Relentless

68

When we got back to the house Tara and Kat met us in the living room, "are you okay Colby?" Kat asked as she gave him a hug, "I'm okay." He said quietly as he hugged Tara. "It's been a long night..let's just go to bed." He said with a nod and gave everyone a small but reassuring smile.

"Okay, we'll see you in the morning, love you brother." Sam said and gave him another hug before we all went our separate ways.

When I got upstairs I turned to go to the bedroom but noticed Colby had kept walking to go to Mia's room. "Want me to come?" I asked as he shook his head, "I'm just bringing her into our room." He said then disappeared into the room. I sighed and waited in the doorway for him, watching the room he just went into carefully.

I was honestly getting worried for him, I had never seen him like this before.

After a couple minutes he was holding Mia in his arm as he struggled to get the cot with his bad arm. "I can get that, babe." I said and jogged over to him. He nodded then let me grab it from him, "do you need the first aid kit?" I asked quietly, not wanting to upset him.

"Yeah, probably." He said with a shrug as I nodded and walked silently to the bedroom. It hurt so bad seeing him like this, but I would help him through it, like he always did with me.

After I set up the cot I went down to the master bedroom since that's probably where the first aid kit would be. "Hey Sam?" I asked and knocked on the door, "what's up, Cor? Everything okay?" He asked as my lip quivered, "y-yeah..do you guys have the first aid kit?" I asked and swallowed back the tears I could feel forming.

"Yeah I think it's in the bathroom...are you sure everything is okay?" He asked as I turned to go into the bathroom, "I'm so worried about him Sam.." I whispered as Kat came up and gave me a hug.

"I know you are, I am too. You know Colby though, he's gonna talk to you about it. I think he just needs to process some stuff."  Sam said as Kat just held me, rubbing my back gently as I tried to keep it together.

"Yeah..I just don't want this to turn into something else. I don't want him to suffer..."I said and trailed off, "you don't want him to suffer like you do..." Kat said quietly as the floodgates opened, causing my chest to collapse in sobs and my face to twist with sadness.

"Oh Cor..." Kat breathed out as they both hugged me tightly, "I'm selfish...s-selfish for making this about me." I sniffled out as they pulled away,

"I don't think you're making this about you! You just know how it feels to have your demons haunt you, it's okay to be worried for him. We don't even know what happened. He could be just shaken up, we won't know how to handle this until we know what happened." Sam said as I wiped my cheeks,

"you're right..I need to go talk to him." I said and stood up, wiping my hands on my pants. "Just let me know if you need anything." Sam said and hugged me again before I grabbed the first aid kit and left the room.

When I got upstairs Colby was taking a shower, which was probably a good idea considering he was running through the woods. I opened the bathroom door and sat next to the shower, "you okay?" I asked quietly as I opened the first aid kit, looking through the stuff it had so I could see what I could use.

"I'm okay, Cor. Promise." He said as I bit my lip, "okay, I'll be in the room, ready to patch you up." I said trying to lighten the mood a little bit, "okay, I'll be out in a second." He said as I stood up.

I shuffled back to the bedroom with the first aid kit in my hand as I sat on the bed, waiting for him. I looked over at Mia and smiled at her sleeping figure, I knew Colby probably felt unsafe and was scared because he brought her in here, needing to ease his mind that she was okay.

He was just so protective, which you think would get annoying but he somehow made it adorable.

Colby came out of the bathroom a few minutes later in just his Calvin Klein boxers. He grinned at me as I patted the bed next to me so he would sit.

"Tell me what happened," I said softly as I started rubbing disinfectant on the deep cut on his forearm. He took a deep breath, then put his hand on my cheek causing me to look up at him, "before I start this, I need you to know that I'm okay. The shower helped a lot." He said and brushed my hair behind my ear.

"That's good, how does your wrist feel?" I asked and picked it up, examining it. It looked less swollen already but the purple hues of a bruise were already starting to form. "I think it's fine, I just landed on it wrong." He said and looked down, rolling his wrist, determining how it felt.

"That's good. Okay, tell me." I said as he sighed, "okay...when we were running I swear I heard you screaming for help. I wasn't thinking...so I ran off the path, where I heard your voice." He said as I kept my eyes down, focusing on the cut I was now bandaging.

"I didn't realize it was all in my head until it was too late, I was lost." He said as I shivered, remembering I heard him screaming for help too, when nobody else did.

"I basically just picked a way then went with it...I saw some shadows, heard some cries, then remembered there were wild animals that I needed to be worried about. I wasn't paying close enough attention though and I fell....off a little cliff." He said causing my heart to stop and my ears to ring.

He fell off a cliff..he could have died.

"Cor, hey, it's okay..I'm here...I'm right here." He said as I stared at him with wide eyes. I didn't realize I was hyperventilating until he took both sides of my face and looked into my eyes, "breathe Cor, I'm okay." He said slowly as I nodded. "I'm sorry." I whispered shook my head, "keep going." I said and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I saw a woman, who rinsed off my cut..but she told me that once you get lost in the those woods you never get out..it freaked me out because then she just kind of disappeared. I don't know, Cor...I think she was a spirit." He said causing me to shiver, "was she scary looking?" I asked quietly as he chuckled and brushed my hair from my cheek.

"No honey, she just looked like a normal old lady." He said as I nodded slowly, "good, that sounds scary...keep going." I said and pulled my legs up onto the bed so I was sitting cross legged, holding Colby's hands in my lap.

"I started to feel really anxious..rightfully so, because when I looked up after..uh...throwing up..I was face to face with a wild boar." He said causing me to gasp, "oh my god!" I yelled and lunged forwards to wrap my arms around his neck, needing him to be in my arms. He breathed out a laugh and wrapped his arms around me, "you must have been so scared." I whispered into his shoulder,

"I was...but then I heard your voice." He said and pulled away giving me a small smile, "I heard you call my name...so I knew I was close to the path. I knew I was close to you." He said and traced my jawline with his fingers before his brow scrunched,

"Did you go into the woods alone by the way? I only heard you." He asked as I shook my head, "no we were all there..I wouldn't stop screaming though." I said and looked down.

"You saved my life." He said and lifted my chin with his finger, "I guess that makes us even then." I said quietly as he leaned in to kiss me.

"So you just followed where my voice came from and found the parking lot?" I asked once we pulled away, "yep. I don't think I would have ever figured it out if I didn't hear you." He said as I shook my head, "let's not think about what could have happened." I said as he nodded, "good plan." He said and kissed me again.

I smiled into the kiss, putting my hands on both sides of his face, savoring the moment as best as I could. I never wanted to take him for granted. Ever.

We eventually both climbed into bed and just silently held eachother. After a while of laying there I heard Colby's breathing get more relaxed, which meant he had fallen asleep. I couldn't sleep though. I had a feeling he would have nightmares and wouldn't want to wake me.

So I was just going to stay awake for him.