Ballet and Capes

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"I just have work tomorrow. After that though I'm free if you want to hang out again." As he stood up to grab his shoes, she stood up as well, walking with him to the door. She leaned up and kissed him softly again, "Just text me the plans for tomorrow. And try to not move as much. If you strain yourself than we'll never get back to our dancing." Of course, she had think the same for herself. Shockwave was going to have to take a little break for a few days otherwise there was no way she could last in a fight with how sore she was and she certainly wouldn't be able to dance either.

Once they said goodbye to one another, Juliet got ready for sleep and crawled into her bed, smiling softly to herself as she thought about the events that had happened today and wondering how in the world she ever got so lucky to find someone like Stefan that she loved so much and who loved her back just as much. It was an amazing feeling and she feel asleep thinking about what the future might have in store for the two of them.
 
Throughout the night, Stefan iced down his knees, elbows and back and was delighted to see that he felt a lot better. He had cleared out the snow in his apartment when Juliet had visited but he allowed it all to come back as he walked around, preparing for sleep. Stefan iced off the charred burn on the wall, wondering how it had gotten there.

Work passed quickly and before he knew it, Stefan was making his way to Juliet's work. He wanted to surprise her, so he approached the counter, where she stood, engaged in the cash register. "Hey cutie," he said, surprising her as planned. He grinned widely.
 
Late that morning, Juliet woke up on time, thank goodness, to get ready, throwing on her work uniform and pulling her long curls into a ponytail before heading out the door and walking to her work. Things, of course, had been hectic at work when she first arrived since it was the lunch hour. She had rushed around, taking orders and bringing out food, as well as taking money and putting it in the register, bring the receipt and change to costumers that still sat at their table. But, as the time ticked on and they reached the in between time of day when it was too late for lunch but still sort of early for dinner, it got less and less busy to where there was just a few costumers in the diner.

She stood at the moment at the register, putting money in and getting change and a receipt for a costumer when she jumped a little when someone spoke to her, not used to people coming up to the register, only to look up and smile brightly, "You scared me half to death, Stefan. First the practice room and now here at my work? You must really love sneaking up on me." Though, she obviously didn't mind it at all. He was probably the only one that could sneak up on her like that, "What in the world are you doing here?" She asked happily, leaning over the counter to give him a small small before walking to give the change and receipt to the costumers at one of the table. With no other new costumers coming in at the moment, there was nothing to do right now and so she walked over to Stefan, still smiling happily at the fact he had come here to see her, "How was work? Are you feeling a little better today?"
 
"I do enjoy sneaking up on you. Little known fact about me: I am a ninja," he smiled.

"I'm feeling a lot better," he said. "And at work, I managed to sell the entire limited edition Harry Potter box set to a lovely fourteen-year-old girl, so my faith in humanity has been restored and I got tipped."

Stefan looked around the restaurant. He remembered what Juliet had told him about her job, and automatically decided that she was too good for this place. Heck, she could waitress for Gordon Ramsey and she would still be too good.

"Since you'll probably get in trouble if you just stand there talking to me without paying for your precious time," said Stefan, "could I please get a Coke, my dear?"
 
"A dancer and a ninja? Such skill and talent." She said with a bright smile, "I'm glad you had a good day. Wish I could say the same. Lunch hour was so hectic. Luckily things have quieted down a bit for now." She brushed a strand of blonde hair back from her face, slipping the strand neatly back into her pony tail, "One order of Coke, coming up."

With that, she grabbed a glass and poured his drink, bringing it out to him, "Eh, I won't get in much trouble. My manager is pretty cool. Its the costumers you have to watch out for. I can't tell you how many times he's had to throw people out for being rude and obnoxious." And trying to look up her dress or hit on her and the other waitresses that usually worked there. She couldn't count how many times that men had been thrown out for that. But she saw no need to mention that. It was just something a girl had to learn to deal with when working in a diner.
 
As if she had summoned one, a snobby-looking guy in a suit walked up to the counter, dropped a wink at Juliet and turned to leave. Stefan glowered over his glass at the man, and twitched his hand under the counter, causing a slick of ice to appear under his feet. Stefan laughed as he fell and quickly dissolved the ice and got rid of the water. He didn't want Juliet to the sued.

"Rude and obnoxious people like that?" he murmured to his girlfriend as the guy left, looking flustered. "I could probably get you a job at the bookstore if you hate this place so much. Or Sabira works at a clothes store."
 
Juliet had quite the annoyed and exasperated look as the man winked at her before going to leave, rolling her eyes, only to grin slightly as the man fell. Well, the man got what he deserved by checking out girls and not watching where he was going. She looked back to Stefan and could see he was pretty ticked about all of it. She nodded slightly, "Yeah, guys like that. Can't tell you how many times that happens a day." She muttered.

