"Elle...please." I call out after her as she walks past me, clearly in pain, but still managing to keep her nose in the air. Handing me a scathing look I most definitely have earned.

"I'm not talking to you, Mouse. I'm staying with Astrid." Mouse, ouch. She definitely knows where to make a wound hurt, I'll have to remember that for future reference.

"Elle, come on. Don't do this. I promise I'll explain... please!" I cry out desperately as I jog after her. She's clutching at her ribs with the arm thats not in a sling, my guilt threatens to destroy me.

"Look M-"

At my facial expression darkening she hesitates.

"Derek." I swallow in relief as she uses my name. "The problem is, you can explain all you want, but the truth is, I'm still hurt."

Sighing heavily I almost go to give up, to turn away, but I can't. If I go now, she will never let me back in. I need to fight for her, show her she matters.

With one large stride, I'm in front of her, blocking her path. She visibly sags with what I can only hope is relief at my determination.

"Derek I'm tired, please." She whines and I see my opening.

"And you think you'll get any sleep with 2 babies, one only a few months old, and the other barely a year? They still can't sleep through the night."

She hesitates and gulps, finally I know I've got her.

"You're right." She admonishes, "is there somewhere else I can stay?" Hope is evident in her eyes.

A light smirk dances across my lips. "I know a place."

"Oh." She blushes before signalling for me to show her the way.

Gladly, I walk along beside her up a few flights of stairs until my door appears. I had always planned on getting my own place outside the clubhouse, but it felt too lonely on my own. Living in a house with no one to share it with is the coldest. I watched Vidar do it for years, sure he found Astrid now, but for years he relied on alcohol and violence to get by. That's no way to live.

My room is small, comfortable and modest. A king sized bed, a desk and a sofa in the corner. The state of the room never bothered me, but now, seeing it from Elle's eyes, I'm ashamed. She looks up at me with wide eyes, I wince, waiting for her scorn. But instead I am met with her wide eyes and then a smile across her bruised face.

"It's lovely."

"Really?" I look around at the mess on my desk, the blankets strewn around the room, books stacked up on my table and windowsill.

"It's perfect, so homely. So... so you."

I look down at her with an incredulous smile, most people would turn their noses up at a modest room like mine. Sure it's homely, but it doesn't exactly speak for being able to provide for someone.

Elle has walked into the room and is perched on the sofa, picking at her T-shirt.

"No no. You're not sleeping there." I'm utterly astounded she would even think I would let her sleep on the sofa anytime, let alone when she's covered in bruises and beaten.

"B-but?" She looks about confused and moves from the sofa to stand in the middle of the room. I watch horrified as she begins to lower herself to the floor, I make a move and hold her up to my chest.

"You really thought I meant for you to sleep on the floor?" She shrugs and uneasily shifts from foot to foot. "What I meant to was..." I trail off as I scoop her up from the floor and lay her onto my bed. "You would be sleeping here."

"Oh..." She chuckles anxiously, "sorry I'm stupid." I frown and sit heavily beside her, I hate to watch his influence creep back in on her. It hunts her. Sometimes it seems as if she forgets him when she's around me, but then she thinks she's done something and it all appears again.

Taking her good hand, I pull it onto my lap and hold it close. "You're not stupid, little one."

Once again she pushes him from her mind as she giggles at my nickname.

"Why do you call me that? I'm hardly little." I look at her, whilst it's true that she's not exactly little for a woman. She stands at around 5'8 with curves as sinful as lucifer, but her mentality is little and needs protecting. And regardless of her height, I'm around a foot taller than her, so she will always be little to me.

Instead of telling her any of this, I gently take the edge of the T-shirt and pull her towards me. Her face upturns and her little rosebud lips open slightly in expectation. All I want is to capture what's mine, but then my eyes focus in on the split on her bottom lip. The split I could have prevented. Lightly I press my lips to hers, for barely longer than a millisecond, it makes me crave more of her, but I pull back.

Elle lets out a small sigh and leans her cheek against my chest, whilst I know I'm not forgiven, I know she's no longer cross with me. As I stroke her back softly, I realise that the clothes she's wearing are the ones she was bought in wearing. They're coated in her blood, it makes my skin crawl, my stomach clench.

"Would you like to change these clothes?" I ask, looking down at her and tugging on the hem questionably. She nods gratefully and I stand to fetch her some of my clothes to wear. However, her little hand refuses to leave mine so I pull her over to my dresser with me.

I hand her a T-shirt of mine, expecting that to be enough but she hesitates and pulls away from my hand. "D-do you have anything I can wear on my legs?"

Although I'm confused, I'm not going to question what she's asking for. I pull out a pair of my boxers, on her they will come down to her mid thigh. Hopefully, that's acceptable. It seems to be, as she takes both items of clothing with a smile and walks to the open en-suite bathroom.

Once the door shuts I sink down onto the bed, my head in my hands. Now she's in my room, I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to let her go.