Cared For

Flashbacks

TW: Panic Attack, Mention of flashbacks

Nobody's POV:

Alex was known for their frequent flashbacks to their terrible past. They often lead to panic attacks and either days of constant regression or days of never regressing. Everyone in the house knows of them even though some are better at working with Alex then others. So, during these flashbacks there is a protocol. It's not kept up on the fridge with the rules, but everyone knows it.

Don't touch unless it's initiated by them

Don't say "It's going to be okay" or anything along those lines

Place your hand next to them, palm up to show that your available if it's wanted

Don't leave them alone, if you want to get something have someone else get it

Don't always assume regression, just talk calmly and in a soothing tone

They are simple rules that everyone knows and follows.

It's around 1 pm now and it's been mostly a calm day. All of the littles are in a good mood and as a treat they decided to travel to the park for the rest of the day. They've all been having a lovely time.

Cami's POV:

I'm sitting with Dylan on the park bench as we usually are here. He's around 1 and content just napping on my lap while I get some work done. Mason and Morgan decided to come hangout for the day, so Marah and Madison are with them, only Madison is little though. Tommy, Tyler, and Garrett are with Sam and Annie on the actual playground and Alex and Benji are sitting at the table with me. Alex has had an off day and I can see the number of times she's zoned out and also not letting herself regress. Benji has been trying with her all day, but she just won't budge. Not even Tommy or Tyler could get her to regress either, it's just one of those days. For now, she's still just zoned out watching the path behind us, Benji is doing homework.

Alex's POV:

I do feel bad. I've been pushing everyone away, but I just can't focus on anything important, or basically anything at all. It's been a weird day with Flashbacks. They aren't bad enough currently, but they've been going on all day. I don't know what triggered them though. I'm just scanning over the trail like I have been for the past 20 minutes until I see someone. I know who it is, and I focus my eyes on who it is and who they are with, it sets off everything in my head, something in me has known this was going to happen and that is why the flashbacks are here. I feel myself start to spiral into a panic attack. My parents are here, they should not be here. They aren't even my parents anymore. They aren't even supposed to be allowed in this city; they should not be here. They should not be here. They should not be here.

Benji's POV:

I turn my head as Alex stops scanning and freezes. She sits for a minute, and I try to find what she saw, and I see them. Alex's Bio parents. There's a restraining order on them and they don't even live in this state, they live in Florida. Alex starts mumbling, it sounds like she's saying they should not be here but I'm not sure. I look to Cami who has also noticed what is happening.

"Hey Ben, could you go get Tyler and Tommy. You can stay down there with Garrett and Annie for a while," I nod and tell the brothers the situation. I let myself slip for a while and I join Annie on the swings.

Tommy's POV:

Benji came down and told us what is happening with Alex and me and Tyler are rushing to get to the table to make it better. We make it to the table and Cami is standing with Dylan on her hip.

"So, her parents are here. We need them to leave," She looks to Tyler for the last part, knowing that Tyler has the most experience with them from the previous times they've tried to do this.

"Yeah, I got it. Be careful Tom, this is a really bad one," I nod, and he walks his way over to the path.

"I'm gonna bring Dylan down to the swinging chair that is closer to the playset. If you need anything I'll pay attention," I nod again, grabbing a water bottle out of a bag also grabbing a sippy cup as I go. I get a bit closer, and I hear Alex clear enough still saying "They should not be here". I decide to sit across from them to maybe break her out of this trance she's in. I put my hand out and a shaking hand is placed into mine and holds onto it. I hold onto the hand as I place the normal bottle of water down along with the filled up sippy cup. There's no response to that but Alex is now looking at me and the mumbling has died down to a whisper. There are tears in her eyes, but they are not yet ready to fall.

"Don't worry Lex, Ty is taking care of it," They look me in the eyes before saying a final "They should not be here".

"I know, I know they should not be here. They are going to go away soon Lex," I reassure, and the tears were finally ready to fall. They fall slowly and Alex just looks at me before reaching out their other hand at me, doing grabby hands wanting me to pick her up. I quickly oblige making my way to the other side of the table picking up the small little.

"Don't worry bug, Tomsy is here, everyone is okay. We all still love you and we want you to be here no matter what," I throw in all of the needed reassurances, it's a necessity for Alex because they always get worried about everyone being so upset and annoyed with her. She nods into my shoulder.

"Baby bug, how old are you?" She taps me two times signaling she's feeling about 2 years old. That's out of her normal range of 3-6 but it's alright it's been a rough day. I turn to make sure Alex can't see the path because I see Tyler walking next to Alex's parents and I can practically hear him from here. I think about comfort items for Alex, and I grab her bag from the ground and pull out her headphones and paci, connecting the headphones to my phone playing the playlist I have for the littles.

"Hey bug, do you wanna go sit by everyone? We can sit down on the ground, I have your headphones and a paci," She nods again. I'm okay with non-verbal littles I know how to work with them. I make my way down to the playset by everyone else still holding the little on my hip. I make sure she still can't see the path and I sit onto the ground placing her in my lap facing out to see everyone playing.

"I'm gonna put your headphones on bug," I get no response, but I place the headphones on their ears. They lean back into me, and I bring the paci around and place it in front of her mouth. She accepts the paci and it sits in her mouth calmly bobbing a bit. Tyler is walking back over to us now. I can see that he's calming down for the benefit of the littles, especially once he sees Alex in my arms. He makes his way over to sit next to me on the ground and Alex holds out a hand to him.

"Don't worry baby bug, Ty Ty made them go away," Alex nods and just plays with Tyler's hands. The flashbacks are usually right, this was a big trigger. Everyone always says expect the unexpected, but I say don't forget about the normal.

Sooooooo

I'm sorry about this one's ending, I've also just realized I should be putting trigger warnings for some stuff which I will be doing now to all of my chapters

But anyways, Thank you all so extremely much for 248 reads so far. It's so insane I appreciate it soo much you don't even know :)

Word Count:1404

Have a good day/night/existence whatever it is for you

~Atriumphs