I know it's only been a few hours since my last update as opposed to the few days that I was going to wait, but I just can't help myself sometimes. Please enjoy and thank you so much for the review that was left so quickly, I really hope that you continue to enjoy the read!

Chapter Five

River didn't bother climbing through her bedroom window, instead opting to simply push at the front door and walk in. She stayed silent, but at the simple sight of her mother, wrapped up on the couch, tears in her eyes, she knew she'd truly fucked up.

"Where's dad?" She asked softly, hearing her own voice crack.

Her mother simply nodded to River's room, confirming her fears. He was waiting in there for her.

She wished more than anything that she could have just been back with Paul, that she could have made this punishment wait until morning, but she knew what she had to do. She'd fucked up, now she had to pay the piper. Ready to get things over with, she headed straight in, facing him. Upon entering, she found him sitting on her bed, looking utterly exhausted in his pyjamas. "Where the hell have you been?" He asked, keeping his voice calm and controlled as he stared daggers into her eyes, chilling her in an instant, leaving a frog in her throat.

She felt the rush of cold seep into her bones, chasing away the warm, happy feeling that Paul had left her with. "Dad, I-"

"River Anne Nivalis, so help me. Where have you been?" He demanded, standing and stepping closer to her, this time letting his voice rise just a little. When she opened her mouth to respond, he simply scoffed aloud. "Do you have any idea how worried sick you've had me and your mother?" She couldn't act as if she hadn't seen the tears on her mom's face, nor could she pretend that she hadn't seen the poorly hidden sobs shaking her small body on the couch.

"I went for a walk." She muttered, not knowing what to even say to him. She was vaguely aware of her mom standing in the doorway, but she knew that she was on her own in this one. Help was something that she would have had any other time, but now? Well, she'd broken the rules, she got nothing.

That was when her dad stopped, stepped back, and looked her up and down. It seemed, for a moment, that he was just noticing something about her. She wondered what it was, realising too late. "What the hell are you wearing?" He asked incredulously, seeing quickly that they sure as hell weren't her clothes.

"What?" River stuttered, realising that she didn't know what to say. How could she explain away wearing Paul's clothes? Her initial plan had be to get her sleep clothes back on as soon as she got home. This, her father seeing this, was never part of the plan. Seriously, how could she explain to a man who knew her entire wardrobe, knew her size, knew her tastes, what the fuck she was wearing?

Shaking his head, he looked thoroughly furious with her. "Your clothes, River. Those aren't your clothes. Where have you been, where are you clothes and who the hell do they belong to?"

With her heart beating out of her chest, she held back tears and began to explain. "I went to see Paul. Paul Lahote-"

She saw her father's eyes widen at his name. She wasn't sure that she'd ever seen him quite so livid. "River-"

"To apologise!" She yelped, praying that he believed her.

He assessed her silently for a long, uncomfortable second, forcing her to feel her heartbeat pounding violently. "Really?" He seemed unsure of her answer to say the least.

"Yes." She nodded quickly, hoping that he could see that there was some truth to what she was saying. "I just, I don't know, I felt bad. I went to apologise."

"Your clothes?" He demanded, ignoring what she'd just said. She knew how it must have looked to him. Truly, she did.

"They were wet. He offered me some sweats. He asked if I wanted to crash on his couch and get a ride back in the morning from Sam Uley but I said I needed to come back." That much was true. He had offered, in his attempt to get her to stay, to get her a ride in the morning since he didn't drive.

"You thought your mother and I wouldn't know." He then added on for her, pinning her with a glare. It was true though. She had, ultimately, banked on them being clueless.

She nodded guiltily. "Yes." She admitted, feeling shame in her chest.

Nodding, he stalked out of her room, stopping in the doorway beside her mother. "Get to bed. Don't ever pull something like this again." He told her, pulling the door shut behind them both. She could hear them talking as they both walked together to their room, but she didn't listen to what they were saying. Instead, she finally let a tear fall as a sob wracked her chest. She wasn't usually one to cry, but damn, she knew how badly she'd fucked this one up.

