Clara's Diary (Tag Fallon, Sidra, Any)

[Sebastian Flambert]

11:21 A.M.
St. Jude's Children's Hospital

An able hand slowly guided the graphite tip of a pencil over the smooth surface of a hospital stationary, putting the finishing touches on a superbly sketched image of a sleeping Fallon Cotton.

"You need to wake up, silly..." spoke Sebastian, nudging the sleeping girl's form with his left knee.

"You're already late for school.."

In Sebastian's eyes, the girl was an adorable sight to wake up to, having wrapped her own arms tightly around his cloth-bound torso during the night. Even now, her arms were still locked tightly around his waist in a humorously protective manner, as if struggling to defend the sixteen-year old boy from unseen monsters lurking in the dark.

"I think.." continued Sebastian, his broad smile faltering slightly, "You might be in trouble..."

Setting the sketch down on his lap, Sebastian slowly motioned to a pleasant spread of waffles, bacon, and eggs laid on his bedside table by the nurse. Two plates were set for the pair of teens, complete with an appropriate amount of spoons, forks, and mugs.

Sebastian chuckled softly, brushing a lock of dark brown hair from Fallon's face. Reaching over, the boy picked up a plate of food for the half-asleep Fallon, taking care not to spill a mug of orange juice all over the sheets.

It was during this small gesture did Sebastian suddenly feel very aware of his state of dress, and the fact that a very attractive girl he especially liked was in the same bed with him. Clad in only a thin blue hospital pajama bottom, the boy's entire upper body was exposed in all its entirety.

His build was slender, almost catlike, with a small amount of hard muscle giving his body some amount of definition. By no means did Sebastian Flambert have an exceptionally powerful figure, but his body gave off a sense of quiet elegance that was nevertheless attractive.

It was only the presence of a large quantity of snaking scars winding down the skin of his back that marred his appearance somewhat, long wicked lines an inch and a half in width that testified to days of horrible abuse that occured many years ago. Several thin red lines a millimeter in length ran down his shoulder in the shape of a tree, obviously inflicted by a knife.

"Oh.." gasped Sebastian, feeling Fallon's eyes on his naked back.
"S-Sorry.."

Embarrassed by his state of dress, the boy abruptly pulled up on the white cotton sheets of his bed to cover up his torso, shrinking away from the the young girl in a mixture of terror and shame.

"S-S-Sorry..." he mumbled, closing his eyes tightly together. "I... erm... I...."

"T-This is why I always wear long-sleeve shirts..."

[Fallon Cotton]

Fallon let out a tiny moan. It symbolized she did not want to wake up. After this she was sure to be grounded at least for the week and the weekend. She had left her mother a note, but she doubted it did much good. Fallon finally awoke when Sebastian nudged her. Or maybe it was the nice aroma of food. Either way. She opened her eyes and smile. "It was nice to sleep in for once. " Fallon reached over for her phone real quicky.

She had a voice mail. "Hold that thought." She quickly called her phone to get the voice mail, on the other end was a very irritated Ms. Cotton. "Fallon Cotton, you do not get to sneak out in the middle of the night young lady. You are to be grounded fro two weeks. I understand your friend was hurt, but next time you come to me you hear me...you come and tell me and I will take you myself. You do not get to just leave in the middle of the night, take the car and stay there. I will be there to pick you up soon. So you better be ready."

Fallon hung up her phone and put it down, "My mom is on her way and she is not too happy." Fallon admitted as she finally looked Sebastian over. Her eyes fell from the red lines on his shoulder to his exposed upper body. She wanted to touch him, but the way it looked was kind of sad. "I like you with out a shirt." She let out a small girly laughter.

"I better eat before my mother gets here." She said as she took some bacon and munched on it. It was good. Besides she was starving. The Fallon noticed a black book on the table as she took a sip of the juice. "Who left that?" She pointed at it as she gave Sebastian a kind smile. "You know you were kind of rambling last night."

She blushed a little. "I am not sure you remember or that I should remind you, but you um..said you um...think you are still....still a.....still a virgin" Let the stuttering begin. ",and um..i just th...thought I wo...woul....would say..i think you are o....one too. Desp....despite what happened t..t.....to you..." She had been emabressed by the whole thing.

At the time she was glad he fell asleep after, cause he would have found Fallon completely speechless and unable to actually for a sentence. Sex was something Fallon thought about, but it was one of those things she never talked about. It made her blush like crazy ans stutter, because she did want to have sex and that embarrassed her. So when Sebastian mentioned it she felt the need to run, but she stayed put cause she would rather not talk about it...yet.

