[center][h1][b][i][color=a187be]Adelaide[/color] & [color=fff79a]Lawson[/color][/i][/b][/h1]
[youtube]https://youtu.be/u3u22OYqFGo[/youtube][/center][hr][hr][center][b]Location:[/b] Grimm High School - Outside
[b]Interacting With:[/b] Each Other; Marc; Jess, Ashley; Kai [/center][hr][hr]

	[color=fff79a]"Well that explains it,"[/color] Lawson chuckled a bit as he sat there. [color=fff79a]"I say you keep it up, seems this place could use a bit of a happy joke instead of everythang going on,"[/color] he said in a kind voice before looking over towards the door as he saw it open. He rose from his place, his eyes falling over his Bella. He hated seeing Kai next to her. Looking back at Jas he nodded at her. [color=fff79a]"Thank ya for the company ma'am. Hope we can talk later. Right now, I think I need to take care of this,"[/color] he said excusing himself as he began to walk towards Ada. 

	He kept his eyes on Ada, knowing if he looked at Kai the rage would build again and he would end up decking the man. After seeing how Ada reacted when he first showed up he decided that wasn't the best idea. Granted Marc was watching him closely, following him slowly as Lawson seemed to stalk his way towards Ada. He didn't want a fight breaking out in the middle of the gym between his two best friends but he knew the woman that was between the two would be the cause of it. Marc felt bad for Lawson and for Kai, most of all he felt bad for Ada. She was in the middle of something she never expected. 

	Ada stood there as Kai set her down, she could feel her heart beating a hundred miles an hour as she watched Lawson come over to her. She swallowed hard. Lawson kept his eyes on Ada and looked down at her ankle all wrapped up. Reaching down he scooped her effortlessly into her arms. [color=fff79a]"Excuse us,"[/color] was all he said as he turned his back to the door. Glaring towards Kai for a moment before he carried his wife outside so that they could talk. Ada just kind of rested there in his arms as he did, she didn't curl up to him like she did with Kai. She didn't want to be in his arms and her face showed it. She looked as miserable right then as she had the day of her wedding after they had been pronounced man and wife. The look she gave Kai as she was carried out the door was the same one she had given Ashley when her bouquet was handed back over to her. This was never the life she wanted, this was the life she had settled for. 

	Marc shook his head a bit as the doors closed and stepped over towards Kai, Ashley and Riley. Taking a deep breath he placed his hands on his hips as he stared at Kai. [color=82ca9d]"Alright bro, I think we need to have a little talk. Ashley, you want in on this?"[/color] he asked her as he crossed his arms over his chest. It was more than obvious that Marc was anything but happy right then. He had had this tone with Kai before and it was not good. 

	Outside Lawson carried Ada over to his truck and kicked the tail gate down. Reaching over he pulled a blanket over the end of it before setting her down. Ada still hadn't said anything. She wasn't exactly sure what to say to the dead man walking. Lawson took a deep breath as he looked at her. She looked so depressed right then and it stung his heart. Reaching over he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. Pressing her ear to his chest, his heart beating strong beneath the breast plate. [color=fff79a]"Hear that Bella? It's only beatin' cause of you. You kept me alive all these years, thoughts of you and your beautiful face,"[/color] he said softly as he kissed the top of her head. Ada closed her eyes and slowly pushed away from him, Lawson felt like the world became empty as his Bella left his arms. 

	[color=a187be]"Don't say things like that,"[/color] she said quietly as she looked down at the ground between his boots. [color=fff79a]"Why not, it's true."[/color] Ada shook her head, slowly looking up and off to the parking lot, she could see Kai's truck and all she wanted to do was run to it. [color=a187be]"How are you alive?"[/color] she finally asked. Lawson reached up and brushed her hair back so he could see her face; tucking the chocolate locks behind her ear. She was so beautiful, just as beautiful as the day he met her. 

	[color=fff79a]"I was captured. I was a hostage for insurgents for four years,"[/color] he told her. Ada sighed softly as he explained his imprisonment. The torture and interrogation. He didn't tell her just how bad it was but he told her enough to understand. He told her about how he kept the picture of her and his wedding ring, how his thoughts would go to her in the middle of everything. How he clung to remembering who she smelt, how she felt, how she looked to get through everything. 

