**Just as a forewarning, this chapter has mentions/thoughts of suicide and verbal and emotional abuse**
"Matthew Scott Verde was a former Julliard acting major, expelled from the University for many accounts of domestic violence towards this then girlfriend, Ph--" Lin turned the TV off before the reporter could even continue speaking.
"Pip?" Lin turned to the girl. "Are you alright?" He noticed that she was just staring off into space now. She sat, completely stonefaced, not even moving when the TV was flicked off.
"I-I don't know." Pippa admitted. And it was true. She didn't know what to think. Sure, Matthew had abused her, and sure, he had sent his friends to hurt her too, but he also is someone's son. She couldn't begin to imagine what his parents must be feeling like. They had to be sad that he was gone, especially at the mercy of a manner like this, but they also have got to be disappointed in their son for how he treated Pippa. She just didn't know what to think. "I need sleep." Pippa's mind just ran to that. It was true, she did, and she also needed a desperate way to get out of this. She was already in the guest room before Lin could stop her.
"Pip, do you need to talk about it? I mean..." Lin sat down on the bed beside her.
"Lin, I don't know." Pippa sighed, exasperated by this whole situation.
"Hey, hey, it's alright not to know. That's okay. That's okay." Lin coaxed, leaning her into his chest. "It's okay." Lin whispered as Pippa started to sob quietly. "It's okay, it's okay." He ran a hand through her hair, and laid her down, settling in together like they normally slept.
~~~~~
Pippa's sleeping pattern that night was one with lots of starts and stops. She'd wake up for a few minutes here and there, then fall back asleep, only to wake up half an hour later. Sometime around two a.m., she gave up and slowly left the bed, going and sitting on the cushioned part of the bay window in the room. She stared out, looking right towards the Washington bridge. Many thoughts ran through her head, one of them being: Lin was right, this does look like the In The Heights set.
"Y'know, I used to love sitting there as a kid." Lin whispered, still slightly startling Pippa, seeing as she was so deep in thought. Pippa looked up at Lin as he came and sat next to her. She half smiled as he grabbed both of her hands. "I'd sit here, just like you are now, in the middle of the night, and just dream. I'd dream about everything, looking out of this window. Getting into shows, Julliard, everything." Pippa started breathing a little easier as Lin told his little anecdote before what she assumed would be a pretty deep conversation that she potentially wasn't ready for.
"Where's all this headed?" Pippa smirked.
"What's really going on in that pretty head of yours?" Lin asked, looking down at where their hands were interlocked.
"You don't want to know." Pippa mumbled, shaking her head gently as she looked back out towards the illuminated bridge.
That comment alone made Lin's heart skip a beat. Still, he kept his cool. "Yes, Pip, I do want to know, because I want to help you."
"I'm just thinking about..." Pippa sighed. "Maybe the roles should be reversed. Like, maybe I should be the one on the news. Like, he didn't deserve this."
Lin's heart skipped two beats this time. "Phillipa, you cannot mean that." Pippa nodded, she did mean it. "No, there's no way. Am I saying that he deserved to die this early and in the matter that it happened? No. But did he deserve what was given to him prior? Yes. He deserved to be expelled, he deserved the bad rep he got, he deserved all of that because--"
"No, he didn't!" Pippa exclaimed. "He didn't deserve any of it, because looking back, he had every right to do everything he did to me!"
"No, Phillipa, no he one hundred percent did not. He had no right abuse you, no matter which way you look at it. He had no right to any of that." Lin touched her cheek. "He had no real reason."
"But, Lin, everything he said was true, I mean, I'm not pretty, and I do just sleep ar--" She started, but Lin stopped her.
"Phillipa Soo, listen to me. You do not just sleep around, I know that about you. And listen to me when I say this, you are beautiful, Pippa. You are gorgeous both inside and out." Pippa parted her lips to speak, but Lin continued on. "And I know that he told you these things. I know that he told you you're the type of the girl that sleeps around. And I know he told you that you weren't pretty and that you deserved nothing but the abuse he gave you, but Phillipa, he is wrong. Everything he ever told you was a lie."
Tears glistened in Pippa's eyes as she looked back at Lin. "I still don't believe you." She whispered.
Lin's heart broke, and he nodded. "I know, I know you don't, Pippa. And I know it'll take some time for you to believe it, but that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to help you believe it." A few of those tears fell down Pippa's cheeks, and Lin wiped them away with his thumb. "Phillipa Soo, you are beautiful..." He laid a kiss on her forehead. "And amazing..." He kissed the bridge of her nose. "And I love you..." Lin slowly tilted his head and leaned in closer to Pippa. He felt her shoulders tense up, but then settle when their lips pressed together.
~~~~~
A/N: It finally happened, Loves!
Also, in case any of you all are wondering, we have sixteen tour shows left, and I have been cleared by a doctor to do fifteen of them! (I'll be sitting out tomorrow morning's show, because the Friday matinee is always the most intense show in our schedule) So yay! I'm still feeling a bit shaky, but nothing some sleep can't fix! Thank you all for the continued love!
I hope you enjoyed this one! Xx. ❤
