Will It Be Ever Be Okay?
Authors Note/Disclaimer: Obviously I do not own Chicago Fire, that credit is due to go to the writers/creators.
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Summary: For five years she has been held victim, praying that some day she would see her family again. The time has come, the courage is there and she is leaving but will she remain safe? Will those she loves stand by her? She wonders if she will ever get the happy ending that was once in sight, all they experience now is pain. Will that ever fade?
Chapter One
"Mommy!"
Hearing the sound of her daughters distressed cry, Gabby dropped the dish cloth onto the kitchen island and spun around on her heals, the pitter patter of running feet faded as two little arms were thrown around her midsection in a vice grip. "Honey, what is the matter?"
"Daddy's home."
Gabby could barely understand the little girls muffled words but she could sense the fear. It wasn't fear Gabby knew that, children should never live in fear of the people who should love them.
Hearing the sound of running feet once more she looked up to see Shay standing in the doorway, her black hair swinging behind her. Though Gabby knew better then to expect any words would leave the child's mouth, she barely spoke and it had been that way since Gabby had first arrived at the house.
"Oh, come now, it's okay." She forced the words from her lips, gently peeling Hope's arms from around her waist. Her instinct was to reassure them, to tell them that everything would be okay however she also knew there was no guarantee, there was no telling if their father would inflict pain upon his arrival home.
"Make him go away."
Gabby sighed, looking down at the pout on Hope's ruby red lips, those deep blue eyes making her body fill with guilt. This one little human made her remember everything about home. The man she loved, the daughter she had, the family she had always dreamed of.
Matt.
Gabby missed him, and Hope was her connection. While the five year old knew the truth, it was something they never spoke about. Hope had to deal with the father she had in the house, not the one she would never see.
"I can not make him leave." The front door slammed and Gabby saw the girls bottom lip tremble. "Come on, upstairs you go." She encouraged them to leave, that way they wouldn't come to face the monster they feared.
"Gabby, I'm hooommmee!"
His drunken voice echoed through the house, and Gabby pushed her youngest in the direction of Shay praying that they would run and stay hidden while she faced her nightmare.
Her rapist. Her kidnapper. Her children's father.
Jonathan.
The heat of the iron could be felt against her skin as she placed it down, picking up the navy suit pants, her eyes ran over them scanning for any possible creases before she placed them beside the pile of male clothes. Immediately she turned away from them, grabbing the white dress from the pile of unironed clothing.
"Mommy."
Gabriela turned towards the doorway, her lips parting into a small smile at the sight of her youngest daughter. Hope stood in the doorway clutching her worn white rabbit to her chest, Jelly was her most favourite toy, the one she'd had since she had since she was born. "What are you doing, sweetheart?" She placed the dress onto the ironing board, her footsteps barely making any noise on the floor as she walked over and scooped Hope into her arms.
Hope buried her face into her mother's shoulder, her blonde hair tickling Gabby's neck. "The tv is too loud." She complained.
Gabby cradled the girl tight to her chest as she walked out of the laundry, passing by the room that contained the loud television Hope spoke of, football could be heard. "He's just watching the game. Let's get you to bed." Hope was supposed to be sleeping, it was nine o'clock.
"Will you read me a story?"
"Of course." Gabby smiled, gripping Hope's leg as she swung it, the five year old nearly topping out of her arms. "It's just a story, Hope, no need to get excited."
"Can Shay sleep in my room?"
Gabby could see that Hope's eyes were filled with anticipation; it had been quiet sometime since the girls had slept over in each other's rooms. Up until two years ago they had shared a bedroom, and they had wanted to remain close to each other. Shay was ten years old, and since gaining her own room she spent almost every waking and sleeping hour confined within it. Gabby wanted to believe it was because the girl preferred her own company, but she it was because Shay was the constant focus of her father's brutality. "Sure." Gabby breathed, unable to deny her daughter.
Hope squirmed out of her mother's arms, running for her sister's bedroom door. "Shay!" She pushed it open. "Shay, we can have a sleepover tonight. You can sleep in my room!"
Shay looked up from her book, noticing that Hope wasn't alone, her step-mother stood in the doorway. "Is that…"
Gabby saw the sudden change in the girl's behaviour, Shay's eyes had darted to the floor and when she felt the roughness of the palm scratching her through the singlet, she understood why and every muscle in of her being froze as his hand settled on her hop.
"Why aren't these brats in bed?"
Gabby fought against her better instincts and remained still. "I was just putting them to bed."
"Well hurry up would you, I'm hungry."
Gabby flinched when his grip tightened on her hip and she bit her tongue, inside she wished to comment that he should have eaten dinner when they did, however she knew voicing an opinion would only make him angry. "I'll be down in a minute. Did you want the spaghetti?"
"I want steak." Jonathan looked down at the children who were looking at any space in the room bar him. "They sleep in their own beds."
"Of course." Gabby felt him squeeze her hip before his hand left her skin. "Say good-night to daddy girls." She encouraged them to be polite to him.
"Goodnight daddy." Shay whispered, not daring to move from her spoke.
"Night daddy." Hope copied her sister, and Gabby felt sick in the pit of her stomach, that man before her was not Hope's father.
"Goodnight." He grunted, turning around and leaving Shay's bedroom, dragging his feet along the floor as he made his way back downstairs.
