Barely There

Chapter 25 - Motherly Instincts

She walked the same path she had a week before. Yet, no matter how many times her feet stepped on that ever-damp sidewalk and no matter how many times she placed her hand on the railing as she walked up the steps to his door, she still felt out of place. Like a weed in a dandelion field.

Seeing that the door was left ajar, she pushed it open farther, allowing her to stand in the doorway. The scene unfolded in front of her, a sequence of chaos led by the little four year old girl running in circles around the room. Grayson stood in the middle, buttoning his white dress shirt and trying to stop the child from running into the furniture, his hands out in a pleading stance.

"Clem, now I'm going to count to three and if you don't give me my tie then I will be very sad." His voice wasn't harsh and thus the toddler showed no evidence of being affected by his threat of sadness. "One...two..t-."

Leda winced as Clementine started running faster. Her feet pattered on the tile, coming to a rapid rhythm of pitters and scraping of skin against unpolished walnut hardwood.The toddler stopped dead in her tracks as her curious doe-eyes caught Leda's. Leda cowered as the little feet began to move once more, the pitters and patters increasing in volume and speed as Clementine came closer and closer, moving in a flash of colors. Bracing herself for the impact, Leda scrunched her eyes shut tightly, like a naive, little kid who trusts that if the world around them disappears, they can too. Her plan of escape failed.

Hunching over as the girl crashed into her, Leda felt the air knocked out of her lungs and wheezed with desperation. She laughed away the searing ache of the collison, trying to pull oxygen into her deflated lungs. Still holding the child in her hunched grasp, she softly grabbed the tie out of the small hands, taking advantage of the little girl's drifting attention.

Embarrassed and broken that someone so small had so much more strength than herself, she trudged towards Grayson, still doubled in pain as she held the tie out for him to take. He didn't take the limp fabric out of her hold, rather putting his hand on her shoulder while trying to keep his catlike grin out of sight. His tone wasn't as serious as it was during other incidents and she frowned as she saw him trying to keep in his laughter.

"Are you okay?"

Her voice was strained from the attack, but with each breath her syllables became clearer, reverting back to their previous state.

"Oh yeah, I'm great."

The warmth left her shoulder as he softly grabbed the tie out of her extended hand. His hands went to snake the tie around the collar of the shirt before he gasped at the watch on his wrist.

"OH NO, I'M SO DEAD!"

Moving at three times the average speed of a human, he gathered his briefcase clumsily, the papers and contents leaking from the sides of the briefcase.

"FUCK"

Leda sighed and walked to the scattered pages, gathering them in her hands before dumping them softly onto the coffee table. Her eyes quickly found him standing by the coat rack, struggling with his suit. She immediately started towards him, feeling unsure of herself, yet dragging her limbs behind her heart anyways.

"Just breathe Gray. You're not gonna get there any earlier by fighting with a suit."

His eyes caught hers for a second, glowing sapphire blue with admiration. He chuckled under strained teeth, his eyes not lifting up or squinting like they would when the laugh was genuine. As he won the battle with the piece of clothing, she straightened the suit, running her hands along the seams of the fabric on his shoulders. Her fingers grabbed the tie off the counter, before he could, and effortlessly tied it around his neck.