The next events happened like a blur. Elizabeth followed the man who had found her down the sidewalk for what seemed like hours, but must have only been ten minutes. When they did finally stop, it was to walk into a very tall building. Elizabeth's mind wasn't completely focused on what she was doing in the present moment, so it was hard to say where he was actually taking her. She kept going back to what her life was just a few short hours ago. Surrounded by the endless darkness and how much it had hurt for her shoulders to be pulled back the way they were in it. The chances of being found by a stranger then being taken somewhere safe didn't add up to her. She was either very lucky or very unfortunate.
Right now she was counting on her being lucky.
She kept her head down and followed the feet in front of her. At least she was no longer blind folded even if her wrists were still tied together. They walked through what looked like a hotel lobby. There was a big desk with three people behind it in the center of the room. In the corners of the room were a few bar tables with chairs surrounding them and most of the tables had people at them with their drinks. Waiters were busily taking orders and going through doors in the area to the left next to what looked like a gift shop. Elizabeth didn't need to raise her eyes to know that as soon as they passed the sitting people the whispering that erupted from the groups the whispering was about her.
She couldn't very well blame them. Elizabeth knew that her hair was a mess, that the fuzzy stitch pj pants was out of place for a place like this, and that she had her hands tied in front of her like she was a still a prisoner here. God, this was embarrassing. Elizabeth made a mental note that embarrassment was better than death. When they finally got to the elevators on the other side of the big desk, Elizabeth was ready to crawl under the covers of any bed right now and never come out. She also didn't know when the tears had started to fall down her cheeks.
"Hey," The man's voice startled her into looking up at him, "you are safe here. I didn't want to ask you a lot of questions in the lobby, everyone in there is super nosy." He reached out to gently place a hand on her shoulder and Elizabeth felt the tears fall faster.
"You are safe here. Do you know where you are at?" The man asked.
"N-no." Her voice was a broken whisper.
"This is The Quade Night Hotel, and I'm going to take you to Mr. Quade." The man had turned his face away from her when he had started talking about taking her to Mr. Quade, pressed the 18th floor button and then type a passcode on a number pad next to the list of numbers. Elizabeth hadn't ever seen a keypad like that at a hotel and Elizabeth knew what hotel she was in now that she had been given the name.
It had been a big deal when the original Mr. Quade wanted to build this hotel, because it was going to be a big building. She remembered her dad talking about it with her mom once when she was probably in middle school. The city didn't want to build it, because they thought it wasn't going to make enough money or something like that, she really didn't know. But it had been built, and then Mr. Quade died leaving behind his sons and a widow. This Mr. Quade had to be one of those sons. She didn't know much about the family. Elizabeth didn't care to keep up in the town gossip and the city government like her parents and their friends did.
"I've never been here before." She lowered her eyes back to the floor after the light passed six. If she was going to be honest with herself she didn't know why she was here. She didn't know why she hadn't immediately asked for a phone to call her father.
"When we get to Mr. Quade, I would like to call my father, please." Elizabeth whispered, wanting to cry all over again.
"No problem. What's your name? Mr. Quade will probably still be in his meeting right now. But I'm supposed to report back to him if I find anything strange. And Miss you're strange. You shouldn't be wonderin' around alone inna night. You're tied up. You don't even have your sneakers on." He was listing of reasons for bringing here and he was smiling comfortingly at her, too. But his voice said that he was being very serious.
"My name is Elizabeth Jones." She gave him her name and didn't know what else she was supposed to say to the rest. It didn't matter at that point though because his face brightened into a bigger smile than before, one that showed his teeth.
"Mr. Quade will be so happy." The elevator door dinged and then opened. He stepped out the doors on to the 18th floor and turned around a short corner that opened up into a long hallway on either side. Elizabeth followed the way he went with her head turned to look back the other direction. The hallway that way was well light with doors on either side. When she looked back forward, the two were approaching a small lobby that had a dark blue couch and a grey coffee table for the people who had to wait to enter through a set of double doors. She assumed the doors led to Mr. Quade's office. There was a desk that had a woman with light brown and grey streaked hair sitting behind it.
