Twenty Five.

Chapter eleven

I felt bad about the cliff hanger so here ya go ;)

Lying on the dusty, grimy floor amongst empty crushed up cardboard boxes and wrappers of some kind, huddled up in the corner of the room, there she was. Ropes were tied tightly around her feet and arms and a few around her waist, so tightly that there was red blisters around her wrists and ankles. She had a gag tied around her mouth, very tightly and the bruises from the incident at the pub had now been joined by several more.

As soon as Ellington flicked on the light she huddled into the corner, afraid of who it was and what they wanted.

"Relax, it's me...Ellington.... I'm not gonna hurt you..." He spoke softly, not wanting to scare her. Her pale, tired face that was resting on its side against the wall immediately shot up after hearing his name and the colour flooded back to her eyes. She squealed loudly through the gag on her mouth, trying to get him to help her.

He quickly caught on and found some pliers on the side, cutting through the rope that tied her arms and feet, freeing her. He untied and pulled the gag away from her mouth. He expected that it would take a while for her to trust him and come around to liking him again but instead she just attacked him in a huge hug. He wrapped his arms around her thin body, feeling her ribs sticking out around his arms.

"He wanted to do things with me and i refused, so, so he tied me up and left me here and came back to beat me and give me a few drops of water and it was horrible. I can't do this anymore. I just want to be with you and no one else, except joey.." She rambled to him, bursting into tears and soaking his shirt. He rubbed her back, reassuringly and whispered in her ear. "Then let's go."

She pulled away from the hug, drying her eyes and looking at him in slight disbelief. "W-what?"

"You heard me. Let's go. There's a whole world of places, possibilities and adventures. Let's go out and explore."

The biggest smile he had ever seen spread across her face. "Are you serious?"

"Heck yeah i'm serious."

The two of them were cut off by the sound of a door slamming.

"Hey Rydel. I know that pretty boy from the diner is here. You both better start running." The voice echoed through the house.

"Crap, it's Darren." Rydel babbled, looking at him. "You have to go. Now. I'll take the hit."

"No. You won't survive. your thin and weak." Ellington said sternly. He looked around the room and saw a small high up window. He pointed to it and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Climb out there as fast as you can. Just do it."

Rydel didn't question it, climbing onto one of the boxes by the window. Ellington sprinted to the top of the stairs and barred the door shut, hopefully giving them enough time to escape. He ran down to find she was almost out of the window. He quickly climbed on the box as Darren began to try and force the door open. The splitting sound of wood echoed through the walls of the basement as the door snapped in half.

Ellington quickly wiggled through the window and threw the car keys to Rydel who ran and got in, him closely following. Seconds later, they drove off leaving all the stress and worries behind.

Joey giggled in the backseat, still popping the bubble wrap. Rydel turned to Ellington.

"Where to now?"

"Anywhere you want."

*****

"This is your captain speaking. The flight is on course to land in exactly twenty minutes, thank you for flying with us. Over and out."

Ellington nudged Rydel gently. Her head lay on his shoulder, looking pale, bruised and lifeless to some extent but her cheeky sleepy smile distracted that.

"Rydel." He whispered, taking the blanket off her lap. "Rydel, wake up."

Rydel sat up, rubbing her toys . "Have we landed yet?" She mumbled, yawning cutely and looking at him.

"Not yet, twenty more minutes."

"I can't believe we're really doing this." She beamed, excitedly.

"Me either, but we are."

She pecked his lips, looking over at joey who sat in his chair playing with his toys. Joey looked up at them and giggled contagiously.

"Momma!" He squealed, pointing at Rydel and then silence fell over the three of them. Joey's first word was momma.

Ellington gulped and Rydel's jaw dropped. She saw the tears in his eyes.

"Ellington i am so sorry i really am, i don't know why he would say that, i know that's not a great first word for him it should have been dadda but it wasn't and please don't be mad at me i know im not his mom and im sure i never will be..." Rydel babbled, her voice cracking. Ellington cut her off by kissing her.

He looked into her eyes. "It's okay, really. Honestly, if i want someone to be his mom, i want it to be you....if and when the time is right of course."

Rydel smiled widely. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, i'm sure. By the way, i opened my birthday present. It was the greatest thing i have ever received."

"I'm so glad you liked it."

"It was so sentimental and sweet and i never knew you kept all that stuff."

Rydel's cheeks turned a dark shade of red. "I gave you the wrong one, i think. Did it have my diary in?"

He nodded.

"I bought you a funny T-shirt. That was all my personal stuff, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry." He put his hand on her leg. "I much rather prefer that. It was the cutest thing ever. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Momma!" Joey chirped, clapping his hands. The two of them, looked at him and giggled. Joey grabbed a packet of peanuts that he had been playing with and pulled on it. It exploded sending peanuts flying everywhere. He just looked up at Rydel and Ellington and said "momma."

The plane began to descend and the three of them held hands, all wondering what the future had in store and thinking about the adventures that lay ahead.

"One more thing, Rydel?"

"Yeah?"

"You're on diaper duty."

"I'm honoured, i really am."

"oh momma."

This is NOT the end of my fanfic, this is the end of part one. If you want me to start writing part two now then I need you to leave me as many comments as possible. Thank you for reading. :)