Blinded. (Sequel to invisible) A Fifth Harmony fanfiction.

Chapter 26

"You're doing so well baby, only one more man than that's it." Lauren said supportively as Charlotte's shaking slowed down. Sitting out at the front of the police station, Charlotte raised her eyes to watch the people walking past looking as if they hadn't a care in a world. She envied them. They weren't where she was right now, identifying the wicked men that violated her and giving a description of how they did so. "I want to go home," Charlotte whimpered as Lauren kissed her forehead gently, "I don't want to keep reliving this."

"I know," Lauren sighed softly, placing another kiss to her forehead, "just once more, then that's it. We can go home and the next time you have to see any of them is at the trail which can be as soon or as far as you want. Then it's all done. We can finally go on that holiday and move on, no more worries."

Charlotte nodded gently, she was desperate to go home and go to sleep, why was she so tired today? She slept fine last night. Deciding to get everything done in order to go home and be with Ivy, she slowly got up and wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans before linking arms with Lauren who was also standing and went back inside the large busy building.

After another rather traumatising hour, Charlotte and Lauren left the station. Lauren watching her closely at every chance she got as she drove back to the apartment, taking note of how distant and pale faced Charlotte was now. She hoped it was the pure stress of the day, and the fact that the court meeting would be next week due to Charlotte's demand of wanting everything to be other. Lauren understood completely, it was hard to see the girl so tired and stressed, she also knew that knowing that her abusers were soon to be behind bars would soothe the younger girl, helping her relax and move on, because it would have the same effect for Lauren, knowing that they were no longer able to hurt Charlotte.

"Can we not go home?" Charlotte asked, breaking the silence in the car. Lauren looked at her quizzically, "How come?" She flicked off her indicator to turn into the apartments parking lot and instead kept driving forward. "I just don't want to go home," The youngster said with very little emotion, "I want to go somewhere else. Anywhere."

Lauren frowned but said nothing in objection as she reached for Charlotte's hand and squeezed it slightly before pressing her foot down on the gas and moving along side the traffic, cruising no where in particular and smiling slightly as Charlotte rested her head back, closed her eyes and traced circles on Lauren's palm as she slowly dosed off with sleep.

When she woke up, it was nearly nightfall. The sky a magnificent blur of orange, blue and pink. Charlotte twisted in her seat to see a place that brought back many good memories.

"The park?" She asked, turning to see Lauren wasn't sat next to her. She frowned and looked out the window to see Lauren sat with her back against the same Charlotte and Olivia were sat the day the girls found out she was an orphan. Unbuckling her seatbelt, Charlotte got out of the car and gently shut the door behind her before making her way over, sitting herself down next to Lauren, who was reading a book.

"How was your sleep?" She asked softly, tearing her eyes away from the book briefly to see that Charlotte's cheeks had a lot more colour than before and no longer seemed distant. "Good," Charlotte replied as she brushed her fingers through the grass gently, enjoying the light breeze and swarm of good memories invading her head, "it was probably one of the best naps I've had since everything has happened."

Nodding, Lauren pulled Charlotte closer to her. The two both stared out over the pond. It was moving gently, but everything was calm, the sky reflected perfectly off the water apart from the small area where a few ducks bobbed on top of the surface, their eyes seemingly shut as a swan glided past.

"How come here?"

"It's the place where you basically left a very strong impression on me, where I realised you were special and that you weren't just some ordinary kid." Lauren replied easily. "So you brought me back to the start?" Charlotte chuckled, "how tumblr of you."

"Oh hush," Lauren grinned, "you wanted to go some place, I thought this would bring back some good memories."

Charlotte smiled and hugged Lauren a little tighter. The place had done exactly that and Charlotte was so grateful that it had. She was so swarmed by the trail and dealing with those men that it had completely darkened her world, making waking up and going about life harder and harder as everything went on, but the first time it felt clear and she couldn't help but sigh contently as she and Lauren sat there watching the sun set behind the trees.