Playing with fire (Amelia Shepherd) ABANDONED

fifty three

Mallie walked into the kitchen an hour later, freshly showered after a small workout. Maya followed behind her, the rest of the team already gathered and waiting for them.

"Hey, what's up?" Maya asked, moving to stand at Mallie's side.

"Alright, everyone, I have one question for you," Andy said.

The team all stared at her.

"Are we ready to be a family again?" Andy said.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked.

"Are we or are we not a family?" Andy asked.

"Yes," a few of them said.

"Of course," a few others said.

"Right, okay. So, are we ready to be a family again?" Andy said.

"Yes," the team chorused.

Mallie and Maya stayed silent.

"Let me hear it, 19," Andy said louder.

"19!"

"No, no, bring it in, bring it in. I'm serious. Bring it in. On 3. Here we go. 1, 2, 3," Andy counted them in, the team all gathering in a huddle and putting their hands in.

Mallie didn't move. Neither did Maya.

Mallie was in full agreement of them being a family, but she knew this was over Jack. Andy was focusing on Jack right now, all of them seemingly blind to the fucking trauma Maya was actively going through right now. She needed her family just as much as Jack did, and nobody saw her.

None of them saw how Maya and Mallie stood off to the side.

Mallie wasn't even upset they didn't notice her. It was Maya.

Mallie understood Maya's pain in this moment more than she had this whole time. Maya had not felt like a part of this family for a lot longer than Mallie had realised, and someone with nothing to lose was a dangerous person. Maya still had Carina and Mallie, but how long would they stay? How many boundaries would Maya cross before they had to walk away?

Mallie had suffered for years in a house where she wasn't seen as anything other than a burden to manage. She could put up with that treatment from Maya for as long as she had to, because she knew how isolating it was and any chance at making this easier for Maya was a chance worth taking.

But it was different with Maya and Carina. It was so different. Their trauma was so similar yet so different at the same time. Carina was healing. She didn't bleed on people who didn't hurt her. Maya wasn't quite there, yet.

"19!"

"Whoo! Yes!"

"Alright," Andy said. "Let's go fix up Jack's roof."

Maya slipped out of the room before anybody noticed, the team turning and starting to head out. Andy was at the back, talking to Travis about something.

"I'm not coming," Mallie said.

Everybody stopped walking, turning to look at her.

"What?" Andy said. "Do you have plans with the kids after shift? That's fair enough," she said.

"No, I don't have plans," Mallie said.

She did, but that wasn't the point.

"Then..." Vic said slowly. "I'm confused."

"Andy, can I have a word?" Mallie said.

"Yeah," Andy said.

The rest of the team slowly filtered out, leaving Mallie and Andy alone in a kitchen with an anger in the shape of a sleeping bear that Andy did not want to wake up.