Forever and a Day

Pull it Together

It didn't take me very long to fall asleep. I knew the boys were up talking about tomorrow's plans, which I had ruined by being stubborn. No. That was wrong. While I did have a role to play in the undoing of the family camping trip, it had been Mr. Blackbourne and his hard headed ways that had truly unfurled the plans.

My night was restless, and on more than one occasion I woke up to bad dreams. I was miserable, yet all I wanted to do was see if Mr. Blackbourne was okay. Each time I woke up, one of the boys was beside me, comforting me and lulling me back to sleep. I woke a total of five times before I decided that I would start my day, at five am.

This time it was Gabriel snuggled into my back, and Nathan who was in front of me. I untangled myself from them, being sure not to disrupt their sleep any more than I probably already had and then I took a quick shower. The shower itself didn't scare me, not anymore. But the memories still flashed every now and then, and I don't think I'd ever be completely comfortable in a shower again.

It's like watching a scary movie about something, and then the paranoia that that would happen to you afterwards, every time you had to see or deal with the object. I finished washing my hair, and shut off the water, stepping out and wrapping a fluffy cream colored towel around my body.

Gabriel must have gotten up, because he had layed out several outfits for me to choose from. I picked the one in the middle. It was a simple pair of black leggings and a button down shirt that would fall past my butt. The material of the shirt was cool and soft, something about it had my nerves soothed. I swallowed back the lump in my throat while I gazed into the big mirror in Victor's bathroom. My eyes had slight crescent moons under them, and I just looked ragged.

I turned away from the reflection, and pulled a brush out of a drawer I knew to be mine. As I untangled my hair I tried to make myself feel a little better by imagining all the fun we'd have on our camping trip. Three nights in tents, with campfires and a river, and endless possibilities.

A knock on the bathroom door made me drop the brush in startlement, and I bent down to pick it up as someone came into the bathroom.

"Pumpkin?" Sean asked as he shut the door behind himself, "how are you feeling?"

I looked over as he leaned up against the counter, watching me with worry filled eyes.

"I'm okay," I said.

And I was. I wasn't overly happy, but I also wasn't sad. I was somewhere in the middle. This little tiff between Owen and I would be resolved, eventually. There was nothing really to do about it other than wait it out. Sean gave me a small smile, which brought my attention up to his bruised eye.

"I'm sorry you got hurt," I said, putting the brush down and making my way over to him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

He squeezed me back in return, "Don't worry, if the nurses ask about it, I'll just tell them that my future wife got mad at me," he teased.

I gasped and looked up at him in horror, not wanting the nurses to think I was some abusive wench. I'd never be able to show my face in there again!

Sean rolled his eyes at me, "You're not a wench, love," he said. I blushed at the realization that I had been talking out loud.

Sean grinned and leaned down, pressing his lips against mine until my knees were weak, and all my worries had been washed away with the taste of his lips. When he did finally pull away, he gave a playfully loud kiss against my forehead before scooping me up, and throwing me over his shoulder.

"Breakfast time!" he called out cheerfully, his hand was on the back of my upper thigh, right under my butt. My only view was his nice rear end and the floor. I gave out a huff.

"Sean Green, you put me down this instance!" my voice failed to be threatening, because he just chuckled.

He didn't put me down until I was sitting at the big meeting table, that doubled as a dinning room table for right now. North and Luke were sitting on the couch watching the weather, and Gabriel was flipping through a magazine. The other's were off somewhere I couldn't see.

The boys watching the news hadn't noticed Sean dragging me around like a caveman, but Gabriel glanced up with a "morning Trouble," before looking down at him magazine. There was a pause, and then he looked up again, eyes bugging out of his head.

"What the fuck!?"

At this everyone jumped a little and looked in his direction, Luke sat forward, "Gabe, man are you alright? Is there a spider? Should I kill it?"

Gabriel shot him a glare before throwing down his magazine and looking at Sean, "This is your fault isn't it?" he said, practically growling.

Luke looked over at me, and his eyes nearly left his skull too, but something about it was fake, and I understood completely. Something had been done to me, and it was obviously just to get a reaction out of Gabriel. Sean must have done it while we were kissing.

I bit my lip and looked down at the table, when I did, a lock of ugly green hair fell into my peripheral vision, but just a lock. I panicked for a second, wondering how Sean, had dyed my hair, but I simply chocked back what looked like a sob, knowing that no dare Luke and Sean would pull against Gabriel would go so far as to actually dye my hair.

"He doesn't like it," I said, somehow managing to get my voice to break at the end, and then my shoulders shook a little.

I focused on thinking about sad things before I looked up at Gabriel, having to keep myself from smiling at the tear-blurred sight of him.

"You don't like it Meanie?" I blinked, and the tears gathered in my left eye cascaded down my cheek, giving me a clear view of Luke, who looked ready to burst with either shock, or laughter, I wasn't sure.

Gabriel swallowed, his adam's apple bobbing as he took in the situation.

"Trouble, goddam, fuck, shit, fuck," he groaned, shoving a hand into his hair with a grimace.

Luke apparently couldn't hold it in any longer, because he started howling with laughter. Sean ran his fingers through my hair, unclipping the fake hair and dropping them onto the table wordlessly. There was about six, really terrible looking colors, and I had to hand it to the boys. They sure did do a good prank.

Sean didn't even acknowledge Gabriel going off about how we were all shitheads, but he grinned at me and kissed my cheek, "French toast for the little lady?"