It takes an hour. Frankly, she is surprised that it’s taken her even this long. She sits on the edge of her bed and she isn’t sure when her exhaustion and emotions finally took hold but she’s crying. Loudly and pathetically and she really is trying not to because she’s pretty sure no one—least of all herself—would appreciate it at all.
She was wrong. She is not helpful. She is not welcome. And nothing was going to change that. She can’t abandon the way she was raised, her convictions, her fears, the way she is kind because she knows the world is not. She is not some wonder woman or heroine of her own story.
She was tired. She was scared. She had never felt more alone. All she wanted to know is why? Why was this happening to her? What had she done? Was this punishment for something? Was it just because of what she was? Was it all finally catching up to her?
She squeezed her hands into fists and pressed the right one against her mouth, trying to muffle her cries.
The blood pounded in her ears. Her heart thudded in her chest. Her hands shook. Her feet tingled. Her vision distorted as if she were looking through a fishbowl. The combination of the strength her cries were ripped from her frame and the feeling of being choked turned her face an unsightly color… one that almost matched the blood that was still splattered over the dress she wore, over her face, pooled thickly around the bite marks in her arm.
The careful waves she’d styled her hair in were in complete disarray, forming a platinum curtain around her face as she hid it between her knees, hands locked together in a death grip atop her head as her body wracked with heaving sobs.
She’d been battered around today like it had been nothing. Blasted with wandless magic. Bitten. Trapped within her own body in a way that had almost sent her reeling—or rather, had sent her reeling since that’s precisely what she was doing now. A colleague looked at her like she was something to be feared. Someone she cared about looked at her like she was something to be hated. Other people whispered and talked and pointed. She’d been seen. It was only a matter of time now before someone else decided that she wasn’t fit to work here. That she wasn’t fit to even be around them.
Disgusting. Untrustworthy.
In all honesty, had she not been in the middle of the first attack she’d had since she was a pre-teen… Rory would wonder if maybe they wouldn’t be right…
Between a disturbing number of trips to the bathroom (Laura swore she had to pee every five minutes, though thankfully she hadn't thrown up that evening), and socializing with her peers, family, and the donors who were visiting, Laura had missed the commotion outside. What she hadn't missed, however, was her sister's hasty exit. Laura had just stepped out of the bathroom (for what felt like the thirtieth time that evening) when she'd noticed Rory rushing out.
Something seemed… off about the whole situation. Obviously, Rory wouldn't be in such a rush to leave if something hadn't happened, but Laura felt like it was more than that. She couldn't be sure, but it had almost looked like there was blood on her dress.
It took her longer than she would've liked to track her husband down again in the crowd, but when she finally did, she let him know that she was going to check on Rory. That something was wrong, but she didn't know what, and she needed to make sure her sister was alright. Plus, she'd just about had her fill with mingling with people, and she was just plain tired. Making a baby was exhausting work. With a quick kiss, she set off after her sister.
The trek to Rory's took a little longer than it usually would've. She got winded far more easily than normal, plus it was dark, and she was on foot - apparating with the little one wasn't an option. Even with the light from her wand, Laura took the trip carefully. As usual, the door to Rory's house swung open automatically for her when she approached, and as she stepped through the doorway, she knew that her instincts had been spot on.
She could hear, though faintly, the sound of her sister's sobs as she headed back towards her bedroom, where it seemed to be coming from. Her eyes landed on her sister, who was sitting on the edge of her bed. There was blood all over her - and some of it seemed to be coming from her arm, but that wasn't what was concerning Laura the most. Her sister was in the middle of a very, very bad panic attack, the likes of which Laura hadn't seen since Rory was far younger.
Moving to her sister's side, she sat down next to her and began to rub small circles across her back. "Rory? Rory, darlin', I need you to breathe with me, okay? You're gonna be alright, but I need you to breathe."
The fact that it was her very pregnant sister that found her completely coming undone in the privacy of her bedroom threw Rory into further hysterics. Laura was supposed to be kept far away from all this. She was supposed to have everything be calm. Rory hadn't wanted to cause any kind of drama for the baby or for Laura. It was why she hadn't told her anything. Why she'd kept everything quiet and bottled up and hadn't said a word... even when her sister questioned her about things.
Obviously, that was no longer an option.
She had to... she had to come out of this. Find a focus point. The lavender she tended to keep on hand was in the kitchen and Rory couldn't find enough air to explain to Laura where it was. So instead, she focused on Laura herself. On Laura and the words she was saying. Breathe. Breathe. Deep breathing. Deep breathing could help pull her out of this, she just had to find the air that was somehow escaping her.
It took a while, but slowly, the young woman came out of the attack she was having and was left to slide down the edge of her bed until she was a sobbing mess on the floor. It wasn't any better, but at least she didn't feel constricted all over again. The world still felt like it was closing in on her, just in a different kind of way.
