Adult-FanFiction.org : Television / Streaming

Forever Rising Phoenix	By : ImagineLayla131 Category: S through Z > The Walking Dead Views: 7147 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NOR HAVE ANY AFFILIATIONS WITH THE WALKING DEAD FRANCHISE. ALL PROPERTIES OWNED BY FRANK DARABONT, AMC, ROBERT KIRKMAN AND TONY MOORE. NO MONEY/PROFIT IS BEING MADE OFF OF THIS FANFICTION!

Chapter List
- 36
- 37
- 38
Hello world and my wonderful readers! Ready for some more mayhem?! Here we go! I am loving the feedback on Billy and Christine, keep it coming! Again, this is loosely based off of me in the aspect of I did a lot of clubbing and event promoting and coordinating as a young adult, in addition to being one of the original 2009 Club Kids. "Delilah the Femme Fatale" is MY alter ego! Lol I also can't find my Mikimoto necklace! Sorry if these chapters seem longer lately, this is just a really expansive storyline, but please keep reading, it's worth it!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NOR HAVE ANY AFFILIATIONS WITH THE WALKING DEAD FRANCHISE OR JUST THE WAY YOU ARE. ALL PROPERTIES OWNED BY FRANK DARABONT AND AMC (TELEVISION SERIES), ROBERT KIRKMAN AND TONY MOORE (COMIC BOOK SERIES), AND BRUNO MARS, RESPECTIVELY. I ONLY OWN MY OWN ORIGINAL IDEAS AND CHARACTERS.
Chapter Thirty Seven: Just The Way You Are
THIRTY MINUTES LATER, 6:15 pm
"She always was such a drama queen."
Rick turned around to see Christine standing in the doorway of Delilah's room with her hands on her hips. She must have fixed herself up, because her hair was freshly brushed in a swept up ponytail and no longer matted, the blood from her lip and nose were now gone, having been covered by another heavy layer of makeup to conceal the swollenness and bruises, and she now had on a dark yellow long sleeved shirt with a white tank top over it and acid washed jeans. Although still not a striking beauty, she looked much better than she had upon first arrival.
Not wanting Delilah to see Christine and get upset again, Rick got up from the bed and walked over to her, quietly closing the door. Now that they were alone, he was not going to hold back in telling Christine off, the anger bubbling up just from looking at her. After everything she put her baby sister through, she had a lot of nerve to still be snaky.
"What the hell is your problem? I don't know you, but I do know that Delilah is your blood, your family. You need to knock it off and quit being so cold. How did you even get up here? I don't want you or that idiot Billy anywhere near her, and after what happened, I don't think there's anybody that will vouch for you both to stay here, either."
She scoffed before leaning back and folding her arms across her chest. "I have my ways. Listen, cowboy, I don't know what kind of spell she has you under, but you do not know Delilah like Billy and I do. She's very mentally ill, she needs to be locked away."
"I think you need to quit while you're ahead, you've said enough." He wasn't going to believe a word she said. Although, she was such a vile bitch, it made him think of why she wouldn't have revealed this earlier in the factory, where there had been a much bigger audience. Christine obviously got off on a crowd.
She heavily exhaled, clearly annoyed. It was always such an ordeal to explain the story to strangers. "Delilah has Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder. I'm assuming you haven't met "Elana the Femme Fatale" or seen her when she's on the rag?"
Rick gave her a quizzical look. "Who? What?"
"It's the nickname she gave for her alter ego, she even wrote herself a theme song. When "Elana the Femme Fatale" comes out to play, she gets very flirtatious, like she can get all the guys. She wasn't always like that, just when she got older, not like she needed it. Both of us turn into complete bitches when we get PMS. If you haven't seen it, consider yourself lucky."
He didn't want to reveal that he actually HAD seen this so called alter ego, the day she met Daryl, but was that really it? Delilah did get a little more agitated during that time of the month and preferred to be alone, but that was it. Maybe it was for the aforementioned reason that she chose to be alone? Christine ignored his stupor and kept talking.
"Anyways, these disorders, they make her lash out and act irrationally and psychotic. She needs to be back on medication, which judging from the way she came charging at Billy and me like she was a damn Eagles linebacker, I'm guessing she's not on it. If you ask me, she needs to be on something MUCH heavier, like Resperital or Lithium."
