TW: mentions of blood and injury
(Char's POV)
"Hi sweetheart," Mia says meeting me in the car park after work. "Hey," I smile giving her a quick kiss. I turn around to the girls in the back. "Hey girls." I look down at her arm, noticing it wrapped up in a bandage. "What happened to your arm baby, did you hurt yourself?" She folds her arm in her lap to try and hide it. "Nothing sweetheart, it's fine." "Amelia it clearly isn't fine come on what happened?" I persist. "Nothing," she shrugs. "Just... just stop talking about it." "Mia please I'm just trying to make sure that you're..." "I said stop!" She snaps. "For goodness sake Charlotte just stop asking me about my arm!" "Fine," I swallow letting go of her hand.
She sighs, starting the car and driving us home. In complete silence. Not a peep from either of us. I try once more to reason with her once we're inside. As I peer at her arm a little closer, I notice spots of blood coming up to the surface of the bandage. "Look, Mia. I know you don't want to talk about it but I can see blood coming through the bandage now are you completely sure that everything's..." "Char... stop," she interrupts tears starting to form in her eyes. "No more about this please." I swallow my breath, looking at her helplessly as she heads upstairs with the twins to put them down for their nap. I decide to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water, my heart plummeting to the bottom of my stomach at what I see.
Several bandages and plasters scattered all over the table. Empty packets of antiseptic wipes. Blood stained tissues. I feel tears in my eyes as I start to clean it all up, feeling sick at just the thought of how she could possibly have gotten those injuries. I take a deep breath and walk upstairs slowly to find Mia sat silently on the bed, mascara running all the way down her face and her eyes red and puffy from crying. "Amelia," I mumble under my breath. My hand reaches for hers and she takes it reluctantly by her finger tips. "Look at me please, this is serious." She lifts her head up slowly, anger and pain in her eyes. "As your wife I have to ask you what happened?" "You saw the stuff downstairs?" She sniffs.
I nod slowly. "Look if you're not going to say anything, at least just let me hold you." I wrap my arms around her slowly before she quickly pulls herself away. "Go away Charlotte. Please." "Amelia I just wanted to..." I start. "I said get the fuck away from me!" She shouts through her tears. "Just get out my fucking sight and stop with the constant questions!" My vision starts to blur with tears. "Mia listen to me please I'm your wife you can talk to me." She doesn't respond. "Amelia come on now.." "Leave!" She repeats. "All I wanted to do was hold you," I cry standing myself up. "All I wanted to do was tell you everything was ok, hold you in my arms and say I love you! If you can't even accept that then I don't know..." I leave the room, shutting the door firmly behind me.
Not wanting the twins to hear me cry, I go downstairs to the living room and burry my head in my hands as I just sob. My mind races at a million miles an hour, I feel light headed and sick to my stomach. I wanted my wife. I needed my wife. Eventually, I bite the bullet and go back upstairs to see her. Mia hadn't moved from her spot much at all from where I left her. "Are you ready to talk now?" I whisper. "I won't ask you questions, or get angry I promise. I just want to talk." She considers her answer for a few moments, wiping her tears and breathing heavily. "Fine."
I nod, sitting down next to her as we both take a deep breath. "If you take anything away from this conversation let it be this. I love you. I fucking love you so much Amelia Roberts, and I breaks my heart to see you cry. I hate it. And it breaks my heart even more to be the reason you cry." I take her hand again, holding it just up to her knuckles. "Nothing can hurt you. Not while I'm here." "He can," she mutters. I try and contain my gasp. "Who.. can?" I whisper. "You know who," she sniffs. "He's more dangerous than you think Charlotte. The man knows people, dangerous people who are willing to do anything to follow his orders." "Anything?" I murmur. "Anything," she nods wiping her tears. "Including this." She slowly unwraps the bandage from her arm, revealing a large slit which dragged almost down to her elbow.
It looked as if it had been done by a knife. My mouth gapes open in horror as I look at the slit. "Have you cleaned it?" "Well I tried my best," Mia mumbles wiping more of her tears away. "You saw downstairs. And don't worry the girls are fine I kept them safe. They were sleeping in the buggy when it happened so they didn't see a thing." "If you don't mind I might try and clean it again," I say gently. "Ok," Mia sighs.
I hurry downstairs to find more wipes and fresh bandages before coming back up to the room. "This might sting a little bit ok? You can squeeze my hand if you'd like." Mia gives me her arm and I open a wipe and start gently wiping the cut, which makes her flinch a little. "Ow! Charlotte it really hurts!" "I know it does," I reassure her. "Just hold still for me please, it'll be over quick." Mia closes her eyes tightly, squeezing my hand as the wipe grazes her skin again. "You're doing so well just one more wipe." Mia squeezes my hand even harder as I wipe it one last time. "That's it now see? You've done so well." I unravel the bandage and wrap it around her wrist nice and tightly, tying it off at the end.
"Thanks," Mia sniffs. "I'm sorry I sent you out earlier and I'm sorry I yelled." "I'm sorry too," I frown circling her palm with my thumb. "I shouldn't have overstepped." "Can... can I have my cuddle now?" She asks. "If it's not too much to ask I just... I want to be held again." Without another word, I wrap my arms around her, rocking her gently in my arms as she melts into the hug. "I love you," I whisper in her ear before kissing it. "I love you so much my sweetheart." As we release, I gently hold her bandaged arm. "Do you want me to kiss it better for you?" "I'd like that," she whispers smiling ever so slightly. I kiss the surface of her bandage gently.
I take a clean tissue and wipe it gently across her face, removing the mascara from under her eyes and her cheeks. She flings her arms around me once more, squeezing me extra tight as I just hold her for a while. "Anything else you want to talk about baby? I'm all ears if you do." "No thanks," she mutters. "I just want to be held by you right now, you make everything feel better."
