"I feel like we should celebrate the fact that she's been asleep for the last three hours without waking up from a nightmare."
Sasha sighed, glancing down at Bayley, who was still fast asleep in her arms. "Enjoy it while you can. I don't know how long this is gonna last," she muttered. "And this isn't even the worst of it. This is nothing compared to the road she's got ahead of her," whispered Sasha, closing her eyes as she wondered if Bayley would ever truly be the same again; knowing in her heart that she probably wouldn't.
"We still need to get her to eat something when she does wake up," said Charlotte, looking at the clock. It was almost 1pm. Bayley hadn't eaten anything the day before. They'd hoped to get some food in her at breakfast this morning, but then she'd come back so wound up….
To which Becky then realized, nobody had filled Sasha in on what had happened.
"Hey, Sash, we gotta talk," said Becky, sighing heavily.
Sasha glanced up at Becky, frowning. "What's up?"
"It's about this morning. I think...well, not think. I...something happened, at the diner that we went to to get breakfast this morning; Bayley and I," began Becky and Sasha furrowed her eyebrows.
"I mean, I kind of figured since she came back the way she did….what happened? Did she just get scared…..?" asked Sasha, Becky shaking her head.
"Not exactly. I mean, yes, but…."
Sasha was gonna freak out. She loved Bayley. Not that Becky and Charlotte loved her any less, but Sasha and Bayley were essentially sisters. The two would be sisters by blood if they could figure out a way to make that happen.
"Bex? What is it?"
Becky swallowed hard, gazing sadly at Bayley. "We know….who ra-...who did this to her," whispered Becky, that knot in Charlotte's stomach coming back as her friend was about to say his name out loud again.
"What? How? Who?"
"I….she told me in the car….after…..after she saw him at the diner."
"She WHAT?!" screamed Sasha, Bayley starting to whimper in her arms, Sasha immediately lowering her voice as she turned her attention back to Bayley, who was starting to toss and turn.
"Nice, Sash," muttered Charlotte, sighing as it looked like Bayley was about to wake up again.
Sasha cursed under her breath, sighing as she gently rubbed her friend's back, placing a gentle kiss to her hair. "Shh, shh, shh. It's okay, baby. You're okay," whispered Sasha, holding her breath as Bayley settled further onto her chest, her arm falling off to the side.
The conversation came to a halt for a few moments, none of them wanting to wake Bayley up again. That girl needed as much sleep as she could get before another nightmare was bound to strike.
"Who….who is he? Is it….?" asked Sasha, keeping her emotions in check, refusing to be the one to wake her friend up again.
"Yeah. It was Batista," confirmed Becky.
And if it wasn't for Bayley sleeping in her arms, Sasha probably would been out that door in search of Batista herself.
"No….Noooo…..mmmmm, please don't….." whined Bayley, her her body beginning to thrash around on top of Sasha, clearly having another nightmare.
Sasha, Charlotte, and Becky hadn't said much since Becky had told her about Batista. Sasha had plenty she wanted to say, but she didn't want to wake Bayley up. That had only been about 45 minutes ago. The trio had settled onto the couch in silence, watching mindless TV while Bayley had continued to sleep.
Which she was apparently not doing anymore.
Sasha adjusted her arm, tightening her grip on Bayley as she leaned her lips close to her friend's ear.
"Shh, shh, shh. He's not here, baby. You're safe, Bay. You're safe, honey. Shh, Becca and Charlotte and I are right here. He can't hurt you…."
Bayley whimpered, almost whining, as she continued to see him in her dreams, his voice almost mocking her….
"Bayley? Bay, honey, open your eyes."
Bayley let out an ear piercing scream, her eyes suddenly flying open, and Sasha nearly tumbled off the couch with her as her arms started flailing, Becky and Charlotte jumping up to grab her as she fell backwards, just narrowly avoiding hitting herself on the coffee table…
"Bayley! Bayley, come on, baby. Look at us. Look at me. It's Charlotte, sweetheart…"
Her brown eyes were fully dilated, her breathing coming out in short gasps once again as she fought against Charlotte, the blonde haired girl sighing as Bayley slowly awoke from her nightmare, her eyes settling on the deep blue eyes of Charlotte that were currently filled with concern.
"Char?"
