Chloe Richards (rahrahrawr) wrote in nextdoor_redux, @ 2012-09-12 01:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | 12.18.12, chloe, jason, npc: gracie |
Falling
Who: Chloe, Jason and Grace (NPC)
What: Chloe has an accident
When: 12.18 - Late Tuesday Morning
Where: Cabin in NC
Warning: Language
Jason had retreated out to the patio to avoid Justice after breakfast. He was still not sure what to do and he was conflicted as hell. If he'd known how important this was to her, he never have let Justice bite him. He had a cup of coffee and his writing notebook, but he was pretty much ignoring both as he stared off into the woods. Hopefully, if he just avoided the topic long enough, she'd let it go. It didn't seem like Justice wanted to talk about it either. Probably because she knew he was totally against it deep down. Jason let out a soft growl and reached for his coffee cup. Then made a face, because his coffee was stone cold. Damn.
Chloe knew something was up the moment everyone had sat down to breakfast. It was after breakfast ended, however, that it became even more apparent because Justice went off upstairs with the little girls and her father went outside alone. There was trouble in paradise in some fashion and she, like always, wanted to know what was going on. She'd planned to do some more Christmas shopping even though she had all the presents she'd intended to give everyone already, but that took the backburner. She let Mateo and Xander go off alone with Charlie instead, leaving her to figure out what was going on with her father. He usually talked to her so she figured maybe this time he would too.
He'd been out there for a little while at that point, so she poured another cup of coffee and headed out to the patio. She knew he'd hear her so she didn't announce her presence. She took his cold cup, handed him the warm one and sat down in one of the chairs, putting the cold coffee down on the table in front of them. "You okay?" she asked.
He heard her before she appeared. "Thanks, princess," he said as he took the warm cup from her. It really wasn't that cold here, not compared to Boston this time of year. There's no way he'd be able to sit outside in his lighter leather jacket in December back home. Taking a drink, he nodded at her question. "Yeah," he lied quietly. "Just a lover's spat. It'll pass." He wasn't telling his daughter that her stepmother to be wanted a baby and he didn't. That was just asking to turn it into a family debate and cause no end of trouble. "You know me. I have a talent for saying the wrong thing."
She knew him better than to believe him when he lied. Which meant that it was bigger than he was trying to make it out to be. Which meant that he wanted to keep it from her for fear of her being upset. Or everyone being upset. Which just made her worry because if it was that big of a deal, something he felt the need to lie about, then shouldn't everyone know? "Not if you're avoiding it," she told him, eyes flicking to the door of the cabin and back to him. "Apparently Justice is in that same boat of 'ignore it and it'll go away'."
No everyone didn't need to know. No one needed to know. Jason didn't want to know. He'd woken up perfectly happy with his life as it was. Justice hadn't meant to take a wrecking ball to that and he could even understand her side quite a bit. But as much as she'd decided she wasn't done because Lucas had almost been a teen father, it had reminded Jason of how hard it had been. Even harder to be a widower with three kids. He was done. If he'd known she felt that way any time before last night, he never would have let Justice bite him until they were on the same page. Now they were stuck and it was mostly his fault for not realizing that cuddly conversation in tub wasn't just pillow talk. Jesus. "Yeah, I think we both overreacted," he said. "Don't worry about it. We've had our fair share of arguments. It'll be okay."
"Overreacted about what?" she asked. She doubted it would be that easy to get whatever it was out of him, but she couldn't exactly not worry about it. She worried about everything. She had a tendency to want to fix things, to want to make sure that everyone was happy and she knew for a fact that neither Justice nor her father were happy at the moment. "Can't be that big a deal, right?"
"To what we were arguing about," he said. It was a nice try. No, he wasn't telling her. Not about Justice suddenly wanting a baby or the fact they had to figure it out because they were mated. The last thing he wanted to do was burden his teenage daughter with the mess he'd made. It wasn't her fault and if he had his way, the kids would never find out period about the whole baby blues. The mating was a given, he doubted seriously his children wanted to know that much about his sex life. Really. "Chloe, it's fine. Leave it alone. Please."
"If it was fine, you wouldn't be sitting out here by yourself and Justice wouldn't be upstairs pouting about whatever it is that you two fought about," she muttered. "And the fact that you want to keep it a big secret just makes me think about fifteen thousand things that it could be." Which wasn't good for anyone. Not with the way a teenage girl's mind worked. For all she knew Justice could be having cold feet and not really want to get married. Or something worse than that, if it was possible. There were plenty of things that it could be and not knowing what it actually was just made the possibilities multiply like rabbits.
"Fine," she said, scowling a little as she got up from the chair and headed off towards the woods, pulling her jacket tighter around herself to keep the coolness out. If he wanted her to leave it alone, she'd leave it alone. And him too.
