Wait for me to come Home

Chapter 69

Lisa had been home a month, and yet every day Jennie still felt like it didn't feel real. In the middle of the night she'd wake up from a nightmare where Lisa wasn't there, only to look down and find her asleep on Jennie's chest, or curled up next to her, and only then would she be able to fall back asleep until Lisa woke her up with her screaming. Some mornings, if Yuri was home, she'd come in and send Jennie into her room to get some sleep, and she'd stay with Lisa so that she could hold her little girl. Jennie was grateful for those moments that she could steal some sleep – she was running on very little sleep and it was catching up with her.

They were going home today. Jennie had suggested that they stay a little while longer, because Lisa seemed at ease here – for the most part – and Jennie thought that the loud noises and busy crowds of the city might be too much for her. Lisa had protested though, insisting that everything get back to normal, and so Jennie relented and they stuck to their original plan. Their train wasn't until after lunch, and so they lounged around the house all morning, eating a nice breakfast with Yuri until she got called into the hospital. They were sat on the back porch, watching the Kuma run through the shallow waves, and a small smile played around Lisa's lips as she watched. Jennie thought back to when she'd adopted Kuma to help combat her loneliness, but it looked like she wasn't the only one benefiting from that decision.

"Hey," Lisa said, turning to look at Jennie. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Jennie smiled at Lisa, raising her eyebrows expectantly. "I need you to take me somewhere."

"Oh!" Jennie softly exclaimed. Lisa hadn't set foot off the porch since she'd come to Midvale, and Jennie was surprised that she was showing some interest in going somewhere. "Of course. Anywhere."

Lisa let out a small laugh. "I promise you, you won't want to take me there. I-I want to see it. My grave."

"Your gr-, Lisa, I don't think that's a good idea," Jennie protested, grimacing at Lisa.

"I told you," Lisa said, looking amused. "I think it'll be... good. For both of us. It might help put this whole, ah, thing behind us. If we go together then we can have some closure. I don't know, I just... I need to do this, Jennie."

"You need to?" Jennie asked, arching one eyebrow.

"Yes, I need to," Lisa said, smiling slightly.

Jennie smiled back at her, cupping her chin and leaning in to press a quick kiss to Lisa's lips. "I'll go and get your shoes."

Lisa insisted on them walking there, or at rather Jennie walked while she got pushed in the wheelchair and held onto the leash as Kuma padded along beside her. The weather was warming up, with summer not too far away, and the two of them soaked up the sun as they made their way towards the cemetery. Lisa had her camera in hand, Jennie having returned it to its rightful owner, and she snapped photos along the way. A part of Jennie was relieved that she could still find the beauty in the things around her, despite the horrors of war that she'd witnessed firsthand. She was still Jennie's Lisa.

They took a detour on the way, to buy flowers for Eunhyuk's grave, but it still didn't take long, and soon enough they could see the beginning of the headstones and the church standing tall in the middle of them. They were silent as they walked through the eerie quiet of the cemetery, and Jennie pushed Lisa towards where they'd had the funeral. The memories of that day seemed like a distant dream – or a nightmare even – and Jennie hadn't been back here since. Perhaps Lisa was right, and it would give them both some closure, even if it was only the beginning of Lisa's healing.