Careless

Ella stood in front of her front door and exhaled deeply. She was so nervous her hands started shaking. She and Sid ended up falling asleep in the docks together and didn't wake up until it was already afternoon. Sid had talked some sense into her and said that they deserved to know what really happened to her.

She looked at Sidney and smiled at him. Ella was ever grateful that he was in her life and couldn't have asked for a better friend. He was completely supportive of her and never once judged her for what happened. She only hoped that her Grandparents would be the same.

"You'll be fine, El. Your Grandparents are going to love you all the same. I promise you, Norma and Frank are the most understanding people in the whole world," he reassured her and wrapped her in a warm hug. "Meet me at the pier later tonight," he instructed her and broke the hug.

Ella nodded and smiled at him. "Thanks for everything, Sid." She sighed and walked into the house, only to be bombarded by her Grandmother and Grandfather in a hug.

"Ella! We were so worried about you! We didn't know what happened to you and you didn't come home yesterday," Norma said worriedly and looked at his daughter checking for any injuries.

Norma and Frank stayed up all night waiting for Ella to come home. They even called Jen and Rudy to ask where Ella was and they informed them that she was out with Sidney, which eased a bit of their worry.

Ella smiled at her Grandparents. It wasn't her intentions to worry them and judging from their dishevelled look, she could tell that they didn't go to bed.

"I'm fine, Grandma, really I'm fine. I was with Sid last night and we fell asleep at the docks."

Norma placed her hand on Ella's cheek and kissed her other one. "I'm glad he was there for you."

"I was hoping I could talk to you about why I really came to Cole Harbour," Ella shifted her feet awkwardly and waited for Norma and Frank to say something.

Frank smiled warmly. "I'm glad you can trust us," he said thankfully and lead Ella to the breakfast table.

Frank and Norma sat side by side while Ella sat in front of them. She played with her finger as she tried to find the words to tell her Grandparents about what happened to over a year ago. With Sidney it was much easier, he was easier to talk to, but with her Grandparents it was different.

"I don't really know how to start this," she said and laughed bitterly, not once taking her eyes off her hands that were resting on the table. "I guess I should start from the beginning. After I go into Julliard, Mom sent me away from the house and bought me my own apartment closer to the school. I always had bad friends; I think that's part of why mom didn't want me around anymore. She thought that it ruined the perfect family picture," Ella continued.

The husband and wife looked at each other worriedly. They had a bad feeling about where their granddaughter's story is going. It was easy to tell how badly her story was going to be especially from the way she was acting the first few days she arrived at Cole Harbour. They noticed that she was more awkward than any normal person when it came to physical contact, especially with males.

"I went to this party in a bad part of New York, completely different from what I was used to," she explained further, her voice became shaky as tears threatened to fall from her fragile face. "I'm not sure that happened, everything was a blur, but I went into a room to cool down because everything was spinning. I was sure that someone had slipped Ecstasy into my drink. Just when I thought I was alone, a man entered the room a few minutes after I did. We started talking, he seemed nice enough. Before I knew it, he was on top of me, I tried to fight back but the more I did, the more he hit me. I don't remember exactly what happened, all I remember was waking up bruised and naked," Ella revealed.

Norma gave out a tiny gasp, her hand quickly found its way over her mouth as it shook, her other hand took her granddaughter's quivering one. Tears pooled in the corner of her eyes, she couldn't believe it. There was no way her precious granddaughter could have gotten raped. Once she heard Ella whimper, she was quickly at the young woman's side, comforting her.

Frank found himself paralyzed. He didn't know what to make of the information his granddaughter just revealed to him and his wife. He had heard about these kinds of things, but Frank never thought that it could happen to anyone in his family. Not if he was alive and had something to say about it.

He watched as his loving wife comforted Ella. Frank wanted to find the man that dared to defile his granddaughter and bring his own brand of justice upon the man. Just as it started to sink into his head, he was not prepared for what else she had to say.

"A m-month l-later, I found out that I was pregnant," she stuttered.

Frank was sure that his heart stopped at that moment as Norma gave out a loud gasp.

*

Never had he thought that it would happen to anyone in his family. Frank always thought it was stuff that happened in those ridiculous new age movies. The issue of rape never felt so real until he heard it from his own Granddaughter.

Then the fact that Renee had just left Ella alone pregnant angered him even more. He knew what Renee was like, she had done it before. She left her husband and up and moved to New York with Ella. Even when Melissa called her a year later to tell her that he died, she didn't bother going back to Cole Harbour. But Frank never expected her to just abandon her own daughter.

Frank and Norma silently sat opposite each other in the breakfast table; both trying to just stomach everything that Ella had just told them. None of them dared to speak, afraid that if they did, Ella, who was upstairs, would hear them. They spent the whole day like this.

After Ella told them everything that happened in New York, about her rape, about getting pregnant, their daughter abandoning her and about giving up her baby, they were consoling a very broken down Ella. Norma had just accompanied Ella to her room so she could get some rest and went back down to where her husband still sat.

"Frank?" Norma asked barely above a whisper. They had been silent since Ella retired to her room. "Frank, I-I don't know what to do," she confessed and silently cried, her wrinkled face wrinkled even more.

Silently, Frank got up and wrapped his arm around his wife of forty-nine years. Never had he ever known her to really admit about not knowing what to do. She usually had a plan for everything and was able to control everything. Norma was the heart of the family; she was always the one to keep everyone together.

