A/N: this update took a little longer because I was writing on some other stories as well, but I hope you guys are still sticking with me. please enjoy and keep on sharing your thoughts with me.
The law of gravity
.-.-.-.-.
We all fall
Chapter 3 - When there are so many beautiful reasons to be happy
The same nightmare each and every time. The same scene playing like a movie in front of her until everything was turned around and she felt the knife at her throat again. The cold steel, the hot searing pain.
It was hard to breathe and Denna felt a distinct pressure on her chest. Her world tilted to the side and back before she became aware of something aside from the images of her nightmare. Something was on her face - no someone was touching her face. After a moment she could hear a voice, murmuring quietly. The darkness around the edges of her consciousness receded and she opened her eyes, a gasp tearing from her mouth. He was going to kill her, she just knew it, this time he would finish it. She pushed the hands off and away from her while scrambling away from the dark figure.
"God no."
She barely recognized her own voice with its roughened quality to it. Her head was pounding incessantly and the dark figure in front of her shifted.
"It's okay, no one is going to hurt you, you're safe."
Those were certainly not words she would expect to hear from someone trying to kill her and Denna realized that she wasn't dreaming anymore. She blinked her eyes several times and looked around. She was sitting with her back against the headboard of an unfamiliar bed, legs pulled up against her body, one hand stretched out to push away whatever threat was coming at her while the other instinctively snapped up to the collar of her shirt and her neck.
Fingers curled around her own and she slowly lowered that hand, looking up and seeing Kahlan frowning at her from where she was perched on the edge of the bed. "Nothing is going to happen to you here," Kahlan said in that calm and soothing voice.
It took Denna several more moments to remember why exactly she was not in her own bed and why Kahlan was right there, still holding her hand.
"This… I'm not… I'm okay," she eventually said and extracted her hand from Kahlan's warm fingers to pull it against her chest. She was still awkwardly pressed up against the headboard and slowly slid down and to the side to swing her legs out of bed and get up. She looked down at herself and realized that she was only wearing her underwear and a white dress shirt. Denna cleared her throat and bent down to pick up her pants. "I should be going," she said without looking at Kahlan.
"Denna, hold on, please talk to me."
She was awkwardly trying to pull her pants up while she hobbled over to the door. A headache was pounding in the back of her head, making it hard to focus on anything. That certain distinct feeling of panic from her dream was still very present in her mind and all she wanted to do was run. She was almost through the door when Cara appeared in front of her and a sweater and sweatpants were unceremoniously thrown into her face. "You're not going anywhere."
Denna clawed the articles of clothing away from her face and scowled. "Out of the way, now."
Cara simply arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her chest while Denna abandoned the task of putting on her pants and simply crumpled them in her hands.
"Or what?"
"Cara," Kahlan said from somewhere behind her.
Denna raised her hand to her forehead and worked her fingertips against her temple. This wasn't getting her anywhere. What was wrong with these people that they just wouldn't let her get the hell out of here? They weren't friends, and even then most people weren't remotely interested in dealing with someone else's problems.
"How about you just go over into that bathroom, change into the comfy sweats I so graciously let you borrow and then we'll talk, okay?" Cara said, her eyebrow still raised in an unvoiced challenge.
"Listen, you really shouldn't leave like this okay? I know it's none of our business, but sometimes it helps to just let it out. You don't have to see either of us ever again, so maybe just give it a shot?"
Denna warily turned to Kahlan who'd gotten up from the bed and was smiling encouragingly at her. She sighed loudly and grabbed the sweatpants and sweater that were still hanging somewhere around her neck. "Fine."
She waited until Cara had stepped aside and walked past her into the hall, not remembering which door was supposed to be the bathroom. She turned and raised her eyebrows at what she saw.
Both Kahlan and Cara had their heads tilted to the side, in the same direction, and were staring at something in the vicinity of her lower body. Denna glanced down, being reminded that she was still lacking a part of her outfit. A bark of laughter that was somewhere between nervous and amused escaped her. Two pairs of eyes snapped up to her face.
"I'm sorry."
"Nice ass."
Cara spoke at the same time as Kahlan did and they glanced at each other. Kahlan raised an eyebrow while Cara shrugged. "Right?"
Kahlan snorted quietly and shook her head before looking at Denna again. "The bathroom is to your right. We'll be here."
Denna quickly made her way across the hall and slipped into the bathroom where she leaned against the closed door and took several deep breaths. She looked down at her bare legs and a small smile crept onto her lips.