The medications she had just listed were highly dangerous and would do permanent bodily damage. Rick was genuinely disgusted with how she was trash talking Delilah and grimaced. Christine may have been her sister, but she didn't know Delilah like they all did. "How about she did that because she's damn infuriated?! You left her for dead and neither one of you give a shit, now she finds out you two have kids. You discover that she's alive, she practically exposes her painful past, and you still don't care."
"It wasn't my idea! It was all Billy. HEL-LO! I tried to go back and get her, he wouldn't let me. If I didn't care, I wouldn't have gone back."
"Don't spoon feed me horseshit and don't lie anymore than you already have. I used to be a cop, I can read people like the back of my hand. It's bothering Billy while you're getting off on it, and something tells me that you might have forced him into going along with your sick plan somehow. I saw the tears in his eyes when he tried to explain about the twins while you were smirking like The Cheshire Cat the whole damn time. What I can't figure out is why the hell he would leave Delilah for you. I can see why you were so jealous, it's because you will never even come close to half of the woman she is."
Her face broke out in a shit eating grin, almost wanting to laugh. "I don't want to be her! I'm better than her. I have Billy, which is the one thing she wants and can never have back again."
Rick clicked his tongue as he shook his head: "In what way? She made a family of these survivors, gave them a home, and brought my own family back together again after three months of searching almost the entire state. That's more than a woman, that's an angel. She has me now. I love her and I would never do what he did. Billy is the last thing on her mind, and I get the feeling Billy isn't as obsessed with you as you are with him. To the best of my knowledge, she isn't on any medication. She doesn't need it."
Christine was not about to let up that he had stumped her, so she chose to act slightly unmindful instead. "Ha. Don't be surprised if she has a change of heart and they end up getting back together. You're the rebound, dude, you have no idea what it's like to be in love with somebody that's clearly in love with somebody else, and yes, she does need medication. Again, you obviously don't know her at all. I can only imagine what else she kept from you. What I mentioned earlier, the bulimia and skin picking and plastic surgery, did Delilah tell you any of it? Did Delilah tell you how she flipped out when she didn't make the dance team? Or that she actually has been to a psychiatric ward before? Just mention the name "Jennifer Woodley" to her and she'll flip out. Or the time she hit our grandma and then there's always-"
"Rick?"
They heard Delilah softly call out to him, ending the conversation before it escalated to an even uglier point. "I don't believe a word you say. I will never believe anything you say, you're nothing more than a vindictive and despicable bitch." It was probably the first time he had ever called a woman that, but he didn't feel ashamed, she earned the title.
Her lips curled up into a wicked grin. She didn't care if she was called a bitch, she prided herself on the title, it meant people knew not to mess with her because she was a badass that can't be fucked with and will fuck up the first person that tries.. "Ask her if you don't believe me. The little bunny doesn't have any rabbit holes to hop into now." She said that last sentence in a mocking tone and followed it with an evil chuckle.
Rick glared at her, this was the first time in his life that he actually wanted to hit a woman. Meanwhile, his mind began to wander on everything she said about Delilah, how much of it was true, and if and when he would ever discuss it with Delilah personally. He opened the door to see Delilah rubbing her eyes, she looked so small in her king sized bed. "Hey, sweetheart. You're finally awake." Rick closed the door and walked over, sitting down on the bed. She hugged her knees, gazing up at him.
"How long have I been out for? What happened? The last thing I remember is fighting with Christine, then her and Bill told me they had children. I get the feeling it wasn't a nightmare, huh?"
Rick shook his head, feeling his heart breaking as he looked at her saddened face. It killed him to have to tell her this again. "It actually happened. They have fraternal twins, Santino and Serena. You were so traumatized that you fainted, you've been out for a half hour. How are you feeling?"
Delilah moved closer to him, laying on her side and resting her head in his lap. He began to lovingly stroke her hair, wrapping an arm around her waist. It was all putting her at ease a tiny bit, but her head was still spinning.
"I don't know what to even think, I can't even feel. I should be crying, except the tears won't come. Maybe I shouldn't have had such a strong reaction, but Christine always said how she never wanted to get married or have children. Jesus, Billy still wants to give me shit about Jonah Hill, but Christine was the one getting cock pounded by Dane Cook at The House of Blues! She goes from that to the mother of twins?!"
