It will only be forever
Chapter 4
Authors note- sorry it has been a while, I have been really busy with school and exams. Hopefully can get back into regular updates now. Thanks again, rate and review
Elliot turned over to look at the clock. It was 9:02am, least he had got almost 3 hours of undisturbed sleep he thought to himself. He looked down at Liv, who still had her head on his chest and was breathing deeply. He loved listening to her sleep; he remembered the first night they had slept together. He remembered waking up with Olivia sleeping on his chest and was so careful not to move her and just layed there and listened to her sleep. He still loved listening to her sleep now, even though he knew she hated him doing it.
A few moments later, Elliot was pulled back into reality by the sound of crying. He could hear it was Harrison. He knew it would be a few more seconds before Erica began to join in. When they both cried they had an excellent partnership and knew how to get exactly what they wanted. Elliot knew that was one of the many things they had both got from their parents. Olivia and Elliot had been partners for 14 years now and had a strong partnership; even before they became a couple they were strong and knew exactly how the other one worked. Now they were partners in both sense of the word and were stronger then ever. Elliot carefully slid out the bed trying not to wake Liv and headed towards the nursery. The babies were now laughing and giggling at how Erica could lift her foot over her head.
"You get that from your mother!" he chuckled and gave them both their bottles.
When he had burped them both he carefully placed them back into the cot, where they both instantly fell back to sleep. Elliot took this as an excellent opportunity to grab another couple of hours sleep. He quickly clambered back into bed and pulled Olivia close to him once again. She naturally, moved into him even though she was still fast asleep. He slowly began to dose off.
Suddenly a crash woke Elliot with a startle. He jumped to his feet and ran to the nursery to check on the babies. They were both still fast asleep with Harrison's hand covering part of Erica's face. His body relaxed slightly after see that both the babies were okay. He then heard another noise coming from the bathroom. He grabbed his gun from the top of the cupboard in the hallway and walked towards the bathroom in full detective mode.
The bathroom door was open a jar so Elliot cautiously opened the door. The first thing he could see was the glass vase that was normally above the bathroom cabinet smashed in pieces all over the floor. He looked up to see Stephy stood on the toilet seat, desperately trying to reach for the first aid kit. Elliot couldn't see her whole body as she was facing away from him but from what he could see she looked alright. He slowly walked into the bathroom trying not to step on any broken glass and reached up for the kit. Suddenly he could see, he could see clearly why she wanted the first aid kit so badly. There was blood pouring from her arms. He quickly carried stephy and the kit from the room. He went straight into the living room and stephy sat down on the sofa; she still had hold of Elliot's hand. Olivia, who had woken also from the crash, came running into the living room. She saw the pale, shaking little girl sat on the sofa in front of her fiancé and quickly went and sat beside her. Elliot handed the kit to Liv, knowing she was the best when it came to first aid.
"I will go make us some drinks" Elliot gave Stephy's hand a gentle squeeze before letting go and walking to the kitchen.
"Okay sweetie, I am just going to hold this on your arms for a moment to stop the bleeding, it might hurt a little bit okay?" Olivia tried to hide the look of shock and horror on her face with a comforting smile.
" Okay… Livia" the little girl said between loud sobs.
" Ahh, its hurts!" steph was crying hysterically now.
" I know hunny, im sorry. I am almost done" Olivia continued to gently dab the girls cuts with warm water and antiseptic wipes.
" I'm just going to wrap your arms with some bandages so they don't get infected" Olivia started wrapping the bandages around Stephy's arms.
Elliot walked in from the kitchen and handed the girl a tall glass of juice. Olivia had now finished with the kit and placed it in the cupboard sat in the corner of the room. She walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee before sitting back down on the sofa next to steph. Elliot then sat down on the floor in front of them both.
" Do you want to tell us what happened?" Elliot smiled at her and grabbed hold of her hand once again. Olivia hadn't spoken since pouring her coffee and was trying to go over what had just happened in her head. Steph begins to cry again and brought her legs up to her chest to become a ball on the sofa. Olivia gave Elliot a quick half hearted smile before wrapping her arms around stephy and pulling her into her chest. Stephy without speaking leaned against her and buried her head into her chest and wrapped her arms around her. Olivia began to rock her gently and stroke her long, shiny brunette hair.
