Just In Time... But Was It Worth It?

[jenlee]

Aww that ending was perfect, I loved it

[matticus01]

That ending was perfect

I agree with everyone, absoloutely every body

Update soon

[wrongturntaken]

Thanks for all your comments again, this chapter's a bit longer, so i hope you like it.

Chapter 5.

On Sunday Morning Belle woke up to find a single red rose on the pillow of her bed with a small note attached reading, ‘My first attempt.’

Belle laughed to herself, picked up the rose and smelt it, she pricked her finger on one of the thorns and as she went to put the rose back down she caught sight of another note, this one reading, ‘Just in case.’ Attached was a plaster.

Belle laughed, jumped out of bed and got ready for work.

When she got in to work Irene told her something was left for her on the counter. She looked and found a beautiful orchid with a note saying, ‘My second attempt… as pretty as you.’

Belle smiled to herself as she walked in to the kitchen to put the orchid somewhere safe.

“What are you grinning about?” Irene asked her suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Belle answered.

“Yeah, right, what you got there?” Irene asked pointing to what Belle was carrying.

Belle showed her.

“Who’s that from?”

Belle paused, “Aden.”

“I thought you two were over, Belle,” Irene said a bit exasperated with the whole Aden situation.

“I can’t just turn off the way I feel, Irene.”

“So you’re going to get back with him?”

“…when he’s done enough begging and when I’m ready; then yeah.”

Irene sighed, “Just be careful, okay, love? I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“I know, Irene and thank you for looking out for me.”

Irene nodded, “Can you go and open the doors, love, it’s time to open?”

Aden walked into the diner in the afternoon causing Belle’s face to light up with a smile, something Aden didn’t miss. He was getting through and that was as much as he could hope for at this stage.

“Did you like my gifts?” he asked her as she was clearing a table.

“They were gorgeous, thank you,” Belle told him.

“So?” Aden asked not expecting anything.

“Not yet,” she answered with a smile, she knew he didn't really mean it yet.

Over the next week, Belle would wake up every morning and find that there were two roses or three and the number increased as did the days (and the plasters). The two had begun to talk more again which Aden was taking as a good sign, he could see Belle was starting to loosen so that it was time to take step two.

It was 7 days later but instead of 7 red roses on her pillow there was a single white one with a note attached.

The note read, ‘The next step; dinner at my place tonight, just as friends, at seven.’ It was a statement not a question and although Belle had her reservations at first it didn’t take her long to give in when Aden pestered her later that day.

Aden had been wondering what to make all weekend but had eventually decided on the old Lady and Tramp classic of Spaghetti with a Bolognese sauce. Morag and Ross had moved into their new house after Aden had insisted it was fine to leave him there which meant he had the house to himself. This was his chance to prove to Belle that he could be on his own but that he could be with her too.

It was ten past seven when Belle knocked on the door, Aden had been stressing over whether or not she would turn up. He opened the door to see her dressed in a gorgeous black strapless dress which, although sophisticated, didn’t look too dressy for the occasion. After all it was only meant to be a meal between friends, he had chosen a shirt and Jeans thinking that he wanted to look smart but not too overdressed.

“Hey, come in,” he said greeting Belle with a kiss on the cheek.

“Something smells good,” Belle said walking into the house.

“Its spaghetti Bolognese, I hope that’s alright?”

“Yeah it’s fine.”

“Do you want a glass of wine?” Aden asked her.

“Uh,” Belle faltered at Aden’s newfound sophistication. “Are you going to have one?”

Aden paused, “Actually I’ve decided not to drink.”

Belle looked surprised so Aden continued to explain.

“I saw what it did to my dad, and last week was a once off, I’m not going to let what happened to him happen to me.”

“That’s really great,” Belle told him; impressed at his maturity. “Speaking of your dad, I never asked you what happened about… you know…”

Aden smile was briefly wiped off his face, “Well, the police said they found no reason to suspect the death was suspicious, so…”

“They’re right,” Belle said placing a hand on his shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault, Aden, he did it to himself.”

Aden gave her a small appreciative smile before changing the subject, “I think it’s ready, shall we go into the kitchen?”

“Love to,” Belle said with a smile as they walked into the kitchen. Aden held out the chair chivalrously for Belle to sit on.

Belle laughed.

“What?”

“Well… I hate to use these words but this is just a very ‘grown up’ kind of evening,” Belle said.

