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Post by LYDIA G. VAN HELSING on Aug 20, 2015 3:49:59 GMT
Lydia was still trying to get used to not having Stryder around. It had only been one week since he’d gone off to Hogwarts with Lena and Dani insisting that they would take good care of him. It wasn’t all that surprising when Stryder’s letter arrived, informing them on just about everything that had happened after he stepped onto the train and, more importantly, letting them know that he had been sorted into Gryffindor. Lydia would have been proud of him no matter what house he was sorted into, but he’d always had the qualities of a Gryffindor. Lydia had already sent four letters to her son and two care packages not only to him, but to Lena and Dani as well. Though she missed her son a great deal, she was at least happy that he’d finally come around and forgiven her for her mistakes before his departure. She was more than relieved to have patched things up with her son. The heartbreak that had accompanied his supposed hatred of her had been unbearable to say the least. Of course, now that things were good between them, it became very clear that there was something else her son wanted: his parents to be together. He wasn’t alone in this endeavor either. Lena, Dani, and Stryder had spent the remainder of their summer trying numerous methods to get Aiden and Lydia together. Many of their attempts were rather obvious and Lydia had a sneaking suspicion that they’d received a few tips from outside sources. Lydia just wished things could be so simple. Of course she still had feelings for Aiden, but giving into those temptations… it just wasn’t so easy anymore. There were a few times now that she’d allowed Aiden to get close enough to the point that they’d nearly kissed. She’d pulled away each time though. Was she ready for this? There were so many reasons for her to avoid getting in too deep with him, but her biggest issue was her own fear. It wasn’t Aiden’s fault that every time she even thought about being intimate, her mind flashed back to that night with Marc. Without the kids there to serve as a distraction, it was only getting harder to resist Aiden and the undeniable feelings that she still had for him. She wanted to open her heart back up to him so badly, but was she ready for that? As much as the idea of getting close to him scared her, the idea of losing him again just scared her anymore. ”Have a great night,” she said to her last customer, feeling a little guilty for barely paying any attention to her. Her mind was just so wrapped up around Aiden that she was having difficulty concentrating. She didn’t seem to notice though and was in too much of a rush to get home anyway. Night had fallen and Diagon Alley was starting to clear up as the shops were closing. The bell above the door rang as the customer exited, bidding Lydia a good night that she didn’t even hear. She knew Aiden must have been getting bored with hanging out in the shop with her almost every day, but she was still grateful for it… even if it was technically his job to keep her safe. Although, he didn’t seem bored and was always helping out when he could. Unlike Killian that is, who always made a mess and was the opposite of helpful on most days. She still technically had a minute or two until closing, so she didn’t go to lock the door just yet. Instead, she approached Aiden, who held most of her attention already as it was. ”At what point are you going to start demanding that I pay you for your services?” she asked him with a small but pretty smile, taking the broom that he’d been polishing from him and setting it back on its display. She hated to admit just how natural it was for that smile to brighten her face when he was around. It was so quiet in the shop and, for the first time all day, the two of them were entirely alone. As much as she hated to admit it, she would have been a nervous wreck if she were alone with any other guy but him. Marc wasn’t exactly going away. There were moments that she actually started to feel safe and normal again, but then she would look out her window or the shop window and see him standing out there. More than once she’d noticed him following her, but he always kept his distance. She wondered if this was because she was surrounded by aurors or if it was just to taunt her. He was certainly succeeding in scaring her that was for sure. ”I hope you don’t feel obligated to help out around the shop, you know…” She paused for a moment and, not wanted to seem ungrateful, she added, “not that I mind, of course.” Lydia had a handful of employees, but only one or two that she ever trusted with taking over the store when she was off, so she was always grateful for the extra hands. Her green eyes flashed toward him and she caught herself as she looked him up and down, but only for a moment! ”Are you staying tonight, or is someone else coming to take over?” she asked him, straightening out the displays a little, turning her back on him. This was mostly to hide the blush that had crossed her face when she caught herself checking him out. She didn’t want to admit that she preferred it when he stayed the night. She had fewer nightmares when he was around and just felt safer. She tried telling herself that she didn’t care what his answer would be either way, but a part of her knew what she had her heart set on. She had to stop being so stupid and smitten! She wasn’t a sixteen-year-old girl anymore. She was a grown woman and one that shouldn’t be putting herself in a position to be hurt again! Resistance was futile though. Her heart raced and pounded whenever he was near and his gaze often melted her on the spot. She knew that she’d never stopped loving him, but there was something else there now. It was something she couldn’t quite pinpoint… something… well, more. Lydia |
