** IN PROGRESS ** Princess No Name (Han Seoul-Oh x Fast & Furious)

Chapter 4: "It's safe to come back to Los Angeles."

Over the next few days, Dom and the others came up with a plan to take out the rest of the security team that was looking for Elli. They didn't want her staying at the safehouse alone in case they turned up looking for her, so I volunteered to stay back with her. I wasn't really in the mood to drive across the country on a manhunt or to kill anyone today.

She wanted to take a shower, so I showed her where the towels were and which bottles were the shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Ellie said the ones we had were labeled differently than the ones her father provided for her. She found the razors, shaving cream and a hairbrush, and once I made sure she had everything else she needed, I left her alone and gave her privacy. I could tell she was still a tad uneasy, so I didn't want to hover and make it worse.

We talked a lot as she started to open up more, and it was mostly at night after the others had gone to sleep. After she told me she picked out a name, she also told me her favorite color was yellow like the sun, her favorite food was potatoes because that was one of the only vegetables she'd ever eaten, and her favorite animal was a dog because there was a homeless one who used to hide in the sheds behind the castle. She snuck out to feed him whenever she could, and named him Romeo after one of the books in her father's library she had limited access to, Romeo and Juliet. It wasn't really much of anything to know about her, but at least I knew more than just her name.

While I was watching a tv show in a language I didn't understand, I heard the bathroom door open from down the hall. Seconds later, she appeared in the doorway holding two towels. "Where should I put these? There was no rack to hang them on."

"Oh, there's a bin in the hall closet I showed you earlier. You can put them in there," I said as she nodded and disappeared down the hallway only to return again. "Feel better?"

"Much better," She said as she took a seat in the chair next to the couch I was sitting on. I understood her not wanting to get too close to any of us, so I didn't move closer or offer her to sit next to me. "Where are the others? They've been gone for almost the entire day."

"Remember the security team you told Dom would be coming for you?" I jogged her memory as she nodded slowly. "Tej, the one with the afro," I smiled as she laughed, "He's the one who's good with technology. He tracked them down. He and the others went to get rid of them."

She sat with a straight face as she listened to me talk, playing with a piece of her damp hair for a few seconds before looking back up at me. "Does that mean you are taking me back with you to...Los Angeles?"

I hesitantly nodded as I watched her play with her fingers in her lap. She was trying to make sense of everything that had happened, and I didn't blame her. It was a lot for one person to handle, and she seemed to be putting on a pretty good front.

"Yes," Which made her break eye contact with me again. "Once the news gets out that your dad was murdered, people are gonna be looking for you. Those people...they won't want to keep you safe. They'll want your money. Or you."

"What is your name?" She asked, which totally caught me off guard. "I told you the name I picked out for myself, but I never asked you for yours."

I noticed that while we were talking, she had become more relaxed. She wasn't sitting up straight and on the edge of the chair, she had actually leaned back into it and rested her hands in her lap and not clasped together. I didn't want to read too much into it, but she was definitely starting to come around more and out of her shell, at least around me.

"Han."

"And what about the others? The girls and the one who leads the team."

"The girls' names are Lety and Mia. Mia is Dom's sister. He's the one who leads the team. He's married to Lety. Then there's Tej and Roman, and Brian. Brian is basically Dom's right hand man. I guess you could call him the assistant leader."

She laughed at that, and I couldn't tell if that was good or bad. But I wanted to try and keep her talking. I wanted her to know she could trust me.

"What about you? How many sisters do you have?" I took the risk of asking that question. It was pretty risky, and probably a sensitive subject, understandably so.

"Seven," Ellie answered hesitantly. "My father wanted all boys so that he would have a strong bloodline for the throne. She had two boys, and one of them died at birth. The one that survived lived upstairs with my mother and father. His name was Milos. My father kept my sisters and I, once we were old enough to talk and walk, down in the dungeon. There was little sunlight, and the door always stayed locked, but my father eventually let me out of there because I kept escaping."

"Is that when you started helping design the mines and traps to help secure the castle?" I asked, knowing this conversation would more than likely stay between us. She needed at least one person right now she could trust.

She nodded slowly, picking at the fabric on the couch. "Yes. I think around that time, I might have been a teenager. Maybe 13 or 14, because I was in what my mom called puberty. She said it happens around that age."

"Did she ever tell you how old you are?" I asked, trying not to pry into her life. I wanted to be patient with her, but if she was going to come back to Los Angeles and probably be staying with me, I wanted to try and get to know her better. "If you think you're around twenty..."

"No. My father didn't let her," She said as she kept playing with the fabric on the couch. "I think I'm around 20. Maybe 21 or 22. I think that makes me an adult."

"You're considered a legal adult at 18 years old in the United States. At 16, you can get a driver's license, and at 21, you can drink alcohol," I said as we both laughed. "Probably a lot different than it is over here."

"You know, before you all rescued me, I have never been in a car," She admitted as what looked like a faint blush rose to her cheeks. "I wouldn't even know how to drive one."

A small smile formed at the corner of my mouth when she said the word 'rescued,' It meant we had come a long way from just a few short days ago when she said that we had kidnapped her. It meant she trusted us. Me, anyway.

"Are you hungry?" I asked as I stood up, leaving the tv remote on the coffee table in case she wanted to watch something else. "I was gonna make something for myself, but I can make something for both of us."

She nodded and moved, her whole body facing the tv now. As I pulled stuff out of the fridge to make sandwiches for the both of us, I studied her face in the glow of the tv. It was getting pretty late into the night and the sun had long set, but we were both wide awake.

We had stuff in the fridge for turkey and cheese sandwiches, and I found a bag of chips on the counter. I put our food on plates and grabbed two cans of soda from the fridge before making my way back over to the couch to hand her the plate of food. She said a quiet thank you before taking it and turning back to the tv.

We ate in silence, but it wasn't an awkward silence. It was just two people enjoying the other's company. She was still getting used to us and all of this newfound freedom she had, so I didn't press her much when she was quiet. It was a lot to take in and certainly a lot to handle, and from what I could see, she was handling it well.

Shortly after midnight, the front door swung open, and in came Dom and the others. Ellie stood up from the couch and stayed where she was, keeping an eye on Dom as he made his way over to where we were sitting.

"You're all clear to go, kid. It's safe to come back to Los Angeles."