She sighed, leaning against the counter, but smiled at his offer, "A job at the bookstore? That would be so much better than dealing with people here. At least there guys won't be trying to look my dress every other hour." She shook her head, picking up some dirty dishes from the counter and taking them over to the sink for the dish washer to take care of before walking back over to Stefan, "Do you think they'd hire me?"
 
"Yeah, they would totally hire you," said Stefan. "My boss is pretty cool and he was actually telling me today that they're looking for another employee. Besides, if they had second thoughts about you I could just bribe them or, you know, cut off their legs or something," he said casually, taking a sip of his Coke.

When Juliet's shift was over, they walked hand-in-hand from the restaurant. Stefan announced he had a date planned, so he took her home for her to get changed and afterwards, he drove to the city's best museum. After paying for the relatively cheap tickets, Stefan lead Juliet to the third floor, where an exhibit on the history of ballet had been set up.

"I thought you'd like this."
 
Juliet laughed quietly, "You've watched too many horror movies if you're threatening to cut off peoples legs." She joked and then as more people came in, went on with her work. There wasn't many more confrontations with rude costumers, but either way it had been a long day and she was ready to go out with Stefan. She was so happy to walk out with him and was excited to hear he had a surprise date planned for them. Soon she was driven home so she could change and once she was, she was a little confused as he drove up tot he museum in town.

She held his hand, looking in curiosity as they walked in she was rather excited to see the museum had a temporary ballet exhibit, "This is so cool, Stefan!" She hugged onto his arm as they walked, looking at the different things. An hour had passed and they came to a part of the exhibit that showed different pictures and was even showing a video, of her home theater. She didn't think much of it. After all, that theater had been open for many years. But, what she hadn't been expecting and what she only noticed after a good half minute of being there, there was a small section there giving tribute to her parents and herself with a small picture of fifteen year old her standing with her parents on one of the podiums.

When she saw that, panic ran through her, and not wanting Stefan to see it, still holding onto his arm, she began to make an attempt in drag him away from that part of the exhibit but wasn't making much progress in doing so, hoping he hadn't seen the picture yet, "Come on, Stefan, let's go over there. Please. I just really want to look somewhere else."
 
"Wait -- I want to look at this," said Stefan. He held onto her hand as he walked over to the photo of the young girl with her parents.

It was a nice picture, with a pretty, pale daughter standing with her parents in a ballet costume. Her mother also wore a costume, and she held herself with such grace and poise that she must have been a professional. The father looked quite regal; Stefan guessed he might have been a director or composer. He couldn't begin to understand why the picture had upset Juliet so much.

That was when he realised how much the tiny girl in the photo looked like Juliet.

"She looks like you," he said. "A lot."
 
"Yeah, she does, doesn't she." She brushed her hair back from her face nervously, "Maybe a relative I didn't know about or something?" She could feel her hands trembling slightly as she held onto him. This was the first time since her parents had died that she had seen anything about them, even a picture and it was clearly affecting her badly.

She continued to try and tug on his arm, before giving up and just burying her face ever so slightly against his shoulder spoke again, "Please....let's just go look at something else."
 
"Yeah, okay, just a second, there's a caption. In loving memory of ... Juliet Lovington and her parents. May they rest in peace."

Stefan took a shocked step back. Deceased? How could she be deceased when she was literally standing right beside him? He was shocked, confused and distressed. Turning to Juliet he said, "Um ... please tell me you aren't a vampire," in a feeble attempt to bring humour to the bizarre situation.
 
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Juliet was about ready to freak out, pulling his arm a little harder when he said he was about to read the caption. She didn't want him knowing. Didn't want him finding out about what had happened and knew if he read that she would have to explain to him. And sure enough, he read it and she froze, refusing to meet his gaze as he turned to her and made a bad attempt at a joke about it and it really didn't help the tension she felt. She was taking shaky breaths as she shook her head in answer to his joking question.

She just wanted to get out of there now. Didn't want to be there anymore. She finally spoke, continuing to look down, trying to not meet his gaze, "I....I can't explain here. I just....can we go? Please?"
 
Stefan saw how panicked she was and nodded. He slipped her arm around her shoulders and lead her out, to his car, where he helped her inside and drove back to his apartment. Once they were inside, he sat Juliet on the sofa and made her a hot cup of cocoa. He took her free hand between his and said, "Please just be honest with me. I promise it won't change anything. I love you, remember?"
 
Juliet was relieved when he finally agreed to let them leave and followed him out to the car silently, staring out the window and now saying a word the whole ride back to his apartment. Even as he lead her inside and sat her down and made her some coca before taking her hand and speaking to her, she was silent for a long moment, staring down at her hot chocolate in thought.

