The panic coming off of her is so thick that he can almost feel it. She needs to go inside, lie down, maybe get cleaned up; she's not ready to deal with the Old Lady tonight. If he can realize that then surely she can, too. He tightens his grip around her, the Old Lady is here now, and there's no turning back. Sabrina is shaking.
He doesn't want her to have to go through this. He wants to get the asshole locked up, but he doesn't want to listen to the pain in her voice, not again. Unfortunately, she needs him, she needs him, and he's not going to leave her, no matter how tempting that might sound. So, instead of dropping her and bolting, he keeps his arm wrapped firmly around her, listens as she retells her story. Feels every sob as it racks through her body.
He doesn't look at the Old Lady, not once, he can't. He can't face her; he can't face her and own up to what he did to her granddaughter. Or, more accurately, what he didn't do, he didn't protect her. The one job that he has and he didn't do it. It's enough to nearly make him sick.
They are inside now, sitting on the couch, the Old Lady has her arm around Sabrina, it is clear from the way she keeps glancing up that she expects him to leave so she can talk to her granddaughter. He would love to. He loves Sabrina, but it was difficult enough to hear this story once, never mind a second time. What's even worse is that this time the Old Lady's gasps and cries punctuate almost her every word.
However, she hasn't let go of his hand since they came in, and whenever he even pulls back slightly her grip tightens. He sighs, he won't leave her, not when she needs him, not when she actually wants him there. He is trying hard not to listen to her story, just rub his thumb over her hand; just keep doing that and don't focus on what she's saying. He can feel anger building inside of him, the last thing he needs to do is release it in front of the Old Lady.
When it is finally over tears are leaking freely from the Old Lady's eyes. Tears never stopped leaking from Sabrina's. The Old Lady wants her to go to the sheriff, wants her to sleep in her room, wants a lot of things, but Sabrina's head has been shaking since she finished speaking.
"Nottingham won't do anything, Granny." A sob, "We both know he won't. We'd be lucky if he didn't give Peter a medal for hurting a Grimm." She shakes her head, and her grip tightens once again on his hand. "I'm going to take a shower, and then I'm going to go to bed." She stands, taking him with her. They head upstairs.
As soon as they are upstairs and out of sight she throws her arms around him. "Thank you," She mumbles, her face buried in his shoulder, "Thank you so much."
He doesn't say anything; he wouldn't know what to say if he wanted to. All he can do is pull her closer to him. As much as he may not like to admit it, he loves her. Probably more than she will ever know, probably more than he'll ever know.
When she finally pulls back her face is red and blotchy and his shirt is wet, but he doesn't care, she's still just as beautiful as she's ever been, and his shirt will dry. She doesn't say anything, just gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and heads towards the shower. He heads to his room.
A/N: Nine reviews for last chapter and I must say that I am impressed! We still have a few stragglers that are neglecting to drop their opinions, but those who did you all are amazing! So, this chapter is, of course, dedicated to (), Nette, RockstarGurl4444, Dani, gothic-emo-bunny, happi bubz, Queen of Air and Darkness, KrissM3, and razzle-dazzle 1606. Y'all are great and this list is long but hopefully we will have an even longer one next update… what do you say? Drop a review, please and thank you!