"Yeah, uh, about that." Rick scratched the back of his head nervously, not sure where exactly to start with all the inquiries he had for her. Delilah glanced at him, almost reading his mind, and heavily exhaled, knowing that this had to be explained once again. She looked out at the wall before speaking.
"I told you about the club hosting gigs that I did for over a year from all the attention I got from Miss Teen USA. That and I was one of the original 2009 Club Kids, a revival of the 1980's Club Kids of popular party goers. There were a lot of big names that would drop in at these events. Everybody from Justin Timberlake and Charlize Theron to Weird Al Yankovic and whatever reality show reject was hot at the moment. I remember the night that Ringo Starr, Carole King, Anjelica Houston, and Mikhail Baryshnikov all stopped by at the same time at the re opening of Studio 54 in New York City, and that was a freaking coup above everything and everybody else that ever arrived. I mean, I got to play the drums with Dana Carvey and do the Cha-Cha Slide with Heidi Klum and Audrina Lima! I never slept with anybody, it was just dancing. I didn't even drink, the club owners would give me hourly breathalyzer tests so they wouldn't get busted, I was promoting clean partying and having the time of my life doing so. One night, Jonah Hill and some of the other players in Judd Apatow's circle of actors came to one of the events, and I'm a huge fan. The other guys were getting plenty of action, but nobody was paying attention to Jonah. He was almost done losing the close to fifty pounds he was supposed to for his next project, a movie version of the show 21 Jump Street, but he was still a little chunky. I saw it and was instantly reminded how I used to be in that situation, so I dragged him on the dance floor and we did some salsa. I don't like to have anybody be left out, that's why I did it, and it had nothing to do with networking. It's a night out on the town with friends, I wanted him to have some fun and he did. I could tell he was a little excited to dance with me, but he didn't try anything, he was total gentleman. I don't get why Billy was so jealous. I never cheated on him, he was the love of my life. He acts so innocent, yet he was talking in the corner with Kristen Cavillari all night! Idiot, I bet he thought he was like that song "Womanizer" or something, but she turned out to be cool. Anyways, after we danced, Jonah and Jason Segel told me about their new project and that I should come and audition for a part with Judd Apatow himself. That's huge, I couldn't pass it up!"
"So how did it almost not happen?" It all sounded harmless, Delilah was just trying to show the kid a good time, not jump into bed with him.
"Billy "accidentally" gave them the wrong card. He was also requested at the events with me because he was such a babe, even got a few modeling gigs out of it, along with free promotion for his band. Anyways, since I had to circulate with everybody there, Billy would give the interested parties our business cards. It's a good thing I happened to get Jonah's number or else I never would've heard anything again. I ended up getting the part, and the movie was set to be released last summer, but wasn't because of the damn outbreak. It would have catapulted my acting career."
"Alright, I'm glad we cleared that up. Also, I'm sorry about the movie, I bet you were fantastic in it. I'm sorry about all of this happening." Billy had made it into much bigger of a deal than it actually was, but could Delilah really be believed? There was so much that she had held back on...
"Thanks. Oh, and I was not a bridezilla. I always did parties and all that over the top, I wanted to be The Female Great Gatsby or something. It was my freaking wedding day! I wanted the best, can you blame me? Come to think of it, this whole thing is bothering me. I mean, I can't help but think if things had gone down how they were supposed to, that that would have been me. Those could have been my kids, my husband, my life. It was all just taken from me and I didn't deserve it. It doesn't help that neither one of them will say whose idea it was to leave me in the first place. I can't believe how she exposed me, I can't even begin to imagine what the others must think, and I can't believe I exposed myself, too."
He continued to stroke her hair, feeling the pain in her words. "I don't think anybody believes her, Delilah."
"She hasn't even been here a whole day and she's already trying to sabotage my reputation amongst the others. I know you must be thinking about everything she said. I can't say I blame you."
Rick heavily sighed, dreading this inevitable moment.

"Unfortunately, I am, but she didn't stop there. She said even more in the hallway just now."
Delilah popped her head up, confused and a little frantic. "She's outside my room? How did she know to come here? What did she say?"
"I don't know how, she left that bit out. She said that you have Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder and need to be on medication. She also mentioned something about you hitting your grandma, that you didn't make the dance team, you've been in a psychiatric ward before, and that you have an alter ego named "Elana the Femme Fatale". Oh, and the name "Jennifer Woodley" came up."
