UNITED IN BLOOD
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN !

   A SUFFOCATINGLY HEAVY WEIGHT burdened the redhead the very second she walked back into the home she once shared with her girlfriend. Ellie actually wasn't even sure she could call the brunette that anymore. For all she knew, Danielle had moved on with someone new. Found someone else, someone who would stay behind. Ellie really hoped that she was wrong.

   The first thing Ellie noticed was the lack of her stuff in the house. Everything she had owned was gone, banished from the living quarters of the home. A sharp sting built in her gut at the sight. She'd been wiped clean from Danielle's life and the worst thing was, she didn't blame Danielle one bit.

   Her backpack dropped to the floorboards with a thud, the numerous little trinkets she had picked up along the way to California clanging against one another deep inside the bag. Ellie had found this neat little dinosaur memorabilia store deep in the heart of Las Vegas when she had been travelling through the state of Nevada. Immediately the redhead had filled her backpack with whatever little toys she could find.

   In an act of what she now feared was of pure stupidity, Ellie had pocketed a bracket that was embellished with tiny, little, stainless steel dinosaurs. From Brachiosaurus's to the T-Rex, this bracelet had them all.

She'd picked it up for Dani.

With little to distract the Williams girl during her travels, thoughts of Danielle had run rampant through her brain with each step she took. As the scorching California sun had beamed down on her and blistered her skin, as the the sweat dripped from every pore, as she fought and held Abby under the water and as she came to the gut wrenching realisation that killing her wouldn't bring Joel back, Danielle had been in the back of her mind.

   The one person who had been there for her through thick and thin, in moments that Ellie knew she most definitely hadn't deserved her support or had held her late into the night as she suffered from nightmares. The person who Ellie had left behind and regretted it the moment she stepped foot outside of Jackson.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Ellie intently watched as Danielle's lips moved, listening as the words fell with concern.

A sense of nerves kicked in for the redhead, her right hand reaching up to massage the nape of her neck. Her eyes squinted as she glanced over at the brunette. "S'just a couple cuts and scrapes."

"El, you're missing fingers." Danielle sighed in frustration as she truly took in Ellie's appearance. Seconds after she utter those words, the brunette realised what she had actually said. Her eyes widened almost to the point of bulging out of her head. "Wait, oh my god! You're missing fingers!"

All Ellie could say was, "Abby bit them off." as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Your nonchalant attitude is worrying. Sit down." Danielle stepped towards the redhead, reaching her hands and practically pushing Ellie into the couch cushions.

Ellie collided into the couch with a thud, a grunt of discomfort resounding through the room. The Williams girls eyes followed along with Danielle as she hustled around the home, running around and collecting a med-kit, a cloth and a small bowl of water. The items were placed on the coffee table one-by-one before the brunette sat down on the couch beside Ellie, who had been silent throughout the gathering and instead chose to just observe her former lover.

"Did you do this?" Danielle asked as she scanned over the numerous stitchings that was littered all over Ellie's body. From a still healing gash that had been poorly stitched over to the lack of her ring and pinky finger, both stumps being pulled closed by the thread.

The auburn-haired girl steadily nodded her head, keeping her gaze locked on to the focused expression that was painted across Danielle's face. The light that bloomed into the brunettes eyes pulled at Ellie's heartstrings as Danielle muttered, "You did a pretty shit job. I'm surprised you didn't contract gangrene."

"You were always better at this than me." The corner of Ellie's lips tugged into a grin, her pupils almost completely blown out as she continued to gaze over at her partner. Scratch that, ex-partner.

She knew that she'd missed Danielle, yearned for her comforting touch, but it wasn't until she sat before the brunette and took in her beauty, her selflessness and her ability to care for others that Ellie realised just how much of a hole had been left in her life once she took off for Santa Barbara and left Danielle behind.

"It is my job." Danielle quipped with a smile as she ran the damp cloth over the gash, cleaning the area before she cut open the stitches. A defeated sigh fell past her lips as she grabbed hold of the med-kit. She had tried to hold back on questioning Ellie but she just had to know. "Did you do it?"

   There was a pause. What could Ellie say? She feared that if Danielle found out that she had decided against killing Abby, despite that being the reason she had left in the first place, that Dani would hate her even more than she already did.

  "Couldn't." For the first time since Danielle walked through the front door, Ellie's gaze finally dropped, falling down to her hands.

