November Homestead
The season ended quickly and Gabby was on Thanksgiving leave from school and work, she and Robby joined Dale and Elliot for the final race of the season. It was Saturday night and Dale had kept Robby so that Elliot could take Gabby out on a ‘real’ date. They had a nice romantic dinner then went out dancing and back to Elliot’s coach.
He was having a hard time controlling the lust that was coursing through his blood and as his lips found hers as he dropped them both down on the couch. Elliot quickly covered her body with his but stayed just kissing her neck and lips not wanting to push but he felt himself quickly loosing control. They had known each other for 3 months and his feelings for her were growing quickly, he knew he was falling in love with her but didn’t think he should tell her yet. He tried to control his body but it was pretty obvious how much he wanted her.
Gabby could feel the emotions run through her body, she wanted him but was scared to death to go any further. Elliot’s hands went to the fullness of her breast and gently squeezed as his lips traveled from her mouth to her neck.
"Elliot." Gabby was suddenly aware of how fast this was moving. "Elliot. I can’t. God this was a mistake. I‘m sorry I lead you on like this." She pushed him off of her and ran out the door.
"Gabby! Gabby! Wait. Shit." He said grabbing her jacket as he ran after her. He went to her coach but she was no where to be found. He went to Dale’s hoping to find her there. "Dale." He yelled while pounding on the door.
"Shut up, I have a sleeping kid in here. What the hell is going on? Where is Gabby?" Dale said looking at Elliot confused.
"She isn’t here?"
"No, she’s suppose to be with you. What the hell?"
"Damn, where could she have gone?"
"Elliot tell me what happened."
"Dinner was great, we went out dancing, then headed back to the track. We were sitting in my coach and I started kissing her."
Dale interrupted. "I don’t need all the details, just tell me why she left."
"That’s just it, nothing happened. We had been kissing for a few minutes and she freaked and said she had made a huge mistake. She said she couldn’t do this and she should have never led me on in the first place." Dale could see the disappointment in his eyes. "I mean if she isn’t ready to move this to the next level, that’s fine I can wait; but she didn’t give me the chance to say that. I’m worried that she doesn’t want to see me anymore."
"I know for a fact that’s not the case. Look stay here in case Robby wakes up and I will see if I can find her." Elliot handed him her jacket and sat on the couch as Dale walked out the door.
Dale went back to her coach then Elliots, when she wasn’t at either place he then started wandering aimlessly not knowing where to look. "Gabby." He didn’t want to yell, so to not wake the whole lot but he also wanted her to know it was him and not Elliot. "Gabby, where are you?"
He heard the voices coming from a few haulers over. "What are you doing here?"
"Just leave me alone."
"Gabby look let me talk to you. All these years I have…"
"I said leave me alone." Gabby yelled.
"What the hell is going on?" Dale said coming around the corner and saw Kurt holding Gabby’s arm.
"Nothing." Gabby said pulling away from Kurt.
"Gabby wait." Kurt called after her as she moved in front of Dale and started walking back to the coach.
Dale was reluctant to leave Kurt without knowing what was going on but he wasn’t about to leave Gabby alone. With a final glare to Kurt he followed Gabby back to the coach.
"Will you tell me what the hell is going on?" Dale said as they came through the door.
Elliot jumped up as they entered the coach. "Gabby, are you ok? God, I’m so sorry." Gabby just looked at him, none of this was his fault, she just didn’t know how he would feel when he learned the truth.
"Look, I know you don’t want to do this but you really need to tell us what the hell that was all about."
"What? What happened?" Elliot asked noticing how much she was shaking.
Gabby looked from Elliot to Dale then back to the ground before sitting and holding her head in her hands. "I know." She was fighting back the tears, she hadn’t told a soul about that day, ever, not even her parents.
Elliot sat next to her. "What is going on?" He took her hand in his and pulled her into his arms.
"What did I walk into with you and Kurt?"
"Kurt? Busch?" Elliot looked at her. "Gabby?" His mind was reeling, surely nothing was going on with them.
All Gabby could do was cry, which gave Elliot the wrong idea. He stood, walking to the window, he stared out into the darkness. "Gabby, what is going on with you two?" Dale asked again.
Elliot looked back to Gabby not saying a word. "I tried to stop him, I couldn’t, God I tried but I was so young and he was stronger than me." When Gabby looked at Elliot she saw confusion, anger, and compassions flash across his face all at the same time.
"Mommy." They heard Robby scream from the bedroom.
"Stay here. I’ll get him, he doesn’t need to see you like this, you‘ll only upset him more." Dale said walking to the bedroom.
Dale walked out of the bedroom looking pale. "What, is Robby ok?" Gabby asked getting worried about her son.