Gabby released the breath she had been holding and immediately crossed the room, pulling both girls into a crushing hug. Hope immediately clung to her but Shay refused to. "Come on, we better got you both into bed." When she saw the devastated expression in Hope's eyes she attempted to cheer the little one up. "Tomorrow he'll be at work all day, we'll camp out in the lounge room and watch movies, okay?"
"Promise, mommy?"
"I promise."
Gabby stared down at her daughter, the little girl was standing before her tugging on the bottom of the pink dress, absolutely disgusted with the idea of wearing girly clothes, as she referred to them. They were standing in the corner of the backyard by the cubby house, the laughter of children and adults surrounded them, the barbeque sizzling loudly from the deck. Jonathan had insisted that they held the annual barbeque family day for the company he worked for; he knew that they would be suspicious if he declined for the third year in a row.
If this had been with someone she loved then Gabby would have been enjoying her time, she would be laughing with the adults, perhaps helping her husband cook but this house that they lived in, the one that people seemed to envy represented nothing but fear. She knew that no one from the company understood or was aware of what went on behind closed doors.
Hope tugged on her mother's blue dress, attempting to draw her attention. "Mommy, I don't wanna wear this. I don't wanna play with those kids. I wanna play with Shay, mommy!" Hope whined.
Gabby let her eyes drift across to the swing set where Shay was forcing herself to interact with the other children as per Jonathan's orders. Her natural instincts made her follow his direction without fuss; Hope still did not fully understand that her actions held consequences. "Hope, sweetheart. Can you please do this for mommy?"
Hope shook her head, her blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders.
"No."
"Gabby."
Gabby tensed, looking up as the sound of Jonathan's voice drew closer. "Yes?"
"Could you get another bottle of wine for our guests, please?" He faked politeness encase those he worked with could hear him. His eyes fell onto Hope who was now clutching her mother's arm. "Why aren't you playing with the other children?"
Hope's bottom lip trembled. "I'm sorry, daddy."
Jonathan clicked his tongue. "We'll deal with your naughtiness later." He bent down and scooped her into his arms.
"I can send her to play with the other children." Gabby immediately spoke, hoping that he would put the girl down.
"No, no. She doesn't want to do as I've told her." He acted lovingly for his guests as he leaned down to whisper into her ear. "Get the wine, slut."
"Daddy…"
Jonathan simply rubbed the girls back, playing the part of a loving father. "You are going to come and show my guests what a wonderful obedient little girl you are, or daddy will punish you later, okay?"
Hope nodded fearfully, her arms going around his neck as if she was hugging him. "Okay daddy."
"Smile, Hope, normal children smile."
Gabby wanted to scream at him, this wasn't normal, their family wasn't normal. Inside there was nothing more she wanted then to tell everyone that stood before them the kind of man that he was, she wanted to show them the bruises and have them acknowledge that she was a victim.
But she couldn't, not when he was holding a threat over her head.
If she wanted to keep her eldest daughter safe then she needed to stay put, obey him and he'd leave her daughter, her Lilia.
Gabby awoke to her head throbbing, the lightening was incredibly bright and she had to squint to be able to focus. She vaguely remembered being dragged to be bedroom after the barbeque, the girls had gone to bed half an hour earlier and she had been thankful he'd left them be. It was her his anger was focused on, he'd come after her and she vaguely remembered passing out in the corner of the bedroom.
Reaching up, Gabby felt the gash on her forehead; the blood was dried up indicating she had been unconscious for some time.
"Mommy. Mommy."
Breathing deeply Gabby pushed herself off the floor, ignoring the instant pain coming from her ribs; nothing would stop her from reaching the distressed cries.
She opened the door to Shay's room, attempting to brace herself for what she might find and her heart, her heart broke at the sight of both girls huddling in the corner behind the bed, tears were running down their cheeks. "What happened?" She pressed her hand against her ribs as if it was to stop the pain and she walked towards them. Their eyes flashed up to meet hers, fear sketched into their small innocence faces. "It's okay, it's just me." She attempted to sooth them, dropping to her knees to access the damage.
The regret filled Gabby immediately; she looked straight at Hope seeing the red mark across her left cheek, a bright red ring around her arm. That promise she had made to herself to always protect them had failed.
Hope tried to dry her tears. "I'm okay, momma. Shay is hurt."
Gabby shifted her gaze to her middle daughter, the girl was cradling her right arm close to her chest, her lips were trembling, silent tears still flowing. "What happened?"
"Daddy hurt her. It made a crunch, like when I eat captain crunch." Hope told her, when Shay did not speak.
Gabby bit her bottom lip, she knew that the broken arm had been meant for Hope; Jonathan had taunted her with the knowledge before he pushed her into the bedside table causing her to hit her head. He'd never broken their bones before, he'd hit them and done various other things but never had he broken their bones. "Shay…"
"It hurts." The ten year old moaned. "Broken."
Gabby felt the tears escape her own eyes when she saw the despair and pain within Shay's blue eyes. She had stayed within the house because she knew thought she was protecting Cara, and doing the best she could to protect the two girls with her but this made her blood boil. Jonathan had intentionally broken his daughters arm. There wasn't any real question about what her next move was to be, but she had to pray that he wouldn't come after then, not until she was ready for him. Gabby wanted him to pay but first she wanted to be safe, she wanted her girls to be safe. It meant she had to leave, return to the two people she envisioned every day.
Thoughts?
Details:
Matt 29.
Gabby 28.
Lilia 14.
Shay 10.
Hope 5.
Much Love. x