"That stupid fucking bitch." Delilah mumbled under her breath before sitting up and walking over to her closet. After a few minutes, she sat back down on the bed, but this time there was a large stack of papers and some pictures in her lap. Rick looked down at the stack of papers and back into her eyes again. She took a deep breath and spoke. "I know right now that you probably don't trust me, this was never my intention. I had a reason for not revealing these things at all."
"Honestly, I don't know what to think anymore, Delilah."
His statement crushed her, how in one moment, his entire perspective of her was altered thanks to her vindictive sister, and it was all so unfair. "For starters, I was in the dance class my junior year in high school, there were only two classes, so we had an end of the year recital. The teacher was awful, both with her demeanor and her choreography. When the recital was finished, she went around greeting the parents, even taking pictures with some of the students. While my family was waiting, Christine very loudly said "You don't need your picture taken with "The Bitch"." My teacher heard it and looked me directly in the eye. I'm convinced it was because of that that I didn't make the dance team. My grandma hit me first, she wrapped a damn leather belt around my neck when I was having an outburst one time at her house while Christine threw water on me, like I was some damn psychotic bull or something. I accidentally pushed her to get the belt off of my neck, but nothing serious happened."
Rick nodded. "Ok, that all sounds pretty minuscule. What about the rest?"
""Elana the Femme Fatale", pronounced "Ee-lah-nah", was a joke, she was a character I dubbed a song for in the musical I was writing. She's not my alter ego. As long as we're on that subject, I should explain "Tiger Lily". When Billy took me to meet his family at Steverson Ranch, the first person he introduced me to was his favorite nephew, Little Archie. He had just turned three years old and was watching Peter Pan when we walked in, and it was the part where Tiger Lily kisses Peter Pan. I had my hair in pigtail braids that day, he looked over, pointed at me and said "Tiger Lily!". It just kind of stuck, only him and Billy ever called me that. It worked out since "Lily" is a nickname for "Delilah"."
Rick nodded with a small smile. "That's cute, I like it."
"So do I. Back to the story. Jennifer Woodley was Billy's girlfriend, they dated for two years and broke up a month before he started up with me. She was really jealous, kept lying that they were still together as well as endless attempts to break us up, she was the Green Goblin to my Spider-Man, my arch nemesis. One day, I went over to her house to talk woman to woman in a mature manner and we got into a physical altercation that she started. Apparently, it was exactly what we needed, because her and I ended up becoming really good friends afterwards, Billy made up with her also. She dated Angelo for a while and she was going to be one of my bridesmaids, we even invited her to stay with us in Texas. Billy and I didn't leave as planned because of Christine, which is why Jennifer left ahead of us and was turned by the time we got there. We still don't know what the hell happened, we've never been able to figure it out. All we know is we walked in the door and there were walkers everywhere. Maybe somebody got attacked and spread it to everybody else. Jennifer always wore this three fingered gold and ruby mockingjay bird ring. That ring to her was like what my Phoenix necklace is to me, she never took it off. I wanted to keep it, but when we were disposing off the walker bodies, I didn't find it on any of their hands or on the floor, which made me think she still could have been alive and escaped the ranch somehow. I begged Billy and Christine to help me look for her, but they wouldn't. After they abandoned me, I looked when I was leaving Texas, but it was like Jennifer disappeared into thin air, I couldn't find her. I don't know why Christine would put some negative connotation on it, she knows the story, maybe it's some more jealousy. If anything, Jennifer was a better big sister to me than Christine ever was, and she wasn't even blood related. I showed you her pictures, remember?" Delilah sighed, forlorn. If she wished for anybody to come back besides her mom, it would definitely be Jennifer. It was hard to believe that at one point, they were at each other's throats, because they really had become such great friends. Delilah pulled out a few pictures and showed them to Rick. He looked down at the photograph, seeing the two girls making silly faces with three short yellow pill looking creatures with black gloves and boots, blue denim overalls, and grey rimmed goggles. "That's from when we went to Universal Studios, they had Gru's Minions from Despicable Me." Delilah wanly laughed as he pulled back more pictures.
