Beautiful things - jaylor story (peace book 4)

panic attacks and family coming over

-joes Pov- 

Taylor comes into the room and her expression is pale as she loosely holds her phone in her hand, but it looks like she is hardly holding on. Something has happened. "Taylor are you okay" I say and look worriedly up at her. 

"The... the lawyers called... they're moving the trial up a few weeks to January 3rd. But... but then... his mom... died in prison and Adam is trying to get in contact with me" she says, and my eyes widen and Ellies body stiffen with the mention of his name. 

"Taylor come sit down" I say to her, and Ellie is falling into her head again and a panic attack is starting. Her body starts to shake, and she push away from me and crawl over against her headboard and roll herself into little ball. 

Taylor comes and sit down on the bench in front of Ellies bed and tuck her legs close to her and her expression goes blank so now I'm left with two girls falling apart and I start to panic but I can't let myself panic. 

"Elliana, its daddy. You're safe" I try to say to her while I also keep an eye on Taylor. "Help me, I'm trapped" Ellie screams at the top of her lungs and cries hysterically. 

"Elliana daddy is here, you're safe. No one is going to hurt you. You're in your bedroom sweetie" I tell her and try to pull her into my arms, but she starts to kick, hit and scream like she is fighting for her life, but this breaks Taylor out of her head and her mommy instincts kick in, so she is at my side now too. 

"Ellie sweetie, you're okay. Mommy and daddy are here" she tells her and both of us try to hold her close but it's almost impossible because the girl is strong. 

Then my mom comes to the door "what's going on. Are you okay. We heard you scream, and the girls are worried" she says as she comes in but then she sees what's going on and I make eye contact with her "i've got the girls, take care of them" she says and close the door giving us some privacy. 

"Elliana, it's just mommy and daddy" I tell her and eventually I get her wrapped in my arms but it's hard to keep her from hitting or kicking. Her body is reacting like it's trying to fight off someone that's hurting her. But we know from experience that for her we need to hold her as tightly as we can because the deep pressure helps calm her panic attacks. 

Taylor wraps her arms around both of us too and we try to keep her still but then she gets her arm free and try to scratch her arm, so Taylor stops her and hold her arm tightly as well. It might seem dramatic but this is what works for her, we have been dealing with these attacks for years and this is the only thing that we have found actually calming her down. 

"Mommy don't let him hurt me" she says and manage to elbow me in my balls, and I hunch over in pain and my grip on her gets a bit loose and she manage to slip out of my grasp and run to a corner and starts to scratch her arm, but Taylor is there instantly and told her hands so she can't hurt herself. 

"Elliana listen to me. No one is going to hurt you. The only people in your bedroom are mommy and daddy. You're safe. But hurting yourself won't help" she scoots closer to her and wrap her tightly in her arms and after I gather myself, I go to join them. 

But then it happens, her sobs turn, and we know that she is back to herself. "Mommy. Daddy" she whimpers, and I pick her up and lay her down on her bed before Taylor and I snuggle her from both sides. "you're safe Ellie. You just had a panic attack, but you're okay" Taylor tells her over and over again as she clings to her shirt. 

**

Eventually Ellie cries herself to sleep and I take Taylor back to our bedrooms because she isn't okay either. "Love, you don't have to go see him. You don't ever have to talk to him" I tell her and wrap her tightly in my arms. My chest hurts from Ellie hitting and kicking me as after all I just had broken ribs a month ago, but I don't care right now. She obviously didn't mean to hurt me, she acted on instinct.