Before The Storm ( wlw / lesbian )

Chapter 15

Toni had taken her back to her trailer, so when Grace woke up, she understandably lost her mind screaming.

The door pushed open, and she calmed down at the sight of the concerned brunette who ran to her side as quickly as her small legs could take her. "Hey," she said softly, skidding to a stop and kneeling by the glassy eyed redhead, hands raking through her hair, touching her face, feeling anywhere she could. "I'm right here. You're okay Grace. I got you." She pulled the shaking redhead into her arms, hushing her. 

Grace started to cry again when she tried sitting up and felt the pain shooting from between her legs up into her head. "Hey lay down." The brunette instructed, pulling the warm wool blankets back on top of the Angel "I'll grab you some wate-" she was cut off by the inaudible shouting of Grace , and Toni immediately sat back down.

"Don't leave me..."

Toni felt her heart shatter looking at the fear in formerly icy eyes. "I'm not going anywhere." She promises, eyes imploring as they search Grace's for any kind of recognition. "I will never leave you, Grace."

After an hour of crying, Grace managed to fall back asleep in Toni's Ravens jacket she's had on since Toni wrapped her in it at the party, said girl making quick work of finding her way back to the kitchen, and making something simple enough for Grace to eat that wouldn't be too much.  It goes on like this most of the day and into the night, usually ending with Grace crying so hard that her sobs run silent, and her breath gives out. After too many seconds, a single peep ekes from her like a bubble escaping a bottle submerged in a full tub. It's a small cry, but it seems like all she can do: just a tiny, jagged vowel sound. Every inch of her shakes, and she shuts her eyes against the room. When it's over, Toni's haunting the kitchen day and night like a high-performing poltergeist. Grace recounts the night in bits and convoluted bobs when she manages to speak, otherwise staring blankly at the walls around her. But she isn't shaking anymore, and thats something.

She settled on a small store bought container of Mac n Cheese and grabbed a cup of orange juice, setting it down on the small kitchenette table and flipping on some soft music to make herself a burger and fries too. Definitely wouldn't compare to Alice's, but for as long as Grace needed her, she wouldn't be going anywhere.

She isn't completely sure how long they stay holed up in the trailer, Dakota having been quickly taken in by Susie's family under the circumstances. People call to check in, but they don't dare come near the home. There's no sound of party life, either, which she suspects isn't from a rule enforced but a comon mourning from what happened. It hurts and heals her equally. 

Her skin begins itching from withdrawal, the headaches indescribably bad that she takes to laying in complete darkness with construction worker ear protection to prevent any sound leaking in. Her moods are awful, which is why when she throws a glass and it bounces back at her she gets a laceration on her cheek.

Then, the anger she had felt since that stupid day at the hospital cracked and broke, letting in her deep sadness.

Grace deserved the world.

Sorrow, black and barren and hideous plunged through her.

She couldn't.

She stopped breathing, and that was a little better, the emotions inside of her settling.

—

The hour is early when Toni wakes, bleary-eyed with her belly a knotted mess of aches. She's on her back, staring up at the weathered popcorn ceiling as she squirms into a more comfortable position, hoping to alleviate some of the muscle pains along her abdomen. Yet even with the discomfort she knows it can't be too long till morning is upon them. The trailer is still shrouded in darkness; chirps of the night critters hushed with the impending light of dawn. It makes for a blank opus in the air her empty stomach is more than pleased to fill, grumbling loud in the quiet of the living room as her hunger pangs finally become too strong to ignore. Toni twists against the cramp blooming in her gut and prays Grace hasn't heard, or worse inquires into the reason for such disturbing noise. Having to explain how she's barely been able to keep her food down since Grace left will only cause the woman needless grief. But she vows, when she watches Grace's body withdraw subtly from the drugs in cold sweats and pale skin, she will never touch the drug again. Will allow her gang to fall back to their usual poverty rather then supply a drug that can cause so much pain.