(I hate this chapter so you should too.)
(not proofread)
*TW: very brief mention of a panic attack*
..
Gabi and Sierra had just finished going out to lunch, to which Gabi just picked at her sandwich, after the disastrous court hearing, and was now headed to the hospital to visit Luke and the rest of the guys.
But Gabi felt numb now.
She had to have weekly visitation with her parents, the people that had tormented her and sent her to the hospital.
But they were also the reason she was introduced to Luke.
Regardless of that, however, they were still dangerous and terrible people.
"We'll fight this, honey. Don't you worry. The attorney is already working on a way to reverse this," Sierra said.
"But what if it's not enough, Sierra? What happens if the judge decides that I should live with them again? They'll kill me."
"Gabi, sweetheart, I'm going to do everything in my power to battle this. Okay? I won't quit until you don't have to see them anymore and they end up in prison."
"But what if that doesn't happen? What if they take me again?"
"Sweetheart, just like how we talked about optimism with Luke and his coma, we need to be just as optimistic with this. Okay? I know it's hard but we just have to try or else we'll never know what could happen."
Gabi nodded and sniffled, wiping her tears. She knew that Sierra and everyone wanted her to be optimistic that good things would prevail, but it was so difficult when the bad kept outweighing the good.
She waited until Sierra pulled into her parking spot and then got out of the car, trailing behind her. She pulled the hood up of the hoodie that she had put on after court.
She definitely did not want anyone to see her red eyes and blotchy face and know that she was crying.
"Hey, how'd the court hearing go?" Calum smiled when he saw Gabi and Sierra walk up to them after they found them all in the cafeteria.
Gabi's lips began to quiver and soon she was sobbing uncontrollably, turning around and burying her head in Ashton.
So much for them not knowing she was crying.
"Hey, what's the matter, sweetheart? What's got you so upset, hm?"
"I can't."
"You can't? You can't what?"
"I can't. I can't go back." Gabi kept repeating over and over through her painful, heart-wrenching sobs.
"Who said anything about going back? Going back where? To court?" Michael asked, confused. They all were.
"No! With them," Gabi cried.
Sierra sighed and took a seat near them. "The judge ordered mandatory visitation with her parents at the police station every Saturday for two hours despite them being found guilty of abuse," she explained.
"What? He can't do that? Can he?"
"I don't know. We're going to fight it as much as possible."
"Yeah, but if they're guilty of abuse they should be going to jail, no? I mean I didn't specialize in law but.."
"I guess this is the way the judge wanted things, but we're not just going to give up."
"They're going to kill me," Gabi repeated. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that they hurt me, but I did."
"None of this is your fault," Ashton reassured her. "Their actions are what exposed them to be at fault, not you."
"But you guys don't know them like I did. You don't know what they're capable of."
"Gabi, relax."
"No! I can't!"
She was starting to breathe heavily and Ashton took immediate notice of it, bringing her to the floor with him and guiding her head between her knees.
"Relax and follow the pace of my breathing."
So Gabi did just that.
"You have nothing to be ashamed of, Gabi. You've done nothing wrong. Everything always works out and I promise you that."
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Ash."
"Well then, it's a damn good thing I've never broken a promise."
"Can you promise that Luke's gonna be okay?" She asked just softly enough so only the two of them could hear.
And for that one,
Ashton chose to stay silent.