"Hmm? I'm right here, Baylz. I'm here. So is Sasha and Becca...you're safe, honey."
Bayley nodded before breaking down into sobs, distancing herself slightly from Charlotte, drawing her knees up to her chest as she cried.
"Well she broke her own personal record for sleep in the last 48 hours," muttered Becky, slowly reaching out to rub circles on her back, thankful that she was allowing anybody to touch her at the moment.
It took a few more moments before the girls were able to get Bayley to settle down, the younger woman sighing slowly, keeping her arms drawn around herself, her head now resting on her knees.
"Feeling better, love?" asked Becky, giving her a reassuring smile as Bayley slowly nodded.
Sasha leaned over the couch, startling Bayley with a kiss to her hair, Bayley nearly jumping out of her own skin. Charlotte rolled her eyes, glaring at Sasha.
"Dude, seriously?"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" cried Bayley, Becky sighing as she reached for her distraught friend, pulling her into her arms.
She cradled Bayley in her arms, sighing softly as Bayley continued to cry. Charlotte glanced at the clock, chewing on her lower lip.
"Soooo….whose gonna tell her she has to eat something before anything else?" asked Charlotte, Sasha letting out a small laugh.
"All you, Charles…." laughed Sasha, ignoring the glare she got for using Charlotte's most hated nickname.
"I did it the last time!" she argued quietly, thankful that Bayley was in her own little world currently.
Becky rolled her eyes, placing a kiss to her friend's brown hair, rubbing her back as she stared off into space.
"Well fine, since you two are acting like children over there…." replied Becky, knowing her friends were only joking, but Becky wouldn't even blame them if they weren't at this point. This had been going on for nearly 48 hours now. They were all exhausted. And it was breaking their hearts to watch Bayley go through her own personal hell and not have a way to get her out of it.
"If you two stop arguing long enough to get the food up here, then I'll work on her," said Becky, closing her eyes. Battle number 100 out of 1000 was about to begin.
Sasha and Charlotte had ordered a little of everything in hopes that options would get Bayley to eat something. The last time she'd eaten was last night at dinner, the 10 bits of the taco Charlotte had all but bribed her to eat. And she had only managed to get through 8 of the 10 bites…
Bayley physically coiled at the sight of so much food on the table, the young brunette burying herself in Becky's arm as the smells wafted through the air of the hotel room.
"No. I don't want to eat," whispered Bayley, pouting.
Becky nodded, gently sitting Bayley down next to her, rubbing her back in a soothing manner. "I know, baby. But you have to eat something. You only ate a few bites last night at dinner….you have to be starving right now, sweetie," said Becky, not trying to pressure Bayley...yet.
Bayley whimpered, her stomach doing flip flops just at the mere thought of putting food in her mouth.
"I can't," whispered Bayley, turning away as she felt the nausea rolling around inside of her.
Becky grabbed a small bowl, pouring some of the soup they'd ordered into it. "Come on honey, just try a little soup. If it's your stomach that's bothering you, the broth might help settle it a little bit…" coaxed Becky, pushing the bowl towards Bayley, still keeping one hand on her back.
Bayley tried to put the spoon towards her mouth, physically cringing as she did so before pushing it away,
"No. It hurts too much," whispered Bayley, Becky glancing at Charlotte and Sasha, whom she knew would not be nearly as patient with Bayley right now as she was being. They loved her so much. That wasn't the problem. But Becky could see that their concern over her not currently being able to take care of herself was getting to them.
"Okay, love. Okay. Why don't we just try some toast for now? Please, baby?" asked Becky, handing her a piece of dry toast.
This continued for another fifteen minutes or so, Becky trying everything under the sun to get Bayley to eat even one bite of something.
"Baylz, come on. Last night you at least took 8 bites of a taco. Can you at least try for another 8 bites of something?" asked Charlotte, jumping in when it seemed Becky was getting nowhere fast with her. At this rate they'd be there until morning trying to get her to eat.
Bayley shook her head. "I can't!" she yelled, tears pouring down her face. "I can't. It hurts. It's making me feel sick," cried Bayley, groaning.
"Bay, then just eat some toast, honey. Something. Baby, I don't care what you eat, but you need to eat something." explained Charlotte, watching and waiting, praying Bayley would take her advice and just put something in her mouth.
