Alyssa tossed and turned in her sleep, haunted by the re-emergence of Valtor. Her dreams were dark and seemed to replay the event of James' death and how she was unable to extract her wisdom teeth in time to save her brother, waking up in a cold sweat she had to sneak out of bed to not wake Bloom and Flora. Alyssa made her way to the kitchen to make a coffee and a light breakfast of cereal and fruit. The time on the microwave read 1230 am and the subtle hum of the coffee maker was soothing but the noise was a bit loud, in fact, the noise woke up Flora. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Flora decided to see what the noise was about. Walking into the kitchen Flora, who was wearing a pink baby-doll teddy. The kitchen was bathed in a soft white light, the hum of the coffee maker and the clanking of the spoon on the ceramic bowl were the only two noises coming from there.
"Hey there baby, can't sleep? Is it nightmares again?" Flora asked walking over to Alyssa, wrapping her arms around her body and planting a kiss on Alyssa's lips, then looking lovingly into Alyssa's hazel eyes.
"Yeah I can't sleep snuggle bunny, its been so tough, seeing Valtor again brought back so many bad memories I..I just can't deal with it right now. I mean he almost killed me so the lineage of Mystelar would die with me. It felt so bad, then spending those fifteen days away from Alfea and you was a lot to deal with. I..I don't want to go through that again." Alyssa explained as tears began to roll down her face.
"Shh, shh, shh." Flora reassured "I'm here baby, you wont have to deal with that again. Mind if I join your for breakfast? You know maybe if you try my special herbal tea blend it'll probably help you more then coffee."
Alyssa gripped the cup of coffee like it was the very elixir of life. "Please Flora just let me finish this cup. Please its just one cup. Waste not want not."
Flora relented "Fine... but after this cup no more coffee, and I'll have to put several Dream Blossoms in our room, they'll help with your restless nights and nightmares. It's leaves are said to make an excellent tea, you have to promise me you'll drink the tea."
"I promise to drink it." Alyssa resigned
"Good now I believe that we should establish some rules for this. But first you have to trust me." Flora emphasized
"I trust you. I trust you and Bloom have my best interests at heart."
"Rule number one, you let me and Bloom take care of you when you need it. No ifs, ands, or buts, its not a weakness its a strength plus you push yourself too hard most days. Rule number two communicate! If something is bothering you or you feel like you're in a dark place tell me or Bloom, we want whats best for you and we don't care if you have to go back and have another short stint in the psych-ward, we love you, and rule number three trust the process, healing takes time, be kind to yourself. No beating yourself up for little things."
Alyssa breathes a heavy sigh and then says in a sarcastic tone, "Yes baby"
Flora looks disappointed at Alyssa "can we try that again? I'm trying to establish some ways that I think could help you. Please try and appreciate that
"Yes baby sorry babe I'm tired I know that came out sideways and I wasn't trying to have it like that."
"That's better," Flora teased letting Alyssa go to start brewing a tea for her.
In the other room Bloom woke up feeling the empty spots on the bed where Alyssa and Flora were supposed to be, fearing the worst she got up, threw a blue sparkly robe on and made her way to the kitchen. Seeing Alyssa and Flora, Bloom breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh so this is where you two wandered off too. What are you up too?" Bloom asked looking at her two lovers.
"Oh Bloom, well I'm laying out some rules for Alyssa here so she can focus on her health and wellness. You see she's been having nightmares again and I want to take care of her the best way we can cutiepie" Flora explained.
"Oh really, we'll what do you have so far?" Bloom asked with a tinge of curiosity.
"Well, I'm insisting that Alyssa here allows you and me to take care of her when we see that she's been neglecting herself. She also needs to communicate, if something is bothering her she needs to come to one of us and talk, and finally she needs to trust the healing process and be kind to herself." Flora happily told Bloom while still holding Alyssa.
"Lovely I think that sounds so good." Bloom smiled softly. During this peaceful conversation, while Bloom and Flora where distracted, Alyssa got up and made a second cup of coffee and sat back down, the clinking of the mug alerted Flora to the refilled mug.