She shook her head and sighed, quickly pulling on the sweatpants Cara had thrown into her face. She walked over to the mirror and unbuttoned her dress shirt, letting it slid down her shoulders and pool around her feet. She stared at her upper body for several silent moments like she'd done earlier in the day until she pulled the sweater over her head. Thankfully it had a high collar and she felt semi-comfortable in Cara's clothes. She turned the faucet on and splashed cold water into her face.
Her head was still throbbing and she was completely exhausted. With a quiet groan she turned the water off and instead began untangling the various pins from her hair that had previously held it over to one side. Soon her platinum-blonde tresses tumbled freely across her back and shoulders.
There as no use in keeping up appearances anymore. The two people waiting for her across the hall had already seen the worst so she could just as well stop pretending to be someone she was not. Not anymore.
With a last glance in the mirror, she left the bathroom and slowly made her way back to the guest bedroom where both Kahlan and Cara were sitting at the foot of the bed, talking quietly. They looked up as soon as she stepped inside and Kahlan greeted her with a soft smile while Cara studied her silently.
"So? What now?" Denna asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Well, you obviously had a nightmare, a pretty awful one at that, so we could talk about it?" Kahlan asked calmly.
"There is nothing to say," Denna answered tersely, rubbing the palm of her hand against her forehead.
What were these people expecting from her? They hardly knew each other so why the hell would she share her problems and concerns with them?
Cara sighed and moved up to the head of the bed where she could lean against the headboard with her arms crossed. "I guess you don't really get what Kahlan is offering you."
Denna glanced at Cara. "And what would that be?"
"A safe space."
"What makes you think I need one?"
"What makes you think you don't?"
Denna opened her mouth to reply, but her brow furrowed as she thought about Cara's words. Kahlan seemed to take her silence as some sort of consent because she patted the now empty space beside her on the bed. "Sit. I'll try and help you with your headache."
She was about to protest, turn around and just hightail it out of there because the situation was getting more confusing by the second, but for some reason Denna did the complete opposite of what her head was telling her to do. She walked over to the bed and sat down. "You don't even know me."
"And you don't really know either of us," Kahlan replied.
"Yeah we could be crazy axe murderers," Cara said from behind her, the smirk clearly audible in her voice.
"That's reassuring," Denna answered with a glance over her shoulder. Just in case.
Kahlan shuffled around a little bit until she was sitting closely behind her.
"What -"
Before she could ask her question, fingers settled on either side of her head and began massaging her temples as well as other parts of her hurting skull. Her eyes involuntarily closed. "Oh god."
"Better than aspirin huh?" Cara inquired and Denna hummed quietly.
"Just relax," Kahlan encouraged quietly and continued her massage until the headache receded and everything became kind of fuzzy. This woman had magic hands, there was just no other way to describe it.
This was certainly one of the strangest nights of her life. She felt exhaustion creeping up on her and sighed quietly as she slumped to the side.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Denna licked her dry lips and turned her head away from the bright light that attempted to sneak past her half-closed lids. She sighed quietly and smiled to herself. She was wrapped up in a cocoon of warmth and it was relaxing and calm. Until she became aware of the hot breath tickling her neck. Her eyes snapped open and she gasped quietly, trying to remain as still as possible to assess the situation.
Kahlan was snuggled into her front with her legs pulled up and her forehead resting against Denna's collarbone. Denna flexed her fingers that had somehow found their way onto Kahlan's hip and slowly removed them. She was trying to figure out where to put her hand when she saw the arm that was draped across her middle from behind. She raised her eyebrows and followed the arm with her eyes, craning her neck to see Cara's head resting on the pillow behind her.
"What the…?"
Her eyes flickered over to the clock on the nightstand. It was already past noon. Denna's eyes widened as she fought the urge to sit up. Had she really slept through ten solid hours without a single interruption? No nightmare, nothing. She blinked her eyes, feeling more well-rested than she had in months.
Cara shifted behind her and she opened her mouth to say something when fingers clamped over her lips. "Don't wake her," Cara whispered into her ear.
Denna rolled her eyes. She didn't appreciate being told what to do, especially not by an irritating blonde who dared to clamp a hand over her mouth like some five-year-old.
So Denna did the only thing she could think of. She stuck out her tongue and licked along the digits still resting against her lips. Instead of the anticipated squeal from Cara she only heard a low chuckle before a warm tongue was dragged from her neck up to her jaw. Denna hissed quietly and squirmed away while glaring at Cara over her shoulder.
Cara's shoulders shook with silent laughter as she jerked her head toward the door and slowly moved away from Denna and off the bed.