“Belle, I hate to tell you this, but we are grown ups,” Aden said; laughing.

“I know, but you know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” Aden answered as he drained the pasta. “Sorry, I didn’t get you that glass of wine,” he added leaving the pasta and going to get a class.

“Aden, don’t worry about it,” Belle said. “…if you’re not going to drink; then neither am I.”

Aden smiled, “That’s very commendable, but I’ve bought the bottle now, and if I’m not going to drink it, then who is?”

Belle narrowed her eyes, “You’re just trying to get me drunk aren’t you?” she said jokingly.

“The thought had crossed my mind,” Aden answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

“No seriously,” Belle started. “Why don’t you save the bottle for when Roman comes back?”

Aden’s smile disappeared.

“They are coming back, Aden,” Belle insisted.

“I know, I just wish I could be out there looking for them too,” Aden told her going back to sorting their dinner out.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Belle said smiling at this proactive Aden.

He put Belle’s dinner down in front of her, before putting his own down and joining her, “It looks great,” she told him.

“Thanks.”

They both sat eating and talking, joking around and having the best time either of them had had in quite a while.

When Aden had finished his plate he was complaining he was still hungry so put his fork into Belle’s pasta.

“Hey!” she exclaimed but Aden couldn’t say anything in return as he had already put it in his mouth with a string of pasta leading back to her plate.

Belle sighed before gathering up her own pasta. As she was eating it she began to lift her head up and looked at Aden realising that they were eating the same bit of pasta and getting closer to each other. As soon as she realised this she swiped at the spaghetti string with her fork breaking them apart.

“I’m not doing that!” Belle exclaimed, “That’s ridiculous!”

Aden just laughed, “Yeah, it was pretty ridiculous.”

“You realise if that did just happen; you’d be a tramp,” she told him.

“I’m okay with that,” he replied.

“Ah,” Belle said in realisation. “I see your real reason for spaghetti Bolognese for this date tonight.”

“I thought this wasn’t a date,” Aden said.

Belle smiled intriguingly and leant in towards him as she said, “Well if it’s not a date; I suppose friends have been known to step out of their… definitive boundaries.” He smiled at her as their lips met in the middle and they kissed for a while letting out what they had been missing for the past few weeks.

When they pulled apart, Aden couldn’t wipe the grin off his face, “So does this mean I’m forgiven?”

Belle smiled and nodded her head gently, “…but Aden, I don’t want to rush back into anything, can we just go slowly?”

“That sounds great to me,” Aden said glad of the new chance he’d been given. He wasn’t going to blow this.

[wooo_im_cool]

aww that was cute

update soon?

[matticus01]

YAY *jumps around the room*

Awwww that was so cute, so lady and the tramp

Well Im glad they are back on, slowly sounds very good atm, Aden is like such a sweet guy *wishes he was my guy* I would love to wake up to roses on my bed, and at work lol

Well update soon

[jenlee]

That was too cute I loved it

[wrongturntaken]

One of my aims in this story was to use different characters to express different opinions for the themes so that's why one of the characters reacts in a certain way to something in this chapter. And i don't claim to know what a therapist would actually say but i had to do it for the chapter to work.

I wasn't going to put this chapter here but since i said i'd give you regular updates i thought i better put this one in.

Warning: Mentions of sexual abuse.

Chapter 6.

It was lunchtime on the Tuesday following Aden and Belle's 'get back together' date, when Irene had asked Belle if she could bring Aden round for dinner that night so she could have a proper chance to get to know him.

Belle was appreciative of the act and was glad that Irene was finally trying to understand what she saw in Aden.

Aden wasn't so sure it would change things but wanted to make the effort for Belle's sake. They had only just gotten back together and he didn't want things to go wrong again. He knew what he wanted and this time he was going to hold on to it.

He showed up promptly at 7 and presented Irene with a desert which she was surprised by.

"Thank you," she said showing him in.

Belle smiled as she saw Aden looking smart but casual in Jeans and a shirt. He smiled back nervously at her, they had been dating a while overall but he still hadn't really had a proper conversation with Irene.

"Annie will be joining us," Irene told him as he took a seat next to Belle at the dinner table.

"It smells great Irene, what are you cooking?" Aden asked politely, trying to suck up which Belle thought was pretty hilarious and laughed gently to show it.

