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Rebekah lay awake, staring at the shuttered shadows that spilled across the ceiling of her childhood bedroom. She'd been tossing and turning for the past hour, but sleep continued to elude her. Something was niggling away at the back of her mind- something Sebastian had said. If he had meant what he'd said, she was in a lot of trouble.

Serious trouble.

"Elise? Are you awake?"

There was a pause before a sigh.

"I am now." Elise flicked the switch of a lamp on and winced. "Fuck, my eyes."

"It's okay. Turn it off. I just wanted to ask you about something." Rebekah chewed her bottom lip.

The light instantly switched off. "Do I need to sit up for this?"

"No."

"Good. But I can't promise that I won't start snoring halfway through our conversation." Elise settled back into bed and pulled the covers up to her neck. In the darkness,  Rebekah could make out the faint form of Elise shuffling around on the bed. When she was comfortable again, she said, "Okay, start talking."

Rebekah sat up in her bed and hugged her knees to her chest. Her mind felt like one giant tangled web so that it was hard to figure out what it was she'd wanted so badly to talk about.

"I don't know where to begin."

"The start's usually a pretty good place."

Rebekah grimaced.

"It's about Seb," she said finally, haltingly. "He said something to me at the hospital. I think... I think he implied that he likes me."

"The sky is blue."

"Pardon?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were stating things that are obvious."

Rebekah made a face. "You knew?"

There was muffled laughter from the other bed. "Of course I knew. Danny knows too. To be honest, I think it'd be hard to find someone who didn't know."

"Oh." Rebekah was suddenly extremely glad for the darkness as she felt heat creep up her neck and diffuse into her cheeks. "Well, I didn't know."

"What's the matter? Is my brother's declaration of love keeping you up at night?"

Rebekah stared blankly out the window at the dimly lit street lamp.

"No. Wait, yes... Wait, no, I mean, not exactly."

"Then why are we awake at 1am in the morning?"

Rebekah sighed. "I don't know. I don't know anything anymore."

Before she'd even finished her statement, the lamp flickered to life and Elise was struggling to put on her glasses. When she'd become accustomed to the light and her glasses, she squinted at Rebekah.

"Look, Beck, if you don't feel the same way about my brother as he does about you, it's fine. Just let him down gently. And soon. Before he starts fanasising about how many kids you're going to have and a whole future with you that's never going to happen because you don't like him as much as he likes you." Elise was utterly serious.

"It's not that," Rebekah responded. "I like him. It's just that..." She let out a growl of frustration. "Things are sort of complicated."

"More complicated than dating a blind guy who likes puns?" Elise grinned. "Do you know what he said to Danny after he met you for the first time? 'I now believe in love at first sight'." Elise pretended to gag. "His puns are fucking terrible."

"Not as bad as his sight though," Rebekah responded unthinkingly. It took a moment for what she'd said to register but when she did, she was mortified. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that. That was so insensitive and-"

"Exactly what Seb would say himself," Elise cut in. She looked pleased and Rebekah couldn't understand why. "I must say, Seb is rubbing off on you quite nicely."

Rebekah groaned at that statement. "Exactly."

The smile on Elise's face faded. "Beck, what's wrong?"

In response, Rebekah buried her face in her pillow and sighed. When she faced Elise again, her hair was falling all over her face and she brushed the strands away hurriedly.

"My family... we haven't had the best experiences with men. My mum and dad, Chloe and Michael... we Lee women never seem to choose the right guy and the consequences, well, they're usually disastrous," she explained. "Not that I'm saying that Seb is the wrong guy," she added hurriedly. "It's just that my mum doesn't think now is the right time for me to date."

"Is that why you've never had a boyfriend?"

Rebekah nodded slowly. "The last time a guy asked me out, my mum looked for him at his house and scared him so much that he wouldn't speak or even look at me for the rest of the year."

"She probably threatened to cut off his balls and hang them from the nearest billboard. That's what I'd have done," Elise said. She spoke with such nonchalance that Rebekah couldn't help blanching.

"Relax, Beck. I'm just kidding."

"I-uh... I know."

"Look." Elise took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "You're an adult now. Just take things step by step. Baby steps if necessary. If your mum finds out, just be honest. I've learned the hard way that nothing good comes from lying."

Rebekah considered her advice for awhile. It sounded logical and fair but the thought of potentially having to disagree wih her mother about Sebastian had her stomach twisting into a million knots.

"Okay. I think I'll do that. Thanks Elise."

"No worries," Elise flashed a smile that lit up her exhausted face. Bright blue eyes shone as Elise tucked her glasses back into its case. "It's Natalie, by the way." When Rebekah shot her a puzzled look, those same blue eyes danced with unconcealed humour. "My middle name. Just in case you and Seb are on the lookout for baby names."

Rebekah felt her cheeks burn at the thought. "I thought you said Seb wasn't thinking about such stuff yet."

Elise smiled knowingly as she settled back into bed. "I know. But I never said that I wasn't. I've always wanted to be that cool aunt who's successful and works in some cool city and brings back stuff for her nieces or nephews. I'll be fun Aunt Elise." She reached out and turned the lamp off, plunging the room back into darkness. "Anyway, enough chitchat. I think this bed will break up with me soon if I don't maintain our relationship for the next few hours. Goodnight Beck."

"G'night Elise." Rebekah burrowed under her own covers. "Sweet dreams."

"You too."

Rebekah stared into the darkness for several more minutes after that, wondering if Sebastian was awake and doing exactly the same thing. As the minutes floated by, Rebekah could hear Elise's deep, rhythmic breathing and she knew that her roommate had fallen asleep.

Slowly, she turned onto her side and closed her eyes, her thoughts drifting back to her nephew. Her mum had told her that the doctors expected Finn to make a full recovery in no time. The accident had broken one of his legs and fractured a couple of ribs, but he was young and the doctors were optimistic about his recovery and rehabilitation.

"Goodnight Finn. I'll see you tomorrow morning," she whispered. "I miss you. I'm glad you're not gonna die on me, little man."

But as sleep crept in and stole into the fabric of her subconscious, another face beside that of her nephew's sprang to mind- a handsome face with a well-defined jawline and full lips and dark brown hair that was always styled by his pillow.

And with her lips tingling with the memory of the kiss she'd placed on his cheek earlier in the car, she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

A/N Hello fellow Wattpadians!

Apologies for the filler-ish chapter. I promise it'll get more fun from here ;)

Stay safe and beautiful, awesome people,

Percy