Author's Note: I know, I know! Another story, right? Well I just can't help myself! This one has been floating around in my head for a while and is very, very loosely inspired by the movie The Quiet. I own neither The Quiet nor anyone from the WWE (sadly). I hope you enjoy it.
The Only Exception
Prologue
Adrielle Tivian slid down the wall and cried. Heart-wrenching sobs that made her shoulders shiver and her whole body quake. No one bothered to comfort her for a few minutes, and then she felt someone that she knew was the man she called her Uncle Mark sink down to the floor slowly beside her and pull her in close to him, pressing his lips to the top of her head and trying to envelop her with his comforting presence. He didn't bother whispering soothing things. There was no point. His goddaughter was deaf.
At least, that's what he and everyone else here thought. Adrielle suspected that maybe her father had known, but he had seemed happy to keep pretending. It didn't matter anymore though. That's why she was crying. Thomas Tivian was dead. Hit by a car.
Thomas Tivian was deaf. Always had been. Nonetheless though, he'd found the woman he loved and married her. She wasn't deaf, but she learned sign language to talk to him, and if she spoke slowly he could read her lips well enough. They didn't need words to communicate anyway- Thomas and Jamia Tivian knew each other inside out.
Adrielle had full hearing when she was born, but she was taught sign language while she was growing up and was quite well spoken, as well as an expert at signing. She was 15 when disaster struck. Her mother died. It wasn't entirely unexpected- her mother had been battling cancer for some time but they all had hoped for the best. The loss hit her hard, and after watching the way everyone around her struggled with grieving for her mother… she made a choice. She wanted to be alone. To be invisible. Adrielle Tivian didn't want anyone to cry when she died.
For a while she just shut down completely. Then eventually, she only signed and tried to forget that she could hear the world around her. The specialists said it sometimes happened, when someone experienced a great trauma. So now everyone thought she was deaf and the only person in the world who might have known the truth was gone.
It felt as though a piece of her was being torn right out of her soul. Especially since it felt like her fault. They had been out together, had just finished breakfast. Adrielle had gone to use the bathroom and her father had said he would meet her across the street. She didn't worry. Why would she? The man had crossed many streets in his lifetime and he had been fine. This time was different though.
Her world had been turned on its head when she walked out of that bathroom. She noticed the commotion in the street right away. She ran outside- though not a sound escaped her, and she pushed through the crowd. There she saw her father, lying on the pavement with blood trickling from his ears. She had fallen to her knees, ever silent as the tears welled up in her eyes.
He'd walked out into the street but he hadn't heard the car coming or its horn when it blasted. If only she had been there… she would have heard it. It was her fault. All her fault he was gone.
But then… now she truly was alone. She could disappear, be invisible and go and join her father. She didn't want to be a member of this world anymore- she had already checked out as far as she could go. However, Mark had other plans. He had seen the way Adrielle shut down after Jamia died and he knew it could and most likely would happen again if he didn't intervene.
Adrielle and her father were very close, the man knew his daughter inside out and Mark knew that without him around… she may just give up altogether. With that thought in his head, he leaned back a little so that he knew she could see him, and spoke slowly so that she could read his lips.
"You're coming with me."
She stared at him blankly for a moment, with wet swollen eyes, and eventually she leaned back into him and just held the man close. She didn't want to be close with anyone, but perhaps traveling with her Uncle Mark would be the best way to disappear from the rest of the world. No one had to know that she wasn't deaf; no one had to know that she just wanted to be invisible; she just had to be those things.
~!~
The young woman in the back of the car roused when she realised that it was no longer moving. Slowly, she sat up in her seat and ran a hand through her dark, shoulder length hair. This was it. This was the hotel. This was her first day traveling with her Uncle Mark. Yet she felt nothing. The 22 year old felt absolutely nothing other than the hope that everyone would just ignore the 'poor little deaf girl.'
She slid out of the seat, silent as Mark appeared by her side to put the bags temporarily beside her so he could shut the boot and lock the car. Once it was done he picked up both their bags and she didn't fight him on it, simply following him into the hotel.
It wasn't as simple as just checking in of course. The moment they were standing at the elevator, waiting for it, someone was calling for Mark. She didn't start, far too used to ignoring voices to break her cover now. Instead she stared at the elevator buttons, waiting for the right one to light up.
"Taker!" The man jogged over and offered the bigger man a smile. To her surprise, Mark smiled back, though she only caught the action out of the corner of her eye.
"Hunter." He greeted in a calm, even voice.
"So this is your goddaughter?"
"Oh yes." With this, Mark tapped the girls arm, "Adrielle," He started, when she looked up at him- his signing was rusty- "This is Hunter." Then he gestured to the man beside him.
"Nice to meet you," He said, offering the girl his hand. She allowed her eyes to study his lips as he spoke, reaching out tentatively to shake his hand.
"I don't know if you remember me saying it, but she's deaf." Mark explained.
"Oh yes, you did." Just then the elevator doors opened, though Adrielle waited for some indication to be given to her, still watching Hunter. "Well then, I had better let you two go. I'll talk to you later about some ideas Vince has been pitching me though."
"Sure." Mark responded, and then guided Adrielle onto the elevator. Both of them were relieved to reach his room without any further interruptions, though each for different reasons.
That night, when it came time to sleep, Mark settled himself in bed and waited for her to leave the bathroom. When she did finally exit the bathroom however, she did not go to her own bed. She padded over to Mark and slipped beneath the covers with him, snuggling close. Although she wanted to be invisible more than almost anything, the need to feel safe right now trumped that.
And Mark was safe. Very safe.
Author's Note: So… let me know what you think. :)
