UNITED IN BLOOD
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR !

THERE WAS A GLOOMY fog over Danielle Linden that day. No matter what she did to stave off the immense feeling of dread that loomed upon her and despite it being her day off which would have brought her some semblance of joy, Danielle felt like utter shit.

   She had attempted to read a few different comics that Ellie had left lying around the living room and had even sat down to watch some dinosaur movie that Ellie had been begging her to watch. She had barely gotten twenty minutes in before she had to turn it off, unable to concentrate. No matter what, Danielle just couldn't kick the horrible feeling that something terrible was going to happen.

   When she'd awoke that morning, the unsettling sensation of fear had been present in the pit of her stomach, but instead of mentioning it, Danielle chose to outright ignore it and simply send her girlfriend off on her patrolling duties with a kiss goodbye. She knew that if she had divulged her feelings to Ellie, that the redhead would blown off her responsibilities.

Danielle didn't want Ellie to prioritise her over anything else, which could perhaps burn bridges between the Williams girl and others in the community. No, her issues were her issues, not Ellie's. She could handle them by herself. Danielle refused to burden anyone.

The young girl let out a deep, heavy sigh, her shoulders falling as she lifted up the stove-top kettle and poured the boiling water into her cup, watching as the waterline rose and the liquid became diluted with colour from the bagged tea leaves.

A heavy set of knocks upon her front door frightened the young girl briefly causing a gasp to fall past her lips before she realised exactly what this meant.

"Thank god, a distraction." Danielle breathed a sigh of relief as she dropped her spoon on the kitchen counter and practically ran full speed to the front door. The wooden door swung open revealed Tommy Miller, sporting a now fully healed scar. "Tommy, hi."

"This a bad time?" The Texan man asked with a quirked up brow, hands on his hips.

Without any further thought, Danielle swung the door open wide and stepped out of the way. Her voice stuttered, "No, god no. Of course not, come in."

Tommy stepped further into the home, venturing deeper past the threshold. "I don't wanna be putting you out."

As the man walked ahead, Danielle allowed her eyes to follow him only for them to fall upon a stack of papers shoved deep into the back pocket of his jeans. She couldn't help but wonder exactly what they were.

   "No seriously, you couldn't have come at a better time." The Linden girl insisted though she sounded a little hesitant as she shut the door behind. Not wanting to begin unnecessarily questioning things, she shook her head free of any suspicions and followed behind Tommy. "As soon as Ellie left this morning, I have just been so on edge. I keep feeling like something bad is gonna happen and it's freaking me the fuck out."

"But you're here so clearly my gut feeling was wrong." The brunette continued as she let her feet carry her into the kitchen, her voice raising ever so slightly so that Tommy could still hear her. "You want something to drink? I was just making some tea if you'd like some?"

"Yeah, that'd be great, thanks kid." Tommy called back from his chosen chair at the dining table. The Miller man began to trace random little designs into the stained wooden table. "When's that girlfriend of yours coming back?"

The brunette finished up pouring some hot water into another cup for Tommy before grabbing both his and her own before making her way back into the dining room, being greeted by the sight of a laidback Tommy. This was probably the most comfortable she had seen him in ever.

With a furrowed brow, Danielle squinted over at the man as she handed him his mug. "She should be back soon. Why, you here to see her?"

"Just wanted a quick chat. See how she's doing." Tommy explained away as he accepted the cup of tea with an appreciative smile.

The Linden girl sat down at the table, cupping her mug with both hands not yet ready to take a sip. "I think she'd appreciate that. Ellie hasn't really spoken about what happened. She just kinda becomes mute when the topic is ever brought up."

The silence that took over the room was palpable. The incessant ticking of the nearby grandfather clock was all that could be heard as both Danielle and Tommy quietly sat.

Danielle let out a shuddered breath. "I worry for her, you know."

   "Yeah, I know you do." Tommy drawled out, his voice low as he lifted up the mug to swallow a large gulp of tea, the hot temperature and potential burning of his throat be damned.

