As the Darkness Approaches the Light

Chapter 6 (Trigger Warning)

A/N: This is kind of a sad chapter, and there's a handful of triggers that go along with it: Bad relationships, abuse, miscarriage/loss of a wanted pregnancy, death of a significant other, mild mentions of losing parents...I think that's it? When Caroline and Chris go to talk in private, that's when the sad stuff starts.

After a few more days in Los Angeles, Motionless in White accompanied In This Moment on the east coast leg of their headlining tour. Then the band would be home for a week before heading to New York to work on the album some more. New York was obviously a lot closer to Scranton though, so Chris had hinted at the possibility of coming home every couple weekends or so to see Caroline. Caroline was just relieved that he claimed to still want to go out with her after everything she'd revealed to him about herself on her birthday.

"Has it come up at all since your birthday?" Noah asks, on the way to Philadelphia to see the concert that Motionless in White would be performing at.

"Nope."

"None of it?"

"None. Do you think he's avoiding it?"

"Not necessarily, he could just not want to pressure you into talking about it. Or maybe he doesn't know what he's supposed to do about it."

Caroline sighs, "I just feel like I really screwed it up with him."

"Hey, I was worried that Ricky would wanna bail when I told him some of my secrets, especially the big one."

"How did he react? Like, really react."

"Well, God, of course he was shocked. I think anyone would be. It's not exactly something you'd expect. But I think he appreciated that I was honest with him...and that I told him prior to ever taking my clothes off in front of him."

Caroline laughs, "I doubt that would've mattered."

"I've waited until right before sleeping with guys to tell them, and it never goes well. It's always best to do it beforehand."

"I guess I wouldn't know," Caroline says, "Never let me get drunk again."

"Honey, we're not even gonna touch alcohol for a good while."

After a couple of hours of driving, they arrive at the venue.

"Do you ever worry about people seeing us with Ricky and Chris? That they'll put two and two together?" Caroline asks.

"Well, I mean, it's bound to happen eventually, right?"

"I guess. I just know that a huge aspect of Motionless in White is their aesthetic; when it gets out their singer is dating someone blind, won't that strike most people as kind of ironic?"

"Maybe, but who cares? It's your relationship, not theirs."

"I guess I'm just new to dating someone so well known."

"No offense, Caroline - he's Chris Motionless, not Brad Pitt. It's not like people on the street or your students are gonna look at you any differently."

"Yeah, because they don't already look at me differently for being blind," Caroline says, sarcastically, "Besides, I hear my students whispering about Motionless in White and I think maybe they saw Chris pick me up from work that one time and started to put the pieces together."

"So what? They're the students, you're the teacher. Lay down the law a little. It doesn't matter if they know their professor is sleeping with their favorite singer."

"But I'm not even sleeping with him yet!"

"Ah, 'yet', I've been waiting for you to say that."

"Noah - "