"I um...ju....just...th...thou...though you shou....should kn...know." There goes the stuttering.

[Sebastian Flambert]

"I like you without a shirt.."

The boy slowly averted his eyes away in shame, taking care to raise the sheet higher to cover his exposed torso. Obviously, Fallon had noticed his scars and even though she had complimented him on his physique, he couldn't help but feel a huge amount of discomfort whenever the conversation touched his past experiences at the "Rose Garden".

"I don't." replied Sebastian, sadly shaking his head.

A pajama top lay next to the breakfast spread, a long sleeved piece of clothing with blue stripes to match his own hospital issued bottom. Glancing upward at Fallon with an almost pleading look in his eyes, Sebastian gingerly reached for the top, pulling it over his naked flesh as the girl temporarily looked away.

To make matters worse, the conversation shifted away from his body and towards the topic of his own virginity. As good-hearted Fallon's intentions were, the details of his own drug-induced rambling were far from welcome and had the effect of plunging Sebastian deeper into his protective shell.

"Don't worry about it.." spoke Sebastian after a very awkward silence, "At least.."

"At least, it's not your problem.."

Shifting away from Fallon, the boy curled himself tightly into a ball, burying his head deep into the safety of his own shoulders. Uninvited forays into the horrors of his own past were far from welcome, and always resulted in Sebastian burrowing pitifully into his shell as a defensive mechanism.

"At least... Somebody will still want you when you grow up.."

Bitterness was evident in his voice, despite it being little more than a soft murmur from beneath the sheets.

"I think that's for you.." commented Sebastian, shaking his head in the direction of the small black book lying on the bedside table. "It had your name on it, so I left it alone."

[Fallon Cotton]

It hurt Fallon to hear Sebastian speak like he was. She felt sad that he had such a negative view. To her he was beautiful. What he went through was painful and all the scars were not great, but Sebastian was beautiful to her. She gave him a small smile and grabbed his hand after he put his shirt back, "I would want you...when you grow up." Her voice was soft and soothing.

She gave him a smile, "I like you....a lot..." She admitted to him as she gave his cheek a small kiss. Then Fallon looked over at the black book. She picked it u and took off the sticky note that had her name on it. She opened it and found a letter tucked between the first two pages.

Fallon opened the letter and began to read. At first it was not so bad, but then, it got worse. Details. Gory details of the Rose Garden. Details about what this father did to them. It made Fallon sick to her stomach. She almost could not finish it. No signature, nothing, who would send this? Her stomach was twisting and turning. She felt sick.....the details were horrible. Now Fallon knew why Sebastian was so scared that no one could look at him.....it was...bad

What stood out to Fallon the most was the fact it suggested Clara was alive. No way. Sebastian said she was dead. How could she be alive if Sebastian said she was dead. This was so much. One thing Fallon knew for sure was the handwriting was female. The thought that perhaps Clara wrote this crossed her mind, but it was not possible.

Fallon put the note on the table fighting back tears as she opened the book, Her back was to Sebastian. The book was a diary. She flipped through the pages quickly and two pictures stuck out at her. One was of that dreaded father and the other....the other.. there was no mistaking who she was.

It was hard to miss when the name underneath the picture was scribbled there...Clara....but this woman looked older, how could that be...unless it was true...what if Clara did not die....what if the note spoke of the truth and Sebastian was using Fallon as a substitute for Clara, the woman he really wanted. Just the idea of him using her made her heart drop.

First the letter which made her insides twist and turn, it gave her a bad feeling and now this...a picture really is worth a thousand words, so many were going through Fallon's head at that very moment. She could barely speak or fight back the tears. As she further inspected the book and saw all the pages....it seemed to belong to Clara. All the more reason Fallon thought Clara left the book and wrote the letter.

She had no idea of the true culprit. Was this a warning...was Clara telling Fallon to back off, why else would someone send something so horrible to her. The details alone gave her images she could not get rid of. It made her heart break for Sebastian even more.

She wanted to hold him and tell him everything would be okay, but then thoughts of Sebastian using her....thoughts of him using Fallon and not really caring just was too much to bare....depression was next after a manic episode. Her heart wrenched at the thought and the wall that had crumbled with Sebastien was coming back up. How dare he use her?

Fallon tucked the letter away in the book and wiped her eyes before Sebastian could see it. She turned back to him and gave him a wary smile, "So um...any idea when you will be going home?" She asked attempting to find some way to put herself at ease, but all she felt was jumpy and the uneasing feeling that Sebastian did not care about her at all.

