I See You

52

Lena walked in the house with her head as deep between her shoulders as she could, her breathing was agitated and she had her eyes locked over her tennis shoes as her father pressed his safe hand on the space between her shoulder blades and guided her towards the staircase.

"Go get some rest, Le" said Peter, they stopped at the bottom of the stairs and he turned her to look at him, his daughter looked at her father's big clear eyes and without another word, he pulled her into a hug and then kissed her forehead "Get a shower, I'll handle your mom"

"Thank you" smiled Lena, she turned around and walked up the stairs, with her head still between her shoulders and her eyes over the floor, she didn't want to see the broken pictures on the wall.

Peter watched as Lena walked up the stairs and then turned around, he walked down the hall of the living room and entered the kitchen to find Margaret pulling out pans and ingredients from the refrigerator; even from where Peter was standing he could see her hands shaking.

Peter walked slowly towards his wife as she tried to turn on the stove, she had started to pant, Peter placed both of his hands over her shoulder and made her turn around to look at him, she was pale and was having trouble breathing.

Margaret looked at Peter, she was tall but Peter towered over her in a reassuring way "Stop" whispered Peter "We can order takeout"

"We are not ordering takeout" said Margaret, she was trying hard to keep the tears inside her eyes, Peter could see her angst "She needs to feel at home, Peter"

"She needs us, right now" whispered Peter "She might not want to eat and she might want to stay in her room, but we need to be strong for her"

"We almost lost her" Margaret said, her voice trembled "We almost lost her"

Peter pulled Margaret into a tight hug, she held him like she was holding dear life and then the warm tears started to roll down her face, Peter caressed her hair gently with his eyes closed as he held his wife in the kitchen where they had almost lost their daughter.

"But we didn't lose her" whispered Peter "And now we will help her get through this" he took a deep breath and opened his eyes, he pulled Margaret away and looked down at her; there had never been a lot of occasions in which Peter had seen his wife crumble like that.

Margaret looked up at Peter, he gently cleaned the tears away and kissed her forehead, he smiled and she smiled back at him weakly.

"Did you call your brother?" whispered the woman.

"Of course I did" smiled Peter "He will send us the pictures when he can, we'll Ian will, you know my brother sucks at technology"

Margaret chuckled and let out a sound between a sob and a snort, the same sound that escaped Lena's lips often, Peter smiled and took a deep breath.

"I will get changed and go help Janet with Nicola"

"I will make diner while you are out" Margaret whispered "I thinks Lena might sleep for a while and stay in her room, should I go talk to her?"

"No" said Peter "Let her have a few moments for herself, she will come down when she wants and she will talk to us when she is feeling better"

"When will that be?"

Peter smiled, he always smiled when Margaret was being intense "The attack was last night, I am guessing it's too soon for her, relax Margie and don't pressure her"

"Ok" Margaret took a deep breath "Ok, yes you are right, now go get changed"

Peter smiled and left the kitchen, he could feel that his wife had calmed down a bit and now he had to go calm down Janet, his childhood friend.