She looked up with blue eyes behind her computer monitor and smiled over the top. The woman was obviously the receptionist of the hotel.
"Hello, Mikey, who is your friend?" She asked politely and her smiled stayed in place, but something about the way she looked at Elizabeth made her feel wrong for being here.
"Hey, Mrs. Rooney. It's her, it's Elizabeth Jones." The way Mickey said her name was like an announcement. He stretched one arm out towards her as a presentation. Suddenly, Elizabeth didn't feel wrong for being here.
Mrs. Rooney's mouth dropped open and her hands came up around her mouth in a gasp. She hurried, a little faster than Elizabeth would have thought the slightly plump woman could have done, to stand from her seat and rushed to the doors that were in front of them. Without even knocking, Mrs. Rooney opened one of the two doors wide for them to enter.
She stepped into the room clearing her throat, "Mr. Quade, Mickey is here from his patrols. It's important." Mrs. Rooney returned through the doors and waited for them to make their next move. Her smile was encouraging and if Elizabeth wasn't mistaken she saw her eyes water with unshed tears.
Mickey looked over at Elizabeth and gestured her to go forward. She didn't know what her face looked like, maybe it was scared, but she took her steps forward and Mickey followed next to her. Mrs Rooney waited until they were through the doors before she followed after them and shut the door with a loud click. Elizabeth wanted to turn her head away from the closed door. She wanted to be able to face the room. But she didn't want to face the people that was going to be inside. Mickey had said on the elevator that Mr. Quade was in a meeting. That meant that right now they all had just intruded on a possibly important meeting.
"Michael, what's this?" Elizabeth heard a voice she didn't recognize and she forced herself to look forward to the room. Her eyes never found the person of the voice, because as soon as she lifted her blue eyes they were met by glowing brown eyes. Brown eyes that she had thought about down in that dark room. Their eyes meeting was like an instant flash of fire through her veins. She instantly felt safe and she couldn't explain why. Elizabeth knew that this man wasn't the cause of her recent pain. She felt her feet step forward on their own and Elizabeth didn't feel like telling them to stop.
The tall mystery man from her shop was standing across the room-clothed this time- in grey dress slacks and a grey button down shirt that was tucked into his pants, and the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He was across the room to her faster than her feet had been able to take her forward. Once he reached her, he took her hands into his own. They were warm wrapped around her fingers and both of his hands made hers disappear. Those hands made her feel more grounded in the present than she had this whole time since she'd smashed the mirror over the goon's head.
Elizabeth found herself wanting to collapse against him and it was taking a lot in her to not do exactly that. Didn't she deserve that though? A handsome knight with shining armor, riding on a noble white horse coming to rescue her just in time to stop the evil dragon that wanted to burn her to ashes with its fiery breath.
("My Twin Flame, our souls that were once split lost to wonder eternity in search of it's Twin,
Will finally burn in union as One once more.
The fates have brought us together,
I, Dashiell Quade, accept the pull my soul feels to you, Elizabeth Jones, and seal our fates together.
Our hearts to be reunited
Without you my heart had no purpose.
With my Twin my soul will burn with purpose for eternity.
By divine purpose our untied Twin Souls shall conquer heaven and earth.
In this lifetime and the next our internal flames with search the other out, because only together can our sealed souls bring peace to Earth.)
As his words flowed over her there was no denying the truth she felt in them. Dashiell, she loved the way his name sounded to her ears. She loved the way their names sounded together. Elizabeth and Dashiell. Something in her heart cracked open filling her chest with a warmth that spread itself outward towards the man who held her hands. Elizabeth wanted to melt into his body, because it felt right to be as close to him as possible. The warmth from his words flowed through hands and she felt the warmth move between the connecting skin. It was electric and she couldn't take her eyes from his even as the heated sensation flowed between their touching flesh. And yet when he bent his head close to her, she jerked her whole body away.
Elizabeth pulled her hands close to her chest; scared that he would reach out to touch them and once more would pull her into the rising heat that his touch had brought to her. Even now no longer in his embrace, she could still feel the odd sensation that filled her just moments before. The warm feeling had slowly started to search out the pain that she hadn't gotten around to healing yet. When the warmth had found a particular sore part of her soul, it had caressed the hurt, soothing the ache away. Worse thing is: Elizabeth wanted the healing warmth to continue to fill in those cracks in her soul she felt needed the attention.