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Post by Aiden L. Blackwell on Aug 20, 2015 17:57:22 GMT
Aiden didn’t mind in the least in helping out around Lydia’s shop when he was on duty, it was rather nice to keep himself busy instead of sitting there tossing a ball in the air over and over like Killian tended to do. Sometimes he dusted the cases and shelves and cleaned anything else he could find to clean but right now he was doing maintenance on one of the broomsticks that he had taken a particular liking too. He stayed out of the way, and usually let Lydia handle the customers unless they approached him directly. He looked up as Lydia approached him and took the broom from him. There was no way he could help but admire the way her dress fit her so perfectly, especially around her boobs and butt. There were times he had almost playfully slapped her in the ass but had caught himself before he could do so. She hadn’t even let him kiss her yet, slapping her in the ass would definitely be going too far. ”You do pay me, you cook me dinner every time I’m here.” He said, giving her his most winning smile. Aiden shook his head at her next comment. ”You know I don’t mind helping out. I can’t stand sitting around twiddling my thumbs, unlike some of my colleagues. Besides, it’s the least I could do since we already inconvenience you by being around all the time.” He told her, catching the way her eyes took in his whole body before looking away. Was she just teasing him? Or were there other reasons why she hadn’t let him kiss her yet? ”If you’re cooking I’m most definitely staying tonight.” He told her with a grin. Of course he was staying anyways but he really did like her cooking, it was almost as good as Sophia’s though he would never tell her that hers wasn’t better. ”I might crash on Stryder’s bed though, I swear that couch is starting to hate me.” He added, rubbing a particular spot on his back that had begun aching whenever he slept on her couch. Aiden |
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Post by LYDIA G. VAN HELSING on Aug 20, 2015 20:45:41 GMT
Lydia looked over her shoulder at him, a blush creeping across her face when he smiled at her. It was the same smile she'd fallen in love with all those years ago. "Yes, it's incredibly inconvenient having Aurors constantly watching over me to make sure Death Eaters don't murder me," she said, rolling her eyes but smiling a little. It wasn't exactly an inconvenience to have Aiden around. Okay, the others had a tendency to raid her fridge and cabinets a lot, but she hadn't murdered them yet. She preferred having them look after her, after all. She'd known them most of her life and trusted them more easily than she would a strange man. It was a relief to have Eric keeping an eye on her son as well, while he was at Hogwarts. After what happened to Maxwell though, Lydia was afraid for them. They were risking their lives for her and the only thing she could do was sit back and wait for the Ministry to catch her father. Then maybe the attacks would stop and she and Stryder could go back to living their lives... although, their lives were a little more complex now. It wasn't just the two of them anymore. Aiden wasn't exactly going anywhere. Nor did she want him to. Of course, he came as a package deal as well.
"You mean all I have to do to get you to go away is stop cooking?" she teased him, flashing him that pretty smile of hers. Of course she would cook for him. It was something she enjoyed doing and it was nice to cook for someone other than an eleven year old boy every once in a while. When he mentioned sleeping in Stryder's room instead of on the couch, Lydia couldn't help but bite her bottom lip. Would it be appropriate to invite him to sleep in her bed? They'd shared a bed before, but the circumstances were a little different now. Was it too soon? More importantly, was she ready for something like that? Was she even thinking about just sleeping in the bed now or was her mind wandering off to a place that it hadn't wandered since... well, she didn't want to think about that anymore. She wanted to put it behind her so badly so that she might have a chance at a normal, healthy relationship.
That was easier said than done, of course. It was hard to let go of such a nightmare so easily, especially when the monster was still lurking right outside your door every night. Besides, how could she let it go when all she'd done so far was lock this secret away so deeply inside of herself? She'd never told anyone. Would she ever? She couldn't imagine that there were many people she was willing to tell, though she could name one in particular...
