Clearing the Mind

It was Ellie's wedding day and she was just about done getting ready. She adjusted Maddie's dress for her and then looked over her reflection in the mirror one last time. "This is it." she said as she nodded to herself and grabbed her bouquet, heading out with Maddie. Maddie had her basket of flowers with her and when her music hit, she walked down with Ajay. Ellie waited for a while and heard her music play. She was about to walk down, until she felt somebody tap her shoulder. When she looked, she saw Lacy and smiled at her, giving her a hug. As it turned out, Lacy was going to walk her down the aisle and support her on her big day. They walked down together and Ellie was surprised to see all of her family made it for her day. She smiled at them, then when she made it to the end of the aisle, she held onto Colt's hands for the ceremony. The time finally came for the kiss and when Ellie's veil was lifted, she looked at Colt...and immediately removed her hands from his. "What? No---no." she shook her head.

"Come on El, we've been through this. We're the ones getting married." Brad said with a smirk.

"Get away from me." she said as she turned to run away but saw everybody preventing her from doing so. "Please, no!" she screamed as she felt everybody push her back towards Brad, who reached for her. "No!" she pleaded again and it wasn't until then that she noticed....Colt wasn't around anywhere, neither were Maddie and Ajay. "I want Scott, not you." she whimpered. "Where are Maddie and Ajay?"

"He's dead, just like I said he would be and I got rid of those brats too. Now shut up and kiss me, damn it."

She pushed and shoved against him as he kept a tight grip on her, leaning down to kiss her. "I said no!" she punched away at his chest, but he grabbed her by the face and kissed her. Everybody cheered and smiled, clapping for the new couple. She cried and shook her head, breaking the kiss. "No! No! No!"

-

"NO!" she yelled out as she sat up from the bed, panting and looking around the room, remembering where she was. She immediately got out of bed and went to check on Maddie and Ajay. They were sleeping peacefully, which calmed her down a little, but then she heard the door downstairs open. She peeked her head out a bit and saw that it was Colt, so she just ran straight to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him to her tightly. It had been a long, long time since she had a dream with Brad in it and it really freaked her out.

Scott had just got in from doing a show and was about to go upstairs when he saw Ellie coming down the stairs. "Hey E-- whoa!" he caught her and kept his arms around her. "What's wrong? What happened?"

She shook her head and just held onto him, glad he was there and looked to be okay. "I just...I had a bad dream." she said.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"In a bit." she said as she let go of him. "I'm sorry, I just jumped at you like that, especially when you're just getting home." she said and shook her head. "I'm just glad that you're okay and in one piece."

He frowned a little. "Of course I'm okay. El, you're scaring me." he said. "Do you want to stay down here or go back up to bed?"

"Back upstairs." she said as she bit her lip and tucked some hair behind her ear.

He nodded and kissed the top of her head, leading her upstairs. He'd get his bags in the morning.

She went back into their room and glanced around a bit, then went to bed and let out a sigh as she just pulled the blankets over her and laid there.

He figured the best thing to do was just be there for her, so he got undressed and climbed into bed with her, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm here."

She nodded a bit and just held onto him. "It was really bad." she said. "Had to do with our wedding and Brad."

He sighed and tightened his arms around her. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

She shook her head. "No, I'll tell you." she said. "It was our wedding day and Lacy showed up and walked me down the aisle. My whole family was there too and Maddie and Ajay walked down the aisle already. When we got to the end of the wedding to kiss and make it official...it wasn't you." she said as she let out a shaky breath. "It was Brad. I started moving away from him, but everybody who was there for me kept pushing me back towards him and wouldn't let me go. I kept saying that I wanted you and Maddie and Ajay, but then he...he said that he got rid of you and the kids." she started to cry. "They wouldn't leave me alone and he kissed me and we were married, even when I kept pushing him away and everything. It scared me a lot, I woke up screaming." she said as she wiped her tears away. "I hate him."

He sighed and continued to hold her, running a hand through her hair. "It was just a dream, El. You're here with me. That scumbag is locked up and they threw away the key. He can't get us anymore." he said as he wiped her tears away. "Don't cry baby. I hate to see you cry."

"It just felt so real." she told him. "And I know he's locked up but I don't know, maybe I have to see him in there to make sure he's locked up for good."

"If that's what you want to do, then that's what we'll do." he said and kissed the top of her head.

She nodded a bit. "Just...promise me you'll be okay, alright? Just until I go to see him. For all we know he could have friends or something out there coming after us." she sighed.

It sounded a little ridiculous to him, but he nodded anyway. "I promise. Get some rest. I'm here now."

She shook her head. "I'm not sleeping tonight." She said.

"Try." he said.

"Okay." she said, even though she wasn't going to, lol.

He shook his head and just held her.

Ellie didn't sleep at all during the night, she probably only slept for like a half hour, but it was on and off. Eventually she just got out of bed and went to get the kids ready for school, going to make them breakfast. "Here guys." she told them as she put their plates down on the table and gave them syrup for their pancakes.

"Thank you, Mommy." Maddie grinned as she started eating.

"Mommy, Tigger went in your bed now." Ajay giggled.

"Did he? Well then Daddy will be surprised when he sees him there and not me." she chuckled a bit as she started washing dishes, clearing up a bit so that she wouldn't have much to do when she came back from shopping with Lacy.

Scott came down a short while later carrying Tigger. "Someone wanna tell me why I woke up snuggling Tigger and not Mommy?" he smirked.

"I dunno." Maddie giggled.

"He missed you and you guys miss each other?" Ajay laughed as he continued eating.