Jennifer was a couple inches taller than Delilah, with dirty blonde hair mixed with caramel that went a little past her shoulders but was worn mostly in a pony tail, steel colored wide set eyes, low dimples in the corners of her mouth, naturally straight teeth, and a volleyball player's body. The next picture was of the girls with Billy, Angelo, Christine, and presumably Rob in Palm Springs, another one at a Playboy Bunny party, a couple of them dancing at nightclubs, one of them at a Madonna concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and a few in Delilah's room that were taken on Photo Booth on her iMac. "I always got along better with people older and younger than me, she was only a year younger than Billy and a year older than Christine. She would have been 27 now. We had so many good times together, we were the Dance Dance Revolution champs at the only arcade left in the county that's gone by now." Delilah pointed at a picture of the two girls on Dance Dance Revolution machines. They were both wearing matching small white platform sneakers, striped pink and black knee high socks, hot pink shorts, a white ribbed tank top with a punked out Mickey Mouse on it, and black trucker hats worn to the side with their names spray painted on graffiti style in Day-Glo neon colors. "These were our outfits that we designed, we were known as "The DDR Disney Dice Duo", because we would always play the techno Disney songs on the machines. It was pretty crazy, but we had a blast and it generated a lot of business because people would always want to "battle" us, we even went to the DanceDanceRevolution US Championship. This was before the final round in the championship. Jennifer got a really bad Charlie horse after we finished a Double Dutch version of "It's A Small World", meaning it was twice as long, and then went into "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", we were up against this obnoxious pair from Oregon. She had to bow out and if I didn't replace her in ten seconds, I'd have to forfeit the battle, we didn't even think of bringing a backup because we were pretty much invincible. To everybody's surprise, Billy stepped in and saved the day. This was not too long after we did Mary Poppins, so he knew the song by heart. It was his first time playing DDR, that's why everybody was surprised he did it, but we danced the pants off of those kids and won with a grand finale of a Beatles mashup of "Revolution/Back in the U.S.S.R"." She showed him a picture of her and Billy, her legs wrapped around his waist, one arm wrapped around his neck and he had one arm wrapped around her waist to support her, they both had their free arm pumped up in a fist, cheering, followed by a picture of the three of them with the DDR US Championship trophy. They all looked so happy, it was a great memory. "It turned out to be an excellent experience, because the videos that Billy's friend Jack took and from the DDR website went viral and the three of us were contacted by an executive at Disney for screen testing." She took the pictures back, letting a small smile slip out. "Jennifer was something else. You would have liked her. We both thought that Leonardo DiCaprio was very cute and very overrated, Madonna was our idol, who knows where both of them are? We would always have endless "quote-offs" on who knew the most quotes from FRIENDS and still played with Barbies even though we were far too old for them. I taught her how to put Parmesan on her macaroni and cheese, not to wear orange with pink and white because it looks like rainbow sherbet, and how to play Suduko. She taught me how to juggle, play volleyball, and how to laugh at cheesy horror movies. I really miss Jennifer."
"It's very obvious how much you cared about her, Delilah." Regardless of everything Christine said, there was no doubting that Delilah really did have a huge heart and loved so many around her, like a true friend and a good person would.
"Yeah, and she for me. If Jennifer were still alive and found out what Billy and Christine did, she'd rip them a new one." Her smile disappeared and she looked over at Rick, knowing that he could sense her trying to deflect the next topic. "Oh, sorry. You wanted to know about the hospital."
He nodded. "Yes, take your time."