She had to tell him, at least part of her story at least. She couldn't just lie to him and say 'oh that was just a mistake that the girl in that picture looks just like me and has the same first name as me too'. It was clear that the girl was her and there was no taking back that he had seen it. She had no choice but to talk to him.

Finally she looked up at him and silently sat the hot chocolate down, giving a small sigh, "Do you...remember what I said to you the night we left practice? About how my parents used to always take me to ballets and every time there was a woman named Janicé Lovington? Well...she....was my mother. My real name isn't Juliet Karmen...It's Juliet Lovington. You've probably heard the story of the way one of the greatest Ballerinas of all time and her husband the composer were suddenly murdered one night....that was my parents...and the people that did it...they...hurt me....in more ways than one..." She averted her gaze almost in shame as she said that part and continued speaking quietly,

"I got home one night from rehearsal at the theater for a big Ballet I was supposed to be in with her, and when I got there....they were dead...and the men were still there. I couldn't run. Couldn't hide...they drugged me and did whatever they wanted to me and there was nothing I could do about it." She took her hand away from his now to bury her face in her hands, curling her knees to her chest, "They took me to the hospital when they found me the next morning. After that, I was relocated, everyone being told I had killed myself for my own protection is what they said....I've been living in secret all this time....I couldn't let anyone know who I really was...I've been so scared they'd find me again...." She was sobbing now, for there was some truth to that, though she wasn't scared of those exact people finding her again, but the people in the facility she had escaped from. All that fear was coming out now as she sobbed and trembled, curling in on herself as she sat there next to him.
 
Stefan listened in horror to Juliet's story. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to track down the people who had hurt her and killed her parents and then make them pay for what they had done to Juliet. He wanted to shove icicles into their jugulars and watch them bleed to death.

Instead, he wrapped his cold arms around Juliet and pressed his face to her hair, rocking her back and forth. "Shh," he said quietly, kissing her on the neck. "It's okay, shh. You're safe now. They can't find you. You're safe, you're here with me, I promise to protect you and I promise, Juliet, I promise that if anyone ever tries to touch you again I will make them hurt."
 
Juliet continued to sob softly as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her close to him so she could bury her face against him and hug herself close to him as he rocked her back and forth and kissed her neck, whispering soothing words to her. It helped a little, to know he was here with her. She didn't know about her being 'safe' now. She was sure she would never be safe with the people in that facility after her and trying to find her, but it was nice to hear he cared about her so. That he still cared about her even though she not only lied about who she was, but also that the men that had killed her parents had also raped her. She didn't think anyone could love her after finding out she had used like that.

But, apparently he did. She let him hold her close for a long time as she cried and sobbing, clinging to him for comfort until finally what felt like forever, she was able to compose herself and attempt to wipe the tears away that were flowing freely and try to stop her crying as she hugged herself him once more, resting her head in the crook of his neck, "I love you, Stefan..." Was all she could seem to bring herself to whisper, unable to bring herself to discuss any of this any more. Maybe another time. But she had enough of thinking back to that sorrow for one day and it had left her mentally exhausted and broken in this moment.
 
"I love you too," said Stefan. "More than you can imagine."

He gently sat her back onto his couch and handed her her cup of cocoa. "Drink it," he commanded. "It will make you feel better. I'll make some dinner."

He hurried into the kitchen and started to boil ravioli on the stove.
 
Juliet gingerly took the cup of hot cocoa into her hands and started sipping on it silently as Stefan went into the kitchen to fix their dinner. She didn't know how it felt that now Stefan knew one half of her horrible past. It didn't feel good for him to know that side of her, but at the same time, didn't feel bad either. She was more or less worried that now that this part of her history was out int eh open between the two of them that someday more questions might be asked and she would one day be forced to tell him about the other side of her. Shock Wave.

What woudl he think if he knew? Knew that she was the one that was all over the news as a villain? Would he even listen to her explanation? Listen to the fact that the only reasons he killed those people was because they were just like the people that had killed her parents and hurt her. All gang members, murders, and rapists. She had saved plenty of people in doing so as well. But, would that even matter? It was still stand that she had killed those people and he would probably hate her for it if he knew.

As soon as the dinner was done, she ate quietly with him and once both had eaten she sat on the couch with him, curled up and cuddled up to him as she lay there and closed her eyes. She didn't want to go anywhere. Not after all that had happened. She just wanted to be with him for right now.
 
"Okay, baby, this is the plan," Stefan whispered to her. "We're going to never bring this up again and just focus on what's happening now. I love you, and that's all you need to think about. If you want to, I can take you to my work tomorrow and you can talk to my boss about the new job. On Wednesday Sabira wants to take us out for dinner, but before then, we'll just practice the dance. I'll spend every waking moment with you if you need me."
 
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