Watching him rub his back, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. She really had to be more conscious of how much she rolled them. Sophia always told her that her eyes were going to roll right out of her head one day. That always prompted more eye rolling though. "Don't blame my couch," she said to him, moving to stand behind him. "Where does it hurt? Here?" She started to massage the spot that he had been rubbing, very aware of just how close she was standing to him. She was silent for a few moments, her mind wandering off as she tried not to think about how it had once felt to have him hold her in his arms. "Can I ask you something?" she asked him, her voice soft and curious. There was a thought in her mind that had been there for years now, but it was even more pressing now than ever.
She stopped rubbing the spot on his back, a small frown on her face. "If I had told you..." she started, sounding a little unsure. "Right from the beginning that I was pregnant with Stryder... what would you have done?" She was silent, standing close to him and awaiting his answer. Back then, she thought that he'd broken up with her because he didn't love her the way she thought he had. One of her fears was that, if she told him, he would only want to stay with her for the baby. Now that she knew the truth though... her heart ached knowing that she'd not only kept him from their son... but there may have been a chance that they could have become an actual family. Perhaps she could have saved their relationship before it was too late.
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Post by Aiden L. Blackwell on Aug 21, 2015 3:28:47 GMT
”Hey you never know, you might secretly resent us for cramping your style.” Aiden said laughing, they did follow her everywhere she wanted to go, not that any of them minded too much when it was that or her be vulnerable from attacks. He had thought about asking her if she would think about just moving into his home with him, Lena and Dani…then she wouldn’t have to worry as much about being followed twenty-four seven. But he had no idea how she would react to that yet so he had refrained time and time again.
”Noooo you can’t stop cooking, I believe the world would end if you did. Babies would cry if you stopped cooking. Angels would fall from heaven it would be that world ending.” He told her, maintaining a very serious face. Though the seriousness faded away as she began to rub the spot on his back. He closed his eyes to the feeling of her hands on him, something that he had only been able to dream about for years. ”I’ll blame your couch all I want.” Aiden told her, holding back a groan at how good it felt to have her rubbing the pain out of the spot.
”Of course you can.” He said, glancing back at her as she asked if she could ask him a question. When she stopped rubbing his back he figured it had to be something serious and turned to better look at her. Lydia’s question definitely threw him off guard, yeah he had wondered how things would have gone differently if she had told him from the very beginning about Stryder but he had never thought that she would ask him that. Suddenly every thought he had ever had on the subject left his brain and all he could think of to say was ”I would have done this.” Then he pulled her to him and kissed her. Talk about spontaneity.
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Post by LYDIA G. VAN HELSING on Aug 21, 2015 5:15:12 GMT
Whatever answer Lydia had been expecting, it certainly hadn't been that one. Unlike the other times when they had nearly kissed, Lydia entirely surprised herself. She'd been anticipating this moment, but nothing had prepared her for the fact that she was entirely ready for Aiden. She'd expected to pull away again, but she melted into him instead, as if she had been waiting for this for entirely too long. There were small traces of apprehension in the first moments of their kiss, but they slowly melted away.
The kiss certainly caught her by surprise, but she didn't try to stop him in anyway. She could do this. Actually, she was doing quite fine so far. Concentrating purely on him helped to set her mind at ease, helping her to push that night to the very back of her mind. She trusted Aiden and she knew there was no reason to be afraid of him. He wasn't going to make her do anything that she didn't want to do and just thinking this helped to put her at ease.
Her heart was pounding in excitement as opposed to fear and she stood on her toes to reach him a little better. Her arms wound around to the back of his neck and she kissed him back with a passion she hadn't felt in a vey long time. It was amazing how different and yet similar it was kiss him now in comparison to what it was like twelve years ago. She still felt the same heat and passion for him and her heart swelled in her chest just like it used to. She'd never stopped loving him and she was never going to, that much was clear to her. This kiss was unlike any other they'd shared before. There was a longing there, created by twelve agonizing years apart, but there was also a good deal more experience. She wasn't kissing a boy just then, she was kissing a man who had made it clear that he was willing to go to the ends of the earth and back for her. Not to mention she wasn't a teenage girl anymore and there was a fire in her kiss that hadn't been there before.'
