Reflections of Light

Cups of tea and hairbrushing

"Uh, hey Rach." Travis ventured, pushing open the door to Rachel's room. "I brought you up a cup of tea."

Rachel turned her head slowly to face him, eyes lighting up as she recognised him.
"T-T-T-ravis." She rasped out.

Travis smiled. "Yeah, Rach. Do you need a hand to drink it?"

Rachel reached out her shaky hands to take the mug, which Travis pressed into her hands, wrapping his own around her trembling fingers to support her. He sat on the edge of the bed, slowly releasing his grip on the cup as she brought it up to her mouth to drink.

Taking a gulp, Rachel made a noise of contentment, laying her head back against the pillows as Travis plucked the mug from her hands and settled it on the table besides her.

Rachel grasped his hand in a halting movement, rubbing her thumb back and forth across his skin.

Travis grasped her hand comfortingly.
"Nyx is downstairs with Abby. She's okay, Rach. We're all okay."

Rachel nodded slowly, smiling as if to say 'I know. I love and trust you all, and know you can take care of each other.'

Travis brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Hey, do you want a hand doing your hair? I'm no Selene, but I know how to use a hairbrush. Unlike Nick." He dropped the last part in as a joke, and received the desired chuckle.

"S-Su-re. Sure." Rachel said, struggling to sit up, levering herself up in jolting motions.
Travis reached to help her, but a look from her made him back off.
He understood. She wanted to try doing it herself first. If she needed a hand getting upright, she'd make it clear to him.

Travis couldn't help but feel proud of her for this. Rachel was still Rachel, no matter what happened. She was fighting, so hard, to take back control of her life, to not let this incident be the pivotal moment of her life.

Taking up Rachel's hairbrush, he settled behind her on the bed, gently scooping up the hair from the front to bring to the back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." Rachel replied softly, sounding contented, yet somewhat wistful, leaning heavily on her arms to stay upright.

Softly, Travis ran the brush through Rachel's short, red hair, gently de-tangling the knots.

"T-Tal-k t' me." Rachel insisted strongly.

"Uh, okay. Um... Nick tried to get Abby to eat banana this morning. He regretted very quickly. Apparently, Abby thinks instead of her eating it, it would be much better used to replace his hair-gel. As she demonstrated."

Rachel chuckled, hysterically on the scale for what she could manage, the laughter wracking her sickly frame.