Piece By Peace

You Don't Understand

Niamh woke the following morning with her arms wrapped tightly around Leah, the blonde's hair falling slightly over her face and making her nose itch. She recalled the previous nights events, wondering what the fuck she was going to do now.

All her life, Niamh had been recognised for the traits that made her career so successful; observation, awareness, trustworthiness. That's what made it hard to understand what had happened with Leah. How could she not have observed what was happening, been aware of the consequences, and known what a lack of trust could do to people.

Niamh thought of running, but then she remembered how Leah had looked the night before and those thoughts were pushed out of her mind. As Niamh lay staring at the ceiling, she had no idea that Leah was already awake but just didn't know what to say to the girl in her bed that had been sobbing the night before. Niamh's phone ringing saved the day. The first thing she noticed was how she didn't have to bolt from the room this time, she was able to just pick up the phone as she lay beside Leah, hoping that she wouldn't wake her.

"Hey Kev."
"Hey boss, I'm just calling with an update from the search. Is now a good time?"
"Yeah. Go ahead, mate."
"Turns out the landlord was actually in on the deal by the looks of things. We have forensics going through the files now, but without that operation I doubt we'll have anything that'll stand in court."
"Fuck sake. Well, I'll cross my fingers for some kinda miracle. Get some sleep."
"Cheers, Niamh. See you Monday."

Leah used this as her opportunity to pretend to wake up, stretching her arms out and letting out a groan as she flopped back to her own side of the bed. She had to act like she had no idea who Niamh had been on the phone to, despite knowing that it was Kev, something was wrong, and Niamh was praying for a miracle about it.

"Who was that?"
"Kev - he's part of the operations team."
"And that's - your team or?"
"They report to me, yeah."
"Didn't sound like you were happy about it." Leah chuckled.
"Just one of those annoying cases." Niamh shrugged.

Niamh was embarrassed, that much was obvious to Leah. She had completely shut herself off, making Leah wonder if she had already booked herself on a flight home today. Niamh, however, was just trying to work out how she could broach the topic from last night without starting off another argument between the pair.

"Leah? You awake?"

Niamh froze. Leah let out a sigh, something she never thought she would do due to her mother's arrival, but this was horrendous timing.

"I'm sorry." Leah whispered as she jumped out of bed.

Leah disappeared downstairs, Niamh straining her ears to hear the conversation between the pair. She could faintly hear Amanda repeatedly asking Leah to let her meet Niamh, with Leah tying herself in knots trying to think of reasons that this wasn't possible. When Leah's voice sounded more distressed than stubborn, Niamh let out a mumble of fuck it before making her way downstairs and into the kitchen where Amanda and Leah were.

"Hey, it's really nice to meet you." Niamh smiled.
"Oh, hello. It's lovely to meet you too, I'm Amanda."

Leah stood speechless at Niamh's arrival, making Niamh wonder if she'd made the right decision, and Amanda wonder what the exactly the secret was between the two. The truth was, Amanda hadn't been sure about Niamh since the nameless thing, she couldn't quite understand why anyone would want to withhold their name, and now that Niamh was standing sheepishly in front of her, paired with Leah trying to give every excuse under the sun about not bringing her downstairs, Amanda still wasn't fully sold.

"Enjoying your time here?"
"Yeah, it's been lovely. Nice to see the birthday girl." Niamh nodded.

Amanda decided to push it further, her gut telling her that something about Niamh just didn't sit right with her.