Delilah hesitated, again, another story that she loathed telling. "There was this 211 hotline for young adults that I used to call whenever I was flipping out. I was sixteen and one time I accidentally called 911 instead. The cops came along with these two social workers, this bleached blonde couple named Dave and Kelly that looked like that mock version of The Klumps from the movie Tropic Thunder. I was so petrified that I was bawling my eyes out, the guy Dave slapped me across the face when I wouldn't stop. Kelly spewed some bullshit that as a nurse she couldn't let me stay at home because I was so hysterical. Then Dave was all "You can't even calm down for twenty seconds." I calmed down for five minutes and they sent me away to Vista Del Mar, the shit hole of all shit holes! It's odd because I was in the backyard by myself when they were talking to my mom and Christine before they brought me back inside, and I had an instinct telling me to just run. I regret not following it, and the next thing I know I was being lead out of my house on a fucking gurney into an ambulance while the whole neighborhood was outside and lined up on the sidewalk watching. I was humiliated and mortified!" Her voice started cracking and Rick saw her eyes well up with tears, but she kept talking. "The EMT's kept groping my boobs when they were trying to get me on the gurney. I kept trying to push them away but they tightened their grip. My mom was so traumatized all she could do was tell them not to break my arms. I kept screaming out for Christine to help me, I don't know why, she actually seemed kind of shocked, too. Dave and Kelly told my mom that I was just going to talk to a doctor, to follow the ambulance and that she'd be able to take me home that night. It was a fucking lie, they put me on a 51/50, which is a 72 hour hold. I had on this Mikimoto necklace that my dad got me from Tokyo before he died. It was a square sterling silver watch that opened up, the inside was red velvet and the outside had these four pearls that spun every which way, and the watch was connected to a black leather strap. My mom didn't even think to grab it when I left for the hospital. I begged the staff to please give it to her when she signed in to visit that first night, and they said they did. When I got there, it was a nightmare. They cut the wire out of my bra and did a body cavity search on me!" She turned to Rick, horrified. "Have you ever given a body cavity search on a nude sixteen year old girl? Keep in mind, I still had this body that I do now."
Rick shook his head, feeling crushed. "No, I haven't."
"You're lucky then. At first, I had a private room to myself, but then they threw me out of it in the middle the night because some bigger nutcase needed it instead. They put me in a room with three other girls, who were sneaking boys in across the hall and having sex. I cried my eyes out, and they didn't like that. They pinned me down and held a plastic fork to my neck, threatening to stab me and gouge my eyes out. It got worse when one of their "boyfriends" a guy named Miles, took an interest to me. I tried to be cordial, but I wasn't at fucking summer camp like all the doctors made it out to be. I wasn't there to make friends, in fact, I really had no idea why the hell I was there in the first place. In group therapy, we had to say why we were there, and everybody else said "I tried to kill myself", but when it was my turn, I didn't know what to say. I was literally the lamb thrown in with a pack of wolves, and then some bitch doctor lied on my chart that I did try to kill myself when I never did. I didn't belong there, these are people that need to be in these places for life, flipping out and screaming their fucking heads off like lunatics. I know that I really don't have a leg to stand on because of that scene earlier, but I think it's justified and they didn't deserve anything less." Delilah sniffled and took a deep breath before continuing.
"It didn't help at all that the doctors and nurses were complete condescending assholes who genuinely only cared about money and not our well-being. They kept trying to force me on all these medications and were mad when I refused to take them because I knew they weren't what I was supposed to be taking. My mom was so horrified she slept in the parking lot the whole time I was there. Miles ended up molesting me, because how many times can I be molested or attacked, right?" She sarcastically laughed. "When I complained to the staff about it and was crying because they didn't care, they locked me in solitary confinement! I was the victim and they made me a prisoner! Once I stopped crying, they finally let me out. The next day, one of the nurses told my mom that I had a "little incident", which was such a fucking lie. She had already been in touch with a child advocate to get me out of there, and that little incident was the push the advocate needed, because I was released three hours later. Before I left, I had to sign a contract saying I wouldn't posses a fire arm for five years, and the ban was lifted on my twenty first birthday, just in time for the apocalypse. You know that Mikimoto necklace? I saw it one other time after I left the hospital and never again. That necklace meant the world to me, and I could never find another one again. Actually, that's kind of how I started wearing the Phoenix necklace. I saw it in Santa Barbra one day in Swarovski and bought it with my own money. It's to remind myself that I am stronger than I think I am when I doubt myself." She looked down at her necklace. As crazy as it sounds, it had gotten her through some tough times. "Sorry, I'm sidetracking again. We went after the hospital, Dave and Kelly the nurses, and 211, threatening to reveal to the state what kind of antics were really going on. Christine almost didn't want to testify on my behalf that everything happened until I promised to give her some of the settlement money. We won a $250,000 settlement and I gave Christine about $10,000 to cover her breast implants."
"Where would she get those disorders from?" Rick had a better understanding of why he hadn't heard about this before, it was clearly traumatic for Delilah, and he didn't really blame her for holding it in. Rather, he felt bad that she had been forced to tell him thanks to Christine.
