Chapter Four

"Elliott, what are we doing?" Carmen whispered as she and Elliott snuck around the back of his dad's garage, easing between the fence and the back of the building.

He just smiled and tightened his hold on her hand. "Shhh…"

She shivered as the cold night air brushed against her bare arms. "We're gonna miss the fireworks, Peanut. Let's go."

Elliott chuckled and pushed her up against the cold siding of the garage. His lips immediately attacked the hollow of her neck. "No we won't," he spoke softly against her cheek once again causing her body to shudder. "Come on." He climbed the trellis the led to the top of the garage, stopping once he reached the top to help Carmen.

He pulled her up onto the flattened roof and motioned towards the blanket he'd spread in the center. She followed quietly behind him, the only sound coming as their feet crunched on the gravel beneath them.

Elliott sat down pulling her into his lap, quickly capturing her lips in his.

Carmen shifted so that she straddled his lap, her body rocking against his as they kissed passionately.

"You feel so good baby," he whispered, gently caressing her breast through her shirt. She pulled back looking at him with wide eyes as she leaned further into his touch. "You like that?"

She nodded, not realizing Elliott was laying her down until he was on top of her. He slid his lower body against hers settling between her legs. He began pushing against her letting her know how much he wanted her. She shyly reached between their bodies, her hand carefully brushing against his crotch.

He smiled when he heard her gasp as she realized how hard he was. "I want to be inside you CJ," he muttered, hoping she'd agree and she did.

She barely nodded but she answered him by unbuttoning his jeans and pushing them down freeing him from the constraining denim.

Not wanting to scare her, he slowly lowered her shorts, pulling her panties along the way. "Elliott please…" she pleaded as her body ached for him.

He didn't need any more encouragement as he pushed his tip against her opening, slowly entering her until he was fully sheathed in her heat. He waited for her to begin moving again before he pulled out completely then thrust…

Carmen bolted up in her bed, her body soaked and tangled in her sheets. "What the hell…" She swallowed hard as her heart pounded in her chest.

Why was she dreaming about that? She'd pushed him out of her mind long ago and now seeing him just once and it's all back. Maybe coming back to Emporia hadn't been the best idea. She had too many memories here.

She got up and stretched, her body cramped from the small bed or possibly from the dream she'd just had. She pushed back the curtains looking over the Sadler's back yard, the garage still there, staring at her, a constant reminder of what she had a lost.

That night had been their first time. They'd fooled around plenty but for some reason on July 4th 1993 they decided to take their relationship to another level. And it had been the best night of her life. Their only night together. They'd laid there afterwards, watching the fireworks and that night Elliott had promised that he would never leave her and that they would be together forever.

Funny how things you say when you're young and stupid don't seem like a lie at the time.

After a quick shower, the smell of bacon began to permeate her room and she rushed down to get something to eat before her brother ate all of it. She knew he'd be there. Even though he was married with his own family, mom still fixed him breakfast on Saturday mornings before he went to work.

She skidded to a halt in the kitchen not surprised to look into the shocked faces of her mom and brother.

"CJ!" Charlie jumped out of his chair and rushed around to hug her, not stopping until he'd picked her up and spun her around a few times. "What are you doing here? Mom, why didn't you tell me CJ was here?" he asked looking back at his mother.

Dierdra cocked her head and looked at him obviously confused. "Because I didn't know." She pulled Carmen in for a hug and stood there looking at her for a few moments. "What's going on? You look miserable."

"Well nice to see you too Momma," she replied as she plopped into the closest chair.

"Oh stop that, honey. You know I'm glad to see you but you kind or haven't been to Emporia unless you've had too for the last ten years so… What gives?" Her mom put a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of her then sat across from Carmen with an inquisitive look.

Carmen picked up her fork, idly picking at her pancakes. "I just got into with Frank is all. I needed to get away from him for a couple of days."

