Forgiven, But Not Forgotten [A Bensler Fan Fic]

Chapter_24

Casey woke up in the middle of the night, and walked into the bedroom I share with Elliot. She knelt next to my side of the bed and gently started to shake me awake. It took her a few tries, but eventually I woke up. I looked at her for a long moment, before realizing that she had came home with me last night, and that this isn't a dream.

"Case? What's wrong?" I asked, and she swallowed hard as she took a shaky hand and ran it over her cheeks.

"I can't sleep, and I got to thinking. Mostly about Charlie. Some about how I'm never going to find a man who loves me the way Charlie loved me when he was on his medicine."

"Come on, we can talk while Elliot snores." I spoke, as I moved into the middle of the bed and leaned against my fiance. Elliot would be really confused when he wakes up and Casey is laying on my side of the bed and I'm laying in the middle.

"Can't I just go back and ask him to go back on his medicine, so I don't have to stay here that long?" Casey whispered, as she pulled the blankets up to her neck. I shook my head as I reached out and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"No, you gotta just stay here. You can't go and get hurt again, because when someone who doesn't want to be on their medicine, and gets told to go back on it, is going to be violent." I sighed, and she frowned as she closed her eyes tightly.

"He's my only chance of ever having a family." She sniffled, and I shook my head.

"There are so many people in this world that would love to be with a woman like you. You are so passionate and caring." I spoke, and she shook her head.

"I just want Charlie..." She trailed off, as she started to cry loudly. I pulled her close as we both sat up. She cried into my shoulder as she tried to forget about what Charlie did to her, just so she would start thinking that it was right to go back to him.

<^>

"So, I woke up this morning to find Casey in my bed. Wanna tell me why your friend was in our bed?" Elliot asked, as he sat down with his coffee while I fed Ellie her bottle.

"She woke me up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep. So we talked, and then she fell asleep. I bet it isn't the first time you woke up in a bed with two women. Didn't you have wild times before you joined the Marines?" I questioned, and he faked a laugh as he rolled his eyes.

"What did you two have to talk about in the middle of the night?" He asked, and I sighed as Ellie grabbed my finger and held onto it as she continued to eat.

"Charlie. She's really beating herself up over this all. She wants to go home and be with Charlie, but I'm not letting that happen until I know she is strong enough to stand up for herself. To not let him beat her up anymore." I spoke, and he nodded.

"Well, you and Ellie can take care of her, and I'll go and head to school." He spoke, and I nodded.

"That was my plan, El. I'm going to take care of her and help her overcome this all."

<^>

Casey cried the whole day. Not even Ellie could make her stop crying. I didn't know what to say or do to help her, because even if I was abused as a child, that is completely different to being abused by someone you want to spend the rest of your life with.

"She fell asleep on one of the chairs on the back porch." I sighed, as I quietly walked into the house. Bernie looked up from where she was holding Ellie and sighed.

"She's really upset about this all. She was crying so hard while you were in the shower earlier, that she made herself sick." Bernie frowned, as I walked over and sat next to her.

I lifted me daughter up and held her to my shoulder. I rubbed her back gently as Bernie stood and walked towards the door.

"How did you deal with it?" I asked, and she sighed.

"When Joseph started to beat us?" She asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah. Like I bottled everything up when my Mom beat me. But how did you deal with it? The kids?" I questioned, and she sighed as she turned around and leaned against the window.

"Well, Elliot started to get into fights often, because he tried to stand up for all of his siblings when they got picked on for the bruises. All of my kids were getting into fights, and that just made Joseph even more angry. I tried to ignore the fact I'm bipolar, and I tried to stay as sane as possible for the kids, but when I'd have my bouts of mania, that would just make things worse."

"Well, what made him stop?" I asked, nervously.

"When he had a massive heart attack. The kids moved out, and I was still getting beat up, but the day he died, he hugged me and kissed me, and then when he went to head off to work, for the first time since we actually hugged and kissed since he started hurting us, he apologized and then later that day I got the call." She sighed softly, as she walked back to me.

"So Charlie may be able to just stop one day?" I mused, and she shrugged.

"He's sick, Liv. He may stop at some point, but not when he's with Casey. I kinda think that she is his trigger. Yeah, he may love her, but something about her changes him. Like maybe he tries so hard to be the perfect man for her, that his forgets his medicine or just hopes that not being on it will make him more perfect for her. But we will never know." Bernie spoke, before she opened the door and went and sat down on the chair opposite of Casey. 

She quietly grabbed her cross necklace and started to pray. Either for Casey, Charlie, or Joseph. But either way, hopefully it will help.

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