Chapter 16 – my daughters
Alex watched as Piper led Lucy out of the apartment, trying to gather the courage to go into Diane's room. She felt a huge wave of relief go through her body knowing that Lucy was safe with Piper. She was fairly certain Robbie wouldn't physically hurt Diane, but she wasn't willing to take any chances. Alex was more worried about her mother's mental health, and the long term impact this would have on her. Diane already blamed herself for everything that happened with Robbie so far, and this would just make it worse. Diane also knew that Lucy was sad at not being able to see her as much anymore, which just added to her guilt. But Alex knew how strong Diane was, she would not let this beat them.
Alex slowly walked towards Diane's room, she closed her eyes, trying to gather herself before she walked in. When she finally walked through the door she saw Robbie standing in the corner of the room, while Diane sat on the edge of the bed. It looked like both of them had been crying, neither of them said anything when they saw Alex. She just walked to the bed and sat next to Diane, putting her arm around her, "Mum, are you ok?"
In that moment Diane looked more defeated than Alex had ever seen. She looked exhausted, like she didn't have the energy left to keep trying. Her eyes filled with more distress as she saw the bruise coming up on the side of Alex's face and the blood dripping from her nose. All Diane could do was look at her daughter, and see more pain. See what she believed her actions had done to her daughter. When it became obvious that Diane wasn't going to speak, Alex felt the need to fill the silence, "I'm ok Mum, and Lucy and Piper are ok too." All Diane could do was hold onto Alex's hand as she noticed the fresh cuts around her wrists. All the while Robbie continued to stand in the corner, not moving, saying nothing. This was the first time Alex had seen him looking almost sad. In his own twisted way, he loved Diane, and he was just starting to realise that he would never get her back. He finally looked at Alex, there was still a hint of hatred in his eyes, but it was overshadowed by his own sadness that this time he would not get what he wanted. Although he ultimately still blamed Alex for that. Before Alex could say anything more to Diane, 3 police officers came through the door. This just made Alex hold onto Diane tighter.
Surprisingly, Robbie didn't put up much of a fight, he let the police handcuff him as they led him out of the apartment. Two paramedics also came into the apartment, one police officer stayed behind while the other 2 put Robbie in the police car and drove off. Alex felt like she wasn't really present while all this activity was happening around her. She felt like she was watching it all happen through someone else's eyes, she kept sitting on the bed while one of the paramedics spoke to Diane. The other one knelt in front of Alex, trying to talk to her. Alex couldn't even bring herself to say anything, until she felt a familiar touch on her hands first, and then her lips. She refocussed her eyes just as Piper pulled Alex up into a tight hug. Alex didn't want to let go of that familiar touch, but eventually when she stood back to look Piper in the face, she was swept back into reality. Alex sat back down on the bed with Piper next to her, never once letting go of her hand. Alex finally started to pay attention to the paramedic, "I….I don't want to go to the hospital, I'm fine."
The paramedic, a young man with short brown hair and hazel eyes looked back at her, "Let's just get you cleaned up first then see how you feel." He smiled at her, trying to reassure her, as he tended to her bloody nose and the cut in the corner of her lips. He cleaned and bandaged the cuts on her wrists, luckily she wouldn't need any stitches. When he was done, he still encouraged her to go to the hospital in case she had a concussion, but Alex would not budge, "I told you I feel fine. I promise I'll go to the hospital if I start feeling worse." Over the next hour, Alex and Diane were questioned by the police and the paramedics checked Diane over. Diane still wasn't speaking much, even with Lucy clinging onto her, she just didn't have the energy to speak. The police wanted to talk to Diane more about what happened when she was alone in the bedroom with Robbie. Alex and Piper took Lucy into Alex's room to distract her while the questioning continued. Alex sat on her bed and crossed her legs. She held her arms out to Lucy who didn't hesitate in climbing into Alex's lap. Sometimes it was easy to forget how young Lucy was, and how hard this whole situation had hit her emotionally.
She was speaking now through her tears, she never wanted to let go of Alex again, "Ally….how bad are you hurt?"
"I'm fine kid, I promise, I don't need to go to the hospital. Just a few cuts, that's it."
"I can't lose you Ally, I can't. I got so scared, I didn't know what to do."
"You did the right thing Luce, you went and got Piper. You went with her and called the police, you helped to stop him and end this whole thing. You don't need to worry anymore kiddo, we're all gonna be ok."
Alex kept sitting there with Lucy, trying to comfort her. Ultimately the most comforting thing to Lucy was Alex's presence itself. Right now Alex was functioning on auto pilot, not letting herself process any real emotions, just doing what was needed to get through the night. Eventually, after another couple of hours, the police and the paramedics were gone. Diane was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, Alex was sitting across from her with Lucy on her lap, Piper sitting next to them. It would be a long time before Lucy would let Alex out of her sights. Alex was worried about Diane, it was nearly 4 am and she looked exhausted, she still wasn't saying much. "Mum, what did he say to you in there?"