"I'm sorry baby. What was it about?" Her mother tried her best to sound sincere but she didn't think she'd pulled it off. As far as she was concerned, Carmen was making a huge mistake with Frank. In her opinion, Frank was a manipulative bastard but she never told her daughter that. Charlie however knew and couldn't hide the smirk on his face at her attempted sincerity.

In an attempt to cheer up his sister he just smiled at her. She returned the smile. "It was about work mainly. I've been offered a better position but it involves traveling and now he's Mr. I-don't-want-you-out-of-my-sight."

Dierdra smiled. "Darling that's wonderful! What are you going to be doing?"

"I'll be working with the racing team. Going to the races and stuff, working with the car owner and driver and all of that," she smiled, mildly amused when her mom and brother went silent.

"That's great CJ," Charlie replied trying to sound excited for his sister.

She chuckled. They'd never been good at hiding things from her. "I know Elliott drives the car, Charlie. I saw him yesterday."

Charlie and Dierdra audibly released the breaths they'd been holding. "Are you okay with this, sis?" Charlie asked obviously concerned about his sister's emotional well-being.

Carmen shrugged. "As okay as I'll be I guess. He wasn't exactly nice to me yesterday. He was actually kind of bitter and angry at me. He also threw Frank up at me. I didn't even know that he knew about that."

"Yeah well, Hermie put your announcement on his desk yesterday morning so he was good and pissed before you ever saw him."

"Ugh," she groaned and slammed her head down on the table. "That Hermie's such a pain in the arse. When did things get so screwed up?" She sat quietly for a couple of minutes before speaking again. "I'm going to go for a walk okay."

They watched her walk through the living room and out of the front door. "How long do you think it'll be before they run into each other?" Dierdra asked, knowing that Elliott was home.

"Knowing Elliott, they'll run into each other in about five minutes because he goes for more walks than she does," Charlie responded. "Oh God."

He and his mother rushed out of the front door to find Carmen and Elliott facing each other on the sidewalk out front. "This can't be good."

"Oh hush, Charlie. They're two mature adults, they'll be fine." Dierdra walked back into the house happy that her babies were outside together and that Frank had pissed Carmen off. Maybe this was going to work out after all.

---

Elliott stared at Carmen in disbelief. As if it wasn't bad enough that he had to work with her, now here she was standing in front of him while he was going to take a walk and get her off of his mind. There were two ways he could handle this. He could be an ass like he was yesterday, or he could try to be nice. Since they were obviously going to be seeing a lot of each other over the next year he opted for the latter. Hopefully she'd forgive his behavior from the day before.

"Hey," he said quietly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, trying his best to keep all emotion out of his voice as he looked at her, their eye contact never faltering.

She nodded. "Hey yourself." This was really awkward. Should she just leave it like this or try to make amends seeing as how her job was on the line. "You wanna walk with me?" There. Olive branch offered.

"Yeah, sure." He turned around, falling into step next to her. Neither said anything for a while, walking in silence until he caught a glimmer out of the corner of his eye. His gaze fell to the large diamond on her finger. He hadn't noticed it yesterday but he'd been doing his best not to look at her at all. It hurt too much. "Sorry I was an ass yesterday. Things just started out bad and got worse as the day went on."

Carmen gave a weak smile. "Guess that's why you're home huh?" Knowing whenever things got bad he always came home to Bell.

"Yeah. You know me. I'm a momma's boy. Things don't go the way I want them and I run home. Why are you here?"

"Same reason. Charlie told me what Hermie did yesterday," she slowed down and turned towards him looking up into his eyes. She momentarily lost all track of thought. Memories rushed back as she stared at him. *Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.*

Elliott shook his head, this silence suddenly uncomfortable. "Look Carmen, you've got nothing to explain to me. It's your life. I've got mine now too. We just have to get past everything that's happened and put any harsh feelings aside because we're going to be spending a lot of time together."

