Woop! This story reached 300 reads and I am so happy! 

Enjoy the new chapter and as always your comments and votes are appreciated! Don't be shy, write me - I swear I am cool ;)

**

"What's that?" Nellie looked up at Maël and Marcia with confused face.

She had been sitting on their couch, in their living room ever since last night, when she left Clive. Shaken and worried, she was in a daze, not quite sure what happened. Once they arrived, Marcia made sure that she ran a bath for Nellie and secretly watched as her best friend undressed – curiosity getting the best of her – but soon enough she started crying when she saw all the bruises on Nellie's body.

That night, Nellie couldn't sleep. Her eyes refused to close because of two reasons. First, she was restless and her brain was racing with many thoughts and second, she was afraid that Clive might barge in and do something to Marcia and Maël, to her or – she didn't even want to think about it – to little Tim.

"A ticket," Marcia replied calmly as she sat down on the edge of the coffee table. Maël just smiled warmly at Nellie, a dimple appearing on his left cheek. He placed a hand on Marcia's shoulder, lovingly.

Nellie weakly smiled at her friends. "I see that, Marcia. I am just confused. Are you travelling somewhere?"

"You see," Maël started and Marcia gripped his hand on her shoulder, urging him to go on. "We, Marcia and I, we thought that you need a vacation." Nellie's eyes widened in surprise as Maël emphasized the word 'you'.

"But... I—," Nellie started, her fingers lightly scratching the fabric of Marcia's pyjama pants. "I cannot accept that."

"I don't want to hear any of it," Marcia smiled and moved over to where Nellie was sitting. She hugged her friend around the shoulders and swatted away Nellie's fringe that almost covered her eyes. "You need to get away for a bit. From your life, from this city and from Clive especially." At the thought of Clive, Nellie shuddered and Marcia only gripped her tighter. "Think of it as our present for your upcoming birthday," Marcia replied with a smirk and winked at Maël.

Nellie just looked at her friends, bewildered and slowly safety filled her body. She was on the verge of the tears but this time they were the happy ones. Her chin started to quiver and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Slightly embarrassed, she wiped it away with sleeve of Marcia's sweater.

"Trust us," Maël broke the silence and sat on the edge of the table so he could be closer to Nellie, "you need to get away for a while. You need to be you for a while and enjoy your life without an afterthought of what might or what might not happen."

"But what about Clive?" Nellie looked up, straightening her back. Angst was now fighting the happiness, threating to move it away.

"Well, that's another story." Maël got up and crossed his arms on his chest. For a second his face turned serious. "I've talked with Albert last night and he told me two important things for the future. For now, I will just talk to some friends in the police department and get a restraining order against Clive. It's usually the victim who needs to do that but I got my ways so don't worry about it."

Nellie just stared at him, her brain trying to take in all the things that Maël was telling her. "What's the other thing?" she asked.

"That's something you don't have to worry about, just yet." Maël smiled warmly at her as Nellie still starred at him in shock. Everything that Maël was saying seemed so unbelievable.

Marcia grabbed the ticket from the table and placed them on Nellie's lap. "Aren't you curious what we picked out for you? We even booked a place for you to stay."

Nellie smiled sheepishly at both of them as she unfolded the paper, carefully not wanting to rush anywhere. "London..." she gasped, looking up at Maël and then back at Marcia while her eyes filled with tears once again. "You cannot be serious!" She exclaimed breathlessly, chocking on her own sob.

"Just let it go," Marcia whispered, pulling her close.

And she did.

She started crying and it was heart-breaking to watch and to listen. She cried because of everything that happened, happy and sad tears colliding in a fight of emotions as she tried hard not to sob but it was almost impossible. Marcia only hugged her close, just like the last night, rubbing her shoulder caringly, keeping her close.

**

When Nellie woke up she noticed that she was alone in the living room. She wasn't sure how and when she fell asleep but still being surrounded by daylight, it seemed that she only had a nap. Getting up and unwrapping her body from the handmade quilt, she pulled her hair back in ponytail and walked in the direction of the kitchen, hoping to find Marcia.

"Hey, did you sleep well?" Marcia asked noticing Nellie on the doorway. Her friend looked rested but her face was still covered in bruises. Marcia was sure that the ones she had on the surface would heal eventually but bruises she had inside of her will last much longer.

"Yes," Nellie replied, taking a seat as Marcia offered her a cup of coffee which she accepted. "Did I sleep for too long?"

"Nah," Marcia shook her head, "not even an hour after you fell asleep." She sat down across from Nellie and her face lit up with enthusiasm as she reached over and picked stray fuzz from Nellie's arm. "Are you excited for tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Nellie asked, taking a sip of coffee.

Marcia let out a hearty laugh, throwing her head back. "I thought you'd seen the date on the ticket. Your flight is tomorrow night!" Nellie gasped, staring at Marcia with incredible look, on her face. Marcia's face went from smiley to serious in matter of seconds. "We didn't book it so early so that we get rid of you. You can stay as much as you need or feel here, Maël and I don't mind, really. But we thought you'd want to be away from Clive."

Nellie watched the thin layer of foam appear on the surface of her Arabica coffee and she warmed her hands on the cup. She did want to see Clive and if she stayed in Portland he could look for her. "Guess, you are right," she whispered after few seconds.

Marcia grabbed Nellie's hand from across the table and squeezed it reassuringly. "Trust me, trust us."

"I am," Nellie responded, smiling. "But, what about my stuff? Everything, including my phone is back at my...," she stopped before correcting herself, "...Clive's house."

It wasn't her house anymore.

The sense of freedom flooded through her veins and it felt good.

**

"Come on, come on, come on?" George whispered in the speaker as he walked nervously through the narrow corridor. He had been trying to get in touch with Nellie for a while but no one answered her cell phone number. The small part of his brain was taunting him that she maybe gave him the wrong number on the purpose, to push him away but he brushed the thought away.

"You good mate?!" Adam called from the end of the hallway and George just nodded, raising his hand up and showing all his five fingers, signalling Adam that he is going to be with them in a bit. They had a gig to play in a bit but George wanted to speak to Nellie for a bit. The urge to hear her voice was strong and anyway, heart never asked a brain for opinion.

He dialled the number once again and sighed, leaning on the wall and listening to the call going through. It rang once, twice, three times, four times and George was ready to give up and just forget about it but then someone finally answered.

"Hello," a girl's voice answered in a rush.

"Hey Nellie, it's George." George quickly moved away from the wall, his heart wanting to jump out of his chest.

"It's not Nellie, it's Marcia... N—," George's lips formed into a frown and he closed his eyes in frustration.

"Fuck," he muttered. "Sorry, I think it's the wrong number," he added removing the phone from the ear and ending the call, not giving the person a chance to finish their sentence. For a while he just stood there. He ran his hands through his hair, messing it as he did and stormed down the hallway, frustrated with himself as never before. He walked to the edge of the stage where the rest of the band was, listening to people chanting excitedly. George would have enjoyed it if he wasn't pissed with Nellie, with himself for believing her.

Rejection from her hurt more than he thought it would.

Matty stepped next to him and craned his neck so that he was close to George's ear. "Why so serious?" he asked with a goofy smirk but all he got back was even the deeper frown on George's face.

"Not now, Matty," he spat before walking on the stage and sitting behind the drums as the crowd went crazy.