Summary: After intense bullying left her venturing into the vicious world of self-harm, Letty is checked into one of LA's best clinics. What awaits will change her life forever. Multi-chap. Dotty.
I didn't get round to replies last time but thank you all so much for your reviews :)
Wednesday 1st October 2014
"How are you feeling?" Gisele asked as Letty walked into her office for their session. "I heard about your mum from Sofia yesterday. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, it wasn't the best thing in the world to hear."
"I do want to talk about your mum being in hospital and the effect that it has had on you but I want to backtrack to earlier yesterday first. I heard that you and Neela went back to the convenience store," Gisele said. Letty nodded her head in agreement. "How did you find it?"
"It was alright, I didn't have any flashback moments or anything."
Gisele nodded and jotted down some notes. "That's good, it seems to me that you're over what happened there and if anything you've used it to help you and aid you in your recovery so I'm proud of you for that."
Moving off the topic of the outing, Gisele and Letty carried on to talk about everything else that had happened since they had seen each other on Saturday. They discussed the group session and wherever or not it was helping Letty and how she was coping with the lessons. They then talked about Owen and how Letty was feeling about the one on one session. As she was hoping to follow a scientific path in the future, she had been given more work from Han to work on during her own time. After moving through the educational side of the centre, Gisele moved on to Lena.
"How have you coped with Lena being in hospital? If you were to score it out of ten with one being dreadfully and ten being amazingly, what would it be?"
"Probably a five. I haven't beat anyone up or got annoyed with people but I didn't sleep last night and other stuff so it hasn't been brilliant."
"That's not too bad. It is very common for people like you who have family members in hospital to not sleep out of worry or fear that something further is going to happen to them so it's perfectly natural" Gisele reassured Letty. "How would you define other stuff?"
"Just other stuff."
"Letty, did you cut?"
"Yes." Letty looked down into her lap and became very interested in her hands. Gisele took a minute to observe Letty's body language and the younger girl fidgeted under her stare.
"I need you to really listen to me now, Letty. While what you have done is a step back, the fact that you have told me? That's two steps forward. When you first came here, you would never have told me about cutting but now you will. That is improvement."
"I just feel like it is against everything that I have worked for," Letty confided. Not only that, she was afraid her sessions with Owen would be taken off her. "Like I've worked my way up the board, caught a ride on a up the ladder and then got the biggest snake on the board."
"Letty, it's okay to mess up sometimes but the most important thing is that you pick yourself up and carry on. If it takes a day, a month or a year to happen then it does. You just have to trust that it will happen at some point."
"I hope you're right."
"I am. I also heard about your dad being back in town. How do you feel about that?"
"I'm not too sure," Letty admitted. "You know what he was like when I was little but I never really saw that because my mum kept it from me for so long. One side of me just wants to see him and confront him, ask him why he did it and perhaps punch him; but then the other side wants to have nothing to do with him so me and my mum don't need to go through everything all over again."
"I see what you mean. You want to know why but you don't want the past to be dragged up again."
"Exactly, I also don't want to do anything against what my mum wants. I have no interest in restarting a father daughter relationship with him or having anything to do with him after this all dies down."
"But you want to know why; I would too. I would recommend that you speak to your mum and talk about it. The only way you are going to be able to move past this together with you both being one hundred percent happy is if you talk about it."
"I think so but I don't think she'll talk about just yet."
"Your homework then is to make sure that you talk about this with her before you're meant to leave here."
"That's it?"
"You'll find it a lot harder to talk about this to her than you did to me, I'm sure of that," Gisele told Letty. Letty nodded in agreement, telling Lena was going to be a lot different and definitely a lot harder.
In Sofia's office, Suki had just sat down and was waiting to find out why Sofia had called her there.
"You took the C Warders on their cinema trip yesterday didn't you?" Sofia asked rhetorically. She was speaking normally yet an undertone of anger was present.
"I did, was there a problem?" Suki questioned. In her own opinion, she had handled the situation well; no one had ended up in the ER or injured and everyone had been returned safe and soundly to reception. What could have gone wrong?
"Would you like to explain to me how someone else managed to get onto the bus, into town and back on the bus?"