That night, she slept in Paul's clothes, trying to take some level of comfort from them, but it wasn't enough. Part of her wished that she'd stayed the night and dealt with her parents in the morning, but she knew that they would have been even more furious if they'd waited up for her. Her mom would have waited up all night, worrying, she knew that much.

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The next morning, when she woke, she was careful around her father. Her mother too, but mostly him. The three of them sat in relative silence during breakfast, leaving Brooke to sleep in. After all, she hadn't been grounded, so her coming and going in the night was less of an issue.

Over breakfast, she made them both coffee. She knew what she needed to do, but she also knew that her dad needed much more time. Time that she didn't have. "I need to go out." She blurted out just as Brooke practically fell out of her room, making her father freeze with his coffee at his lips.

He sighed before sipping and placing it back down on the table, rustling his paper. "I'm not too sure that you understand the concept of grounding."

She knew that he wouldn't be pleased, so that was hardly a shock. She swallowed hard before replying. "It's kind of an emergency actually." She said, hoping that he would give her chance to explain.

"Oh really?" He laughed, smiling as though he couldn't believe what she was saying. He seemed genuinely amused, scaring her. "What emergency could you possibly be having right now?"

"Well, actually, I need to break up with Skylar." She replied honestly, getting another sign from him. "She deserves to be in a relationship with someone who appreciates her and that... isn't me." Her parents had always raised her to treat others with respect and compassion, which is exactly what she was trying to do. "I'm trying to do the right thing and to show her respect. Please, Dad, can I?"

After a moment of thought, he shook his head. No. "I'm sure she can wait a few days to hear from you." He stated, finally looking at her over the paper. "Unless you're planning on sneaking out again?" He added, raising a thick, challenging brow.

She shrunk in her seat a little. "Dad, I-"

He dropped his paper, taking a deep breath in before speaking. "I was a kid once, too, River. I know that everything feels like it's life and death at your age but it's not. You'll see her in a few days and that'll be it. You'll both be back to normal." Was he really trying to wave her off with the whole I was your age once speech?

"What? Dad, that's not what it is at all." She barked, sitting a little straighter, ignoring the pleading look that her mother shot her, begging her not to make things worse. "I'm not gay. Not completely. I'm not into her. I know that she's really into me and I thought that I could feel that way if I gave her a chance but I can't. Staying with her is wrong and it's making me feel sick; lying to her like this." Seriously, how was she being made out to be the bad guy here? She was just trying to make things right.

That got everyone's attention, that was for sure. "You're not gay?" Brooke asked from across the room, clearly not believing that at all, scoffing. River could practically feel her raising the same brow as their father.

River couldn't blame her sister, nor her parents. After all, she had done her best to be a good little stereotype all these years, it was hardly their fault. "I'm bisexual. Always have been. God, even my own family just looks at me and assumes." She replied, not looking away from her father.

Dumfounded, he shook his head a little, clearly not knowing why any of this mattered. "Bisexual. Women... and men?"

River nodded, hoping that this would work. "Yeah-"

Her father's eyes widened, anger filling them. "So that's why you snuck out when I grounded you? To go and see Paul Lahote?" Oh shit. Okay, River definitely knew where his mind had gone. Granted, that was also where she'd nearly gone that very night, but still. "God dammit, River, how-"

She quickly jumped to her own defence, hearing a gasp from her sister. She knew she'd be lucky if the whole damn reservation didn't know by noon that she, as far as Brooke was concerned, had fucked Paul. "No! God, Dad! I really just went to apologise to him-"

"And you came back wearing his clothes!" Dick roared, pushing his chair away from the small table and standing.

Feeling anger of her own, River copied suit, shooting up and glaring at him across the table. Her mother, ever a sweet woman, desperately tried to stop them both, but Dick put a firm hand in her face, stopping her and enraging River further as she began to yell back. "Mine were wet! I walked all the fucking way there because you took my bike!"

Oh shit, she'd cursed at him. "You watch your language. You watch your language and you kiss that bike goodbye for another week." She could see in his eyes that he meant every word. he would make this go on for as long as it took.

"Dad!" She complained, stepping back and away from the table.

