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"What's wrong?"
Although Tara tried to wipe away her tears before Katherine entered the room, the attempt proved to fail when her girlfriend's eyes softened.
"Nothing." Tara answered, doing the absolute best to avoid revealing her sister's true heritage and the reason behind her father's disappearance.
Katherine had an amazing ability to be able to read her girlfriend, and so she immediately knew the girl was lying, but if Tara didn't want to open up it must have been for a good reason. It hurt a little, knowing Tara didn't trust her enough to tell her whatever it was that she was holding back, but it wasn't like Katherine always told her the truth, so she decided to not push her.
She maneuvered over to the side of the hospital bed and sat down on the empty space beside her girlfriend. Tara avoided looking up, mostly because her cheeks were still slightly wet from her tears. Katherine placed her hand on Tara's wounded hand, making sure not to hurt it, "I'm leaving the hospital for a few hours, is that alright with you?"
Tara looked up confused, finally meeting her eyes, "What? Why?"
"Uh, Sam and I are going to try and figure this out, ask my dad for some help and see where it leads to." Katherine let her know.
Tara pushed herself forward and sat up, her eyes searching for an answer in Katherine's eyes as she asked, "Is she making you involve him?"
Katherine shook her head, "Not really, I told her it would be on him if he wants to involve himself... I want to protect you, but some things are out of my control and if asking my father for help gives us a better chance of getting ourselves out of this, then I think it's worth a try."
Tara heard the uncertainty in Katherine's voice, and it didn't take her long to figure out what had her girlfriend feeling that way. "You're hoping he says no, aren't you?"
No response came out of Katherine, instead she let her eyes wander down to the floor as her head flooded with thoughts and images from her past she wished to forget.
Crying in front of others, even if it was her parents or girlfriend, was something Katherine despised with her whole heart. The feeling of eyes watching her as she broke down made her feel incredibly small, and the fear of them not caring enough if she ever did begin to cry was enough to force herself to hold everything in until she was finally alone. Katherine always held everything in when she was younger, and it took her a long time to finally open up to Tara, but after a few years she finally did, until now.
Sometimes, just looking at Katherine could give Tara an idea of how her girlfriend felt in the moment. The way her eyes wandered across the room as she silently thought to herself, or the change in her posture, or even the pace of her breathing let Tara know exactly what Katherine was too afraid to admit.