When Renee left and stopped speaking to her parents, Frank could see that it broke his wife's heart to see their daughter with their Granddaughter, but Norma still did her best to keep the family together. Hearing about Ella being raped and giving up her baby, it was the biggest blow Norma ever had, it was worse than loosing Renee.

Frank kissed her forehead and rubbed her arms tenderly. "We'll get through this. Ella will get through this, she's a strong girl. She isn't alone anymore, she will always have us and more importantly, she has Sidney," he reassured her.

*
Ella woke up groggily to a dark room. She sat up and took a moment to observe her surroundings, until she realized she was in her room. Her cell phone beside her illuminated a small bit of light suddenly to inform her that she had just received a text message. She took it and read the text message from Sidney.

Meet me in the piers in twenty minutes. Same place. It simply said.

Ella checked the time that was conveniently to her right, 9:43 it told her. She got up and stretched. Silently moving around, Ella didn't want to make any noise in fear that her Grandparents were still sleeping. She knew that her confession was hard on them but she was more than glad that they still loved and accepted her.

She opened her door, glancing at her Grandparents' door, and crept downstairs. As she searched for a piece of paper to let her Grandparents know that she was out with Sidney in case they ended up spending the night there again Ella heard the stairs creek.

"Ella?" she heard her Grandfather call out.

Turning around, she gave her Grandfather a small smile. "Hey Grandpa, I was just looking for paper to tell you guys that I was meeting Sid," she admitted and blushed.

Now that the shock and moment was gone, Ella was scared of finding out what her Grandfather really thought of her. He probably thought she was some whore, who deserved what happened to her because she put herself in that situation.

Frank nodded. "I'll let your Grandmother know. Now don't keep Sid waiting."

"Thanks Grandpa," she said gratefully and turned to leave.

"Ella," he called out again making her turn around. "I love you. Your Grandmother and I both love you," he reassured her knowing that she probably felt like they were going to abandon her like Renee did. "We're always here if you need us."

Ella's smiled widened and she walked over to her Grandfather to give him the biggest and most heart warming hug she'd ever given anyone. "I love you guys too," she confessed and cried a bit. She broke the hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking out the door.

Staring the car, Ella pulled out of the driveway; she wiped a few stray tears from her eyes and sighed. She was glad that she made the choice to move back to Cole Harbour with her estranged Grandparents. Not only was she able to reconnect with her Grandparents, get closure with her Dad, she was able to finally accept what happened to her and start healing thanks to Sidney Crosby.

Reaching the pier she parked her car and killed the engine, making her way to where Sidney wanted to meet her. She stopped dead in her tracks and smiled warmly when she spotted Sid already there, looking out the dark ocean.

She walked silently up to him, knowing that he was deep in thought, and stood beside him, also looking out in the ocean. A few seconds later, she tore her eyes from the scenery and looked at Sidney.

"I'm glad that you came," he said finally.

"Why wouldn't I? I told them, my Grandparents," she said.

Sidney took his eyes off of the dark water and faced Ella. "How did they take it?" he asked and led them to the bench they sat in earlier that day. He smiled when he grazed his hand over the marking Ella made the night before.

Sitting beside him, Ella shrugged. "They took it better than I expected. I'm glad that I told them, they've been nothing but supportive of me."

Sid took her hand and held on to it. "I'm glad that you told them."

"Me too," she agreed and sighed. "So Hero, what are your plans for the rest of the summer?"

"The Cup is coming here in a week. My friend and team mate Max Talbot is coming down also after that, I'll probably be training for the rest of the summer until I get back to Pittsburgh," he told her. "What about you?"

Ella nodded stiffly. Her chest felt heavy as the idea of summer coming to an end was daunting. She never thought that far but realizing that summer was nearing an end, she didn't want it to. Ella knew that Sid had a life and a job that wasn't in Cole Harbour and that he had to leave soon, but it still scared her, the idea of loosing her best friend.

"If I've saved enough, I'll probably go back to New York and try and get back to Julliard. So that means I need to work my ass off."

Sidney was silent. He had a concentrated look on his face, his hand ever once let go of Ella's. He then let go of her hand, sighed and got up. Sidney

turned to her, a determined look on his face and offered his hand to her.

"Come with me. Come with me too Pittsburgh," he said in a determined voice. He didn't want to lose Ella and he knew that if he let her go to New York, he might never get his chance to be with her. He loved her too much to just let her go, and he was determined to make sure it didn't happen. "There's nothing left in New York, so come with me."

Ella's jaws dropped to the floor, her eyes wide she looked between Sidney and his outstretched hand. She didn't know what to do. Yes she wanted to stay with Sidney, but moving to a new place was overwhelming. It scared her.

Since arriving in Cole Harbour, her plan was to stay with her Grandparents until she saved enough money to return to New York. That was her plan, she had no intentions in changing her plans that was until she got to really know and love Sidney.

"If you're scared Ella, I just want you to know that I would never leave you and that I'll always be there for you not matter what. I love you and I don't want to lose you," Sidney whispered and smiled warmly at her.

Just then, her eyes met Sidney's warm brown ones and all fear and doubt disappeared from her mind. At that moment, she knew that it didn't matter where she was; so long as he was there she would be safe. Ella silently took his hand and placed her trust and heart with him.