She immediately felt the cool air seeping through her sweatshirt where Cara had vacated the spot pressed against her back and shuddered. Denna carefully moved away from Kahlan, trying not to wake her and grabbed a pillow when slender fingers reached for her. She shoved the pillow into Kahlan who snuggled against it with a sigh.
Denna released a sigh of her own and crawled backwards off the bed to follow Cara over to the door. They slipped out into the hall and Denna raised her eyebrows at the other woman.
"She worked all day yesterday before the party and was pretty much dead on her feet all evening. I just want her to get some more sleep," Cara explained with a small shrug. "Come on, I'll make some coffee."
Cara walked down the hall and descended the stairs to the lower level of the house where the kitchen was located. Denna followed her quietly, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she'd slept through almost the entire night without any meds. Being basically wedged in between these two women she barely knew hadn't been uncomfortable, a little awkward maybe, but not in the slightest panic-worthy.
"How's the head?" Cara asked when Denna entered the kitchen behind her.
"It's… fine actually."
"Good."
Cara busied herself with the coffee machine while Denna shoved her hands into the front pocket of her sweater. "Are we going to talk about this?"
"About what?"
"This whole weird waking up together?"
"Was it?"
"What?"
"Weird."
Denna raised her eyebrows and frowned. It seemed like they weren't going to talk about it. "I don't know you very well but I really dislike you sometimes."
Cara laughed quietly and turned to Denna after the coffee machine had started working beside her. "You wound me."
"You can take it."
"That I can," Cara answered with a smirk and Denna found herself smiling in response.
Friendly banter after a night like that? She could get used to it, even though she shouldn't. This was an exception and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to keep going to Kahlan's yoga class after, well, everything.
Usually she remembered her nightmares vividly in the mornings, but this time it was more of a blurry haze, only images and the mild residue of terror clinging to them. She tried to remember how exactly she'd ended up in bed with Kahlan and Cara but came up mostly blank. She recalled being at the party and someone talking to her, inquiring about her past, and then Cara had taken her upstairs, offered her a drink and… well, that probably explained it.
Denna sat down at the small bar that separated kitchen from living room and accepted the coffee mug from Cara with a quiet 'thank you'.
"So how did you sleep?"
"I… surprisingly well."
Cara leaned across the bar and narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean 'surprisingly'? Your answer should be more along the lines of 'best night of my life'."
Denna rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee. "You mean aside from the hangover? Well, I slept, so yes it was a good night."
Cara drank her coffee and sat down across from her at the little bar.
"You have a nice house," Denna commented after looking around for a couple of silent moments.
"Thanks. It's mostly Kahlan's interior design skills, but I had my moments," Cara pointed her thumb over her shoulder toward the glass sliding doors, "if it wasn't for me there would be no pool. Can you imagine?"
"A crime against humanity, surely."
"I liked you better when you were sleeping."
"Dito."
Denna hid her smile behind her coffee mug and glanced at Cara over the rim.
This was admittedly one of the best mornings she'd had in a long time. She was not only enjoying the hot coffee and the feeling of being rested but also the company.
But it was only going to be a one-time occurrence. They were hardly friends and as much fun as it was to banter with Cara, there was simply no reason for a repeat performance, especially not when she had been drunk and ended up in a bed that was not her own. Best morning after though.
"I should probably get going," Denna said, putting her mug down and tapping her fingers against it.
"Not until Kahlan's up, I'm sure she wants to talk to you."
"But -"
"Nope, I'm not letting you out of here, even if I have to tie you down."
"You'd like that wouldn't you," Denna mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. So what do you suggest I do while dawdling here?" Denna asked with a mock British accent.
Cara glanced over her shoulder with a smile. "How about a swim? It's nice out."
"God no," she immediately answered. Her heart immediately sped up at the thought of wearing nothing but a swimsuit, or worse a bikini.
But before she even had the chance to turn down more of Cara's surely inappropriate suggestions, a sleepy looking Kahlan walked into the kitchen. Her black hair was held back in a messy ponytail and she smiled brightly at Denna. "Hey."
She pressed a quick kiss to Cara's lips before pouring herself a cup of coffee. "You guys should've woken me."
"Yeah well you needed sleep more than cranky company," Cara answered with a smug smirk in Denna's direction.
"Who're you calling cranky?"
"Would you like me to spell it out?"
"I would like you to take that swim now and not come back," Denna said with a glare.
They stared at each other several seconds until Kahlan burst out laughing next to them and Cara joined in. Denna just lowered her head and smiled into her empty coffee mug. She couldn't quite believe that this was actually fun.
