Untroubled

Taniya_K · October 4, 2008

Firstly, I'm sorry about the length of this chapter. It's the longest single chapter that I've written and I couldn't split it into parts because it just wouldn't flow that way.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I really liked writing it!

Chapter 18:

Drew loved the Bay. Sure, it hadn’t been ‘home’ for a long time, and it wasn’t anything like the city, but Summer Bay was Summer Bay, and it was the place where he had probably learnt the most about life and himself.

Walking along the beach, he felt the omnipresent sun beat down on him, hottest right now in the middle of the afternoon. It didn’t burn him though; it felt good. Almost like a treat for him, although he didn’t know what he had done to deserve a treat. But the sun was a typical thing of Summer Bay. The sun and the people. Two things that he would never forget.

“Hey.” He greeted Belle when spotted her on the beach.

“Hey!” She replied, squinting as she looked up at him. Taking pity on her, Drew sat down beside her on the sand.

“Taking pictures?”

“What gave it away?” Belle replied sarcastically, turning back towards the cliffs and the surf, which she was trying to capture in the bright sun.

“The camera in your hand was pretty big clue.” Drew said, jokingly taking her question seriously.

“Funny.” She told him without giving him a glance, focused on get her shot perfect.

“What are you picturing, anyway?” Drew asked after a moment of silence, getting bored.

“Just that landscape.” She muttered distractedly before bring her camera back down to see the shots she had taken.

“But there’s hardly anything there.”

“It’s not about what’s not there, Drew, it’s about what is there.” Belle informed him, a slight smile on her face when she saw that the moment she was trying to capture had worked.

“Wow… that’s pretty deep. You should consider becoming a philosopher.” He teasingly said, getting a couple of bright flashes of the camera as she took some pictures of him in response. “Ow! What the Hell?”

“Now these are brilliant!” Belle laughed while viewing the last two photos.

“Lemme see.”

“No.” She promptly replied, slapping his hand away as it came up to get her camera. “Oi!”

“Just-” He tried to reach for it once again, only to get hit on the hand once again, “show-” Belle held the camera up above her head as she tried to stand up, “me!”

“No.” She simply told him, putting away the object that he desired before he actually broke it. As Belle tucked it into her bag, she felt a tugging on the strap that still hung low. “Drew!”

“Fine!” He huffed, standing up too and letting go of her bag’s strap as she shouldered it.

“Sheesh, you act like a 5 year old sometimes.”

“Do you really want to start this conversation? Cos I have a whole list of things that you’ve done while acting like a 5 year old.” Drew warned her. Belle thought about it for a second before throwing her hands up in surrender. “Ok then. So where are we heading?”

“I dunno about you, but I’m meeting up with Mattie in the Diner in about 5 minutes.” She replied.

“Cool. Haven’t spoken to Mattie properly for a bit now.”

“Yeah, she told me about those phone calls.” They both laughed at that, imagining the look on Mattie’s face each time. “What about the night of the auction? I didn’t see you after the whole thing finished. Where did you disappear off to?”

“Ah… I had to head home. Leah was working the next day.” He explained.

“I see. And why did you come on Saturday night instead of yesterday?” This was the first time that they had spoken properly since that night seeing as Drew had been out with Ric all day Sunday.

“Because I didn’t have anything better to do.”

“So you decided to… what? Drive all the way down to here in the dark just for the fun of it?” Belle responded, sceptically.

“Basically, yeah.”

“Anyone else, I wouldn’t believe them. But with you…” Belle trailed off, a smirk grazing her lips as he growled in annoyance of her words, although he didn’t reply. “No remark?”

“I’m not going to encourage your childish behaviour.” He told her as they walked up the pier.

“Excuse me?!” Belle said in shock, pausing and turning to face him. “My childish behaviour?”

“You’ve done your fair share. Like I said, I have a whole list.”

“Please, go on.” Her tone was dangerous as she crossed her arms, and Drew identified it immediately. It was the same one that Amanda used at times and the only way to avoid the consequence was to just steer clear.

“I don’t think I should.” He said carefully. “I’ve got a feeling that you’ll push me off the pier if I do.”

“Don’t tempt me.” Belle murmured before heading inside the Diner, leaving a relieved Drew in her wake for a moment before deciding that standing outside on his own didn’t entertain him much, and followed her in.

“What are we talking about?” Drew asked enthusiastically as he slid into the seat next to Belle.

“The auction.” Mattie replied dryly from where she sat opposite her best friend. “And how much of a success it was, even if there were two idiots who turned up late.”

“How much did you raise then?” He carried on, ignoring her obvious gibe at him, although Belle guessed that it was because he wasn’t happy being classed with Aden as the ‘two idiots’.

“Just over $4000.” She informed him.

“Really? Just from the auction?” Drew scoffed, smiling. “How much did the guys raise before I got there?”

Mattie and Belle shared a look, one of amusement. They both knew that the smile wouldn’t last long if he knew where half of the money had come from.

“Not that much, actually.” Mattie said first, not bothering to hide her own smile. “Half of it was a donation.”

“From?” A look of confusion and curiosity crossed his face and Belle had to hide her smile in the coffee she was drinking.

“Someone who can afford it.”

“I get that, Mattie. But who?”

“She can’t say. It’s a matter of anonymity.” Belle inputted.

Aden hadn’t wanted to let many people know of his wealth back when he sold his house. Of course, he told the necessary people such as Roman and Nicole; the former who didn’t care much but was happy for him, although the latter was now on a mission to try and spend as much of it as she could. Not that she had any access to it.

He had allowed Belle to tell Irene because he felt she had the right to know, and to tell Amanda basically because she had known about the money that he had put into her account. Which also meant that she had to tell Drew too, much to his disgust. Belle had let it slip to Mattie, mainly because she was her best mate. Aden hadn’t been too bothered with that, seeing as, over the last months, they all seemed to get on, including Ric, who Aden had told himself.

“It can’t be that hard to figure out, anyway.” Drew said, thinking about the residence of Summer Bay. “It wasn’t you, was it?” He asked, looking at Belle.

“Nope.”

“Close though.” Mattie added, only to receive a sharp look from her telling her that that wasn’t a good idea.

“Oh.” Drew finally said, flatly, clearly having gotten to the right person. “Told you it wasn’t hard to figure out.” As predicted, the smile on his face was now wiped off clean.

“Speaking of the auction,” Belle broke the awkward silence they had fallen into, “when is everyone having their day with their guys?”

“Miles and I agreed to a day after the exams.” Mattie told her. “Gives me more time to plan something, anyway.”

“Yeah, Aden was saying that him and Ruby agreed to the same.”

“Have you and Ric agreed on anything?”

“I haven’t seen him since. I’ll just grab him on a day that he’s not working. It’s not like I’ve got anything on my plate for a while.” Belle informed her. “And I know exactly what I’m gonna make him do for me.” Her tone was evil, and both Mattie and Drew raised an eyebrow at her.

“Should I be worried?” She asked.

“Nah. I won’t harm him. Much.” Belle laughed.

“Hmm… alright.” Mattie eyed her carefully before turning to Drew. “What about you and Nicole?”

“Ah, yes. You and Nicole. I wonder what she’s got planned for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Drew frowned, not liking the sound of that.

“Never mind.” Belle replied as the same time as Mattie said:

“You’ll find out.”

“Well, I guess I’ll find out tomorrow then.” He said carefully.

“Tomorrow? What’s the rush?”

“I’m heading back home on Sunday?” Drew replied slowly as if it was general knowledge.

“Oh. Right.” Mattie simply said.

“So what’s the deal with Nicole?” He wanted to be prepared, now that the other two girls had warned him, although not outright, that she was probably trouble.

“Nothing really.” Belle shrugged.

“She’s just kinda… out there.” Mattie added. “But you’ve got nothing to worry about. She’s toned down her princess act since she got here.”

“Unless you **** her off.” Belle informed him. “Then you’re in trouble.”

“Oh, yeah. No-one upsets or humiliates Nicole Franklin. She’ll get her revenge.” Mattie nodded to emphasise the seriousness of her words.

“See, now you’re just messing with me.” Drew just laughed at them, but his laughter died when he saw both girls exchange a look. “What?”

“We’re not messing with you.” Belle said.

“Nicole once bet A-” Mattie broke off, before carrying on with a quick clearing of her throat. “Once bet someone $200 that she could get Geoff into bed.”

“Sounds like my kinda girl.” Drew grinned, ignoring the slightly disgusted looks on the other two’s faces.

“She’s taken, Drew. She’s with Geoff now.” Belle inputted wearily. She was happy to let Mattie wind him up with these old stories about Nicole, but she wasn’t going to let him break up a relationship because of it.

“So I’m guessing that she won her bet then, right?”

“Wrong.” Mattie countered. “I dunno the full details of that. Belle, however, does. Don’t you?”

“Yes. And no, I’m not telling.” She added quickly before Drew even got time to open his mouth.

“Aw, c’mon sis. Don’t be a spoilsport.” he moaned.

“How are you having fun with this?”

“I’m not. I just wanna be prepared. If Nicole’s the kind of girl who knows how to live life…”

“She doesn’t.” Belle promptly replied. “Anymore.” She knew exactly what he meant by ‘live life’, and it wasn’t something that she was going to let think even think about anymore. “Anyway, don’t you have a girlfriend?”

“I do?” Drew asked in true confusion.

“How can you not know if you have a girlfriend?” Mattie laughed.

“The name ‘Jenny’ sound familiar?” Belle slowly questioned.

“Oh, her!” He finally remembered. “Yeah… no, I broke up with her. Or at least I hope I did…” He trailed off, trying to think whether he had or not.

Mattie and Belle looked at him in confusion and in slight disgust. Sure, it was normal of the ‘new’ Drew to treat girls like that, especially when those girls treated the guys the same, but it still didn’t make it right.

“Does this mean you did or you didn’t? Break up with her, I mean?” Mattie asked after a couple of minutes, growing bored.

“I can’t remember.” He sheepishly answered. “But I do remember that Jenny is now Michaela.”

“So you do have a girlfriend?”

“Kind of.”

“How can you ‘kind of’ have a girlfriend, Drew?” Belle had grown accustomed of him changing girlfriends so often recently, but this was the first time she’d heard of a ‘kind of’ girlfriend.

“Well, she’s not my girlfriend as such, but we did hook up.” He informed her. “And we never broke up. We just… drifted apart.”

“So who’s this Michaela then? Mum never mentioned her.”

“That’s cos she doesn’t know about her.” Drew stated. “She’s a student at Melbourne Uni. I met her when I was up there for the week, checking out the place. Really nice, by the way. Anyway, she was a 2nd year politics student, which was alright, I guess-”

“Wait a minute.” Mattie interrupted his story, which would have sounded farfetched if it wasn’t for the fact that it was Drew telling it. “How did she… ‘hook up’,” she pronounced the word with a shudder, “with you when you’re still doing your HSCs?”

“She might have thought that I was a 2nd year student too… studying English Lit on the other campus.” He replied.

“‘She might have’ or you told her so?” Belle enquired, her tone showing that she knew which one was the truth already.

“A little bit of both.” Drew said. “Maybe more of the me telling her.”

“So basically you lied about every about yourself?” Mattie asked.

“No. I told her my name.”

“Wow… what a lucky girl!” Mattie’s tone was filled with pure sarcasm.

“Must have been pretty stupid though.” Belle murmured. “What?” She asked when the other two looked at her. “How could a girl like her think that he was a university student?”

“Hey! I’m old enough to be one!” Drew defended himself.

“Yeah, but you’re not bright enough, are you?”

