XXXI. New Normal Again

"Maybe we needed to break a little, so we could put ourselves back together more beautifully than before." Leah Raeder, Cam Girl ---- Chapter XXXI – New Normal Again I was released from hospital two weeks to the day of my kidnapping. I thought I had been ready to go home much earlier but Mom insisted on monitoring me for much longer. I had no idea how good our health insurance was, but it had to have been for such a stay. I also thought that some of the doctors and nurses were scared of her to go along with it. Nobody could get between a mama bear and her cub. Mom and Shea both helped me inside the house, which looked oddly comforting with our stuff still strewn across the place as though we had only been here yesterday. I was set up on the couch with a blanket, tea, some snacks, and the remote. It was the first week of December. I had already missed a lot of school and it was only too easy to fall behind. I was going to try and get my mom to let me go back on Monday. We would see how that went. She, much to her dismay, could no longer get any more time off of work. She had used all her sick leave and hadn't been working long enough to rack up much in the way of annual leave. So that Friday morning, she set off to work, with strict instructions for me to check in every hour with my temperature. Oh yeah, I also had a thermometer handy. I made Shea go to school as well. It was even more important for him to go as he was a senior. He promised to come by right after school. And then, for the first time in what felt like forever, I was alone. The house was quiet. It felt odd to suddenly not hear the annoying beep of the heart monitor, or the nurses chatting away outside my room about hospital gossip. I turned on the TV for some noise and began to flick through all the shows that had been recording over the last two weeks. I settled on my favourite soapy drama and clicked play. I wasn't five minutes into the show before there was a knock at the door. I was surprised, but then not so, when my first instinct was fear. Anxiety began to rise inside me as I didn't know who was behind the door. It could be anyone. I was alone and vulnerable. I stopped breathing as my heart sped up, my eyes flicking around the room for some sort of weapon to defend myself with. What if it was Lex? Oh my God, how the hell was I supposed to defend myself against him? But my fears were quickly quashed seconds later. "Calm down, Saraphine," came the comforting, deep voice of my dad. "It's your dad." I breathed a sigh of relief two times over. Not only was I safe, but my dad had come back to see me. I knew why he'd had to stay away. But I'd hated it. Carefully I made my way off of the couch and waddled over to the door. I took a deep breath before turning the handle. I swung the door open to see him standing before me. Now that I was standing before him, I could appreciate his height and size. I really had inherited my height and build from Mom. He was probably about six and a half feet tall and he clearly looked after himself. He didn't look like most dads with their thinning hair and beer gut. He looked down at me with the same look of parental adoration that mom did. I thought back to his words in that video and I knew how much he loved me. I had a dad. I had another parent. Two parents who loved me to pieces. Jesus Christ, this actually felt like the damn lottery. "Daddy," I whimpered, before throwing my arms around him. The stretch pulled at my abdomen, but I didn't care. I was hugging my father for the first time in my life. Dad seemed to read my mind, lifting me up as his arms wrapped around my waist. "Oh, baby girl," he said softly, in a content voice filled with relief. I felt him place a kiss on top of my head. The level of security I felt by being hugged by my dad was something incredible. After a minute, he put me down on the ground, before cradling my face in his hands. He just smiled with sheer wonder. "You are so beautiful, Saraphine," he said fondly. I couldn't help but wince as I managed the pain, and even though I smiled through it, Dad saw it. "You shouldn't be standing. This is my fault, I'm sorry. Let me help you." We came to sit down on the couch together, and Dad looked around the room. I watched him stop on the pictures on the mantle, and I was sure with his eyesight that he could see them as clear as day. "Ignore the braces," I murmured, referencing those awkward junior high days. "All part of growing up. You must've got my shitty dental genes. I needed braces, too," he replied humorously before stopping himself. "Sorry about the cursing. I've always had a bad mouth." I laughed, more delighted by learning that I'd inherited something from him. "I don't care," I assured him, before sighing. "Daddy, where have you been all these years?" He placed an arm over the back of the sofa and turned to face me. "I've never been far, sweetheart," he promised, "and I will tell you everything you want to know." "Okay," I agreed. "Why did we all think you were dead?" I asked bluntly. Dad pursed his lips shut and thought for a second. "I need to explain the context first," he started. "I don't know how much your mom has told you. I don't know how much you know about me or my kind, or anything really." "I think I know enough." Dad nodded. "Well, it all started when I first saw your mom. Well, when I saw her for the second time. I'd always known Amanda. I thought she was crazy pretty. I was older than her, and we ran in different circles. She kept to herself. She was very smart. Very smart. Going places. Not like me. She was still in eighth grade when I turned sixteen." He spoke with such reserved sadness. Like he had been practicing speaking about Mom. Goddammit, I could hear the raw pain still. "When we turn sixteen, it's like a second puberty. We are able to shift for the first time, and we are able to realise our mate when we see them. I knew it was her. From the second I saw her I knew. It was like I was seeing her clearly for the first time. But we were both still kids and there was no way she was ready for the sort of relationship that we are capable of. "So, I waited. I was crazy in love with this girl, but I waited. I was friendly to her. Tried to make her see that when I eventually asked her out, I wouldn't be such a horrible guy. So, when I did finally ask her out two years later, she was eating a hotdog in the cafeteria, and mustard had dropped onto her shirt. It was adorable. And she said no." He rolled his eyes at the memory. "I think I just kept annoying here until she gave in. And what we had was amazing. "We are always told that humans don't have the same capacity to love as we do. It's not the same. But Goddammit, I thought it was. I thought she loved me just as much as I love her." It didn't escape me that he used the present tense when talking about loving my mom. Dad closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "But she didn't. Couldn't. I know a lot of it was my fault. If I could go back and do things differently, I would." I assumed he was referring to keeping Mom in the dark about his secret identity."We'd been together for four years. Got married, said vows before God that I meant with every bit of my soul, and we'd had a beautiful little daughter. I was blind … blind to her fear, her unhappiness … and she took you, and left me." His voice cracked and I immediately reached out to him, taking his hand in mine. I didn't know what to make of this story, or Mom's. Hearing it from both of them, it was like they shared the same pain, but not together. And then Dad stiffened. "What?" I asked. Looking to the door he said, "Your mother came back." Shit. How the hell was I going to explain this? Dad went to get up from the couch, as though he was going to slip out the back door. I seized his hand, stopping him. No. This had to happen, no matter the fight it would cause. "Stay!" I begged. "Saraphine," he said in a pained voice. "Stay!" I insisted again. "It won't be as bad as you think." I resisted the urge to cross my fingers. Not two seconds later, I heard Mom's keys in the door. She pushed open the door and came rushing inside, holding her hands up in a flustered way as she ran over to the kitchen counter. "I'm not here!" she cried. "I just forgot my cell. I'm not checking up on you, I promise." She stood with her back to us as she flicked through her phone momentarily before shoving it in her back pocket. "But while I'm here, Sara, I want to check your –" as she turned around, she froze. Her eyes locked with Dad's and all blood rushed from her face. I had never seen someone literally pale before. I looked at Dad, and he was staring at her intensely, a whole mixture of emotions on his face. "Amanda," he whispered. Mom's eyes then rolled back into her head as she passed out. ---- Anywayssssssss I wonder what will happen next …. !!!