Nobody's Hero

The next morning, they spent hours arguing back and forth about what they should do next. Both of them knew that her mom had probably been right when she'd said they needed to go to the police, but Phoenix was scared. Looking back, she realized they probably shouldn't have run. They should have stayed and figured out some way to make things work out. Running away made them look ridiculously guilty of whatever Patrick wanted to accuse them of, and they both knew it.

The more they argued, the more it became pretty clear that they weren't going to agree on a solution. Andy insisted that they should just go to the local police where they were. Phoenix kept saying that the police wouldn't do anything because there wasn't evidence of anything, and since Pat was the sheriff's son where they did live, his word would mean more than theirs.

The conclusion they ultimately came to was laying low at her mom's for a while, with the hope in mind that maybe Pat would lose interest and leave them alone. Admittedly, neither of them really believed that would happen, but it was a nice thought and they were tired of arguing with one another.

When they couldn't stand being cooped up in the house any longer, they ventured out and explored the town they used to know so much about. Not much seemed to have changed other than the fact that all of the little shops and things around town were filled with different people than they used to be.

As they made their way back to her mom's house, Phoenix noticed something was wrong the second she pulled Andy's car onto the street. A car that she instantly recognized as Patrick's was parked outside her mom's house, a police car with flashing lights parked right beside it.

"How the fuck did he find me?" she asked, and a glance over at Andy told her he was shaking his head.

"I don't know. What are you going to do?" he asked, looking at her intensely. She pulled the car off to the side of the street as soon as there was an opportunity to, hoping to give herself a moment to think.

"Can you see if my mom's home?" she asked Andy, stretching and craning her neck to try and see the driveway.

"Doesn't look like it," he told her, sticking his head out the window and stretching.

"What do we do?" she asked, tossing his earlier question back to him.

"No idea. Should we just go in? Talk to them? Try to reason with them?" he asked, wondering if that might be the only solution, even though his tone told her he knew better. "We certainly can't just leave them here for your mom to handle." Nodding, she took a moment to think about the situation. She knew that they could just call the local police from where they sat, but she also knew that Pat and his dad could both be very charming and make everything seem like she and Andy were definitely the ones to blame. The only thing she could think of was to go and give herself to them to keep Andy out of it any more than he already was. She knew he wouldn't agree to the idea, so she didn't tell him.

"Yeah. We'll go in," she said instead.

Andy nodded slowly and reached across the car for her hand as she started to head towards the house. She pulled in beside the other two cars and took a deep breath before getting out of the car. Crossing around to the passenger side, she pulled Andy into a tight hug and didn't let him go for a good minute. When she finally did, she got onto her tiptoes to kiss him, and made sure that lasted too before pulling away.

"I love you," she told him, and she couldn't help but melt a little at the way he smiled at her.

"I love you too," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her one more time.

Taking deep breaths, they both turned and headed up the front steps to the house. They heard voices as they stepped through the front door and Phoenix instantly recognized both of them. They sounded like they were coming from the kitchen and they set off towards them. Patrick saw them instantly as they entered and shot Phoenix a nasty grin.

"How did you find me, Patrick?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"More importantly, how the hell did you think I wouldn't find you?" he shot back at her, and just hearing his voice made her sick to her stomach.

"What do you want?" she asked him, and he shot her that grin again.

"You, of course, my love. It was always you," he said, tossing glances between her and Andy. Just looking at them, he seemed to be able to tell that something had changed within the dynamic between them. He stared at them for a moment and then pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans. His father stood there idly watching as he pointed the gun at Andy. "You been fuckin' my girl?" Patrick asked him, as full of class as ever.

"No," Andy said simply and truthfully.

"Liar!" Pat screamed, stepping closer to Andy with the gun.

"Stop! I'll go with you! I'll do whatever you want!" Phoenix yelled, stepping in between Andy and the gun. Pat kept coming forward until the barrel was pressed against her chest.

"Belle," Andy whispered behind her, grabbing her hips and trying to move her. She was surprised that she was able to hold fast against his effort.

"Right answer," Pat said, grinning once more. He held the gun to her chest for a few more moments before putting it back where he'd gotten it from. "Dad, keep him here," he told his father, grabbing roughly onto Phoenix's arm and motioning to Andy with a jerk of his head. As Phoenix was pulled out of the house, she watched as Patrick's dad held a very similar gun to Andy's chest.

"I love you, Scar!" Phoenix hollered as she was pushed through the front door, towards Patrick's car.

She heard Andy's voice say something in response, but she couldn't quite make out the words. Patrick shoved her into the backseat of his father's squad car, and she wasn't totally surprised when he was the one that climbed into the driver's seat.

"I can't even tell you how much fun we're going to have, girl," Pat said in a voice that sounded nothing like the voice of the guy she'd thought at one point she might love.