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Ch. 7 - Night Terrors

Hope POV

I wake up with Char in my arms. I can't believe after such a short time knowing this young girl, I would literally do anything to protect her. I kiss her forehead and say, "Wakeup sweetie, it's time for breakfast."

She grunts and snuggles more into me. "Hey Hopey?" Kelley asks, "What's up babe?" She turns a little so I can see her, "Liv doesn't really want to go down for breakfast, would it be okay for her and Charlie to stay in the room and we just bring breakfast back?" I just nod before slipping out of Char's grasp and heading downstairs with KO.

We make it down there and get the girls, pancakes, eggs, and sausage links along with an orange juice for both of them. We run into Ash and Ali on our way back up the stairs. "Hey guys, the girls not coming down for breakfast?" Ali asks. 

Kelley shakes her head no, "No, Liv isn't having the greatest time with what happened yesterday. I know she forgives Mal, and isn't mad about what happened, but I think it just brought up some bad memories. Charlie is upstairs with her, so hopefully they're talking about what happened."

Ash shakes her head, "I could totally kick Mal's ass for acting like that. I know she's young and still a kid, but come on, have some common sense." I speak up, "Ash, don't do anything. Mal didn't mean for it to be harmful. We all know everyone on the team is wondering, hell, there's stuff that we don't even know that we would like to know. It's fine, do not take it out on Mal. She asked the million dollar question that the team wants to know. It just can't be answered yet." Ash nods before Ali pulls her away.

Kelley looks at me before asking, "What do you think it's going to look like in that room?" Sighing I say, "I don't know Kels, I don't know."

Charlotte POV

I finally wake up a little after Hope and Kelley leave, so I make my way over to my sister's bed and lay down with her while she's still asleep. She starts tossing and turning before she starts screaming.

"Livie, I need you to wake up now. It's just a dream, wake up Livie!" I try to plead with her, but nothing is working. Becky and Morgan barge into the room, a little confused on why they are in here, I ask while still trying to calm down Liv, "Why and how are you two in here?"

Becky answers first, "Hope gave us a key card in case they weren't with you guys and something happened. We heard screaming so we came immediately." Liv started thrashing again, so I started to focus my attention back on her.

Moe brought over a glass of water and Becky helped me sit her up. "Come on Livie, please wake up, I promise everything is fine. No one is going to hurt us anymore, it's just a dream." Finally, Liv starts to wake up, but as soon as she sees me she starts crying.

"Shh, Livie, it's okay, it was just a nightmare." She shakes her head furiously, "No it wasn't Char. It wasn't a nightmare, it was a memory. He was hurting you and there was nothing I could do to make him stop. I was never able to save you, but you always managed to save me. You took so many of the beatings just so I wouldn't. I'm so sorry Char!"

"It's okay Livie, I did those things for you, you never asked me to. I never wanted to see you hurt. I would do it all over again." By now, Becks and Moe were giving me a very concerned look because they don't know the whole situation. "Now, there are two people in here who seemed a little concerned about you, care to talk to them."

Liv turned around and saw them before putting her hands in her face. "I'm so embarrassed you had to see me like this," Liv told them. They instantly came over and wrapped her in a hug, Becky spoke first, "You don't have to be embarrassed Liv. We know you girls didn't have a good home life, and we really hope you'll open up to us one day."

Morgan continued, "I know Hope and Kelley want you to let them in too. You have this entire team's support. We aren't going anywhere." Liv broke down crying again in Morgan's arms. Moe looked like she could handle the situation, so I decided to go into the bathroom. Liv breaking down is one thing that always makes me cry, and I couldn't do that in front of them.

I leaned against the wall before sliding down, my knees up to my chest and I started bawling. It wasn't fair that Liv had to see almost everything. She didn't even know about all the stuff he put me through, but it was to protect her. The only thing I couldn't protect her from is him on occasion and from witnessing what he did to me.

I had too many tears in my eyes to even realize Becky had followed me into the bathroom. When she saw me, she immediately rushed down to me and pulled me into her lap. "Shh, Charlie, it's okay. You and your sister are safe now, I promise we won't let anything happen to either of you." She kissed my forehead and continued to rock me until my sobs were just sniffles.

I heard the door open and it's Hope and Kelley who walk through. "What's going on?" Hope asked demanding an answer. I could faintly hear Moe say, "the girls had a bit of a rough morning."

Hope now concerned asked where I was and Moe told her that Becky had followed me into the bathroom. Hope carefully opened the door and when she saw the condition I was in, sadness was immediately seen on her face. "Oh baby," Is all she said before she sat in the floor and Becky handed me off to her.

Kelley must have been with Liv, but Moe called for Becky to leave with her. Before she could, Hope called out to her, "Thank you for being with them, and thank Moe for me to will you?" Becky just nodded her head before leaving the bathroom.

I inhaled deeply to catch Hope's scent, it always managed to calm me down. "Are you okay now sweetheart?" I nodded before I went to get up. We both walked back into the bedroom where Kelley and Liv were now eating breakfast. They both gave me a small smile and I grabbed my plate to sit down to eat.