FICTION: Lost and Found (Part 9a)
Title: Lost and Found (Part 9a)
Authors: PerfectlyLexy & DreamtoCreate
Pairing: Scott Barringer/Peter Scarbrow
Rating/Warning etc: Eventually NC-17.
Summary: Despite knowing better, and Scott’s denial, Peter and Scott realize they have feelings for one another that transcend that of student and teacher. Perhaps the lost truly can be found.
Continued from Lost and Found (Part 8b)
Shelby sat alone, quietly staring out at the darkness over the lake. The moon reflected off the still water, lighting up the area slightly so she could see the clearing in the semi-darkness. The silence of the forest was interrupted only with little chirrups and other sounds the animals around her made. She'd gotten a letter from her mother earlier and it was eating away at her, and causing more than a little stress in her currently carefully ordered world.
Scott's own world, so carefully beginning to reconstruct itself, was in shambles. He ran to escape that fact, to escape what he'd heard, and nearly tripped over Shelby in his headlong rush.
She cried out as she winced away from him even while he jumped up and over her, rolling as he fell onto the ground. "Watch where you're going!" Shelby cried out, glaring over at him where he'd landed next to her.
"Hey," he snapped, "I didn't see you. So sue me."
"Like it would matter if I did!" she returned just as acerbically. Pulling her legs up against her chest, she wrapped her arms around her knees. "What were you running from anyway?"
He stared out over the moonlit lake in silence for several long moments. "Nothing you'd understand," he finally said, but with not quite the acidic tone he usually reserved for everyone.
Shelby ran a hand through her hair and smiled cynically. "Oh, I think you'd be surprised at the things I might understand," she retorted quietly.
He gazed at her for a long moment, seeming to see something in her eyes that
reassured him. He hesitated, then opened his mouth. For some time, nothing
came out. Maybe he couldn't do this, he thought as Shelby gazed at him expectantly.
"You don't have to tell me," she finally said quietly, understandingly for once. "It's not like we're all best buds or anything. I'd understand if you said nothing at all."
"I don't suppose you'd tell me yours if I told you mine," he quipped weakly. He needed to talk to someone in that moment, even Shelby. God help him.
"Why the hell not," she retorted sarcastically. "I may not be here much longer anyway."
He decided, quite charitably in his opinion, to ignore her sarcasm. "I already told Peter, I guess it's not an utterly hard stretch to tell you. Just...keep your mouth closed, yeah?" At her look, he shrugged and plunged on. It came out in a bit of a garbled rush, as he tried to compact a very long story into one sentence. He finally managed with, "My stepmother...has been forcing me to have sex with her for the past couple years..."
A soft, strangled sound slid from her throat and all she could do for several long moments was stare out over the lake. "Well, welcome to my world," she retorted in a whisper, tears forming in her eyes as she looked over at him and met his gaze in the semi-darkness. "I'm sorry, Scott...it's not exactly an easy thing to deal with, is it?"
A lump formed in his throat, making answering her a task. "You too?" He
swallowed hard at her silent nod and agreed softly, "No, it's not easy. Not...not at all..."
"My...stepfather. He started with me when I was much younger, though. It's why I ran away so much," she forced herself to explain, turning her face away from his to keep herself from crying.
"I'm sorry," was all he could say in return. But he did reach out, resting a hand on her shoulder. In Shelby, Scott saw someone just as bruised and broken in spirit as he was.
It was then that she did something very un-Shelby like and leaned in against him. There was no sexual tension there, no offer of anything more. It was simply one broken soul needing comfort from another. In many ways they were too much alike. "Did Peter have to tell people?" she asked curiously.
He swallowed, mind flashing back to what he'd overheard in Peter's office and before that, the meeting with the social worker. "Yeah," he said softly. "Yeah, he did. That's why I was running. I mean..." He stumbled to a halt, seemingly struggling for the words. "My dad doesn't believe me. He thinks Horizon planted all this shit in my head. Because we all know his skank of a trophy wife could do nothing wrong," he added bitterly. "I wonder if he'll tell me what a liar I am to my face whenever I see him and tell him just what his little bitch did."
Snorting softly at that idea, she shook her head against his shoulder even as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "As if anyone could plant anything in our heads. I swear they think we're still children who don't know what life is really about..."
"Or they'd like to," Scott said softly. "Why are *you* out here? I...get this feeling it's more than just your usual demons haunting you, too."
"I got a letter from my Mom today," she answered softly, swallowing hard as she thought on that and shuddered. "Evidently the asshole has cancer--probably a product of all the damned smoking and drinking he does. She can't handle taking care of him anymore and needs help."