She couldn't help the way she leaned into Laura's legs and buried her face there, her body wracked from the anguished sobs that tore from her throat. Aurora Brynn was nothing more than a broken-hearted, terrified young woman who desperately needed her big sister at that moment. The only grounding point she had in this storm that was Snowcap and the Brightstar Reserve.
Laura was terrified. She hadn't seen her sister in this kind of state for years. Even now, it was a scary thing to witness, and Laura hated that there wasn't anything that she could actually do to help her, other than sit there and talk to her in an attempt to calm her down.
It took a while, but finally, Rory was breathing somewhat normally again, the worst of the attack passing. Relieved, Laura ran her hand over Rory's platinum locks after she'd slid to the floor. "Shh. Just keep breathing, Rory. You're going to be okay."
She had no idea what was going on, but Laura was going to be patient until Rory was ready to talk.
She didn't know how much time had passed. She didn't know how long Laura had been sitting next to her, patiently waiting for her crying fit to pass. All she knew was that she felt her big sister's hand in her hair and it was calming.
Someone who loved her was taking the time to take care of her. Even if she hadn't wanted Laura involved in the first place.
Sniffing, Rory leaned into her sister's body, laying her head against her chest and still trembling in her arms. There was so much. She knew she couldn't get away with not telling her, but she didn't know where to start. Not really.
"Laura, am I a horrible person? Is that why I cain't seem ta connect with anyone here? Am I just unbearable an' Ah'm that only one who doesn't know it?"
She continued to rub circles on her sisters back. Her words, however, worried her. Who the hell had put those kinds of thoughts in her head? "What? Rory, that's ridiculous! You are not a horrible person. Why would you ever say such a thing?"
Leaning back slightly, Laura looked down at her sister. "You are the sweetest, most generous person that I have ever met, Aurora. I know you've been holding things in - don't you even try and deny that, I know you too well. I don't know what has you feeling like this, but frankly? It's bullshit."
"Ah'm in love with Thorne."
Now that it was out in the open (at least with Laura), everything else began to spill out, too. She started at the beginning with her wedding, then continued on through various family events and coming to Brightstar. She even told Laura how she had a small crush on Kent for a little while. How he'd found out she was a half-Veela and their agreement for lunches, which there hadn't been many of.
There was the explanation of how she lost her virginity (Thorne finished the job he started at the wedding) and how amazing he'd made it, the various texts and chats about random things or astronomy. Mistaking Ford's identity came after that, though it had happened before Thorne came to dinner.
Her finding out about Quen at the meeting solved the mystery for Laura about her hair, and why it remained that way. And then there was the whole fiasco with her joke on her journal that only pissed people off. At least Ford had told her she was pretty, even when her hair flickered while they were dancing.
On and on, right up until she got to what happened just a short time before. "Njall was scared of me. I was scared of me, Laura. Ah'd nevah felt that before, but he was hurt. I knew I had ta do somethin'."
So she told her what she did, how she had just gone to try and take his pain to try to help him. Like she had with the bird when she was little. And about the reaction it caused… her very bloodied arm and Njall effectively trapping her in her own skin. It was the most terrifying thing she'd ever felt. Feeling like her own body was closing in on her and that there was nothing she could do.
Rory told her about Joe and how Thorne and Njall seemed to come out of whatever it was they were under, then how Thorne had blatantly told her not to touch him. How he'd looked at her. Like she was something… wrong.
By the time she was finished, Rory was crying again. She couldn't keep from feeling like a weight was crushing her chest. Like her entire world was crumbling. "All I evah wanted was what you had," she sniffled, shaking her head as she looked down at her trembling hands. "Is it so wrong ta just wanna be loved? Hell, Ah'd settle fer liked, even."
Even Rory knew how pathetic that sounded, but she wasn't in the headspace to try to pull herself out of the dredge. She wasn't sure she even knew how at this point. "I don't wanna be this person anymore, Laura…"
Laura was utterly speechless. She had suspected that Rory was going through some things, but she never would've guessed all that. It was a lot for the older Brynn sister to take in, but she sat there and listened until Rory was finished. Even then, she was silent for a few moments as she processed everything that she had just learned.
Taking her sister's face in her hands, Laura turned her so that Rory was looking at her. "You listen to me, Aurora Jolene. You did nothing wrong tonight, you hear me? Nothing. You are not a bad person for trying to help, and damn anyone who tries to tell you otherwise."
She didn't know what to say about Njall, and how he reacted. She didn't know what to say about Thorne for that matter, either. She knew that she was angry, though, with both of them. "They shouldn't have reacted that way, but unfortunately, even half beings like us are afraid of what they don't understand."
