someone to stay, ⁹¹¹

𝟎𝟏𝟖.

JJ sat by her window as she watched the rain. It was heavy, loud and unusual for LA. But it was perfect for the way she was feeling. The drops hammered against her window, making it impossible to see anything apart from raindrops and trees for miles.

She used to hate the rain. It used to scare her. But the sound of it hitting her window seemed to calm her at that moment.

She'd been awake for hours now, yet another tsunami nightmare had woken her up. Her shoulder ached, reminding her of the awful day she prayed to forget.

It had been nearly a month now since the tsunami hit LA, but her shoulder still ached from time to time, leaving a constant reminder of that day.

She contemplated waking up her father, as she promised she would if she had another nightmare, but she chose not to.

It wasn't because she didn't want to bother him, she knew his mind had also been plagued from that day. It was because she was ashamed and even a little guilty.

She wasn't sure why she felt that way, as she couldn't stop a natural disaster, but she still did.

Letting out a shaky sigh, JJ got up from her seat and headed downstairs. It was already 5 am, so there was no point going back to sleep now.

She rubbed her chest as she walked down the stairs, her hands shaky slightly as she did so.

When she made it down the stairs, she spotted her father was already down there.

"You okay?" Buck asked her softly, silently letting her know he was here if something was wrong.

He'd heard her from his room about an hour ago, he'd also woken up from a nightmare, but if JJ was awake and she hadn't gone to see him, he took the hint that she wanted to be alone.

JJ gave him a nod, but her voice came out quiet and forced. "Yeah."

The way JJ sounded wasn't convincing, not one bit, so Buck kept his eyes on his daughter, looking for any signs of panic.

He saw the early signs of a panic attack, but by the way, she was acting, she hadn't noticed yet, so he'd try to keep her calm and prevent it.

JJ ran a hand through her hair, tugging on it slightly as she let out a small huff of air followed by another.

The rise and fall of her chest quickened and got shallow. A panicked gasp let her throat, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Juniper." Buck kept his voice reassuring. "What's wrong?" She shook her head. "I- I don't know." Her breathing began to get more shallow.

"Hey, come and sit down." He stood up and ushered his daughter into the seat he had just been sitting in.

JJ put her head in her hands, taking short and panicked breaths as she gripped onto her hair tightly. "Hey." JJ shook her head, fingers digging into her scalp.

Buck quickly removed her hands from her hair, placing his larger, warm hands over hers, rubbing his thumb over her palm.

JJ continued to breathe rapidly as Buck remained crouched in front of her. She seemed to be pretty alert, which was good, so Buck let her get through it on her own.

It was something her therapist had mentioned a few years ago. If it was a mild panic attack, then it was best for her to get through it on her own.

Which didn't take long, because her breathing soon returned to normal, making her sit up slightly, her hands still clutched in her father's.

"Can I have some water?" She asked, her voice hoarse. Buck nodded, jumping up from his crouched position to get her a glass of cold water.

As she slowly drank her water, her eyebrows went back to their furrowed position. It didn't make any sense. JJ was fine minutes ago, she was sitting by her window, looking at the rain as she tried to get the tsunami out of her head.