Chapter 14
They've been asleep for a few hours when they hear a very anguished cry. Vala bolts up but Cam's already out of bed. Lyra still seems mostly asleep but she's crying her eyes out, clearly having just awoken from a nightmare.
Cam shushes her and carries her back to their bedroom. Vala has the light turned on and is sitting up, waiting.
Her tears quiet once she sees both of her parents there. Her hair is damp from sweat and her face is a mess, nose running and eyes still wet. Cam grabs his abandoned shirt from the floor and wipes at her face with it. She jerks away from him, turning to her mother.
"They takes me when I go to sleep," she says, hugging Vala tightly. "Mommy, don't wan' go."
"You're not going anywhere," Vala says, curling herself around Lyra, like she can physically ground her to the spot. "We've got you."
Cam looks at the clock then and realizes that he and Vala have only been asleep for a couple of hours.
Once Lyra calms down she begins to fall back asleep quickly, and Cam decides to risk turning the light back off. He looks over at Vala just before he does it and sees that she's wide awake now, and knows - just from knowing her - that it isn't likely she'll get any more sleep before morning. She'll stay up, guarding her little girl from demons and bad guys and nightmares.
They'll have to call the doctor that Carolyn recommended in the morning. He has had enough of therapists to last him a life time after the military requirements that had to be fulfilled after his accident, but he has to admit that they have a job to do and sometimes they do it well. He hopes for Lyra that will be the case, and someone out there holds the magic words to make her okay with what happened, to make her understand it won't happen again.
At least not if Cam has anything to do about it.
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The call is quick and the woman is very understanding about everything. She's military and has a level of clearance that works for them. They get an appointment for that afternoon. Normally she doesn't fit children in so soon but she seems to understand the urgency of the situation.
"Hey, baby." He walks back into the bedroom after making the call. She's got Lyra curled onto her lap, napping with her head on her chest. "The doc will see us in a few hours."
She nods and looks down at their baby - stroking her dark hair and kissing the top of her head. "Do you think-"
"I know it will help. Probably us too." Cam slips in beside her. He got the kids up and off. Tyler went to grandma and grandpa's while Adria went to school. "Do you think that the other two will need it too?"
She leans forward so his arm can go around her shoulders and says. "Let's wait on them. It's not as traumatic. I mean, it's not good, but I think they are coping with it well. They've both been through a lot. Well, Adria has, and it doesn't seem to be bothering Tyler much. He's still pretty young."
Lyra stirs on her and Vala shushes her automatically. Her little hands stretch and a big yawn pops onto her face before her eyes blink open and she rubs the gunk away with her fists.
"Have a good nap, baby girl?" Cam kisses her forehead.
Lyra nods. "Hungry, daddy." She tips her head back and looks at Vala. "I didn't have bad dreams now."
"Good, Lyra. Daddy and I are going to take you to meet a nice lady in a little bit. Okay?"
Little wrinkles appear on her forehead as she thinks about meeting someone new. "She's nice?"
Cam nods and Vala answers. "Very nice." It takes a few glances between her parents to convince her that they aren't misleading her.
"I guess." She buries her head between Vala's breasts and hugs herself to her.
"Daddy will go make you some food now. Spaghetti O's alright?" She just nods against her mom without looking over. "Bring her down in a few," He speaks to Vala before kissing her lips and heading down to the kitchen.
While downstairs he calls his parents to ask if they'll bring Tyler back over and stay with him, so someone will be home when Adria's back from school. He has no idea how long it'll take with the doctor but the last thing he wants right now is to leave any of his children unguarded.
Especially Adria.
Luckily his parents have no objections at all.
"This is what we're here for, son," Frank says through the phone line. "We moved here to be closer to these kids, and if in doing that we can help them stay safe..."
"Thanks, Dad," Cam says. "I don't know what we'd do without you two around."
"Well, you won't have to, not for a long time," Frank reassures him. "We'll be there in about an hour."
"That sounds good, give us time to get Lyra ready."
The spaghetti-O's are almost done so Cam says goodbye to his father and hangs up the phone. It's good time, because Vala walks downstairs with Lyra in her arms just as Cam's blowing on the bowl. "I'll feed her, you go take a shower."
