Selfless

57

Colby's POV

I closed the door and carried Mia downstairs as she cuddled into me. She fussed a little and looked towards the bedroom door, "no honey, mommy needs to sleep." I said and kissed her head.

I walked down to the living room where everyone was. "Hey, where's Cor?" Devyn asked as I sat down with Mia. "She's taking a nap, she took a Vicodin today since she was hurting really bad." I said as Sam turned the music down, "I feel like she's finally going to be able to rest because she's been pushing herself so hard to be able to walk at the wedding." Devyn said as I put Mia on the ground so she could crawl around a little, "yeah, that was pretty amazing though, she's come so far." I said and leaned back into the couch.

"Hey did you ever find Stephanie?" I asked Michelle as Kat gasped, "wait. Did she show up last night?" She's asked as Sam's jaw clenched. "Yeah, she apologized. We told her to leave though." I said and turned to Michelle again.

"Yeah, I talked to her for a little while then got her an Uber to the airport. She's really sorry. I don't know what came over her honestly, she's never been like that before." She said and I shook my head, "I don't know if I'll ever forgive her. Cora did though." I said and shook my head as Michelle nodded, "I understand, I'm sorry she crashed your wedding, even if it was in good intent." She said and I shrugged, "no big deal, as long as she doesn't pull anything else." I said and let out a breath.

We ended up playing a board game, since we couldn't decide on a movie to watch.

We were only about 10 minutes into the game when I heard Cora screaming for help upstairs, causing my blood to run cold. I didn't even think before I bolted up the stairs and ran to our room, swinging the bedroom door open violently.

Cora's eyes were still closed as she gasped for air and screamed, clawing at her throat. "Cora!" I yelled and ran over grabbing both of her hands so she wouldn't hurt herself anymore.

"Stop! You're killing me!" She yelled as her dad, Sam, and Corey rushed in. "Cora baby wake up." I said and shook her shoulders, she just screamed and thrashed against me as I looked frantically over to the guys.

"What is happening!?" Sam yelled and rushed over to help me hold her down. "God damnit I knew she shouldn't have taken that pill." I mumbled as she cried, "Help!" She screamed causing my heart to break. "Come on Cor. Wake up!" I yelled and shook her again as Sam and her dad came over to hold her arms down. "Corey go grab some bandaids, a towel and a glass of water!" I yelled and turned back to her.

I clenched my jaw and pulled my hand back, "I'm so sorry." I mumbled then slapped her as hard as I could. She didn't even flinch as she squirmed and screamed.

"come on baby, wake up." I mumbled and slapped her again, this time her eyes opened as she looked around frantically. "Where is she?!" She screamed as tears fell from her eyes. "Baby calm down, who are you talking about?" I asked and brushed the tears off of her cheek. "Stephanie! She was here! She tried to k-kill me!" She screamed as her dad and Sam let go of her arms. They both had sad looks on their faces as they watched her.

As soon as they let go she immediately wrapped her arms around my neck and just sobbed into my shoulder, "it was just a dream baby girl. Stephanie isn't here." I mumbled into her hair as I kissed the side of her head.

"She tried to kill me." She wimpered as her dad rubbed her back, "you're okay, squirt." He said quietly as Corey came back with the first aid kit and a glass of water.

"Just breathe, Cor." Sam said as I held her close to me. She sobbed so violently that she was still trying to catch her breath. "Breathe baby, you're safe. You're okay." I whispered until she finally relaxed a little.

"Tell me what happened" I asked as I grabbed the towel Corey was handing me and wet it with the water so I could clean up her neck which he scratched pretty badly with her nails.

"S-stephanie...she came in here a-and smothered me." She said shakily as I brought the cold towel to her neck. She flinched as soon as I got close causing my heart to break, "I'm not going to hurt you." I said gently as she bit her lip, "I-I know. I'm sorry." she whispered and grabbed my hand, bringing the towel to her neck.

"Stephanie isn't here, Michelle got her an Uber to the airport last night." Her dad said as I cleaned up her wounds. "S-she...tried to kill me." She said quietly as Sam grabbed the pill bottle that her Vicodin was in, "one of the side effects is hallucinations, Cora. I don't think you should take these anymore." He said and put the bottle on the table as Corey handed me some bandaids.

"I...it...what?" She asked and looked at Sam as I bandaged her up. "You probably had an hallucination that she was here to kill you because she showed up at the wedding. We will check the whole house for you though if it would make you more comfortable." Sam said and rubbed her back as she looked at me with glassy eyes. "Please." She whispered as I brought my hand to her cheek.

"Okay, we will go check. Are you okay though?" Corey asked as she tore her eyes from mine to look at him, "I think so..thank you." She said then turned to look at me again.

Sam went into our closet and Corey went onto the bathroom as her dad left to go into the other rooms of the house.

"I can't breathe." Cora whispered as I finished cleaning her up. "Shhh, you're okay. I promise I'm not going to let anyone hurt you." I said and rubbed her back as I held her close to my chest.

"All clear in this room." Sam said as he and Corey came out of the closet and bathroom, "thank you guys. I'm sorry..." Cora said quietly.

"Don't worry about it Cor, we want you to feel safe." Sam said as Kat came into the room, "hey, your dad told us what happened..are you okay?" She asked and sat on the bed. "Y-yeah. I'm okay." She whispered and turned to hug Kat.

I rubbed her back as she cried into Kat's shoulder, what she went though must have been really scary because she usually bounces back from nightmares faster than this. "It's okay Cor, it's over now." Kat whispered and hugged her.

"Y-yeah. It is." She said and pulled away wiping her cheeks. She stood up as grabbed her cane as her arms and legs shook, "woah, hey where are you going?" I asked and stood up, putting my hands on her hips so she wouldn't fall. She didn't answer and just grabbed the pill bottle, then started walking towards the bathroom. I hovered behind her to make sure she wouldn't fall as she went to the toilet and dumped the whole bottle in.

"Woah...that really scared you huh?" I asked as she flushed the toilet. "Yeah." She whispered and started to leave the room. "Did something else happen?" I asked as she bit her lip. "N-no." She said then turned and walked away.

I knew something else happened in that hallucination, but I wasn't going to pry. She clearly wasn't up for talking about it right now and what kind of husband would I be to force her into telling me.

"Do you want to go downstairs or stay up here?" I asked as she walked back into the bedroom. Kat watched her cautiously as she went into the closet.

I think she was secretly checking behind the guys, making sure nobody was in there, but I didn't say anything. "Downstairs." She said and came out wearing one of my sweatshirts. "Okay baby girl, let's go downstairs then." I said as she threw the hood up on the hoodie.

She turned to leave the room as Kat put her hand on my arm, "somethings not right." She said and I nodded, "I agree, but she will talk about it when she wants to." I said and followed her down the stairs.

Everyone greeted Cora as she waved and sat on the couch, dropping her cane to the floor and pulling her legs to her chest. I sat next to her and pulled her into my chest as she sighed and melted into me.

I wish I could know what was going on in her head.