" Im sorry" Stephanie suddenly whimpered.
" Its okay, everything will be alright stephy, we won't let anything bad happen to you, we promise" Elliot stood up and sat beside Olivia so the little girl was curled up between them.
" I want to tell you what happened now" steph lifted her head up from Olivia and breathed deeply.
" About a year after my dad started hurting me I began having nightmares. At first it wasn't that bad and I never really thought about it, until they started getting worse…."
Olivia gently wiped the tears that were flowing down Stephy's face.
" I then began having worse nightmares, he would hit me, beat me, make me… do things. I would beg him to stop but he would, the more I begged the worse it would be for me in the long run. All the dreams were so real and when I woke up I knew they wouldn't be dreams for much longer. He knew I had nightmares about him. He would ask me what they were about, he made me tell him and if I lied it would be worse, then he would do exactly what I had nightmares about."
" It's alright sweetie, he can't hurt you anymore, and we will never let him ever get near you again. Stephy listen to me. He wont ever be able to hurt you again, he will be going to prison for a very long time for what he has done to you. We will both make sure of that" Olivia kissed her on the forehead and entwined her fingers with Elliot's so then were holding hands.
" I don't deserve this any of this" steph spoke barely above a whisper.
" No you don't, you don't deserve any of the things he has done to you." Elliot squeezed liv's hand and smiled at the girl.
" I don't mean that, I mean the kindness you too are giving to me, no one has cared for me as much as you too have. You have invited me into your home and looked after me, which no one has ever done before."
" Stephy, you do deserve this, you deserve all the care and love in this world. You deserve to have a loving family who cares about you. A couple would be lucky to have you for a daughter, don't you ever forget that sweetheart." Elliot hugged her, still not letting go of his fiancés hand.
" Stephy, do you think you would be okay if you went to see a friend of ours and talk to him about everything? He can talk to you about when you hurt yourself and help you to cope with it." Olivia smiled at her and waited for the response wondering whether she might have pushed her to hard.
" Yes, but will you come with me at first, just so I can have you there for a while?"
" Of course we will, we will be with you the whole time, you won't be alone ever again. I will go and give George a ring now and see what he says." Elliot stood up and began to head for the phone sat on the kitchen side.
" No, I mean yes but can I tell you what happened earlier first, you both have a right to know" stephy spoke loudly at first then went back to being all quite and timid again. Elliot slowly walked back over and too k his spot on the sofa once again.
" You don't have to tell us sweetie if you don't want too…" Olivia squeezed her hand and grabbed hold of Elliot's with her free hand.
" No I want to, I need to. I started…" steph began to cry again.
" It's alright baby, just take your time" Olivia began to rock her gently to try and calm her and sooth her as best she could.
" I started hurting myself, because it was the only way I had felt anything. I didn't even feel alive. It was just numb. I felt really out of control and I had no way to fight back. So one day I took a pin and scratched myself. It bled a little bit but I made me feel in control when I wasn't in control of anything else. This morning I had another nightmare and I got up and I went into the kitchen and I, im sorry I didn't mean to do it but then I panicked and I didn't know what to do so I tried to get the first aid kit and the vase smashed and… im sorry" stephy was once again crying hysterically.
" its okay baby, everything is going to be alright, everything will be okay, we will help you get through this together, okay?" Olivia continued to rock her and whisper sweet things in her ear.
" thank you livia and thank you Elliot" steph wiped the tears from her face and walked into the bedroom she was sleeping in and returned with a large knife she had got from the kitchen draw and handed it to Elliot. Neither Elliot nor Olivia said anything about it and Elliot took it into the kitchen to clean it.
" Once I have finished this and cleaned the bathroom I will give George a call"
" Okay" stephy spoke normally now and was begin to relax in Olivia embrace.
" Im sorry about the vase, Olivia I really am." Stephy looked into her big brown eyes and could see a familiar pain deep inside them. A pain where she knew what it was like having parents that didn't care. Stephy thought better then to ask about that pain though and hugged Olivia tightly.
" It's okay, I hated that vase anyway, shh don't tell Elliot though" Olivia laughed and spoke loud so Elliot could hear her.
" I know you hated that vase babe, and I know you're over the moon it's broken" Elliot laughed.
And for the first time all day, stephy smiled.
