Hell and back [Dukesaw fic]

More days off

Heather Dukes POV

In the morning, I wake up, and slam my fist on the alarm clock to shut it off. Veronica glances over at me with sleepy eyes, and a small smile. I roll out of bed, and give her a kiss on the cheek whispering, "good morning, Ronnie."

"Mornin, Heather," she lazily replies sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She pulls the blanket over herself, and rests her head on her knees.

"Getting up already? You should sleep in," I suggest, "now, where did you put your homework from yesterday?"

"I have no clue," she answers.

I look around my room for the packet of papers, on the desk, under it, and on the nightstand. I eventually find it tucked in her backpack scrunched under a textbook. I gently smooth it out, and put it in my own backpack, along with some other things.

I pick out a nice outfit for the day, and quickly shower before changing. After I'm all ready for school, I go downstairs and grab two granola bars, and two bananas from the bowl on the counter.

"Good morning, Heather," my mom politely greets me. She's sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper, and drinking her coffee like she does every morning.

I say good morning to her back, and bring the breakfast food back up to my room for me and Veronica.

I hop onto the bed next to her, and we both eat our snacks in silence. There's a weird tension in the air, as neither of us talk. One of unresolved problems, and unanswered questions.

Veronica breaks the silence, "hey babe?" She asks.

"What is it?"

"I've been thinking, and I'm gonna go to school today. I've been feeling a lot better," she replies. I doubt she's really feeling better, especially based on how badly bruised she was.

"No you're, not," I insisted, "you might feel better, but it's probably not healed all the way."

"Heather, I'm fine!" She retorted, "I can walk, I can move around and everything."

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go until you're fully healed. You could get hurt, and make it worse." I gently remind her

"Yeah, we'll what about you? You got hurt too!" She exclaimed.

"I- that's- it's just-," I stumble over my words trying to come up with something, before she cuts me off.

"You wouldn't have gotten hurt if I was there," she quietly mumbles, "none of this would've happened if I was there with you."

"This isn't your fault, if that's what your thinking," I tell her, "None of this is your fault!"

"You should've let me be there with you..." she mutters to herself.

She sounds drained, and exhausted. Did she get any sleep last night?

"Look, I know your worried but-"

She cuts me off, and snapped, "he wouldn't have hurt you if I was there! It's my fault you got hurt, and I don't want that to happen again!"

I sit in shock. She's clearly anxious about me getting hurt again, but I can't let her come with. I can't let her risk getting herself hurt, especially when she still needs time to heal. I don't want her to put my needs before her own.

"It's not your fault, okay?" I cup her cheeks, and pull her closer to me, "I'll be fine, it was just that one day."

Her face practice melts into my hands, as she looks away from me to avoid eye contact.

"Veronica, look at me," I instruct as she continues to look off to the side, "look, I'll be fine, okay? You can come back to school soon, but you need to take time for yourself to get better first, alright?"

She finally makes eye contact with me, and nods silently.

"You promised me that you'd be careful," she reminds me, "but clearly you weren't."

"I'm sorry, I know I did, but I swear nothing bad is going to happen to me this time," I reassure her, "I really will be safe this time."

"You better be," she chuckles somberly, "you better be fucking careful."

"There's my girl," I remark playfully nudging her shoulder. It's great that she's protective, and doesn't want to see me get hurt, but she needs to take care of herself first.

She smiles, and lays her head on my shoulder, "what if I started going back next week?"

"Two week after that."

"One week?" She suggests.

"Fine."