Elizabeth ignored the flash of hurt that crossed the other's face. Somehow that flash stung herself, too. She chewed her bottom lip.
"Can I please call my father? I want to let him know that-" she couldn't finish her sentence, because the words got stuck in her throat.
"Theodora, can you please go and get Marlin. He would be more than happy to see his daughter." The first voice that she heard when she had arrive into the room spoke and Elizabeth followed it to another tall man. He was standing at his full height in front of an office desk. This man was built with a broad chest and long muscular legs. He had shiny raven black hair that was pulled up on the back of his head messy-man-bun style. Elizabeth found him intimidating and striking to look at. His bright grey eyes were covered by thick furrowed black brows.
An oddly small woman, dressed in a cropped t-shirt and jeans, practically skipped over to the tall dark haired man. She had long bright red curls that reached down her back. Another tall dark haired man sauntered over with her. Everyone in here was tall compared to Elizabeth and this other woman. Elizabeth was taller than her though to be fair. This dark haired man wore his hair down and his hair had a similar curl texture like the red haired woman. He wore a designer suit, what kind Elizabeth couldn't begin to tell, but he looked good in it. He wore a gold watch on one wrist and had gold hoops in each ear.
Elizabeth noticed a tattoo on his neck but didn't want to focus too much on it. Everyone's eyes in the room was on her now and she felt uncomfortable with the extra attention. The one who had the neck tattoo wordlessly reached into his pocket and walked over to Quade and her. She didn't want to think of him as... not yet. Not until she was sure he wasn't the one who had kidnapped her and held her hostage. Suddenly, there was a flick of motion before her eyes and she saw a flash of silver.
Before she could protest to anymore action, he had cut through the rope that tied her wrist together. Instinctively, Elizabeth rubbed each wrist. The run in the tunnel had only been a false sense of freedom this whole time. Elizabeth watched the black ropes fall to the ground in a dramatic heap. No longer holding her hostage. Elizabeth smiled and her eyes closed.
"Thank you." She opened her eyes. His own grey ones were smiling back at her.
"The pleasure was all mine. However, normally I'm the one tying those, and only when there is begging-"
"Thank you, Maverick." Said the almost identical dark haired man. His voice was deeper though, it vibrated along her skin.
"Theodora, I will escort you to get our friend, Marlin." His voice was like dark velvet, deep but smooth. The redhead gave him a cheeky smile while walking up to them and hooking her elbow with his.
She nodded her head to Elizabeth, "I will be back as soon as I can be. Just hold on a little while longer."
And then they were gone out the doors, past Mrs. Rooney who was still standing near them. That left Elizabeth with her mystery man, Mr. Quade, Mr. Man-Bun, and another tall handsome man. He was quite possibly larger than Man-Bun and he was standing at the edge of the desk with his arms folded across his chest, making the muscles in them bulge against his dark chocolate skin. Nothing on the man was small, bulging arms, broad chest, and thick muscular legs.
He was like a huge grizzly bear. The dark skinned man was wearing a black sweater that was tight on his body, but didn't look uncomfortable and a pair of dark denim jeans. Each ear had a multiple piercings. One ear had sharp looking gold spikes and the other had a black gem with two gold hoops above it. Both held a diamond in the lobe. She could see he had a piercing in his eyebrow, too. It was his oddly yellowish eyes that were looking directly at her and following her every move, that finally made her look away from the stranger. Again, everyone in this room was super tall, handsome, and intimidating.
Well, actually she took that back. The one standing in front of her didn't intimidate her with his size. She had already taken a step back from him, so Elizabeth tried to sneak a peek at him without her neck craning upward. Elizabeth didn't consider herself a short woman at almost a full 5'6", but his height made her feel small enough that it gave her a weird sense of balance. Balance between being small enough for his arms to crush her easily and small enough to want to have only his arms make her safe. And that feeling was terrifying her. So to make her feel better about the current switch of events, Elizabeth stepped back.