"I didn't even know."
"Exactly, you didn't even know. Something could have happened and these children are in my care, in your care. Do you know how dangerous that is for us as a company? We could be shut down if other people found out. How could you be so stupid?"
"I was too focused on getting everyone else ready. And why am I the only person in here? I wasn't the only person that went, Roman did come with me, I don't see why you haven't got him in here with me. This can't all be my fault."
"I will be speaking to Roman later but right now you need to learn how to accept your responsibilities. I will need to speak to Tony about this and then we will decide about yours and Roman's future here. For the moment, you can teach your normal lessons and I advise that you don't mention this to any other members of staff and definitely not to the patients. You can go."
Friday 3rd October 2014
"Can you believe that you've been here for a month?" Neela asked Letty as they headed towards Food Technology. After Letty's session with Gisele, she had gone back to her room and had listed the many different ways to start the conversation with Lena about Carlos. She had decided to leave it for now.
"I know, it's crazy isn't it? I didn't even think I would last two minutes in this place and now I've been here for a whole month."
"In a way I'm glad you came here because now I've got a best friend."
"Neela, no need for the sap." Letty smiled at her. "But I'm glad I've got you as my best friend as well, could you imagine being friends with some of the other people in here? Imagine if I had been friends with Amelia? That could have gone down a lot differently."
"If you were friends with Amelia and her currently disbanded gang, I think half the people here would hate you. I can even think of a few that would consider murder," Neela added jokingly.
"That does sound like an accurate outcome," Letty agreed. "So I'm glad that I ended up being friends with you instead. Seriously though, a month?" Letty repeated.
"Yep. I thought that later we could have a mini celebration? I have my crisps from Tuesday and I'm sure I have some other nibbles in my room somewhere that we can use. I can do your nails and your hair for you if you like?" Seeing Letty's face, Neela realised that a beauty based celebration probably wasn't the best idea. "Or we can just eat, chat and have a look through a couple of magazines. Either way we need to celebrate."
"We'll see," Letty said. She was hoping to visit Lena later. Sofia had driven her up to the hospital every night so far and the doctors were sure that she would be out by today or tomorrow.
"We can just go with the flow. You don't need to make a decision now, I understand about your mum and that so whatever you feel like doing, let me know and I'll plan around it."
"Thanks, Neela, I appreciate that. Anyway, I think it's time we went in, we can't stand outside forever."
"Neela, Letty, nice of you to join us today," Suki said moodily as they walked inside. Everyone else was already wearing their aprons so they quietly went to wash their hands, tie up their hair and grab an apron. "Okay, now we have everyone, let's get started."
Just as Suki was about to begin, a loud crash sounded from outside and the door swung open. Michael Henderson came flying through the door and banged his fist on the work surface. The class stood in silence as Suki sighed heavily and dropped the spoon she had just picked up.
"Outside now," Suki barked at Michael, pointing towards the door.
"Not yet, I still have some people that I need to talk to. Ah, Letty," he said as he spotted her. "I think we need to have a little chat."
"I don't think so, why don't you go and enjoy your time off?" Letty suggested. She had no interest in talking to him after the ball and had no time to deal with him after Tuesday.
"I think we need a little catch up. We didn't seem to cover everything on Tuesday, how about we go now and the rest of you can carry on. I don't want to cause trouble."
"I think you've caused enough trouble already," Suki snapped. "I've already asked you once, will you please go outside. I hope I don't need to ask you again."
Michael laughed and just leaned against the work surface. He put his hands in his pockets and waited, staring intensely at Letty. She looked directly at him, not breaking eye contact as his lips twisted into a smirk. Letty crossed her arms over her chest, clearing unimpressed with the situation.
"Okay, it's very clear that you don't want to listen to me so Lucile, can you make a visit to Sofia's office for me and get her please? Thank you."
"Off you go," Michael inputted, receiving a glare from Suki.
"Michael, you are on very thin ice already and you are not helping your situation."
"Is there something we can help you with?" Dom asked as he appeared in the doorway with Mia. They had been heading towards Sofia's office when they had heard the commotion. Dom smiled lightly at Letty and she returned it.
