Safe haven |Hazel Callahan x Reader |

Protector

"I think you'd be a otter"
"Why?"
She strokes my hair softly and I shuffle closer to her. Hazels arm is around my shoulder and my head rests in the crook of her neck.
"Because they're cute and fuzzy"
I roll onto my side and bury my face in her neck adjusting the duvet to cover my shoulders.
"I'm fuzzy?"
She laughs and I feel her chest vibrate.
"So I say you're a big scary bear and I'm a tiny little otter?"
She laughs again. I move my head to her chest and rest it there.
"Well I happen to like otters"
She rests her chin on my head and I close my eyes. I count the beats of her heart. One. Two. Three......

-Authors note: This is them. And that's it. Argue with the wall-

"Hey, hey-
I waken to Hazel stroking my face softly. I blink until my vision clears. Immediately I can sense the absence of her body around mine.
"Hazel-
I sit up and my mother stares from the bottom of the bed. Hazel slips off of the mattress and walks towards the door. I don't say anything, still disorientated. As Hazel walks past my Mom, my mom reaches out and pulls her into a hug. She mutters something to her and then let's her go. Hazel smiles back at me and then leaves, closing the door behind her. My jaw falls slightly. Did my mother just hug Hazel? Was that a real thing that just happened?
She walks over and sits on the side of the bed to face me. She takes a deep breath.
"Your father is back in San Francisco"
I nod. Unsurprising and yet there's a pit in my stomach. Something tells me the hospital was the last time I will ever see him.
"He-
I can tell she's struggling to excuse him.
"Don't"
I shake my head and begin to cry. I laugh in attempt to conceal it.
"It's okay Mom"
She grabs my hands and shakes her head no.
"It's not"
I nod in agreement and wipe my tears with the sleeve of my hoodie.
"I tried baby"
I nod again and continue to cry. She wipes my tears for me and pulls me in, wrapping her arm around over my shoulders.
"She's a lovely girl"
I laugh through my tears. There's a long few minutes of silence.
"I need you to know that I-
She pulls out of the hug and looks into my eyes intently.
"I need you to know that I love you the way you are. I just, I didn't want to see him hurt you. I prayed to god to change it, so that I could keep you both.."
She wipes my tears as they continue to stream.
"I sent you here because- because I didn't know how to control it....him. I didn't want him to do something that he'd regret"
The thought of his anger shivers my spine and my sadness transforms to anger, to disgust and to shame.
"I'm so so proud of you for being who you are."
I smile.
"And I can promise you that I will spend every day repairing what I broke."
She squeezes my hands and we both look down at them.
"I love you so much baby"
"I-
I try to say it but I can't. I'm not ready. I've noticed how she can't say that I'm gay. She can't say the word lesbian. She doesn't ask about Hazel. All of these flickers of the old her stop me from loving a mother the way a daughter should. But I can tell she's trying and that's what counts.
She doesn't force it out of me or make me feel bad. She simple squeezes my hands again, kisses my forehead and leaves.