"Donde esta?" Elizabeth came bursting through the front doors of Fransisco and Erica's home, the door smacking her husband in the face, but she didn't care. (Where is she?)
"Calm down. Ella is okay, and if you enter like this, you'll only scare her more." Fransisco whispered, pulling his mom to the side. Elizabeth breathed, squeezing her son's hands in appreciation before Fransisco took both of his parents to the living room where Ella was.
Ella was on the floor, petting Rufus who had half of his body draped across her, growling whenever someone approached her that wasn't Damien. It seemed as though the pup had recognized Damien that night and now, for saving his owner, had grown a soft spot for the man.
Damien was sitting right behind Ella, his leg being Ella's support as she leaned back on it while Stefanie sat beside Ella, distracting her with some beads for bracelets.
"Who is that?" Elizabeth frowned at the large and handsome man that sat behind Ella. She had never seen him before.
"Ella's boyfriend... he... he found Ella right before... just be nice to him." Fransisco still had difficulty explaining the painful incident.
Both adults nodded, taking cautious steps towards Ella until the young girl saw them. She spared them a tired and rueful smile before slowly getting up to go hug them, practically sinking into her mother's embrace.
"I missed you so much." Ella couldn't help but to cry. Having her life flash before her eyes really made her see how good she had it, not that she didn't appreciate it before, but she really felt like she was seeing things in a new light.
Elizabeth didn't speak, just nodded. If she spoke, she'd surely only cry, and that would just be hard to stop. After hugging her mom, Ella hugged her dad as Elizabeth went to go hug Stefanie. Everyone thought she would stop there, but she also hugged an unsuspecting Damien, causing Ella to smile fondly.
"Thank you. So much." Elizabeth wept quietly, wiping a stray tear before pulling away.
"I... you're welcome," Damien didn't really know what to say, and Timotheo laughed before also hugging the man.
"You look different, son. You're not American, are you?" Ella's dad light-heartedly added, causing a rumble of chuckles to go through the room from Stefanie and Fransisco as well as Kim who had arrived earlier after being briefed of the situation by Damien.
"Italian, sir." Damien shook Timotheo's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you."
"Timotheo Cortesa, and that's my wife. I assume you've meet the rest of the circus already." Timotheo motioned everyone else, and Erica laughed, shaking her head as she saw that she was included in the bunch.
"Beautiful family." Damien admitted, realizing that in reality, they were a beautiful family, and not just because of their looks but because they really seemed to be such a strong and united family from their roots.
Everyone settled down, chatting about mindless things that no one was really paying attention to since they were all so focused on ignoring the giant elephant in the room until the atmosphere was just suffocating.
"What happened, baby?" Timotheo asked first, watching as Ella's eyes instantly watered, her breathy becoming patchy as she smiled, trying to shake away the fear. She was safe. She was safe.
"Vanders wanted revenge. He thinks... he thinks I destroyed him." Ella wiped at the endless tears before Stef handed her a tissue. "Thank you, I... I'm just grateful for these two." Ella looked at both Damien and Rufus who were still by her side on the sofa.
Timotheo nodded, knowing that his daughter probably wasn't going to say more, at least not for the time being. To clear the tense atmosphere again, they all agreed to have a barbecue for dinner. Keeping everyone busy during these times was going to help them, at least while everyone gathered their thoughts and were comfortable enough, if they were ever going to be about it, to talk about the events. Truly, truly, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that only Ella and Damien knew what they had been through.
As the night progressed, Ella still showed no signs of being calm or still. The poor girl would flinch anytime something loud fell or someone spoke a little too loudly. Not to mention that she refused to go into the house by herself even when she knew she would be safe. The house was surrounded by her loved ones, but Ella still didn't trust the dark right now.
"Sam and I broke up." Stefanie revealed once Ella was getting out of the shower. Since Ella wasn't comfortable enough to shower alone, Stefanie had propped herself on the bathroom sink, talking to Ella about mindless things until now.
"I... Too different?" Ella wasn't sure about what to say. She sort of figured that they weren't going to last, but that didn't seem like the best thing to say at the moment.