It was imperative that she kept her focus on him though. The last thing she wanted was to panic. This was easier than she thought it would be though. The feeling of his hands on her body made her shiver and she pressed herself against him a little tighter, craving more of him. Was she even ready for more of him though? She wasn't sure, but if she was ever going to be ready for anyone again, it would be Aiden.
She never wanted to let go of him again and, in that moment, she understood why she was ready for him. She felt safe in his embrace, but she also felt loved beyond what words could ever explain. When the bell above the door rang, Lydia released his lips, despite her reluctance to do so. "We're closed," she said to whatever idiot had walked through the door. She hadn't locked it yet, but their hours were still posted in the window. For a moment, she just looked into Aiden's eyes, .
"Oh, that's okay, I'm not here to buy anything." The moment Lydia heard that voice, she came crashing down from her high. Releasing Aiden, she turned to see the object of her nightmares in the flesh. The grin on his face was enough to make her feel sick to her stomach. In just an instant, she went from blushing to pale and clammy. She'd been trying her best to put that night behind her, but he was just intent on making her life a living hell. As if him hanging outside of her shop and apartment wasn't enough, now he was getting up close and personal.
There had once been a time in Lydia's life that she stood up to Marc Valen. She'd never stepped down easily and she certainly wasn't the type to cower. In that moment though, one thing was clear: she was deathly afraid of Marc, to the point that just hearing his voice provoked a physical response. She was trembling, perhaps even on the verge of being sick. When his eyes flashed over her entire figure, she suddenly felt over exposed. It felt like his eyes were burning a hole right through her flesh and she crossed her arms defensively.
"Sorry, was I interrupting something?" he asked them in a way that he'd known exactly what he'd been walking in on. Perhaps Lydia should have told Aiden about Marc's stalking from the very beginning, but she'd been so scared and embarrassed. She didn't want Aiden to know how weak she had been, letting this creep touch her and force himself upon her. Her skin crawled and she found herself inching closer to Aiden. "Aiden..." she said to him, her tone saying it all. She couldn't make Marc leave... she'd definitely tried that before and it hadn't exactly ended in her favor. "Aww, don't be like that, doll. I thought you enjoyed my company..." he winked at her, prompting her to shift a little in discomfort. Marc's eyes settled on Aiden. "Besides, I'm just here with a message from a friend...."
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Post by Aiden L. Blackwell on Aug 21, 2015 15:45:12 GMT
Aiden surprised himself by kissing her like that. He half expected her to pull away from him immediately, but when that didn’t happen it just made him bolder. He would his arm around her back and pulled her a little bit closer. There were things you didn’t really realize you missed so much until you had them again, this was one of those things. Lydia’s kisses. Aiden wanted to breathe her in and never let her go again. She was like a drug that he had forgotten he was addicted to until the taste or her passed his lips again. He was more than happy when she moved even closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. It felt all too familiar and had to remind himself to keep his hands from wandering, the last thing he wanted to do was push her father than she wanted to go.
Aiden definitely didn’t want the kiss to end, however end it did when some idiot didn’t read the hours of operation sign and walked right in. For the first time in a long while he felt the urge to growl at whoever it was that was interrupting him. It was a leftover instinct from the attack, something that h had thought had gone away with his cravings for raw meat…but apparently it hadn’t gone away completely. But his other senses where on high alert almost immediately after his urge to growl for he knew this persons scent and it wasn’t someone he wanted around Lydia one bit. But, since it was Lydia’s shop, he figured he would let her give the trash the boot.
It was apparent after a moment though, that it was going to be left up to him to kick Marcus out of the shop. Aiden noticed the change in her immediately. She went from bold and in control to shutting down almost completely she was….there was a fire in Aiden’s eyes as he grabbed her wrist gently and pulled her behind him and to the side he could easily defend, his wand already out. He would kill Marc for whatever he had done to Lydia to cause her to shake uncontrollably and cower in his presence. She had once punched this guy in the face so this definitely wasn’t like her. And he didn’t like the way his eyes devoured her like some kind of sick carnivore looking for its next meal.
”You filthy piece of yesterdays shit, we don’t want to hear your message from Victor, I’m positive I know the gist of it already.” Aiden said, stepped forward towards Marc, putting Lydia even more out of the sick fucks eyesight. When he was gone Aiden had every intention of getting exactly what he had done to her out of Lydia, then he would have a valid reason to go out and kill him.