“I resent that! I am bright enough. She fell for it, didn’t she?”

“That doesn’t mean you’re bright. It just means she’s dumb.” Mattie pointed out, causing Belle to burst out laughing.

“The bitchiness in this place has gone up since I last visited, hasn’t it?” He retorted, giving Mattie a look to let her know he was talking about her.

“‘Bitchiness’? No, this is just me being honest.” She replied, smiling sweetly. “I mean, seriously, I’m curious. How did you convince her you were a 2nd year student?”

There was a moment’s silence as Drew didn’t answer, instead just giving her the same cold stare as he had been. Belle pretended to be more interested in the magazine she had swiped off Mattie during their conversation when really she was just trying not to get caught up in their argument.

“Curiosity is a bad thing, Mattie. It killed the cat, didn’t it?”

“Good thing I’m not a cat then, Drew.”

“Still doesn’t stop it from being a bad thing.”

“Drew’s right, Mattie.” Belle interjected. She had no intention of hearing the rest of that conversation if it was going to go on like that. “Curiosity is a bad thing.”

“Thank you, sis.” He said earnestly, smiling smugly at Mattie.

“It’s created him, didn’t it?” She nodded in Drew’s direction, referring to the time when Jazz had told him that.

“Thanks.” Drew repeated, this time his tone much more dry as Mattie giggled uncontrollably.

“You’re welcome.” Belle said brightly with a smile on her face, choosing to ignore his sarcasm.

Once Mattie had caught her breath from laughing so hard, the three of them starting to talk about the HSCs, and how a third time should be lucky for Drew. Being the only one out of them not repeating her exams, Belle had to joy of taking the mick out of them.

“I would have passed if someone hadn’t ripped my assignment in two.”

“You deserved it. Anyway, no-one made you drop out of school.” Belle argued.

“She’s right. You could have still taken the exams.” Mattie said. “I still can’t believe that out of us all, only Belle got her HSCs last year.”

When Belle didn’t respond to her teasing, the other two both turned to look at her.

“Belle?”

“I’ll- I’ll be right back.” She told them quickly before getting up. Mattie watched over her shoulder as she approached the counter where Roman was talking to Angelo.

Belle had seen the officer come into the Diner and a bad feeling had sunk into her when he went to talk to Roman without the jolliness that usually followed him, indicating that it was serious matter. When Roman had come out of the kitchen to have a word with him, she caught his eye as he glanced over to her far too quickly for Angelo to see. Suspicions confirmed as to who he was there for, Belle went up to find out more.

“Have you seen Aden?” Roman asked her immediately.

“No, he should be at home though.”

“I just came from there. There was no-one there.” Angelo informed her.

“He had school this morning. You might have gotten there too early.” Roman said. “Try again.”

“Alright, I’ll head over there. Thanks”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Belle enquired worriedly. The cops asking after her boyfriend was never a good sign.

“I just have something to discuss with him.” Angelo told her vaguely.

“Can you at least say what it is?” The other man asked.

“I’m sorry, you know I can’t.” His response made Belle and Roman exchange a look of anxiousness. They were both just as worried about him.

“I’ll come with you.” She finally said, tearing her eyes away from the chef and towards the other man.

“Belle, you know that I can’t say-”

“If Aden wants me gone, I’ll go.” She promptly told him, waiting as he hesitantly nodded. “Let me just get my stuff.”

Grabbing her bag from the table where Drew and Mattie still sat, she said a quick goodbye, not letting anything on although she was sure that they would be able to figure it out as to who Angelo was looking for.

They got to Roman’s house in a matter of minutes in the police car, Belle jumping out as soon as the engine was turned off. She walked up to the front door, letting Angelo knock a couple of times as he caught up with her easily.

“No answer.” He pointed out the obvious. Belle turned the door handle, not surprised when it twisted fully and opened the door. She gave him a smirk as they entered the house.

“Aden?” She called out before spying his school bag dumped on the living room floor. “He’s here.”

Aden must’ve heard her last words as he came down the stairs, redressed into a t-shirt and jeans, confused to see Angelo standing in the middle of the doorway.

“What’s going on?” He asked, coming to a stop at Belle’s side and facing the police officer.

“There’s something that you need to know.” Angelo began before pointedly indicating towards Belle.

“Whatever you need you say, you can say it in front of Belle.” Aden said as Angelo nodded at his given permission before taking a step into the house. “What’s going on?” He repeated, getting agitated at the wait. He felt Belle slip her hand into his, giving it a slight squeeze to make him calm down a bit.

“It’s about your father.” Angelo told him before pausing. “You might want to sit down.”

---

Don't hurt me for that!

I hope I didn't bore you with all that.

Leave a comment?

xoxo

Taniya_K · October 6, 2008

I take back what I said about chapter 18... this is the longest chapter that I have ever written lol! I just had to get it all out and not drag this part of the story on for too long.

Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 21:

Belle knocked gently on the front door of Roman’s place before turning the handle when she got no response. Entering, she was surprised to see no-one around. Peeking into the kitchen and then through to the back, Belle found enough evidence to show that there was someone in the house, just not downstairs.

Heading up, she heard chattering coming from Nicole’s room. Hearing just one voice, she assumed that she was on the phone. A slight smile came to her lips as she thought about what the younger girl was going to endure once her father got home.

Once she got to Aden’s room, Belle knocked on his door. His response was a quiet and distracted ‘yeah’ as she started to turn the door handle anyway.

“Hey…” Belle said gently, closing the door behind her.

“Hey!” Aden replied, looking up from the book he was intently making notes from. He laid on his front, taking up the entire length of the bed. “What you doing here so early?”

“It’s just past 8:30, Aden.” She claimed, climbing up onto the bed, settling at the top.

“Yeah, but,” He started as he turned onto his side, using his arm to support his head as he faced her. “I usually finish at closing time.”

“It wasn’t too busy, so Roman and Irene said I could go.” Belle informed him.

“Ah, I see. You basically got sent home early because you were doing the job badly.” Aden teased.

“Hey! I’ve been doing this job longer than you have.”

“By a month.” He countered as she smiled shyly, not able to argue against that. Aden laughed at her reaction, or rather her lack of one.

“Anyway…” She tried to change the subject.

“Yes?” Aden replied, a smirk still on his face.

“Why are you up here?”

“Because Nicole was having a moan downstairs on the phone and I couldn’t even think.” Aden told her as confusion coloured Belle’s face.

“No… Nicole’s in her room.” Now it was Aden’s turn to look confused.

“No… she was downstairs.”

“She might have been downstairs earlier, but I heard her talking in her room when I came up.” Belle defended herself.

“What?” He exclaimed. “She made me move all the way up here for nothing?”

“Aden,” Belle rolled her eyes at his exaggerated disbelief. “I don’t think climbing a flight of stairs did you any harm.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“I’m always right.” Belle said cheerfully.

“Alright, let’s not go too far.” He scoffed as a pillow hurtling in his direction. “Hey! I’m trying to study here!”

“You’re not studying.”

“Yes, I am.” Aden told her as she raised an eyebrow, eyeing the books that lay behind him. “Before you came and distracted me, I was.”

“You want me to go then?”

“Nah, I wasn’t that desperate to work, anyway.”

“Really? You were eager to do so earlier.” She reminded him about that afternoon.

“That’s cos you were about to start work. Roman would have just thrown me out if I stayed there and distracted you.”

“Please. You don’t have the power to distract me!” Belle laughed.

“Sure, I do.” Belle just glared at him in a ‘you wish’ kind of way as he smirked back.

“What were we talking about, by the way?” She asked, trying to remember. Aden thought about it before shrugging.

“I don‘t know.” He said dismissively. “But it somehow ended up with you not being able to resist me.”

“No, it was about how I’m distracting you from your studying.” Belle told him.

“Hmm… that’s true. Maybe you should leave.” Aden said thoughtfully, knowing that saying that would just make her stay even more.

“You see, any other time, I would. But not tonight.”

“And why not tonight?” Aden asked, sitting up and becoming intrigued.

“Let’s just say that there’s going to be some… fireworks when Roman comes home from work today.” Belle replied cryptically, giving him a look that should have told him the reason why for the fireworks..

“Belle…” Aden groaned. “I’ve been studying for the past 4 hours. I can’t figure that out.”

“You’re useless, you know that?” She said with a mock sigh. “Roman found out about the tattoo.”

“No!” He gasped as she nodded, smiling. Aden started to laugh as he thought about it more. “Oh, Nic’s in for it.”

“Tell me about it. You should have seen the look on Roman’s face when he overheard Drew and Ric.” she explained.

“Drew and Ric?” He questioned her. “How did they know?”

“Ah…” Belle bit her bottom lip, wondering how much to tell him without possibly making him mad. “Did Nicole tell you she spent the day with Drew today?”

“Yeah.” He replied. “Why?”

“How much do you know, exactly?” She had to make sure before she went and put her foot in it. She guess that Nicole would have either told him all by now, or would want to tell him herself later. With something like this, there was no way she would have kept it a secret from him.

“I know everything they did.” He told her, smirking. “She was oddly proud. Not that I blame her.”

“Right, well you know how they went swimming afterwards?” Aden nodded. “He must have seen it then.”

“Right.” Aden repeated. They sat in silence for a moment, contemplating what the outcome was going to be.

“Look, Roman’s not going to be home for another hour. You should get back to work.” She broke into his thoughts.

“Yeah…” Aden simply said. “What about you? You going to stay?”

“You think I’m going to miss this?” She asked rhetorically as she readjusted herself and stretched out onto the bed.

“I guess not.” Aden laughed, laying down next to her. “So, you wanna help me revise?”

“Sure. What is it?” Belle asked eagerly, grabbing the book from him. “Cool, I always liked Ancient History.”

“Good.”

“Hey, Aden?” She spoke up while flipping through his notes to find where he was up to.

“Yeah?”

“Should we tell Nicole that Roman knows? Just to warn her?” She tilted her head to face him as he did the same.

“I guess it would be a nice thing to do.” Aden reasoned, the tone of his voice letting on that he didn’t really want to tell her.

“I mean, wouldn’t you like to know if you were about to get skinned alive by an ex-SAS?”

“That’s true.” He agreed, nodding. They both looked at each other, neither one of them wanting to make a decision. Finally, Belle let one side of her mouth raise into a half-smirk, half-smile and Aden copied it.

“Being nice is so overrated, don’t you think?” She asked politely.

“Totally.”

---

“… she’s basically convinced herself that going to Perth after getting her degree would be better for everyone, including herself.” Belle explained. They had been up in Aden’s room for a good hour now and they had actually focused on the studying and hadn’t moved an inch. “And you’re not listening to a word I’m saying, are you?”

“I was.” Aden replied, writing a couple of things down from the book in front of him. “Until you started to tell me her life story instead of just answering my question.”

“I was not telling you her life story.” She scoffed at his exaggeration, using her feet to give his a good shove as they dangled in the air. “Mattie’s going to university in the city.”

“That’s all you had to say.” He said, still focused with his work while reciprocating her actions and pushing her feet back in her direction.

“Hey!” She exclaimed, trying to get the upper hand, failing miserably. “Idiot.”

“Your words mean so much to me, sweetheart.” He sarcastically said, finally facing her to see her roll her eyes even as she tried to hide her smile from him.

Aden dropped his pen and lifted his now free hand to sweep back the hair that fell into her eyes. He loved it when she tried not to show him that she found whatever he had just said or done funny. The look on her face when she bit back a smile was too adorable to him.

Leaning in, he captured her lips in a sweet kiss. Belle gave in willingly, allowing him to turn her onto her back to get more comfortable. Even as the kiss got deeper, it never got rough. Aden was always gentle with her, she had noticed.

