𝒞𝒽ℯ𝓃𝒻ℴ𝓇𝒹 ℴ𝓃ℯ𝓈𝒽ℴ𝓉𝓈

𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦

A/N: This is the second part to "Six feet under." And this covers the aftermath of Lucy being rescued, being let's be honest despite Lucy being a completely badass, her trauma is extremely overlooked, and this will be covering that.  Also I may actually end up doing a third part, or maybe write a whole story, let me know your opinions on that. So for these reasons obviously there's a trigger warning for sensitive subject. So precede with caution, and enjoy.

Third person POV

After the adrenaline died down, the real nightmares began. The first night home from the hospital, is when the flashbacks started. Maybe it was because of the pills the doctors had her on to help her sleep that she wasn't getting nightmares the first two nights, but now? Closing her eyes was torture, as she was met with the nightmare of being put into that barrel and being buried alive. Though she may have refused to scream while in the barrel, when met with the images that replayed in her head, she did and equal amount of sobbing, hyperventilating, and screaming,  that had her more then exhausted, but sleeping wasn't an option, so hour by hour, day by day she spent mindlessly staring up at the ceiling not able to move, or speak. She didn't have the energy to eat or drink, and she couldn't sleep, and showering made her feel far to confided, so when she passed out from dehydration, and exhausted after three days it became apparent to Jackson who despite his best efforts couldn't get through to Lucy, that Lucy wasn't physically in the barrel anymore, but she was very much still trapped, but this time in her own mind.

Jackson came into work that day two hours late, which as a rookie was reason to fire him, until he had to explain to Gray, and then again to Tim how Lucy was back in the hospital after a week of being out. "What do you mean she's in the hospital?!" Tim asked, with the panic clear in his voice. Tim had become extremely overprotective over Lucy. Jackson knew Lucy would sit on the phone with Tim every night just to hear his voice, but neither Tim nor Jackson realized that Lucy wasn't eating, or drinking at all until Jackson wasn't able to wake her up this morning when he went to check on her before work. "I mean, she wouldn't wake up this morning, and she didn't sleep. She passed out from exhaustion because she hadn't slept, or eaten in a week." Jackson said, with a sigh.

Tim was overwhelmed with panic when he heard that she was back in the hospital, and all rational thoughts disappeared. "Why didn't they call me?" Tim asked knowing that he had become the emergency contact in Lucy's phone. "Tim, she's fine. Just exhausted, and dehydrated that's all, she'll be there a night at most." Jackson said, before walking over to join Angela, who was completely understanding. But Tim couldn't pretend that he wasn't worried about Lucy, so he walked into Gray's office to do something he should have sooner. "Yes Officer Bradford?" Gray asked, while looking up from his computer. "Would it be possible for me to take some time off." He said, and Gray gave him a look, before nodding. "I told you to five days ago. Go ahead." He said, and Tim nodded. "Thank you sir." Tim said, before heading back to the locker room, and changing out of his uniform, before getting in his truck and driving to the hospital.

Lucy awoke to the sound of beeping, and bright lights, with a major headache, at first she had no idea what was going on or where she was, which only further triggered her ptsd, and the flashbacks that began in her head. It wasn't until she let out a muffled scream, that a nurse ran in, and she realized where she was. "Lucy. Sweetheart, you're okay. You are in the hospital, your safe." The woman said, while checking Lucy's heart beat, and blood pressure. Lucy tried her best to breathe, and stop the image from replaying in her mind. Five things, five senses, touch, smell, sight, taste, hearing, this was a common used method one she remembered clearly so she used it. She focused her sight on the big glass widow in the room. "There's a widow, there's sunlight, you are above ground." She whispered to herself, before taking another breath. She quickly moved onto smell, she didn't like the smell. This was a hospital she smelt bleach, so instead she tried to forget the strong smell of bleach, and instead picked up on the nurse's perfume as she was changing one of the fluids out, it was a very subtle scent of vanilla, and a hint of almond which reminded her of the scent of a bakery, this smell wasn't present anytime during her kidnapping, and she took another breath as the image slowly began to fade. Hearing wasn't a particularly good one either, but the beeping, and slight chatter she could hear from a little outside her door was better then the silence of the barrel. A few more breaths, and two more senses and the image had left her head completely.