Death By A Thousand Cuts|| OC X OC.

thirteen

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Bring the Pain
Season 2, Episode 5
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Loss was something nobody could ever prepare for. Even if you knew someone was dying, no one was ever prepared to live a life without that person and everyone dealt with grief differently.

It has only been three nights since the Grey family lost Jude.

At the moment, Tori and Ariel had the house to themselves as it stormed outside. George was upstairs asleep in his room, Izzie was on a date with Alex, and Meredith was with Derek, according to her message.

The mother-daughter duo were getting ready for bed when Ariel spoke, "Mommy?" She called out

Tori looked over at her daughter, "Yes baby?"

The 6 year old looked at her mother, "Are you going to work tomorrow?" She asked, "If you are, I want to go to school."

She should have expected this. She knew Ariel loved school, loved learning and her friends, but Tori didn't want to let her out of her sight just yet.

However, she also knew that that was unfair.

The intern nodded hesitantly at her daughter's question, "School and work is it." She agreed

Ariel continued to look at her mother for a moment with an odd look on her face, "I don't wanna be a doctor." She finally blurted out, searching her mother's face for a reaction

The mother simply brought her daughter into a hug and kissed her head, "You don't have to be one. You never have to do anything you don't want to. I am so so so proud of you, my sweet, smart, beautiful girl, and I always will be."

The 6 year old smiled brightly, "I wanna be an astronaut."

"I have every faith that you can do that." Tori told her daughter, "But first you have to study hard, go to college, learn a lot of science, and take a physical fitness test."

Her little girl shrugged, "That's just 4 things."

Tori smoothed her daughter's hair down, "Time for bed, Mermaid."

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After Ariel had been put to bed, Tori returned to the bathroom and searched for something to help her sleep. She knew there was a box of sleeping aids somewhere in the house.

And she was not going to spend another night listening to ghost babies cry. She was convinced it was her guilt manifesting itself.

Should she talk to someone, like a therapist or a psychologist? Yeah, probably.

But she didn't have the time nor the money to dive into all her problems and trauma.

"Aha." The grieving woman muttered as she found what she was looking for

She read the box to make sure the pills weren't habit forming, which thankfully they weren't.

She popped two out of the package and swallowed them dry. It wasn't ideal but it was better than drowning in her guilt.

Tori returned to her room and laid in the darkness. It was only then that she felt the tears she had been repressing most of the day started sliding down her cheeks.