"I see you two have already bonded in my absence," Kahlan commented and joined them at the bar beside Cara. "It's nice to have you here Denna, thank you for staying."
Denna looked up and glanced from Kahlan's friendly smile to Cara's stoic smirk.
"No, I should be thanking you, for… everything. I do appreciate it, I just can't…," she trailed off and sighed.
She wasn't even sure what exactly she was trying to say. They had no idea what a big deal it was for her to feel comfortable in someone else's presence aside from Dahlia and Darken. To actually sleep in the same bed with another human being had seemed pretty much impossible the day before when she'd woken up from yet another nightmare, but now everything was somehow changed. In the last twelve hours she hadn't even thought about taking any kind of medication and it felt freeing in a way she couldn't have possibly anticipated.
"It's okay," Kahlan said with a small shake of her head, "you don't have to tell us anything. It's just nice to have you around. I mean I can't believe we slept until after…"
Kahlan's eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
"Your paper?" Cara asked with a raise of her eyebrow.
"My paper, shit, crap , damn."
Kahlan jumped up from her barstool and basically bounded up the stairs in a headless haste. Denna leaned back with a furrowed brow, looking at Cara who sighed.
"She was supposed to turn in a paper today before noon, and well, that didn't quite work out. I completely forgot about it too."
Denna suddenly remembered Cara telling her that Kahlan was actually getting her degree in psychology. She immediately tensed and watched as Kahlan skipped back down the stairs. "I sent it with an apology and some lame excuse."
Denna clenched her jaw. Could it get any worse? She suddenly felt like some kind of psychology project Kahlan had taken on in order to study… what exactly? Depression? Anxiety? What if their friendliness was only some kind scheme to keep her around, to analyze her? The thought made her stomach flip and she took a breath through her nose.
"So what exactly is your field of study?" she asked quietly.
"Forensic psychology," Kahlan answered as she slid back onto the stool next to Cara.
Denna looked up. "As in you work with law and in courts?"
Kahlan nodded and lifted her coffee cup to her lips. "Yup."
Relieved, Denna closed her eyes for a moment and released the breath she'd been holding in. Cara and Kahlan seemed oblivious to her mini freak-out and if they noticed they didn't comment on it either way.
"Okay who wants breakfast? I think I'll make some pancakes," Kahlan announced, looking from one blonde to the other.
"Chocolate chip," Cara answered with a smile and cocked her head to look at Denna from the corner of her eyes.
"Uh… blueberry?"
"Perfect," Kahlan said and moved over to the fridge where she began putting ingredients on the counter next to them.
Denna rested her elbow on the counter and held her chin in her hand while she watched Kahlan and Cara putter around in the kitchen until pancake batter was quietly sizzling in a large pan on the stove.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Denna kicked her feet up onto her couch and slouched against the comfortable backrest. She glanced around her small apartment, mentally comparing it to the place she'd left a couple of months back. It was only half the size of her previous condo but with the money she was making through subletting it and working at Doctor Zorander's practice she could comfortably afford it. She wasn't even making a fraction of what she'd earned at her old job, but she was finally getting better and that was frankly all that mattered.
"Yeah it's going well so far, I'm doing okay," she said, switching her phone from one side of her head to the other.
"You know Darken is plotting your visit like a crazy man right? He didn't get his requested time off and feels like shit about it so I'm sure he'll surprise you with a marching band or something," Dahlia said.
"Are you supposed to be telling me that?"
"I guess not, but don't say anything to him okay? I wouldn't want him to bust a vein or something."
"Alright, but I told him that I'm really not mad he couldn't make it. It wasn't his fault."
"You know how he is."
"Yeah. So how about you, how are you doing?"
Dahlia was silent for several moments. "I miss you here, it's not the same, and it feels kind of empty."
Denna pressed her lips together and rubbed a hand across her face.
"I know, I miss you too, but I had to go."
"I understand, you know I do, but that doesn't change that it was me who -"
"No, don't start. We talked about this and I don't blame you, so you should stop doing it as well. It could've happened to either of us, hell, to half the staff."
"Okay, I won't argue with you, I don't want to ruin your evening Den. Let's talk about something else. Darken was telling me about this party you went to. Anything interesting happen there?"
Denna smiled to herself and closed her eyes. "I don't know, but I might've made… some friends."
"That's awesome Den, what are they like? I mean not that they could replace me or even Darken, but I'm glad you're getting out. Oh remember that one time we went to that bar and ended up in Central Park with my pants and your shirt missing?"
Denna laughed at the memory and sunk further into the cushions. "God yes, how could I forget?"