"It's fine, Dom. Thank you anyway, we're just having a slight problem with Michael but it's being sorted."
"Okay, I can always take him to mum's office if you want? That way you can carry on with your lesson."
"I've just sent Lucile to go and get her for me but thank you for the offer." At that point, Lucile came back into the room without Sofia. "Is there a problem?"
"Sofia asked if there was anyone else that would be able to take Michael to reception instead as she is about to start a meeting."
"I'll take him," Mia offered. "I don't mind. Michael, let's go."
Michael looked at Letty and then at Mia. Sighing, he pushed himself off the surface and slowly walked towards the doorway where Mia was already waiting for him. Turning back, he gave Letty a final look and followed Mia out to Sofia's office.
"I hate to be a pain but is it possible for me to borrow Letty for two minutes?"
"You have a minute, I need to start my lesson at some point," Suki snapped. Dom gave Suki and grateful smile and Letty followed him outside.
"What do you need me for?" Letty asked.
"I may be a little bit late tomorrow. I have some bits to do down town and then I need to go to my university to hand in some sheets. It shouldn't take too long but depending on traffic and if there's anything my lecturer needs to talk to me about. I should be there at a reasonable time but just a pre warning."
"Alright, that's fine. I'll take five after my session with Gisele then. If my mum's not out then I'll see if I'm able to go and see her. I'm sure there's a visiting hours in the morning so I'll pop in a see her."
"How is she now? Mum told me that she was slowly getting better."
"Yeah, the bruising has gone down a lot and I've got my fingers crossed that she will be out tonight and her neighbour has agreed to check in on her a couple of times a day so I think she should be alright."
"I think you worry too much," Dom said. "Just relax and we can have a good session tomorrow. Also, is it alright if I start hooking you up to a machine that is going to measure your blood pressure and your muscles? I have an essay on how sports drinks affect your performance and I'll get extra credit if I give my own results."
"That's fine, bring them all along tomorrow. I'm not quite sure how I'll manage it without falling over a wire but I'll give it a good go," Letty laughed. She had a habit of injuring something every time she went on a treadmill.
"Okay, thank you. You better get in, she doesn't seem to be in the best of moods today."
"I'll see you tomorrow then."
"See you."
"How are you feeling?" The nurse asked. She wrapped the pad round Lena's arm to take her blood pressure and she picked up her notes, jotting down the number.
"I'm feeling quite good," Lena replied. "My neck is feeling a lot better now."
"What about eating?" The nurse questioned. It was Lena's daily check up and she was hoping to go home. All in all, she had a crushed windpipe, a sprained ankle and bad bruising around her neck and arms.
"Eating is good, I managed to get through my jacket potato earlier and my jam sponge afterwards went down a treat. What are the chances of me being able to go home later?" Lena asked. She was fed up of spending the whole day laying in bed. Lena had used her crutches to go down to the cafe and outside into the gardens but she had still seen more inside than outside in the last few days and it was starting to get to her.
"Quite good, your movement is good and you are eating well. Did you say you have someone to help you out at home?"
"Yeah, my neighbour said he'll come over if I need him."
"I don't see any reason why not then. The doctor should be round later so he can discharge you and give you your medication."
"Do you know what time that's going to be? Only I have no transport home and my neighbour, the one I was talking about, starts work at six tonight."
"I can see if there's anything we can arrange," the nurse said.
"Thank you."
As the nurse went, Lena got out of bed to stretch her legs. Grabbing her crutches from the end of the bed, she used them to get to the phone and called the number for the centre.
"Hello, Elizabeth Rose Centre, how can I help you?" Marcia asked.
"Hi, it's Lena Ortiz. Is Sofia about at all?"
"Not at the moment I'm afraid, she's in a meeting. Can I take a message for her?"
"Yes please. Can you tell her that I'm being released today so she doesn't need to bring Letty up to see me tonight?"
"I can, I'm glad that you're feeling better."
"I am, tell Letty that I'll talk to her soon."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye."
Three hours later and the ambulance dropped Lena off outside her house. It was half past six and the nurse had arranged for an off duty ambulance to take her home. It was on the way to the garage as the light was broken and the nurse had managed to convince them to give it a detour first.
