My Pace

Chapter 45

Holt's POV
I held her until, her pain meds started working. Her breathing went back to normal.

"Are you okay?"

"I-I'm tired now."

I looked at Anabelle.

"We're all tired. Let's just...all take a nap."

Ariella sniffled. I moved hair out of her face.

"See? You're okay."

Anabelle sat with us until, Ariella fell asleep.

"Did I hear everything right? Her teacher had a gun IN class?"

"Yeah. We're not sending her back there."

"No way in hell, we are. We live right by another school. She can just go there."

When Ariella was discharged, she was scared to leave the house. We heard her screaming in the middle of the night and jumped up. We ran into her room. She was sitting up crying and hyperventilating. She saw us and ran up to us. Anabelle picked her up.

"You're gonna sleep in our room okay?"

She nodded. We brought her back into our room. Anabelle put her in the middle of the bed. Ariella got closer to me.

"A-are you okay that, she does this?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I like that, you have a bond. It's cute."

I had a hard time sleeping that night.

"How long have you been up?"

"All night."

I moved hair out of Ariella's face.

"I don't want to go to work. What if...she needs me?"

"She's gonna be okay."

I yawned.

"It's Saturday. You can worry about work, on Monday. Please just sleep today. Her meds make her exhausted. She'll probably be in bed all day too."

I looked down at Ariella.

"I'm sorry. I'm just worried."

"I know. I am too. We're her parents. We're supposed to worry. Holty...it's gonna be fine. Everything is gonna be okay. She is home with us. She is safe. Please sleep."

I nodded.

"Daddy?"

"Hm?"

I looked down at her.

"I love you."

"I love you too princess. We're just gonna stay in bed today, okay?"

She nodded. She started snuggling with me. I held her, a little tighter. I shut my eyes. I finally fell asleep. I woke up and saw, Ariella was sleeping. Anabelle walked into our room.

"Hey. I just gave her, her meds not even an hour ago. Is she sleeping?"

I moved hair out of her face.

"Yes. She is."

"How'd you sleep?"

"Okay, I think."

"When the school opens up again, I'm gonna go and unenroll her."

"Okay."

"You should eat. It's 1:30."

"I've been sleeping, all day?"

She nodded. I carefully got up. I pulled the blanket up to Ariella's chin. I kissed her forehead. I walked away. I went downstairs to eat.

"See? She's okay."

I was in the middle of eating when, I heard her screaming. Me and Anabelle dropped what we were doing. We ran to our room. We saw Ariella on our bed crying. She saw us and jumped off the bed. She ran over to me. I picked her up.

"Another bad dream?"

Ariella nodded as I wiped a tear away.

"You're okay. You're safe. Are you hungry? I am. I was eating. It's okay. You come first."

I brought her to the dining room and sat down in a chair. I put her on my lap and went back to eating. She started stealing parts of my lunch.

"Hey! I see you stealing my fries!"

She started giggling.

"Do you want me to make you fries?"

She nodded.

"Alright. Let's go."

I stood up and brought her to the kitchen. I went in the freezer and grabbed the bag of fries. I poured some onto a baking sheet and put them in the oven. When they were done, I took them out of the oven. I put them on the counter and turned off the oven.

"Can I have some now?"

"Not yet. They need to cool off."

She started pouting.

"Fine. You can have the rest of mine."

"Yay!"

She ran over to the dining room and grabbed her booster seat. She put it on the chair I was sitting on.

And I lost my seat.

She started eating what was left of my fries.

"She stole your food again?"

"Yeah."

I grabbed another plate and put fries and ketchup on them. When I got back to the dining room, all of my fries were gone.

"Are you still hungry?"

"Mhm!"

I handed her the plate. I took my plate and ate, what was left.