[five]

"Few hours in prison," Elijah eyed the three of them with amusement, "and you joined a gang?"

Finding him had been simple, it was only a ten-minute walk from where they were, but what Indiana found difficult was restraining herself from grabbing his beer glass and shoving it down his throat. When she saw him, he was sat amongst a group of other drunk travellers. Elijah would have greeted her with welcome arms, but by the way she grabbed his arm and dragged him away, he knew that she was feeling anything but welcoming.

"You're drunk?" She asked ignoring his question, her nose scrunched up in disgust.

"You're in a gang?" He mocked her expression, trying to lighten the mood.

It didn't work.

Elijah noticed how her hands were clenched into a fist, he knew that she was holding onto the last bit of restraint, but he couldn't resist teasing her.

"Where's my phone?"

"Well," he smiled warily while her hands tightened, "it broke."

"What?"

He dug out her phone from his pocket, the screen was smashed, and the apple logo kept flickering. There were a few questionable dents, but the most disturbing part was, that it was soaked in, what she could only assume was, beer.

Her aunt had gifted her this phone for her eighteenth birthday.

Indiana snatched it off him but before she could scream, he rushed passed her, back to his group of new drunk friends. They cheered when he walked over and he quickly drank a whole pint, this only infuriated her more.

Taking a deep breath, she wasn't sure if she was calming herself down or hyping herself up.

Just as she was about to walk over to grab him by the shirt, she was stopped short by her group of three walking cutting past her, with beer bottles in either hands.

"Please," Elijah sent Indiana a sickly-sweet smile, "introduce me to your friends."

Indiana ignored him as she sat on the bar stool opposite him, the three of them had already settled in their seats with the big guy besides Elijah, his girlfriend by his side, at the end of the table and the young girl next to Indiana.

"I'm Coren," the big guy offered trying to break the awkward silence.

"Nice name," he smiled, ignoring Indiana's glare, "I'm Elijah."

"Adrianna," the other girl smiled, "but everyone calls me Adri."

Elijah nodded with a smile, taking note of how Coren's tattooed covered arms wrapped around her shoulders. It was a clear flashing, red sign for him to stay clear. His eyes wondered next to the young girl who watched him with a keenness that he couldn't quite understand.

"And you?"

"Celeste," she replied with a toothy smile.

He smiled taking another sip of beer, the group of travellers he was hanging out with before had slowly started to leave, he nodded as they waved bye. Elijah felt slightly relieved they were going, he needed a break from them, he was starting to feel sick of alcohol.

"You're really her," Celeste eyes flicked to Indiana, "husband?"

Indiana had been half listening, her focus was on her phone, trying see if resetting it would somehow fix it, it didn't but when she heard the young girl reply, she dropped her phone. Not only had Celeste replied a little too sweetly but she spoke English. All day the young girl had been replying to her in French causing Indiana to believe she didn't understand her, she was pretty sure the girl said a few insults her way.

"You can speak English?"

"I'm not illiterate," she snapped while taking a sip of her drink.

"Are you even allowed to drink?"

"Are you even my mother?"

"It's a soft drink," Coren reassured, he raised an eyebrow at the Celeste.

The girl rolled her eyes and took another sip of her drink. Indiana went to go pick up her phone but noticed Elijah stare up at her. He had his head resting on one hand while the other drew circles on his glass, but his eyes sparked with mischief.

It made Indiana feel uncomfortable.

"What?"

"You told them about me," his hand moved from the glass to his chest, as if he was feeing sentimental, "that's so cute."

Indiana wasn't sure how to react, all she could do was stare at him wondering if he found everything as a joke. She noticed the corner of his mouth turned up, it seemed as if he was three seconds away from bursting out with laughter.

This whole situation was far from funny.

Just a few hours ago she was in prison and now the only connection of trying to get a hold of her aunt was lying on the table, battling to stay on.

"Did you even call my aunt?"

That sobered him up. He suddenly seemed fixated with his drink, the smile had completely been rubbed of his face as he started to cough in the silence. She nodded slowly, grabbed her broken phone off the table and got up to leave.

Indiana didn't need to hear the answer, she already knew.

"You're an arsehole," she muttered before she walked away.

He called her name a few times, but it only made her more determined to get away from him, she knew turning back would just create more problems. Walking past a window by the exit, her eyes caught the flickering lights of a street lamp, that's when she noticed the two cars parked badly outside. One wheel was on the curb and the other completely blocked exit. She pushed the window open and tired to get a better look. The colour drained from her face when she saw the all too familiar blue and red sirens, and the prints on the door.

"Crap," she cursed under her breathe.

They were police cars and the worse part was that they were empty.

Turning around, she ignored Elijah waving at her to come back and her eyes narrowed on something behind him. There were three figures, shoving their way past the crowd, she noticed how they gestured and pointed at an oblivious Elijah, who so happened to be having a lovely time bonding with his new friends.

It only took half a second for Indiana to react.

Elijah watched her as she ran towards him, it was almost as if everything had slowed down for him, everyone else became white noise. Tilting his head to the side, he admired the way her red curls had started to fall out of her bun, it was barely holding on.

