Hugs & Blows

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"I love you too. I fucked up. Please don't be mad."

The moment Ethan reads those words he feels sick to his stomach and his heart becomes lodged in his esophagus. He was frightened, he knew that will Odette, it was something serious and maybe even deadly. He sloppily stood up from his chair near craft services and ran to the producer.

"I have to go." He shouted hurriedly.

Steven swallowed and said "Well we have a few scenes left and,"

Ethan interrupted him and said "it's an emergency at home."

Steven sighed and said "fine go, we can shoot them later. I hope all is well."

Ethan grabbed his keys and ran off set, still in his Leo garb.

Odette was still laying on the oak wood flooring, her white camisole was now tinged with drying blood. She sat up and her skin stuck to the floor. She still felt dazed. She stood and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bucket of water, a sponge, and some vinegar.

That's how Ethan found her, on her bloodied knees, the majority of her pale skin stained with blood, scrubbing the floors. He couldn't breathe, his heart felt shattered.

"Leave it." He said, with a cracking voice. He walked behind her, scooping her up in his arms.

"I can walk." She said, followed by

"I'm sorry. Don't freak out. Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad." Ethan uttered as he collected a myriad of things from the closet in the corridor. He lightly kicked the bathroom door open, and said "can you stand?"

Odette nodded, he set her down in the shower and set down the supplies. Reaching forward he pulled off her camisole, she winced when it stuck to her from the caked on blood. He removed her underwear, and she shivered. He quickly took off his clothes, joined her in the bath and turned on the water.

When Odette was no longer crimson, he sat on the rim of the bathtube and turned off the water. He grabbed her thigh, turning her leg out so that her self inflicted wounds faced him.

"This will burn." He said before grabbing a piece of sterile gauze and coating it with dark orange iodine. He mentally thanked god, that his parents forced him into the scouts as a child and that he had learned first aid, and minor wound care.

Odette hissed and attempted to yank her leg away as he scrubbed. He gripped her tighter, and soothingly said "I know baby."

Long before Ethan finished taking care of her, he realized what she had carved into her thigh. He looked up at her and said "Why?" and she looked down at him and said "Shouldn't you be at work?"