"It's nothing," he insisted. "It'll blow over." God, he hoped so anyway. If it didn't, he had no idea what he was going to do. Jason sighed as Chloe started taking his silence personally. Because she told him every little detail of her life? There was a great deal about each other's lives they didn't need to know. This was one of them.
Jason started to get up to go after her, but his shoulder was protesting. And it was broad daylight out and if he followed her, she'd try to make him explain. If she even let him catch up to her. "Be careful out there!" he called after Chloe, settling back into his chair with a scowl. Why had he even gotten out of bed this morning? Oh yeah, because his fiancee had sprung 'let's have a baby!' on him with no warning. Jesus.
Chloe growled. Loud enough that he could have heard her from where he sat. She wasn't sure whether she was more upset or angry that he wouldn't just tell her if it was 'nothing'. If it was nothing, then it wouldn't be that big of a deal to tell her whatever it was. Her mind was running wild on all the possibilities that she thought it could be, things she didn't want it to be. Within a half an hour, she was pretty far from where she'd started walking, a good distance from the cabin.
She stopped walking and looked around. She could have easily gone back, retraced her footsteps, smelled her way to the cabin. That, however, would have been admitting that she'd been a silly, nosy teenager and she wasn't going to do that. She didn't think she was wrong. So she kept walking, growling lowly at nothing in particular. She was in her head too much, so much so that where she was stepping didn't even really sink into her head until it was too late.
There was a waterfall, a small one, with a ridge all the way around it. Chloe heard the water, smelled it even, but she'd nearly gone over the edge before she realized how close she was to it. She stopped, taking in a gasp of air, surprised at how distracted she'd been. Turning back, she moved to take a step, unaware of how unsteady her footing was to begin with. A rock gave way beneath her and she tumbled backwards, falling down the edge of the ravine.
It might not have seemed that high from above, but the fall felt like it lasted forever. There was a tear in the arm of her coat, several in the legs of her jeans, but the worst damage wasn't a simple rip, bruise or a cut. The pain that shot through her leg when she finally landed made her practically yowl. The rocks beneath her were damp and muddy and not much help when she went to stand - or to try at least. That didn't pan out for the girl, the pain too much to bear for her to be able to even put weight on her leg.
Chloe was forced to sit back down, pushing herself as far as she could from the water, closer to the natural wall of rock behind her. She would have screamed for help but she was in the middle of the woods, it wasn't likely that someone would hear her. So she reached into her pocket to find her cellphone. It would have been wonderfully convenient to have if the damn thing hadn't been smashed and rendered useless in the fall.
Realizing how hopelessly fucked she was, Chloe tried to think of other ways to signal someone. She could build a fire, but the rocks around her were too damn damp. She could try and call for help, but that wasn't likely to work. Or she could wait. Wait and hope that her father came looking for her. Which he would. Right?
Justice was still working on Ana's hair when Gracie got bored and went in search of her dad or her sisters or Xander. The older kids were still out shopping and her dad was sacked out on the couch. Snoring even. Jeeze. Heading outside, she frowned as she smelled Chloe. She was supposed to go shopping with the others? Except apparently she hadn't. The scent was fresh-fresh, but it was heading for the woods, not the driveway.
Oh no way. Her biggest sister had gone hunting alone. Without even offering to take her with her. Gracie pouted and started off that direction without even a second thought. When she caught up to Chloe, she was so gonna bust her unless she got her like a whole aisle of candy canes. The Hershey's chocolate mint ones. Those were the best kind anyway. She'd take Skittles ones too, if they were out of the chocolate mint ones, though.
The trail was getting kind of cold, so Gracie stopped and shucked off her clothes, leaving them hanging on some branches so she didn't lose them. It was easier to follow her sister's scent when she was a lion Especially if Chloe had made a kill and wasn't sharing. It was so not fair. Gracie padded near silently through the woods, hot on her sister's trail.
Chloe wasn't sure how long it had been. With her cellphone busted, she couldn't look at the time and she hadn't worn a watch that day. It really figured. She was trying her best not to focus on her leg and how much it was hurting or on any of the little cuts to her elbows and knees. But not focusing on those things meant focusing on the bigger picture and that just made her more terrified. What if no one found her and she was stuck out there? She could shift and stay warm, yes, but that would bring on a whole new set of problems. A lion with a broken leg wasn't any better than a human with a broken leg. She'd be heavier and would never be able to make it up the ravine.
And if she shifted, someone might find her and shoot her thinking she was actually a lion. It wasn't like that wasn't a possibility. Hunters, even the regular sense, didn't really ask questions to their prey. If she stayed human, it was just going to get colder, especially when the sun went down. She might not freeze to death but it wasn't going to be a picnic either. All because of a stupid, meaningless fight with her dad.
