It was the following morning and Chloe was in the kitchen making herself a coffee before heading off to work. She knew that her mum had asked for some leave to look after Kisaiya which was something her mother would never normal do. It was hard enough for Ange to get two days off a week.
Ange walked into the kitchen noticing her daughter.
"Want one?" Chloe asked and Ange nodded.
"Did you get much sleep?" Chloe asked and Ange shrugged. The truth was she had been up many times with Kizzy. The girl had many nightmares and Ange struggled to get through to her.
"How many times was Kisaiya up?" Chloe asked.
"I don't know. I lost count after 6" Ange said.
"Have you spoken to her?" Chloe asked.
"She has such a high wall. I'll try again but she just doesn't want to speak to anyone. I'll have a try and maybe if you have time you can try too?" Ange asked and Chloe nodded. Chloe was exceptionally close to her younger cousin. The first 8 years of her life Chloe had been there for her. She looked after her, spoke to her and made her feel unafraid.
"I'll try but I don't know how much she will tell me. She finds it all embarrassing" Chloe said and Ange nodded.
"I know but what 12 year old doesn't find sex embarrassing. I just want her to know she can speak to us about anything" Ange said putting her hands through her hair.
"We'll get there. You always do. You are a great mum" Chloe said as she walked over to her mum and pulled her into her arms. Chloe thought about all the times her mum had been there for her. No matter how horrible she had been or what she had said to her mum, Ange was there. She cursed at herself when she realised just how bad Evan had been. He pushed her away from the most important person in her live.
"Are you talking about me?" Kizzy asked as she walked out of the bed.
"Only because we are worried" Ange said honestly. Kizzy walked straight passed Ange and to Chloe. The woman was sitting on a breakfast stool. Kizzy leant against her.
"We just want you to know that you can speak to us about anything" Chloe said and Kizzy nodded her head. Though it was clear the girl didn't believe it.
"I need to go to work now but Mum is staying off to be with you" Chloe explained.
"You don't need to stay off work. You can still go to work. I'll be fine. I'm sorry for being such a pain" Kizzy said panicking. She spoke so fast.
"No" Ange said strongly putting her hands on her niece's shoulder. "I want to stay with you. I want to make sure that you are okay"
Kizzy nodded. She still felt like a hassle though.
"Go and watch some TV. I'll bring through some breakfast" Ange said and Kizzy nodded.
"She just looks so lost" Chloe said and Ange nodded.
"I know, my heart is breaking for her" Ange said. They spoke for a bit longer before Chloe had to leave for work. She kissed her mother on the head before heading to work.
Once Chloe was away, Ange tidied up and feed Kizzy.
"I'm going to have a shower now but any issues just let me know" Ange said and Kizzy nodded.
Ange aimed to be quick in the shower but instant her thoughts were taken somewhere else. She was thinking about what to do about her niece. How could she help the girl?
Once out the shower, she realised she had in fact been over 30 minutes. She quickly dried herself and put some clothes on before going to find her niece.
She walked into the living room where she had left the girl and noticed her tossing and turning on the sofa. On closer inspection, it was clear the girl had fallen asleep and was having another nightmare.
"Baby, come here Auntie Ange has you" Ange said as she wrapped the girl in her arms and rocked her. She had found this the best solution and the only way to calm the girl down. Within a couple of minutes the girl's eyes were open and she snuggled in with her aunt. This was an improvement previously as soon as Kizzy woke up she would push away from Ange. Ange knew the girl was shattered and encouraged her to sleep.
"Have you heard from my mum?" Kizzy asked softly and Ange shook her head.
"No I haven't" Ange said. Previously Ange had blocked her sister on social media and only had her number. She was unsure if it was correct so had unblocked her on both what's app and Facebook but had not heard anything.
"She doesn't care about me" Kizzy said and Ange didn't know what to say.
"She didn't even say she loved me when she left. I'm unlovable" Kizzy cried.
"You are not" Ange said "I love you and Chloe loves you"
Kizzy shook her head ferociously.
"No neither of you can love me now you know what happened to me" Kizzy sobbed and Ange nodded.
"I love you all the same. What happened to you does not define you" Ange said.
"I'm going to tell you something that not many people know about me" Ange said and Kizzy nodded into her aunt's chest.
"I was raped as well" Ange said and Kizzy looked at her aunt.
"So you know how I feel?" Kizzy asked and Ange nodded.
"It's not exactly the same as everyone feels different and I was older than you but I do have an insight into what you are going through and I want to help you" Ange said.
"How can you help me?" Kizzy asked "I don't know how to help myself"
Ange was so proud of how honest her niece was being honest.
"You are already doing that" Ange said.
"Doing what?" Kizzy asked confused.
"Helping yourself. You've just spoken to me so maturely" Ange said and Kizzy shrugged.
"I want you to know you can speak to me about anything even if you just want to run through what happened. I'll listen. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them as honestly as I can" Ange explained and Kizzy nodded.
"I'm just so tired" She said and Ange nodded.
"I know you are. Try to get some sleep now" Ange said as she lay back slightly allowing her niece to sleep in her arms. Kizzy nodded and eased off to an uneasy sleep.
Ange noticed her phone buzz and reached out for it. She noticed a text.
Hey I've noticed you have been signed off for a week. Is everything okay? x
It was from Dom. Ange wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't spent much time with Dom recently as she had said she was concentrating on Chloe but it was hard especially when she saw everything that Dom was going through. Her mother instincts had taken over the previous week when Isaac had returned and she hoped in the future her and Tom's relationship would stabilise.