“I thought,” She panted as they broke apart for some air, “that we were supposed to be revising?”

“I think we deserve a break.” He stuck to the plural even though it was all for his benefit. Belle thought about his answer for a moment before pulling him down to her for another kiss. Just as her hands automatically travelled down his torso, a loud slam from downstairs caused them to pull apart.

“Roman’s home.” Aden whispered, dropping a couple of kisses onto her neck and collar.

“Nicole!” They heard him yell as soon as he possibly could. Both Aden and Belle looked up towards the bedroom door, quietly wondering whether the girl in question would answer or not.

“What?” The blonde had yelled back as she opened her door. “I’m in the middle of a call here!”

“Get down here!” Roman shouted up the stairs.

As Nicole told whoever she was on the phone to that she would call them back later, the other two teenagers looked at each other for a brief moment in the position that they were in, almost as if they could communicate without words. When they heard Nicole start down the stairs, they both jumped off the bed.

“This better be important.” Nicole mumbled as she approached the downstairs landing.

Aden and Belle had quietly snuck out of his room, walking as silently as they could towards the stairs. Aden, guiding Belle carefully, peeked round the corner of the stairs, glad to see that Nicole had made it all the way down and was now facing her father who must have been standing in the middle of the front room.

Throwing a smirk over his shoulder, Aden crouched down by the corner so that he could see the girl he affectionately called ’Princess’ and a slight glimpse of her father, who stood with his arms crossed.

“Aden!” Belle hissed from where she still stood behind him. He turned his head to look at her, smiling.

“Come here.” He told her, pulling on her hand to bring her in front of him. Before she knew it, he has positioned himself comfortably on the floor with her in his lap. “Now just watch.” Aden whispered into her ear, resting his chin on her shoulder as they both spied on the father and daughter.

---

“Oh, this is important.” Roman replied. “Sit.” He commanded, pointing towards the single-seater opposite him.

“I’d rather stand, thank you.” Nicole answered back, both completely oblivious to Aden and Belle’s childish behaviour and presence at the top of the flight of stairs.

“It wasn’t a request, Nicole.” With a heavy sigh, she did as she was told.

“So what’s going on?” She asked as innocently as possible.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“About…?”

“I overheard Drew talking in the Diner earlier.” Roman told her, his words had a twisted edge to them, as if he would let her off if she confessed to her misdemeanour. “Something you want to tell me?”

“Look, whatever he said, it wasn’t true.” She said hurriedly before chewing on her bottom lip. “Ok, so maybe it was. But in my defence, he deserved it for everything he’s done and being such a jerk to Aden. Not to mention that he was supposed to be mine for the day and he started to flirt with all those girls at the-”

“Nicole!” Roman interrupted her. “What are you talking about?”

“About my day out with Drew.” She replied carefully. “Why? What were you talking about?”

“Not that, but what did you do to him exactly?”

“Nothing.” Nicole smiled brightly. “Well, nothing he didn’t deserve.”

Roman just stared at his daughter for a moment, wondering whether to be even more cross at her for messing around with Drew’s head as it seemed like she did, or to be proud with her for her sense of loyalty to Aden. Shaking his head, he frowned, remembering the original reason for this whole discussion.

“We’ll talk about that later.” He informed her. “I want to know about the tattoo.”

“What tattoo?” Nicole responded with an air of faux innocence.

“Don’t act dumb, Nicole. It’s an insult to both of us.”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” She insisted, brushing her fringe to the side to look up at her father with her ‘puppy-dog’ eyes. Unfortunately, Roman wasn’t falling for it. Not anymore.

“The purple butterfly.” He watched as her mouth fell open briefly before she shut it and gathered herself into the confident girl that she was.

“Ok, maybe that’s true.” She gave in. “How did you find out?”

“Drew and Ric were talking about it. Do you think I appreciated finding out like that? Not to mention knowing that Belle already knew about it too.” Roman told her, his voice raising slowly but never getting to the stage of shouting.

“Wait… Drew and Ric? How did they know?”

“That’s not important-”

“It’s very important. Do you know what this means?” Nicole asked, anger colouring her words that Roman had no choice but to ask:

“What?”

“That salesgirl lied to me. She said that that bikini wouldn’t go see through when it got wet!” She huffed.

“Nicole! This is not funny!” Roman growled.

“I know! I spent a good $25 on that when I could have gotten the black one-”

“I don’t care, Nicole.” Nicole shut up immediately, not liking the low, almost calm words. It meant danger, she had learnt. “You got a tattoo!”

“Yes.” She simply replied.

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Of course.”

“Yeah?” Roman asked doubtfully. “When?”

“When I knew that you wouldn’t get mad.” Nicole said, a slight shrug to indicate that it was common sense.

“When did you think that would be?!” Roman exclaimed. “Nicole, you got a tattoo. Without telling me.” Another thought ran through his mind. “Did you tell anyone?”

“No.” She scoffed.

“Why?”

“Cos they would either try to convince me not to get it or just tell you. And then I would never get it.”

“So you knew that I would never let you get it, yet you still go? Alone, none the less?”

“I don’t see the problem is, Dad. I tried to save you from some grief-”

“’Save me’ how?”

“Ignorance is bliss.” She pointed out, still being able to smile in her own way.

“You’re unbelievable.” Roman laughed dryly, finally sitting down on the couch opposite to his daughter.

“Thank you.” Nicole said earnestly. “Are we done here?”

“No.” He said before sighing. “Not only did you get a tattoo without telling me, you tried to hide it too and you had no intention in telling me either.”

“Because it’s not your business.” Nicole finally raised her voice a tad bit.

“It’s every bit my business!”

“It’s my body; I get to do what I want to it.”

“Well, your body lives under my roof. Therefore, your body does only things that I allow you to do.” Roman informed her, matching the glare that she sent him.

“God, Roman. Relax, would you? It’s just a tat.” She sighed, collapsing back into the sofa.

“It’s a feature that will be permanently there on your body forever! Did you think about that?” He asked her.

“Yes. Which is why I got a butterfly and not someone’s name.” Nicole sighed. “I’m not a complete bimbo, you know?”

“I did until you pulled this stunt.”

“Roman! It’s just a-”

“- just a tattoo. Yes, I’ve heard you!”

“You are so overreacting!” Nicole shouted. “It’s like I’ve told you I’m pregnant or something!”

“Nicole… Roman said warning her against trying to downplay her actions.

“I’m just saying… It’s not like you didn’t do anything stupid when you were my age.” She told him. “I mean, hello?” Nicole waved a hand around her body to indicate what she was getting at.

“Ok. I guess there’s nothing we can do about this tattoo now-”

“You got that right.” Nicole added under her breath.

“-but that doesn’t mean I approve of it.”

“Alright, I understand.” She said tiredly. “Can I go now?”

“Fine. But you’re grounded.” Roman informed her.

“What?” She screeched, sitting up straight once again. “Why?”

“Why do you think, Nicole? You knew you were going to be in trouble when I found out, otherwise you wouldn’t have kept it a secret in the first place.”

“Fine.” She crossed her arms, sulking. “For how long?”

“Indefinitely.”

“That’s not fair!” Nicole whined. “That could mean anything!”

“Alright then, I’ll reconsider after your end of year exams.”

“That’s a month.” She eyes widened at the realisation of how long she would be stuck at home for.

“Yeah, it is. Which means that whenever you’re not at school, you’ll be here studying. If you want to spend time outside, you will come to the Diner and I will find you something to do there.”

“But- but-” She faltered. “What about Geoff? And my friends?”

“You should have thought about that before you got yourself branded on your-” Roman broke off, trying to think where the tattoo was. “Where is the tattoo?”

“Lower back. Want to see?” She asked sweetly.

“No thanks.” His reply was instant and cold. “You can go to your room now.”

“Am I allowed to have a drink of water first?” She said sarcastically. Roman just gave her a look telling her not to mess with him right then. Quietly and quickly, she stood up and headed towards the kitchen.

As Roman stayed sitting in his position, thinking what on Earth had possessed his daughter to get a tattoo, he couldn’t help but let a small smile grace his features, especially as he heard the barely audible shuffling just at the top of the stairs.

---

Some light fluff and humor to get back to the basics, lol. But don't get used to it...

xoxo

Taniya_K · October 7, 2008

I can't believe that this fics on page 32 already! Thank you all for the support! I'm in a good mood, so here an update!

Enjoy!!

Chapter 22:

After listening to, and watching, Roman and Nicole’s conversation, if it could be called that, they had quickly made themselves scarce, heading back to Aden’s room before they said a word. Once inside the safety of his room, they had laughed almost sadistically. It was about 10 o’clock by then, and all want or need to study had vanished, so instead they had stayed up talking until finally deciding to go to sleep.

Now, at 4 in the morning, Belle awoke suddenly when she felt the pressure on her hand build. It lay in front of her, Aden’s wrapped right around it. A second later, she felt another hand coil into a fist, pressed next to her stomach. Although that didn’t hurt her at all, her hand did. Staring right ahead, she didn’t even have to look at him or turn in any way to figure out what was going on.

She was used to it now. It almost scared her just how used to she had gotten to Aden’s frequent nightmares. After the first few weeks, Belle had learnt that he never showed any physical actions while he experienced a bad dream, or relived horrifying moments. He never tossed and turned, he never breathed heavily and his face never let on that he was having a nightmare. She didn’t know whether it was because of years of practice and torment, or because of not wanting to seem weak, even as he slept. In fact, the only way Belle ever knew about it was by his hands. Whenever Aden felt intense emotions, his hands always tightened.

And that was true then. His right hand clenched at hers with a brutal force that he was unable to constrict during his current state. Closing her eyes, Belle took in a deep breath at the pain, but didn’t say a word or move. She had never told him, and she didn’t have the want to ever tell him, about his reactions to his nightmares, or the effect it had on her. If he ever found out, she knew that Aden would never forgive himself for the hurt he caused her. She was glad that there were hardly never any bruises or any signs of it to show in the morning. Belle never pulled whatever part of body, usually her hands or arms, or piece of clothing he gripped onto out of his hands either. If there was something, anything she could do to literally share the pain that he was going through, she would do it.

Waking him up during a nightmare was not the best way to handle it; Belle had learnt that the hard way. During the first couple of weeks, she couldn’t stand knowing that he was in pain and woke him. But that only meant that he would go back into his fitful dream later on. Instead, she had her own way to help deal with it.

Lifting up her left hand from where it rested on Aden’s arm that wrapped around her waist to pull her to him, Belle placed it on his jaw, gently turning his face into the crook of her neck. Pity and sympathy was something that Aden never wanted, no matter when or who from, and if she waited for him to wake up and saw her face, it would be the first things he would see.

So, instead, she let herself be his safety. Aden had told her once that just being with her, surrounded by her emotionally, physically and mentally, made it all better. Just knowing she was on the other side of the terrifying things he dreamt of gave him enough strength to break through.

As she continued to stroke his jaw line with her thumb, Belle felt his long eyelashes slowly flicker against her skin. She didn’t speak, move or stop as he woke up and got himself together. Holding her breath as Aden pressed a sweet kiss against her neck before taking her left hand in his, placing a kiss onto the palm and pulling it down to wrap it around her own waist, Belle opened her eyes to watch the grip on her right hand loosen entirely.

Closing her eyes once again, she let out a deep breath of relief, glad that it was all over. At least for that night.

---

Quietly coming down the stairs the next morning, Belle couldn’t help but notice just how empty the place felt. With the front down wide open and the sun shining through brightly, it made Roman’s front room seem bigger than it was.

