Dear Leo (An Area 11 FanFiction)

Chapter Three-New Home

2nd January 2015

The nurse unhooked me from the beeping machine (I never asked what it was called. Some sort of heart monitor?) and helps me up.

"The bruises will be there for a few weeks. You'll have to come back for a check up too, but other than that you should be great!" She smiles. "You've been prescribed some medication until your next visit to help with the pain."

"Thank you," I return the smile as I get up off the bed and straighten my jacket, which had again somehow not been marked. I'm now wearing some clothes that Leo went out to buy me. Light jeans, a grey checked shirt and white trainers with light green stripes. I tie my short hair back in a stubby ponytail and clip a small black bow in my hair.

I may have been in hospital, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to look presentable!

"You ready?" Leo puts an arm around me, giving me a quick hug. I nod and we leave the hospital, me still holding my battered rucksack. "The guys are waiting in the car outside."

"Wait, you can drive?"

"Not me, I'd probably crash it! Kogie and Parv both drive. Though I'm not sure who decided it was safe to let Parv drive..." A black Volkwagen Golf is parked outside, three weirdos hanging out of the windows and waving madly at us.

This isn't embarrassing at all.

"Grace! Hi!" Parv grins from the drivers seat. Oh god, I forgot how hyperactive he can be sometimes. Kogie gives me an apologetic smile. Ignore the idiot, he mouths at me, and I stifle a giggle.

"Hey guys, it's been a while," I say.

"A while?! It's been like a million years!" Parv grumbles.

"If that was true, we'd all be dead by now," Sparkles* reasons from the back seat, and I slide into the seat next to him, with Leo on my other side. It's quite cramped being in the middle seat, but considering I'm the smallest it makes sense. It's just really uncomfortable.

"No need to get all technical..." The random chatter continues all the way back to Leo's flat. It's almost like they never left. The five of us used to hang out loads. Leo would always take me with him when he went out, he never wanted to leave me with mum. These guys are my best friends, my brothers, and it's amazing to finally have them back.

"Hey Grace, do you want to go out or straight to Leo's?" Kogie suggests.

"Um, is it ok if we just go home? I'm kind of tired," I answer, hopeful at the thought of maybe getting decent sleep. There are understanding smiles and agreements from the others, and we pull up outside a ridiculously tall block of flats. Maybe it's normal, I've lived in a tiny country village my whole life. Waving goodbye to the other three, who are going out to get pizza for themselves, we get inside a lift and go to the second to top floor. Number 42.

"Welcome to the Taylor residence," Leo grins, turns the silver key in the lock and pushes the door open.

"Holy crap, this place is huge!" I gasp, Leo laughs.

"It's actually pretty small, but I guess it's bigger than mums house." He's right. We'd shared a room pretty much all our lives. It was ridiculous.

The door opens to a living room with grey sofas and a bright green rug. The TV has a small collection of games and consoles. There's a PS2, a GameCube and a Wii. They must be ones he took with him when he left, because most of the games I remember playing when we were younger. Mario Kart Double Dash, Jak and Daxter, Wind Waker... I can't believe he's kept them all.

"That one's my room," Leo points to a door leading off to the left. "And this is yours now. It used to just have my drum kit in it, but when you were in hospital the guys ran out to buy some stuff to make it a decent bedroom. I haven't actually seen it myself yet."

My room is about the size of the one at mums. The walls cream, as is the carpet. There's a lime green sofa bed along the opposite wall, and a light wood curved desk next to the door, between the two on the shorter wall is a window. The entire of the other short walk is taken up by built in wardrobes, shelves and a mirror.

"I love it," I grin, flopping down onto the sofa bed.

"Oh thank god. The sofa bed's temporary, I'll get you a proper bed tomorrow," Leo promises as he sits next to me. "Tomorrow we'll go out and get you the stuff you'll need. Clothes, stuff for your room, makeup, that sort of thing. I'll leave you to sort out your bag, I've got to go call Sparkles*. He left his camera here again." He quickly hugs me. "Be back in a minute sis."

I slide the tattered backpack off my shoulders onto the bed and unzip it, pulling out its contents.

First is the laptop and charger I got for my sixteenth birthday. Then my sketchbook and pencils. A scrapbook that dad had given me before he left, my teddy bear Patch, some toiletries and the notebook containing all the letters I wrote to Leo since he moved out.

It's pretty full, with dog eared papers poking out of the side and the faded red spine is held together with random stickers and parcel tape. I'd written Dear Leo on the cover in smudged permanent marker, and on the first page is a photo taken on Leo's eighteenth birthday, a few hours before he left. Each letter tells him what had happened that week, sometimes accompanied by cinema tickets or a quote or a leaf is found at the park that day. Each letter had how many weeks Leo had been gone at the top, and was written every Sunday. I flick through and read some of the entries.

Week 172
Dear Leo,
I can't wait to move out. When I do, I'm going to get an apartment in a city, maybe London. I can decorate it how I want, when I want. Mum had a go at me because I dyed my hair blue. She says I'm too young, it's not my decision to make, its hers, I don't know anything about what's best for me. But I know that getting away from her will be best for me.
Love Grace x

This week would be week 254, so in February it would have been five years. Five whole years. But it won't be, because I've got Leo now, and I'm not going to lose him again.