ZORA'S POV I lay in bed, thinking over the events of the day. My thoughts drifted to the viral pictures of Elliot and I. Automatically, that led to thoughts of Elliot. I shut my eyes, willing the memories to go away. It had been a long, tough day and I had no desire to relive it. My phone pinged. I rolled over to look at it. "Speak of the devil," I muttered under my breath. I had a message from Elliot. I came to your office today. But I wasn't allowed in. Why? I left the message on read and lay back down. My phone pinged twice. It was another message from Elliot- two actually. I groaned and put my pillow over my face. I decided to ignore the message. I soon got restless as I wondered what else he had sent. With a sigh, I opened the new messages. Since you are ignoring my message, I'm coming over to your house. Now. My eyes widened in alarm. I briefly considered not acknowledging his message and calling his bluff, but I quickly decided against it. He just might do what he
ZORA'S POV The streets were totally deserted as I walked home. The houses I passed were mostly dark and silent. I really had no idea of how much time I had spent with Elliot, but it seemed like it had been a while. All I wanted was to go to bed and hopefully have some rest. With a sigh, I pushed open my gate. The first thing I noticed was that all the lights in the house were on. I paused for a second, clearly recalling that they were turned off when I set out for the park. It was very odd that someone, mostly likely Katherine, had turned the lights back on. This evening, Katherine had complained of having a severe headache. Because of that, she had gone to bed early. The guards would also have retired for the day. I just hoped Katherine's headache had not gotten worse. Perhaps she found that she couldn't sleep anymore and was sitting up, doing something to pass the time. Or maybe she had gotten hungry and decided to get a midnight snack since she gone to bed early and hadn't eaten
ZORA'S POVThe next morning, I felt as though I had been fed through a mangler and kicked by a horse. My body ached. The worst ache was the one in my heart as I watched my little girl go through what no five year old should experience. I had sat by Freya's bedside all night. I had barely slept. I had only dozed fitfully. The whole night had been spent watching Freya, even though the nurse on duty who had regularly come to check in on us, had encouraged me rest. I would not have minded all the inconveniences one bit if Freya had regained consciousness. But she had remained the same through out the night and on to the morning. Work was the farthest thing from my mind. All I thought of was her. At 7a.m that morning, Katherine came in, carrying bags that looked heavy. I dragged my eyes from Freya to her. "Kathy," I said. "You came.""I did. I brought someone along." She glanced at the door which was half open. Finn walked in slowly. He came in and stood close to the door, looking arou
ZORA'S POV"Alright," Elliot said as soon as I unlocked the door. "Show me your kitchen."Without saying anything, I led and he followed. I opened the cupboards as I walked into the kitchen, showing him their contents. He nodded in satisfaction. "You seem to have everything I need," he said, when he had peered into the fridge to see what we had there. "By the way, what did you plan on cooking for her?"I thought for a moment. "I am not really sure but... macaroni and cheese, maybe," I said listlessly."Okay then. Macaroni and cheese it is."Elliot grabbed an apron, put it on, rolled up the cuffs of his shirt and set to work. I leaned against the counter a little away distance from him and watched him cook. As usual, he was very efficient in the kitchen. He chopped up the ingredients faster than w even Katherine. He didn't made a mess and cleaned up as he went. I felt a pang of sadness as I recalled all of the times he used to cook for me, all the times he used to watch me cook- or
ZORA'S POVFrom my place on the chair beside Katherine, I watched Elliot as he adjusted the covers around Freya, as the day had grown a little more chilly. Freya smiled her thanks. Elliot had been here with us ever since. He had watched Freya eat and coaxed her to eat more. I had to admit that he was good with the kids. They seemed to have almost forgotten that they were in a hospital. Elliot had kept them constantly engaged and he showed no signs of tiring. The only time Elliot had left the hospital was after Drew had called him. I had watched him at the other end of the room while he made the call. All the while, he had kept an eye on the twins, Freya especially. Finally, after an intense, hushed phone conversation, Elliot had regretfully taken his leave, saying he had something really important to attend to at work. Finn's face had fallen a bit at the news. Even Freya had not looked too happy about him leaving. He had promised them that he would be back as soon as he attended to h
ELLIOT'S POVZora shrugged. "So you see, that's why I didn't say anything to him earlier."Though she was trying to be very mature about the Derek situation, I could tell that Derek's words had hurt her very much. I saw the tears that had started in her eyes right before I intervened. I would be damned first before I would allow anyone hurt her that way. "That is a messed up way of looking at things. I still stand by what I said. In this situation, you are not the one at fault. You were in a relationship with him and it ended badly. So what? Is Derek the first guy to go through a breakup? I understand that he is hurt and broken up about it, but it is not an issue that he should constantly bring up and torment you about. Derek should get over what happened, suck it up and move the hell on."She shook her head and started to say something when we heard a sound. We both turned to see Freya dragging herself upright. I hurried to her, but before I got there, she was already seating up. Fr
ZORA'S POVI narrowed my eyes at Elliot, stretched out my hand to him and snapped my fingers. "I don't know what sort of game you are playing, but I want you to give me my phone."His brow rose. "Why?"I stared at him in disbelief. "Why? What sort of question is that? It is my device and I have a right to use it however and when I want. Now, hand hand it over."As I took a step forward, Elliot retreated. He gripped my phone tightly and clasped his hands behind his back. He had a stubborn tilt to his chin that I knew so well. None of what I had said seemed to have made an impression on him."I don't think I will," he said after a pause of some seconds. "I think you should go and get enough sleep. Look at you. You look sleep deprived. Your eyes are sunken in and you couldn't have been comfortable dozing in that chair all night. You are a model, you know. Your appearance matters a whole lot. You have to appear well rested. After you've slept, I will er- hand over your phone to you. It i
ZORA'S POVI glared at Katherine, but she still didn't let go of Trey. Elliot grimaced at the scene."Are you out of my mind, Kathy? Can you tell me what the hell is going on here?" I demanded angrily. "I think I have had enough of your weird behavior today. I can't stand it anymore. What is all this about."I glanced over at Elliot who did not seem at all surprised by Katherine's antics. Elliot was just looking at Trey worriedly. When he noticed that my eyes were on him, the frown on his brow smoothed out. Trey had gotten a little over his surprise and began trying to extricate himself from Katherine's grasp."For goodness sake! Can you leave the man alone?" I ground out. "If you still don't realize it, you are manhandling him."After a moment's hesitation and a glance at Elliot, Katherine slowly let go of Trey. She still stood close to him and smiled sheepishly."Alright, spill," I said to Katherine. I pointed an accusing finger at Elliot. "I know you are in this too... whatever thi