"Elizabeth, where have you been?" The man with chestnut curls used her first name, again. And the sensation of his voice tingled in her heart.
"I'm not going to tell you, Mr-" she began.
"Dashiell. My name is Dashiell Quade. Quade Night Hotel is my home and business. I'm very grateful to see you here. Alive." She watched him swallow a few times and for the first time she noticed that he had a stubble growing up his neck and on his chin. The last time she had seen him he was clean shaven.
"I'm alive." She whispered.
"I've had my team out searching for you. It's not your fault, but you may have stumbled into an old family feud." Man-Bun walked up to them with a small smile. "Detective Crux Bishop, over there," he said pointing to Pierced-Grizzly-Dude, "works with my brothers and I. You have been missing-"
"Five days! I have been missing for five fucking days!" Elizabeth snapped. She had rescued her-damn-self from that dark cell.
"Yes," he started again, gently this time, "for five days. Crux's team has been searching for you for four. There was nothing to go on from your apartment, so we had to start from our enemies first. We believe that it's possible they discovered your connection to Dash and took matters into their own hands, so to speak."
"Connection to-to," she stumbled over his name but forced it through her teeth, "Dashiell?" When she finally said his name out loud, her mouth gasped open and she watched his eyes widen at the same time. That same warm filling sensation burst forth and was searing its way through her skin. She looked down at her hands and swore they had a faint shimmer to them. Elizabeth hurriedly looked back to Dashiell and saw that he had a similar glitter over him. The center of his chest was pulsing with the glow and the pulse seemed to be in time with her heartbeat.
The spell finally broke when Dashiell took a hesitate step towards her and again she stepped away fast. The pain she saw on his face this time was undeniable and it made her ache, too. This was too much. This was crazy. They thought she had gone through all of that hell, because of a moment in a bookstore? They were fucking nuts. She didn't want to be apart of whatever drama movie they were trying to dump on her. To make this clear, Elizabeth started to shake her head and slowly back away. She turned and would have run through the doors, but the door opened and someone she had dreamed about walked through it. Her father.
The older man made a groaning sound and rushed forward picking her up off the ground. Elizabeth didn't care that the wind had been knocked out of her lungs, because her daddy's arms were around her. And she was spinning in circles as he twirled them around, placing wet-whisky-kisses on her cheeks. She couldn't tell if the kisses were wet because she was crying or because he was crying but she kissed his cheeks back. Finally, Marlin let her slide down his big belly to the ground, but he didn't let go of his daughter.
"Where have ya been, Beth?" He sounded stern like he had been with her when she was a teenager getting home past curfew. However, she had learned long ago sometimes the stern sound to his voice was just him containing his emotion.
With a small glance over her shoulder at the two men still standing there, Elizabeth faced her father completely turning her back to them and whispered.
"I was kidnapped dad. By these two goons. One really needs to learn about soap and the other could take a chill pill and be ok." Quickly, she forgot about her other audiences in the room and wanted to tell her father everything.
"I was kept in a dark room and chained to a wall." A deep growl erupted from behind her causing her to spin around to see where it came from. When she turned, Dashiell was breathing hard and his face was contorted in a sneer.
"Dash, it's not the place." The other man's deep voice warned. The normally brown eyes staring at her were almost a dark orange color and she could see the burnt color fade away to only the light brown eyes she knew. Elizabeth knew that everything was finally starting to weigh down on her mind now. First, she swore she glowed and now his eyes changed colors. She needed to find a bed.
"Maybe we should talk about this more later," she suggested glancing at her dad. She caught though the glance that was shared between three that stood behind her father.
"No, it needs to be talked about now, while it's fresh in your memory. I will contain myself, Evander." He rolled his shoulders back and then took a calming breath. Brown eyes looked over at her telling her that she was ok to continue talking. Elizabeth wanted to find a way to comfort him, but found herself wondering why she cared at all. She moved closer to her father and his arm tucked her into his side. Safe. Dashiell was right. She needed to speak her part of this crazy ass story.
"He's right," she rolled her shoulders back, too.