Rounding the corner, she smiled as she saw Aden in the kitchen, making breakfast. Walking as silently as she could, Belle managed to get right up to him and slide her arms around his waist.

Aden laughed as he continued to butter the toast in his hands, especially as she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and pretend to bite him on his bare shoulder.

“Someone’s in a good mood.” He greeted her as she pressed her lips against the offended area.

“It’s a nice morning.” Belle simply told him, pulling away from him and leaning against the counter next to them.

“So it’s got nothing to do with the fact that you got to woke up next to me?” Aden teased.

“Nope, seeing as you were gone when I got up.”

“Ah… right. I decided to go to the gym before school.” He answered the question that she didn’t have to ask. She just raised an eyebrow at him, finally figuring out his attire of jogging bottoms and a tank top. “You want something to eat?” Belle shook her head.

“Got some coffee?”

“On the table.” Aden informed her, and she couldn’t help but grin when she saw that he was already prepared for her.

“Thanks.” She said, sitting down at the dining table as Aden joined her a minute later. “Where is everyone?”

“Roman’s dropping Nic off at school.” He informed her as she took a tentative sip of her hot drink.

“Wow, he’s taking the whole ‘grounded’ thing seriously, isn’t he?” She commented.

“Yup. You should have seen the look on her face when he ushered her out the door. Priceless.” Aden laughed.

“If yesterday was anything to go by, I’m sure it was good.” Belle shook her head lightly. “She’ll be out for revenge. Drew should be counting his lucky stars that she’s grounded.”

“Oh yeah, lucky Drew.” He replied sarcastically. “I guess he had his fair share of humiliation to last for a bit though.”

“Yeah.”

“What?” Aden sighed, watching her over the glass as he drank some of his orange juice.

“Nothing,” She told him cheerfully, not wanting to get into anything right then. Instead, she reached for a piece of his toast and took a bite out of it.

“Every time.” He rolled his eyes as she just smirked before placing the toast back onto his plate.

They sat in silence for a moment before Belle thought it was time to bring up the subject of his father once again. They hadn’t talked about it for a while, and she didn’t want him to thin that she had forgotten. Not that it was going to be easy to forget.

Pulling up one leg onto the chair, she swirled the remains of her drink in the mug, trying to gauge what his reaction was going to be.

“Aden…” She began. He look at her, leaning back in his chair while finishing off his breakfast. “How you thought any more about going to see your father?”

“Nope.” He simply answered, downing the last of his juice.

“You haven’t thought about it or you’re not going to go?” She asked, trying not to sound harsh.

“Both.”

“You said you would think about it, Aden.”

“I also said I didn’t want to see him. But no-one’s listening to that bit, are they?” He snapped, taking his plate and glass to the sink as Belle sat a bit shocked at his sudden outburst.

“Aden-”

“I need to get ready for school.” Aden told her, walking straight out of the kitchen without waiting for another word from him. Belle watched him leave over her shoulder before sighing and turning around.

“Aden?” She heard Roman’s voice yell up the stairs a couple of minutes later.

“Don’t bother.” Belle called out of the kitchen. In a matter of seconds, he had crossed the threshold between the two rooms.

“What happened?” He asked as he poured himself a glass of juice and came to sit opposite her at the table while she hesitated.

“I foolishly asked him if he had thought about going to see his dad.”

“Right. I’m guessing he hasn’t changed his mind?”

“’Changed his mind‘?” Belle rhetorically asked, placing her empty mug down onto the table. “He hasn’t even thought about it to even consider the other option. He‘s Hell-bent on sticking with his decision. Practically bit my head off when I told him to reconsider. ”

“You know what Aden’s like, Belle.” Roman sighed.

“I know, it’s just…” Belle took a deep breath. She didn’t want to go telling people private stuff about Aden’s life, but she just had to get it out. “He had another nightmare last night.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. He‘s always had-” Roman tried to reason.

“Yeah, but this was more intense.” She confessed. “I’m scared, Roman. It’s like he’s just throwing himself into studying and school and God knows what else now that he’s quit work just so that he doesn’t have to think about it. It’s not good for him. You know that.”

“I get what you’re trying to say, but you can’t make him do something that he doesn’t want to do. What we need to do is just listen to him.”

“But how can I listen to him if he won’t say anything? If I being the subject of Larry up, he either snaps or just changes the subject. I’m running out of ideas here.”

“There’s not much we can do, Belle.” Roman said soothingly, trying to be the voice of reason even though he agreed with what she had said. “He’ll have to think about it sooner or later. It’ll come out soon.”

“And if it’s too late by then?”

“Nothing’s going to happen to Aden. We’re all here to make sure of that.”

“Yeah, I know.” Belle sighed heavily before putting a fake smile onto her face. “I guess I’m just thinking to much into it.”

“Take a step back, sometimes, Belle.” He advised her. “The bigger picture has more answers.”

Belle thought about his words. The bigger picture, Roman had said. Nodding slowly, she thought of another way to maybe help Larry, and even, hopefully, Aden, out.

---

Hope you enjoyed it.

I had to keep to short to keep the impact of this chapter...

xoxo

Taniya_K · October 8, 2008

Here's an early update for you guys because I'm in a weirdly good mood.

Hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 23:

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Belle gasped out as she ran into the Diner’s kitchen, 20 minutes late for her 2 o’clock shift.

“If I wanted to be a person down and run off my feet, I wouldn’t have let you work here for Aden, girly.” Irene huffed, preparing a couple of dishes.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I just got caught up in a couple of things.” She replied, apologizing once again as she finished tying her apron around her waist. “What do you need me to do?”

“Take these out to table 5 and 7.” She handed the teenager a couple of plates, who immediately did as she was told. Irene shook her head after her, wondering what she was up to this time.

As the afternoon progressed, Irene started to worry about her eldest foster child. Several times, she had tried to get her into a conversation, but it would just die as Belle stopped answering verbally.

“Alright, Belle, you want to tell me what’s going on?” She finally asked, standing beside her in the kitchen with her arms crossed.

“What do you mean?” Belle answered curiously, throwing her a look in between preparing some salad.

“You’ve been drifting in and out of reality all afternoon now. Any convo I try to start abruptly ends with you. Not to mention turning up late.” Irene listed for her.

“I told you, I just had a couple of things to take care of this morning.” Belle quickly dismissed.

“What was that, exactly? Because the last time I checked, there wasn’t much for you to do now that you’ve got yourself a job lined up.”

“Uh…” Belle started, fiddling with a couple of peppers before slicing them. “It wasn’t anything important.”

“Uh-huh.” Irene replied doubtfully. “And what’s on your mind then?”

“Nothing.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday, girly.” Irene stated, fixing her with a glare although Belle wasn’t able to see it. “Has this got something to do with Aden and his father?”

“What?” Belle’s head snapped up, a frantic look on her face as she hurriedly spoke, trying to sound casual. “Why would you say that?”

“Roman mentioned that you were worried about him.” She informed her. “Did you two have a fight?”

Belle shook her head, getting back to the job at hand. They had walked towards school together that morning, although he had dropped her off at home on the way. They hadn’t spoken much about anything, but Belle put that down to the fact that he had a lot on his mind rather than holding her bringing the discussion of his dad up against her.

“We’re ok.” She assured her. It wasn’t a lie but Belle still had a sinking feeling inside of her, especially as she felt Irene’s eyes remain on her and take in everything that she was doing, or not doing.

“Alright, if you’re sure.” Irene gave in, turning back to grab a couple of bowls for the salad that Belle had prepared. As she placed them onto the counter next to her and watched her fill them up. Frowning, Irene couldn’t help but see something wrong with the picture that she was seeing. “I can’t remember the last time I saw you without the bracelet, darl.”

Belle almost froze at her words, dropping the utensils in her hands onto the counter. Looking down at her hands, she quickly pulled the sleeves of her top back up to her wrists from where they had ridden up a bit. Instinctively, she patted her jeans pocket by her hip where she had placed her bracelet after taking it off for safety.

“It’s in my pocket. I just forgot to put it back on.” Belle explained before changing the subject. “I’ll take these out.”

Irene watched her leave with as deep sigh. She hadn’t missed the fact that Belle had said ‘put it back on’ rather than ‘put it on’. Mix that with her anxiousness to avoid the rest of the conversation, she knew that there was something going on that she wasn’t telling her.

---

“…humiliate me!” Aden caught the end of Nicole’s rant as she entered the house.

“I don’t care.” Roman replied tiredly, letting the door close behind them.

“But- but-” Nicole hesitated before giving up on the argument. With a growl of frustration, she stomped up the stairs.

“What did you do this time?” Aden asked from where he sat watching some TV.

“Picked her up from school.” Roman replied, taking a sit on the other couch.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “She’s just making all this harder on herself.”

“Do you really have to drop her off and pick her up from school though?” Aden questioned while Roman smiled.

“Nah. I’ll stop with that after a bit. Just until she gets it into her head that she’s grounded. Not like the last time when she tried to sneak out all those times or just wag school.”

“That’s just mean.” He laughed, turning back to the TV. “How long is she grounded for then?”

“Until end of exams. I’ll see after that.” He informed him. “Not like you didn’t already know that.” At Aden’s confused look, Roman just chuckled. “I know you and Belle were listening last night.” Aden tried to look as innocent as possible, but the twitching of his lips gave it away. “I could hear you two at the top of the stairs.”

“Sorry.” He said sheepishly while Roman just shook his head good-naturedly. “Where’s Charlie? I didn’t see her this morning.”

“She’s got some business in the city to take care of.” Roman explained. “I told you this a couple of days ago.”

“Oh, right.” Aden replied, eyes back onto the TV. “I forgot.”

“You’ve had a lot on your mind.“ Roman said in a way of explaining as he watched the teenager pour all of his attention into a show that they both knew he wouldn’t watch under normal circumstances. “I had a chat with Belle this morning.”

“Yeah?” Aden replied distractedly, although a frown began to form on his face. “Good for you.”

“She said you haven’t changed your mind about going to see your father.” Roman went on, ignoring the snide remark from Aden.

“That’s cos I haven’t.”

“Have you at least thought about it? How it might help?” He tried to get Aden’s attention, but he was more focused on the TV now than ever although he was sure that he saw nothing.

“Nope.”

“Aden, what happened, it wasn’t a- a-” Roman searched for the right words. “A cry for attention, or a way to get sympathy. Your dad’s gone through a lot and I know for a fact that he didn’t want to make anything harder for you than it already is.”

“Yeah, well, that didn’t work, now did it?” He said dryly. “I don’t care anymore.”

“You don’t mean that-”

“Why does everyone seem to think they know what I mean better than me?” Aden snapped. “I do mean that. He doesn’t care, and neither do I.”

“Doesn’t care about what?” Roman asked. They had never spoken about this before. Aden usually just gave a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer and then left it there, never giving a reason.

“About anything.”

“That’s not true, mate. Your father cares about you.”

“He doesn’t care about his own life let alone anyone else’s. I tell him that I can’t help him with an appeal, and this is how he reacts.”

“It doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.” Roman tried once again, although, even as he spoke the words, he knew that they were bordering lying. Aden was right. His father didn’t care about his own life, so how could he be expected to believe that he cared about him too?

“If he really cared, then he wouldn’t have tried to take his life, now would he?” Aden shook his head wryly. “I’m not going to see him. He asked me once, and I gave in. I’m not going to let him rule my life anymore.”

Before Roman got to get another word in, Aden had gotten up and rounded the couch towards the door. He knew that trying to stop him would do no good, so he just prayed that the fresh air and time to think would just do him some good.

