I woke up with a smile on my face, I'd been dreaming I was with my mom and Liam in our new house. I gasped as I realized that it was just a dream and sat up in the bed. Wait, bed? How did I get in bed? How did I get out of the woods? Was that also a dream? A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts.

"May I come in?" a gruff voice asked.

I stared at the door a little scared to answer. Where was I? How had I gotten here, was my mom and Liam here too? Were they hurt? When I didn't answer he slowly opened the door and walked in.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Ummm, I didn't say you could come in," I said shyly, and a bit annoyed.

He raised an eyebrow and smiled at me. My eyes widened in shock at his blue-green ocean eyes, matched with his midnight hair he was quite handsome. I blushed and looked away.

"Well, since this is my house, I assumed I could go wherever I wanted to, but maybe I'm wrong?" he questioned with a chuckle.

His house? I glanced around, better taking in my surroundings. It was definitely a bedroom, not a hospital like I'd expected.

My eyes came to rest in the middle of the room where he stood, "Are my mom and son here too?" I asked anxiously. He tilted his head to the side, curious.

"Aren't you concerned about how you got here?" He asked.

I shook my head, "No, not at the moment. I just want to know where they are and if they're okay."

He sighed and looked out the window, he almost seemed sad. I followed his gaze, it was dark outside.

"You were alone when I found you in the woods. I do have some questions about that though," there was a slight bit of command to his voice, like answering his questions wasn't optional.

I bit my lip trying to hold back my tears, "Are you sure I was alone?"

"Yes, I'm sure," he said apologetically.

Where were they? Did they die in the accident? Did they get lost searching for me? Or, were they still out there somewhere hurt? I had to convince myself Liam was with my mom, and wherever they were, they were okay. And I would find them. If I didn't, I'd go insane.

"Thanks for bringing me here. May I ask what your name is?" I asked.

He smiled softly at me before answering, "My name is Alec, and yours?"

"Elena," I said with a smile, he blinked a couple of times then looked away quickly.

I tilted my head confused and looked up at him, was he blushing? I quietly giggled to myself. He turned to look at me with a hint of blush still on his cheeks. He opened his mouth to say something but there was a knock at the door. He frowned and went to open it.

"Alp-" a small voice started but was quickly cut off.

"What do you want?" Alec growled at the unknown intruder.

"I-I just wanted to give this to the Lu—... I mean... her."

I slowly got up to try and figure out what was going on but the room started spinning. I patiently waited for the room to stop moving then walked to the door. Alec was blocking the way.

Since there was no way around him and I didn't have the energy or the strength to push him away from the door at that moment, I frowned and tapped him shyly on the shoulder, "Excuse me."

He looked back over his shoulder at me and blushed. Then he moved over slightly, just enough for me to see who was on the other side of the threshold.

"You said you were going to give me something?" I asked softly, seeing it was a young girl.

"Y-Yes," she said, glancing up at Alec hesitantly then back at me before offering the clothes in her hand, "Here, I thought you might want these."

I looked down and gasped seeing I was only in a huge t-shirt. I blushed deeply and quickly took the clothes, "T-thanks," I blushed even more when I stuttered.

I heard a sigh and looked over at Alec who was watching me. He pushed me gently into the room, then glanced back over his shoulder, "Thank you, now you may leave," he said.

The girl bowed and left quickly. He shut the door and looked at me with a frown.

"You aren't supposed to be out of bed."

"Well, I was curious. Why can't I be out of bed?" I raised an eyebrow.

He sighed and rolled his eyes before looking away. "You had a small head injury, but since I can tell you're not gonna do as you're told, you should probably get dressed." he said.

"I can't, with you in here," I said shyly. "By the way, why am I dressed like this? I know for sure I was wearing my normal clothes, not some stranger's shirt."

He growled aggressively almost like an animal, which caught me by surprise.

"I would never allow someone else to give you their clothes, that shirt is mine," he said.

"Do you want to know how it got on you?" He asked teasingly.

I gulped and turned red, partially from embarrassment and partially from anger at his suggestion, "That's very rude! You shouldn't be changing an unwilling lady's clothes, especially if that lady was unconscious! " I yelled.

He laughed, "Oh? You thought I was the one who dressed you? Well you are wrong it was the girl who gave you those clothes," he said with a cocky smile.