And thinking about him only made her feel worse because she knew well and good he was going to blame himself, especially if something happened to her. Just because she couldn't keep her big nose out of his business and leave well enough alone. She was acting like a child instead of acting like the adult she was about to be. Wrapping her arms around herself, she shook her head, desperate to shake away those thoughts and convince herself she wasn't going to die some tragic death out in the woods.
Then she heard the slight rustling of branches in the distance, moving closer. Blinking, she looked up. "Hello?" she called out. "Can anyone hear me?"
Gracie was starting to be a little concerned. Chloe's scent trail was stronger here, but she was still human. Why would she go hunting as a human? That made no sense. Snuffling around, she let out whine. Oh that was not a good smell. Following the scent trail closer, the only thing that saved the littlest lioness from tumbling off the same thing her big sister had was feline senses and grace. She let out a soft mewl, casting around for her sister. She could smell Chloe, but couldn't see her. Uh-oh. Letting out the roar they'd taught her for identifying themselves, she waited for a response.
"Gracie!" Chloe said, both relieved and horrified. "Stay back from the edge, you'll fall." Which was the last thing either of them needed. She tried to think up a plan quickly but couldn't figure out much of anything in her jumbled mind. She didn't smell anyone else but she didn't have as keen of senses as she would have as a lion. "You've gotta go back, Gracie. Get Daddy. Can you do that?" she asked her sister. "Can you find your way back?" She didn't want to put all of this on Gracie, didn't want to risk her getting lost too but there wasn't really much of a choice considering.
Gracie pulled up short, mewling again. She edged closer, so she could look over the edge and see exactly where her sister was. She could see a small path down to her. Carefully picking her way over. Gracie didn't weigh a lot more than Chloe right now, even as a lion, but maybe she could grab onto her and Gracie could drag her up. Something. She didn't like where her big sister was, considering if she slipped she might go into the water. That would be really, really bad.
Picking her way down to her sister, Gracie mewled rather pathetically, nuzzling her face. Trying to comfort her and at least let Chloe know she wasn't alone. Then she moved under her arm and headbutted her gently, trying to convey her idea. She at least wanted to try to drag Chloe up higher.
Chloe wanted to growl at her sister for not listening, for coming down instead of going for help. But wanting to and doing were two different things and she made it down fairly easily. Chloe watched, helplessly as Gracie made her way towards her, terrified that she was going to end up in the water or something equally as horrible. Luckily she was graceful and made it without any complications.
The nuzzling helped more than Gracie probably even realized. So did the warmth of the little lioness so close, her body giving off plenty of heat. She got with the program, using Gracie as a prop to help her down further away from the waterfall. It was better than staying where she was. She'd be easier to get to further down the ravine. Not to mention it would be less wet though that didn't really make much of a difference considering she was soaked to her skin.
Yeah, if she left Chloe where she was, she might not be there when she got back with Daddy and Mateo. She was too close the waterfall and ground was really muddy and slippery and anybody heavier than her would probably not make it. She let Chloe use her as a brace to pull herself farther away from the waterfall, staying close. Now she totally wished they'd talked Daddy into getting her a cellphone. Since if Chloe could use hers, she would have. Once her sister was someplace less squishy and wet, she rumbled softly, nuzzling her. She didn't want to leave Chloe, but there was nobody else around. They were both gonna be in so much trouble after this.
Chloe was relieved to be further from the waterfall. She'd much rather be out of the damn ravine, but beggars couldn't be choosers. "I think it's broken," she muttered, knowing Gracie couldn't say or do anything about that but if she was going to have to go back, she needed to know how bad things were to relate the message to their father. Yeah, they'd be in a whole lot of trouble. Just fucking lovely. Like she wanted to think about being in trouble on top of experiencing how horrible the day had been. And ruining everyone's vacation. Great.
She brushed her fingers over Gracie's head, smoothing both on either side of her face and looking at her. "You've got to go back and you've got to remember everything we've taught you about tracking, Gracie. You can do this. Straight back the way you came. Okay?"
Gracie mewed again, headbutting Chloe gently. Yeah, she understood. She was just scared. Scared she wouldn't be able to find her way back to Chloe. Get back to the cabin and stuff before dark. Which meant she had to get her tail in gear. Nuzzling her biggest sister one more time, she carefully picked her way back up the slippery, treacherous slope. One last glance over the edge to remember where she left her sister (and reassure herself Chloe was still there.), the littlest Richards' took off into the woods.
Chloe watched Gracie head back up the edge, breathing out a sigh of relief when she made it up safely. She gave a hopefully reassuring try at a smile when Gracie looked over the edge at her. Then she listened until she could no longer hear the sound of paws in the distance. Then Chloe did all she could do. She drew in a shaky breath and tried not to cry while she waited and silently prayed for Gracie to make her way back safely. If something happened to her it would be all her fault and Chloe wasn't sure she could live with herself if something like that were to occur.