---

“Don’t you ever study?”

“Taking a break.” Drew replied as he slid into one of the stools by the counter.

“So you’ve been studying?” Belle asked, pouring a cup of coffee for a customer. When he didn’t reply, she continued. “What are you taking a break from then?”

“Fixing my car up.”

“You have less than two weeks until exams, and you decide to do that now?” She said in shock.

“I’m prepared for the HSCs. Don’t need to study.” Drew shrugged. Belle gave him a look before taking the drinks to the table they were for and returning.

“Prepared, how?”

“Third time I’m taking them, sis. I’m an expert at them.” He said smugly, taking the bottle of water she gave him.

“That only makes you an expert at failing them.” Belle teased. “And this is your second time.”

“Alright, second time, then. It’ll be fine.” He casually admitted.

“If you say so…” She replied, letting the matter go. “What are you going to do next year, anyway?”

“Haven’t decided. I’ll see how the HSCs go first.”

“You mean if you pass or not?” Belle laughed as he pulled a sarcastic face to show that he wasn‘t amused.

“What time do you finish today?” He changed the subject.

“Any minute now.” As soon as the words left her mouth, a exasperated looking Roman walked in through the main door.

“Belle.” He practically sighed with relief. “Have you seen or heard from Aden?”

“Not since this morning.” She frowned, not liking where this was going. “Why?”

“I had a chat to him about…” Roman noticed where they were standing, seeing the many people around. “about what we were talking about this morning.”

“Oh…” Understanding came to her instantly. “I’m guessing you got the same reaction as me.”

“Uh… similar, I guess you can say.” He worded his sentence carefully as he headed into the kitchen, Belle following him.

“’Similar’?”

“You should really talk to him about it, Belle. I think it would make more sense.” Roman informed her and she reluctantly agreed, knowing that talking about Aden behind his back would only cause more harm than good.

“I’m done here so I’ll head home in case he turns up.” Belle said, untying her apron before pulling her bag over her shoulder.

“Yeah, thanks. Let me know when he turns up?”

“Sure.”

---

“Just leave it alone. Please?” Belle begged Drew as they walked along the top of the beach towards their respective homes.

“He’s a mess, Belle.”

“He is not!” She growled, not wanting to encourage the argument by raising her voice.

“Just because you can’t see it-” Drew began once again. The conversation had started with him asking about where Aden had gotten to after listening to what Roman had said. When she didn’t reply, he made his own conclusions, none of them positive in any way.

“It’s not just me. And, fine, even if it is just me, I don’t care.” Belle hissed. There was an edge to the words, making them final. She heard Drew sigh heavily, and she copied it, glad he was letting it go for the moment.

They continued to walk in silence, neither one straying onto another path so not to seem as if they were giving in. Just because they weren’t verbally arguing, it didn’t mean that they weren’t standing their grounds.

Belle dug into her pocket when she realised that she hadn’t put her bracelet back on. Pulling it out, she carefully adjusted it so that all the charms were the right way up and tried to put it on herself. It was a hard task even after near 5 months of practice, and doing it while walking was close to impossible.

Drew looked over at her as she started to slow down. He saw her fiddling with the clasp on her bracelet as she tried to secure it. Usually, he would have offered to do it for her, but he knew what that bracelet meant to her, and somehow he had a feeling she wouldn’t want him to touch it after what he had just been saying.

Continuing to struggle, Belle twisted her wrist in all directions to keep the jewellery steady in her hands. As she did so, Drew noticed the long sleeves of her top and jacket rise up her arms, giving him a glimpse of some blackness on her wrist. He had been suspicious as to why she wore such clothes on a warm day like this. Now he knew. He had seen that mark many times on his Dad’s hands.

Laughing wryly, Drew shook his head as he figured out what was going on and Belle finally got her bracelet on.

“What?” She asked, hearing him laugh.

“Nothing.” He replied instantly. “Listen, I just realised that I said I would meet Ric. I’ll, uh… I’ll catch up with you later, yeah?”

“Um… yeah, sure.” Belle said, confused. He hadn’t waited for her reply, turning around and heading back towards the pier. Sometimes, she couldn’t understand anything that ran through that boy’s head.

---

So what was that about?!

xoxo

Taniya_K · October 8, 2008

As promised, here's another chapter for today. I know you guys aren't going to like me at the end of this, so I thought I would just add that if you kill me, you'll never find out what happens next!

Chapter 24:

Aden had no plan as to where he was heading. Once he had left the house, he just went wherever his legs took him. At first, he tried to put as much of his mind onto where in Summer Bay he could go that would be secluded enough so that no-one would talk to him. He had even considered taking a leaf out of Annie’s book and jump on a bus to Yabbie Creek. Or even the city.

Instead, as he thought of all these things, his feet had taken him in a direction that he had never intended on ever going again. Even as he turned the corner, looking at the place that he once called home, Aden couldn’t bring himself to stop walking. Approaching the driveway, he paused. He couldn’t go any further. None of this was his anymore.

And, for some reason, it didn’t change a thing. Although it may have seemed random, it now became clear why he had ended up here. At the place that he had despised so much over the years. It was a part of his life, though. It was his history, his background. It was where he had all of the memories of his mother stored, along with all the memories of his father. And his grandfather.

He had known that selling the place was the right thing to do. A physical way of putting the past behind him and moving on into the future. The future without his father. Or his brothers. Or his grandfather.

Silently, he walked around the tree that stood in front of the house. Inside, he could see a couple of lights turned on prematurely, getting ready for the evening. There was plenty of furniture and decorative material that had been added to the house, Aden could tell. But he could also see Belle’s photos too.

After standing there for a couple of minutes, Aden slid down to sit in front of the tree, facing away from the house. He wondered if the couple who lived there now could even phantom what horrors had happened inside that simple building. Everything from his father’s drinking to his grandfather’s abuse to his breakdown. That house held it all.

Yet, it didn’t change a thing. Even with everything that that house symbolised to him, that contained for him, it didn’t change what was happening now. It didn’t changed the fact that his dad had tried to kill himself, months after begging Aden to not do it to him. Even in the state that he was in, Aden had given in to his pleading. But now, with a steady, sane, state of mind, he couldn’t give him what he wanted. When his dad signed the house over to him, he signed everything else over too. And when Aden sold the house, he sold it all.

But it hadn’t worked out that way. Just because the house was gone, the memories hadn’t. Just because it was all the past, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t going to be his future. After all, it was what had made him what he was today. And there was no escaping that.

---

“Where’s all this sudden interest in Aden coming from?” Ric asked as he and Drew sat at the back of the house at the caravan park.

“Just making sure I’ve got my facts straight.” He stated.

“And you couldn’t have just asked Belle because…?”

“Because she wouldn’t tell me.” Drew simply said, taking a sip of his beer.

“That’s not true.” Ric replied. “She would have told you if you bothered to ask.”

“Yeah, but she would think that I’m up to something. Especially if I just asked her about his father and all.”

“Look, mate. I know that the last time you were in the Bay long enough to get to know people, Aden was a-”

“Jerk? Bully? Low grade-” Drew started to list with slight anger.

“Yeah, I get it.” Ric cut him off with a wince. “But he’s changed since then. Seriously, he has.”

“Nah, I can’t see it.” He said stubbornly, shaking his head.

“People change. You should know that better than anyone.”

“Why are you even defending him? His brother put you in hospital a couple of years back! Or was that beating so bad that you‘ve forgotten?”

“I’m not defending him. Entirely.” Ric added at Drew’s look of disbelief. “In Aden’s defence, though, he didn’t beat me up. And I did kind of put him in hospital. So he wasn’t in the wrong there…”

“I can’t believe that you’re actually sticking up for him.” Drew scoffed. “It’s like a parallel universe. Here, I’m the one in the wrong, and Aden Jeffries is the… what? The hero?”

“If only you knew…” Ric murmured, lifting up the bottle to his lips as Drew gave him a curious look. “Never mind.”

“Alright, I should head home. I told Leah that I would watch VJ for a bit tonight.” Drew sighed, pushing himself out of his chair.

“Alright.” Ric said before calling him back suddenly. “Aden’s a good guy. Belle won’t forgive you for trying to meddle, no matter what you think is right.”

Drew nodded, letting him know that he acknowledged what he was saying, even though they both knew that it wouldn’t make any difference.

---

Aden contemplated heading towards the pier. Although at just past 8 o’clock on a Wednesday evening and many people would be at home, he knew that there would still be more people around than he wanted to see right then.

Not in the mood to go home or even head to Belle’s, he decided to take a walk on the beach, hoping there would be plenty of things that would distract him there.

He had only been dawdling along the sand for about 5 minutes when he felt eyes on him. Still not in the mood for any company, Aden ignored it, hoping whoever it was would just get the message that he was busy doing nothing.

Unfortunately, that didn’t work, not that he had expected it to. And to make matters worse, it was probably one of the last people who he wanted to see right then.

“Jeffries!” He heard someone call out as they approached him from the side. Aden didn’t stop or look over. “Hey! I’m talking to you!”

“Well, I don’t want to talk.”

“Tough, cos I do.” They replied. He didn’t move from the spot he stood in as Aden continued to walk off.

“Get lost, Drew.” He heard him growl.

“Yeah, you’ve really changed, haven’t you?” The cynical tone to his words made Aden pause and turn.

“I’m not in the mood to deal with anyone. Least of all, you.” Aden growled, his voice low from the lack of energy.

“Yeah? I’ll make this simple then. Leave Belle out of your mess.”

“’Mess’?”

“You know, your life and all.” Drew merely summed up. “It’s your mess, you deal with it.”

“I really have no idea what you’re on about.” Aden said tiredly, prepared to just turn and walk away.

“I think you know exactly what I’m saying.” Drew hissed. “The way you’re using her to do your dirty work-”

“I don’t need to listen to this.” Aden scoffed before turning around and walking away, his hands fisted. The only thing he was thinking about right then was to not knock Drew out.

“Can’t handle the truth?” Drew laughed dryly. “You know it’s true, don’t you? Everything you’ve put her through, that you’ve made her do, made her feel.”

“I haven’t made her do a thing.” He snapped, facing him once again. Drew was pressing all of the wrong buttons. “Belle does what she wants, you know that.”

“Because she feels the need to have to. Belle‘s a sucker for lost souls. But don‘t worry; once everything‘s perfect again, I‘m sure she‘ll just… back off.” Drew sneered. He knew that he was twisting the truth, making Aden out to be the one in the wrong in all of this. But there was no other way that he could think of to make him see what he was doing to her.

“Right, cos you’re an expert on relationships, ain’t you?”

“No, but I know Belle better than you do.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.” Aden remarked, his gaze drifting to the side. Deep inside, he knew that some of the things that Drew was saying were true, but there was no way that he was going to let that on.

“Trust me, mate, when all this business with your father is done, she’ll see right through you and see you for what you really are.” Drew told him, a small smirk appearing on his face when he saw just how much his words hit him.

“You don’t know anything about my father, so why don’t you just back off, mate?” Aden snarled, his voice low with anger and focussing on not acting on the urge to just hit him.

Drew watched the other guy’s rigid posture, curled fists and fixed features. Even from the 6 feet distance between them, in the moonlight, he could see just how much self-control Aden had over his emotions, although the anger showed through. He hated to admit it, but Aden had changed. A bit anyway. A year ago, Drew was sure he would have a split lip or a black eye by now. But that didn’t change his entire opinion of him. Especially not after what he had seen and heard today.

“Doesn’t take much for you to snap, does it?” Drew asked in a fake air of inquisitiveness. He shook he head as he took a step backwards, indicating that this conversation was over, but not until he got the last word in. “No wonder she’s scared.”