"Let's get this over with so I can get some freaking sleep in a nice warm soft cozy bed, because my shoulders hurt from sleeping standing up. I'm standing here with a bunch of strangers in my stitch pjs. I want to go to bed." Her words contradicted themselves, but she was still going to get the job done. Just like her mother had always told her when she was crying about wanting to quit the 3rd grad spelling bee because she couldn't spell Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as the surprise bonus word at her elementary school's spelling final. You're allowed to have your feelings, too and get the job done.
Dashiell made way for her dad and Elizabeth to walk over to the nearest chair facing the desk. Marlin let go of his daughter for the first time since seeing her to turn the chair facing the rest of the group. He took his place behind her and grasped one of her hands in his own. Elizabeth was grateful for her father's hand in her own. It gave her some strength. Enough to say what she needed to.
"Five nights ago, I closed my store and went home. It was almost midnight and two men broke into my house and took me. One hit me really hard across the face to knock me out." She reached up to the spot, knowing a purple bruise was there.
"I-I think I was passed out for a while, because I don't remember how I got where I got or how long it was before I woke up."
"Did they hurt you, baby?" He father's voice was steady but she could still hear the threat that was there left unspoken.
"No, I wasn't touched like that, but I thought I might have been there for sex trafficking." She looked up at her father with a reassuring smile. And she didn't chance a glance over at Dashiell, who had not taken his eyes off of her the whole time she spoke. Elizabeth had briefly thought that he was behind it all. She was starting to see that she was wrong to believe that, but it had made sense to her down there in the cell. Marlin squeezed his daughter's hand before she continued with her story.
"No, I was told that they had strict instructions not to harm me, even though that one did pull my hair after telling me that. I believe he was just doing it to scare me. I was tied by my wrists and blind folded every time I was taken to a bathroom. They had me chained to a wall in total darkness for days. When I was given food, it was plain bread that got shoved into my mouth. It could have been worse." She looked at each person's face. Mrs. Rooney was dabbing her eyes with the corner of her blazer sleeve. Evander's face was set in a scowl that matched Crux's. Maverick had found a chair and was sitting with his elbows on his knees. His knife was in his hands with the blade out and he seemed to be picking at his nails. Theodora had started to pace.
"Can you give us any details on the men that took you? How many were there?" Evander's deep voice questioned her.
"There were two original men that took me. One was tall, although not tall like any of you, and he was mean. The other was short and sounded like he was from New York. But when I was in the dark cell room, a woman came to give me water. I'm assuming it was her watch. She was kind to me and answered most of my questions. Actually, she told me that I was supposed to move locations tonight. So I decided it was tonight or never to try and escape." Elizabeth lifted her chin just a notch as if someone might challenge that she had been able to escape on her own.
"A woman? Did she help you?" Maverick asked from his corner.
"No, I escaped on my own. I never saw the woman again." Elizabeth crossed her arms.
"How did you escape?" Theodora offered.
"Well, I hit the man over the head with the mirror from the bathroom wall. And then I ran until I found a hatch that led to the outside. Then Mickey found me outside, I was standing alone on the sidewalk. I couldn't believe I had actually escaped." Elizabeth gestured to Mickey, who was still in the room standing with Mrs. Rooney comforting her with one arm.
"Yo girl! That's how you do it!" Maverick stood up with a cheerful shout. Elizabeth couldn't help but smile with him.
"I got lucky." She assured him.
"It was more than luck, it was fate that got you here." Dashiell's voice was unwavering.
"I think that for tonight that is enough. Elizabeth should get some rest. She deserves it after being so brave." Evander nodded his head towards her and her father.
Sleep sounded so good right about now. Elizabeth nodded her head in agreement.
"Mrs. Rooney can you please get her a room key for room (410)? It's the luxury suite on this floor. I want it to be rushed, please. Take Theodora to help you. Theo, I want it to be... home. I trust that Theo and you can handle it, Mrs. Rooney." Elizabeth watched Mrs. Rooney nod her head, but the way she tilted it to side and cast her eyes down was different. Maybe it was an odd tick.
"Right away, Mr. Quade." The receptionist smoothed her jacket and when she smiled at Quade her eyes were no longer lowered.
