Dangerous

She walked long enough to get sober enough to realize what a fucking idiot she was. She still had no idea where she was; she hadn't even really had enough insight to take notice of any landmarks. Another look at her almost dead phone told her she'd been walking for almost two hours. She was cold, starving, and it was almost starting to get dark. She was still covered in blood and her nose had been dripping with it on and off the whole time she'd been walking.

She knew she had to call someone. That was the only option. Jared would be furious, not only that she'd gone into a bar at noon, but that she'd gone home with a guy and then decided to wander around a strange city for hours. Tomo was with his wife, and there was no way she was about to get into the middle of that and ruin some of their only alone time. Her only hope was that Shannon wasn't off at a party somewhere already. She punched his name on her phone's glowing screen and held her breath. He picked up on the second ring and his voice was concerned.

"Ellie?" he said it, and for once she was relieved to hear the nickname she hated coming from his lips.

"Shan."

"Where the fuck are you?" he asked, and she almost chuckled. Maybe she was still a little drunk after all.

"You told me to leave."

"I meant back to your fucking hotel room. Or to Jared's to bitch about me. Or something."

"What, like you care?"

"Of course I fucking care. Where are you?"

"I... don't know."

"You don't know?"

She told him everything that had happened then. How she'd gone to the bar, gone home with the guy, gotten punched in the face, thrown her jacket away, gotten blood all over everything, and how she'd walked for almost two hours. By the time she was done, she was crying hysterically. Shannon instantly went into protector mode.

"He fucking punched you? Goddamn. You're okay? Do you need a doctor?"

"I'm... I'm fine. I need... need you, though, Shan," she said it without really meaning to. She was too drunk and too hysterical to care.

"I'll be there, Ellie. You've gotta gimme some sorta idea where you are, though," he said, and she could hear him shuffling around, getting ready to leave wherever he was.

She told him everything she saw. The food places around her, the stores, street signs, what the scenery looked like. He looked everything up on his phone and seemed to come up with a basic location. He told her to stay exactly where she was and that he'd be there as soon as he could. He told her he loved her, but she knew it was just because she was still hysterical and he knew she needed it. She asked him to stay on the line until her phone died, and he agreed that he would. She heard him getting a cab and telling the cabbie the location he'd figured out.

"Shan," she whispered, after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, Elle?"

"I'm so fucking-" she began, but her phone died right then, making her start to cry again. She'd been going to apologize, to tell him that she'd been too harsh earlier, to tell him that she loved him.

She'd been sitting on a bench outside a cafe for forty-five minutes when a cab finally pulled up and a very worried Shannon jumped out. He instantly took off his jacket and wrapped it around her, pulling her into a hug.

"Are you okay? Are you okay?" he asked her, taking her face in his hands and looking at it intently.

"I'm fine. I'm cold. I'm hungry. My fucking face hurts. I've never been more glad to see you," she said, realizing with her words that she had actually sobered up quite a bit while she'd been waiting for him.

"Why the fuck did you do that?" he asked, once he seemed satisfied with her answer.

"You told me to get out," she said, a heavy lump rising once again in her throat.

"I tell you to get out every other fucking day, Elle," he said, and she couldn't help but laugh a little. It was true. "Don't fucking scare me like that," he said, hugging her again.

He got her into the cab and slid in beside her. She caught him staring at her and wished he'd say what he was really thinking. She knew he wouldn't. 

"You're staring," she said simply, just to see what he would say.

"Yeah, well, you look like shit. And I'm trying to picture what the fuck you're going to say to Jared. You're definitely gonna get a dad talk from him," he said, and she knew he was right. She loved Jared to death, he was her best friend in the entire world and it made her really happy knowing that she had someone that cared about her as much as he did, but sometimes he got a little carried away when bad stuff happened. He liked to lecture. She and Shannon had taken to affectionately calling these lectures 'dad talks' way back when they were teenagers. Jared hated it, but it always made both of them laugh.

"I know. Is it really that bad?" she asked him, and he took her face gently between his hands and studied it.

"It's pretty bad. Your nose wasn't broken, but it was close. You're still coated in blood, and you've got two pretty gnarly black eyes. You've got makeup from who the fuck knows when all over you, and your hair looks like it hasn't been brushed in about a month," he surveyed, tucking a long sandy brown strand behind her ear. All she could focus on was the fact that as he talked, both of his thumbs gently stroked her cheeks.

"So, overall, not the worst I've looked?" she asked, smiling up at him. He kissed her forehead gently.

"Definitely not," he said, laughing as he draped his arm over her shoulders. She leaned into him and was very quickly asleep.

Once he was absolutely sure she was asleep, Shannon kissed the top of her head.

"My lovely little Ellie," he whispered, to nobody but himself.