L O C K -U P | c. leclerc

24| Shatter

C. Leclerc

Artemis still hasn't talked to me and it is quite unsettling. I thought that maybe we already crossed a barrier of resenting each other but something changed in her after qualifying. She wouldn't even look at me or talk to me after it, the most she did was text me.

It's 3 AM in the morning and I can't sleep.

I hate waiting. I just want to comfort her and tell her that everything was okay. Sometimes I wish I could just telepathically tell her how I feel so she could just come to me but Max was right. I need to give her space.

Suddenly, I heard three knocks on my door. Immediately, I scrambled out of my bed to open the door revealing Artemis. Everything in my body seemed to relax when I saw her. Immediately I took her in my arms and said, "Quali was horrible, I'm glad you're okay."

"Charles, can I just stay with you tonight?," she asked and I replied, "Anything you want princess, do you want to talk about what happened?"

"No, I just want to be with you," she said, a clear sadness in her voice and I nodded and let her join me on the bed. I stroked her hair as she lay on my chest. God, she's so pretty.

I gently kissed the top of her head and asked, "Do you want to talk about anything else? It could help you sleep." She smiled a little and looked at me for a few seconds. Finally she spoke, "I need a haircut, my hair is starting to devour me with its length."

I chuckled and said, "My maman is a good hairstylist. She'd love to cut your hair. She's the only one who cuts mine." She smiled but there was a sadness to her smile. "Hey, what's wrong?," I asked and she took a deep breath then exhaled so slowly.

"Sorry, I just get emotional hearing about mothers," she confessed and I nodded. I wouldn't have known how I would've end up nowadays if it weren't for my own maman, she is a strong woman who kept the foundation of the family even when my father passed away.

I continued to stroke Artemis' hair when I asked, "Do you know what you own maman was like?." She nodded and answered, "Only from my grandfather's stories. Her name was Nailah Adel Devereaux. Her father was a baker who grew up in Normandy then moved to Paris to start his own bakery at the age of 24, and her mother grew up in Egypt and she arrived in Paris at the young age of 18 to pursue some sort of career in fashion."

"Do you know how they fell in love?," I asked and she nodded with a big smile, "Yes, it was always my favourite bed time story. My grandmother was given nothing by her parents when she left. They were furious that she wanted to leave an arranged marriage they set up for her. She fled and went to Paris to hopefully work for Yves Saint Laurent."

"Wow, who'd have thought you'd come from a lineage of dreamers," I teased and she laughed and continued to story-tell, "Anyways, my grandmother was on her way to wherever Yves Saint Laurent was designing when my grandfather nearly ran her over with his car."

"Mon dieu, it's good you didn't inherit his driving skills," I teased again and she laughed even more. The sound of her laughter plastered a smile on my face. God, does she know how special she is?

"She got so upset that she dared him to get out of the car and pick a fight with her. He calmed her down and offered to give her bread and hot chocolate. So, he brought her to his bakery and I think she fell in love with him because the bread was so good," she gleefully recollected.

As time passed, she became more relaxed in my embrace which was all that I ever asked for. All I ever want is for her to trust me and allow me to be her home.

"But anyways," she continued, "Two years later, my mother was born and my mother grew up learning ballet and became a prima ballerina. She met my father on one of her performances in Austria where she played Odette in swan lake. And then I happened. Which my father wasn't too pleased about..."

"Hey it's okay," I reassured her, "You don't need to surround yourself with people who don't want you. You're in good hands now with us. You don't need you father, we'll take care of you."

"Now go to sleep you gremlin, we've got a race tomorrow," I said as I let her cuddle me while I pulled the sheets over us. Almost instantly she fell asleep in my arms.

I chuckled.

She must've been tired.

I close my eyes, ready to sleep, when suddenly my phone buzzed. I checked to see who it was and it was someone I didn't even want to hear from.

I was about to retreat to sleeping when my heart dropped as I read the messages. I had to text back.