"Are you telling me that I smell, dear?"
"I would never," Cam says. "But she might, if you don't go clean up."
"Momma smelly!" Lyra announces, catching in quickly to what Cam was saying. "You can play wif rubba ducky."
"Oh, thank you, sweetheart. Rubber ducky and I will have a splendid time, scrubbing each other's backs, all nakedly..." Vala lingers on the words, trying to instill a mental image in Cam's mind.
Unfortunately Cam is still picking the duck, so it just makes him laugh. "You two have fun with that."
"Please do try to get spaghetti sauce all over Daddy," Vala calls out as she heads back upstairs.
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Fortunately for Vala, Lyra does her best and by the time she's done eating she and Cam are both in need of a good scrub.
"I hate Spaghetti O's," Cam says, making a face at Vala as they trade off. Vala heads to the bathroom that Adria and Tyler share while Cam showers off in the one attached to their bedroom. The interactions are smooth, long practiced. Lyra seems fine as long as at least one parent is with her, and happiest when they're both there.
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Cam's answering the door when Vala and Lyra come downstairs. They spent some time playing with her in her room for a bit before Cam went down to get snacks set out for the kids. The hour passed more quickly than he was expecting.
Tyler spots Lyra in their mother's arms and waves. "Feeling better, sis?" She nods against Vala's shoulder. "Wanna play trucks?" When she shakes her head he asks if he can go play and Cam pats his head first.
"Go on, play. Mom and I have to take Lyra out for a bit. Grandma and grandpa will be here with you and Addy, when she gets home." Cam pushes him out of the room gently to go play.
"Thanks so much for everything." Vala hugs Wendy and Frank with her free arm in turn. "We really appreciate it."
Wendy hugs her back and kisses Lyra's cheek. "We're here for you two. That's what we told Cam on the phone."
"Any time."Frank adds. He kisses Lyra too before wishing them luck and heads off to serve Tyler his afternoon snack.
"Ready, baby?" Cam's hand is reaching for Vala's and she takes it.
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The wait isn't long when they get there.
"Welcome, Cam, Vala, and Lyra."
Dr. Grey is warm and happy and Lyra is pressed closely to Vala but as she talks she's slowly loosening her grip.
"How does this work?" Cam's not familiar with the family sort of therapy.
"Well, first I'd like to talk to all of you, then I'd love to talk to Lyra. You can stay in the room, of course, but I'd like to have a more one on one conversation with her." Melinda Grey was very calm and even in her speech making all three of them feel at easy.
They settle in on a small love seat in her office, Lyra on Vala's lap. Dr. Grey starts to talk at all of them but Cam can tell her words are directly at Lyra, phrased in ways that Lyra might understand.
After a few minutes of introduction, and Dr. Grey asking Lyra things about herself, she says, "Sometimes even when we're very good, bad things can happen to us. Lyra, your Mommy and Daddy told me that something bad happened to you."
Lyra immediately starts to look upset and fidgets on Vala's lap before shifting over to get into Cam's instead. "Uh huh."
"Can you tell me what happened?"
Lyra shakes her head.
"Honey-" Cam says, but Dr. Grey cuts him off.
"It's fine, Colonel Mitchell. No one is going to make Lyra talk about anything she doesn't want to talk about."
Lyra looks relieved to hear that. She stands between them, grasping the back of the couch, and then sits there - not on either of their laps, but between them. In a whisper that's not really very quiet at all she says, "Mommy, can we go get ice cream?"
"We'll get ice cream once we leave here," Vala says, smiling at her. "But we need to talk to Dr. Grey first."
"Actually, Lyra, if you want, I've got some toys right over there..." Dr. Grey points to a plastic chest. Lyra immediately looks intrigued. "Go ahead. You can play with them, and then pick out something to take home with you if you like it."
Lyra still hesitates, which alone tells Cam that she's not okay. Lyra's not normally a shy little girl, not at all. "Go on, sweetheart," he says. With that encouragement she scrambles off of the couch and over to the chest.
