"Aiden?"
"Hey." He smiled, sitting down on the asphalt of the rooftop and scooting closer to Dom. Dominique's figure stilled in its spot, her mind still in a frenzy from the events that had come to light previously in her room.
"How you doing?" Aiden asked, his body not touching hers, but still a distance away she could still find comfort in his presence. She looked into his eyes, hers filling with subtle tears as she sniffled, wiping her face on her sleeve.
"I'm okay." She replied, breaking her gaze from his and looking toward the floor in solitude. Aiden hummed from beside her, a calming smile over his features while eyeing Dominique's form down.
"No, you're not."
Dominique didn't look back at him, curling up on herself slightly and digging her nails into her thighs slightly, crescent marks rising to the surface of her skin as she let out an unsettled sigh.
"Whatever you say." She gave in to his presence, looking back toward him. She felt her mind fog back to the images of her late mother; her form crumpled to the floor and a weeping sob leaving her bruised lips, her once beautiful features beaten in in black and blue.
Her breath started to pick back up again, coming out in short huffs as she tried her best to breathe out the carbon blocking her lungs in a frenzy. Quickly, she turned her body to him, grasping onto the the wrinkled fabric of his shirt and desperate plea leaving her lips.
"Is she okay?!" Dominique yelled, her frame shaken and tossed between the winds of the rooftop, leaving her vulnerable to its elements. She felt goose-bumps rise to the surface of her skin, her teeth chattering while she waited desperately for Aiden's response.
"Is who okay?" He asked, concern swimming in his eyes and his smile slipping from his lips. He grasped Dominique's hands on his shirt, rubbing soothing circles into the back of her palms and placing a soft kiss to her fingertips.
"My mom, She was in my room. On the floor, Aiden! Is she okay? God, she looked terrified!" She stuttered out, a sob ripping from her lips as she pleaded for information on her beautiful mother's condition.
"Your mother? Dominique, your mom wasn't there." Aiden quickly replied, tearing his jacket from his frame and smothering it around her figure, its warmth faulting the wind's assault on Dominique's body. He quickly brought her figure into his, her tears soaking through his shirt as her breaths tried to heave from her lungs, stuttering against her throat in broken hiccups.
"She was on the floor, Aiden! How could you not see her?!" She sobbed out, her arms wrapping around his waist. He pulled her closer slightly, letting her rest against him fully as she babbled incoherently into his chest. He enclosed his arms around her hair, trying to give her chattering frame some much needed warmth as his heart broke at his friend's despair.
"There was nobody in the room except me, Tyler, Taylor, Ben, Logan and you. Your father was-." He stopped himself, his eyes blown wide in realisation as his arms felt numb against him limbs, falling limp from rubbing circles into Dominique's hair.
"Dominique, that wasn't your mother. Oh god." He whispered out in horror, peppering a panicked kiss to her forehead as she raised her head, the tears coating her cheeks glistening against the morning sun and burning her skin harshly.
"Who...?" She breathed out, confusion swimming with sadness in her gaze as she looked into his burning eyes, tears filling his own as he felt his mouth go dry. He picked his hand from her scalp, brushing it over the angry bruise coating her neck is black and blues. He gulped lightly when she didn't even flinch, her gaze focused purely on his eyes as she sent him a pleading look, silently begging him to say anything.
"Dominique..." He started gently, pulling himself away from her slightly and soothing his thumb over her cheek, his eyes flicking between her features and licking his lips in nervousness.
"That figure on the floor was your father. You must've seen it wrong in your panic, I'm so sorry."
Dominique looked toward him, pulling herself away from his grasp and staring at the floor in horror. Aiden strayed away from her slightly, on edge of what her next reaction would be and ready to comfort her if she needed it. She could feel the gears shift in her head, finally putting what had happened together. Her vision blanked back to her hospital room, where her mother's face had been melted from her memory, her body no longer carrying the bruise around her neck or the defeated look over her face.
Instead, she saw her fathers collapsed figure, laying still on the floor and his eyes focused on her figure, sending her pleading glances between each of her horrified steps. She remembered glancing up when she had been released from his hold, watching as Tyler and Aiden landed every possible strike they could on her father's form.
She blinked away the memories from her head, rubbing her temples lightly with her fingertips as she let out an exhausted sigh.
"Where is he now?" She asked Aiden softly, watching from the corner of her eye as he shifted in his seat, letting out a stressed breath and leaning back against the wall behind him, running a hand through his hair and glancing back at Dom's questioning eyes.