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THERE WAS ONLY A few gulps of tea left remaining in her mug when the all too familiar sounds of Ellie's boots being kicked off on the porch caught her ears. With no regard for Tommy, Danielle jumped to her feet and began heading in the front doors direction. The moment she reached the door, it swung open revealing a tired looking Ellie.

"Welcome home." The brunette warmly greeted, pulling her girlfriend into an embrace just as Ellie dropped her backpack to the ground next to the coatrack. "How was patrol?"

   "S'fine, I guess. Found a new comic so that's cool." Ellie returned the embrace with a squeeze and kiss upon Danielle's cheek before she pulled away.

   Danielle watched as Ellie began to move away from her, briefly hesitating before deciding that she needed to pre-warn Ellie of Tommy's arrival. Meekly she called out, "Babe?"

   "Yeah?" Ellie replied back, turning to face the brunette. She looked extremely tired and while she tried to hide it in her voice, it was still evident.

   Wishing to keep their conversation private, Danielle inched forward until she was mere feet away from Ellie. As she prepared to speak, she couldn't help but scan over the redheads relaxed features, knowing that in seconds they would change. "Tommy's here."

   "What do you mean? Like here here?" Immediately Ellie brought up a hand to massage the nape of her neck, most likely from nerves. Her gaze shot down to the ground.

   The Linden girl watched on helplessly as a sense of discomfort washed over her girlfriends body. She desperately wished that there something that she could have done to help calm Ellie's nerves, but instead all she could do was stand there and watch.

   Due to Ellie's inability to divulge her true feelings, the girl choosing to lock her emotions rather than face them, Danielle didn't know to help her properly, didn't know how to comfort the girl she loved.

   "He's in the dining room. He said he wanted to see you." Her voice remained quiet as she spoke, looking directly at Ellie as she did, wanting to meet the redheads eyes.

Ellie never looked up from her socks.

   "Okay...that's uh, okay. I'll be in now. Just give me a minute." Ellie muttered after a few seconds, still looking down at the floorboards.

"No problem." The brunette said with what she hoped was a comforting smile before walking away and leaving Ellie to collect herself.

"She'll be in soon." Danielle excused the continued absence of the Williams girl with a smile as she ventured back into the dining room, her arms folded across her chest.

   The two waited for only a few moments when the wooden floorboards creaked, alerting them to Ellie's arrival. She walked in, now free of her patrol gear and looking a little more out together, as her hands nervously pulled at themselves. "Hey Tommy."

   "Ellie." Tommy greeted as he made a move to stand before gently pulling the auburn-haired girl into a hug. As he pulled back, he asked, "How you been?"

"Uh-good, good." Ellie was hesitant as she spoke. She didn't want to boast about the upsides of her life when Tommy's seemed to be falling apart at the seams. "You?"

"Same here." Tommy simply said with his hands on hips.

"I got something to show you." As he said that, the two girls and Tommy moved to sit back down at the table, feigning comfort though really all three of them were perched on the ends of the chairs.

"So I've been putting out feelers for months now. And this new guy heard my story." Tommy began, reaching round to pull out the familiar grouping of papers that Danielle had seen earlier that day. "Told me about a woman that he traded with while travelling through California."

The Miller man spread out the papers flat against the dining table, revealed a map. "Described her as built like an ox, travelling with a kid with scars 'cross his face."

"You can't be serious." The Linden girl softly muttered, her eyes shifting back and forth between Tommy and Ellie.

"He said they were living along this coast in a beached sailboat. That's gotta be her."

"So what if it is?" Danielle defiantly stated, her brows furrowed in anger. Tommy had some nerve coming to her house with this news. "Even if it is Abby, she's all the way in California. Do you realise how long it would take to get there?"

Danielle just couldn't how stupid Tommy was being. How could he come to her house and begin talking about Abby? He had barely even looked in Ellie's direction since their return from Seattle and yet here he was flaunting around his pathetic little map.

She loved Tommy, she considered him family but as she sat there, Danielle knew that she should have trusted her gut. She should have trusted the discomfort she felt the very moment she woke up but instead she had acted like an idiot and brushed off the worry.

"You want her to go, don't you?" She already knew the answer but it was confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt when the Miller man refused to meet her eyes. "No way! No way is she going."