"And she wants you to come home like the good little daughter?"
"Probably to take care of the asshole so she can keep her hair and nail appointments and not miss any of her social gatherings," she retorted sarcastically. Her voice dropped to a whisper as she finally admitted what she'd been considering all night, "If they try to make me go back home, I'm running again."
Scott opened his mouth as if to protest. Really, though, he thought, coming from him it would be somewhat hypocritical. "Couldn't you just tell them? They'd keep you here I bet. If they knew." Okay, so that made him sound hypocritical too. So be it.
Lifting her head, she smiled over at him sadly. "What and only confirm the things your father is saying because someone else has come out and accused their step-parent of the same thing?" she asked cynically, realizing that that was exactly what would happen if she stepped forward and announced that her own step-father had been abusing her for years.
"Fuck my Dad, Shelby. He doesn't matter." He paused, seeming to realize what
he'd said. "He doesn't matter," he repeated.
"None of them matter," she retorted, a hard tone in her voice. "Fuck 'em all."
"Yeah," he said, sounding far away for several moments. Then his gaze snapped back to her. "If none of them matter, then you shouldn't care what anyone says about you telling, right?"
His words made her pull away, her face going expressionless once more. "One would think so, wouldn't they?"
"But you're not going to tell, are you?" he asked, with more understanding in the words than anything else.
"I doubt it," whispered Shelby. "But you never know..."
"I think I'd sort of miss you if you left. I know we aren't...buddies or anything..." he added quickly.
A slight lifting of the corners of her lips showed her amusement. The only outward sign of emotion she showed. "Maybe not. But we are part of the same group. That has to count for something, right?"
"Yeah," he answered softly. "It does... It should. I learned that lesson during the X-Challenge."
"Maybe I'd sort of miss you too." Shelby blew out a breath and turned her gaze back toward the water, feeling a bit uncertain now that she'd actually opened herself up to him.
"You want me to stay with you a while? I could, you know." They'd probably
get kitchen duty or something later, but really, who cared in the big scheme of things.
Shelby nodded and looked over at him mischievously. "Yeah, I think so. It's more fun getting discipline when there's two."
He grinned in the darkness. "Yeah, I guess it is." He slipped his arm back around her then, simply a friendly gesture, and sat with her. She was, he decided, a friend. Perhaps not in the usual sense of the word, but nevertheless, a friend.
Continued in Lost and Found (Part 9b)
Authors: PerfectlyLexy & DreamtoCreate
Pairing: Scott Barringer/Peter Scarbrow
Rating/Warning etc: Eventually NC-17.
Summary: Despite knowing better, and Scott’s denial, Peter and Scott realize they have feelings for one another that transcend that of student and teacher. Perhaps the lost truly can be found.
Continued from Lost and Found (Part 8b)
Shelby sat alone, quietly staring out at the darkness over the lake. The moon reflected off the still water, lighting up the area slightly so she could see the clearing in the semi-darkness. The silence of the forest was interrupted only with little chirrups and other sounds the animals around her made. She'd gotten a letter from her mother earlier and it was eating away at her, and causing more than a little stress in her currently carefully ordered world.
Scott's own world, so carefully beginning to reconstruct itself, was in shambles. He ran to escape that fact, to escape what he'd heard, and nearly tripped over Shelby in his headlong rush.
She cried out as she winced away from him even while he jumped up and over her, rolling as he fell onto the ground. "Watch where you're going!" Shelby cried out, glaring over at him where he'd landed next to her.
"Hey," he snapped, "I didn't see you. So sue me."
"Like it would matter if I did!" she returned just as acerbically. Pulling her legs up against her chest, she wrapped her arms around her knees. "What were you running from anyway?"
He stared out over the moonlit lake in silence for several long moments. "Nothing you'd understand," he finally said, but with not quite the acidic tone he usually reserved for everyone.
Shelby ran a hand through her hair and smiled cynically. "Oh, I think you'd be surprised at the things I might understand," she retorted quietly.
He gazed at her for a long moment, seeming to see something in her eyes that
reassured him. He hesitated, then opened his mouth. For some time, nothing
came out. Maybe he couldn't do this, he thought as Shelby gazed at him expectantly.
"You don't have to tell me," she finally said quietly, understandingly for once. "It's not like we're all best buds or anything. I'd understand if you said nothing at all."
"I don't suppose you'd tell me yours if I told you mine," he quipped weakly. He needed to talk to someone in that moment, even Shelby. God help him.
"Why the hell not," she retorted sarcastically. "I may not be here much longer anyway."