"If you haven't noticed, she likes to fabricate things for attention and make them worse than they appear. Those two have popped up before, but I didn't fit the whole criteria. I've been to countless doctors since I was eight years old and I've never had the same diagnosis twice, I never fit anything one hundred percent except for ADD and later on, depression and Body Dismorphic Disorder. I don't know what else I have or what's wrong with me, but I'm not normal. That didn't stop them from putting me on numerous medications. My dad wanted to put me on enough medication to make me drool, my mom was more cautious. There's some awful medications out there, and I'm not even going to get into the side effects that the ones I did take left on me." She handed him her diagnosis papers. Rick was surprised at everything he was reading. There were diagnoses for Attention Deficit Disorder, Clinical Depression, Manic Depression, Bipolar, Borderline Personality Disorder, Schizophrenia, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, flat out OCD, Obsessive Compulsive like tendencies, Compulsive Skin Picking/Dermatillomania, Body Dismorphia, Bulimic like tendencies, Intrusive Thoughts, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Fortunately, Delilah was right. Apart from the ADD, depression, and Body Dismorphic Disorder, nothing else appeared twice.
"You already knew about my nose, what she didn't mention was the reconstructive surgery I had to have on my left calf when I was mauled by a dog. I was almost unable to ever dance again. The dent in my leg is no longer that noticeable, and the scar from when I got stitches under my right knee really faded. The dermatillomania I had was classified as BDD, Body Dismorphic Disorder. I didn't have bulimia, I had bulimic like tendencies. Over eating and over exercising with some puking. Christine kind of gave it to me. When we were younger, the two of us would be in endless competitions trying to mess up the other one's diet. I'd persuade her with junk food and she rigged the scales. I know it sounds immature, but I was thirteen, she was almost an adult and should have known better. Some of the enamel was etched off my teeth from the three years I wore braces, along with them becoming discolored from the medications I took, that's the dental work I had done. I still wear a retainer." Delilah reached into her nightstand and pulled out a small case. She opened it, revealing a glittery blue bottom retainer and a glittery pink top retainer, to which Rick gave her a puzzled look.
"When- how-"
"I put them in right after you go to sleep and take them out right before you wake up. I guess I'm kind of embarrassed because it gives me a lisp. See?" Delilah popped her retainers in and started talking. "Sch-shells sea cells down by the sch shore. USSSR. Thhhor." She took them out and put them back in the case. "I'm surprised Christine didn't tell you how I had to go to speech therapy as a kid. I had a hard time with S's, I couldn't say "specific" correctly until I was fifteen. I don't wear my retainers around others for the reason that I don't want to be reminded of how I used to talk." Delilah put the case away and looked at him again.
"I had a little laser work done on my face, but the majority of the few scars I had disappeared from microdermabrasion facials, which I used to get regularly. The brown spots on my arms and back went away also. I didn't have that much of cellulite and stretch marks, but luckily, the small amount I had faded completely when I lost the weight and toned up from my growth spurt. My boobs obviously had them because they developed so quickly. Here's the bills for all of that, including the before and after pictures. I also have all the police reports from when my dad hit my mom." She handed Rick even more papers and couldn't watch him look through them.
It had been so long since Rick had seen a police report or filled one out. He read them carefully, seeing all the times her father had been arrested for abusing both of them, and then the final police report where Rachelle shot him, which was written off as self defense. The next things that he looked at were all the bills and pictures specifying the work she had done. Everything seemed pretty minute, but obviously significant enough to the point that it needed to be fixed.
Delilah could kill Christine, she didn't want Rick to know any of this about her, it was bad enough that Billy already knew. "After I went to the hospital, I was kind of spooked. That and starting up with Bill helped me stop picking and binge eating, along with the medications I was taking. I ran out about a month after I was abandoned, and going through withdrawal was not fun. I had to do everything not to start picking my skin or stuffing my face. Sometimes I would just lock myself in the back of the truck and scream to let it all out. I'd cry myself to sleep at night and thought about killing myself, but knew I'd never act out on it. I met Javier and Matt afterwards, it really forced me to snap out of it. I used to play that song "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera whenever I was upset, I still do sometimes, and "The Voice Within". My problems still rear their ugly head when I have PMS, I turn into an awful bitch, that's why I prefer to be alone most of the week. There's a reason I never told you any of this. Every single day is a battle not to relapse and flip out. With the exception of when Tyler confessed, today was the first day in eighteen months that I fully lost my shit. I have to keep a lid on it, I have too many responsibilities now. Even if I didn't, it's not beneficial to me or anybody else. Before today, I was genuinely happy. There were people that knew me now, not who I used to be, and they never needed to know because I was no longer a flight risk." Delilah was heartbroken that now she was exposed, it would only be a matter of time until everybody else found out what she had just revealed to Rick, and she would be alone, again. The thought of it fully brought on the tears.
