Trauma of the Forest (Meadema)

~ Chapter 65: The New Normal ~

Miraculously, Viv didn't wake up until 8am. And she didn't wake up in the end because she was completely rested, but purely because her phone rang. She had really assumed that she would wake up a few times during the night because Beth needed to be reassured or maybe something else. Oh, how she hoped that Beth had actually slept all that time, when she had slept herself, that Beth hadn't been lying in bed crying last night, without her being awake to comfort her.

She had told her very clearly that she could wake her up if anything happened, she wanted to be there for Beth so badly. But deep down she knew that Beth actually prefers to keep her emotions to herself, that she doesn't want to bother Viv with them, especially not now that there is so much stress.

Beth was still asleep, actually still seemed to be knocked out, didn't wake up from the ringing of Viv's phone. They were still in exactly the same position as they had fallen asleep a few hours ago, her arm around Beth, her other hand lying on her covered baby bump and Beth completely snuggled up against her.

She loved lying in this position with Beth so much, feeling each other's as much as possible. Yes, she was often a little sore the next day from Beth's weight half on top of her and not changing positions during the night, but just her wife, lying so close to her, so relaxed, as if nothing was wrong, was something Viv could only have dreamed of.

But now she really had to get out of this position, she had to get her phone with the hand that was lying on Beth's baby bump. She could just reach it, she could just stretch her arm far enough not to wake Beth. Somewhere she was a bit grumpy, because who was calling her so early on a Saturday morning!?

Until she saw on the screen of her phone who was calling her, her mother. 'Shit'. She didn't think about it for a second, because of all the stress she hadn't had time to inform her and Beth's parents about what was happening. She hadn't informed their parents that they were safe. Or had her parents not seen anything about the men yet and was she calling about something else?

She decided to quickly pick up the phone, it was a video call, so she immediately assumed that this would actually be about the fact that those men had escaped, that her mother wanted to see from the environment in which Viv was whether she and Beth were safe. Somewhere Viv felt, despite knowing what was coming, a little bit of a pleasant feeling arise, because the image that Carolien would see, was the image of Viv with Beth snuggled up against her, which she really enjoyed.

She hoped that Beth would sleep through it, that she wouldn't wake up from the phone call, because she knew for sure that if Beth wasn't disturbed and her mind wasn't filled with all sorts of scenarios again, she could sleep for at least another 2 hours. And besides, when the conversation was over, she would abruptly put her phone away and hopefully, if she was still asleep, enjoy the silence, Beth's soft breathing, just lying there relaxing for a moment.

Before the phone was about to be hung up, she picked it up and of course both her mother and father appeared on screen, both with very worried looks on their faces. Luckily, her parents immediately saw that Beth was still sleeping, so they spoke to Viv in a whisper, doing everything they could not to wake Beth. 'Lieverd, are you okay? Where are you?'. Viv felt Beth move a little. 'Shh liefje, try to get some more sleep. It's still early'. To her great gratitude it was only to nestle herself a little further into Viv.

'Hey mom, hey dad. Yeah, we're okay. I assume you've seen the news then?'. All her parents did was nod, before they went into more detail. 'Are you safe somewhere Viv? Should we come your way? You know we'll be right there if you need us'. Viv felt so loved, she was so proud of the good relationship she had built with her parents, despite the fact that they didn't see each other that often.