"It's a stir fry, is that alright?" Irene answered, not sure whether to be impressed or annoyed by Aden's courteous attitude.

"Yeah, it's great," he shouted back to Irene who was in the kitchen dishing it out.

Belle looked at him, "You know, you haven't even said hello to me.

Aden gave her a knowing look, took her hand and bent in to give her a kiss as Irene turned around to look at the pair annoyed at how sweet they looked together.

Annie came down the stairs at the same time, "Hi," she said to Aden sitting down at the table. She could see that Aden had changed but she was still weary of him, after everything he had done to Geoff she felt she had a right to be.

"Right, grubs up," Irene said placing the plates in front of everyone before sitting down herself. She was about to start digging in when Annie spoke up.

"Irene?" she said.

Irene put down her cutlery and held out her hands to Belle and Annie who she was sat in the middle of. Aden looked taken aback as Belle and Annie held out there hands to him.

Aden hesitated to take them, a fact which Belle noticed, but after a pause he did.

Annie said Grace before they all began eating. Annie had looked at Aden's reaction after she said Grace and hadn't ever seen anyone looking so solemn, but as they began to eat, the look disappeared.

They had started a conversation about people changing and were referring to Jai, who's attitude change had convinced Irene and Miles to let Jai and Annie see each other.

"It just proves people do change," Annie said chatting animatedly as she had been all night. "I mean look at you Aden…"

Aden looked up from where he had been twirling the noodles with his fork, "What?"

"You've changed a lot. I mean you couldn't even have a civil conversation with me or Irene a few months ago. I never knew what made you change, I mean… why did you used to act the way you did in the first place? There must be some explanation for it."

Belle closed her eyes and sighed, she knew what was coming now.

"That's none of your business!" Aden shouted angrily standing up and storming off into Belle's room.

Belle gave it a moment, "I'll go and see if he's alright," she told the other two.

"Excuse me?" Irene exclaimed.

"What?"

"Shouldn't you be asking Annie if she's okay, she's the one he was just rude to?"

"You don't understand Irene," Belle stated.

"Yeah, I don't… and if he's going to be like that then I don't want him in the house, Belle," Irene told her.

"Irene!"

"I'm sorry Belle, but I am not having someone behaving like that in my house!"

"Don't you think there was a reason for it?" Belle said angrily to Irene as she walked past her to go and see Aden.

Belle walked into her room to see Aden sat that with his head in his hands. "Hey," she said softly.

"They hate me, don't they?" Aden replied standing up.

"They don't know you Aden."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone off at Annie like that, I just…" he stopped.

"What?"

"I just don't know how to react if people ask me things like that," he explained looking at Belle.

She smiled and went in to hug him. They stayed there for a few seconds, just holding each other before Aden spoke.

"My therapist thinks that it might be good for me to tell people I think I can trust so they can understand me more."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Belle asked him concernedly.

"I don't know… I still feel ashamed about what happened," he told her sadly.

"Aden, what happened wasn't your fault."

"I know that, Belle, and people keep saying it but… for years that was all I felt; ashamed, guilty and feeling as though it was all my fault. I can't just turn those feelings off even if I know they're wrong. Dealing with it doesn't mean it still doesn't hurt."

Belle listened intently to understand where Aden was coming from.

"It'll get better," she comforted him.

He smiled at her, "It's already started to."

"Do you want to go back out?"

"…as much as I'd rather stay in here with you, I really think I ought to apologise."

"Okay," Belle said gently, taking his hand in hers and leading him out of her door so they could face the others together.

Irene was clearing the plate into the kitchen but sat back down when she saw the couple come out.

They sat down at the table again. "Annie, I'm sorry for going off at you like that, it was wrong of me."

"Did Belle tell you to say that?" Irene interrogated him angrily.

"Irene!" Belle defended, "of course not!"

"I still want an answer to my question," Annie said matter-of-factly.

"Annie, no offence," Belle chimed in before Aden could say anything, "…but it really is none of your business."

Irene gave her a funny look; obviously she knew something about Aden that they didn't, which would explain why she suddenly became so close to him.

"Belle, it's okay," Aden said looking at her. "I think I should tell them…"

"…are you sure?" Belle asked him, concern all over her face.

Irene crossed her arms and sat back in her chair, ready to listen to what she was sure would be a lame excuse.

Aden nodded his head, "I think so." He turned to Annie, "Annie, you know what happened to Melody… at Nicole's party?"

