Young Queen

SEVENTY

TW: mention of SA/rape

THIRD-PERSON POV

"How is he doing?" Damon asked, walking up to Aria who was standing by the window. Her eyes were trained on Leo who had been working off his frustrations and pain every day this week.

"Not the best, but he's better," Aria told her brother, taking another sip of her coffee. "He's been closed off towards everyone."

She turned around to face Damon, and that was when he noticed the tired look on her face. She had deep under-eye bags and the shine in her eyes was fading.

"How are you doing Aria? You have to take care of yourself too," Damon told her, worry filling his chest.

She shook her head, "I'm fine, Damon. I have to look out for him too. He doesn't have anyone, he cries every night, holding me and telling me how sorry he is. I don't know what to do."

"This isn't healthy for either of you," Damon told her. "I know he's hurting but he can't forget about taking care of you either."

"I'm not going to leave him, Damon," she said louder this time. "He went through hell for me."

Damon shook his head this time, "You were sexually assaulted, Aria. You are going through hell too."

She cringed at the word, "Don't say that."

"It's the truth, denying it won't help you. Believe me, I know," Damon told her, placing his own cup back on the island of the kitchen.

Aria shook her head trying to clear it of the painful memories. Now her head was filled with what happened to Damon, Sasha's dead body, and Steven. It all disgusted her, it was part of the reason why she hasn't been able to eat.

"Don't compare what happened to me, to what happened to you. It's not even nearly the same," she told him.

He sighed, "Look, I know that. I also know that you need to start taking care of yourself again. He needs to start taking care of himself too. Now is not the time to grieve whatever relationship he had with Steven or Sofia."

Aria turned back to the window, but she noticed Leo was no longer out there. She took a deep breath, "We're done talking about this. He needs time, Damon. We'll all be okay."

Damon nodded his head, hoping she was right. "How about the theater or whatever Sofia suggested before? Our group can go out, have some fun."

Aria thought about it. She had to admit, going to the theater sounded amazing. She missed getting all dressed up and forgetting about things, even if it is just for a night. She turned back to look at Damon again, "That sounds like fun, I'll see if Leo is up for it."

Damon nodded, "Even if he isn't, force him. He needs a night out too."

Leo listened from outside the door. He hated that everyone thought he was weak, that he was grieving. He was trying to figure out how he was supposed to survive, how he was going to finish this war, run the business without the fucking papers ensuring he could. Or he needed to find Steven and end his fucking life.

The only problem was that neither Clark nor Charles was able to get any trace of him. Go figure that the only thing Steven was good at was running away from his fucking problems. He hated thinking that Aria needed to take care of him, to hold him at night.

Leo couldn't help it though. He felt so fucking guilty when he held her at night and thought about what happened to her. He saw the video. He hacked into the cameras and watched it. If she needed to live with the horrors of that day, so did he. Steven Moretti was once his father, and he did that to Aria. Part of it was his fault.