He decided, quite charitably in his opinion, to ignore her sarcasm. "I already told Peter, I guess it's not an utterly hard stretch to tell you. Just...keep your mouth closed, yeah?" At her look, he shrugged and plunged on. It came out in a bit of a garbled rush, as he tried to compact a very long story into one sentence. He finally managed with, "My stepmother...has been forcing me to have sex with her for the past couple years..."
A soft, strangled sound slid from her throat and all she could do for several long moments was stare out over the lake. "Well, welcome to my world," she retorted in a whisper, tears forming in her eyes as she looked over at him and met his gaze in the semi-darkness. "I'm sorry, Scott...it's not exactly an easy thing to deal with, is it?"
A lump formed in his throat, making answering her a task. "You too?" He
swallowed hard at her silent nod and agreed softly, "No, it's not easy. Not...not at all..."
"My...stepfather. He started with me when I was much younger, though. It's why I ran away so much," she forced herself to explain, turning her face away from his to keep herself from crying.
"I'm sorry," was all he could say in return. But he did reach out, resting a hand on her shoulder. In Shelby, Scott saw someone just as bruised and broken in spirit as he was.
It was then that she did something very un-Shelby like and leaned in against him. There was no sexual tension there, no offer of anything more. It was simply one broken soul needing comfort from another. In many ways they were too much alike. "Did Peter have to tell people?" she asked curiously.
He swallowed, mind flashing back to what he'd overheard in Peter's office and before that, the meeting with the social worker. "Yeah," he said softly. "Yeah, he did. That's why I was running. I mean..." He stumbled to a halt, seemingly struggling for the words. "My dad doesn't believe me. He thinks Horizon planted all this shit in my head. Because we all know his skank of a trophy wife could do nothing wrong," he added bitterly. "I wonder if he'll tell me what a liar I am to my face whenever I see him and tell him just what his little bitch did."
Snorting softly at that idea, she shook her head against his shoulder even as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "As if anyone could plant anything in our heads. I swear they think we're still children who don't know what life is really about..."
"Or they'd like to," Scott said softly. "Why are *you* out here? I...get this feeling it's more than just your usual demons haunting you, too."
"I got a letter from my Mom today," she answered softly, swallowing hard as she thought on that and shuddered. "Evidently the asshole has cancer--probably a product of all the damned smoking and drinking he does. She can't handle taking care of him anymore and needs help."
"And she wants you to come home like the good little daughter?"
"Probably to take care of the asshole so she can keep her hair and nail appointments and not miss any of her social gatherings," she retorted sarcastically. Her voice dropped to a whisper as she finally admitted what she'd been considering all night, "If they try to make me go back home, I'm running again."
Scott opened his mouth as if to protest. Really, though, he thought, coming from him it would be somewhat hypocritical. "Couldn't you just tell them? They'd keep you here I bet. If they knew." Okay, so that made him sound hypocritical too. So be it.
Lifting her head, she smiled over at him sadly. "What and only confirm the things your father is saying because someone else has come out and accused their step-parent of the same thing?" she asked cynically, realizing that that was exactly what would happen if she stepped forward and announced that her own step-father had been abusing her for years.
"Fuck my Dad, Shelby. He doesn't matter." He paused, seeming to realize what
he'd said. "He doesn't matter," he repeated.
"None of them matter," she retorted, a hard tone in her voice. "Fuck 'em all."
"Yeah," he said, sounding far away for several moments. Then his gaze snapped back to her. "If none of them matter, then you shouldn't care what anyone says about you telling, right?"
His words made her pull away, her face going expressionless once more. "One would think so, wouldn't they?"
"But you're not going to tell, are you?" he asked, with more understanding in the words than anything else.
"I doubt it," whispered Shelby. "But you never know..."
"I think I'd sort of miss you if you left. I know we aren't...buddies or anything..." he added quickly.
A slight lifting of the corners of her lips showed her amusement. The only outward sign of emotion she showed. "Maybe not. But we are part of the same group. That has to count for something, right?"
"Yeah," he answered softly. "It does... It should. I learned that lesson during the X-Challenge."
"Maybe I'd sort of miss you too." Shelby blew out a breath and turned her gaze back toward the water, feeling a bit uncertain now that she'd actually opened herself up to him.
"You want me to stay with you a while? I could, you know." They'd probably
get kitchen duty or something later, but really, who cared in the big scheme of things.
Shelby nodded and looked over at him mischievously. "Yeah, I think so. It's more fun getting discipline when there's two."
He grinned in the darkness. "Yeah, I guess it is." He slipped his arm back around her then, simply a friendly gesture, and sat with her. She was, he decided, a friend. Perhaps not in the usual sense of the word, but nevertheless, a friend.
Continued in Lost and Found (Part 9b)