He liked it.

His smile wavered when she jumped onto the table. The beer bottles rolled off, as she swung her arm back and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, leaving his hands on the table and held his breath in anticipation of the blow.

It never came.

The officer swore behind him while clutching his nose.

"Run!"

Everything turned to chaos from there.

Indiana grabbed a broken beer bottle from the table and threw it at another officer who was charging towards them, it hit his hand causing him to drop the gun. Before she even could smile at the small victory, she felt the hand of the third officer on her arm but Coren quickly wrapped his arm around him, forcing his hands off her. She watched him as he threw the officer over several tables as if he was a rag doll. The officer hit the wall causing a load of bottles to fall from behind the counter, she heard him groan.

All she could do was blink, it seemed like a scene from a marvel movie.

"You're welcome."

His smile was short lived when the third officer wrapped his arms around Coren's neck but before Indiana could react, Elijah ran up and smashed a bottle on his head. The officers grip loosens, allowing Coren the advantage to swing him next to the other knocked out officer.

"No," Elijah smirked, "you're welcome."

Indiana internally cringed at the line, it was cheesy, and the worse part was when they paired it with a bro fist. It seemed to be the start of a beautiful relationship, but they didn't have time to admire it. She quickly jumped off the table, grabbing a beer bottle and hitting the officer, who she had punched before. Indiana could have sworn she him itching for his gun, but the hit knocked him out cold.

"Nice," Adri nodded in appreciation.

Even Celeste, who was still sat on her bar stool, looked at the mess with a small smile.

"Let's go," Indiana muttered while wiping bits of shattered glass off her dress.

Elijah was starting to feel that they might have overstayed their welcome, with how the pub owner was staring at them with a glare and many of the customers had already ran out in fear. He could feel the tension and was sure that another fight was going to break out.

"We should," Coren agreed, quickly catching up with the girls.

As Elijah walked out, he grabbed the unopen Jack Daniels that had somehow managed survive and he picked up the pieces of Indiana's broken phone off the floor.

"Thanks," he said over his shoulder to the barman, even had the nerve to wink.

They ran back to the safe house, feeling unsettled when they heard police sirens blaring. It didn't seem to be close by, but they didn't want to risk the chance of getting caught. All the way, Indiana noted how Elijah didn't crack any stupid jokes. Even when they made it, he didn't make a single comment on the bullet holes on the counter or how the windows in the lounge had wooden panels nailed to the wall.

Instead, he sat on the sofa and took a swig of his drink, even kicking his feet up onto the table.

Coren and Adri hadn't followed them in, instead they chose to scan the area to make sure there wasn't anyone that looked like police around while Celeste was downstairs in the kitchen making something to eat.

Indiana crossed her arms and pulled a chair from the dining table in the corner, she sat in front of him causing him to move his feet off the table. He smiled up at her, she noted how his eyebrow raised slightly.

Something wasn't right.

The moment they managed to get out of prison without so much as a papercut, she knew something wasn't right. Her suspicious were confirmed when she noticed how the officer's eyes were just set on Elijah, perhaps she was growing paranoid because of the lack of sleep but she doubted that.

"They were after you," it wasn't a question.

He took another sip but this time he prolonged it, she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. Back in the hotel when she had been caught, she remembered how his name slipped out in the questioning. She had said it absentmindedly, wanting to quickly explain the situation and she didn't give a second thought. In all honesty, she didn't think they listened to her, let alone understood her, all their replies were in french and rather short.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his hands tightened around the bottle.

"Elijah," she uncrossed her arms and leaned forward slightly, "you know what I mean."

Another long sip.

"I'm not sure," he learned into her, setting the bottle down on the table, and whispered, "I do."

"I do," she smiled up at him.

His hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her to him. She bit her lips trying to hold back her smile as her hands intertwined around his neck.

"You may kiss the bride."

"Pasta?" Celeste interrupted with gloved covered hands holding a steaming casserole dish.

Indiana quickly shot back to her seat with her complexion flushed, while Elijah stared at her with an amused expression. It was as if he knew exactly what she had been thinking and that made her blush even more.

"Absolutely," he smiled, shooting up to his feet.

Indiana, still not fully recovered, ignored his extended hand and quickly moved her seat back to the dining table. She refused to meet his eyes when he purposely sat opposite her, she didn't even say thank him when he gave her a plate full of pasta bolognaise or join the conversation between them. Instead she sat quietly, her eyes would occasionally glance at her ring and flicker to his.

It unsettled her how hits from the lights made their rings sparkle.

She wasn't sure what was real and fake anymore but when she finally looked up at him, it was as if he was waiting for it. He sent her a smirk paired with a wink, it was as if there was an imaginary scoreboard and he had somehow managed to make it to one hundred points and Indiana was stuck on zero. No doubt, he managed to cheat his way up there, she could see it in his eyes. That wasn't the problem, she wondered if this was his true self or some disguise.

"What even are you?" She asked, cutting into Celeste story on what inspired her to cook.

"Excuse me?" He didn't seem surprised by her question, as if he was waiting for this.