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Post by LYDIA G. VAN HELSING on Aug 21, 2015 18:01:11 GMT
Lydia didn't object in the slightest as Aiden pulled her behind him. Though she was afraid of what Aiden might be getting himself into by getting between them, Lydia had to remind herself that he was an Auror and had plenty of experience under his belt. And, honestly, after seeing Aiden straight up kill a guy in her bathroom, she wondered if maybe Marc should be the one she was concerned about. Not that she would be. If anything, there may have been a tiny part of her that wanted Aiden to kill him, not just for what he had done to her, but so that he could never do it again. Then maybe she could live her life without constantly looking over her shoulder.
Marc smirked at Aiden, but he didn't go for his own wand, though he probably had it hidden up his sleeve anyway. "Well it's nice to see you too," he said to Aiden, that twisted smile refusing to leave his face. "You're sure about that? Maybe you might want to hear me out. I mean, you do have a kid to consider in all of this, don't you? What was his name again? Stryder?" He walked over to a nearby shelf, picking something up and observing it so that Lydia was in his line of sight once more. She just moved closer to her boy toy though.
Lydia's stomach tightened into a knot when he mentioned their son. He was safe at Hogwarts though. They couldn't touch him there and even if they did manage to get in, she had faith that Eric would protect Stryder until his dying breath. Still, she didn't like hearing the monster even say her son's name.
"Victor's willing to give you one last chance." He set the object back on the shelf, looking over at them both. He was sickeningly satisfied by the way Aiden felt the need to shield Lydia from him. "He won't try to hurt Lydia and Stryder again, but there's a catch." Of course there was, there was always a catch. Lydia wasn't going to make any deals with her father though, knowing he was only going to turn back on his word anyway. "He's willing to trade your life," Marc said, nodding his head at Aiden. "For theirs."
"No," Lydia said without a moment of hesitation, though you could hear the fear in her voice. There was so much more that she wanted to say to him, but she wasn't even going to let Aiden consider that a viable option. Victor would only kill them when he was done with Aiden. There was no making any deals with him.
"You're sure?" Merc said, arching a brow at her response. "You don't even want to talk it over a little. Maybe we could go talk about it over a nice, candle lit dinner, doll. Real romantic. I'm sure I could get you to change your mind." Marc sensed that it was almost his time to leave, but he was relishing in the way Lydia was reacting to his presence. "I'll let you think about that one. Give me a call sometime." He winked at Lydia, only smiling at Aiden as he backed toward the door. Reaching up, he purposefully knocked a glass replica of a golden snitch off of a shelf, causing it to shatter. "Whoops... someone better clean that up. I'll see you around." he said with a laugh, turning around and heading out the door once more.
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Post by Aiden L. Blackwell on Aug 21, 2015 18:29:46 GMT
Of course it would have been too good to be true for Marc to just give up and walk right back out the way he came in. And of course he had to go about messing with things he was better off keeping his grubby hands off of. Aiden watched his every move, ready for anything the scumbag might possibly try. But it seemed that all he really wanted to do was taunt them with the fact that Victor knew about Stryder. He wasn’t the slightest bit idiotic enough to, even for one moment, think about making a deal with a Death Eater. There was no way he could ever believe a word Victor said about not harming his daughter and grandson, not after the lengths he had gone to to kill them already.
”No.” He said about the same time as Lydia, which at any other moment would have been amusing that they were so in sync. ”You can take your little bargain back to Victor and tell him that he can go fuck himself.” Aiden said, following the creep as he backed himself towards the door, knocking a golden snitch off of one of the shelves before finally leaving. He locked the doors behind him, and watched as he disappeared into the blackness of the night. He had to know what had gone on between Marc and Lydia, he hated how he had kept throwing glances at her and saying things that obviously were more menacing than flirtatious.
Aiden walked back towards Lydia, pausing only long enough to fix the broken snitch and watch it float up to its rightful place on the shelf. He stopped in front of her, looking at her…really looking at her, and he suddenly got really pissed that Marc could have such an effect on her. He had to have done something really terrible to get this kind of reaction out of Lydia. He led her upstairs, locking that door behind them as well and then had her sit on the couch. ”I’m going to make you some tea, and then you’re going to tell me exactly what that piece of shit did to you.” Aiden said, looking at her with an expression he often used on Lena when he wanted her to know just how serious he was.
