the staircase. She noticed a bookshelf filled with movies on the opposite side of the wall with her instruments.
Plus, she now remembered that there were drinks in that mini fridge of hers. Nicolette typed in her six digit birthday and disappeared into the staircase, watching the door close behind her.
Nicolette flopped onto the couch after finding a movie, drink and blanket to snuggle up with. Halfway through the movie she heard the door slide open and footsteps on the stairs.
She looked over and saw Christian.
He walked over and sat on the couch. He recognized the movie.
"Why are you watching a horror movie at three in the morning?"
"Couldn't sleep." Nicolette answered, she heard a laugh.
"And you thought this would help?" Nicolette shrugged.
"I want to talk about what happened earlier." Christian said suddenly, just as the idiots in the horror movie decided it would be a fantastic idea to split up.
"I don't feel bad for punching her, if that's what you want to talk about." Nicolette sighed.
"I don't expect you to feel bad for Elena. I don't want you near her in fact. I want you to know that you aren't some small country brat or a slut or any of the things that she said. I want you to know that I am proud of you. For sticking up for yourself, punching and cussing are another matter, as I don't condone either, but I am proud of you tonight." Christian spoke, Nicolette took her eyes of the screen and looked at her dad.
"I want you to know that Mike Johnson did try to fight for you. He did his best." Christian whispered. Nicolette nodded.
"I know, he told me. Are you really proud of me?" Nicolette asked.
"Yes, you and Ana will get along great. Both of you have a great deal of wittiness. Now come on. I have work and you have things to do tomorrow." Christian stood, and turned off the television.
He pulled a half asleep Nicolette back into her bed and tucked her in.
"Goodnight daughter." Christian whispered when he thought she was asleep.
"Night dad." Nicolette mumbled lightly. Christian smiled a bit, and walked out of the room. Not before looking back into the room and shutting the door lightly.