It was the last bit that really broke Laura's heart. "Oh, sweetie," she pulled Rory into a tight hug. "You are loved. I know it's not the epic romance that you're looking for, but you have people that love you, and one day? That person is going to come along and completely take you by surprise, just like Ethan did with me. It may not be today, and it may not be tomorrow, but that person is out there, Rory. I promise you that."
Rory wasn't sure. Not really. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was what her life was supposed to be. Maybe she was just supposed to be temporary in other people's lives. Someone to come in, do what they were supposed to be there to do, and then fade into the background. Laura had always been the one who got along with people easiest. She was like their father in that regard.
The utter devastation of defeat had her dark eyes glassy. She wasn't sure where she was supposed to go from here. She really wasn't. She just wanted to curl up, to hide for a few days. Maybe a few weeks. She wanted to go home and have her daddy tell her it was going to be alright. Have her mama tell her that everything would pass.
Laura was the closest she'd get to that right now. And Rory had never been more grateful for her sister. She just hadn't wanted to put any of that on her. The pregnancy was important to her. Hell, the pregnancy was important to Rory. Laura had always been more important to Rory than anything else. Including herself.
"Maybe it's just not supposed to be that way," she stated softly, letting her sister cradle her in her arms, burying her face in the other woman's neck as she tried to find some semblance of peace. Her head was killing her. Her body hurt. Her arm was throbbing. Her heart felt like someone ripped it apart. And still, she knew that if it was needed... Rory would be the one to step up and give whatever she could for whoever needed it.
It was just who she was.
"Then how is it supposed to be?" Laura was at a loss. Her normally bubbly and optimistic sister had been completely beaten down. Broken. This was not something that Laura knew how to handle. "I don't know what to say, Rory. It seems like bad thing after bad thing keeps happenin', and there ain't a damn thing I can do to stop 'em." While Laura's accent had been tempered by years away from her home state and was not nearly as pronounced as her sister's, it was moments like these that it started to slip out.
She was tired (of course, that was pretty typical these days), so she could only imagine how exhausted Rory was. Running her hand over her sister's hair, she sighed. Laura hated this feeling. She wanted to help - to make her sister see that everything was going to work itself out, but she had no idea how to do that. "Why don't we get you outta this dress, an intah somethin' clean?" It wasn't much, but it was a start.
"Maybe Ah'm just... supposed ta be temporary..." She wasn't completely sure what she meant by that, but it made sense with everything that had been happening. "Maybe Ah'm not supposed ta stay in people's lives..." Maybe she was just supposed fade into the background. Maybe she was just supposed to be there for one or two things, for whatever reason, and then disappear, figuratively speaking of course.
"This is why I didn't tell ya, Laura," she sniffed, finally looking up at her sister. "There's nothin' ya coulda done. Nothin' but worry. An' ya have that baby ta worry about. That baby an' Ethan are tha important ones. Even I know that." She sighed, looking down at what once had been such a pretty dress. Laura must have had the same thoughts because she was saying something about getting her cleaned up. "I need a showah..." It was said a little absent-mindedly, but Rory knew it was true. Getting into clean clothes wasn't going to help if she wasn't clean.
"That is some bullshit, Aurora. You ain't just some temporary thang, sugah. You think you're gonna be temporary in these little ones' lives?" Laura took Rory's hand and pressed it against her stomach. It might have had more of an impact had she actually been showing at all, but the sentiment was the same. "No, you aren't. They're gonna need their Auntie Rory." She hadn't exactly meant to drop mention that they were having twins yet, as they'd only found out that morning.
Laura stood, carefully pulling Rory to her feet as well. "Come on, then. Let's get you showered."
Little ones? Plural?
Rory looked up and blinked, then looked at Laura's stomach. Anything she'd said before that was lost as she put the pieces together. "Yer havin' twins?" she asked, smiling softly. The exhaustion was obvious in her tone, but she still made the effort to make her sister see she was happy for her. "They'll have their Auntie Rory." It wasn't the same, but she didn't feel the need to explain that. She knew on some level that her older sister would figure it out. There was nothing Rory wouldn't do for the nieces, nephews, or both that she had coming.
But then the subject of the shower came up again and she nodded, pushing herself up onto her feet with a shaky breath. "Shower. Okay... yeah. Shower. You call yer husband, Laura. He's probably worried."
She nodded. "We just found out this mornin'. Still wrappin' my head around it, myself." She was excited if a little freaked out. Twins. Two babies, instead of one. "They'll need yah. I'll need yah." She knew it wasn't the same, but at the moment it was the best comfort she had to offer at the moment.
Standing with Rory, she pulled her into a tight hug. "I love you. Everythin's gonna work itself out. I promise. Go shower, an' when yer done, we'll curl up on the couch an' watch a stupid movie." Maybe that would help distract her for a little while. She shooed her sister into the bathroom, and then sat back down on the bed so that she could call Ethan and let him know.