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Post by LYDIA G. VAN HELSING on Aug 22, 2015 0:29:52 GMT
Even after Aiden locked the door behind Marc, Lydia didn't feel like there was enough distance between them. You could put a million miles and a billion locked doors between her and Marc and she wouldn't feel safe from him. Right about then there was only one thing that would actually make her feel safe, but she knew that Aiden suspected something. She could tell by the way he looked at her and she had to avert her eyes. She couldn't help but be ashamed of her reaction to the mere presence of Marc.
Once upstairs, she sat on the couch without any objection, still visibly shaken by the confrontation. She watched him lock the door then before kicking her sandals off and pulling her legs up onto the couch. For a moment, she wanted to laugh at how much like Sophia he sounded. That had always been her answer to everything. "I'll make you some tea and we'll talk about it." "A cup of tea will make you feel better." Tea cured just about everything in Sophia's book, but Lydia had to admit, she always did feel better after having tea with Sophia. Of course, she wasn't exactly in the laughing sort of mood right then.
"I don't need any tea, Aiden. There's nothing to tell." The lie was obvious, but it was also painful for her to say. She'd lied so many times about this, telling everyone who asked that she was alright whenever they noticed her growing uncomfortable or vacant. She'd lied to her friends so many times, unable to tell them that no, she wasn't alright. Talking to Aiden though, it was the first time she felt bad about the lie. She didn't want to lie to him. Lying to Aiden wasn't something she ever really did. She was just so scared and ashamed though. A part of her knew that it was time to tell someone and the only one she could bare to tell was him. She was just about ready to burst, like a dam on the verge of breaking for months now. Perhaps refusing to tell him was a last ditch attempt to patch up the cracks in the dam herself, but she was failing miserably.
She also didn't want him to leave her, even if he would be right over in the kitchen. She felt safer with him beside her at the moment. Even despite her insistence that there was nothing she had to tell him, she could feel her heart aching and the tears welling up in her eyes. She was trying to fight them back desperately, but she'd reached her breaking point. "Nothing happened with Marc." Just saying his name made her sick and she averted her eyes so that maybe he would see the tears building up in them. Couldn't she go a little bit longer without him knowing what she'd allowed Marc do to her? Not to mention... talking about it just made it all the more real. Perhaps she'd kept it bottled up all this time because doing so made it seem more like just an awful nightmare. Acknowledging what he did to out loud seemed unfathomable.
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Post by Aiden L. Blackwell on Aug 22, 2015 3:57:54 GMT
Aiden shot Lydia a look that obviously said that he wasn’t buying any of it. He didn’t know why she insisted on lying to him when it was so plainly obvious that something HAD happened between her and Victor’s sycophant. ”Yeah okay, you want to try that lie again? I don’t think it worked the first time.” He told her. Didn’t she realize that it was a matter of her safety that he knew what had happened? That he couldn’t protect her as much as he should be able to if he didn’t know everything that she was in danger from?
”If you don’t want the tea then fine, I was just offering it so you might stop shaking. But if you don’t want it then that means we can get right to you telling me all about what happened. And no more lying Lydia.” Aiden told her as he grabbed a chair from near the window, turned it around to where the back was facing her and sat down in it interrogation style. If she didn’t want to make this easy then he wouldn’t be nice about it. He might be in love with her but he was there for her protection and that was his first priority right then.
”This will all go a lot quicker if you just tell me...” He said, briefly contemplating using Ligillemens on her but deciding that that might be taking it a bit too far. He was confident that she would tell him, she was just being classic Lydia and being stubborn about it. She probably had some silly notion about him judging her for whatever might have happened. ”I’m not going to judge you you know, so if you’re afraid of that just forget about it.” Aiden added. He probably sounded like the biggest ass alive right then but he honestly just wanted her to tell him the truth and stop pussyfooting around it.
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Post by LYDIA G. VAN HELSING on Aug 22, 2015 5:38:50 GMT
Lydia normally would have responded with sarcasm, but she just didn't have it in her right then. Her throat felt constricted and she turned her eyes back to him as he sat backwards in the chair he set before her. She wasn't going to get out of telling him, that much was clear. Perhaps it was exactly what she needed to do though... let it out.
