Wait For Me To Come Home

Chapter 69

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I'm updating a bit later than usual because I've been reading the whole day and then I had to help my lil bro with his homework 😬 Also, we're getting to the end of this fic, we've got only 9 chapters left. There is a sequel to this so let me know if you want me to convert it 😃

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Camila had been home a month, and yet every day Lauren still felt like it didn't feel real. In the middle of the night she'd wake up from a nightmare where Camila wasn't there, only to look down and find her asleep on Lauren's chest, or curled up next to her, and only then would she be able to fall back asleep until Camila woke her up with her screaming. Some mornings, if Sinu was home, she'd come in and send Lauren into her room to get some sleep, and she'd stay with Camila so that she could hold her little girl. Lauren was grateful for those moments that she could steal some sleep – she was running on very little sleep and it was catching up with her.

They were going home today. Lauren had suggested that they stay a little while longer because Camila seemed at ease here – for the most part – and Lauren thought that the loud noises and busy crowds of the city might be too much for her. Camila had protested though, insisting that everything get back to normal, and so Lauren relented and they stuck to their original plan. Their train wasn't until after lunch, and so they lounged around the house all morning, eating a nice breakfast with Sinu until she got called into the hospital. They were sat on the back porch, watching the Athena run through the shallow waves, and a small smile played around Camila's lips as she watched. Lauren thought back to when she'd adopted Athena to help combat her loneliness, but it looked like she wasn't the only one benefiting from that decision.

"Hey," Camila said, turning to look at Lauren. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Lauren smiled at Camila, raising her eyebrows expectantly. "I need you to take me somewhere."

"Oh!" Lauren softly exclaimed. Camila hadn't set foot off the porch since she'd come to Palm Bay, and Lauren was surprised that she was showing some interest in going somewhere. "Of course. Anywhere."

Camila let out a small laugh. "I promise you, you won't want to take me there. I-I want to see it. My grave."

"Your gr-, Camila, I don't think that's a good idea," Lauren protested, grimacing at Camila.

"I told you," Camila said, looking amused. "I think it'll be ... good. For both of us. It might help put this whole, ah, thing behind us. If we go together then we can have some closure. I don't know, I just ... I need to do this, Lauren."

"You need to?" Lauren asked, arching one eyebrow.

"Yes, I need to," Camila said, smiling slightly.

Lauren smiled back at her, cupping her chin and leaning in to press a quick kiss to Camila's lips. "I'll go and get your shoes."

Camila insisted on them walking there, or that rather Lauren walked while she got pushed in the wheelchair and held onto the leash as Athena padded along beside her. The weather was warming up, with summer not too far away, and the two of them soaked up the sun as they made their way towards the cemetery. Camila had her camera in hand, Lauren having returned it to its rightful owner, and she snapped photos along the way. A part of Lauren was relieved that she could still find the beauty in the things around her, despite the horrors of war that she'd witnessed first hand. She was still Lauren's Camila.

They took a detour on the way, to buy flowers for Alejandro's grave, but it still didn't take long, and soon enough they could see the beginning of the headstones and the church standing tall in the middle of them. They were silent as they walked through the eerily quiet of the cemetery, and Lauren pushed Camila towards where they'd had the funeral. The memories of that day seemed like a distant dream – or a nightmare even – and Lauren hadn't been back here since. Perhaps Camila was right, and it would give them both some closure, even if it was only the beginning of Camila's healing.