"Kid, listen-"

"No you listen, Tommy. We all almost died. Abby got the drop on every single one of us and we nearly died. If that kid hadn't let me, you would probably be dead right now." Her hazel eyes were wild with rage, her gaze practically burning holes into Tommy's face as she glared at him. "Now you want to send Ellie to California to go after her? No fucking way. She's not going. End of story."

I'm sorry." Ellie muttered, the pain and guilt she felt clear as day in her eyes. She couldn't go, right? Going to California to find Abby was crazy, right?

"Well, I can't go."

The auburn-haired Williams girl nodded her head with a sigh. "I know."

   "Alright." Tommy stated with a nod, his words carrying a tone of frustration. "Reckon it's easy to forget about her when you're still all comfy in this house—"

"Don't." Danielle was quick to cut him off.

   "I'll make her pay.' That's what you said when we got back to Jackson." Tommy was angry, pissed off even and with every right to be but who was he to berate Ellie for not wanting to risk her life?

Danielle was becoming very upset with the Miller man. "Tommy, don't."

   The two girls watched as the Miller man gathered up his map and other papers, scrunching them up before shoving them into his back pocket as he made a move to stand.

"What a joke." Tommy scoffed down at the crestfallen expression that was plastered across Ellie's face.

   The man disappeared from the room in an instant, making his way to the front door. As Danielle remained sat, she could feel the anger at Tommy's behaviour reaching its boiling point.

   "Give me a second." Danielle finally said as she used her hands in the table top to give herself a push to stand. Just as she began to follow behind the angered man, Ellie grabbed at her hand as she passed, stopping her in her tracks.

"Dani—"

   "I'm just gonna talk to him." Danielle reiterated with a reassuring smile and a squeeze of the hand. Her boots stomped across the floor as she swung open the front door, following closely behind Tommy. "Hey, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Nothin'." The man gruffly responded, his boots clashing against the porch steps as he angrily walked down them.

   Danielle remained up on the porch, glancing out at the passer-by's who had witnessed her yelling at the man. "Tommy, come on. After everything we've all been through, you seriously believe that going after Abby is a good idea?"

Rather than answer her question, Tommy remained focused on his own personal goals. "She made me a promise!"

   "I don't fucking care." In that moment, Danielle wanted to throttle the Miller man. How dare he act the way he was? "You want someone to blame? Blame me but you leave her out of this. She's been through enough. I won't have you making her feel guilty for not wanting to become involved again."

Her tongue was sharp as she practically spat out her words at the man.

"You come back to this house with this shit again and I will never fucking talk to you again. Is that what you want?" Tommy refused to say anything, the man choosing to simply glare up at the brunette.

   At this point, a collection of people; men, women and even some children, had gathered in the streets, watching on in intrigue as the two stared each other down.

"You wanna be alone, Tommy?" Danielle finally said, her voice low, her gaze hard.

   She desperately wanted to knock some sense into the man. Didn't he see how he was pushing everyone away for a vendetta? But Danielle knew that Tommy was too far gone, blinded by injustice. He was willing to throw away their relationship, even though Danielle was the only person who hadn't made him feel bad for

   "Yeah, walk away." Tommy immediately yelled out as Danielle spun round on her heel, ready to get away from Tommy and the prying eyes of gawking Jackson residents. "That's what you're best at."

   For a moment, all the Linden girl did was look down at the man. To her, he was but a hollow shell of the man she had once knew. She missed the Tommy she had known, the tommy who had welcomed her into Jackson with open arms. With a sigh, she simply stated, "Go the fuck home, Tommy. Maybe mend your marriage. Just some food for thought."

   And with that, she turned on her heel once again and made her way back into her home, leaving behind the Miller man to stew in his rage filled thoughts as he continued to glare up at the closed wooden door, unable to see the error in his ways.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter twenty four. not proofread. so it's happened. Tommy is being a bitch. but yeah so I've moved up the timeline a bit so that when Ellie takes off, Dina will be giving birth to jj so Danielle has something to distract her. anyway we all know whats coming in the next chapter so hope you enjoyed :)