InsaneJournal

At first, the change from being in that underground hell, to being in the real world again was beyond overwhelming. The first few days had been purely about feeding his starved body and resting. But slowly, once he could focus on other things besides food, he had started to Notice Things. Like one afternoon he just stood on one of the parsonage' plush carpets, letting his bare feet feel the softness. He had done similar outside, just enjoying the feel of the grass. To the point where Tuck had discovered him in the garden, rolling around like some kind of deranged labradoodle.

Colours caught his attention. He had grown so accustomed to shades of grey, lifeless light blue, brown, the only difference being stark red blood on occasion. Now there was an entire world of colour. And patterns! He found his eyes fixating on the patterns people word to Tuck's church, unable to tear his colour-starved eyes away until it looked like he was just staring at people.

Choices overwhelmed him. In the fight ring, he had literally no choice. He ate what he was fed, he used what he was given to clean himself, he wore what he was forced to wear. When Tuck had taken him to the store to pick out some toiletries for himself, the vast amount of choice had sent him panicking and he had had to rush out of the shop. In the end, he just told Tuck to surprise him. And he still hadn't chanced clothes shopping. Not yet. That was more than choice there, that was trying to figure out his own style again. And how the hell was he supposed to do that when he wasn't even sure who he was any more.

The thing that was proving the most difficult, was learning to stop asking for permission to do things. Will he saw as an equal, but Tuck was the reverend of the church and he was still living in the parsonage. Tuck was clearly an authority, and Elijah was terrified of doing the wrong thing in Tuck's eyes. He was working on it, but it was hard to knock a habit of four years. He kept expecting punishment if he did something wrong.

Working on helping his fellow ex-captives though, that was amazing. Elijah had thrown himself into it. He had helped organise therapy. He helped contact family members and arranged travel. For those without family, he organised a place to live, and funding. He helped find jobs. He worked as the liaison between the ex-captives and the police as well. There were only three people left living in the church, though most of them came together for a group session on Wednesday nights. That was where Elijah thrived.

As he was packing up the room after group, Elijah caught sight of Will and he went over to the other man. He was sure Will had just come in to check on how things had gone. "It was a good session," Elijah grinned, though a second later he grabbed Will's arm - albeit gently - and hissed, "oh my god, the most gorgeous woman just walked in."

Behind Will, Michaela poked her head into the Cedar Room, sweeping it for any sign of her father.