"I'm just sorry you had to find out like…"

"No. I'm just glad I know. At least you're happy." He gauged her reaction to his comment catching the dimness in her eyes momentarily before she replaced the look with one of happiness.

"Yeah. That's me. Happy girl." Glancing down at her watch, she realized they'd been walking for nearly an hour. Though they hadn't said much, a truce had been offered and she'd silently accepted it. "Well I'm gonna get back. I'm tired. Long drive and all."

He nodded and waved. "Tell Frank I said hi." Watching her walk back towards their street, he'd noticed the sudden change in her demeanor before she broke into a run.

---

"Charlie Andrews!" Elliott yelled as he walked into the garage, trying to be heard over the sound of the air compressor. "Charlie!"

Charlie slid out from under a 67 GTO, wiping the oil off of his face. "Yeah?" he called back, not noticing Elliott. "Hello?" he asked, walking towards the front of the stall. "Oh. What's up, Peanut?"

Elliott chuckled. "Shut up. I'm still pissed at you."

"Uh-huh. So what are you doing here then?" Charlie replied knowing very well why he was there. He was checking up on Carmen. Elliott remained silent and Charlie turned to find him looking at some pictures of them on the wall when they were kids. He took one of the pictures down and sat on a greasy stool, not caring that his jeans were going to be ruined.

It was a picture of Charlie, Phoebe, Carmen and him at the spring carnival right before 5th grade spring break. Well for everyone but Charlie, who was two years older. He smiled as he remembered the cotton candy fight they'd gotten into that night getting all of them grounded for a few days because their mom's couldn't get it out of their hair.

"Elliott?" Charlie said waving a hand between Elliott's face and the picture. "What ya need man?"

He gave a weak smile as he looked into his friend's eyes. "She's not happy, Charlie. She may think she can hide it but she can't. Not from you and you know she can't hide it from me. We may not have spoken or seen each other in nearly ten years but I still know her better than she knows herself and she's not happy."

"I know El, but what am I supposed to do?" he asked leaning back against the closest car and crossing his ankles. "I'm just her overprotective brother and your best friend. She's not going to take my opinion as unbiased."

Elliott nodded. "I know. I just wish I could do something to keep her from making a mistake."

"Ever think you're the reason she's making that mistake?" Charlie asked, his eyebrow arching as he waited for Elliott's answer.

"What are you talking about?"

"Elliott, Carmen never paid any attention to Frank or his advances until she found out you were engaged to Lisa. I think she was holding onto the hope that you'd come back for her one day. When she found out about that she just gave up and Frank took advantage of her vulnerability."

"How did she know?" Elliott asked knowing that his family had kept quiet about it. "I never loved Lisa, Charlie. I just thought it was time to move on since Carmen had."

Charlie shrugged. "The point is you both still love each other. But she's hurt and probably will be until she knows why you left and never called…"

"But I did…" Elliott countered in frustration.

"I know… But she doesn't know that and it's not my place to get in the way of it. I know you probably think I should if I want things to work out between you two but it hasn't been easy. Every time you're name is brought up she would either close up or get up and leave so in order to have my sister I can't talk about you. Or couldn't, but since you two are going to be working together maybe you should try regain her trust and tell her what happened."

"What makes you think she'll listen to me?"

"Ah,… because she thinks you're cute and likes the way you talk," Charlie chuckled. "Don't worry. Just give her time. She'll listen. Anyway, she's pissed at Frank right now, so just be nice to her and maybe thing's work out the way you want them to."

Elliott smiled and stood up, groaning when he noticed the grease all over the butt of his jeans. "What's she pissed at him for?"

"He's having a fit about her working with you. I'd say things are starting to lean in your favor."

He laughed and waved at Charlie as he made his way towards his car, grabbing a towel to put on the seat as he went. "All I need is a little time, then I'll make my move. Or I can just sit back and wait for Frank to screw up and be there when she needs me. Yeah, I think I'll go with that one."

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