Recovery Period

Chapter 9

The cool outside air hit Nico as soon as they were outside and she shuddered, burrowing into Raina although there was already no space left between them. "Shit, it's cold," she growled. Raina heard the curse and delivered a quick, mild slap to Nico's rear, her heart rate quickening at Nico's sharp yelp. The sadist in her groaned and she felt a twinge in her lower abdomen.

"Ow!" Nico whined, sitting up in Raina's arms to glare at the woman holding her.

"Watch your mouth," Raina said simply. 

Nico turned red. Not pink, not a little blushy. Bright red. She heard Auggie snort-laugh behind them and she threw him a nasty look, peeking up over Raina's shoulder so he could see it. "Shut it!" she snapped at him, earning yet another pop to her rear. "Hey! I didn't even cuss!" 

Raina withheld the smile threatening to break through her serious "mom" face at Nico's pout. "Were you rude to Auggie?"

"He laughed at me."

"Is that what I asked you, Nico?" Raina said, stopping outside her car's door and looking down at her seriously. 

"...no."

"Let's try again. Were you rude to Auggie?"

"Yes, but-" Nico started, cut off by Raina raising an eyebrow.

"You were rude. You need to say sorry." Raina put Nico down on the front seat after opening the car door, stepping away so that Nico could see Auggie.

Nico crossed her arms and glared at Raina and then at Auggie, who cautiously stepped forward to put the bag of stuff at Nico's feet in the car. "I'm sorry I laughed at you, Nico. I didn't mean it that way. It was cute, that's all," he said softly, smiling at Nico's adorable pout. She was surprised by his apology and her arms fell away from her chest. "I'm sorry, Auggie. I wasn't trying to be rude," she murmured, looking down at Mol who Auggie had just placed in her lap.

"No worries, kiddo. Have fun this weekend and I hope you come visit after your foot is better," he said, stepping back to make room for Raina. Nico watched Raina step toward her and relaxed back into her seat at the words Raina mouthed so that only Nico could see: good girl.

Auggie murmured to Raina, waved at Nico and walked toward the back entrance. "Ready?" she asked, reaching up to grab Nico's seat belt when she nodded. She made quick work of buckling Nico and Mol in, but lingered a bit as she stood back up. She watched Nico squirm at her proximity, wanting to be closer but also embarrassed at the intimacy of it. "Let's go, love," she finally purred as she stood up. She was thoroughly enjoying how flustered Nico was becoming at her closeness and petnames. 

After closing Nico's door, she pulled out Nico's wallet and tapped the address into her phone's GPS. By the time she was buckled in, her map was loaded and they were on their way. Nico was sitting quietly, rubbing part of Mol's ear with her left hand and looking out the window as things rushed by. "Is this the right way, Nico?" Raina asked halfway into their short drive. Nico nodded ever-so-slightly.

Raina was hoping that she'd be talkative, but she knew this was all a lot at once. An injury, a good bit of medical trauma, an accidental slip, and now in a car with a total stranger. Underneath all of that was everything Raina knew just from their interactions: starved for physical touch, intense fear of rejection, and something similar to dissociation when stressed. Nico had a lot going on and Raina suddenly wondered if this was a good idea, getting mixed up in all of it.

But, by the time that thought had come to her, they were pulling up outside Nico's house. "Is this you?" Raina asked, pointing at the small, gray house with the white gravel driveway. 

Nico nodded and tried to unbuckle her seatbelt, fumbling a bit as she tried to push the button down. Raina looked over to help and paused, realizing suddenly that Nico's hands were shaking. Without a second thought, she laid her hand over Nico's and used the other to tilt her face up so that they were looking at each other. "Tell me what's wrong," she cooed, grazing Nico's cheek with her thumb.

"I don't want you to leave," Nico whispered. Tears welled up in her eyes and she blinked hard, trying to keep them from spilling down her face.

"Who said I was leaving?" Raina asked with a slight tilt of her head.

Nico stared at her in confusion. "...but...but we're here? At my house."

"Do you want me to leave?"

Nico shook her head, almost frantic, and Raina shushed her gently, using her thumb to graze the split lip Nico had been chewing at since they'd gotten into the car. "Then I'm not going to. At some point, I have to go to my house to tend to my pets, but you can come with me if you want," Raina said, wiping the stray tear that had finally broken the ledge of Nico's long eye lashes.

Without waiting for a response or permission, she kissed the end of Nico's nose and stepped out of the car. Nico was back up in Raina's arms before she knew it, casually balanced on her hip like a toddler. Raina was glad for the short walk from the car to the front door and Nico was so stunned that she simply gaped at the woman carrying her like it was nothing. 

Nico completely missed Raina pulling out her keys out, unlocking the door, and stepping into her own house. She was staring at, who she believed to be, the most perfect being on earth. Raina nudged the door shut with her foot and carried Nico into the kitchen, setting her on the largest section of counter. Once they were face to face, she placed a finger under Nico's chin to shut her mouth...which had fallen open in her amazement.

"Nico, you with me?" Raina teased, booping the end of Nico's nose with a smile.

"Yes Ma..., yes. I'm here," Nico answered, blushing but returning Raina's grin.

Raina beamed. "Okay, good. Now, what do you want to grab while we're here?"

Nico frowned, wrinkling her eyebrows in thought. She made a quick packing list in her head and started to hop off the counter to pack, only to be caught mid-slide by Raina and placed directly back on the counter. 

"Where do you think you're going with that foot of yours, hm?" Raina asked.

"Oh. Crap, right," Nico muttered, lightly thunking her forehead with her fist. She felt stuck now. She needed to pack, but she couldn't walk around. And she didn't want Raina all over her place...that felt weird. And she had little stuff scattered throughout. She was sure that Raina ultimately knew what was happening and understood her, but she wasn't ready to just face it head-on like that.

Raina studied Nico in this moment, curious to see how she'd work it out. She had some ideas of her own, but none of them were...subtle. She felt her heartrate pick up as she lingered a bit too long on those ideas and got herself flustered, itching to rip off the bandaid with this girl and just be doing what they both wanted to be doing, but neither had named. Just say it. Just tell her you already know and you're into it. Look at this place, it's a little's safe place trying to be a grown-up's house, her impatience hissed.

She couldn't deny it: there were signs everywhere. The pillow fort in the corner of the living room couch, stuffies mixed in throughout. The remaining puddle of chocolate milk on the floor just a bit away, clearly knocked off by a stray pillow or blanket or limb. The sink wasn't full, but every dish she could see was colorful or plastic or covered in characters, or a combination of all 3. The discarded bottle printed with dinosaurs didn't go unnoticed and she didn't even need to see the rest of the house to know it'd be very similar.

Her attention turned back to the girl in front of her, a little pretending to be as grown as she could be. If she was in a partnership with someone, they either didn't know about her little or they were a lousy caregiver. She had to know for sure. "Nico," she began, pausing until Nico's forehead relaxed and she looked up at her, "Do you... Do you have a mommy or a daddy? Or someone who looks after you when you feel little?"

Nico panicked at the question. The implications. The brutal honesty of the things she was not prepared to share with a stranger, regardless of how much they had already done. This was too blunt, too much to confront at once: the shame in having to start talking about these things and the grief at the loss she was still sometimes grappling with.

In her blind rush of anxiety, she defensively raised her hands and pushed Raina away, landing on both feet as she pushed off the counter. She scrambled up the stairs, ignoring the searing pain in her foot, and managed to get to her bedroom, slamming the door and locking it. Nico sank to the floor, thrusting her face into her knees, rocking back and forth with the balls of her feet.