The Fallen Angels

CHAPTER 18 (Vaughn)

Vaughn sat on the couch with an arm over the spine talking to Lennox and Titus who were a little nervous when Danica descended the last step.

Vaughn turned his head and stood up when he saw her. "Hey baby." He walked to her with every intention of hugging her. Danica put her hands up and stopped him from touching what was no longer his and in retrospect had never been his.

"Not your baby, Vaughn. I'm glad you're home safe." She kept her voice even trying not to show any emotion.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow in question. He knew he had messed up leaving her. He had needed to get his head straight. Shit had happened way too fast with her, and he had freaked out thinking that she could be pregnant.

"Look, we need to talk, baby. I have to tell you—"

"That you slept with Nicole after leaving me because you thought I could be pregnant? It's all good, Vaughn. There's no baby and nothing between us. I moved on and so should you."

Falcon remained seated on the steps of the second floor. He listened and stayed out of sight. He wasn't spying per say, but he did want to gage Danica's reaction and so far, so good.

Vaughn tried to touch her, and Danica's hand flew and hit him across the face, hard.

"Fuck! What the hell was that for!" he growled, making Danica take two steps back and Lennox and Titus shoot to their feet just in case all hell broke loose.

Vaughn wasn't one to hit a woman, but he was not the Vaughn she had thought he was. At the moment, anything was possible.

"I freaked out, okay! I needed time to wrap my head around the fact that you could be pregnant. It's not easy being with you, Dani! You have so much shit going on and you freak out all the time and the last time scared the shit out of me. I care about you, baby I do but it surpasses me. I don't know when you'll have an episode or when you won't, and your fucking night terrors are fucking exhausting. They never stop, and I don't know what to do. It's too much, Dani. It's too damn hard being with you."

So, there it was. The cat was finally out of the bag. She was too hard to be with. That was the answer that she had been looking for. That was the reason they all went running for the hills.

Danica took in a deep breath refusing to cry. She would not cry in front of Vaughn. She knew that she was not easy to be with because of all the trauma that she had gone through and the repercussions it had left her with, but she didn't deserve to be treated so callously. She didn't deserve to be tossed aside like trash once they were done with her. Danica opened her mouth to speak but a deep voice spoke out instead that made her body tingle and her skin heat up. Strong hands settled on her shoulders, and she visibly relaxed the moment that Falcon touched her.

"It's true that the fucking night terrors are exhausting," he said to Vaughn. He tightened his grip on her as she tried to move away. She was going to stay there and listen to everything he had to say.

Vaughn looked at Falcon then at Danica. "You moved on quick, didn't you, baby?" His voice held reproach.

"Fuck you Vaughn. She waited for you and moved on when she realized the fucking asshole you are. She worried about you while you were fucking around on her." Falcon pulled Danica against his body. "And yeah man, everything you said is true. It's not easy being with Dani. She is fucking frustrating and hardheaded and so damn loyal it makes your chest ache when you're away from her. Her night terrors are exhausting...on her and yet she manages to make it seem like they're no big deal and those shitty episodes, damn they're scary." He looked Vaughn straight in the eye while his grip on her shoulders tightened keeping her still and against his body.