---

Belle glanced over at the clock once again. 8:45 it read. She had been sitting at home for a good 2 hours now, doing her best to keep busy and stop herself from going out to look for her boyfriend. When she saw that he hadn’t been around there since that morning, Belle had rang him, but it went straight through to voicemail. Guessing that his phone was off, she sent him a text, apologizing for pushing him earlier and saying that they needed to talk.

Now, 2 hours later, she hadn’t heard in any way from him. Belle had told herself to stay put until 9 o’clock just to let him cool off and think. Something inside of her was telling her that there was something wrong, but she pushed it aside. There was no-way he could be in severe danger in the middle of Summer Bay, she reasoned with herself. Not with everyone who cared for him looking out for him, and everyone else there to offer help if he needed it.

Turning her attention back to the magazine open in front of her, Belle dropped her own mobile onto the pillow next to her. Almost as soon as it had fallen, it sprang to life. Grabbing it as quickly as she could, she frowned when she read ‘Nicole’ on her caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Hey, uh… Aden just came home and I really think you should get over here.” Nicole said, concern colouring her words.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Belle urgently asked even as she jumped off her bed and picked up her bag. She listened to Nicole’s explanation, although it was very short and simple. “What? Are you serious?”

“Unfortunately.” Nicole sighed heavily.

“Alright, I’ll be there in 10.”

---

Don't hate Drew! I still love him... [not as much as Aden though]

xoxo

Taniya_K · October 9, 2008

Really liked that Ric now seems to understand that Aden has changed. He seems to have won over everyone. Maybe Drew is next.

Hope at some point Drew finally realises how wrong he is about Aden.

Like you said, he is very stubborn. And just because he might realise that he was wrong about Aden doesn't mean he will admit it...

and you know Taniya your going to live forever the rate your updating, but where your chapters end is bringing down the years

Lol! As long as I get to live for ever, I'm happy!

But I'll try to cut down on the cliffhangers, no promises though.

*looks into Taniya'e eyes with Aden's puppy dog eyes*

Ah, Damn. I could never resist you Aden... So here's the next chapter!

Oh, and I can't believe none of you guessed what happened to Aden! I guess my clue was very vague...

Chapter 25:

“Hey.” Belle said hurriedly as Nicole opened the door a second after she knocked, expecting her.

“He’s upstairs.” Nicole informed her, letting her enter.

“What happened?”

“I dunno.” The blonde shrugged. “He just totally ignored me. I don’t think he’s been drinking much, though. He seemed pretty sober to me.”

“Alright.” Belle nodded, already heading upstairs. “Hey, Nic?”

“Yeah?” She replied, turning back to face her from where she was going to go sit back down.

“Thanks. For letting me know and all…”

“No problem.” She smiled back sadly and for the first time, Belle saw that they really had a common factor or two, both being their boyfriends.

“Listen, Roman asked to give him a call when Aden turned up-”

“I’ll let him know.” Nicole assured her, picking up the phone from the side table. Belle nodded her thanks before climbing the rest of the stairs.

She walked the distance to his bedroom easily before waiting outside the door for a moment. In all honesty, she didn’t know what she was going to do, whether she was going to be able to handle this or not. Pulling herself together, she told herself that no matter what she thought, Aden needed her, and if he could try to be this strong for this long, she could do it now. Taking in a deep breath, Belle gently knocked on the door before turning the handle.

“I didn’t say you could co-” Aden stopped halfway when he saw who it was. Belle shut the door behind her, placing her bag next to it before turning to face him. “What are you doing here?”

“Nicole called.” She said calmly, taking in the scene before her. He sat on his bed, legs pulled up, looking at her with eyes void of any emotion. If it wasn’t for the previous knowledge, she wouldn’t have thought that there was anything wrong. Of course, the frown on his face and the whiskey bottle in hanging from his hand might have given her a clue. “What’s going on, Aden?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He retorted, taking another swig from the bottle. Belle swiftly walked up to the side of his bed, grabbing onto the bottle with all her force to push it back down.

“Stop it.” She hissed at him, trying to keep her anger in check. “Don’t do this to yourself.”

“Do what?” He growled back, pulling the bottle out of her hand with ease. “Turn into my father?”

“Aden-” She began calmly, knowing that trying to tell him what to do would just enrage him more.

“What? It’s what you were thinking, wasn’t it?” He took another sip and Belle pulled the bottle down once again.

“No, it wasn’t, actually.” She said forcefully, her words still gentle.

“Well, it’s true. Here I am, doing everything I can to not think about him and his suicide attempt, just like he did with- with- him and what he did.” Aden confessed.

“You’re not your father, Aden.” Belle told him, not bothering to take a hold of the nearly half empty bottle this time. “Your father was a coward and he allowed things that anyone else would have done everything in their power to stop.”

“But he didn’t because he drank, using it to escape and turn his back on his family.” He added, nodding. For a moment, Belle thought that she had gotten through to him before he held the whiskey up a bit. “Remind you of anything, Belle?”

“Hey!” She finally snapped, getting a hold of the bottle, slipping it out of his hands. Belle held it tight in one hand, away from him, and used the other hand to hold onto his chin to make him face her. “You are not your father. You never have been and you never will be. You got it?”

Belle saw his eyes search hers, although she had no idea what for. Almost suddenly, there was something in his eyes that she saw had broken through his guard from earlier. She saw the guilt, the understanding and the pain. The pain. Her heart broke for him. Belle let go of her hold on him, instead letting her hand glide along his jaw and gently caress his cheek.

Aden looked away once she had loosened her grip on him. Automatically, it went to his right where she held the alcohol slightly behind her, far from him. She noticed his movement and dropped her hand from his face.

“I’ll be right back.” She whispered, skimming her free hand over his knee as she turned and left, taking the bottle with her.

Nicole sat in the same place as she had been when Belle had left her as she came down the stairs slowly.

“Everything ok?” She asked eagerly. Belle merely nodded, showing her the half-full bottle as she walked into the kitchen. Nicole followed her, watching as she poured the remains down the sink.

“Did you call Roman?” Belle’s attention was focused on the liquid that went down the plug hole, a strange sense of déjà vu coming back to her from 9 months ago in Aden’s old house with his father’s drinks. She mentally shook her head, refusing to compare the two of them.

“Yeah, I told him that he returned home. And that you were here, talking to him.” Nicole added, her tone indicating that she hadn’t told her father the whole truth.

“You didn’t tell him about the drinking.” She stated while running the tap to get rid of anything that clung to the sink.

“I thought Aden had enough to worry about without Dad getting on his back about this little stunt.” She reasoned before biting her bottom lip, hesitating. “He is ok, isn’t he? I mean, there’s nothing to worry about? Something that Dad should know about?”

Belle gave the younger girl a glance as she continued to rinse the bottle and sink. She didn’t know how, or when, but Nicole really had become a prominent part of the community, and even her life somehow. Her concern for Aden just showed her how much she had changed since she had arrived, not caring for or about anyone else but herself. For some reason, Belle had an inkling that Aden had something to do with her change, and Nicole had something to do with his. They had a bond that neither had experienced before; a loving sibling bond.

“He’s going to be ok.” Belle smiled, reassuring her. “And not telling Roman was a good idea. For now, at least.”

“Yeah…” Nicole nodded before smiling. “Let’s hope that he loosens up on my grounding now that I took care of that. I could‘ve just left Aden alone up there.” Belle laughed at her light hearted words.

“Well, I’ll put in a good word for you, if it helps.” She informed her, drying her hands on a dish cloth.

“I doubt it, but hey, it’s worth a try.” Nicole smiled, taking the bottle. “I’ll go put this in the outside bin. Just in case Dad or Charlie sees.”

“Alright, thanks.” Belle said as she started to leave. “Seriously, Nicole. Thank you.” Nicole could tell from the pure gratitude in her voice that she wasn’t just talking about the bottle or the phone call to Roman.

“Anytime.” She replied, continuing heading towards the front door. As she did so, both girls heard movement upstairs. They both instinctively gazed up before sharing a look as Nicole went out the door.

Throwing the cloth onto the counter, Belle headed back upstairs. She didn’t know what Aden could have been doing, but from the sounds of his even, light footsteps, she guessed that the alcohol hadn’t gotten to him.

Naturally, she knocked on the door before pushing it open, not waiting for a response. Out of everything that she was expecting to see, this was not one of them. Closing the door behind her and locking it, she made her way over to where Aden had gotten into bed. He laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

As Belle neared, Aden turned onto his side to face her. He held out a hand for her, and she allowed her fingers to just trace it as she crouched down by his side, pulling the hand up to her lips to place a gentle kiss on it.

“I’m sorry-” Aden whispered, but she interrupted him.

“Shh… it’s ok, honey.” Belle replied, her voice just as low. “It’s ok.”

“No, I shouldn’t have done that.” He tore his eyes away from her, looking down to where she had laid their joined hands onto the bed.

“I know. But it’s ok.”

“I’m just so tired of it all, Belle.” Aden admitted. She could see the tears threatening to spill out of his eyes, although he did his best to keep them back. Using her free hand to gently stroke his hair, she tried her best to keep her own tears at bay at the lost look on his face.

“Shh…” She repeated, not knowing what else there was to say. She understood what he meant, but there wasn’t anything she could do to help reassure him that it would go away. Because it wouldn’t. “Just go to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning, ok?”

“You staying?” There was clear shock in his voice that made Belle wonder what he was thinking.

“Of course.” She said, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Unless you don’t want me to?”

“I do. I just thought…” He trailed off, eyes searching hers before averting from them once again.

“Thought what?”

“Nothing.” Aden sighed. He wasn’t drunk. Not even slightly tipsy. Which meant that he could remember everything that Drew had said, especially about his mess of a life and Belle’s involvement. He didn’t believe it all. Or rather, he didn’t want to believe it all. But out of it, the one thing that made him doubt himself were Drew’s last words.

“Ok.” Belle murmured, letting it go. She could see just how physically tired he was too. “Let me just get changed, yeah?” Aden merely nodded as she leaned in to give him a sweet kiss. She wasn’t surprised to find that he tasted more like him than the whiskey he had been downing.

Letting her hand glide over his cheek bone and jaw line as she pulled it out of his hair, she dropped the other hand and stood up. As she turned, Belle heard him turn around, probably to give her some privacy. It confused her even more.

Belle opened the chest of drawers where her clothes was stored in his room. Pulling out a long t-shirt which was once Aden’s, she began to get changed. Placing her clothes onto his chair on the side of the room, she picked up Aden’s clothes that he had seemed to have thrown in the general direction of the chair. Folding them neatly, she put them on top of hers.

Turning back to go to bed, the closet to her left caught her eye. It was slightly ajar and Belle couldn’t tell what it was that was keeping it open. Going over to it, she fully opened the door, looking at it up and down before she laid her eyes onto a cardboard box that rested on the bottom shelf inside.

From all the times that she had gone through his closet, which wasn’t much actually, she had never seen this box before. Throwing a look over her shoulder to make sure that Aden wasn’t watching, she kneeled down to see what it contained.

The box was heavier than she expected, so she wasn’t able to pull it out onto her lap. Instead, she left it on the shelf, taking the lid off. Belle felt bad for going through his stuff, almost as if she was prying, but deep down inside she knew that if she asked him about it, Aden would show her.

Digging into the box without looking, she felt a smooth, cool item that she could only consider as glass. As she let her hand roam around it, it became more clearer to her what it was exactly. Pulling out the photo frame, Belle gasped quietly, not sure what surprised her more; the fact that the photo inside looked so familiar or that she knew that it was of Aden’s mother immediately.