"We'll try to talk to Lyra again in a few minutes," Dr. Grey says to Cam and Vala, her voice lower. "Sometimes it helps them to feel like they're a little more in control of the situation. For now, we can talk about how she's been acting. Are there any problems? Behavioral issues? She has siblings, doesn't she? How has she been with them?"
"Fine with her brother and sister... but she has nightmares, won't sleep alone and likes the light on until she falls asleep," Vala says..
"And she doesn't want to be in a room without me or Vala," Cam adds. "Preferably both of us. That second day she was back, I had to leave for a few hours and she was hysterical."
Dr. Grey nods, making a note in her notebook. "And all of that is perfectly normal for a child who's undergone the trauma that she has. Do you know if there was any abuse while she was gone? Physical or sexual?"
Vala looks slightly sickened by the question, and Cam reaches over to take her hand while he answers. "No. She was given a thorough examination. No one hurt her."
"That's good," Dr. Grey says. "That will make this much, much easier for her to get past. And make no mistake; she will recover. She's young, and children have an amazing ability to adapt to things, and bounce back. She'll just need you to help her through it."
"Anything," Vala says, vehemently. "Just tell us what we need to do."
She looks back at Lyra playing. She seems a bit hesitant but then dives into play with each toy. "She's already improving I bet."
Cam and Vala observe her with the doctor while discussing ways to keep their routine somewhat normal and very scheduled.
When they have enough suggestions Dr. Grey calls Lyra back over. She looks at all the toys she's pulled out and picks up the plastic dinosaur before walking over. "Can I have this 'saurus?"
"Of course you can. I told you you could pick out anyone that you wanted didn't I?" Melinda's voice is so even and happy. Lyra smiles and kisses the new toy on the head. "Lyra?"
"Uh huh?" She shows her mom and dad her new toy before looking back over at the doctor. "Thanks." She adds as if she just remembered her manners.
"Can you tell me why you chose that toy?"
The little girl makes a thinking face and then stares at the plastic dino. She's clearly deciding if she thinks that she should tell her or not.
"I have a brudder. Tyla. He has lots o' 'saurus'. I can play wif him now." Lyra looks back at her parents again. Checking if that was the right answer.
Vala opens her arms to her and Lyra races into them. "You are a good little sister." Both Cam and Vala kiss her cheek in thanks for loving her family like she does and always thinking of them too, despite being so young.
"Can I ask you another question?" Melinda is gentle with her interrogation. Lyra nods, not quite as eager. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"Momma was shopping for some maccy cheese. Then the bad man took me. Wasn't momma's fault. I bited him and he didn't care..."
Vala hugs her tighter and Cam puts his arm around Vala's shoulders, tugging her flush with his side. "You're right, baby girl, it wasn't your momma's fault." Cam kisses Vala's temple after confirming what even his youngest knew to be true. He knows that Vala still blames herself.
"Nuh-uh wasn't momma's fault. Then bad man tell me mean things. Momma woulda made him stop saying them. I try no listening." Her tears gather then. Thinking about the things that Ventrell was telling her. "He says daddy never get me back and momma don't want Lyra back."
"That's not true, honey, not even close." Vala makes sure that she knows.
She thinks about the next bit and suddenly goes silent. She just shakes her head at Dr. Grey and the turns around to plant her face against her mother's neck.
The psychologist can tell that it's enough. So she stops pressing. "That's good, Lyra. Thanks for telling me a little bit. You know you're parents love you very much and that man wasn't being truthful, right?"
Lyra just nods, still unwilling to look over at the doctor.
"Good, Lyra. Would you like to come back and play with my toys some more in a couple days? Maybe we could talk some more too. You can tell me about how well that dinosaur gets along with Tyler's."
She doesn't respond at first. So Cam says, "I think it sounds fun. We need to let Melinda know how well her dino is fitting in, don't we, honey?"
"I 'pose." She's quiet but no longer upset. "Can we get ice cream now?" She adds remembering her earlier request.
"Yeah, we can." Vala lifts her as she stands and nods good bye to the doctor, leaving Cam to finish up. She wants to get Lyra out in the sun.