Prophecy of Five: The cost of innocence (g!p)

Doing what we must

When Lauren fell asleep, Camila continued to bath her, relieved that she no longer needed to put on a strong front. She allowed her tears to run down her face, as she bathed her wife with gentle care.

She thought about dressing her once she had cleaned her thoroughly, but decided Sofie would need to see the injuries on her marred body to heal her.

Picking her up, Camila laid Lauren on the bed, and covered her with a thin sheet, sitting silently by her bed, trying to compose herself enough to do what was needed of her.

Wiping her tears, Camila stood, and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her. She was unsurprised at seeing all the of her family sitting on the floor and standing against the wall outside of Lauren's face.

Camila saw the many worried looks on parents and teens alike, and she mustered up a soft smile of reassurance, as she searched for the face she needed to see. When she found a concerned gold face watching her nervously, Camila moved through the crowd quickly, stopping in front of Raquel for only a moment before throwing her arms around the teen and embracing her into a strong, desperate and thankful hug.

"Thank you. So so so much. Without you, she wouldn't have made it through any of this. You risked so much to save her and be there for her through it all, and that makes you family. I know what you lost turning your back on the only people you've ever known, and I want you to know that you will never be cast away for sins that were never yours. You have been a memeber of this family since the moment Lauren started to love you. You are ours, and I couldn't be more grateful to have you." Camila whispered sniffling.

Raquel was touched, and oddly relieved that she was wanted. Wraping her arms around Camila tenatively, she returned the hug, and reveled in the feeling of family. It was a foreign concept, but one she knew she could get used to.

"Honestly, its hard not to love Lauren. She saved me as much as I saved her. She showed me what unconditional love was, and true loyalty. It makes me proud to have helped the chosen one, and can honestly say, the fates couldn't have chosen better for this world." Raquel answered softly.

They held each other for a moment before seperating, and everyone waited for Camila to compose herself before bombarding her with questions.

"How is she?" asked Demi anxiously.

"She's in a lot of pain, but she's trying to hide it. She's not emotionally stable, even though she's trying really hard to be brave and act normally. I think its going to be a while before she can handle anyone other than me or Raquel touching her. It may even be a while before she can handle too many people in a room with her. For now I think its best if me or Raquel is always with her. When visiting we should rotate and go in groups of two. I don't want to overwhelm her. If we want her to heal right, we need to take this slowly, and no rushing her, okay?" Camila gave everyone in the room a pointed look.

She recieved many nods, and mummurs of agreement.

"What of Maya? Where is that bitch?" gritted Camila at Demi.

Demi's eyes hardened and she replied, "She's in our prison cells, under heavy guard. Dinah is watching her now, with a few from Athena's team and Simon. We decided we should let Lauren handle her, when she is up for punishing. We've taken out every base we knew of, and have our intelligence team covering every inch of every base to find out if she has any more bases out there. I'm sure she has some in Europe, so the second we find anything, well dispatch our teams to eliminate them. We did find out she funds a couple orphanage's, which are really covers. Its basically a training camp for children of parents that have died. They are training them to hate us, and treat them worse than they do dogs. I'm sending a large team to each of them, and liberating the kids tonight. There aren't any humans capable of handling elemental children, so we have to bring them here. There are many of our kind who have wanted to adopt, so we're hoping to give them to families that will raise them well, and give them the love they need. Me and Ally will be taking one or two, as will Normani and Dinah."

Camila nodded, wondering herself if her and Lauren should adopt one, or if Lauren could even handle something like that right now.

"Have you interogated her yet?" asked Camila curiously.

Demi shook her head, a evil glint in her eye as she said,"No, I thought Athena  could stay with Lauren tonight so we could do it together."

"I agree. There are many things I want to say to that bitch. For now though, I want everyone still on alert. I don't trust Maya, and until Lauren is a hundred percent, I don't want to take any chances. That bitch is going to pay, and I'll be damned if she pulls a fast one on us." Camila demanded sternly.

Demi gave her a nod of approval, then turned towards Sofie to say," You should heal Lauren as she sleeps, it may help her get a better rest and help the healing process."

"I agree, I can't leave her until she wakes up because I promised, but when she does wake, Athena can take over for me with the girls. I don't think she'll feel threatened with our kids there, especially if Raquel is there with her." Camila agreed.

"Actually, I was thinking you may need me in the interrogation room. There are things she may lie about, and I don't want you guys walking into some kind of trap. I'm the only one that can verify anything." Raquel urged frowning.

As much as they knew Lauren needed the teens presence, they all knew she was right, and didn't want to be unprepared.

"Allways thinking of the whole, Lauren must have rubbed off you." Camila replied smiling kindly.

Raquel blushed, shrugging embarrassed. "Lauren always told me to do what was the best for everyone, not just the one. Something about how focusing on one person, leaving too many avenues open to attack. From what I learned from her theses past three months, Lauren would want you to focus on the threat, or all her suffering would be for nothing if more lives were endangered by negligence. She'd be the first to tell you to secure the world, before focusing on her." Raquel replied, defiantly.

"Your right, she would. Looks like Lauren's adopted a side kick. " Demi commented amused.

Camila giggled, giving Raquel a side hug, letting her know all was well.

"Very true. Demi and the girls will monitor everything don't worry. Knowing Demi, she already has Marissa and the other Guardians digging through everything to make sure there are no more loose ends. While their doing that, why don't we go with Sofie and heal Lauren so that if she wakes up, she doesn't panic when she see's we're not there. Where is Athena?" asked Camila looking around the room, surprised that she wasn't there.

"She wouldn't let Maya out of her sight. She's in the cell with her, she woudn't leave her guarded by anyone but her. She's a little paranoid that Maya could escape and do something that could affect Lauren. I told her she didn't have to worry, but she's firm on staying until you get there." Demi answered frowning.

Camila sighed, worry for her daughter running through her. She never wanted Athena to feel that she needed to protect them, and she knew that the fact Lauren surrendered so Athena wouldn't know the pain she was currently feeling, was causing the teen more guilt.

"After we take care of Lauren, I'll switch with her. Raquel can meet me when Athena takes my place. Lets go Sofie." Camila said walking towards Lauren's room, with Raquel trailing behind her.

Once they got closer to the bed with a sleeping Lauren, Sofie gasped, finally taking in her condition under a bright light. Lauren's healing was slow, and it was really starting to worry them. Sofie started thinking that maybe they had been too late, but threw that thought out, knowing they got her almost three months ahead of the dead line.

Not wanting to waste time, Sofie moved the sheet covering Lauren's top half, and decided her chest and ribs were priority. The bruises were deep, too deep to not have broken more than one rib. The three women smiled when they heard Lauren sigh in relief once the bruises started disappearing.

Camila stroked her face soothingly as Raquel held Lauren's hand in support. Together they would make sure she came out of this stronger than ever. Camila could already felt herself care deeply for the teen, and knew Lauren wouldn't want it any other way. She may have came to them in unconventional ways, but she was theirs none the less.