"Here we are ma'am."
"Thank you so much," Lena said as she hobbled out the ambulance. Her bags were on her back and she used her crutches to help her to the door. Lena went inside and got settled, dumping her bags by the bottom of the stairs and collapsing on the sofa. Pulling stool closer, she rested her leg on it, grabbed the remote and started to watch the soaps for the night.
After an hour, the phone began to ring and Lena sighed, stretching over to the table and grabbing the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, mum. It's Letty."
"Letty, how are you? It's nice to hear from you," Lena said once she realised who it was.
"I'm good, really good. How are you? Have you been resting? I know that the ridiculous soap you insist on watching is on tonight."
"I'm fine, don't worry about me. I've got everything under control. And don't be horrible, it has one of the best OTPs in the history of television. You need to start watching it, you'd love it."
"Mum, I can tell you now that I won't be watching that any time soon. Anyway, who taught you OTP? There is no way you would have known that without hearing it from someone else then either asking them about it or googling it. Which one was it?" Letty said teasingly. She had liked seeing her mum on a regular basis and it had given her a sense of normality again.
"I asked Michelle at work. She's into it too," Lena replied. Like Letty, she missed the one on one time they had been having over the past few days. It was a reminder of what they were like before.
"You are too into this. It's not even real life. If it were real life I would understand."
"I think you're talking rubbish. How did you find today? What was it like?"
"I loved it; I hope Sofia is going to put me on a course permanently," Letty said, her voice clearly showing her excitement.
"That's brilliant. I'm so pleased. What did you do?" Lena asked.
"To start with Owen showed me around and we talked a bit about the course and what it is all about and the sort of things that I'll be doing."
"Which are?"
"You won't find it interesting, it's very long."
"Of course it'll be interesting to me, I want to be involved. I want to have some part in this; it could be your future. What type of a mother would I be if I had no idea what you were going on about half the time?"
"I'll explain it to you later. It involves a lot of hand gestures and pictures. The most exciting bit though was when we got to look at an operation and Owen organised for it to be filmed for me."
"That sounds good."
"You don't sound too convinced by that," Letty pointed out.
"Yeah, it sounds absolutely disgusting, even thinking about all that blood gives me the shivers."
"Look, mum, I need to go but I'll try and speak to you tomorrow, okay? And I'll see if I can come down and visit you or get someone to pick you up and come and see me."
"That sounds lovely, I'll talk to you soon then."
"Okay, I love you, mum."
"Love you too."
Lena disconnected the call and chucked the phone onto the table. Grabbing her crutches, she pulled herself into a standing position and hobbled to the kitchen, leaving the television blaring behind her. She pulled the bread and butter from the side and got the ham from the fridge and made herself a sandwich, not bothering to cut it in half and taking a massive bite from the side. Lena put the kettle on and made herself a cup of coffee before making two trips to the sofa carrying her dinner.
"I have to say, I make a good sandwich," Lena said to herself, taking a bite and a sip from her coffee.
Darkness had fallen outside and Lena was cuddled up on the sofa, a blanket over her figure and a new cup of coffee resting in her hands.
Suddenly, the door flung open and Carlos marched in, a smug smirk plastered across his face.
"Well, hello again darling. Fancy seeing you here," Carlos said, advancing towards Lena.
Back at the centre, Letty had settled in Sofia's office for a chat about the day. It was an informal affair, Letty had changed into her pyjamas when she got back and Sofia had told her that it didn't matter; she had even told Letty to bring her blanket with her so she would be more comfortable. Letty was clutching a cup of tea in her hands and Sofia was nursing a small cup of coffee.
"Did you have a good time?" Sofia asked.
"I did. It was really interesting and I had an amazing time."
"That's good, I thought you would. How did you find the operation? Personally, I wouldn't be able to deal with all the blood, it freaks me out. I forced myself to take a first aid course when Dom was born so I would be able to help if he got hurt. It was horrible, never again," Sofia told Letty, shuddering as she thought of the sight of blood.
"I really enjoyed. I was so glad I got to see because it's just like hands on experience only I'm not qualified yet to do any of the actual operations so that was the closest I'm going to get from the next couple of years."
