Broken Wings

Part Thirty Six - let the rebuild commence

Chapter Thirty Six

Julia was staring at him, and if her rate of breathing was an indicator, she was hyperventilating, badly. Aaron reached out, took her hands in his, "we can pretend...for another few days, waiting for me to say the wrong thing and this all to kick off again." He sighed, "I can do that, but it's not the best. You know that. Can't you talk to your doctor, get a plan...then we can relax a bit more. It's Friday...after today we've got a weekend..."

Her bottom lip quivered as she struggled to meet his eyes, "she gave me a name...of someone here that she trusts. I knew that things weren't good."

That made his heart soar, he felt like the bad guy, pushing, forcing her to face up to something that she wasn't ready for. She had known that things were difficult, she knew that she needed help.

Smiling he reached to cup her chin, "this may seem hard, but it's the right thing. I can cope with you hating me, biting my head off...but I can't cope with seeing you shed any more tears over what that bastard has done. That's why I want to do this."

A tear appeared in her eye, but she swiped at it with her free hand, "you keep being too nice."

He shook his head, "I'm doing what anyone else would do when they knew what happened, what he did...you don't deserve to carry this around with you any longer."

"Anyone?" She huffed at that, "like my parents!"

He rolled his eyes, "I hope I never meet them, because they don't deserve that title. And I wouldn't hesitate to tell them. YOU would do the same, imagine if Abi told you the same..."

It was a long moment before she answered, "I'd kill for her."

He nodded, "exactly. But on a more practical level, we want to change this, I want you to wake up every morning and fell free. You don't do that, I KNOW you don't. Even before I spent the last two nights holding you, I knew that you didn't sleep. Didn't rest. And didn't want to wake."

"How do you know all this?"

Her voice was small, her eyes wide as she stared at him, he could only shrug, "there's something...I don't know, I just get you...and I think you get me."

She started to flounder, and he gave an apologetic laugh, "I like you, but this isn't part of the deal. I am not as you quoted doing everything to 'get into your knickers'," she had the good grace to blush at that. But he didn't let her finish, instead he added, "I like you. REALLY like you. I have about two friends, I like about five people in the world, so that in its own right is a sign. I love my brother, and he loves Abi, and you are the common link. If I was to take a step back, you being happy will indirectly make my brother happy. Take which ever one of those reasons floats your boat, then run with it."

Her eyes were on him as he let her go of her hand, "I don't either." When he lifted an eyebrow in question, she added, "friends...I don't share myself. But I already have with you. And it scares me."

He nodded, "I can see that. But as I say, this isn't about you and me..." He gestured between the two of them, "this is about you, and the woman I saw on stage in the museum, the woman I danced with in the speakeasy, there are so many times that I have seen a happy, confident and successful woman." He stepped back, eyes still on her, "and you need to want that too. I can't sit around and watch you be cower, to be half a person because of what some sick, perverted bastard did...to a child."

"Wow."

She was staring at him, open mouthed, "no one has ever...said that."

He shrugged, "and that is a fucking travesty, Julia. THAT is the whole reason that you've never got passed this, other than Abi no one has given a shit about you after all that. And it changes. If I make ONE call, Abi will be here, camped out until you're sorted."