ed and lorraine warren on-shots

part 3

the room felt busy as a group of bustling young college students filled the auditorium in which ed and lorraine were giving their first lecture of the month, with many more to come.

lorraine sat on the stage, slightly fidgeting with her rings in an attempt to help settle her nerves. ed flipped through his notes so that the subject if demonology was fresh on his mind, he glanced up at lorraine before noticing that something was wrong.

"hon, are you ok?" he asked softly.
"i'm ok, why?" she responded smiling, in an effort to trick him.
"nothing, just wanted to make sure" he said, returning her smile.

10 minutes passed before drew gave the signal that everything was ready to go and that they could start.

during the lecture, ed did most of the talking, lorraine spoke every now and then but remained awfully quiet, even for her.

after 40 minutes, she started feeling very dizzy. she couldn't quite place what was making her feel this way, was it something she had eaten earlier? she excuses herself from the lecture for a moment so she could get a glass of water and go for a walk, but she barely made it out into the hallway before feeling a heavy weight on her chest. she sat on a bench that was only a few feet from the doors that led to the auditorium, but when she sat down she felt herself begin to hyperventilate and sob. she looked down at her hands and noticed that they were shaking uncontrollably.

she attempted to take a few slow, deep breaths to calm herself down, but they didn't help all that much because her mind was incredibly crowded.

after only a minute, ed came through the doors looking for her, he was deeply concerned about her.

"lorraine, whats wrong?" he asked placing a hand gently on her shoulder, kneeling down to her level.

lorraine couldn't get the words out, her entire body was shaking to the point she felt she was going to vomit.

all she could think about was how embarrassed she was that she suddenly left the auditorium like that, she could hear what the students were thinking about her, some felt sorry for her, others were feeling embarrassed for her.

she wrapped her arms around ed, which took him by surprise. he hugged her back, gently stroking the back off her head in an attempt to help her calm down, and it somewhat did.

after a minute, ed got up and sat on the bench next to her, keeping his arm over her shoulder and holding her other hand.

"are you guys ok?" drew asked, joining them in the hallway.

ed only responded with a slight nod, but drew understood what was going on. he went back inside to talk to the dean to let him know that they might be a while.

lorraine rested her head on eds shoulder, still shaking like a leaf. he gently caressed her shoulder, and she slowly stopped shaking.

"do you want to come and finish the lecture?" ed asked.

lorraine only shook her head and replied with "no".

"will you be ok if i go wrap up? so we can go home?"

"i'll be fine, now" she smiled at him to let him know that she would be ok.

"why dont you go wait in the car? i'll get drew to help me pack up out stuff" he offered.

"ok" she said softly.

ed gave her shoulder a slight squeeze before kissing her forehead, then returning to the auditorium to complete the lecture.

lorraine sat on the bench for a moment before going out to the car where she waited for only 15 minutes before ed and drew came with all of their bags.

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the drive home was a quiet one, but 10 minutes into the drive lorraine broke the silence by softly saying "thank you."

ed looked up from the road, meeting her anxious gaze with a calm one. he placed his right hand in hers, before saying "you dont have to be ashamed."

she realised then that no matter how hard she tried to hide her anxiety from ed, he would always read her like an open book.