Save Me (An Eddie Diaz 911 Fanfiction)

Fallout

Every other time in her life, Jane would know the difference, but that one time, for the spans of two minutes, a pair of large, warm hands reached out to grab her waist, and she freaked out.

"Get off me! Get off! Get off! Get off!" Jane grabbed the hands and pushed them away wildly. She was acting from a place of blind fear, seeing nothing around her except a pair of hands that weren't even in the room. However, as the other pair of hands reached out again, to try to calm her down, she screamed louder. When the hand tried to grab her arm, only trying to keep her from hurting herself, she struck out at it.

It was his gentle shushing that brought her back to her senses. She stopped screaming, her chest heaving as she panted and cried. Tears were still blurring her vision, so she swiped them violently away with her forearm, but the skin was so raw the pressure elicited a startled yelp of pain from her lips, clearing her head farther. Then, when the haze broke, there was Eddie. He had both hands raised up as he faced her, as if he were trying to coax a wild animal.

He's the one who'd touched her, and she...she'd not realized it was him.

"I-" she stuttered pitifully. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I can't believe I-"

"Hey," he said lowly, comfortingly.

"I..." she trembled in horror. "I'm so sorry. I did-didn't mean t-to. It's just...he t-t-touched m-me again, in my dream, and I was just trying to get it off. To get him off and I didn't realize it was you. I didn't know it was you. I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you. I'm sorry." She just kept repeating those words, over and over again, panicking, working herself up again. Eddie wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms, to reassure her that she was protected and safe now, but he knew she couldn't handle that right then. When he was bad, when he was taken away by his mind to somewhere else, if someone touched him, he bet that he'd freak out too.

"Where did he touch you?" His voice was low and steady, with a dangerous edge.

Jane looked down at her arm, but the only thing there was the skin that she'd scrubbed raw. Still, she swore she could still feel his fingers there. Looking down at her lost expression, Eddie was seized by an idea.

"Jane?"

"Yeah?"

"May I grab your hand?"

Her heart gave a pang at his question, both regretting that such a question was necessary, but infinitely thankful that he'd asked it. She nodded, and without another word, he gently took her right hand in his and lead her back to her restroom. Then, he carefully sat her down on the edge of her bathtub. Jane then watched with rapt attention as he pulled out a gray washcloth from her cabinet and wet it with warm water. Then he added just a drop of anti-bacterial soap to the cloth.

Carefully, Eddie turned back to her, making sure that he had eye contact, and he then moved his eyes from the washcloth to her arm, so she would not be confused at who he was and what his intentions were. She nodded her consent, unable to find words over the emotion that clogged her throat. Then, he washed her arm, and this time, it felt like it was becoming clean.

They were silent as he worked. Only the small hum of her bathroom fan whirred in the background. After a minute, he rinsed the cloth with more warm water, and went over the spot again. She breathed in his comforting smell of apples and cedar, and she knew without a doubt that it wasn't the soap that was making her clean. The soap wasn't helping her heal from his unwanted touch. The soap wasn't bringing her back to herself and lending her the power to keep going. It was Eddie. It was all Eddie.