"Why did I need my clothes removed at all?" I asked, with a bit of bite in my voice because I was still slightly angry.

"I had to know where and how badly you were injured," he said, as if that should've been obvious, "And they were soaking wet, I couldn't let you catch pneumonia."

I stared at him surprised, then shook my head, "Fine, then will you leave so I can get dressed?" I asked quietly, feeling slightly embarrassed again.

He nodded and headed to the door, but he hesitated for a second and looked over at me as if he was debating something. He quickly came over and kissed my forehead before leaving.

I debated slapping him but instead I just stood there in shock at the contact. After a minute of confusion I quickly got dressed. My tummy rumbled and I walked towards the door to go look for a kitchen. Just as I was about to open the door it opened by itself, Alec peaked in smiling then opened it wider.

"Would you like to eat something then take a tour of my house?" He asked.

"Actually, I want to leave. I need to find my mom and Liam."

"We can't do that at the moment," he said and glanced toward the window behind me.

"Why not?" I said with a frown.

He smiled softly at my determination, "Well first off it's dark outside, and secondly we don't even know where to search."

I sighed then nodded, "Ok, fine. I'll take your offer, but as soon as it's daylight I'm going to look for them."

He smiled, "I believe you," then ever so slowly, like he was asking permission, he reached down and took my hand in his. I jumped as the sparks ran through my hand and up my body. I looked up to see if he had felt it too. He was just watching me with a soft look.

"Did you feel that?" I asked him, completely baffled.

He nodded then tugged my hand and led me towards the stairs, unfazed. I looked around at everything in awe, I'd never seen anything this big before.

"Wow, your house is beautiful," I said.

He laughed like he knew I'd think that. When we reached the kitchen there were a couple of people there chatting, but when they saw us they stopped and stared at us. It made me feel a little shy, so I tried to ignore them.

But it must've been obvious because Alec growled that animalistic growl again, "Don't you guys see you're scaring her? Stop staring," he said angrily.

Their eyes immediately went to the floor head's slightly bowed. I actually thought they might take off running at any minute.

"Sorry Alp-,"

"Just go!" he interrupted.

"Wait," I said. I don't know what came over me but I touched Alec's forearm softly, which seemed to instantly calm him.

I walked around him and spoke to our observers, "Hello." I said, a bit unsure of myself.

They looked up at me and smiled, "Hello, Lu-" they were cut off with a cough.

I looked up at the person who cut them off. I frowned slightly and rolled my eyes in annoyance. Talk about grumpy, I chuckled inwardly, then looked back at the group and smiled softly at them.

"May we join you guys?" They looked at me with surprise then looked at Alec confused.

I couldn't help but look at him too but his face was blank. He blinked a couple of times, like he'd been somewhere else then looked down at me with a smile. His eyes were full of emotions that I didn't understand at the moment, but I smiled back anyway. They looked pleased about something and nodded to each other with smiles on their faces.

"Of course you can join us, we were just making dinner," one of the females said, "but you don't have to ask."

I started to pull up a chair when I felt a tug on my hand, I looked up at Alec confused. His eyes danced with amusement. He pulled a chair out for me and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Thanks, but I could have done it myself."

He smirked at me, "I know but I was brought up to be a gentleman. So will you sit down please?"

I laughed at him, then took the seat. He sat in the one next to me. The lady who'd spoken earlier put plates in front of me and Alec.

"Thanks!" I said, smiling at her.

She nodded then left with the rest of the group. Before I could open my mouth to ask him questions, he started to speak.

"I assume you have some questions for me?"

" Ah um, yes I do. I was wondering how long I was out and how I got here," he said, before taking a bite of food.

"Well you've been out for a day and I found you in the forest so I brought you here. It's probably a good thing you slept that long. With all your bruises I'm not sure you would've been able to walk yesterday."

"A whole day," I frowned and looked down at my plate, poking at my food. I had to remind myself not to panic. It'll be okay, I will find them.

"Is that all the questions you have for me? If so may I ask you some questions too?"

I nodded, without looking up from my pathetic attempts at eating.

"Why were you alone in the middle of the forest? You also said you were looking for your mother and your son? Do you live around here?"

"To be honest I don't know how I got there, We were just moving here from California, the last thing I remember was talking to my mom about a strange sign I saw while she was driving, then a huge tree fell right in front of us."

"Where were y'all moving too?"