   The movement of her hands slowly came to a halt, instead just becoming nestled in the small crevice between her own and Ellie's thighs. "Do you wanna talk about—"

   As if she hadn't even heard the brunette speak, far too busy sorting through the details of what she planned to say in her brain, Ellie cut Danielle off. "Dani, I'm so sorry."

"Ellie—"

   Ellie continued her rant, words falling out of her mouth in such a hurry, Danielle was worried that the redhead would choke on her own tongue. "I needed you to hate me! If you hadn't, I would have never left. It was such a dick move and I wouldn't blame you if you hated my guts."

When she was sure Ellie wouldn't interrupt again, Danielle admitted, "I don't hate you."

   Ellie was confused and rightfully so. What the hell did Danielle mean 'she doesn't hate her', how could she not? Ellie didn't even like herself in that moment. She remembered the expression on Danielle's face the day she left. How broken she looked. That look had haunted Ellie every single day.

Bewilderment swirled around Ellie's eyes. "Why not?"

"Ellie." Her voice was breathy and low, her left hand softly brushing a stray strand of auburn hair behind Ellie's ear. As she observed the broken girl before her, every feeling Danielle had ever had for Ellie came rushing back. So much for moving on.

   "Was I angry? Yeah. Did I curse your name up and down in frustration? Yeah. But I never hated you. I don't have it in me." She spoke earnestly. Every word she said summed up exactly how she'd felt throughout everything. "I felt a lot of different emotions towards you, hate was never one of them."

   As she spoke, her hands began to move once more. Using a small pair of scissors, she snipped away at the thread that held together the pieces of Ellie's flesh that had been severed from one another. The stitches gave way easily enough, allowing the brunette to remove them all without causing much hurt to Ellie.

   "I understand why you left. I really do. But I just wished you hadn't left in the way you did. If I hadn't of woken up that day, you would have just left in the night. That's such a shitty thing to do, Ellie." Danielle uttered, a sense of finality dripping from her voice as her gaze scanned over Ellie's face. After a few moments, she carried on with her task.

   Ellie was unable to speak. No matter what apologies that entered her mind, as if her mouth had been sown shut, as if her tongue weighed a ton, she remained silent. She remained still. There was nothing she could really say. Ellie knew that in that moment, whatever she said would do little to quell the hurt that she had caused.

   Danielle continued to work, weaving the needle between flesh, pulling it taut all the while conscious of Ellie's gaze that bore into the side of her face. She cleared her throat with a slight cough. "What are you gonna do about the new bite?"

The truth was, Ellie had no freaking clue. "Not sure yet. Just gonna cover it up with a bandage for now." Was all the redhead said as she shrugged her shoulders. Perhaps she could give herself another chemical burn. It had hurt like a fucking bitch last time but it had been pretty effective in covering the bite.

   Once she finished up fixing Ellie's mistakes, Danielle pulled away and moved to stand. "You're hopefully infection free for now. I'll check them again in the morning."

"Appreciate it." The auburn-haired girl stood up almost simultaneously alongside Danielle, unknowingly mirroring her movements.

The atmosphere felt suffocating as the two stared at one another. Their relationship had effectively been changed forever all of those months ago. Now it remained in limbo, neither sure of where they stood. Ellie was back, alive and well, sorta, but could they ever return to how they used to be? Could they salvage what was left of their relationship after it had been torn apart, broken into pieces.

   Danielle wondered if she had it in her to forgive Ellie. She loved her. God, she loved her so much but the idea of simply forgiving the redhead just didn't sit right with Danielle. She knew that if she had done what Ellie had done, that it would have taken Ellie a long time to forgive, if she ever did at all.

   All she thought about in that moment was how she needed to put some distance between herself and Ellie. If they were to ever rekindle their relationship, they needed to start slow. Rome wasn't built in a day and their relationship wouldn't be fixed in one either.

   Her heart thudded against her ribcage as she nervously licked at her chapped lips. "Your stuff is in the art room. You should be able to find some clean clothes. Pyjamas, preferably." She finished with s slight laugh, slowly stepping away from the Williams girl.

"Thanks." Ellie muttered appreciatively, her voice low while she leaned down to pick up her backpack. All the while, her hunter green eyes remained locked on to the brunette.

   "I was at the centre watching a movie." Danielle explained as she continued to back up, moving closer and closer to the front of the house. She sent Ellie a small smile, which Ellie's heart soared at, as her grip remained tight on the med-kit. "I'm gonna go and tell Maria you're back. Don't worry, I'll ask her to keep her questions at bay, at least until tomorrow."

