Tough Love

Chapter Seventy-Five

Chapter Seventy-Five

Eli

As Dani recites the periodic table, I draw circles on the back of her hand, just to reassure her that I'm still here. I know she needs to work through this her way. There's no way I can hand her my gun, but I will sing to her if I have to. I hear Captain Greggson whisper, “What is she doing?”

I almost snap as I say, “She's scared. It's her way of dealing with it. I knew this wasn't a good way of doing this...”

The Cap says, “Eli, it has to be done. She needs to finish looking at the pictures. She needs to tell us who she recognizes. We need to make sure we have the right guys.”

“Let me get her calmed down first.”

It doesn't look like Dani is calming down, so I hum 'Gravity' to her and after a while, I hear her breathing even out a little.

She glances up at me and I shoot her a sad smile. “Hey there. You back with me?”

She nods, but doesn't speak. I can feel her trembling and a few more tears spill from her eyes.

I brush a soft kiss over her knuckles and I whisper, “I'm sorry, sweetheart, but the Cap needs you to finish looking at the mug shots. He needs to know who you recognize. I'm sorry you have to relive this, Dani, but we need to make sure they don't get away with this. Can you look through them quickly?”

She nods again and my heart swells at how brave she is. If I was in the same position as her, I don't know if I could face this either. I hold up the pictures again and Dani quickly glances at them. Before I can even register that she's looking at them, she whispers, “3, 7 and 12. They were in my apartment.”

I ask, “You completely sure?”

“Yes sir.”

I whisper, “Good girl.”

I look over at the Captains and question, “Is that good enough?”

“Yes. Thank you Dani. I hope you get out of here quickly. Eli, we'll start processing this now. Thanks.”

I nod and shoot a farewell to both Captains. Dani is staring into space, so she doesn't say goodbye at all, but the Captains don't seem to take offense at it. I let Dani think for a few minutes and then I whisper, “Hey, you ok?”

She blurts out, “It was awful, Eli...!”

“I know baby, I know. I'm so sorry you had to do that. I'm sorry you had to remember. Do you... remember everything?”

She nods in affirmation, but doesn't speak. She's staring at the bed sheet again, so I give her hand a tiny squeeze to grab her attention.

“Hey. I know it's a shock and it's upset you, but you don't need to be embarrassed, Dani. I don't want you to feel like that around me. I need you to know that it doesn't matter what happens or what you do or say, it's not going to change how I feel about you. I know this may scare you, but I need you to know how serious I am about this. I need you to see that you mean more to me than anyone or anything, so whatever I've seen, whatever I've heard or will hear, none of it will make a difference to how I feel about you...”

Dani sounds distraught as she says, “How can you say that? You've seen the scars! You've seen how disgusting I am! How can that not change things?”

At first I'm taken aback by her tone, but when I recover, I hold her hand tighter in both of mine as I speak. “Because the person you are is more than your physical body. I can't deny the fact that the scars are there, but I see past them to the person you are. You are beautiful, there's no doubt about that, even with the scars. You are beautiful inside, and that makes the outside beautiful, with or without scars.”