[Sebastian Flambert]

The boy shifted slightly underneath the covers, blushing at Fallon's response. No one had ever told him that he was "wanted" before, and after all the sixteen year old boy had gone through in his life, it was welcome. Almost immediately, a wave of desire and longing coursed through his body, quickly stiffled by Sebastian's defensive mechanism.

Despite her relatively carefree attitude, Fallon was a very attractive girl with a superbly shaped body, something that Sebastian had noticed. He wasn't dead, after all, and had the same desires that pervaded the usual mind of a teenage boy.

Expressing it was difficult, however, due to the sheer number of bad sexual experiences in the boy's life.

"I wish I could go home with you." replied Sebastian suddenly, shifting his body closer to the girl's form. "I wish.. I could stay with you.."

Like a mouse, Sebastian poked his head shyly out from under the covers, laying it to rest back on the crook of Fallon's neck. With almost painstaking slowness, the boy pulled out the hospital stationary containing his sketch, placing it gingerly over the top of Clara's diary.

Expertly drawn, the sketch portrayed a sleeping Fallon Cotton with a blanket wrapped tightly around her. A faint smile could easily be seen on her face, which seemed to radiate an air of tranquility through the paper.

"She's pretty, isn't she?" commented Sebastian, wrapping an arm affectionately around the girl's waist from under the sheets.

"Sleeping Beauty."

[Raphael D'Aubert]

"Ah-hem.."

From the doorway of the hospital bedroom, a dry voice snapped the two teens from their tender moment, bringing their attention to a tall muscular man of approximately thirty-nine years old clad in the uniform of the Los Angeles Police Department. Short blonde hair cropped close to the skull poked neatly from under the blue policeman's cap the older man had atop his head, accenting a bushy mustache.

"Sorry to interrupt the two of you," spoke the man in a booming baritone, "but I haven't formally introduced myself.."

Bowing slightly, the man entered the room, seating himself in the wooden chair adjacent to Fallon's side of the bed. A flash of gold, coupled with the official seal of the LAPD topped off the formalities, giving the policeman an air of formidability.

"Sergeant William J. Krinvenko, Los Angeles Police Department." stated the police officer, shaking Fallon's hand. "I was the one who called you last night."

"We happened to catch the individual who assaulted you last night, Mr. Flambert.."

"It looks like you did quite a number on him.. Not bad, for a sixteen year old. Turns out, you happened to snap his arm in three places during your engagement in the alleyway.. Of course, it doesn't help that he was doped up on wide variety of painkillers and amphetamines.. Terrible thing, though.. I'd had a few experiences myself, but none so persistant as that."

"Aikido? Not bad.."

[Fallon Cotton]

"That would be wonderful. Who will you go home with when you get out?" Fallon was unaware Shayne was out of the country. "I could always beg and plead with my mom, but I will be so grounded for sneaking out I doubt you will see me." She said with a small laugh trying to get Sebastian to laugh.

Right he wanted to come back ans stay with her, his substitute for Clara...next he would be calling out her name instead of Fallon. Fallon could not think like that and she mentally told herself to shut up. She was not a stand in. Sebastian liked her...right?

Fallon tucked the diary into her bag as Sebastien laid the picture on top. She then looked at the picture. "This is amazing." Sebastien was so sweet. How could she not like him? He did thing like draw her picture, but then...the note..the words rang around in her head and she tried to fight them. Fallon did not want to go into a depressed episode in a few days...she hated those. Yet maybe if she took her meds, which she could not remember to do.

"Now all Sleeping beauty needs is her prince charming. Maybe a guy who fights and defends...." She said looking at Sebastian. "I think I have met that guy..." Hopefully he did not want Clara...god she could not help it.

Just then the detective walked in and Fallon shook his hand. She left him speak to Sebastian. "Um..I'm sorry,did you say he broke the guys bone in three places...is that...is that possible?" It sounded painful...and very violent.

[Sebastian Flambert]

"Yes." replied Krivinko, nodding towards Sebastian, "He put up a pretty good fight and would've won against any sane individual."

Sebastian shifted uncomfortably in his bed, averting his eyes away from the police officer. Ever since Shayne had adopted him, he had been enrolled in Aikido classes as a way to "break out" of his introverted nature, earning his first "Dan" ranking after several years of study under a Canadian Aikidoka."

"I-I.." mumbled Sebastian, tugging nervously at Fallon's shoulder. "Master 'Miller' gave me a black belt before I left Montreal.."