"Thank you, Mrs. Rooney. Michael, I want to thank you for bringing Elizabeth home safely. Go home. You finished your turn on patrols." Dashiell smiled at the tall dark haired man who had brought her here.
"But Mr. Quade-" Mickey began to protest at his boss's order, but Evander stepped in.
"That was a direct order from your B-, Boss. Relax, you did a good job tonight, kid. Go home play with your son and hold your newborn. Tell your wife the good news! You found Elizabeth and brought her back to the-" Evander's voice was authoritative, but he looked stressed as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"You did a good job tonight. We will tell everyone the news in the morning." Evander finished a little more gently and crossed his arms back over his chest.
"Yes, Alpha Evander." Elizabeth blinked at the nickname. Weird. Marlin patted her shoulder and she looked up at him. He was smiling down at her.
"Let's go, Elizabeth. I'll tuck ya into bed for old times sake. Don't argue wit yur father, ya hear? Give me this. I didn't think I woold ever see ya again." She watched her father's eyes tear up, something she hadn't seen him do since her mother's death. Elizabeth didn't want to argue with him-like she normally did- no, she wanted her father to tuck her in and hold her hand until she fell asleep. It had been a hard week, a nightmare of a week.
"Ok, dad. I'm ready to go to bed." She looked up to Dashiell, who had turned his back to her and was facing the doors out of the office talking with Evander, the man known as Crux, and Michael. At some point Theodora and Mrs. Rooney had left the room probably to carry out the tasks that Dashiell had asked of them. Dashiell turned his head over his shoulder and caught her looking directly at him and his group. Before he turned his head back to the group, she thought he saw the barest hint of a smile.
After saying something to the group of men, Dashiell turned to Elizabeth and his eyes were on her face. She felt like he was trying to soak all of her in, his gaze was so intense.
"If you follow me, I will lead you to your room. It's not too far from your dad. Marlin is located on the opposite side and a few doors down." Dashiell had moved a few steps towards them with a hand placed behind his back as he walked. Elizabeth got the distinct feeling that she'd seen him like this before, but that was a funny thought since this was only the second time she'd met him.
Elizabeth stood from her seat. Her father was right behind her and together they followed Dashiell through the doors, giving half-hearted good nights to the people left in the office. Dashiell turned towards the elevators that Elizabeth had come off of before and went towards the hallway on the other side. Elizabeth followed him vaguely aware of her surroundings. She could tell that they had passed a couple doors, when they arrived to a door already open.
"This will be your room for the remainder of your time here, Elizabeth. I want you to consider this your home." Dashiell stood aside so she could enter through the open doorway with her father close behind her.
"Yur room's a lot nicer than mine." Marlin's voice came from beside her. Elizabeth couldn't imagine what his room looked like, because hers was beautiful. There was a huge king size bed that looked so fluffy even the princess and the pea couldn't complain. From the ceiling came white billowing fabric that fell around the bed in a romantic tent. Candles were all along the room. A cluster of them were on the coffee table placed in front of a blue velvet couch. The couch was facing towards the doorway and that's where Theodora was sitting with her legs crossed and a smile on her face.
Behind the couch was a mirrored wardrobe and Elizabeth could see her reflection in the surface. The bruise on her cheek was visible against her unnaturally pale skin. She wanted out of these clothes, but Elizabeth wasn't done looking around the room. Tucked in the corner next to the wardrobe was a vanity with a mirror and a bench seat.
"Elizabeth was given our luxury suite. Sorry, Marlin." Dashiell smiled with a wink at her father.
"Thank you for being so kind." Elizabeth turned to him. "But I will only be staying here for tonight, tomorrow I have to try to get back to a normal life. And I think we really should involve the police, inform them that there are people out there kidnapping other people!" Elizabeth was sure he would understand even if he had told her that he had a hired group searching for her. She was here now. And the police could arrest those terrible men. The look on Dashiell's face was one of patience.
