You're Always You

Chapter Thirty

Lydia Petrov

There was... very little talking the rest of the night. The siblings determined that Lydia wasn't very chatty anymore and ended up sending her off to a spare bed in the house. Lydia thanked them both, of course, and even thanked Monica extra since she gave Lydia a pair of pajamas to wear.

After all, Lydia only came in the dress that she had been wearing.

Unfortunately, given Monica was much smaller than Lydia, Lydia ended up not fitting in her clothes comfortably. Because of that, Lydia ended up in some of David's clothes to sleep in.

Lydia wasn't going to complain. She just wanted to sleep after this long awful night.

At least the afternoon was fun, she supposed.

By morning, Lydia was curled up with the blankets over her head. Of course, waking up in a bed that she wasn't familiar with only put an unsettling pit in her stomach. Lydia stared at the ceiling for a few moments, the blankets up to her nose, when a knock came from the door.

Lydia shifted her gaze over to the door and gave a soft, "Come in."

Which showed the military man pushing open the door with his elbow, seemingly bringing in... some sort of breakfast on a plate. It was sweet and nice, if the context wasn't so... unfortunate.

"Morning." David said as he approached her with the food. He set a glass of orange juice on the nightstand, one of her favorite morning drinks. Followed by gesturing to a plate of... french toast and bacon.

Also one of her favorites.

"Good morning," Lydia set, shuffling herself to sit up somewhat. She rubbed at her eyes tiredly, still not completely awake, though she was glad food was seemingly being provided to her. It would wake her up soon, no doubt. "...Thank you," Lydia said as she reached for the plate and fork. "One of my favorite breakfast meals."

David seemed to give a hum in response as she brought the plate down to her lap over the blanket. Lydia tried to be careful to not spill anything onto the bed, since it wasn't her bed. "...I'm sorry I just... dropped in here." Lydia said, stabbing lightly at one of the pieces of bacon.

"Hey, don't apologize. Mom's not even mad." David said.

...

To which, Lydia was even more horrified. "...You and your sister live with your mother? She knows?" Lydia brought her hand up to her face and rubbed at her eyes and nose. "...I'm so sorry."

"Well. Technically I have an apartment but I kinda... just got back from Afghanistan and she wanted me here." David said, shaking his head from side to side somewhat. "But no, she doesn't know anything she doesn't need to. Just that you needed a place. Don't worry about it, okay?" The man brought his hand up to Lydia's arm and began to rub it soothingly. Lydia wasn't going to pull away from the gesture. It was needed, right now. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Lydia sighed and fell quiet for a moment, taking a bite or two from her breakfast. Though it was delicious, she also couldn't really... find herself to eat too much to begin with. Lydia still felt like her stomach was in knots just thinking about what happened last night. Thinking about what she was supposed to do.

Richard was... all Lydia had. Yes, he hit her. Yes, she was having words with him about that. But... Richie still loved her. Lydia knew that. He just... he made a mistake. Lydia knew she just needed to talk it out with Richard.

What Lydia didn't like was that other people had to get dragged into this.

Lydia knew that she had to make up with him somehow. That was her home. That was where she lived and where she belonged. Lydia didn't have anywhere else. She didn't have an older brother like Monica had. Lydia had Richard, and that was it.

...Which meant she needed to make it right.

"...I should talk to Richie," Lydia mumbled, pushing around the french toast a bit on her plate in thought. The woman had a slight frown on her face, trying to think about how to best approach it.

"...Lydia, he's going to hit you again." David said softly next to her.

Lydia licked her lips and shook her head slightly. "I was talking back to him. He hasn't hit me before." Lydia mumbled. "It was a mistake. He was trying to apologize. I just... wanted him to feel more apologetic."

"You have every right to talk back, sweetheart. He's supposed to be your partner, not your warden." David continued to speak, though his hand continued to rub lightly against her arm. "He's not going to be sorry. He says sorry because you forgive him. That doesn't mean he means it. Because I can promise you, he does not." David spoke, letting out a breath before speaking again. "...If he was sorry, he wouldn't keep doing things he needed to apologize for. He will hit you again, Lydia."

...

Lydia hunched over slightly at that, setting down her fork on her plate. The woman pushed the plate to the side softly and pinched between her eyes softly, letting out a shaky breath. "...You just... don't understand..."

"Honey, I understand more than you give me credit for." David murmured next to her.

Lydia shook her head slightly. "Richard is all I've got, David. I don't have a big brother to swoop in and 'save' me. I don't have a family. I've got him. That's it. I live with him. I work for him. He has my money. I have nothing without him."

"If Richard was all you had, you wouldn't be in this house right now." David said. Lydia wasn't certain what his facial expressions were, since she was avoiding looking at him. Just looking at her knees. "But tell me, Lydia... Why do you think that is?"

...

Lydia merely shrugged her shoulders, remaining silent.

"Because he wants you to come back. Control is his thing."

Lydia let out a shaky breath and rubbed at her face. "...He loves me, too. I'm not... just an object..."

"Lydia," David seemed to take a breath after every comment he was about to make. "He makes you work at his fucking strip club, of course you're an object. You're a free employee, you think he'd hire somebody that wasn't barely legal otherwise?"

...

No. David was wrong. Lydia was more than just an object to Richie. They had been together for twelve years. Richie had gone in to get help with his anger management for her. Richie had done things for her. Sure, he could be an ass at times. But... he cared about her.

He had to.

"If he loved you, he'd let you do what you loved because it made you happy." David continued to speak next to Lydia. "...Instead, he told you that you couldn't do something you were so excited for, and he hit you when you did it anyway. Sweetheart..." David shook his head, though his hand shifted over to rub her back. "That's not love."

Lydia's eyes began to water more at that point. Her feet shifted under the blankets, which ended up knocking the plate of breakfast that David had made onto the floor. Lydia felt extraordinary guilty, though she couldn't stop the tears that started to form in her eyes from the entire conversation.

The woman began to shift onto her knees to lean over to pick up the plate and the dropped food on the floor, though David instead seemed to grab her side softly to stop her.

Which only made Lydia start to bawl.

* * * * *

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XOXO Alice