take it

37

Christina didn't even need part of an explanation before she pulled Allie into a tight hug, her eyes shutting, causing yet another tear to run down her cheek.

Luke and I ended up joining the hug, squeezing them tight into us.

"Everyone's okay now?" I asked after a moment of us hugging.

I received firm nods from both of the girls before Allie tilted her head lightly.

"You have an ouchy too?" She asked, touching her own stomach, right where the bandage was.

"I do" Christina smiled, moving her hand over the spot; leaning towards Allie to kiss her forehead.

"Speaking of ouchy's" Luke grinned lightly

"It's about time we check them."

Something we had yet been able to do with Christina- and we hoped it wouldn't be hard.

Luke threw Allie to the bed, kissing her face a few times, making her giggle loudly before he pulled up her shirt, pulling the bandage off easily.

He put an antibiotic cream on it, seeing that there was nothing out of the ordinary before letting her completely leave the room without a shirt due to Michael walking downstairs.

"Come here, pretty girl" I exhaled to Christina, making her walk to me.

"What's up with you not wanting us to check your stitches?" I asked her, holding her between my legs, grabbing her hands as she looked straight to the floor.

"Hard to explain" she spoke quietly, her to look at me.

"Can you try?" I asked, pulling her to sit in my lap.

Her head leaned against my shoulder, her hands immediately beginning to play with my bracelet as Luke sat on the other side of me.

"I've never had a strong male influence, all the male influence I've ever had has been negative- and well, painful" she cleared her throat lightly, trying to get the words out as fast as she could.

"It's hard to go from hiding from any man to completely trusting one- especially with taking care of me and my body" she spoke carefully, thinking about every word before she said it.

"And I know that you guys won't hurt me- or take anything I feel to your advantage- it's just, it's hard." She spoke.

"Sweetie, that's more than understandable" I spoke, kissing her forehead gently.

"We know it's hard- and we're extremely proud of how far you've came- most teenage girls in your situation would've never trusted us, and look- I'm literally holding you in my lap" I spoke, squeezing her gently.

"We're going to move slow- and if you decide against it, just say so and I can get one of our female nurses to come over here and check it for us" I spoke, seeing her hesitate slightly before giving in, nodding lightly.

I let her stand, where she almost immediately flopped back into the bed.

I lifted her shirt- watching for any negative reactions before gently pulling the bandage off, revealing her stitches to Luke and I.

There was some irritation and swelling- which was fairly normal for after a surgery, Luke and I agreed to keep a watch over it before we put a cream on it, replaced the bandage and helped her stand.

"I'm proud of you, cutie pie" I spoke, kissing her temple lightly

"You guys are the only reason I'm able to do it."