"Yeah, it was awful," Annie said shaking her head at the memory of it all whilst Irene had unfolded her arms and leant in to listen more intently.

"Well, something like that… happened to me…" Aden said slowly as Irene let out a gentle gasp and Belle grabbed Aden's hand for support as it had started to shake.

"I don't understand," Annie said; obviously confused. "You're a boy, you're meant to be the strong one."

Aden thought he should explain as Annie obviously couldn't understand what he was implying.

"When I was younger…" he started slowly and continued his sentences in a broken way, "…my dad was a drunk, and… he couldn't really look after us," he added looking down into his hands which he was fiddling with as Belle held on. A lump was forming in his throat as he continued, "Social services moved my Grandfather in with us…" Irene had placed a hand over her mouth and had the start of tears in her eyes. Aden looked directly at Annie as he said, "My Grandfather… abused me and my brothers…" Annie looked as though she still couldn't comprehend what Aden was telling her, "…sexually," he added looking down again in shame.

"…but, he was a man," Annie said.

"Yeah, he was… sick, in the head," Aden said; some of the old anger towards his grandfather starting to come back.

"I'm sorry, I just don't get this," Annie exclaimed. "Why would you let him do that to you?"

Aden's head jerked up, "Annie, I. I didn't let him… I was really young… I didn't know what was happening until…" he choked off the words.

"…but why didn't you tell someone?" Annie persisted.

Aden was getting angry at Annie's reaction now but was trying to keep his cool, "Who would I tell? My mum was dead, my dad was a drunk, and already knew anyway, and the teachers at school never cared," he finished with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"That's so wrong," Annie said.

"Yeah," Aden breathed in agreement.

"You're wrong," Annie added and Aden looked at her hard for a second not saying anything as Belle had anger written all over his face and Irene didn't know what Annie's reaction would cause Aden to do.

He took in a sharp intake of breath as though he was about to cry, "Excuse me," he said before running out of the house.

"Annie! How could you say something like that to him?" Belle exploded.

"Belle, Belle, calm down," Irene said to her.

"Calm down! Do you have any idea how much strength it took him to tell you two that?"

"Belle, you go and find Aden, and I'll deal with Annie," Irene told her and then added quietly so only Belle could hear, "…she doesn't understand these kinds of things."

Belle gave a scathing look at Annie before leaving the house to find Aden.

She found him on the beach. He was crying but wiped away the tears as she approached and flinched when she placed a hand on his arm as she sat down beside him.

"Don't touch me, Belle, you heard Annie, I'm wrong," he said; not looking at her.

"You know that that's not true," Belle told him.

"…but it's what people will think, isn't it?" he added looking up at her.

Belle sighed, "Aden… Annie… she's naïve about these kinds of things; she just can't comprehend that something like what happened to you could actually happen. You know how close she was with her own grandfather; I think it makes it difficult to see things from your perspective."

This didn't do anything to improve Aden's mood.

"She's one person," Belle tried to explain. "Not everyone you decide to tell will react that way."

"How can I know that, Belle?" Aden asked her.

"You can't but you just have to make sure you can trust whoever you do tell, Annie's young and I don't think she can understand the consequences of what happened to you. She doesn't realise that it's not a one time thing; that you carry it with you wherever you go."

Aden gave a small smile, "I don't know how you do it Belle, I didn't think anyone would ever understand, but you just described how I feel a lot of the time."

Belle returned the smile, "…it's because I know you, and… I love you."

Aden smiled, "I love you too," he answered as he leant in to give her a gentle kiss on the lips.

"Do you want to go back to the house?" Belle asked. "Irene was going to talk to Annie but she'll probably be in bed by now anyway?"

Aden hesitated for a second, "Yeah… okay."

Belle stood up and held out her hand for him which he took and they walked hand in hand back to the house.

[Zetti]

"I'm gonna get you back, Belle," Aden told her firmly.

She turned her head and said shortly, "Good," before leaving the diner.

Yayy, you have made a happy bunny, I cant wait

[matticus01]

Oh my GOOOOOOOOOD *tear*

That was so emotional, good on you Aden for telling Irene and Annie... even though Annie doesn't understand . .. she will come to terms with it . . .

And Belle. . . For being there for him . . . I loved it well done

[adelle]

Awesome update!!!! Can't wait to read more

Update soon