He waved his hands in the air, stopping everything for just a second. "No, enough, okay! I've had enough of whatever the hell you're doing right now. Your mother and I always gave you everything you wanted. We let you box. We got you that bike. We were even okay when you came home holding another girl's hand, so why can't you just respect the rules of this house? Well? Why can't you just, for one minute, respect that you are grounded and that means that you can sit in your damn room and really think about where the fuck you're going with all of this." He ranted, all the while breaking her heart.

For a few moments, there was nothing but silence between them. None of the four of them said a thing. That was, until Alma placed a gentle hand on River's shoulder. Angrily, she shrugged it off.

"I don't need this." She muttered, feeling a sorrow growing deep in her chest.

"Excuse me?" Her father, ignoring her mother, rounded the table, glaring down at his eldest daughter.

River, unafraid now, scoffed up at him. "Seriously. I don't need this. You have no idea- no!" She snapped at him, stopping him when he opened his mouth to speak over her. This was her turn, dammit. "You have no idea what I'm going through. You say it's wrong to hit people, but I get punished more for going to apologise. You say you love me for who I am, because I'm your kid, but you act like you're a fucking saint for not kicking my ass when I came out to you. You-"

"That's enough!" He practically screamed back.

"You're fucking right it is!" River wailed, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm fucking done with this place. Where are my keys?" She shot away, opening random draws and raking through them for her bike keys.

Quickly behind her, her father slammed one particular draw shut, almost trapping her finger. "River!" He growled as she yanked it open again, her keys bouncing around. She grabbed them with no hesitation and spun, walking around her mother, ignoring her as she reached out a soft, kind hand to slow her daughter, crying. "Get back here- you're grounded, young lady! Grounded! Get back, River!"

Ignoring everything, River all but kicked the front door wide open and sauntered over to her bike, sticking the key straight in only for it to stall. Fucking brilliant. As she swung her helmet over her head, she kicked out the kickstarter.

Her father, still not done, stormed out after her and grabbed the handlebars, standing with his legs either side of her front wheel. "Get off my bike!" River yelled, not caring who heard as she stamped on the kickstarter.

"Just get back inside. You-"

Carrying on until her bike roared to life, River stepped back, shaking the handle bars and shoving until her father almost fell trying to hold on.

"Get off!" She twisted them particularly violently, sending him falling to his knees. Wasting no time, she revved as hard as she dared and let her clutch out, not caring that she wasn't wearing anything protective, save for her helmet.

As she sped off, her father made an effort to chase after her, but running in slippers was no match for a bike for more than two seconds, on mud no less, so he was quickly lost behind her. "River!" He called out after her, but she couldn't hear him over the scream of her engine, especially not through her helmet.

She watched him grow smaller and smaller in her side mirrors, waiting until he was finally gone as she met the main road before she allowed herself to break. She rode way too quickly, not once caring for even a moment that cops could be around any corner, nor was she thinking about other drivers on the road.

Around her, the trees began to blur, but she didn't let up on the throttle and her breathing became harder. Her chest was heaving, desperate for breath that she couldn't quite get as tears began to blur her vision. She knew that the smart thing to do would be to stop, but instead she simply blinked hard and shook her head, desperate to throw the tears from her eyes.

She wasn't too sure where she was headed, to Paul or to Skylar, but when she found herself heading to a crossroads, one side leading to Forks, the other curving back toward the res, the choice was taken from her. In a single moment of stupidity, nothing more than that, she brought a hand up to wipe her tears, leaving too little time for her to even consider stopping as the crossroad's lights turned red.

It was strange, really. She didn't feel the impact at all. In fact, had she awoken on the road, she wouldn't have believed that there had even been a crash. The front of her bike, crumpled like a failed assignment, was proof enough, not that she got to see it. The front of the car that hit her, spearing her from the side, throwing her from one side of the road to the other, was surprisingly unharmed. Again, not that she would see it. All she saw was the darkness. The world, there one second, gone the next.

Okay, the sudden injury, I know it's a super common trope and all that crap but I really just can't help myself sometimes. For what it's worth though, I only have another five or so chapter already written, so if you have any thoughts or opinions or want to see anything happen later on etc then let me know and I'll see what I can cook up!

As ever, please enjoy and please please please share your thoughts with me. As I said before, I live for that shit!