"The guy who attacked him," interjected Krivinko, waving off Sebastian's comments with a lazy hand, "happened to be so souped up on amphetamines he didn't notice breaking his arm into three pieces.. It's a wonder he didn't die from all that bleeding after he ran away from you."

Sebastian's face froze in shock and terror. After the incident that took place with his last sparring partner, he had been haunted by a wide variety of flashbacks and dreams that brushed the trigger of his violent side. Knowing that he had nearly killed a man with his own bare hands, made him feel terrible and seemed to reinforce Raphael's earlier words about him being a monster.

"We caught him though, and he's in our custody.." Krivinko paused, eyeing Sebastian over with a careful glance. "You certainly are full of surprises, Mr. Flambert.. Mr. Green, the man who assaulted you, turned out to be a mentally-ill homeless man/drug addict.. and genuinely wanted to kill you. Why exactly he would do so remains a mystery to me, though this individual claims that 'a monster' made him do it.."

Krivinko chuckled at the notion, dismissing it with a subtle twitch of his mustache.

"But.. That's just mustard on the dog, as they say. The LAPD did manage to contact your guardian, a Shayne Warren, who happens to be in France this moment on a business trip."

The boy's spirits could be visibly seen drooping at the news of his mother's abrupt disappearance, a further blow to his already damaged psyche for the day. Burrowing his head pitifully into Fallon's shoulder, the boy did his best to stifle the tears welling up in his eyes at the news of Shayne's apparent abandonment.

"She asked, however, if it would be possible for Mr. Flambert to stay at the Cotton residence for the two weeks she said she would be missing.. Of course, it's entirely up to the Ms. Cotton, otherwise Mr. Flambert will have to stay here in the hospital under their care.."

[Fallon Cotton]

Fallon swallowed air. As the detective went on about Sebastian defending himself. It was a good thing Sebastian could do that. She did not want him to die, but when Rafe confronted them in the mirror maze Sebastian had acted in pretty much the same way he was now, so when Fallon heard about all this is was like the detective was talking about some other Sebastian Flambert. It was all surreal.

"A black belt. That's really good Sebastian." Which was true. It was quite an acomplishment to get all the way to a black belt. Fallon knew a little about martial arts, although this was called something different so perhaps she was mistaken, but still. To hear that the man could have died and how badly Sebastian hurt him too Fallon by surprise and because of it her stomach started to do flips and flops.

She turned to look at Sebastian as the detective went on. His face was gut wrenching. To hear what he had done to the homeless man who would have killed him and his mom was away on business. God it torn Fallon in two. Part of her wanted to get away from Sebastian. For using her as a replacement Clara, yet the way Sebastian looked made Fallon want to hold him and be at his side forever. "I will speak to my mother. I am sure she will agree once she hears the gravity of the situation, could um...Sebastian and I have a moment to talk." It was her way of getting this guy out of the room.

The detective might be trying to help, but from the way Sebastian looked, he was making things worse. Fallon turned to look at Sebastian. She would be there for him, for now. Despite how highly confused she was, she could not walk away. "Its okay Sebastian, you did what you had to do to survive, and I am glad you did it." She said in a reassuring voice. Fallon handed the picture of her sleeping, the one he drew, "You are the prince charming she is seeking. Think of it like a story. You lived so you can save Sleeping Beauty."

[Sebastian Flambert]

"S-Sleeping Beauty?"

Meekly, the boy looked up at Fallon Cotton, struggling to find the words to express the whirlwind of bad emotions swirling within. The shock and trauma of being physically assaulted by a homeless lunatic was worse enough without knowing the full extend of damage he had dished out, and nearly overwhelmed Sebastian's delicate psychological state in its entirety.

"R-Really?" he stammered, squeezing the girl tightly.

A faint flicker of a smile appeared briefly on Sebastian's face for half a second, before disappearing as the boy burrowed his head deeper into the girl's shoulder.

"But Fallon.." whimpered Sebastian, regressing back to the mental state of a child, "W-W-What i-if.. W-What if it's n-not S-Sleeping B-Beauty that needs s-saving?"

His grip loosened slightly as Sebastian allowed the thumb of his left hand to enter his mouth. Glancing around for his blue blanket, the boy's distress visibly showed in his childish mannerisms.

Thumb sucking, stuttering, and his tendancy to regress back to the mental state of his six-year old self.. All were defense mechanisms, as Dr. Van Maren stated, to cope with the trauma of abuse, abandonment, and loneliness.

"W-Would Sleeping Beauty even want P-Prince Charm.. Charming?"

He sniffled softly, before continuing to suck his thumb.