"I'm sure you'll get some more opportunities in the future. That's if you're interested in going again," Sofia teased.
Letty's face lit up. "So I've got it?"
"You do, I suppose you've already told your mum," Sofia assumed.
"Yeah, I rang her earlier."
"I got told that she was out of hospital, did she say anything about how she was?"
"Not really, she put the conversation more on me and today rather than how she was feeling," Letty started. "But I could tell by her voice that she was in quite a bit of pain but I know she wouldn't want to be pulled up on it so I didn't mention it any further. She sounded pretty up beat in the circumstances though."
"I think she's really happy for you. If you were Mia I would be over the moon, you've literally turned your life around. I bet she is the proudest mum in the whole of California right now."
Letty smiled and finished the last of her tea. She put her cup on the side, snuggled further into her blanket, bringing it over her bare arms as goose bumps began to appear. Sofia took the cup and placed it on the tray, ready to take it to the dishwasher when Letty had gone.
"Now I know you're definitely interested, we need to work out a day for you to go," Sofia started. "Monday and Tuesday are the only days we can work with. Would you prefer to lose your free day or your cinema day?"
"Free day. I like going down the town with Neela and doing a bit of shopping. It's nice so I think my free day would be the best day to have off."
"Okay," Sofia said, jotting it down on a spare post it note so she wouldn't forget. "I can arrange that with Owen for you."
"Thank you. I wanted to ask, is there any chance that I can set up meetings with my mum? I liked having that time with her this week and I think it could help me."
"I'm not too sure but I'll definitely look into it and see whether it could be a possibility in the future," Sofia negotiated.
"That sounds like something I can cope with," Letty teased. She hadn't expected much although she went on the theory that if she didn't ask it would be a definite no but if she asked she would have at least a chance at a yes. "My mum will be pleased."
"Good, I'm sure she's probably curled up on the sofa with a pizza right about now. If only," Sofia said; the vision a perfect dream in her eyes.
However, back at Lena's house, she was far from curled up on the sofa. Carlos had moved from the door to the stairs and was now sitting on the bottom one, waiting as Lena eyed him up nervously. Carlos pulled a knife from his back pocket and ran his finger down the blade, smiling in satisfaction as it made a thin cut in his finger, blood seeping out through the edges.
"I seem to remember you buying me this," Carlos said. It was true; Lena had brought it for him during their marriage as an anniversary gift. It was part of a collection but it seemed that he had discarded the rest of the set.
"I know, now I regret that decision," Lena said, standing, well sitting, her ground.
Carlos moved from the stairs to behind Lena, his face leaning in closer so his breath tickled her neck. Lena shivered at the sensation and Carlos barked a laugh in her ear, using his hand to wipe her hair from her shoulder.
"Your hair was always so smooth. I used to love running my fingers through it."
"Cut the crap, Carlos. What do you want?" Lena snapped, leaning forward and moving her body so she was facing Carlos.
"I went to the centre today; she really has some friends doesn't she? Nice little brunette, goes by the name of Neela. But then she took a day trip, so I followed her to a hospital. It looks like she's interested in cardiology."
"How do you know all this?" Lena questioned. She stood up, leaving her crutches by the sofa and supporting her weight on one foot. She inched back as Carlos advanced towards her.
"I have sources, contacts that can find out anything that I need to know as quickly as I need to know it."
"Who? Tell me who," Lena demanded.
"No chance. But I will tell you that they are very well respected within the centre. Lots of interaction with the patients and the staff, even Sofia. It's not hard to find out what I want to know."
"I want you to leave her alone. Don't you come any closer," Lena said, raising her voice as Carlos came closer. She grabbed one of her crutches and held it in front of her.
Carlos moved quickly around Lena, leaving her spinning around to keep him within eyesight. He smiled smugly at her and moved back until he was leaning against the window frame, his arms crossed over his chest. Darting forward, he grabbed a small statue and smashed it into Lena's head, sending her flying to the ground, blood pouring out of her skull to stain the carpet.
"Serves you right. Bitch," Carlos said, pocketing the statue and leaving.
R&R
