Forever and Always

~2~

"Shit shit shit shit fuck!" Elliot pants as she fumbled with the keys to her apartment. She eventually was able to steady her hand enough to insert the key into the lock and turn it. She stumbled on the door and slammed it shut before leaning back against it and and slowly sliding down to the ground and hid her head in between her legs while her arms wrapped around her head.

"El? You home?"

There was the soft sound of light footsteps paddling against the floor. It wasn't long before they rounded the corner as the former soccer player lifted her head up with pleading eyes. "Please...Help me.." She gasped out as her chest heaved up and down rapidly.

She reacted immediately moving to the ground beside Elliot. She swept her up and cradled her in her arms. She was quick in the uptake as she held her close to her chest as she rocked her gently, "Shushhh El it's okay. It's okay. Your home. Your safe. Just breathe".

Elliot reached out blindly flexing out her fingers for her. But she was quick to take her hand and squeeze it in response. "Just how we practiced yeah" she says as Elliot nods into her neck. She squeezed her hand, "Breathe in". Elliot took a deep breath slowly. "And breath out" she instructs as she stops squeezing her hand which is followed by Elliot breathing out.

They repeat this a few times before Elliot eventually has her breathing under control. "Thanks" she mumbles her voice coming out raspy. But she just shrugs, "Glad to help". They just sit there for a bit in a comfortable silence which isn't uncommon for the two. And like usual she asked the same question as she always did, "Wanna talk about it?"

Elliot just sighed and pushed herself up from the ground, "Not really". She sighed as she followed Elliot into the kitchen where she grabbed a water from the fridge, "C'mon El. You always say that but we both know that you need to talk about it". But Elliot just gives her a blank stare before she downs some water.

She rubs her eyebrow in frustration but relents, "How was your visit to the Tower? Remember anything?" Elliot ran her tongue along the inside of her mouth but shakes her head, "Nothing". She just nods quietly as she watches Elliot. "Someone recognised me though" Elliot whispered picking at the label of the water bottle.

Her eyes widen as she leans forward, "Oh?" Elliot just nods as she taps her thumb against the counter. "You recognise her or was it a fan?" She asked. Elliot sniffs, "I don't think it was a fan....but she wasn't there after I woke up". Elliot furrowed her eyebrows in thought, "She spoke as if she knew me though. She called me Ellie".

She just nods, "What did you do?" Elliot just scoffed, "Told her she had me mixed up with someone else and booked it out of there. She would have gone after me if it wasn't for the guy she was with". She watched her carefully as she saw Elliot subconsciously rub her wrist, "Did she do anything?"  In response to that Elliot immediately stopped rubbing her wrist and glared at her travel companion, "I told you to stop doing that". But she just raised an eyebrow at her, "Well did she?"

Elliot shuffled past her, "Screw you Cal". But as she moved past her, the girl gently took her by the crook of her elbow careful not to set her off in any way. "El...you need to talk to me".

The former soccer player licked her lips, "She grabbed my wrist". She sighed at the look on her friend's face. She always hated the look of pity and sadness that would cross her friend's face hearing about her struggles to readjust into life. "It's fine Cal. She looked like she regretted it straight after and backed off. I got a little freaked is all".

She searched her face for any signs of lies but when she found none she relaxed a bit. Instead she looked down at the mentioned arm and started massaging her forearm. Elliot let out a content sigh as she let her eyes flutter closed. She digged her thumb down the length of her forearm before gliding over her wrist with a featherlight touch. She went from her wrist down to the palm of her hand running her fingers over her palm in patterns.