Glancing over her shoulder once again, Belle examined the picture once again. There were only two people in the photo; a young lady and a baby boy. She flipped the frame around, opening it at the back to see if there was any notations on it as to indicate who the baby was. As she predicted, in the bottom right hand corner, there was a note of the date and Baby boy Jeffries written in fancy, feminine handwriting. The date just confirmed her suspicions that the baby was Aden himself, and that he couldn’t have been more than a week old.

Belle secured the back of it again and looked at the picture once more. Aden had never shown her any pictures of his mother, and she had assumed that there weren’t any. But she had known, for reasons unknown to her, that this was her.

She stared at the picture closely, not being able to tear her eyes away. She was a lady of about 30, long blonde hair that curled at the bottom. But it was her eyes that took the focus of the picture. Even as she smiled in awe of her third son, her eyes shone bright and innocently. It finally hit Belle how she had made the connection straight away. Her eyes. They were exact same as Aden’s. The colour, the shape, the size; it was all the same.

Exact same. Except for one thing. Aden’s eyes never held that glint of innocence. That had been ripped away from him a long time ago. Silently, Belle wondered if these eyes in the picture in her hands would have been the once she would have fallen in love with if this lady hadn’t been taken away from her son at such a young age. If Aden could have reprised the innocence that showed in his mother’s eyes.

Shuffling behind her broke Belle out of her thoughts and she quickly, yet carefully, placed the photo back into the box, which she guessed contained other possessions of his mother’s. Pushing the box to the back of shelf before standing up and shutting the doors.

Belle switched the lights off before she got into bed, plunging them into darkness. She found her way easily and slid into bed as quietly as she could without waking Aden up. Either her actions didn’t work, or Aden hadn’t fallen asleep like she had hoped as he turned around to face her after a moment.

“Go to sleep.” She instructed, breathing the words to keep him from fully waking up. Even as she spoke, she could tell that he was searching her eyes for the third time that night. Belle began to realise that it wasn’t just his father’s actions that had pushed him into this situation. There was something else playing on his mind. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you-? Do you-” He faltered. “Do you want to be here? With me?”

Out of everything she thought he would say, she never thought he would reply with another question. Instead of trying to get to the bottom of it, she decided to have a talk with him about it tomorrow, when they would talk about everything.

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

---

Hope you enjoyed it. And I hope that it seemed close to character too.

xoxo

Taniya_K · October 10, 2008

This is mainly just a filler. Sorry if it's boring lol.

Chapter 26:

After going to bed so early the night before, Belle was surprised that she had woken up at her usual time of 9. Of course, it could have been because she had spent most of the night up, thinking about what it was that had pushed Aden over edge. She knew that dealing with his father’s recent behaviour and them asking him to reconsider to go see him was taking its toll on him, but there was more to it than that. There was something else that made him just give in.

Sighing, she turned over in his bed, already knowing that he had left her. She glided her hand over the bed next to her, frowning when it seemed cooler than it should have been, indicating that Aden had probably left a while ago.

Nothing seemed out of place in his room as she pushed herself onto her elbows to look around for any clues as to where he was. The towel hanging on the back of the chair told her he had been up for a while, already having a shower. Deciding against playing PI, Belle got out of bed and started to get ready for the day.

It wasn’t long before she was walking down the stairs, her bag over her shoulder and mobile in hand. There had been no messages from Aden in any form to tell her where he had gotten to. Suspecting that there was no-one else home, Belle froze in the kitchen doorway to see Nicole sitting at the table.

“Morning.” The blonde greeted her, smiling.

“Uh… morning.” Belle repeated, checking the time on her phone. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“Late start.” She informed her. “And Dad’s trusting me to go by myself.”

“So he loosened up after last night?” Belle enquired, remembering the light-hearted conversation they had had almost 12 hours ago in that very same room.

“I think so. I didn’t ask. I’m not going to remind him or anything.” Nicole told her. “Did you speak to him?”

“No, sorry. Didn’t see him.”

“Ah, never mind.” She dismissed, flipping through the newspaper in front of her mindlessly.

“Have you seen Aden, by any chance?” Belle finally asked slowly, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, he was up a while back.” Nicole said, not paying any attention to her.

“Did he say where he was going?”

“Nope.” She shrugged before looking up at the other girl, seeing the worry on her face. “If it helps, he looked like he was gonna go to the gym, although he does have school.”

“He has a half day,” Belle said distractedly, “and yeah, that does help. Thanks.”

“Is everything ok? After what happened last night and all?” The concern that Nicole had expressed last night had returned and Belle sighed, going over to stand by the counter to lean against it.

“I don’t know.”

“What happened?”

“Um…” Belle hesitated, running a hand through her hair. “How much do you know?”

“I know about his father trying to kill himself. And Aden not wanting to go see him.” She stated. Belle nodded, glad that they were on the same page. Well, on a similar page.

“Yeah, I guess that just got too much for Aden. After everything that’s happened…” She trailed off, not wanting to add anything else that would bring up questions about his past. Belle knew that he hadn’t told Nicole about his grandfather, even though she knew about everything else, it seemed.

“I wish there was something I could do.” Nicole added, exhaling deeply.

“Me too, Nic.” Belle said, smiling sadly at her. “Me too.”

---

Aden let out a deep breath as he replaced the weights back onto it’s stand. He knew that he was pushing it too hard; his body was protesting as well as his mind, but it was the only way he felt he could let go of his emotions safely.

He laid still, alone in the gym, chest heaving to take in as much oxygen as he could. While he was working out, Aden could put his mind to other things. Such as counting or imaging certain people’s faces on the punching bag. But now, as he just laid there, all he could hear were Drew’s words.

No wonder she’s scared, he had said. Although there was more from his outburst that had confused Aden, this one line had hit him the most. He tried to override it with all the times that Belle had assured him that she never feared him, but it wouldn’t work.

Frowning, he picked up the weights once again, prepared to stop thinking and start counting. Aden had barely gotten to 5 when he felt eyes on him. Ignoring it with all his power, he continued, but it became harder to concentrate on the counting when it went into listening to the light footsteps coming nearer. They stopped a little distance from him.

With another push, Aden gave up, replacing the weights where they belonged and sitting up, purposely picking up his water bottle without giving the person a second glance.

“Done?” Aden gave her a look from the corner of his eyes as she carried on. “I’d prefer a note or something next time.”

“Sorry.” He replied tonelessly, knowing exactly what she was talking about. “Didn’t want to wake you.”

“I didn’t say you had to wake me. Just a note.” Belle corrected him, watching as he twirled the water bottle around in his hands, giving it more attention than her. “How’re you feeling?”

“Fine.”

“No headache?” She asked, slightly shocked considering the amount of alcohol he had drank.

“Nope.”

“Are you mad at me?” Belle wondered out loud as she racked her brain as to what she might have done that he could get angry at her about.

“No.” Aden said monosyllabically once again.

“Then why won’t you look at me?” Her voice was almost pleading, and Aden couldn’t stop himself from turning his head to do as she asked. He had been worried that she would look at him with pity, fear or disgrace, or a mix of all three. But, once again, she surprised him. As she stood there, perched against one of the bikes, she wore an expression of guilt and confusion.

“Sorry.” He sighed, genuinely meaning it. “I just thought that you might be mad at me.”

“I’m not.” Belle told him instantly. “You shouldn’t have left this morning.”

“I needed to get out of there. I felt so…” He struggled for the right word.

“Claustaphobic?” She supplied for him. Aden nodded, taking another gulp of his water. His body was craving for it after the workout and to get rid of the alcohol in his system.

“Yeah. Not to mention that facing Roman this morning wasn’t my idea for a good start of the day.” Aden added with a slight smirk, his normal self creeping through.

“Ah…” Belle bit her lip. “Roman doesn’t know.”

“’Doesn’t know’?” His eyebrows raised to emphasise his disbelief.

“We thought telling him would be more effort than it was worth.” She explained.

“’We’?”

“Nicole and I.”

“I see.” He murmured, picking up his towel and getting up.

“Hey, where’re you going?” Belle pushed herself off the bike, stopping him midway to the door.

“I need to get ready for school.” Aden stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“We need to talk.” He looked at her for a moment before a frown settled on his lips. “Aden!”

“What?” He asked dryly, staring off into the distance arrogantly.

“We need to talk.” She repeated, not allowing him to think that they were ok now. “I know there’s something going on that you’re not telling me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His tone remained the same.

“Yes, you do.” Belle placed a hand on his arm, forcing herself to remain calm. “I know that there’s something you’re not telling me. What else happened?”

“Nothing.” Aden abruptly replied, still not looking at her.

“Look me in the eyes and tell me there’s nothing else going on.” She instructed him. When he failed to do either, Belle nodded. “Exactly. Roman said you were cooling off but-”

“So… what? You and Roman been talking about me behind my back now?” Aden snapped suddenly.

“No! We were worried about you!” Belle snapped back immediately, defending herself. Both Roman and her knew that he wouldn’t have appreciated them talking about him, but sometimes it was just needed.

“Yeah? Were you ‘worried’ about me too when you spoke to Drew?” He asked, anger and slight betrayal lacing his words.

“Drew? No. I never spoke to- What’s he got to do with this?” She couldn’t think proper with many questions now floating around in her head.

“Never mind.“ Aden sighed, changing the subject and resisting the urge to just pull her hand off of him and walk off. “I need to get to school, Belle.”

“Aden-”

“I’ll see you later.” He said as a final way of getting her to let go, physically and metaphorically.

“Aden!” She tried again, but by this time he had walked off, letting her hand just drop down by her side.

Belle sighed, sitting down onto the bench that he had just gotten up from. Now that she knew another piece of this puzzle, Belle was even more confused. She wanted to go see Drew and find out what he had to do with it all, but she knew that it would probably cause more trouble with Aden.

Guilt stirred up inside of her as she thought of the way she had been so demanding of Aden to share with her when he wasn’t the only one keeping secrets at the moment.

---

Hope you enjoyed it. I'll try to get to the bottom of this all in the next few chapters...

xoxo

Taniya_K · October 10, 2008

Here's another update, as promised. I tried to get down all that I was thinking, but I just couldn't write it out as perfectly as I wanted to. So sorry about that in advance.

Anyhoo, here it is

Chapter 27:

“Sorry, Belle, but he’s off with Ric somewhere.” Leah informed her when she probed about Drew’s whereabouts.

“That’s ok.” She sighed, leaning heavily against the kitchen counter in the Diner.

“It wasn’t important, was it?”

“No, no. Nothing that can’t wait.” Belle hurriedly told her. A bit of relief swept over the teenager when she found out that Drew wasn’t at home. She had decided that she wouldn’t talk to him about Aden unless she ran into him by accident, which was a likely cause in Summer Bay. But now that he was probably out of the town, there was no chance of that today.

“I didn’t know you’re working today.” Irene commented as she walked into the Diner’s kitchen and spotting Belle.

“I’m not. Unless you need a hand?” Both Irene and Leah looked at her incredulously. “What?”

“You want to work on your day off?”

“Got nothing else planned for the day.” She gave as an explanation.

“Well, we’re ok for now, but if you’re really desperate…” Leah trailed off, handing her a plate with a sandwich on it. Belle took it and headed out after acknowledging which table it was for.

“What’s all that about?” Irene asked once she was gone, pointing a thumb over her shoulder to indicate who she was talking about.

“I have no idea. She just came in looking that upset, asked about Drew and then you turned up.” Leah listed for her. Irene just rolled her eyes, figuring that something was wrong, not that it was hard to see.