"He got taken to emergency from the damage Tyler and I did to him. But, they cleared him an hour after you went missing. He's in a holding cell after CCTV of your hospital room showed him attacking you." He explained softly, careful not to spook Dominique's already shattered form and trigger another episode on accident.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, Dom."
"So... You know, then?" Dominique breathed out, a grimace washing over her features, a distant look thrown towards Aiden's form. In response, Aiden reached up to his scalp, rubbing the back of his neck softly with an uncomfortable breath leaving his throat. He glanced back toward Dom, licking his lips before parting them in reply.
"We've always kind of... known." He sighed out, his form deflating slightly as he took at look over his shoulder, Dominique's grievous form next to him letting out a sigh and resting her head on his shoulder, her eyes clouding with a light look of defeat as a strewn breath left her lips.
"I don't know what I'm going to do." She exhaled, looking off the rooftop and toward the town below, a sad smile on her lips at the thought of leaving everyone behind. She looked over the buildings and woods surrounding the area, squinting her eyes to look over her house in the cold distance.
"What do you mean?" Aiden asked, wrapping his arm back around her shoulder and bringing Dominique closer, glad that she seemed to be in somewhat higher spirits after what had happened earlier that day.
"I don't have anywhere to go. I don't have any family in the area and its not like my father will take me back to live with him." She spoke lightly, a smaller tear falling down her cheek. Aiden reached up, brushing it away with his fingertip and smiling down at her lightly, joining her hand with his own and settling them down against the rooftop.
"We'll figure something out, Dom. I promise, I'll never leave your side again."
Tears fell down Dominique's cheeks, dropping against the pavement below her as a lighter, happier sob left her lips. Her mouth rose into a genuine smile; the first in a while. Aiden's grin grew as she barrelled back into his arms, hiccups and broken 'thank you's' leaving her mouth as she cried into his chest.
"Guys...?"
"DOM!!"
As Dominique arrived back in her room, she saw her friends gathered around her bedside, deciding what part of the hospital to search for their beloved friend. At the sound of Dom's voice, everyone's head turned in the direction of the doorway, where Dom had her arm slung around Aiden's shoulder, who was supporting her weight lightly under the injury she had sustained the night before and the cut along her arm from stumbling into some medical equipment.
They all yelled, tears streaming down most their faces in shock and delight at the sight of Dominique's slightly exhausted form. Ash had been called back to the hospital after setting up supplies in the forest with her father; close to where she had estimated Dominique would be located and their temporary hideout in the woods.
Most of the group started to cry, rushing over to Dominique and pulling her form into a tight hug; Taylor, Ben and Logan all crying into her figure as she rubbed their heads comfortingly, smiling down at them and peppering soft kisses to their heads, shushing them and assuring them that she was okay now.
Ashlyn and Tyler stayed toward the back of the group, standing next to each other with smaller smiles on their faces and watching Dominique interact with the rest of the group. Dominique looked up, making eye contact with them. Sensing their sadness hidden behind their smiles, she quickly let go of the three others, smiling down at them and ruffling their heads as if they were children.
As she made her way over, Dominique could see Ashlyn break eye-contact with her form, looking to the floor in shame. With a smaller, more comforting smile over Dominique's lips, she pulled Ashlyn's body into her own, letting her head relax against her chest.
Slowly, Ashlyn wrapped her hands around Dominique, incoherently apologising into her chest about leaving her behind – and not turning back for her when she had fallen from the jeep. Dominique tutted, pulling Ashlyn's head up by her jaw and placing a kiss against her nose softly, her smile flattening slightly at the tears in Ash's eyes.
"You don't have to be sorry for anything, my love. You did the best you could with what you were given, and you get the others through the night by yourself. I couldn't be prouder." Dominique whispered into her ear, watching as the tears in her eyes broke their bounds and flooded down her cheeks, a sob leaving her lips as she rushed her hands back around Dom's waist and pulling herself closer, her tears soaking into Dominique's hospital gown.
In response, Dom looked the others in the eyes, gesturing to the door with a bashful smile – asking her friends for some privacy for the themselves. Nodding in understanding, everyone made their way out reluctantly, each sending fleeting glances toward Dominique as the left her room.
Tyler stood in his spot, not moving an inch and sending a slightly pleading look toward Dom; who smiled toward him, moving Ashlyn behind her slightly and mouthing over to him, a softer grin spread across her lips as she drew her initials over Ashlyn's spine.
'We'll talk later.'
fin.
1833 words
IM SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE BUT HERE YOU GO!!!