Fighting Society

kiddos safe

day five (still)

Leah and the nurse were sat in a comforting silence when the door edged open ever so slightly. Her widened eyes turned in a panic towards the nurse at the broken silence, being met with a reassuring nod, as if to remind her that she was okay; something Leah used to do oh so often for Jess.

They had agreed, whilst waiting the small amount of time it took Lia to arrive, that the nurse would do her best to help Leah out, but it was up to the defender to guide the conversation in the way she wanted it to go in. 

She felt her heart slowly regain a composure for the first time in a little while when the Swiss woman stepped through the door. Her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, and was dressed in a sweatshirt and some ripped, skinny jeans. Like Leah, she too had bags resting under her eyes, and her face had no make up on, showing the lack of sleep she too had received. 

Her soft brown eyes searched the room almost instantly to try and find the electric blue ones, only for Leah to look down at her feet, trying to swallow the emotions she had worked so hard to feel comfortable admitting. With a squeeze of her hand, the nurse looked up instead, to speak to Lia.

"Lia, is it? I'm Nurse Julie."

Without a verbal response, Lia gave her a smile to acknowledge her words, turning her attention directly back to Leah, who had begun to curl into herself ever so slightly, the defender keeping a death grip on her sisters hand.

"Leah?"

She winced slightly at the use of her fully name, having grown accustomed to the shortened version of "Le" from the Swiss, her shoulders drooping at such a simple word of her name. Nothing came from her mouth, not that she knew what she wanted to say even if she did, shaking her head to try and avoid the tears that were building up in her.

Given that her head was dropped, she missed the silent interaction between the Swiss and the nurse, Lia sending a questioning look to the nurse, who gave a sad frown, shaking her head. She then beckoned her head toward Leah, as if asking if she was okay to get closer to the older woman, leaving the nurse to then nod her head, in a warning way, as if to say, be careful.

Slowly, she moved towards Leah, as if she were a wild deer, who'd be spooked at any moment. No movements came from her, Lia taking that as a green light to continue moving towards her, reaching close enough to be able to kneel down next to her.

"Le?"

The use of her nickname once more sent a shockwave through Leah, feeling herself loose all control at the name, the tears beginning despite her best efforts to try and swallow them back, shaking her head. It was taking everything in Leah to not just fall into the warmth of Lia's opening arms, her safe haven, her walls having gone back up despite the work that both herself and the nurse had done.

She felt a slight squeeze of her knee, directing her eye line to nurse Julie's hand, who still remained placed upon her knee, and following it up to meet her eyes, still as calm and soft as they had since she first introduced herself to the struggling Leah.

"it's okay. Let yourself feel it, Leah. And let others know."

With that, she opened the floodgates slightly, the tears rolling down her cheeks. There was no more attempts at suppressing the sob which had been growing in her since day 1, a heart wrenching sob escaping from the depths of her throat. The presence of the hand on her thigh was removed, Leah letting out a little hiccup at the loss of contact, before being replaced by a warm set of arms wrapping themself around her, allowing her to finally fall into their warmth, after what felt like a lifetime of danger.