PANIC | Jiper

Chapter One

TW: Panic attack, not very descriptive. Bad language, not excessive.

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"Shit, shit, shit," Lev mumbled to himself as he walked around, waiting for Jentzen to pick up the phone.

Piper was sat on the ground a few inches away, trembling and sweating. She was having trouble breathing, tears pouring down her face. Emily was trying to comfort her and Elliana kept repeatedly asking what was wrong. Sometimes Piper would open her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't.

Lev had absolutely no idea what to do, so he had called Jentzen. On the third ring, Jentzen picked up.

"It's Piper. I- something's going on with her," Lev said immediately.

"Okay, text me your location, I'm already on my way," Jentzen responded from the other end, and Lev could hear fumbling that sounded like keys.

He texted Jentzen the address, and it only took him five minutes to get there. He must have ran lights and speeded. He rushed out of the car, going immediately over to Piper.

"Ellie, I appreciate you trying to help, but you're just stressing her out more," Jentzen said, squatting in front of Piper. Elliana stepped away, going to stand by Lev.

"She'll be okay," she told him, putting a reassuring hand on his back. He nodded and tried to smile.

"Emily," Jentzen said, "calm down. If Piper's panicking, it's not gonna help if you're panicking too."

Emily nodded and took a few deep breaths, making sure she was calm as she kept her hand comfortingly on Piper's back.

Jentzen took both of Piper's hands loosely in his own and forced her to make eye contact with him.

"Okay, I'm going to count to two multiple times. When I say one, you're going to breathe in, and when I say two you're going to breathe out. Match my rhythm, okay?" he said, speaking in a calm and gentle voice.

Piper nodded, concentrating on his eyes and unknowingly squeezing his hands. Emily was rubbing soothing circles on her back, quiet.

"One." They both breathed in.

"Two." They both breathed out.

Jentzen continued guiding Piper through her breathing, and Emily joined in, trying her best to help. Elliana and Lev were both watching worriedly from afar, knowing that the best thing they could do was to give her space. Besides, Jentzen seems to know what he's doing.

After a while, Piper seemed to be calming down, and her trembling had stopped. Her tears were dry and she was able to breathe normally now. She was still shaking slightly, and her eyes were closed now. Emily stood up, removing her hand from Piper's back, and Jentzen gently pulled her up, letting go of her hands. He stepped away to stand next to Emily as Lev rushed forwards to hug Piper. She tensed, and Emily and Jentzen shared a look, but nothing happened. After a short while she extracted herself and took a shaky breath.

"Umm..." she said, "I just kind of need to be alone right now..."

She glanced over at Jentzen, silently asking if he could drive her somewhere. He nodded, wanting to help his friend as much as possible.

"I'm sorry," Piper said biting her lip nervously, "I just can't really be around people right now."

"That's okay. Take all the time you need," Elliana said, smiling at her. Piper half-heartedly tried to return it. She gave Emily a hug before following Jentzen to the car.
She buckled her seatbelt and Jentzen pulled out of the parking lot, rounding the corner and out of sight of the other squad members.

They sat in silence for a while, until Jentzen decided it was safe to ask. "Soo...do you want me to drop you off at your house?"

"No," Piper said, all too quickly.

Jentzen raised his eyebrows at her, and she sighed. "I just don't think I can face Hunter right now. He's probably just going to try to stick a camera in my face, and with the lawsuit going on, it's all becoming a bit much..."

He nodded. "I understand. I can drop you off somewhere else so you can be alone?"

She looked away briefly, before looking back. "Can I go with you to your house?"

"I thought you wanted to be alone?"

"That was just an excuse to get away from the others," she admitted, slightly embarrassed. "I mean, I love them, I do, I just really needed space right now. And I mean, you did help me a lot."

She shook her head. "I don't know, I guess I just feel less scared with you." She gave a self-deprecating laugh, clearly uncomfortable with being so vulnerable after the incident that just happened.

Jentzen smiled at her. "That's a good thing. And I'm sure they understand - like Elliana said, you can take all the time you need."

She gave him a genuine smile. "Thanks." She opened her mouth, hesitated, and then closed it.

She was silent for the rest of the car ride, looking out of the window. Jentzen knew he had to be patient with her, and that was okay.

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Disclaimer: This may be an inaccurate representation of an actual panic attack. Please do proper research before attempting to help someone, as the method shown in this story might not work.