"You're eating pasta."

"Yes," he nodded slowly, gratefully taking another potion of pasta that Celeste offered.

"And we're stuck here," she watched him carefully, "don't you care?"

"Care about what?"

There was a brief pause where Indiana calmly set down her fork on her plate and drank a sip of water. She ignored how Celeste watched her with amusement, as if she was the crazy one.

"That we're married," she searched his face, looking for some sort of worry line, "that the police are after us."

Mimicking her, he set down his fork and used a napkin to wipe of bits of sauce on the corner of his lips. He held her gaze as he drank his water, the air had become thick with tension, she was finding it harder to breathe.

"The sauce is amazing."

Indiana wasn't even surprised.

She didn't reply but instead took her half-finished plate and glass of water with her as she walked out of the room. It was as if there was this brick wall between reality and him, she wondered how he survived this long as she walked downstairs. On the way down, she used her elbow to flip the switch to turn the light on, but the bulb decided to burst. It shattered everywhere, most of it getting tangled into her hair.

"Damn it," she cursed under her breathe, trying to shake the glass out of her curls.

Elijah was just about to be offered his third serving but when he heard the shot downstairs, he dropped his plate and ran out the room. Within a matter of minutes, he was down the stairs, pushed her to the wall and used his body to shield her. It was just like how they were back in the hospital, his breath sent tingled down her spine. Indiana arched her neck to stare up at him, the only thing keeping them apart was the plate.

"What are you doing?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"I heard gunshot," he whispered, scanning the room, there was nothing there.

"The lightbulb popped," she explained but he didn't immediately move away. Instead he lightly picked her hair and inspected the glass.

"I like your hair," he watched her smile, taking a sip of wine.

"My mum had the same hair," she offered the bottle and he took it.

They sat on the bed, opposite each other, with her feet on top of his sharing a half empty wine bottle. He smiled at her, but it wasn't the same one as all the others. It wasn't giddy or sly, it was lazy and cute. For the first time since she had met him, he looked relaxed.

"I like your smile."

"What happened?" Celeste asked from the top of the stairs.

Elijah slowly took a step back and Indiana eyed him, unsure as to what to make of his expression. It wasn't his usual arrogant nor was it the one where he was about to tease it, it was different.

"You okay?"

"The lightbulb popped," he replied, ignoring her.

Indiana sighed, she made a mental note to give up on trying to understand him, he was starting to give her a headache. Blindly, she walked the rest of the way to the kitchen and pointedly avoided turning the light on, worried that another would burst.

"Leave it in the sink," he leaned against the doorframe, watching her binning the pasta and fumble with the tap on the sink.

"It's fine."

"I'll do it later."

It seemed like a peace offering.

"Elijah," Celeste called from the hallway, "can you help me change the lightbulb?"

"Yeah," he replied, but made no move to leave.

Instead he walked over to her and picked a fairly big size piece of glass out of her hair. She turned around, ready to tell him to back off but was taken back at close he was. She could even see the small grey flakes in his eyes, it reminded her of winter. He leaned in, she looked away as he touched her hair, admiring it.

"I still like your hair."

Indiana wasn't sure what game he was playing, and she didn't care to find out. Putting her hands on his chest, she pushed him, hoping to create some sort of distance. He shook his head, putting his on the counter, either side of her and leaned in.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't reply, instead he tilted his head to the side with an expression that was mixture of mischief and amusement.

"You have three seconds," she warned but he only smiled.

"Or what?"

Indiana forced a tight-lipped smile as she kneed him in the groin.

He doubled over and cursed, it seemed to be a mixture of French and English.

"I did warn you."

She watched as he slowly sat down, his back against the wall and his hand clutching his manhood. For the first time since being here, Indiana felt the slightest bit of happiness as she watched him close to crying.

"Coren!"

They both heard Celeste scream, Indiana was the first to jump over Elijah and out of the kitchen. She ran up and helped Celeste drag a battered Coren into the shop. His entire face was covered in blood while his clothes were ripped apart. They set him down on a counter top, that must have been used for customer dining back when the store was opened. Slowly, he sat himself with a groan, but his arm hung lifelessly beside him, Indiana was sure that it was broken.

"What happened?" Elijah asked from behind her, seeming to have recovered.

"They got her," he whimpered, a tear rolling down his bruised cheek.

Indiana and Elijah shared a confused look.

It was strange to watch a him cry, he was a six-foot giant, with tattoos not only covering his arms but his neck too. The fact that he was crying was so unlike him, it was heart breaking.

"Where's Adri?"

Celeste was met with silence.

Coren refused to look away from the palms of hands, Indiana winced when she noticed the deep cuts on his hand and his finger nails seemed to be ripped off. Just as she was about to ask to look at them, Celeste slammed one hand on the table while the other grabbed him by the neck. She ignored the drops of blood falling onto her and forced him to look at her.

"Where's my sister?"

[therapy by sophiya]

footnote 310719:

a massive thank you for 10,000 reads? wow, thank you, thank you, thank you

feedback is always welcome and appreciated