When he told her that he wasn't going to judge her, Lydia couldn't hold it back anymore. The tears started flowing down her face and she tried to wipe them away but they just kept coming. She didn't want to say it, but she had to. She had to try to breathe or else she wasn't going to be able to get a single word out. Pulling her knees in toward her chest, she wrapped her arms around them, just trying to keep herself together. He was pushing her, but that push was something she needed. Otherwise she was just going to let this secret rot inside of her forever.
"It was six months ago," she said, the floodgates finally opening. It was no coincidence that this time frame coincided with her quitting the team and moving back to open the shop. "Stryder was staying the night at a friend's house and I went out with a few teammates." She paused for a moment, wondering if she could really tell him this. Looking at him though, she knew she had to.
"I had a run in with Marc and went home just a little while after. I didn't realize he followed me. God, I was so stupid, Aiden. I went inside to get ready for bed and when I heard someone knock on the door, I thought it was the neighbor. He got his foot in before I could close the door on him and I went to run for my wand. I was such an idiot, leaving it in the kitchen." She stopped, her stomach turning as she tried to gather the strength she needed to continue.
"He knocked me to the ground before I could reach it and he dragged me to my bedroom." She could remember clawing at the floor and desperately trying to grab a hold of anything and everything as he dragged her along the floor. She'd been so dazed after he hit her though and she just wasn't strong enough to fend him off.
"He bound my wrists to the bed with his belt," she cried, feeling her heart splitting in half. She didn't want to think about this. She didn't want to remember any of it. She just wanted it all to go away and the last thing she wanted to do was continue with her story. "He did such awful things, Aiden... " She was sobbing now as she just couldn't keep it together, her entire body shaking. "He hurt me, he raped me... he raped me and he just left me there to rot."
She wasn't looking at him anymore, refusing to do so as her face flushed. "I hate myself for it. I wasn't strong enough to defend myself. I was stupid for opening that god damn door. I feel like I just let him do it. Like I let him violate me like that. He hasn't left me alone ever since. I know he hangs around outside the shop all the time, watching me and just waiting, like he's going to do it again. I try to ignore him, but I just can't. He makes me so sick and I just can't take it anymore. I'm scared of him, Aiden. I'm downright terrified. I don't want that to happen again. I don't think I can go through something like that again." She was breaking right then and there and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Trembling, she hugged herself tightly and sobbed uncontrollably. "I hate him," she seethed through the tears. "The things he did were just so awful, I can't get them out of my head. I hurts so much I just can't take it. I wish he'd just killed me and put me out of my misery." She just couldn't continue.
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Post by Aiden L. Blackwell on Aug 23, 2015 3:47:33 GMT
It wasn’t until Lydia talked about wishing that Marcus had killed her that Aiden finally snapped. Okay, so he had really been ready to snap at the very beginning but he wasn’t able to go out and kill Marc at that moment, Lydia needed him right then, but he was already panning on what he would do to him the next time he had a run in with Marc. And it wasn’t going to be pretty. Not one bit. There would be lots of blood and probably lost teeth, none of which would be his. It would be a miracle if the guy made it out alive. He’d already killed one guy that messed with Lydia and Aiden wouldn’t mind adding another to that list.
But at that moment Lydia was more important. Aiden got up off of the chair and went around it, grabbed Lydia’s shoulders and gave her a good shake. ”Stop that. Stop that now. That is not the way Lydia Van Helsing talks. If you were dead how do you think Stryder would feel about that? How do you think our friends and family would think about that? How do you think I would feel? We’d all feel lik shit because you weren’t here. I never want to hear you say anything like that again, you hear me?” He said to her, being a little harsher than he had planned. But talking about death was a sore subject with him.
”And another thing. It. Is. Not. Your. Fault. You didn’t walk up to him and go ‘Hey, I’m going to be heading home soon. You should creepily follow me home and wait until I’m comfortable, ring my doorbell and then barge your way into my home after I tell you to leave.’ Did you? No I didn’t think so.” Aiden added, moving his hands from her shoulders to her hands. ”Marc is one of those weak guys who like to make themselves feel stronger by making strong people feel weak and helpless. You are not weak and helpless Lydia. You’re strong, one of the strongest women I know. You’ve just forgotten how to be strong.” Was that getting a little sappy? He thought, but then decided if it was the one thing that got through to her he didn’t really care if it was sappy or not.