"I didn't want to walk around with the scars of my past, both physically and mentally. I wanted to be beautiful again. I used to get highlights in my hair, they've grown out and this is my natural hair color. I also used tanning beds and got spray tans and wore eyeliner all the time. I still wear makeup when I work out. I didn't tell anybody else about the hospital or medications because I thought it didn't matter since I was no longer like that. Apparently, it does, or I wouldn't have kept all this stuff. It should mean nothing, but it's the only reminder tying me down that I used to be fucked up!" She flung all the papers out of Rick's lap and sent them flying to the floor. Startled, he looked over to see a furious expression on her face. "Who am I kidding?! I'm not normal, and I'll never be normal! I'm not the female Great Gatsby, I'm the female Randle McMurphy, fucking brilliant but insane! I can see it in your eyes, Rick. Everything you've ever known about me is a lie, even how I look! If you ever have sex with or make love to me again, you won't see me as how I look now. You'll only be seeing how I used to be, the girl in these pictures! You'll never think of me the same again!" He tried to speak, but she wouldn't let him, she was on a tangent. "Don't even look at me! I'm just like Shane's cousin, Rosie, but with the whole DSM-IV attached to me!" Delilah couldn't hold back and released her tears as she turned away. Tears of disappointment, frustration, anger, misery. "It's why Billy couldn't take it anymore, I drove him away, and I'm sure this has all driven you away, too! I know that we're over and that you don't want to be here anymore, I'm a fucking joke! Just leave, Rick. Go!" She cried even harder. Everything that she had worked to conceal was now on display and there was no going back. She would further be classified as not just a martyr, but now a liar. Nobody would believe her now, it was all over, and the fact that she was going to lose everything shattered her soul and ripped her heart out.
Rick could feel himself becoming even more distressed as he watched her. When she thought that withholding her past was irrelevant, it kind of made sense. It made him think about how people's roles were switched in the world now, how Axel and Oscar at the prison were once criminals but still had good qualities, and how somebody good like Shane morphed into something that was pure evil. Delilah wasn't evil, she was good, she was also just disoriented and shaken up from the traumatizing events in her life. While he was concerned, he didn't think less of her. Delilah was still the girl that brought him and Carl back to Judith, the girl that reunited them with the others, risked her life to get his kids a picture of their mother, and lastly, she was still the girl he fell madly in love with that allowed him to give life a second chance. Rick gently turned Delilah around, lifting her chin up so their eyes could meet. She was crying so hard she was hiccupping, but managed to calm herself down a bit.
"Delilah, I understand why you didn't say anything sooner. It's hard not to judge people, even now. Except for no matter what those papers say, that's no longer who you are now. You've stood above and proved yourself to be beyond whatever those doctors wrote down. You're one of the most incredible people not only that I know, but that I've ever met. Don't let the past overshadow all the good you've done not only for yourself, but for those around you as well. I love the way you look and wouldn't change a thing about you. Even if you were five hundred pounds, I still wouldn't love you any less." Delilah stopped crying and laughingly smiled, which made Rick smile also. "Assumed psychoses and cosmetic procedures aren't going to drive me away. Inside and out, you're amazing just the way you are."
They both knew he was quoting "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars, but it didn't make the moment any less sweeter. Rick really was a stand out guy and pure of heart, not superficial or small minded at all, she could be herself around him, around everybody at Jellbany, too. This was her life now, and she was happy. Unfortunately, she was well aware of what awaited her on the other side of the door, and she was going to face it head on and head strong. "Thanks, I appreciate it. I love you, Rick."
He wiped her tears away with his free hand. "I love you, too."
They leaned in for a kiss and just as their lips were about to touch, they were interrupted due to the sudden sound of yelling coming from the hallway.
- 36
- 37
- 38
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Forever Rising Phoenix