Hi I can't explain by text but if you are free pop around x
Ange bit her lip. She wasn't sure if this was too much. Would it confuse things? But it was too late, she had sent it.
I'm off today, I can come around now if you are free? X
Ange was relieved.
Of course. When you arrive do not ring the doorbell, call me x
Ange then sent her address and she waited for Dom to arrive. She waited around 20 minutes before her phone went off. She told Dom the code which let him into the complex and then told him the door was open. Chloe had a habit of forgetting to lock doors.
Dom walked into the apartment. He had never been here before but he wasn't surprised to find out his mother had the top floor.
"Hello?" Dom asked.
"In here" Ange called and Dom followed the voice.
"Who is this?" Dom asked.
"Your cousin Kisaiya" Ange said.
"I have a cousin" Dom said and Ange nodded.
"She is my sister's daughters" Ange said.
"I didn't know you had a sister" Dom asked. Ange nodded.
"She not in our lives anymore" Ange said and Dom nodded.
"So you have Kisaiya now?" Dom asked and Ange nodded.
"Something horrible happened to the girl. I can't go into details but she needs her family around her now" Ange said moving the hair from the girl's face.
"Does Kisaiya know you?" Dom asked and Ange nodded.
"I was in her life until she was 8. Once I turned 13, I had a rocky relationship with my parents. I'd gotten pregnant with you and things were just challenging. Clementina, Kisaiya's mum was only 2. I was 18 when I had Chloe and had very little if any contact with my family apart from Clemmie. I picked her up from school twice a week. Clemmie went off the rails when she was a teenager even more than I did. I tried to be the one to pick up the pieces but it was hard. Clemmie had Kisaiya at 21, I wanted to be there for her because I knew how hard it was to be on my own but Clemmie made it hard. She did drugs, got drunk. She was so hard to control. I stayed before of Kisaiya but then it got too much. I was offered a job in London and Chloe had just graduated. We needed to get away. I had to make the heartbreaking decision to leave Kizzy. I know I should have taken her with me but I had just had a massive fall out with Clemmie and I just wasn't thinking. And now" Ange explained.
Dom stayed silent the whole time letting the woman speak. He waited until she had finished before looking down at the girl.
"At least she has you know" Dom said and Ange nodded. They continued to speak and Ange was amazed at how well they were getting on. Kisaiya started to wake up and Ange sat her up.
"Do you want me to make some lunch?" Ange asked and both Dom and Kisaiya nodded. Ange disappeared to the kitchen leaving Dom and Kisaiya.
"Who are you?" Kisaiya asked. Dom didn't know what to say.
"I'm just a friend" He said. Ange should be the one to tell Kisaiya. He couldn't ruin it again.
"No he's not, Kiz. He is my son" Ange said and Dom smiled. Kisaiya just shrugged it off.
"Cool, I wanted a boy cousin" Kisaiya said "Do you know Chloe? Well she is like your sister but she is more like my sister so don't steal her from me"
Dom laughed.
"Don't worry, you and Chloe are both free to have as many girly chats as you want. I am not getting involved in that" Dom said and Ange laughed. Ange, Dom and Kisaiya spend most of the afternoon together before Dom headed home.
It was nearly 9 o'clock when Chloe arrived home from work. She looked in on her mother and cousin. Kisaiya just looked better. Chloe smiled and headed to the kitchen for food. Ange followed her daughter.
"Kisaiya looks so much happier" Chloe said and Ange nodded.
"Dom came round to see why I was off and spent the afternoon with us. She opened a bit to me today. Not a lot but it's a start" Ange said and Chloe nodded.
"Do you still want me to try?" Chloe asked and Ange nodded.
"She told Dom how close you two are. She really looks up to you Chlo" Ange said and Chloe nodded. Chloe quickly ate some food before heading into the living room where she put her arms around the girl.
"How are you feeling today?" Chloe asked.
"Better" Kisaiya said.
"You know you can speak to me about anything right?" Chloe said and Kisaiya nodded.
"And nothing is embarrassing?" Chloe said and Kisaiya shrugged.
"Come on spit it out. What do you find embarrassing?" Chloe said.
"Everything" Kisaiya said nervously.
"What everything in the whole wide world" Chloe said and Kisaiya laughed and shook her head.
"No just everything about what happened to me and then like some of the stuff you were asking me" Kisaiya said blushing a lot.
"Right you are going to have to expand on some of the stuff you were asking me?" Chloe said "I understand the first bit and we will speak about it but I don't understand the second"
Kisaiya blushed even more and tried to get away from Chloe.
"Come on" Chloe said tickling the girl. Kisaiya started laughing but also wanted her cousin to stop.
"Just like growing up stuff" Kisaiya admitted.
"Ah well me and mum are both fellow women and doctors so we don't care about any of that stuff. Well we do care but we don't find it embarrassing okay" Chloe said and Kisaiya nodded.
"We are going to have many conversations the next few days so what do you want tonight?" Chloe asked and Kisaiya shook her head.
"No I'm too tired" She admitted. Chloe looked at the girl. She did look shattered.
"Okay but only tonight" Chloe said and the girl nodded. Chloe snuggled up with the girl and it wasn't long before she drifted off to a gently sleep for the first time in months.
Hope this is okay :) Sorry for the delay. I will try to do better in the future. Please give me some ideas for the chats they will have. Also a guest mentioned the issues Chloe has with periods. Is that on the show or were you meaning for me to talk about issues? Sorry I missed some of holby when Chloe and Ange first arrived.