Aaron had been home for two weeks now. He had it all planned and he talked to the head of the facility he was going to take her to the days following the delivery but something happened there and now he had to keep her home. Derrick had elected to be the one to watch her. He did all the work for his cases at home and had someone come get the forms and documents to take it to the office. If he even heard a sound from upstairs he would sprint up there only to see Aaron had maybe dropped something. In his mind it was her body falling to the ground after she had done something. It was taxing and grueling—a waiting game.
She wasn't talking. She wasn't eating. He knew she was barely sleeping because she would sit in the living room watching television all night and he would sit on the opposite side of the couch just monitoring. Like she would somehow die right there if he blinked. She was suicidal and he knows the second he gives her some leniency is the second she'll be gone.
So Derrick watches and he monitors and he makes her shower with the door open but the curtain closed and doesn't let her grab her own things. She could hide a razor blade under a wash cloth. or in her towel. He hands hands her everything over the shower rod and gives her an allotted ten minutes and when she's done he closes his eyes and wraps the towel around her and escorts her to her room.
The times Aaron does sleep she does so in Derricks room and he removed everything sharp or blunt. The door stays open and he makes sure he walks in and puts his finger under her nose every few hours to make sure she's still alive. He gives her her medications and locks them away where she can't get to them.
Derrick hadn't properly slept in days. He was getting bags under his eyes, he was grumpy and groggy and he knew everything he was doing was for the best but it was taking its toll. His sons were walking on egg shells, a lot of the time they had been sleeping at Chases place because having to watch their father and Aaron do this routine was all too much to bare. They were waiting too. They were waiting for their dad to call them tearfully saying Aaron had done it.
He had talked to some people. Some doctors he knew personally and Jane. He had to do what was best and making his home a make shift psych ward with only one guard wasn't enough. He had planed to take her to a facility in the city but a few days ago he got the call there was a bed available. So he told Aaron, whose skin had lost its color, whose clothes didn't fit, who looked like she had lived a dozen lives in only her one that she had to go on his business trip. The case was out of state and if he didn't go he would could potentially be fired. It was a lie of course but even in her state Aaron was a little reasonable.
The ride on the plane hadn't been long. Maybe an hour or so and when they land he picks up a rental car and they drive. It's silent. It's eerie. He knows none of this will go well. He parks. The entire drive she stares out the window and doesn't even ask about where they are until she sees the adults in scrubs. The white.
"What is this?" Her voice was hoarse.
"Look—" He tries to speak but she shakes her head vehemently. She knows exactly what this is. She knows what he's doing.
"No! I'm not—You can't make stay here," She stumbles over her words. Her eyes are so wide and so afraid. It's the most emotion he's seen since being in the hospital after the birth.
"Aaron, you're not well. They can help you. I can't do it alone," He swallows hoping his soft tone and voice of reason would help her. The look on her face tells him it doesn't, "It's one of the best facilities in the united states."
"I knew it," Her voice was low and dangerous, "You're going to leave me? Just throwing me in another state with people I don't know? You can't fucking handle it," She starts to push him. The hits getting harder as she speaks, "Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you!" She punches at whatever part of his body he doesn't block and tears spring in her eyes and Derrick knows he has to keep his composure and hold his ground.