Diane sighed, and Alex knew she would not say anything tonight, "I'm too tired right now sweetie, I promise we'll talk about it tomorrow. Are you sure you're ok? I can't believe I put you in this situation again." Diane had tears in her eyes as she stared down at her coffee.
"Mum this isn't your fault! You need to stop this, I'm fine, I promise mum, we're all fine."
Diane nodded, "Are you girls gonna be ok if I go to bed?"
"Of course mum. I'll call the diner and tell them you're not going in for your next shift, I'll explain what happened. And I'll call Lucy's teacher, let her know she's having the day off. We all need to sleep. We're all gonna be here, promise me you'll come get me or Piper if you need anything."
Diane got up and kissed both of her daughters and Piper on the forehead, "I promise Ally." Diane made her way to bed. Piper looked to Alex and saw the pain in her eyes, she knew her girlfriend was holding it together for Diane, but was breaking on the inside. She knew all three of them would be staying in Alex's room that night, no one wanted to be alone. Piper looked to Lucy, "tell you what, you go have a shower and get changed. While you're doing that we'll bring your mattress into Alex's room, put it on the floor in there. That way we can all stay together."
Lucy smiled, it's like Piper had read her mind. Lucy jumped down from Alex's lap and went to freshen herself up before trying to go back to sleep again. Piper took Alex's hand and led her into Lucy's room so they could get the mattress. Alex could feel all of her emotions bubbling to the surface, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hold them in anymore. She leaned against the bedroom wall before sliding down to the floor, covering her face with her hands. Piper had been waiting for this to happen, but she knew she just needed to stand back and let Alex's emotions run their course. All Piper wanted to do was take away Alex's pain, and she hated that she couldn't do that. All Piper could do was be there for her. She sat in front of Alex on the floor and pulled her girlfriend into a hug. Alex initially resisted it, but as soon as she felt the warmth and security of Piper's touch, she let herself fall apart. She rest her head against Piper's chest as she started to sob uncontrollably. Piper felt her own tears sting her eyes, but kept her focus on Alex, softly rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head.
"I'm here Al, I'll always be here, shhh. Baby, don't forget how fucking strong you are. You went through hell tonight, and all you thought about the whole time was protecting the rest of us. I'll hold onto you all night, I promise." Piper just kept holding on Alex, trying to calm her down, but it was useless. She knew all she could do for tonight was be there for Alex, only after a long sleep would Alex be prepared to talk about what happened. Eventually, Alex's sobs became less violent and her breathing slowed down. The soothing feel of Piper's touch and her familiar smell helped Alex to slowly relax, but she still didn't want to leave the comfort of that embrace. Eventually, the two girls got up and dragged Lucy's mattress into the other room, along with a sheet, pillow and blanket. Alex sat on her bed, looking absolutely exhausted. Piper looked at her girlfriend sitting there, still in the sleep clothes she'd gotten into the last time Piper left the apartment, except now there were drops of blood on the plain white t-shirt. Piper was also still in her sleep clothes that she'd changed into earlier, before she fell asleep on her couch. Piper stood in front of Alex and motioned for her to lift her arms. Piper lifted Alex's sleep shirt off her body and threw it into the hamper in the corner. Piper then pulled off her own sleep shirt and slipped it over Alex's head, before grabbing one of Alex's clean shirts for herself.
Alex inhaled the scent of Piper that was now all around her. It was her perfume, her shampoo, her soap, everything that reminded her of Piper. Lucy then walked into the room in her fresh pyjamas and Piper stood up, "here you go Luce, you get into the bed with Alex, I'll take your mattress." Lucy looked at Piper for the longest moment before she spoke, "no, that's ok. I think Ally needs you tonight, I'm ok on my mattress."
Piper and Alex were both shocked, "Don't be silly Lucy."
"No it's ok Piper, I know Ally needs you to be close to her tonight, I'm happy to be in here and not alone in my room." Lucy went and hugged both the older girls goodnight. She went to end her hug with Alex, but the older girl wouldn't let go, "you know I fucking love you right?" Lucy smiled at Alex, "hey, you know mum said you're not allowed to say that word around me." They shared a simple laugh before Lucy got comfortable on her mattress. Piper then made sure Alex got under the covers and hugged her tightly. All three girls gave into their exhaustion as they fell asleep with the comfort of knowing they were all together.