Bayley shook her head, drawing her knees up to her chest. She couldn't do it. She just couldn't. Why were they making her do this when she couldn't?
"Bayley."
Becky moved out of the way as Sasha took a stab at it, sitting next to her best friend, her sister, on the couch, wrapping her arms around her body.
"Bay, come on. You have to eat. No more of this, okay? I'm not gonna let you do this to yourself," whispered Sasha, reaching for some toast, spreading a little bit of peanut butter onto it for the protein.
"Come on, Bay, open up," said Sasha, not caring that she was forcing her friend to do this against her will. She refused to let her starve herself. She was already sleep deprived and barely functioning on her own as it was.
Bayley shook her head, wrapping her arms tighter around her leg. Sasha sighed. Bayley could be stubborn when she wanted to. Luckily for Sasha, she was even more so.
"Bayley."
"No. You can't make me. I don't want to."
Sasha rolled her eyes. Okay. Enough was enough. This girl was going to eat tonight, if it took Sasha all night to get her to do so.
Sasha managed to pry Bayley's hand's away from her knees, gently forcing Bayley to lift her head. "Here, baby, come on. You gotta eat, Bay…" said Sasha, tearing a small piece of the toast off, not wanting to make her choke, coaxing Bayley's mouth open as her friend viciously fought her, trying to shove her away, turning her head away from Sasha.
Sasha sighed as she somehow managed to get a piece into Bayley's mouth, her now completely distressed friend screaming as Sasha did so.
"Chew and swallow," said Sasha firmly, watching as Bayley did as she asked, crying the entire time.
Sasha immediately rubbed her back, Bayley pushing herself away from her, not wanting anything to do with her best friend at the moment.
As if Sasha cared.
"See? Do you feel like you're gonna throw up?" asked Sasha, Bayley still sobbing.
"I'm sorry, Bay. I'm sorry I had to do that, honey. I don't want to ever have to force you into something, but you gotta eat, okay? Please? Will you finish the toast?" asked Sasha, placing a kiss to Bayley's hair. "Just the toast, okay? That's all I want you to eat tonight," whispered Sasha, wrapping her arms around Bayley as she started to calm down, holding the rest of the toast out to her.
Bayley still had tears in her eyes, still feeling sick. But she slowly took the toast from her friend's hand, hiccuping as she took another bite of it.
And Sasha felt as if she had just won a freaking war.
Sasha sighed as she watched Bayley settle into the bed, the purple haired woman lying down next to her friend.
"I'm right here, Bay. If you have a nightmare, I'm gonna be right here, okay?" whispered Sasha, tracing the bags that were still under her friends eyes; though Sasha wasn't sure if they were from a lack of sleep or all the crying….or both.
Bayled sniffled. "It hurts, Sash. Everytime I have to see him," she cried and Sasha nodded, brushing a strand of Bayley's hair away from her eyes. Charlotte and Becky had gone into the other room for the night, Sasha insisting on staying with Bayley, even though Becky had offered to given that she hadn't yet.
And whoever stayed with her was likely not going to get much sleep.
But Sasha could care less about that right now. All she cared about was somehow helping her friend through this horrible time in her life.
"It's not real, baby. He's not real, not in your dreams, okay? Just try and remember that it's just a bad dream, it's not real."
Bayley nodded miserably, snuggling closer to Sasha, burying her face into her friend's neck. Sasha could feel the hot tears hit her skin, wrapping her arms tightly around Bayley.
"I'm here, Baylz. I'm here. Just close your eyes, honey. I'm right here," coaxed Sasha, rubbing her back.
Bayley whimpered, clutching Sasha's shirt into her balled up hands as she cried, hating this. Hating the way she felt. Hating how pathetic she felt. Hating him. Hating herself.
She sobbed at the thought, heartbreaking cries escaping her exhausted body. Sasha leaned down and placed a kiss to her hair, cradling her in her arms as she cried. She whispered soft, gentle, soothing words into her friend's ear.
Sasha waited patiently, continuing to soothe Bayley, praying that she would just cry herself to sleep. It was the only way she seemed to be able to fall asleep lately.
Her heart hurt knowing the pain Bayley was in. All she wanted to do was fix it. All she wanted to do was take it away from her.
All she wanted to do was murder the man responsible for causing it in the first place.