When She Cries

*Jimmy's P.O.V.*

It's almost midnight and we still haven't heard anything from Elle. We've checked everywhere for her, and we can't find her. We've gone to every one of her spots, but she wasn't there.

Finally, we just decided to take Val home and wait for Elle there. As soon as Val had lay down on the couch, she was out. Poor thing was exhausted.

"I'll go get some blankets," I said, heading up the stairs. As I passed by Elle's room, something caught my eye. I slowly walked into the room and flicked the light on. "Elle?" She was curled into a ball at the head of her bed. When she didn't respond, I got a closer look and noticed she was asleep. I pulled a blanket up over her and kissed the top of her head. I turned the light off and quietly walked out of the room. "I found Elle," I said, walking back down stairs with a blanket for Val.

"Where?" Brian asked first.

"In her room, asleep." Everyone looked confused.

"She's been here the whole time?" Lacey asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know, I just saw her when I was going to grab a blanket."

"Poor baby," Leana mumbled, shaking her head.

The next morning, it was hard for all of us to wake up, but we wanted to go see Matt as soon as we could. We hadn't heard Elle get up, but when Zacky went to take a shower, she was already in there.

"She's been in there for over an hour," Michelle mumbled, holding a cup of coffee.

"Shower's are soothing," Johnny said, shrugging.

"No." She shook her head, before getting up and going up stairs. I followed her out of curiosity. "Jimmy, I need you to pick the lock," she said once she reached the bathroom door.

"Chelle, just knock," I said confused. She did and once there was no answer, she gave me a told you so look. I sighed, and hurriedly picked the lock. I let Michelle go in first. Hey, I still tried to respect my niece's privacy.

"Jimmy, get me a few towels!" She called to me. I jumped at her urgent voice, and ran to get a few towels. When I came back to the bathroom, Chelle was holding Elle in her arms.

"What's wrong?" I asked softly, draping a towel around Elle. Chelle gave me a look that said we would talk later. So I left the bathroom and walked back down stairs.

"Is she out?" Brian asked.

I nodded. "But something's wrong." I didn't know what, but I still had that gut feeling.

A little while later, Michelle came back down stairs with Elle in tow. "Hey, Sweetie. How you feelin'?" Leana asked. Elle just nodded, not making eye contact with anyone.

"Why don't you go sit down and I'll have Zacky get you something eat," Michelle told Elle, walking her over to the kitchen table. After she was sat down, Michelle nodded towards the living room and I followed her. "I think she's in shock," she sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"What do you mean?"

"She was curled up in the shower, and the water was freezing. She was just sitting there, Jimmy." She looked at me with broken eyes.

I pulled her into my arms and hugged her. "Everything's going to be okay, Chelle. We'll get through this. Matt's probably going to be coming home today, so that's a plus."

"I think Elle just needs her dad," she said, sniffling.

I nodded in agreement. "I think so, too."

As everyone was getting ready, we all made sure that someone was with Elle. All she did was sit at the kitchen table, and stare down at the table. She didn't say anything or do anything.

"Elle, we're going to go to the hospital now," Brian said softly, bending down to her height. "You ready to go?" She didn't say anything. She just allowed him to walk her to the car. I saw she was walking a bit slow and frowned. Something was obviously wrong.

"Jim, will you come in with me?" Val asked softly when we got to the hospital.

"Of course." I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and walked with her into Matt's room. "Hey, look who's up!" I smiled, seeing Matt sitting up in bed.

"Hey, guys," he said, giving a soft smile. He had probably just woken up. After giving Val a kiss and me a hug, he looked around. "Where's Elle?"

"Out with the others. You want me to go get her?" I asked.

He nodded. "Please, I really want to see her." Hearing those words brought a smile to both mine and Val's lips.

"I'll be right back," I said, heading out to the waiting room.

When I got there, I saw Zacky trying to talk to Elle. But her hood was pulled up and she was just staring at the ground. "Hey, Sweetie," I said, bending down to look at her. "Your dad's awake. He really wants to see you." Zack looked at me surprised, then back to Elle.

"Go on, Baby. It'll be good to see him," he said softly. She looked at him for reassurance, the most emotion she's shown all morning. He just smiled softly and nodded.

She then looked at me. "Come on." I held out my hand and she took it. I walked slow enough for her back to Matt's room. "Look who I found," I said once we walked back into the room.

"Hey, Baby," Matt said, his smile getting wider. Elle just clung onto my hand tighter.

"Go say hi," I whispered in her ear, giving her a little nudge.

She still wasn't too sure though. "It's okay, Sweetie. Come on over," Val said, patting the side of the bed. Elle slowly walked over.

"Why are you limping?" Matt asked, frowning. I heard her sniffle, and I knew she was crying. "Baby, what's wrong? Come here." Matt held his good arm out and she quickly climbed into the bed with him. "What's going on? Talk to me."

"I just didn't want you to hate me anymore. I wanted to make everything better, and I knew it would just be a reminder every day. I didn't want to make things worse," she started babbling out.

"Whoa, slow down and take a breath," Matt said, rubbing her back, trying to sooth her. "Why would ever think those things, Elle? I could never hate you. I love you so much, Baby. Yeah, things are a bit rough right now, and I take part of that fault. But that's never enough to make me hate you. That's out of the question."

"I had to do it though... I thought it would make things better," she said, crying harder.

"Elle... What'd you do?" He asked slowly.

"I- the bab-" She shook her head, not being able to form the words. She just held her arms over her stomach.

Val seemed to catch on. "Oh, Elle," she sighed, shaking her head. "Sweetie, you didn't need to do that," she said softly, putting her hand on Elle's knee.

"What?" Matt asked, not catching one.

Val looked at him with sad eyes. "She didn't keep the baby," she said softly.

Matt's eyes widened, before he looked down at his crying daughter. He sighed, closing his eyes and laying his head on top of Elle's. "It's okay, we're gonna get through this," he said, holding her as tight as he could.

The only thing that was running through my mind, was that I wanted to kill Mike. And if I ever saw him again, I would.