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Piper woke up around 9 am the next morning, she still felt tired but she couldn't get her mind to slow down. Alex and Lucy were both still fast asleep. Alex and Piper were facing each other in bed, Alex was holding Piper's arm close to her chest as she slept. Piper didn't have the heart to move and risk waking her up, she wanted Alex to keep sleeping. Piper kept laying there, looking at Alex, making sure she was still asleep. It wasn't much longer until Lucy started to wake up, rolling over to look up at Piper and Alex. Piper moved to lie on her back so she could look at Lucy, who was looking back at her, "is Ally awake?"
"No sweetie, she's still pretty tired. How about you? Why are you awake?"
Lucy shrugged, "I dunno, I couldn't sleep anymore. I can't stop thinking about what happened last night."
This worried Piper. Lucy had been through a lot in the last 6 months, and she was still only a kid. Piper felt like she needed to watch Lucy closely and make sure she talked about what was bothering her. If the rest of them were struggling to cope with the situation, she could only imagine how difficult it was for a ten year old.
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By midday Lucy had gotten up and was in Diane's room, the two laying together on the big bed. Diane had spent most of the day in bed, not speaking much to anyone. Lucy was worried and wanted to be close to her mum, Piper thought it would be good for both of them. Alex was still sleeping, so Piper used the opportunity to have a shower and try to wake herself up. She still felt like she was being covered by a fog from last night. She slowly got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt before checking on Alex again. Piper was surprised to see Alex sitting on her bed, still in her sleep shorts and t-shirt, looking down at her hands. Piper stepped closer to Alex, looking at what she was holding. Eventually Piper realised what it was, a small plastic bag full of white powder. For a moment, Piper felt like her heart would stop, "what's going on Alex?"
Alex looked into Piper's beautiful eyes, "Please Pipes, I need you to take this."
Piper sat next to Alex, taking the small bag from her, "where did this come from?"
"I swear I forgot about it for ages, I had it taped to the bottom of my bed, just in case…I promise I didn't mean to hide it from you. Last night…..it, it was really tough. I woke up this morning, and fuck…I really wanted to. I wanted to call Nicky so bad. I went to get up, get dressed, I knocked my glasses on the floor by accident, under the bed. I reached under to grab them, and I felt it, I remembered I had it. I, I can't lie to you, I really fucking want it. But I want you more…so please, you have to take it, just get rid of it. I'm really sorry Pipes."
Piper watched her girlfriend as silent tears ran down her cheeks, "Al, I believe you, please don't cry. This is a good thing Al. You could've just taken this, you could've hidden it from me, but you didn't. This is a good thing Alex, you're fighting this, it's all I can ask." Piper gently touched Alex's cheek, brushing her fingers over the fresh bruise, and then the cut in the corner of her mouth, "does it hurt?"
"A little, I guess. But it doesn't matter. Thank you for getting Lucy out of here last night. I needed to know that you were both safe." Alex's voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke. Even though she'd slept for so long, she was still exhausted. She leant her head on Piper's shoulder and closed her eyes. Piper kissed her head, so relieved that Alex had the strength to not give into her addiction. She wasn't just relieved, she was proud. This felt like a turning point, Piper felt like they finally had a chance to make it. She was determined to help hold this family together, her family.
"You look exhausted Al, go back to sleep."
"Please, stay with me Pipes, I can't be alone right now."
"Of course baby. I'll stay as long as you need."
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Everyone in the Vause apartment was exhausted, they all woke up between 7 and 8pm. Even Diane finally left her room and joined the girls in the lounge room.
"Sit next to me mum," Lucy pat the seat next to her, wanting to get close to Diane. Diane smiled and sat next to her youngest daughter, who snuggled into her side. Diane put her arm around Lucy and pulled her in tight. Through all of the guilt that was still crushing her on the inside, she felt incredibly lucky to have 2 daughters like Alex and Lucy. She also felt incredibly lucky that she had Alex to look after Lucy when she wasn't there. Last night, Alex's first concern was getting Lucy out of the apartment without Robbie ever knowing she was there.
Alex was worried about Diane, the last few months had taken its toll on her. And even though Robbie had finally been caught, last night seemed to almost drain the last remaining piece of her resolve. "I'll go out and get some dinner, what do you feel like mum?"
Diane could barely bring herself to look at Alex, seeing her daughter bruised again was more than she could take, "Whatever you want sweetie, I'm not really hungry."
"Come on, you need to eat something, I'll get you anything you want." Alex was not going to let Diane fall apart.
"Just grab a pizza sweetie."
Alex grabbed the car keys and took Piper's hand, both girls walked out of the apartment worried about the same thing. "We need to look after her Pipes, I can't let her fall apart."
A/N
Well there you go, Robbie's been caught, but it has taken a toll on Diane. The focus is now how/if the family will be able to pull it together.
As always, keen to hear your thoughts.
Cheers.