Showing Her The Ropes

Chapter 15: Depression and Acceptance

A week. A whole week had passed by and still the two had heard nothing from the police about any progress on the case of Gwen's family. Furthermore, Peter had not seen any signs of Harry at all since the clock tower and he was beginning to get suspicious. It wasn't like the guy to just back down, clearly he was up to something. 

Asides from the lack of news, Peter's nightmares had continued, only getting worse and worse each night. Yet he still hadn't bothered to tell Gwen through fear of pushing her over the edge. She was already on fragile ground as it was, and he could only dread what would happen if she reached her breaking point. 

Each day of training she had shown signs of progress, though despite this she did not show him any signs of how she felt and so it had become like a guessing game for him where he would just have to take his chances and hope that he didn't upset or anger her. 

Finishing up in the kitchen, he placed two plates on a tray, one for her and one for himself, and then headed upstairs with breakfast. Today would be challenging since it was the day that they would be going back to the apartment for the first time since discovering the bodies due to the police requesting that Gwen take anything that she might need from there so that they could proceed with the investigation without any chance of evidence being tainted.

Entering the bedroom, he placed the tray down and then turned his attention to where she was laid asleep still. Sitting down on the bed, he leaned over and kissed her forehead. 

"Gwen? Wake up… Breakfast is ready." He whispered softly into her ear.

For a brief moment her eyes opened, but before she spoke a word she shut them again instantly and screwed her face up; clearly not pleased about another day beginning. Feeling bad for having woken her up, Peter held her hand in his own and gave it a gentle squeeze as if to let her know that he was there.

"Give me one good reason why I should bother getting up?" She asked, clearly not in the best of moods.

Peter sighed, the whole week had been a series of mornings just like this one. He would wake up a little earlier and do something nice for Gwen to wake up to, then when he woke her, she never wanted to do anything other than sleep all day. It hadn't changed a single bit either, and he could barely get her to wake up… Not even for food. 

"Because you can't sleep your whole life away, Gwen." He stated.

"Well I can try." She retorted. 

Not saying a word, he put his feet up on the bed and wrapped his arms around her, hoping that it would make even the slightest bit of difference. 

"What are you doing?" She questioned.

"Oh… I should probably mention that if you're going to sleep your life away, then I will too." He informed her.

"You're not funny." She said, her voice monotonous.

"Good. I wasn't trying to be." 

A frown appeared on her face, she sat up instantly and moved away from him to the edge of the bed then dropped her head in her hands. 

"Shoot!... Gwen, I…" He began, but trailed off when he realised that what he had to say would just be taken the wrong way.

"Don't." She warned.

Getting up, she shook her head, disgusted with her uncontrollable behaviour. She already felt guilty enough, knowing that Peter didn't deserve any of it. Despite knowing it was wrong, she didn't know how to snap out of it. The heavy weight on her chest kept getting heavier and heavier each day and soon it would cave. She couldn't let him witness that. Feeling herself beginning to hyperventilate, she jumped to her feet.