	[color=a187be]"So where have you been over the last year? Why come back now?"[/color] she asked as she looked back over to him. Why did he have to wait for now? Then he explained about the rehabilitation, the counseling, and the debriefing he had to go through before they would let him leave. [color=fff79a]"I ain't even spoke to Ma yet. I had to come to my Bella first."[/color]

	[color=a187be]"Don't call me that,"[/color] she said as she looked back down. 

	[color=fff79a]"Ada please, can we just go home and try to pick up the pieces?"[/color] he asked her as he reached out and caressed her cheek softly in his calloused hands. Ada leaned back and pushed his hand back. [color=fff79a]"You want to go back to [i][b]him[/b][/i] don't you?"[/color] Ada didn't answer but the look on her face was all the answer he needed. [color=fff79a]"Even after all the pain he caused you? After everything you lost because of him!"[/color] he growled as he reached over and ran his fingers along the scars on her back. Ada's eyes narrowed and before she knew it her fist had balled up and connected with his jaw. His head whipped to the side and he reached up to rub his chin slightly as he glared at her. 

	[color=a187be]"That wasn't his fault! Don't you ever blame him for that!"[/color] she shouted as she shook her hand out, god damn the man had a hard jaw. 

	[color=fff79a]"Damn it woman! Why do ya constantly defend him? Just because you love him don't mean he has any feelins' for ya does it? Why you keep fighting to be with someone you know don't love you?"[/color] he asked as he flung his hands up in the air. 

	[color=a187be]"In the words of your people... [i]'Well ain't that the damn pot callin' the kettle black!'[/i]"[/color] she spat back at him and he froze for a minute, not exactly sure how to retort to that. She had struck truth in her words. He was fighting to keep her in his life and he knew she didn't love him. He had always known. Hell when they had been married he didn't love her either. They just did what was expected of each other by their families. Shaking off the thought he growled a bit under his breath and rolled his shoulders back. 

	[color=a187be]"Don't even try that Marine shit with me Dj, you know that never intimidated me,"[/color] she warned him as she crossed her arms over her chest. Lawson smiled slightly and nodded. [color=fff79a]"I know, you were never scared of nothing were you? Strongest woman I ever knew next to Ma. But Ada, this ain't the same. You can't be with this man. Fine, don't be with me but please don't go crawling back to him. He crushed you. You really want to go through that again? Have him turn and walk back outta yer life? Ada, yer better than that. Come on, just come home with me. We will figure this out, together."[/color]

	Ada shook her head. [color=a187be]"He made a mistake. He does love me,"[/color] she said as she thought back to everything that had happened that day and she felt the blush rise in her cheeks as she thought about being in his arms after all this time. Lawson kicked at the ground, knocking a rock across the parking lot. [color=fff79a]"Ada, please. When a man loves a woman he doesn't push her away. He keeps her as close as he can no matter what."[/color]

	[color=a187be]"Even if that means keeping her against her will?"[/color] she said flatly. Lawson took a deep breath, he was letting his anger get the better of him. He didn't want it to but after everything he had been through only to come back and see his wife in the arms of another was a bit much even for him. 

	[color=fff79a]"Listen, I went through hell to get back to you! I hung on because of you!"[/color] he began before he tore into a rant about how she owed him for coming back, that she was his wife, that she had to try for him because of everything he had been through. Ada just got angrier and angrier as he spoke. 

	[color=a187be]"How dare you! It sucks that you went through all that but it wasn't my fault! I didn't make you a marine. I wasn't the one that signed you up for another tour of duty. In fact if I remember correctly I begged you not to go! I begged you to stay, not to put yourself in that type of danger again! Remember what you said to me? I am a Marine first, a husband second. And now you want to guilt me into staying your wife? Fuck you! I shouldn't pay a debt a never created just because you guilt me into it! That isn't love!"[/color] she screamed at him. She was livid and Lawson knew it. He had never seen her go on like she did and it hurt, it cut deep. What made it so much worse was the salt of truth that was getting rubbed into the wounds. She was right. He had no right to guilt her like he was. 