"Yeah, had a bad dream, he went right back to sleep."
"Then what is it?"
"His father, who is it?" Gabby couldn’t speak she saw it all register, knew he had figured it all out. When she didn‘t answer he quietly asked. "He’s Kurt’s, isn’t he? That’s the connection, the resemblence I couldn’t place, it wasn‘t until I just, oh God." Gabby started crying again. Dale knelt down in front of her. "Gabby, please, you have to tell me."
She looked at him and then to a very lost and hurt Elliot. She stood and walked to the bedroom peaking in on Robby then quietly shutting the door before turning back to them. "It was the 500, Dale wanted me to come down and watch the race, meet everyone. I wasn’t ready to be a part of the family so I agreed to come down on Saturday morning. I was 16 that year, they told Taylor I was a friend of the family. We watched the race from the coach."
Dale shook his head. "The 500 four years ago, I don’t remember you."
"We never met, I avoided most people that weekend, it was just too much. Wasn’t ready for the world to see me but agreed to meet them for dinner since they would be staying in Daytona over night." She paused trying to catch her breath and keep her nerve. Dale had since sat on the couch next to Elliot and they both stared watching her pace the room. "I left the coach early to check out some of the teams packing up and what not. That was when he stopped me, I had met him on Saturday. He told me he wanted to show me the haulers and the cars being loaded. I went with him, I was curious as to what all went on to get a car on and off the track. I was such an idiot. He led me to an empty hauler and…" She broke down and sat on the floor crying. Elliot was at her side pulling her in his arms in a matter of seconds suddenly feeling very sick..
"You don’t have to." He was quickly figuring out where this story was going and honestly he didn’t know if he wanted to hear it.
"Yes, I do. Don’t you get it? That’s why I left you tonight, I haven’t ever told anyone. I had never…"
Dale closed his eyes realizing the hugeness of all this. "He was your first."
"Yes." She cried. "I haven’t been with anyone since. Hadn’t even kissed anyone else, till that day at the diner." She looked to Elliot. "I never had any desire to be with anyone, until you came along and then I couldn’t."
"Shh, you don’t have to." He smoothed her hair. "We can work through this, we can wait. You don’t have to do this tonight."
Dale looked at her and knew Elliot was trying to protect her but he also had a feeling she needed to do this for herself. He watched as Gabby continued.
"Once he got me inside, he turned on me had me pinned against the wall and started kissing me. I told him to stop and he just got more forceful eventually pushing me to the ground. It was over as quick as it started, he ripped my clothes off and …and…" Her breathing became very ragged as she started hyperventilating.
"Ok, that’s enough." Dale handed her a glass of water and started pacing the floor. "Did he try something tonight?"
"No, I don’t know what he wanted but it wasn’t like that."
"You need to get some sleep." Elliot said pulling her up with him.
"Take her back to her coach, I will keep Robby tonight."
"No, I want to be with him. I can‘t let him near him."
Dale looked at Gabby, he knew she needed to feel safe and keeping Robby close by was one way to do that. Dale brought Robby over to the coach as Elliot helped Gabby in. "Ok, he’s asleep. I am right next door if you need me."
She saw the anger in his eyes. "What are you going to do?"
Dale turned to her. "Honestly? I don’t know." With that Dale was out the door and gone.
Gabby watched him go and looked to Elliot. "I’m sorry."
"For what?" He pulled her into his arms. "You didn’t do anything wrong."
"Elliot?"
"Yeah."
"Will you stay tonight? I don’t want to be alone."
"Of course." He led her to the bed room and got her tucked in. "You want me to sleep on the couch?"
"No."
Elliot slowly crawled into bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "It’s ok Gabby. It’s all gonna be ok." He sure hoped he was right, he had no idea where Dale had gone or what he had done but if he hadn’t finished the job, he’d be more than happy to do it for him.
Dale paced outside his coach smoking what had to be his 4th cigarette in the past 15 minutes. He saw Gabby’s light go off and never saw Elliot leave so he knew her and Robby would be taken care of tonight. He tried to tell himself that it was over 4 years ago and that he needed to calm down. He had really gotten close to Gabby and Robby and dad had been right, he did like her, he cared about her and the idea of what Kurt had done to her, to his sister was unthinkable. The fact that this girl had a four year old son and didn’t know what it was like to have a man love her, had never even kissed anyone, the fear and loneliness she must had felt all these years, it pissed him off.
He stopped when he found himself walking towards Kurt’s coach. "Shit." He wanted to kill him for what he had done but he knew he couldn’t just go over there and beat the shit out of him. He turned back towards his coach slowly, get the season over and then deal with this.