𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 | sweet pea

Chapter Twenty-Three

With her heart beating out of her chest, Adeline ran throughout the hallways of the hospital. When she reached her dad's room, she threw the door open and saw Will laughing with El.

"Dad." She whimpered, her bottom lip shaking. She quickly made it to his bedside and hugged him like he was about to disappear.

"Hey, kid." Will's voice cracked,"I'm not going anywhere." He gently caressed her hair and kissed the top of her head. They separated and wiped their tears away. When they looked to the side, they saw El with a hand over mouth as she tried to suppress her cries. Adeline lightly smiled at her mother figure and brought her into a hug. She rubbed her back and sat her back in her chair.

"We're fine, El." The younger girl reassured her.

Elliana let out a shaky laugh and shook her head,"You guys will be the death of me." Will grinned at her and kissed her hand. He directed his attention back to his daughter, who looked down. She knew what was coming and she didn't know if she was ready to explain what had happened to her. The silence became deafening and tears built up in her eyes before she let them fall. Sobs racked her body as she curled up in her seat. She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth. El quickly made her way to her and tried to calm her down. Her mother figure whispered nothing but sweet things in her ear.

As Will stared at them, he felt his own tears escape and guilt filled his chest. He blamed himself for the kidnapping of his daughter. He should have made her stayed home instead of going to the diner.

"D-dad, it's not your f-fault." Adeline hiccuped.

He looked at her in disbelief,"Adeline, how can you that say that?" He then let out a scoff,"I should have never let you go in the first place."

"No!" She yelled and got up from her seat,"If you're looking for someone to blame, it's Dorian!" Or me, she thought to herself.

El guided her back into her seat and said calmly,"Why don't we take a breather, yeah?" After a moment of silence, Will was the first to break it.

"What did he do to you?" He whispered. He almost didn't want to know, but Adeline looked like she was on the brink of a breakdown. She needed to get it off her chest. And she knew it too.

The girl swallowed the lump in her throat and finally began to tell them what he did. She explained to them how he locked her up in a dark room and how he would hurt her whenever she defied him. She showed them some of the cuts and bruises that were still healing on her body. Will and El both looked angered and held sadness in their eyes.

"Don't worry, I got a couple hits on him. I remembered what you taught me, El." Adeline grinned.

El looked at her proudly,"That's my girl." The girl then continued her story and when she mentioned Malachai, her parents looked at her in confusion.

"He didn't try anything?" Will asked with an eyebrow raise. Malachai, the leader of the Ghoulies, didn't do anything? He was glad he didn't, but it still puzzled him.

Adeline nodded,"Yeah, he said that he saw my picture and was interested? Then, we just talked."

"You.. just talked?" El said slowly. The girl nodded for the second time, but was as confused as them.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, sweetheart." Will said softly. He held onto her hand,"I don't know what I would do if I lost you too." He blinked his tears away as he remembered Delilah and Adrian. Adeline was the one who kept him going throughout all the years and without her, he would have been lost. Almost losing her caused him to go crazy and he was thankful that El was there to soothe him. She was also another person that Will really cared about and hoped that he wouldn't lose her too.

"It's okay, I'm here now." She sniffed and hugged him again. They stayed like that for a couple more minutes before they heard a knock on the door that broke them apart. The door opened and it revealed Sweet Pea and FP, who were both holding bags of food in their hands. The father and daughter duo eye's lightened up when they saw it, especially Will who was tired of hospital food.

"It's good to see you awake, Will." FP smiled and did a handshake-hug with her dad.

Sweet Pea held up the bags with a grin,"We bring forth food."

El chuckled and replied,"Good, 'cuz the food in here sucks ass."

"I make better food." Will stated while looking at her. She laughed and kissed him on the cheek, agreeing. He smirked then looked at his daughter's boyfriend, who began to shift under his stern gaze. "You've been taking care of my daughter?"

Adeline groaned,"Dad." She covered her red face with her hand.

"What? I'm just making sure that my daughter was being cared for!" He defended himself. "Do anything lately?" Adeline's head shot up as Sweet Pea went red.

"U-uh." He stuttered when he tried to form words. His brain brought him back to when they were kissing on the couch.

"We had a movie night!" Adeline saved him and distracted Will by telling him of their movie night. She told him she got a new plushie and that she named him Leroy, but he was only half-listening. He glared at the boy when he figured out what might have happened.

"I-I'm gonna go tell the others that you're okay." And with that, the tall boy raced out of the room while FP smirked at him and El laughed.

"Dad, why would you do that?" Adeline groaned and fell into the chair dramatically. She felt embarrassed as she bit into her burger.

"You know back in my day," FP started. Will whipped his head towards him so fast he almost got whiplash.

"Don't finish that sentence, FP." He warned. The Serpent winked at the younger girl and let out a chuckle.

Finally, silence filled the room and the only thing you could hear was the rustles of the wrappers from the food. But, Will had to break it yet again.

"So, did you-"

"No, dad!"

"Fine, jeez."

"Shut up and eat you food, Will." El shot at him with amusement in her eyes. He grumbled and did what she said.

Adeline smiled at them.

Everything was going to be alright now.

《 》
heyyy, sorry for all the mistakes! alsooo, I have a new story in my drafts and I hope that you guys will love it when I release it. it's a marauders era book ;))
STAY SAFE!