	[color=fff79a]"Ada... I'm sorry, I...""[/color] he said remorsefully as he looked down like a wounded puppy. [color=fff79a]"But I do love ya Bella. I don't want to see you get hurt by that man again. I know it done sound crazy but isn't a life with a man you know that loves you and would go through hell to be with you even if you don't love him be better than a life worrying he is gonna leave you again?"[/color] Looking back up at her slowly he ran his fingers through his hair. 

	[color=a187be]"I'd rather take the chance,"[/color] she admitted quickly. She would. A day of happiness with Kai was worth nearly anything to her. Lawson shook his head, he didn't like the idea, not one bit. [color=a187be]"And how can you be sure you even love me really? Sure you hung onto thoughts of me to get through everything but maybe you just did that because it was simplest. It was something solid you had. You had a ring a picture. That doesn't mean you love me. It just means you found something to cling onto."[/color]

	[color=fff79a]"Like you have clung to the thought of that Hawaiian all these years?"[/color] he countered with acid in his voice. Reaching out he grabbed her behind the head and pulled her close, pressing his lips to hers and kissing her deeply. Ada froze there in her place, her eyes wide open as he stole a taste of her lips. She didn't know what to do at first and then she suddenly pushed him away, hard. Looking at her he was in as much shock as she was. He was expecting her to fall into the kiss, he was expecting himself to. He was expecting his heart to race, for butterflies to flutter in his stomach, for something. He felt nothing when he kissed her. 

	[color=a187be]"Don't ever do that again,"[/color] she said quietly as she wiped the kiss away on the back of her sleeve. [color=fff79a]"I'm sorry.... I won't..."[/color] he said as he let her go and turned, sitting down on the edge of the truck. They both sat there in silence for the longest time. [color=fff79a]"Ada, what do I do now?"[/color] he asked her quietly. 

	Ada sighed as she leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder. She felt bad for him, he didn't need all this but he needed to realize somethings as well. Right then she figured he had had enough of a reality check for the day. She knew she had. Even though she didn't love him, she did care for him. She always looked at him as a friend. They had gotten along well. They kind of understood each other in a weird way. Sure the marriage wasn't happy and lovey but it had been stable. It was more than many had. 

	[color=a187be]"You start over Dj, you're strong and you'll get through this. You should go let your mother that you are okay. She was crushed at the funeral,"[/color] Ada said as she looked over to him. Lawson shook his head. [color=fff79a]"Na, ma doesn't need to see me like this. I need time before I show up at her place. She need to see her boy strong, not broken."[/color]

	[color=a187be]"You aren't broken, you just are healing. It's a process. Why not stick around here? I know it sounds odd but I am here to talk if you want and well Marc is here. So is Ashley and Riley. You know them. They know what is going on. And they won't judge. But if you do stay, you gotta stop giving Kai that look you give right before you start a fight okay?"[/color] she said added quickly at the end. Lawson just looked up at the sky. 

	[color=fff79a]"I must be fuckin' crazier than Cynthia. But yeah I'll hang out a bit. But I ain't making no promises when it comes to that man. I see one tear come from yer eye and I'll go Marine on him,"[/color] he said as he rested his hands back against the bed of the truth and leaned back a bit. Ada wasn't going to argue at that point, plus she doubted he would get the first swing. If Kai made her cry again she doubted she would hold back this time either. 

	[color=a187be]"Go on, get inside and get a drink. Go talk to Jess or someone,"[/color] she said as she slipped off the back of the truck. 

	[color=fff79a]"You mean the fake cousin?"[/color] he said and chuckled as Ada looked at him wide eyed. [color=fff79a]"Don't worry she told me it was a prank."[/color]

	[color=a187be]"Oh okay, well just don't blow her cover okay? She's earned this,"[/color] Ada said and Lawson nodded as he slipped off the tailgate of the truck and pushed it shut. [color=a187be]"Now, get in there, I'll be along in a minute,"[/color] she said and Lawson hugged her quickly before walking off towards the gym. As he did he looked down at his wedding band, his finger running over it slowly before he slid it off. Ada was right, it was time for him to start over.