"Yeah," Stef sighed, turning around to give her older sister some privacy while she dressed. "I mean... we both knew it was just a physical attraction, but I kind of had hope... you know?"
Ella smiled gently, passing by Stef to squeeze her arm to reassure her. "I know."
Stefanie sighed longingly again before turning to face a now dressed Ella. "Why didn't you tell anyone you were dating that hunk of a man?"
Ella shrugged, combing her hair that seemed pitch-black wet. "We were just.. dating. I thought it would be best to tell you guys at another moment."
Stefanie, realizing the subject was a little touchy for Ellie, shrugging, putting on a fake, chirpy smile. "I forgive you. He's a catch, so I get why you would want to keep him to yourself."
"Payasa." Ella nudged her little, devious sister's head forward before finally exiting the bathroom."I think everyone is still downstairs." Stefanie told Ella, turning on the lights to illuminate the way until Ella spotted her mom in one of the guest bedrooms. (Clown)
"You can go down. I'm just going to talk to Mamá for a little bit." Ella walked into the bedroom. "Hi," Ella curled up on the bed, watching as her mom applied that scented cream that Ella instantly connected back to her. Whenever she smelt it, she could immediately identify it back to her mom. Sometimes, at stores, Ella would purposely purchase that lotion just to torture herself a little bit with the memories of her comforting mother since they both lived in different countries.
"My little Ella." Elizabeth sighed, pulling Ella's head on her lap, running her finger's through Ella's dark hair, a trait she had gotten from her father since Elizabeth had light auburn hair.
Ella didn't say anything. She wanted to. She wanted to say a lot, actually. She wished she could explain to her parents what exactly had happened in that dark room at her house, but every time she would attempt to, the words would get clogged behind a hard and heavy ball that wouldn't allow anything to travel up her throat and vocal chords, and no, it wasn't the damage that had actually been done to her neck and throat. Ella had just liberated herself from the bruising and neck injuries of her last attack, and now here she was again.
Ella didn't even notice that she had begun to silently weep again, and she didn't even notice that she was also slowly becoming victim of a slight sedative that Fransisco had given her after noticing how nervous and anxious she was. Fransisco knew that if he didn't give her something to relax, then Ella wouldn't be sleeping tonight, and she desperately needed her body to shut down in order to repair itself, even if it was forcefully.
Damien, downstairs, had begun to notice Ella's absense, something he was becoming more acutely aware as time passed, even more with these incidents that were constantly putting her life in danger.
Deciding to not alert the family yet since he was sure he was being paranoid, he decided to discreetly slip past the gathering in the living room to begin looking for her. They hadn't really spent time by themselves, so Damien hadn't even gotten the chance to talk to her privately despite the constant low murmurs that they would speak to each other whenever they were closer together, which had actually been often today.
After seeking for her in almost every room downstairs, he's heart began to race a bit and his mind conjuring unpleasant images and scenarios of Ella being hurt. Before it could consume him, Timotheo almost crashed into Damien's frantic and hard body.
"You okay there, son?" Timotheo noticed Damien's hardened features as well as his wide and frantic eyes.
"Have you seen Ella? I've searched everywhere for her down here, but she's not here. Do you think she left?" Damien was still looking out the windows, perhaps she was out there. Maybe she needed some fresh air; Ella liked to clear her mind like that, but it was dark outside. Ella wasn't in the best terms with the darkness right now. "I can't find her."
Timotheo smiled gently. This Damien kid really seemed concerned over his precious daughter. He seemed to care a lot about her, and Ella seemed to reciprocate the feelings if her sweet and intimate behavior towards the tall man was anything to go by.
"She's probably with her mom. Let's go check." Timotheo knew that Ella had probably just found her mom and stayed with her seeing as how they both left to go upstairs and hadn't returned. It was also very classic of Ella to go, maybe even without meaning to, seeking for her mama's comfort. For Ella, no one else could really emit the same consolation. "There she is."
Timotheo stepped aside for Damien to see how Ella was in a deep slumber on her Mom's lap. Elizabeth was running her delicate fingers soothingly through Ella's dark tresses while holding a book in the other hand. She had some brown glasses perched on her nose as she turned to face her audience.
