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Calum

"What happened, angel?" I said quietly, sitting in Luke's spare room with Gia on my lap, "I know I am in my scrubs, I am sorry,"

"I don't know,"

"You don't know?"

"I feel sick,"

I placed a kiss on her head and she tiredly rested on my chest, sniffling.

"I think- I think it happened because Luke was oiling my braids, but Rider came in and kept sitting and talking, and pulled me. There was lots of touch,"

"Yeah,"

"I still have bad thoughts,"

"I know, angel. I'm so sorry you are going through this,"

"I wanted to be better,"

"It's not magical, it takes time, and resilience. These things happen, but it doesn't take you away from getting to a place you feel good in,"

"Okay,"

"It's just a horrible thing to experience, isn't it?" I said, kissing her head, "Shall we get home?"

"Yes please,"

Quietly, she began to cry again, and I held her tightly, swaying us side to side. I wished I had been here while it happened so that I could have helped, but I couldn't dwell on that too much, because I was here now.

"You're safe now, and we all love you so much, no matter what,"

"I love you too,"

"Is your hair all finished?"

She nodded and slipped off my lap, taking my hand to take us downstairs. I followed her, Rider by the door with his shoes on.

"Did you have a good day?"

"Yeah, we watched a movie together," he said, "Luke's house is fun,"

"Good. We'd better get home, thanks Luke,"

"They've all been a pleasure, as always,"

Sage came round the corner and smiled, doing a little jump before they hugged me, then we went out to the car with Luke carrying the bags for us.

He put them in the boot then waved us off, so I took us back home. The car was quiet, with no radio, because Gia was still flustered. Adorably though, Rider was holding her hand and comforting her.

When we got home, they all went inside and I took their lunchboxes to the kitchen, opening them all. It bugged me to see Gia's still so full.

"Dad, what's for tea?"

"Probably pasta bake, I'm quite tired," I said to Sage, "What did you get up to today?"

"I saw my friends,"

"How come?"

"They wanted to hang out. Luke said it was okay,"

"Of course it's okay, who went?"

"Donny and Aimee,"

"Well that's nice, have you done all your homework for this week?"

"I have one more piece,"

"Why don't you do that now? I can help if you need,"

"It's English,"

"You should've got Luke to help," I smiled, pouring pasta into a big pan, "Give it a go,"

"I'll bring it down,"

They went upstairs to get it, then came down and sat at the table. Moments later, Gia went over and gave them a hug.

heal// 5SOSWhere stories live. Discover now