"Olympia, Washington? Wait where am I?" I asked, on the verge of panic. Why had I not thought to ask before?

He put his hand on top of mine as if to comfort me, "Not far from Olympia."

I sighed in relief, "Oh, okay," I said, then went back to eating my food.

"So tell me about you, I'd like to get to know you if that's okay? It's not like we can do much else right now."

"Where do you want me to start? What do you want to know?"

"I don't know? Start from the beginning. What was your childhood like?"

"Ummm a little chaotic," I said with a nervous giggle.

"What do you mean?"

I sighed, "It's a bit of a long story, but I guess I'll tell you. Like you said, it's not like there's anything better to do. So I came from a broken family. My mom was a drug addict, and my dad. Well, he didn't really exist. My mom left me on the doorsteps of a complete stranger," I paused to take a couple sips of my drink.

"Well that's really messed up," he said, apologetically.

"It was okay I guess. Thankfully, they weren't psychos. They were your typical parents who cherished every minute of the day," I took a bite of my food and avoided eye contact. I didn't want to catch a glimpse of the pity I knew was in his eyes.

"Still you were lucky."

"When Liam was born things went downhill, my dad died, my mom well let's just say she didn't take it well. Not long after that my birth mom called me and asked about trying to get to know me and Liam. I ended up letting her move in with us, I needed the help with Liam any way because I was in college to become a nurse. So that's basically my childhood." I said, with a sigh.

I couldn't help glancing up at him, but to my suprise there wasn't any pity. Actually he seemed proud, it kinda threw me a little.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" He asked.

"I don't know, the way you're looking at me duh," I blushed shyly, and giggled.

"I'm just thinking about how strong you are, even after all that."

I smiled. We sat there in comfortable silence after that, just quietly eating. When we finished, he took the plates and put them in the sink. Then he helped me out of my chair and we left the kitchen.

We walked around the house for a while and he showed me where everything was. I didn't really know why he was showing me, and I only half paid attention. I mostly just kept thinking about my mom and Liam, but it seemed kind of important to him. So I tried to at least smile and nod occasionally.

By the time we were done I was completely exhausted, which I think he knew because we were outside my room. That was when I realized that this was his room! Or at least I think it was, I don't recall him telling me another room was his.

"Umm, is this your room? Shouldn't I sleep somewhere else? A guest room or something?" I asked, slightly embarrassed.

He frowned at me, "What's wrong with my room?" He said, baffled.

"N-nothing, it's just umm...," I struggled to give a reason without coming off insulting.

He smirked knowingly, "Oh, I see. I won't do anything if that's what you're thinking. I'll just sleep on the couch in there, you'll have a little privacy but I'm still close if you need anything," he said, pointing at a set of double doors that I now assumed led to a sitting room.

"No! You take the bed, I'll sleep on the couch," I insisted.

He shook his head stubbornly. I sighed not wanting to fight about it.

"Fine, whatever," I said, finally walking on into the room, I stopped only a couple steps through the door and looked at him shyly. "Umm what will I wear?"

He smiled then went to his drawers and handed me another shirt that was obviously his.

I frowned and opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off, "I'm not taking no for an answer, besides it's just a shirt. Now go get changed," he ordered.

I muttered at him as I stalked off to the bathroom. I decided to take a shower while I was at it, since I noticed female products in there. It was kind of a random assortment though, like he didn't know what kind to get so he just grabbed a bunch of random things.

I noted my large collection of dark bruises as I dried myself off and changed into the clothes he'd given me. He was right. I'd have been really sore yesterday. When I put the shirt on it made me feel safe and comfortable, which scared me. I don't even know this guy, yet I feel so comfortable with him. Maybe it was just because he saved me, or maybe it was just his personality. I really wasn't sure.

I opened the door and there he was, standing in front of the dresser with just his boxers on. I gasped, then quickly looked away embarrassed. He laughed at me. I rushed over to the bed ignoring his eye's following me. I laid down slowly, still a bit sore. He threw his dirty clothes into a laundry basket in the corner and headed towards the sitting room.

Right before I fell asleep, I heard a door quietly squeak. He came over and kissed my forehead, "Good night, Elena," he whispered softly into my ear, and like that I was asleep.

~AN~
What do you guys think so far? How do you like Alec? What kind of a guy do you think he is? Where are Elena's mom and son?