She's Mine to Protect(Lucas Baker Fanfic)(A Baker's Flower Series #1)

The Bruises

     It was a few hours later when Lucas' little family of his own was settling down for bed. This time there was no argument from anyone when Lucas suggested that Chrys should sleep with him in the attic while Toby slept in the room below in Lucas' old bed. Marguerite had suggested that they sleep in Lucas' actual room but he didn't feel safe knowing he'd be sleeping in a room that his father had easy access to. At least the door to the old kids' room could be locked from the inside, unlike his own. Plus, the attic had always been a special place for Lucas and Chrys in their relationship, it being somewhere they could hide from the watchful eyes of his parents and also somewhere where Lucas was never afraid to show her how much he loved her.            

    Unfortunately none of that was going to happen that night.

A few hours before:

    The initial headache Chrys suffered when she came to had resided, leaving only the pain dwelling in her back to cause her pain. She had stayed knocked out for almost two hours, finally waking up only to have to deal with Toby crying over her. Lucas, on the other hand, was still a mess many hours later. Bruises ran all along his abdomen in a variety of colours and any movement caused him immense pain. To Toby's distress, not even his "healing hugs" helped... they actually only made it worse for Lucas, who let out a low-pitch yelp when the little boy tried to wrap his arms around him.

    The weather outside didn't do anything to lift everyone's spirits. Not long after the fight, Zoe had positioned herself at the window to the left of the back door looking out for when Jack might come back in; watching for her father and losing herself in the heavy rain were the only things she could think of that might ease her mind even the slightest bit. Marguerite, after taking care of injuries and making sure everyone was as taken care of as they could be, had shut herself up in the master bedroom hoping to avoid anyone in the house seeing her cry. Lucas, who non-admittedly hated seeing his typically strong mother upset, was tempted to go upstairs to the room and try to put her at ease but he didn't know how he'd do it seeing as emotions were never his forte; he'd most likely end up making her feel worse. Instead he chose to make an attempt at distracting Toby from relentlessly checking up on Chrys in the T.V. room and worsening her headache.

    "Hey Tobes, why don't you and I pull out my old bucket of lego? We could build a castle, a ship, whatever you want." Lucas offered in hopes that the boy would jump at it. Toby sat on the floor beside his mother with a pondering look on his face as he thought it over.

    "Lego?" He asked, suspicious of the offer yet unable to hide his rising excitement.

    "Yeah, loads of it."

    The young boy looked at his mother beside him who was now, for the third time that night, unconscious on the couch. It bugged him to see her so unresponsive to him and hoped that the next time she awoke would be the last time for the rest of the night. Toby hesitantly got up from the ground, reached for Lucas' hand and allowed himself to be led up to the old kids' room to build Lego structures with Lucas.

    For the better part of an hour Lucas had managed to successfully keep Toby distracted and happy with building various objects. Finally, at around 9 o'clock, Chrys appeared in the doorway, appearing to be a little out of it yet with a happier expression, as if her headache had disappeared. Toby dropped the chipped Lego piece he was holding and ran to give his mother a hug. The impact of his little body was enough to send a bolt of pain through her already aching back but went unnoticed by Toby who was simply happy that his mother was awake and walking again. Lucas, on the other hand, saw her expression of pain and jumped up and rushed over to make sure she was alright. Silently, so that Toby wouldn't realize the pain he had just caused her, she nodded and mouthed "I'm fine" , but this wasn't enough to convince her boyfriend. He had always put it upon himself to protect her and to take care of her when she needed it, whether she wanted it or not.

    "Hey Buddy." She said softly to her son. "Why don't you play with Lucas for a bit more before bed?" Chrys was hoping to distract both Lucas and the simpler minded boy from worrying about her injuries.

    "Are you gonna go sleep again?"

    "Nope, I'll stay right here and watch you have fun."

    "Okay! Lucas and I'll make you the biggest boat! C'mon Lucas!" He squealed and dragged Lucas back over to the center of the room where they had previously been building a Lego replica of Toby and Chrys' house back in Texas. Smiling to herself, Chrys carefully sat herself down on the hard mattress of Lucas' childhood bed and made her best effort to be comfortable as she watched the boys work away at her boat.

    Around 10 PM, Chrys decided it was time for Toby to go to bed, mostly because she herself needed some more rest. Lucas managed to track down a pair of his old pajamas which just barely fit Toby; although they loosely hung on his small body, they served their purpose. He also got a non-matching shirt and fuzzy bottoms from Zoe for Chrys, which his sister had never worn before. Overjoyed by the comfiness of the clothes, Chrys made a mental note to thank Zoe in the morning; in reality it might have been a small thing, but it felt nice to have even a small amount of comfort while her body screamed in agony.

    While Chrys got dressed in the room, Lucas took Toby to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Suddenly feeling tired, Toby begged Lucas to carry him back; Lucas had never been good at saying no to the little boy whenever he talked in his sleepy begging voice so Lucas swung the boy up into his room, carried him back to join Chrys and laid him down on the bed. Covering him with blankets, she sang Toby his usual lullaby ("Constant as the Stars Above" from the Barbie Rapunzel movie...he didn't know where it was from, he was only content that it was his mother singing it and it helped him go to sleep) and, along with Lucas, kissed him goodnight and tucked him in before turning out the light. They were making their way over to the ladder that led to the attic when Toby's voice called out.
    "Mama?" He asked.
    "You should be trying to sleep bud."
    "Can I ask a question first?"
    "Oh alright, what is it?"
    "Are you okay?" There was a croak in his voice that Chrys knew meant tears were about to come flooding out. She realized she'd need to calm him down quickly before an infamous Toby Tantrum took place.
     "I'm fine sweety, really I am."
    "Lucas?"
    "Yeah bud?"
    "Are you okay?"
    "A night's sleep and I'll be good as new."
    "Why did your daddy hurt you and mommy? I thought daddies were supposed to be nice to you."
    "Supposed to, yeah, but you don't need to worry none. Go to sleep now bud, 'kay?"
    "Okay, good night Lucas. I love you."
    "Love you too Tobes."
    "I love you mommy."
    "I love you too, hun, to the moon and back." She replied, looking to Lucas for a smile to which he delivered like he always did. A sigh escaped from her lips, content that the agonizing day was over and that she could trust her boyfriend to protect both her and her son throughout the night.
     She knew she could always rely on him.