I apologise in advance for how awful this is.
————
"Lauren? You okay?" Ally questions gently as she sits beside the younger girl on the couch.
"Hm? What? Yeah, I'm fine." Lauren mumbles, shaking her head and biting her lip.
"You don't have to stay if you don't want to, honey."
"No, I uh, I do. I want to stay." The green eyed girl assures, focusing her attention on her lap.
"Dinah will be back soon, y'know?" Ally sighs, running a hand through her hair.
"I'm not- I-"
"It's okay, honey. I understand that you feel more comfortable with her."
"It's not that, it's just... I've never done this before."
"Done what?"
"I've never had caregivers before or anyone who really cares to be honest and it's hard because I really want to trust you guys but I don't think I know how."
"Lauren-"
"I'm trying so hard, Ally, I swear I am. I really want this to work it's just that I'm kinda struggling to understand why you want me."
"Come here, sweetheart." Ally murmurs, reaching for the younger girl and wrapping her arms around her when she is close enough. "We want you, of course we want you, how could we not? You're smart and caring and adorable. I know we've only known you for a few weeks now but you're so kind and you love so hard, it's endearing. I'm pretty sure I can speak for Dinah as well as myself when I say that we wanted you as soon as we saw you."
"We don't expect you to trust us right away, we want to earn your trust, Lauren. Anything we do is at your pace. So if you want to go home you can, or if you want to stay the night, then that's fine too. As long as you want to be here, we want you to be here."
"I wanna stay please, Ally." Lauren whispers with teary eyes as she cuddles into the older woman.
"Okay, sweetheart. Why don't we watch a movie until Dinah gets back, hm?"
————
"Ally? Lauren? You guys home? I brought dinner." Dinah calls as she kicks off her shoes and dumps her bag on the floor.
"In here." She hears a quiet voice reply from the living room, so after dropping her coat on top of her bag, Dinah makes her way down the hall to her girlfriend.
"Hey, I got Chine-"
"Shh, she's asleep."
"Sorry," she apologises, moving so she can see the sleeping girl's face. "How has she been?"
"She was a bit unsure at first but we talked and I think it helped. I'll wake her up while you get the food out?"
"Sure." Dinah nods, heading into the kitchen with the bags of Chinese food.
"Come on, Lauren, wakey wakey. Dinah's back and she brought Chinese."
"Sorry." Lauren blushes sitting up from her place with her head resting on Ally's lap.
"It's okay, honey. Are you hungry?"
"Not really."
"You haven't eaten anything since before you got here at 11 and it's now 6, I'd like it if you had something, sweetheart."
"But I'm okay."
"I know, honey but you need to have something. Just come and see what there is and if you don't like it then you can have something else."
"Okay."
"Good girl, up we get." Ally guides the younger girl up off the couch and through to the kitchen where Dinah is almost done sorting the food.
"Hey, Lo, grab a plate and pick whatever you want." Dinah smiles, pressing a kiss to the green eyed girl's forehead before grabbing a plate for herself.
Ally sighs quietly as she watches the raven haired girl pick at the options, only putting a few bits and pieces on her plate before sitting down. They were going to have to work on the girl's eating habits.
"Don't you want anything else, Lo? I swear this chicken is bomb." Dinah asks shovelling another forkful of the chicken into her mouth.
"No thanks, I'm not really hungry."
"What did you guys have for lunch?"
"I had soup but Lauren here didn't have anything because she said she'd had a late breakfast." Ally interjects, staring pointedly at the youngest girl.
"You need to eat, Laur. That's not enough to keep you going." Dinah sighs.
"But I'm really not hungry." Lauren pouts, leaning back in her chair.
"Just eat what's on your plate and you can be done then. Deal?"
"'Kay." The raven haired girl sighs, picking her fork back up and starting to slowly eat her food.
"Lauren? You okay?" Ally questions softly as she takes the younger girl's hand.
Both her and Dinah had finished their food around 5 minutes ago and the Cuban was yet to really touch hers. Her green eyes were heavy and she was struggling to keep focus as she pushed around her food.
"Hm?"
"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Ally murmurs, brushing the hair from Lauren's face.
"I'm full." The youngest girl whispers.
"Can you eat a little bit more for me, honey?"
"I don't want to." Lauren mumbles starting to tear up.
"Can you tell me why?"
"I- I don't feel good."
"Oh, honey why didn't you just tell us that, mh?" Ally coos when the tears start to make their way down the Cuban's cheeks.
"Didn't wanna be a bother."
"You could never be a bother, sweetheart." Dinah interjects, tugging the younger girl into her lap. "Why don't we get our pjs on and watch a movie? Does that sound like a good idea?" She suggests, waiting for a nod before standing up with Lauren in her arms.
"Al, can you make some drinks and I'll help Lo?"
"Sure." Ally smiles, standing and pressing a kiss to both girls' cheeks.
"Come on then, baby. Let's get you cosy." Dinah murmurs as she leaves the room with a half asleep Lauren on her hip.