Not wanting to leave the atmosphere tense, Danielle decided to play it cool. With a playful smirk, she laughed out, "Take a shower. You smell really bad."

Before Ellie could react past a breathy laugh, Danielle spun round on the heel of her worn-out boot and headed for the front door. The minute she stepped outside, the cool night air brushing against her face, her heart rate finally began to slow down. She'd only been in that house for a few minutes and all of her progress to move on had been squashed beneath Ellie's feet.

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BY THE TIME DANIELLE had returned home, after finding Maria and informing her of the redheaded girls return, Ellie had showered, ate and gotten ready for bed. That was how long it had been since Danielle had left. Over forty minutes has passed.

   Laying up in her bed, a bed that she had once shared with Danielle who had since moved back into her old room, Ellie had waited with bated breath for the brunette to return. After what had felt like a lifetime, the familiar creak of the front doors hinges echoed throughout the home, alerting Ellie to Danielle's presence.

The sound of Dani's feet hitting the stairs filled her ears as the brunette ascended to the second floor of the home. Ellie wasn't sure what she was expecting when she realised that Danielle's feet had stopped just outside her closed bedroom door.

Part of Ellie hoped that Danielle would knock. Maybe just open the door without even thinking about it. Lay up next to her in bed as if no time had passed from the last time all those months ago. Ellie wanted desperately for Danielle to just enter the room and hold her close.

That didn't happen though.

After a couple of seconds, the Linden girls feet began to walk once more, carrying her off into the direction of her own room. Ellie released a heavy sigh, the fingers of her right hand clutched to the comforter, nails digging deep into the fabric as she heard Danielle's bedroom door open and close.

It had been very presumptuous of her to believe that Danielle would welcome her home with open arms, Ellie knew that. She also knew that if she wanted to get back the life she had made with Dani, one of contentment and comfort, love and affection, she would have to work extremely hard.

   Ellie would have grovelled on her knees for Danielle's forgiveness had the brunette requested it. She knew that had Joel still been alive, he would have told her that she was being an idiot. He would have grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her about like crazy, questioning why she would ever leave such an amazing girl behind.

   She really missed him. It was moments like this, moments when she struggled to fix something she had messed up, that Ellie wanted him beside her most. She wished he was there to guide her, to offer up some wisdom. Joel would have known what to do.

   Time passed by slowly, every hour that passed crept upon her as she tossed and turned beneath the covers. No matter what she did, no matter what way she lay, Ellie was unable to relax. The feel of the comfortable mattress beneath her, that warped to her shape, should have been enough to lull the redhead to sleep but sadly, that didn't happen.

Instead she felt uneasy. The bed just didn't feel right and she knew why. The only time that Ellie felt right in that bed was when she slept beside Danielle. With the brunette gone, the comfort that once was there had vanished. Now, Ellie just felt wrong.

Before she knew exactly why, the Williams girl had thrown back the blanket, freeing her body from the cocoon of fabric. Her bare feet pitter-pattered against the wooden floorboards and out her bedroom door, carrying her in the direction of Danielle's room.

The home sat still.

   The door slowly opened up, giving Ellie a view of the room. Darkness loomed through the room with the only source of light coming from the moonlight that crept in through the gap in the curtains. The brunette lay wrapped up in the comforter, fast asleep as her chest rose up and down, her breathing even and steady.

   Enough time had passed that allowed Ellie to know from previous experience, that Danielle would have been asleep by that point. Ellie wasn't entirely sure why she was in there. She didn't plan to wake Danielle but instead just...stay there?

The only time, in a long time, that the redhead had felt at ease was when she sat on the couch next to Danielle. All of those months travelling had been gruelling as hell and though she was exhausted by the end of the day, falling asleep had proven extremely difficult. Never had Ellie slept as good as when she lay next to her former partner.

Without much thought, Ellie lowered herself to the carpet covered floor. Her back rested against the foot of the bed, her head slightly cushions by the duvet covered mattress. After months and months of struggling to relax, to find peace and to sleep, Ellie finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When the next day came, Ellie planned to fight for the life she once had, the life she had thrown away for vengeance. She would win it back and win Danielle back, no matter the cost. Tomorrow her efforts would begin, but until then she needed to rest up. Her eyelids grew heavy as the soft breathing of a sleeping Danielle lulled the redhead to a state of slumber.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter twenty seven. not proofread. she's back! so honestly as you can see they will not just get back together. danielle loves ellie but she's not gonna just accept her back with open arms. Anyway hope you enjoyed :)