Noah
Noah glanced over at AJ. She looked tired. Hell he probably looked tired too. The running was definitely taking it's toll on both of them. But they were in LA now. And there wasn't such a great need to be running constantly. LA was big. Big enough for them to hide out in for awhile. The only flaw in this plan was the fact that both his father and AJ's father had contacts in LA, but they had business contacts everywhere. Hopefully they could dodge them all for a little.
He pulled up outside a hotel and nudged AJ.
"Hey, I'm gonna go get us a room."
Noah left the car and went inside the hotel, then reappeared soon after holding keys. He hopped back into the car, and drove into the parking lot. He parked the car and hopped out, and then grabbed their bags from the back.
AJ
AJ yawned, her right hand covering her mouth as she got out of the car.
"LA..." she murmured to herself, looking up at the nearby skyscrapers.
"Cool. Lead the way."
Noah
Noah grinned and led her upstairs and into their room. It was nicer than the others, he noted. He put their bags onto the floor and created up some food and drinks.
"You need anything else?"
AJ
"Nah. If I do I'll just complain," she grinned, grabbing some food and starting to eat.
She looked around as she sat on a bed.
"This is a nice room actually... do we have a time limit for being here?"
Noah
"I told the guy we'd be here a week, and I think we can extend the time if we wanna stay here for a bit. I'm not really up to more running right now."
Noah grabbed a drink and some food and hopped onto the bed and lay back.
AJ
"Great," AJ sighed.
She clambered onto the bed beside him, and put an arm over his chest, hugging him.
Noah
Noah closed his eyes and kissed AJ's head in contentment. He was about to go to sleep with he heard a loud crash. He opened his eyes to see two cops standing in front of them.
"Oh damn. Uh..."
Noah sat up straight.
"Noah Landers? Adele Jacobs?" The taller cop asked.
AJ
AJ grabbed onto Noah worriedly.
"What's going on?" she gulped, her eyes darting back and forth.
Noah
"We had reports that you two went missing from Tulsa on the 23rd June. Then someone reported that they had seen you, after seeing your pictures on the news."
Noah held tightly onto AJ's hand. "So... what happens now?"
"We take you back to your fathers."
AJ
"NO!" AJ cried, jumping up.
"I don't know how old you have to be in America, but I'm Australian. And in Australia you don't have to be in anyone's custody over the age of 16. I'm seventeen. I don't think I have to."
She stood back.
Noah
"Noah."
Noah froze as he heard his father's voice.
"Dad."
Noah and Mr Landers stared at each other. "Dad, I'm not going back with you."
AJ
AJ pulled Noah up beside her.
"What are we gonna do? They can't us. Me at least. How old do you have to be?" she asked worriedly.
Noah
Noah paused. "18. Which means... you can't take me."
Mr Landers cleared his throat. "Well actually, technically you're still not an adult. Noah, AJ, please just come home and we will work this out."
AJ
"Bullshit," AJ didn't care if they heard her swear, "you're just gonna try and send me back to Oz. I'll go, but not now. Not until Noah can come too."
She raised her eyebrows.
NOah
"AJ, your father's just worried about you, and with good reason. This was not the best way to handle the situation, Noah, and you know it."
Noah's temper flared. "Dad, what the hell would you know? You may think it's wrong, but to me, it feels right. And I'm not going home with you. I'm staying here with AJ."
"Noah, you're coming home."
"I'll come home if AJ's allowed to stay here, and not shipped across the world, just because you found out about us."
AJ
AJ gulped as she eyed the police, just standing by watching.
"I'm not going home... I don't care. They can't make me either way, I'm over sixteen."
She kissed Noah then stood back a little.
"Do you want to go back?"
Noah
"I'll go if you want to. But I'm not leaving you behind."
Noah took AJ's hand again.
AJ
"I don't want to," AJ admitted, "but if they're not gonna get off our backs..."
She growled audibly.
"Damn this."
Noah
Noah kissed AJ's cheek softly.
"So we go back? And we hope that it can be worked out?"
AJ
She glanced at Noah's father, annoyed, then nodded.
She hugged him.
"Ok," she said finally, "but I... I don't plan on leaving your side for now."
Noah
"Right back at you." Noah winked at AJ and gave her a grin before turning to his father.
"She's staying with us. That's the one condition."
Noah's father sighed. "We'll talk about that on the way home."
"No, she's staying with us, or that's it, and we don't come home."
"Fine," Mr Landers replied in order to placade Noah.
Noah took AJ's hand and gathered up their things.
AJ
AJ helped as best she could, her hands shaking with anger.
How could they do this to them? They weren't kids anymore... when were they gonna accept that? Her father didn't have a problem with her spending hours alone in a hotel room in a city she didn't know.
Noah
Noah caressed AJ's hand, trying to soothe her. He kissed her again and followed the police and his father from the hotel and into the van.
Once they were all seated, he put his arm over AJ and leaned his head over hers. They'd figure it out.