Serendipity (A Larina Fanfiction)

Settling In

It had been little less than a week since the whole confrontation with Richard had happened, and most of it was spent getting things prepared for Lizzy's move into Marina's apartment. It turned out that Marina had a small, extra room she'd been using for storage. Elizabeth had a small cot to sleep in there now, and despite Marina's insistence that it was okay for her to keep sleeping in her bed, she still felt guilty. Despite Marina's reassurances, the auburnette still felt a little bad for coming in all unannounced like this. 

"It'll be temporary," She'd told Marina as her guilt overwhelmed her. "Only until I get back on my feet and look for a place of my own."

Marina merely smiled as she made her bed. "You can stay as long as you like, Liz, no rush."

Now, after a long day in which she'd tidied up the apartment, one of the many little things she did to thank Marina for letting her stay, she was laying on the old couch, Tracy laying on her chest. She felt the cold of the kitten's wet nose as she nuzzled into the crook of her neck. The warm weight of the little feline on her was comforting, and she yawned as she looked around the apartment, only half awake.

Despite how relaxed she felt now, memories of what happened a couple of nights ago kept resurfacing in her mind. 

---

She had a nightmare.

She saw Richard, shouting and throwing beer bottles and roughly  grabbing her arm. He was furious, and she trembled and struggled to get away. Their apartment was a mess. 

"You'll never leave me Elizabeth," Richard said, his hold on her becoming painful. "If I can't have you, no one will."

Suddenly, his face changed. Her eyes widened in horror as Richard's face changed into that of someone familiar. Someone that she thought she escaped from. Someone she thought she loved.

"You think you can escape from me?" He sneered at her, voice deep and dark, and ice cold fear settled in her soul. She felt trapped, worthless. Feelings that she thought she'd never feel again resurfaced. She realized that those feelings had never really gone away, that she only bottled them up and pushed them down until she convinced herself that she didn't feel that way anymore. "You never will. I'll always be here." His face abruptly changed into one of fake sadness, and he took her hands in his gently. "You need me, Elizabeth, don't you see? I love you."

"...No," She snatched her hands out of his grasp, and his face became angry again. "You're a liar. You never loved me. If you loved me, you wouldn't have done all those things to me," Her voice became shaky, and she felt angry at herself for sounding so weak. "You wouldn't have forced me to stop talking to my friends and family. You... you wouldn't have hurt me."

"You're nothing without me," He snarled. "You'll always be nothing." Then, he took her hand and yanked her down, down, down.... into the dark abyss...

She woke up then, hair wild, skin pale and a thin layer of sweat on her skin. Her throat hurt. Lizzy slowly realized she'd been screaming. Her vision became cloudy with tears, and she looked up to prevent them from falling. She thought it was over. She thought she wouldn't feel this way anymore. What was wrong with her?

A knock sounded at the door, and she felt guilt when she realized that she must've woken Marina up. 

"Come in," She murmured hoarsely, hand rubbing the back of her neck as she  sat up. Marina opened the door slowly, eyes wide and concerned. Lizzy's heart melted at the sight, and she felt the tears start to fall.

"Liz... I... I heard," Marina paused, a making her way towards the bed before sitting next to Elizabeth. The brunette took a hold of her shaking hands, and Lizzy felt herself relax a little. "Hey... you wanna talk about it? You don't have to if you don't want to, but I'm here to listen."

The auburnette shook her head, sighing frustratedly as she wiped the tears away. "It was a nightmare." She wasn't going to say anymore than that. Marina seemed to understand; she smiled gently and pulled her in for a hug, letting Lizzy's head rest on her shoulder. More tears came out of Lizzy's eyes and she tried to hold them back in vain.

"You don't have to hold them back, you know," Marina murmured, running her fingers through Elizabeth's long locks. 

She let the tears fall.

---

She remembered it all so clearly. She asked Marina to stay, and the brunette brought Elizabeth back into her room, where they slept in the same bed again, just like they did that first night. Marina lulled her to sleep, and she didn't have any more nightmares that night. 

How is she so good to me? Lizzy wondered, stroking Tracy's fur absentmindedly. 

The sound of the door being opened brought her out f her pondering, and she turned to see Marina come through the door, holding grocery bags. She seemed to be struggling to balance them as she tried to move towards the kitchen. Lizzy moved Tracy off of her before getting up to help.

"Hey, look what I got! Not leftovers!" She beamed at her as Lizzy took a bag and set it on the counter. "Takeout's good, but I needed to do some shopping! Especially since you're here." The auburnette felt guilt tug at her again as she put away the groceries. 

"You don't have to spend your money because of me."

Marina waved a hand dismissively. "It's fine! I needed to do some shopping anyway."

"Let me do the grocery shopping next time. I feel like... I want to do something... You're doing all of this for me and I wanna repay you."

Marina was about to protest, but when Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest, she chuckled. "Alright, alright, if you insist. But there's really no need to repay me, I'm doing this because I want to."

Lizzy grinned brightly, already feeling lighter than she did before. "I can never thank you enough."

Marina mirrors her grin, and Lizzy feels a bit lightheaded at the sight of it. "Come on, Liz, we have to do more than grocery shopping," She crouches to give Tracy a couple of scratches behind her ear. "We can go thrifting for some furniture. I know a great place, it's where I got most of mine!" Her eyes are bright with excitement. "Then... then we'll have to do a bit of clothes shopping!" I left most of my stuff at Richard's place. "I haven't gone clothes shopping in a while! My friend Charlotte is always so busy, and Derek hates shopping."

"Alright, alright," The auburnette chuckled in amusement, putting away the last of the groceries. "Let's take it one step at a time." She felt good. She felt at home.

HOLY SHIT DID YOU GUYS SEE MARINA AND LANA'S VIDS ON INSTAGRAM THEY REUNITED AND THEYRE CUTE AF AHHHH