chap27

    Belle rolled over in the early morning sunlight and blinked to see Shawn curled up in her armchair, fast asleep. She noticed that he was holding to her hand tightly and she struggled to remember why he was there when her eyes slipped shut again.
     Shawn woke up sometime later with a sore neck. He rocked his head from side to side and let it crack, releasing some of the tension. Slipping his legs off the bed, he sat up and removed his hand from Belle's tiny grip. With a yawn, he checked the clock that read 9:30 AM and decided to just get up. He went over to his room to grab a shirt and headed out to the kitchen.
"Morning Shawn" Marlena politely said, as she rinsed out her coffee mug.
"Morning" he said. "Are my parents up?"
"No, they're still asleep" she said. "I heard them up late since Hope couldn't sleep"
"Oh" Shawn said, reaching for a bowl of cereal.
"Speaking of being up late, I heard someone making some noise late last night from your end of the house" she said, eying him suspiciously.
"Oh, that" he lied. "Belle was having a nightmare and I heard her so I went over and woke her up. She went right back to sleep then"
"Oh" Marlena said. "Well, thanks...but I'm meeting John down at the water so I'll see you guys later"
"We'll be down" he said, as she went down the stairs. Belle appeared at the hallway and peeked around the corner.
"Morning Belle" he said, amused by her bedhead.
"Hey" she said, slipping into the kitchen and coming out with a glass of juice.
"Sleep well?" he gently teased.
"Shawn..." she said, walking over and taking the seat next to him. "Thank you"
"It's no problem" he said, spooning more cereal in his mouth.
"No, really" she said, putting her hand on his thigh and causing him to look at her. "That was above and beyond the call of duty as..."
"Your friend" he finished, sadly.
"Yeah, my friend' she repeated, quietly. "Well, anyway, thanks" she said, standing up and heading into the kitchen.
"Belle, wait" he said, following her and putting his bowl on the counter. She turned to face him expectantly.
"Belle, I just want you to know that anything I said last night to you was the truth" he said, staring at his feet. "I meant it when I said I would never abandon you like that" The silence frightened him and he was about to make sure she hadn't run off when she threw herself at him. He wrapped his arms around her as she squeezed him tightly.
"Thank you Shawn" she said, her voice mumbled by his shirt. "That means a lot to me"
"Anytime" he said, as she pulled away and looked up at him, now embarrassed by her gesture.
"Want to go to the beach?" she asked.
"Oh, hell yeah" he said. "Go get that cute lil bod in a suit and we'll go" She giggled and hurried down the hall to the room. He followed and quickly pulled on a suit and brushed his teeth. He went back out to the living room where he saw his parents sitting at the table, looking exhausted.
"Hey guys" Shawn said, walking up to them.
"Just the guy we wanted to talk to" Bo said, grimly.
"What's wrong?" he asked, as his heart fell to his stomach.
"Nothing horrible" his mother said, patting the seat next to her. "Sit and we'll talk"
"Alright..." he said, slowly sliding into his seat. He sat and stared at them expectantly when he heard someone padding down the hallway.
"Shawn, last one down there is....oh!" she said, stopping in the doorway and seeing their serious expressions. She looked at all their faces and hugged her towel to her chest, feeling like she had intruded in something serious.
"Belle, honey, Shawn will meet you down there in a few minutes" Hope said. "Go ahead without him"
"Is something wrong?" Belle asked, concerned.
"We just need to talk to him for a minute" Bo said.
"I'll meet you down there Shawn" she said, taking one last worried glance before she hurried out of the room. At the slam of the front door, he turned back to face his parents.
"Whatever it is, I didn't do it" he mumbled, half-kidding.
"You're not in trouble" Bo said. "Well, not yet at least"
"What are you saying?" he asked, confused.
"Honey, you know I couldn't sleep last night" Hope said. "So your father and I were up for awhile. We heard Belle cry out last night and your father came up to check on what was going on. He saw that you had taken care of her so he left. But later he came up to get me a drink and you were still in her room"
"Yeah, so?" he asked, confused.
"We know you didn't do anything" Bo said. "But we wanted to see if anything is going on between you and Belle"
"We're just friends, Dad" Shawn said. "She was upset and I comforted her. She asked me to stay because she was afraid to be alone-I couldn't leave her alone"
"I understand" Bo said, nodding. "But we don't know if John would"
"What aren't you saying?" Shawn asked.
"We know that you and Belle are...'friends'" Hope said. "And we know how protective John is of his baby girl. We just don't want you ending up in a situation that could cause John to not trust you"
"Are you implying that I was in her room to put the moves on her?" Shawn demanded, his voice becoming shrill.
"No, no" Bo said, holding out his hand. "But with you two living in such close quarters, we just want you to be careful. We know how much Belle means to you and we don't want to see that friendship jeopardized"
"We're just looking out for you" Hope added. "Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I do" Shawn said. "You just want me to be careful how I act around her so I don't anyone the wrong impression"
"Yeah, kinda" Bo said.
"Are we done then?" Shawn asked. "Cause I have a cute little blonde waiting..." He stopped midsentence once he realized what he had said.
"Did you just say 'cute little blonde'?" Bo asked, eyebrow raised.
"I have to go" Shawn said, grabbing his towel and hurrying away.
"Talk about denial" Bo said, shaking his head.
"Oh, Brady, like you should talk..." Hope teased, as he leaned down to kiss her.
     Shawn hurried his way out of the house and into the sunshine. He saw Belle talking with a tall blonde who he assumed was Eric but stopped short when he realized it was the guy from next store again. With a groan, he headed their way and arrived just in time to hear Belle agree with him about something.
"What's going on?" Shawn asked, startling Belle and causing her cheeks to turn red.
"Nothing much" Jason said, with a smirk. "Just that Belle here and I are going out for dinner on Saturday"
"What?" Shawn asked. "Belle, is that true?" Belle kept her eyes downward and traced out a pattern in the sand with her big toe.
"I'll catch up with you later, babe, to make the details" Jason said, his hand resting on her arm. "Later Shawn" Shawn was shocked that she didn't pull away from his touch but kept her face down so that her hair covered her face. Finally she looked up and saw him still staring at her.
"Shawn..." she said, stepping forward and putting her hand on his arm.
"No, don't" he said, stepping away from her. "Just don't" He turned and started to walk off.
"Shawn, wait!" she said, hurrying after him.
"Just...stay away from me" he said, hurrying away from her and finally breaking into a run once he reached the shoreline. With sudden tears in her eyes, she watched his retreating form.