“Listen, love, if Belle’s going to be hanging out here for a bit, why don’t you knock off early? I know that you would like the time with VJ.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to just leave-”

“Leah, I insist.” Irene stopped her halfway. “Roman’ll be back in about 30 and this place won’t be busy until later when Colleen gets in.”

“Alright.” She agreed, finishing off the last of her dishes before pulling her apron off just as Belle re-entered. “I’ll see you guys later then.”

“You off?” Belle called after her, tying on her own apron around her waist.

“Yeah. I’ve got some stuff that I need to take care of and this place isn’t so busy…” Leah left the rest of her sentence unfinished as the other two nodded understandingly before exiting the Diner.

“Everything alright?” Irene questioned casually as Belle got about unloading the dishwasher.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” She shrugged, trying to remain non-chalant as possible.

“Because you’re working on your day off.” Irene pointed out, carrying on with making up a couple of pasta dishes.

“Like I said, I’ve got nothing else planned.”

“It’s just past 3 in the afternoon. Wouldn’t Aden be out of school soon?” Belle knew what she was getting at. After all, it wasn’t too hard to figure out.

“Yeah, he will be, and no, I’m going to go see him because, yes, he’s mad at me and no, going to see him won’t help because I don’t know why he‘s mad at me. Kind of.” Belle answered all of the questions that she knew was coming with a tone of boredom in her voice, still unloading the washing.

“Uh-huh.” Irene merely commented, knowing full well that she was trying downplay whatever that was going on. “Would this have anything to do with why you were acting so shifty yesterday?”

“’Shifty’?”

“You were off in your own world and kind of closed off from us all.” Irene explained, giving her a concerned glance. “Should I be worried, Belle?”

“No.” She sighed, shutting the dish washer and resting against it, arms supporting her behind her. “It’s just all this stuff about Aden’s dad and all.”

“It can’t be easy on him, with HSCs on the way too.” Irene said compassionately. Although she didn’t know the full story of Aden’s past, the hints that Belle had dropped about it not being as normal as people assumed had forced her to look at him in a different light. Add that to the fact that he had actually changed in the last year, Irene had nothing against him anymore.

“I know. I just wish I could do more to help him.” Belle said tiredly, rubbing her forehead gently.

“I’m sure that if there was, you would find it.” Irene pointed out wisely. “But until then, just give him what he needs, even if it‘s just some space.”

“Hmm… yeah.” She nodded, dropping her hand. “Space.”

---

Later on that evening, Belle walked out of the bathroom after having an extra long shower just to relax herself. There was no-one else home at the moment, and she relished the quietness to just think.

Towelling her hair dry, she went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water before heading back to her bedroom, pushing the door open with her shoulder seeing as her hands were otherwise occupied.

“I wondered where that had got to.” A wry, yet tired, voice greeted her. She didn’t pause as she walked over to her dresser, placing the glass down on top of it.

“I didn’t think you were going to turn up tonight.” Belle replied, trying not to show the relief she felt by taking extra care with placing her towel on the back of her chair.

“I wasn’t going to, but I was looking for my jumper…” Aden teased from where he sat at the top of her bed, legs stretched out, indicating to the hoodie that she now wore.

“Sorry. You left it here. If you want it back-” She turned around to face him, prepared to take it off even though it meant that she had nothing else on except her underwear.

“Nah, you can keep it. Looks better on you.” The tone that he used was typically accompanied with a smirk or a suggestive look, but this time, he just tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling.

“Why are you really here, Aden?” Belle asked, crossing her arms while standing at the end of her bed.

“I got your text.”

“What text?” Belle couldn’t remember texting him today. In fact, she couldn’t remember texting anyone all day. Instead of replying to her, Aden dug into his jeans’ pocket and pulled out his phone, dropping his eyes to scroll through it before throwing it in her direction.

Belle picked it up, never moving her eyes from his as they finally looked at her. Gazing down, she read the words that she had sent that day before. ’I know that you’re mad at me & I’m sorry about before. Please come over. There’s something I need to tell you. Love you. x’

“I sent this yesterday.” She frowned, re-reading the text once again.

“I know. But I didn’t switch my phone back on until an hour ago.” Aden informed her, now crossing his arms. “What’s so important that you needed to tell me?” Belle swallowed, fiddling with the phone until she slid it shut and turned it around in her hands a couple of times. “Belle?”

“You’re going to get angry.” She stated.

“Try me.”

“Will you listen to my reasoning?” Belle had to make sure that he wouldn’t just leave after she told him the truth. Aden didn’t reply in any way or form. “Aden?”

“Has it got something to do with Drew? Cos if it has, then I‘m lea-” His voice was low and bordering dangerous. Belle shook her head, eyes narrowing at his words.

“What’s Drew got to do with all this?”

“Why don‘t you tell me?”

“Aden, you’re the one who keeps bringing him up. Did you speak to him or something? Is that why you were like that last night?”

Aden watched her for a moment, seeing the anxiousness on her face and nervousness in her actions before turning his head away from her to look at the floor. Her expression had said it all; she really had no idea what he was talking about. And he didn’t want to be the one to tell her. He didn’t want to seem like Drew’s words actually effected him, even though they did. Yet he knew that the only way to put his mind off of everything was to talk to her about it.

“I didn’t speak to him. He spoke to me.”

“What did he say?” She asked him as gently as she could.

“Nothing important.” Aden sighed, running a hand through his hair as he averted his eyes to the dresser behind Belle, seeing the many photos stuck up to the mirror.

“Aden,” Belle started, climbing onto the bed and sitting on her knees, next to and facing him. She put the phone into his hand, who in turn put it on the bed side table next to him. “Tell me what he said.”

“I told you, it’s nothing.” His words were clipped, but Belle didn’t want to take the hint to leave it alone.

“I want to know what he said.” She said slowly, making sure that he understood that she wasn’t going to back off. Aden shook his head, almost in disbelief, but Belle could tell from the way his jaw had tightened that he was just trying to keep everything to himself, words, memories, emotions and all. “Please?” she added softly.

A heavy sigh left him as he faced her properly, finally seeing her truly as she sat next to him, her nervousness replaced by worry. He lifted an arm to rest along the back of her bed, his fingers gently picking up a damp lock of her hair and watching it as he twirled it in his hand.

“Are you scared of me?” He asked her suddenly after a few minutes of silence, eyes still fixated on her hair.

“What?” Belle wasn’t sure if she had heard him properly. Surely he couldn’t have asked her that.

“Do I scare you?” He reworded his question, but the intensity behind it didn’t change.

“No.” She replied immediately. “No, you don’t. You know you don’t!” Aden froze suddenly, letting her hair drop from his fingers. Belle grabbed onto his wrist, pulling the hand down before holding it tightly. “Why would you ask me that? Why would you think that?”

“Yesterday…” Aden shrugged slightly, shaking his head.

“Go on.” She urged him. It was all clicking into place now; why he had been so hesitant last night, why he was surprised about her coming over, staying over, his question last night and why he had been searching her eyes all the time.

“In the morning, I just snapped at you. And today.”

“Yeah, because I was pushing you. I understand, Aden. I’d rather you wouldn’t, but that’s life. At least you’re not just bottling it all inside or taking it out another way.” Belle added, both knowing what she meant by ‘another’ way.

“But I don’t want you to think that you have to be careful with you do or say around me. Like I would just… get unhinged about something little.” Aden explained, his tone almost begging her to deny everything he said.

“Aden, when was the last time that I watched what I said to you?” She said pointedly. “If I’m thinking something, you know that I will say it.”

“I guess…” He trailed off. It made sense to him, he knew that it was true; if Belle wanted to say something, she would just say it. But something still didn’t sit right with him. “Belle?”

“Yeah?”

“Have I ever made you feel like you had to do something?” Belle didn’t reply so he continued. “Like something you didn’t want to do? Or that you think I made you do?”

“No, course not.” She finally answered, sounded distracted. “Aden, where’s all this coming from? I thought that we were ok.”

“We are.”

“No, we’re not. Not if you’re asking these questions.” Belle countered. “Why are you doubting us?”

“I’m not!” Aden said snappily. “I just felt bad after everything that I did and put you through. This is my mess to deal with, and I don’t want you to-”

“Wait, what did you just say?” Belle stopped him, his words sounding somewhat familiar.

“About what?”

“Your ‘mess’?” She didn’t know how she hadn’t made the connection before. It was what they had been talking about before Aden has asked about her being scared of him. How had she been so slow? Why did she not put 2 and 2 together right then? “I can’t believe him!”

“Belle-”

“Is this what that chat with Drew was about?”

“Belle-” His tone was now pleading, but she was so furious now that she couldn’t just sit and listen.

“No, I don’t- I can’t believe that he would say something like that! I can’t believe that you would listen to him!” She practically hissed at him before dropping her voice to speak deliberately. “It’s not true. Whatever he said, Aden, whatever he said that I felt or thought or did, it’s not true.”

“What?” Aden was confused one now.

“If he said that I was scared of you, or that you’re dragging me into your ‘mess’ or that I don’t need you, that’s him twisting everything that he knows.” Belle couldn’t understand why Drew would have done something like this. It was clear to everyone that Drew didn’t like Aden, but he had never been so confrontational about it. He would just express whatever he thought about him to her, who would just brush it aside without a second thought.

“How does he know that stuff?” Aden asked suddenly. “Especially about my dad. Did you tell him?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say anything about that yesterday-”

“So you spoke to him about me yesterday?” He said in shock.

“Yes, but it wasn’t like that.” Belle knew what he was thinking. “I never told him that stuff. I said that I was worried about you and scared for you and that I wish there was more I could do to help.”

“What else did you say?” His words were stiff, just like his hand as he pulled it out of her grip.

“Nothing. I told him to shut up about it.” She replied honestly.

“So you didn’t say anything else?”

“I don’t think so…” Belle thought about it before shaking her head. “Why? What else did he say?”

“Just something about, uh-” Aden’s body relaxed a bit and a wave of guilt came across him for thinking that she would have said all of this to Drew along with unloading all of it on her.

“About…?” She prompted as his thoughts ran awry.

“About using you do my dirty work for me?” He ended the statement as a question as he was still bewildered with it. It hadn’t been playing on his mind before now.

“What’s that mean?”

“I dunno.” Belle racked her brain about what Drew could have meant about that. She went over their conversation from yesterday, remembering how he finally left it alone after she told him to back off. They didn’t talk after that.

He left abruptly… to see Ric, she thought to herself. She tried to think about what was going on when he had told her that and all she could think of was her putting her bracelet on. And that’s when it hit her.

“Oh, no.” Belle gasped, her hand automatically clutching her wrist where she had tried to hide the stamp. After all of the effort she had put into trying to hide it from Irene and everyone else, she had stupidly forgotten about it when putting her bracelet back on, letting it show in full view to Drew, who would obviously know what it was.

“What?” Aden asked worriedly, but her eyes were focused on something that he couldn’t see, and he guessed that she couldn’t either. Aden went to grab her hand. Only to pause when he saw how they were positioned. He remembered back to Saturday and him trying to keep his own wrist away from her.

Slowly, it all made sense. Drew going off at him yesterday, him thinking that Aden had made her do his dirty work, Belle having something to tell him, her nervousness and slight anxiety and guilt from that morning.

“No.” His voice was so low and raw that it made Belle’s eyes flicker to his. It was clear that he had made the right conclusion. Her eyes watered at the look of hurt and anger in his eyes. “Tell me you didn’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

---

Another slightly long chapter so that I can end it at the best timing...

Hope you enjoyed it!

xoxo

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