"What is it?" She whispered loudly enough for the guys to hear.
Timotheo shook his head, waving his hand to indicate that it wasn't important, that he'd explain later, before shutting the bedroom door.
"Thank you." Damien cleared his throat tersely. The last thing he wanted was for Ella's parents to think he was paranoid. It was bad enough that this was how he was meeting them, he didn't need to add onto the already horrible experience.
"Thank you." Timotheo emphasized once they were back downstairs, still a room away from the rest of the family. Ella's father struck his hand out for Damien to shake. "This handshake means I'm accepting you into the family. I don't really know how things are going for you and my daughter, but from the looks of things and from the things I already know" which was thanks to Fransisco keeping up to date about Damien Petrotti, "I know my daughter cares for you, and vice versa."
Damien hesitated for a minute. Being accepted into Ella's family was a big deal for him. It would mean that he was someone who was going to be in their lives for a long time. He already knew that Ella was someone that he wasn't going to forget about anytime soon, but allowing her family to allow him into their circle would ensure that Ella was also not going to be forgetting him anytime soon. He wouldn't allow himself to hurt her like that.
"Lo siento, I think is misinterpreted the situation." Timoteo faltered, pulling his handshake back. He had thought that he had seen the young man have a romantic interest in his Ella, but it seemed as though that wasn't the case. While it was unfortunate because Timotheo did like the young and established young man, he knew that feelings could not be forced. (I'm sorry)
"No, sir. I do..." Damien cursed, feeling like he had just made the biggest mistake that he was going to regret.
"Dad?" Fransisco popped up, surprised to find Damien with him. "Oh... um... Erica and I are going to bed."
"That's good. She needs her rest." Timotheo nodded, watching as a waddling Erica approached, using her husband to help finish walking towards the staircase.
"Goodnight, guys." Erica waved, smiling at them while struggling up the stairs.
"Where's Mamá?" Fransisco asked right before rounding the corner.
"Sleeping. Ella's with her, by the way."
"Stef told us. Tell them I love them. Goodnight, Papá." Fransisco pat his dad's and Damien's shoulder before rushing to his wife.
Damien waited until they rounded the corner as Kim appeared too. "Hey, Tim- oh, Damien. I thought you had already left...?" Damien shook his head in the negative at Kim's confused stare. Kim had also just recently found out about Ella's and Damien's hidden relationship, and while it had shocked him, he couldn't say that he didn't really see it coming. "In that case, then we'll go ahead and leave together."
"Right... thank you so much for coming. I... thank you, to both of you for taking care of Ella. We'll be handling everything now, so don't worry." Timotheo was subtly giving them, especially Damien, a way out. He knew that they had been working tirelessly for Ella's case not only during work hours but also helping keep her some company and keeping an eye out for her. There was only so much supervision that her siblings and Kim and her parents- who were out of the country- could do for the girl.
"I'll still return tomorrow, Tim. Don't think you're kicking me out so easily." Kim refused, already allowing Tim to walk them out.
Damien also searched for words. He wanted to tell Fransisco that he wanted to return. He wanted to spend time with Ella and help her heal. He even wanted to spend time with her after she was finished healing.
"I'll be happy to have you here. I'm sure the kids will want you here again. They adore you." Timotheo chuckled, agreeing with little to no effort.
"Alright. Goodnight! Lock your doors." Kim walked out with Damien right before Timotheo shut the front door and turned on the porch and side lights.
Since the Cortesa family was currently residing in Fransisco's home, they felt pretty safe in the calm and secure neighborhood. A doctor's pay could comfortably pay for such commodities.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" Kim asked Damien, but it wasn't really a question because Kim hopped into his vehicle before Damien even had the chance to answer.
Even though Damien didn't like visiting people's houses or showing up unannounced, he knew that he wouldn't be comfortable if he didn't go to see Ella. His chest was already feeling slightly constricted since he didn't even say goodnight to Ella or see how her eyes were right before she left. He wanted to see them calm, at least.
The last time he had seen her honey eyes, they were jumpy, scared, distant, fearful. He didn't want that for her. He wanted to see her warm, gleaming and happy hazel eyes. So yes, he was going to return.