Flora seeing the mug refilled gently took it from Alyssa her voice tender and soft like a caring partner. "Alyssa I think we need to discuss some rules here. I think you need two people who care about you in your life because you cant go about not taking care of yourself when you feel all depressed. I think we need to make some drastic changes to your wardrobe."
"Flora's right, you haven't been taking care of yourself as well as we'd like you too. So we'd like to establish a few rules in regards to that, and I think one of the perfect ways to do that is to limit your coffee intake. No more than one or two cups a day not exceeding ten cups a week." Bloom stated. "Can you please do this for us? We want what's best especially at meals we want you to eat healthy."
"And then when it comes to meals, half your plate needs to be fruits and vegetables this is non-negotiable. Also please if you're in a dark place talk to us. We'll make sure you get the help you need, be that we take turns watching you again like we did after your suicide attempt, or taking you to a psych-ward." Flora said, her voice calm and reassuring placing the cup of tea in front of Alyssa before going back to holding her from behind the chair. "You just need to trust us and know that we have your best interest at heat."
"I do trust you two, however I worry about using these thoughts not going away. My mom struggles with depression and I don't want to fight these battles in my mind." Alyssa said almost crying
"Alyssa listen, we want you to take care of yourself and that means less coffee, okay my snuggle bunny?" Bloom said caressing Flora's arm and makes her way down to Alyssa's arm flirting. "Can you do that for us?"
"I can do that for you. I love you both and don't want to loose you two." Alyssa was practically crying now
As the three talked and smiled together Alyssa finally tried the Dream Blossom tea, surprisingly it was tasty "mmm baby this tea is really good. Thank you for making me drink this I really needed this."
Flora looked at the clock on the microwave which now read 2:15 am. "Have we really been talking for that long?" Flora was surprised and when she looked down at Alyssa she smiled seeing her asleep in the chair. A few minutes later the other members of the winx club came walking into the kitchen.
Stella was a bit too loud. "Morning everyone."
Flora and Bloom quickly shushed Stella and pointed to Alyssa who was sound asleep. Tecna was the second one to walk into the kitchen taking a cup of the pot of coffee Alyssa had made. "She's lucky she's asleep, I spent all night trying to figure out who the last earth fairy is and all I've come up with is this girl is some waitress in Gardenia, and her name is Roxy."
"Is that why Faragonda sent us here, it was more then a break from classes we're trying to protect someone." Musa said rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she walked in the kitchen.
"Perhaps," Tecna agreed. "Bloom, Flora did you two see anyone suspicious when you and Alyssa went to dinner with Bloom's mom and dad?"
"Well there was Valtor...but I don't think that's who you're referring to. There was this group calling themselves The Wizards of The Black Circle, and they thought Alyssa was the last earth fairy...not the brightest bunch but if they find Roxy we could all be in trouble." Flora said trying to keep her voice down to not wake Alyssa from the slumber that the dream blossom put her in.
Tecna, ever resolute said in a hushed tone, "Then we need to find Roxy and protect her. But how are we gonna do that, we don't even know what she looks like."
"Then I think I know what we need to do. I remember seeing when we arrived that some guy named Ace is looking for talent scouts for his show WOW! I think we should try and do that to try and find Roxy. Its worth a shot." Stella said now taking a cup of coffee and drinking it before gagging "Bleh how can Alyssa drink this stuff? Its bitter and disgusting."
"Stella, she usually puts sugar and milk in it so that's why she doesn't drink it black."
One by one the other members filed into the kitchen. "So I'll go over the plan once again when Alyssa is up, but we find this Ace person and agree to be his talent scouts to find Roxy." Tecna explained to Musa and Aisha.
"And once we do we protect her by bringing her to Magix? Right?" Aisha asked still trying to wake up at the crack of dawn
"That might be what this new group of villains wants so we will have to be careful." Bloom answered, though was unsure of what to sat herself.
"Then its settled in 6 hours lets wake Alyssa up and find Ace." Tecna stated.