And Then She Was Gone

Time To Change

Jason felt as if a tank had rolled over him, targeting his head specifically. He woke up groggily on-top of the bare mattress, his body spread out across its height and width, his frame barely covered by the flat sheet his beta had provided in the early hours of the night before.

His mind flickered at trying to recall what he last remembered from the previous evening. It was dark, his mind blank, it only pulling in fractured moments of sunlight surrounding him as he seethed and drank in excess while meticulously coordinating an irrational revenge against the deeply wooded Pennsylvania pack.

His head was pounding and his ears were ringing as he began to shift in the bed. A strong pointer finger and thumb intensely squeezing at the area where his eyes met his nose in an attempt to release the immense pressure behind his own flesh, a creaking sound exhibiting for only his ears to hear as he pressed firmly against the soft skin on his face.

He searched for his phone, finding no night stand to hold its weight, instead finding its long charging chord on the stripped bed and the devices screen shattered in a spider web like manner. His eyes fluttering open and wincing at the light of the day as he attempted to focus his bloodshot eyes on the now vibrant cracked screen. A panic immediately setting in as he began to delve through the phones contents for some clarity on what occurred the night prior.

Marks face popped into the forefront of his mind, Adolphus' deep tone rang through his ears. Jason had fucked up. He knew it. He just was completely unaware of how badly he fucked up. His anxiety beginning to brew as he saw text message exchanges he did not remember conducting, the last one being sent to Jacob asking for a phone conference with two allying Alphas, to which he received no response. Thankful in finding a long worded, unsent text to Elizabeth with garbled writing and carrying a heavy weight of numerous grammatical errors depicting his stalker-like obsession with her. He immediately deleting the draft of the text to erase the embarrassment of it from his mind permanently.

His deep green eyes rolled over to the open doorway of the bathroom upon his recently found recognition that the shower was running. His ears honing into the slapping sound of heavily displaced volumes of water, only indicative of hair being wrung out as a product was being rinsed from its depths. A deeper embarrassment forming and his jaw tensing as he tightly gripped his forehead, ripping off the bandaid so to speak, as he removed the flat sheet completely from his body. What bitch did he bring home last night?

He didn't remember going out. He didn't see any beckoning texts or calls sent to bring a curved body to his bed. He didn't smell an unfamiliar scent in the surrounding air, his mind in a perpetual want of her scent, and it being the only thing he could recognize no matter how faintly it lingered.

He groaned as he called his body to action, his muscles aching from clear dehydration, threatening to clench into Charlie horses all through his form if he dared to move too quickly. His feet leading him in hesitant pursuit to see who was inclined enough to admit themselves into his personal shower. Immediately halting as he saw the soft figure of a body perfectly ingrained into his memory, but now in actuality being present in the moment.

He once again felt like a stalker as he stared at her through the glass of the window from the bathrooms door frame. His bloodshot eyes donning widening pupils as she washed away the soap from her delicate skin as his mind began to attempt to rapidly piece together the broken pieces of last night. Finding no reprieve, as his prefrontal cortex had already shut down for the night, prior to her arrival. He remembered nothing.

It was as if she sensed his lingering stare as she stopped the shower head and stepped out of the glass walls, grabbing at a towel and wrapping it around her body slowly as she looked at him in a questioning manner. "How are you feeling?" Her voice soft and quiet with a unsure presence, as if he may possibly be in a different opinion about her being here, now that he was sober.

He wanted to ask why she was here, he wanted to know why she had come, but he held his embarrassment closely not wanting to allude he didn't recall, unaware that had his friend had already warned her of that being a most likely possibility when she had arrived. "Terrible." He said in honesty as his physical body had been throughly abused at his own hand the day prior.

"S-should I go?" She asked as her eyes showed a clear uncertainty as she watched him lean against the door frame with reddened eyes, he needing to adopt the lean because of unrested fatigue.

"You're wearing your ring." He said, not even hearing her question as his eyes stared at the flickering stone. He unaware that he had just clearly indicated he had no recall of the previous nights events, having been drunkenly enamored with it as she guided him back to bed and made him go to sleep for the night.

"You're wearing yours." She said quietly with eyes flickering to his own hand, not wishing to say anything else in order to save him from the uncomfort of her recently made clear revelation. She turning to the mirror as she began to brush her hair, all of her hygiene products once removed, now restored on the countertop.

"Are you staying?" He asked, unable to bare the uncertainty of the situation and having to know her answer.

"This is my home, Jason." She said in a clear tone. "I'm staying, but I expect some things to change." Her final words gently spoken but a firmness laying carefully in its tone.

She didn't need it any longer, but she received it nonetheless. A firm validation that he did want her here, as he pulled behind her form and snaked his arms around her body tightly, his face burrowing down into the crook of her neck and inhaling her unique scent. His fingers tightly gripping her as he remembered how he was once decided on letting her go. "I'm sorry." He whispered into her skin electrifying her senses even with the strong pungent smell of scotch on his breath.

Her hand reached up soothingly behind her own head to interlace with his hair and scratch his scalp. "Don't apologize. Just change." She whispered to him. Not wanting him to be a different person entirely, but wanting him to be the person she knew he could be. He didn't say a word and just nodded his head against her skin in acceptance of her shortly worded statement. "I love you. Jason." She said quietly, feeling his arms tighten around her as he burrowed more deeply into her neck. "Go get a shower and brush your teeth." She said almost in a motherly manner, stopping her fingers from scratching his head and switching the motion to a gentle patting of his cheek. Feeling his hold on her tighten even further as she began to have difficulty breathing. "Go, Jason. I'll be here when you get out." His grip loosening at her words and lingering for a few moments longer before he complied with her request.