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Post by LYDIA G. VAN HELSING on Aug 23, 2015 5:20:14 GMT
She knew he was right. If Marc had killed her that night, there was no telling where Stryder would be. The last thing she ever wanted was to leave him behind... or Aiden. But still, her heart ached. Was she ever going to be able to get past what had happened to her? She was certainly going to try and she knew that if there was one person who would help her, it was Aiden. Telling him was already such a big step for her. When his hands went from her shoulders to her own hands, Lydia stared at them through her tear filled eyes. How is it that even after all this time, Aiden still had the ability to pull her up from rock bottom? Although, this was the farthest she had ever fallen, that was for sure.
"I feel broken," she said to him, though her tears started to slow. She pulled her hands from his grasp, but not to pull away from him. Instead, she found herself wrapping her arms around him, desperate for his warmth and comfort. She didn't want to push Aiden away anymore and she wasn't going to let what happened to her stand between them. The feelings she had for him were surely stronger than the fear Marc had filled her with.
"I love you, Aiden" she admitted to him softly, never wanting to let go of him. Though a part of her was trying to tell her that it was too soon to say such a thing, she opted to tell that part of her to put a sock in it. She'd loved Aiden for as long as she could remember and she'd never stopped, no matter how much distance was put between them and no matter how much she tried to hate him. He already knew that she hadn't stopped. She'd let it slip the night he found out about Stryder after all, but saying it right then and there, it carried a great deal more weight.
There she was, broken and vulnerable, unable to trust even her own shadow... and yet she was giving him the one thing that she had been trying so desperately to protect from further damage. It had always been his after all... so it was more like she was giving it back to him, really. After all this time and after everything they'd been through both apart and together, she was still placing her heart in his hands, trusting him entirely. She knew that she would never love or trust another man the way she loved and trusted Aiden.
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Post by Aiden L. Blackwell on Aug 23, 2015 22:19:26 GMT
Aiden moved from where he knelt in front of Lydia to the couch beside her, wrapping an arm around her even as she wrapped her arms around him. While he was still really pissed off about what had happened to her, and the fact that it most likely happened because her father had authorized it, he knew that he was better off putting that anger on the back burner in his mind for the moment and focusing more on one of the people he cared about most in his life. Aiden leaned over and kissed her temple, something he had done a lot when they were together years ago.
”I love you too.” He replied honestly. There was no way he could go any longer without saying it if she was ready to say it as well. Feeling like they needed a little time to just sit and process things, Aiden reached over and grabbed the tv remote and switched on the television. He flipped through the channels until he came to a show he remembered they both liked to watch: The Simpsons. A little comic relief wouldn’t be bad at that moment either. He settled himself a little more into the couch and pulled her closer.
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Post by LYDIA G. VAN HELSING on Aug 26, 2015 21:27:57 GMT
It felt good to hear him actually say it again. Sinking into him, Lydia let her head rest against his chest, his strong heartbeat helping to soothe her. For a moment, she felt like she was a teenager again. Although, to be honest, they didn't always pay attention to the TV back then. Not the entire time at least. It made her sad to know that she had missed out on twelve years of this sort of thing, but there was nothing she could do to go back in time and fix it. If she could, she would certainly give the past Aiden and Lydia an earful. As awful as it sounded, there was one good thing that came out of what happened with Marc: it was the driving force that brought her home to Aiden.
That moment on the couch had been exactly what she needed... both relaxing with him and her heart breaking admission. Now that the truth was finally out, maybe she could actually set herself free, pick up the pieces of her shattered heart, and learn to trust again... not just others, but herself. Long after her tears had dried, Lydia started to drift off into what was possibly the first bit of peaceful rest she had had in half a year and she knew that she owed that to Aiden. She would never be able to express to him just how safe he made her feel.
Laying there with her head still on his chest, her body warm against him, Lydia was sound asleep, her hand resting over his heart now. Even in her unconscious state of mind, she knew that Marc would never be able to do what he had done to her again... not as long as Aiden was around. From the look of things, he wasn't exactly going anywhere any time soon and neither was she. No more running.
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