"I want nothing but for you to be safe and comfortable. However, I'm advising you stay here for a little while longer. While you were away, I had a security system installed in your shop and apartment building. Your customers believe that you're updating your systems, which you have, so sales haven't been harmed. You can go back to work when you're healed and rested. Elizabeth, you just went through a very traumatic experience. Your body and mind need to rest. When it comes to getting the authorities involved, we can't without the consequences being more harmful than helpful. Evander is handling things for us on that end, now. The only thing left for you to do is rest." Dashiell stepped toward her and took her hand into one of his.
"What about my cat?" Elizabeth replied to him. After such a lengthy explanation, it was the only thing he hadn't mentioned. Poor Beetlejuice, she was probably starved to bones with the way that cat acted.
"Oh, Beetlejuice?" Dashiell smiled down at her. "I'm sure she's around here somewhere. She's probably taking off with someone's hamburger patty from between the bun. True story." He said with a wink. Elizabeth felt herself smiling up at him. Her body was leaning toward the heat of his own. It seemed like every time he came close to her body couldn't resist the warmth that she felt responding back.
"She's here? I would love to snuggle her. So, Mr. Quade-," Elizabeth began, but was cut short by his voice.
"Call me Dashiell, please. My mother named me it so people would call me by it." He said with a cheeky grin. He was challenging her.
"Quade, you thought of everything didn't you?"
He made a face but Elizabeth couldn't be sure what for, "let's get you to bed, ok?" Elizabeth couldn't agree more with him.
Marlin gently pulled her away from Mr. Quade's grasp and guided her towards the bed. Theodora happily skipped over to meet them there.
"I set out a clean set of pajamas. They're not as fuzzy or cute as your stitch ones, but I think they're cozy. I have a set myself, but mine are in a mint green color." Elizabeth blindly nodded at her direction. She was still swept up in admiring the canopy curtains. They were something from a little girl's dream. Elizabeth spotted the pajama set that Theodora was rattling on about. They were long sleeved, cashmere, and pale blue. Elizabeth picked up the outfit and the material was silky soft.
"Thank you, I love how soft they are. And I like blue." Elizabeth told Theodora honestly. Blue did look good on her.
"Baby, Daddy's going to let you get yerself dressed. I have a whoppin' headache. Goodnight, sweet dreams, Beth." Elizabeth was a little surprised by her father. She was also a little disappointed that he didn't want to stay. Elizabeth wanted him to stay with her until she fell asleep like he used to when she had a nightmare, but she could tell that her father was feeling the effects of the whiskey she'd smelt on him.
So Elizabeth did the only thing she knew she could do, she mustered a smile. "Ok, dad, will I see you tomorrow?"
Marlin pulled his daughter into a hug, "I will be here first thing in the morning. I'll take ya to the cafeteria. They love me here." He kissed the top of her head and Elizabeth felt herself begin to feel better about him leaving her.
Quade spoke up from the other side of the room. "They really do love your father here." He winked at her. Marlin chuckled. Theodora stepped in between her and her father and through her arms around Elizabeth. She was stunned by the sudden impact of the tiny body against her, but she felt her arms come around to return the hug being given to her and she felt a big smile on her face, too.
"I'm really happy to meet you. Now that you're here everything is just going to go great! You get some rest now." The tiny little red head pulled away and practically floated out of the room.
"I like her, always in a cheery mood." Marlin winked down at her and gave her cheek a kiss.
"Elizabeth, we are all very happy to have you here safe. Please don't hesitate to ask for anything." Quade reached out a hand to her. Elizabeth took it in her own and gave it a small shake. He looked like he wanted to do more than shake her hand. "Goodnight." Was all that he said before he turned on his heel and walked out through the door.
"Don't mind him. I love you, Beth. Goodnight." Marlin stumbled out the door shutting it behind him.
Elizabeth was left to herself. And after everything she had been through, she felt very very alone. Quickly, she stripped out of her old pajamas. Elizabeth thought briefly about taking a shower before laying down in bed but her body felt heavy with exhaustion and she hurried to put the pajamas Theodora had carefully picked out for her. The material was soft and it cling to her body. The pants were just a little long and the sleeves came to her finger tips. She liked that it was just a little oversized and that the material moved like water over her skin. Elizabeth half thought to run a brush through her hair but found herself climbing under the covers of the giant bed. And before she could think anymore darkness filled her senses and she was peacefully sleeping.