Wishful Thinking

The rest of the day is far less eventful, by the time Lauren emerges from the office it's time to go, I mostly just messed around with my laptop since I didn't have any more work to do. I try not to think about Ashley as I enter the lift and start my journey home, no messages on my phone, it's weird, I'd expected someone else to have noticed Ashley, he's not exactly hiding. At the very least I would have thought I'd hear about how it went with-

"Elise?" I blurt out. My girlfriend is sat on a bench outside my workplace. I'd think she was here to surprise me, find out how my first day went, but her vacant expression as she looks at me corrects that assumption. I didn't think one visit would fix all their problems, but this makes it look like it only made it worse. I rush over to her, sitting down on the bench, and pull her into a hug. "What happened?"

I don't get a response, only sobs as tears start running down her face. I need to get her somewhere safe, I don't think a bench in front of my job is where she wants to have this conversation... Honey's is near here, Trish's camper should be there, it'll give us some privacy.

"Come on, we'll go somewhere quiet." I decide. She nods silently, and we begin our journey. It's tearing me up to not know what happened, if he did anything, I swear, I'll add him to the list of parents I need to beat the shit out of. Again in his case.

I navigate Elise through the winding streets until we're finally in familiar territory, I can't see the van around here, it must be parked around the back. I lead us down the alley to the lot at the back until I'm greeted with the sight of the... Well, calling it a van seems like a disservice, it's a full-on motorhome, how did she get it back here? It looks bigger than the alley. I was expecting white van with a duvet in the back.

Focus, Scarlet, focus. I hurry to the side door and knock loudly. we wait for a few seconds before I knock again. Still nothing. Shit, what if she's not in? I hadn't considered that, where could-

"One second!" A non-Trish voice shouts. Rouge's voice. Well that explains it. Eventually the door opens to reveal a dishevelled looking Trish. Looks like we caught them at a bad time. Trish looks surprised to see us, but one look at Elise and her confusion turns to concern, and she beckons us inside. We take the steps up into the vehicle and somehow, it's more impressive, there's a small hob and sink, a table with two chairs, and a semi-decent sized bed, housing my sister still half under the covers. Thankfully she'd thought to throw on an oversized t-shirt before we entered. "What happened?" She repeats my question from earlier.

All eyes are now on Elise, I sit her down on the bed, my arm still around her, and wait for her to speak.

"My parents are back together." She finally reveals. "I walked in on them together, apparently they couldn't live without each other." Well, that'd be sweet if it wasn't a massive betrayal. Here we were thinking William was broken down and Camille was the loyal mother, meanwhile they're happy as can be? That's just fucked up, no wonder Elise is in shock.

"Arseholes." Trish states for all of us.

"But there's more." Elise explains, her voice straining. Minutes pass before she continues, none of us want to force her to speak, so we all wait in silence for the finishing blow. "They're going back to Paris."

They're leaving? Riding off into the sunset, after all this? All the chaos? What is it with parents and running away whenever things get hard? And how can they just drop this on their daughter like it's nothing?

"What about you?" Rouge asks calmly. "Are you going?"

...What? I hadn't considered that, my brain just assumed that she'd be here. I'm here. Why would she go? She looks at me, the pain still in her eyes, and only growing worse.

"I don't know." She admits, before breaking down entirely. That's why. They're her family, despite it all, if she stays she loses all of them. If I were in that position, what would I do? I can't think about that, Elise needs me right now.

"I... I'll support whatever you decide." I state confidently. "If you want to leave, then I'll just go too, okay?" It's a genuine offer, I know I've just started work, but fuck it, I'll find more work, whatever it takes, I'm staying with her.

Elise looks back to me again, her eyes red with tears. "It's not that easy. I can stay in either place, I have dual citizenship because of my Papa's job, you don't." She explains, trying to force a smile. Don't do that, you don't need to, I'll cry too if you want. We'll cry about this together.

How could this happen? How could they do this? Look at her, I haven't ever seen her so broken, so shattered. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. I can't, can I? There's nothing to do or say, it's her decision, and there's no good answer. Answers... I need answers. I look to Trish. "Can you get Elise home?" I ask her.

"Erm, yeah, but where are you going?" She asks in turn. I place a kiss on Elise's cheek and stand up.

"I'm going to have a word with my in-laws." I growl, looking to the door, before I'm cut off.

"Not alone, you're not." Rouge's voice adds. I turn to see she'd taken the opportunity of everyone looking at Elise to get dressed. "No more solo runs. Let's give them Hell." She adds, catching up to me. Together we exit the van and set off to the Monroe house.

I'm going to bang their heads together until I'm satisfied or they don't have heads anymore. I can't stand this. I refuse. I'm going to convince them to stay, so Elise doesn't have to choose. She doesn't have to hurt like this. I swear, I'll stop them. I don't have a choice. I place my hand on my necklace, I need to make sure she stays.

How would I live without her?

How would the Earth survive without its Moon?