Release (A Shefani AU)

Chapter 7

At 12:47, the judges of The Voice were released for a 60 minute break. Adam went off to go eat, so it was just the three judges around. Blake was looking at his phone, and Gwen and Pharrell were talking. Blake heard Gwen mumble something about being fine, which was obviously a lie. Even though she was as beautiful as always, there was clearly off about her. There was something about how she held herself up, like she was blocking herself off from everyone. To be honest, Gwen had been like this for months. Blake knew there was something she was holding back.
Before Blake could ponder this anymore, he heard Gwen say she was going to the bathroom, and he saw her practically sprint to her trailer. There was something in Blake's gut that told him he should follow her, so after a couple minutes, he told Pharrell he was going to hang out in his trailer for a bit.

About 5 minutes had passed since they were released, and Blake was listening outside Gwen's trailer. It had been oddly quiet; usually when Gwen was in her trailer, she sang to herself as she did things. Blake listened next to her door for a few more moments before raising his hand to knock. Right before he was about to knock, he herd a gasp coming from the other side of the door. Thinking Gwen was hurt, Blake barged in. What he saw would change him forever.

She was sitting on the counter by her sink, and blood was everywhere. She was pushing something that looked like a broken piece of glass into her skin, gritting her teeth as it went deeper. Her sleeves were rolled up, and Blake could see that there were scars running up and down them. That's why she always wore long sleeves he realized. Blake couldn't fathom why she would do this to herself. It was at this point that Gwen realized someone was there.
"Gwen?"
She jumped in surprise causing the shard to go deeper into her skin. She breathed in sharply, as she tried to put her hands behind her back.
"B-Blake, w-what are you doing here?" Gwen looked up and stuttered, trying to cover up the blood.
"The better question, is what are you doing?" Blake walked slowly toward her.
Gwen backed up cautiously. "N-nothing important, what about y-you?"
He was getting closer now, and as she tried to back up further, she ran into the wall, and the glass fully embedded into her skin.
Gwen hissed in pain, almost screaming. Blake's eyes flashed from suspicion to worry as he gazed down at her.
"C'mon now Gwen." He reached for her arm, "Let me help you."
"I can manage on my own thank you." She then muttered, "It's not like I haven't done that for awhile."
She tried to cross her arms defiantly, but her cuts were so bad that she physically couldn't. Blake could see blood gushing out of her arm and he knew he couldn't leave her. Blake pushed her back to her couch, and sat her down.
"Hold your arm up." He instructed.
"W-why are you still here?" Gwen asked, but she did as she was told.
"What kind of maniac would leave you here with serious injuries?" He questioned softly as he examined the cuts.
"I know a few people" she mumbled.
"Not me sunshine." He said using the nickname he had given her in his car.
"Do you have a first-aid kit?" Blake left her to look around.
"N-no, I've never used one, just let them get a scab."
Blake frowned at her comment. "And why would I do that?"
Gwen looked a little guilty. "It's what I've always done I guess." She said softly.
Blake turned to her. "Why are you doing this to yourself?" He questioned.
"You wouldn't understand." She turned away.
"Do you have any alcohol?" Blake's steered away from what she said. Gwen nodded, and with her good hand, she pointed to the cabinet.
Blake took some paper towels and the brandy he picked out to where she was.
"Okay, this might hurt a bit, so bare with me okay?" When he reached out to touch Gwen's arm she flinched in fear. Blake noticed this and sat a little closer to her. He first went to the place on her arm where the glass was, and quickly pulled it out. She breathed in, but kept quiet. Blake saw the amount of blood that came out of the wound and grimaced. This was probably going to need stitches as soon as possible, and they still had about seven more hours of filming to do. He poured the brandy on her wounds and cleaned them up as best he could. Gwen felt a stinging pain, but she didn't care. Being this close to a person made her uncomfortable, and she was sure she wasn't worth fussing over.
Blake looked over and caught her eye, noticing for the first time how broken she looked. Gwen stared into his eyes, and for the first time she noticed the pain in them. She remembered that he was going through a divorce and wondered if it effected him as much as it did her.
"I'm sorry for being such a burden to you." She said, "Its just that I'm-" she stopped herself after she realized that she never had told anyone about her life, and she was about to spill it to a guy that had better things to hear. The only problem with that was that Blake wanted to know. In some weird way, it was as if he needed to hear what she had to say to give him hope.
"Gwen, I know you think I won't understand, but please darlin' make me understand."
Gwen looked into his eyes and saw a sliver of hope.
"I- well, I-," She stuttered, "Blake, I don't know if I can do this."
"Please, sunshine, you can't keep something that's causing you so much pain to yourself."
Gwen looked into his eyes for reassurance. She started off again.
"Well, um, here this goes." She said looking away from him."It feels like my whole life is getting torn apart, and I can't do anything about it."
Gwen covered her mouth with her hand, shocked at what she said.
"Oh my God." She looked up at him, "Um- maybe you should go."
Blake was at a loss for words. What does this mean? he asked himself. Blake looked down and noticed she wasn't wearing a wedding ring. Realization struck him.
"Gwen maybe we can talk about-" he was interrupted by Gwen.
"N-no I'm fine. Thanks for your help, but I can manage." She said practically pushing him out the door.
"Gwe-" before Blake could continue, the door closed.

Gwen walked slowly back to her couch and took a swig of the brandy to clear her thoughts. She cleaned up everything and made herself look presentable. Her arm was strangely numb, and she couldn't move it without having immense pain. She sat in her trailer until they were supposed to get back to film, and then hurried back.

When the door was closed on Blake, he felt shut out. He wanted to be in there with Gwen, more than anything. Blake slowly realized that he had been going through some of the same things as her. He went to his fridge and got some lunch before heading back to film.

Hey guys!! So I'm thinking that for this chapter, since its 1300 words long and I worked really hard, if this gets to 4 votes I'll update another chapter. So, if you want to read more of this PLEASE vote. Hope you have a good day/night! Also thanks to sweetcutemorgan for always voting!