"This is going to hurt a bit," Ducky says turning the faucet off then walking towards me. I say nothing, letting my eyes settle on the ground in front of me until Ducky interrupts my vision, bending down in front of me. I blink repeatedly tearing my eyes away feeling her fingers pinch my chin and lift my head as she begins dabbing the wet rag against my face. I wince every now and then knowing there's going to be bruises that form but it's alright. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," I respond, my voice low as she tears the towel away and places it off to the side, grabbing tiny white strips. A low, barely audible sigh escapes my lips.
"Are you sure? You don't seem alright-"
"Ducky, I'm fine. I did what I had to," I cut the girl off feeling her place the strips on my forehead. After she does I feel her eyes on me. swiftly I look away from my lap and to her eyes, seeing concern rising across her face. "Don't give me that look D."
"I'm sorry, but that was the first time you've been put into a situation like that-" The girl pauses and I shake my head, tearing my eyes away from her. "You're closing yourself off again Y/N. You can't do that. Something like this needs to be talked about."
"There's nothing to talk about though!" I raise my voice a bit and stand up. Ducky stands too backing up. I shake my head and walk past her. "What's done is done. I did what I had to, to protect Alycia. That's it."
"Y/N-"
"Ducky, I said that's it," I cut the girl off once more turning on my heels and locking our eyes. Her eyes sadden, but she slowly nods dropping her head. I tear my eyes from her and turn back around beginning to slip my shirt off.
"I'm going to go check on everyone..." Ducky's voice trails off and I just nod, balling my shirt up and tossing it to the side. I hear Ducky walk out the room, leaving me alone. A deep, heavy sigh escapes from my lips seconds later as I grab a hold of the sink and grip it tightly. I drop my head and squeeze my eyes together tightly, the image of the guy's eyes pop back into my head with the sound of Alycia screaming and me pulling the trigger ringing back through my head. All the events unfolding once again.
"Y/N?" I hear a voice followed by a couple knocks at the door. Swiftly I pick up my head, opening my eyes and turning around to be met with Alycia's green eyes.
"Alycia-" I breathe out, tearing my eyes from her and looking to my right finding a different shirt Ducky left me. I quickly reach over and grab it, slipping it on. "You okay?"
"I'm pretty sure I should be asking you that," Alycia responds walking into the room a bit. I pull the shirt down and tilt my head, chuckling slightly while my head shakes.
"I'm fine. But seriously, are you okay?" My eyes shift back and forth between the Australian's green eyes as she slowly nods her head from side to side. I nod back and look away from her, walking towards the bench I was sitting on. I walk to it and turn, slowly taking a seat before seeing Alycia come my way and sit down beside me.
"Can I ask you something?" Alycia asks, once she's seated. I cup my hands together seeing my knuckles bloody and bruised.
"Shoot," I say, waiting for the girl to ask as I reach over to my right grabbing the towel Ducky set aside and began cleaning up the blood around my knuckles from when I was hitting the concrete floor.
"Have you ever been put into a...situation like that?" Silence fills us and all I can do is shake my head from side to side, keeping my eyes focused on my knuckles. That is till Alycia's hands cupped around my hands, stopping me. I stared at our hands and clenched my jaw. "Y/N..." Slowly I pick up my head and turn it, to look at Alycia. Our eyes lock and concerned filled not only my eyes but her own.
"Yes?" I say, seeming as she said my name. The girl's eyes continued to look back and forth between my eyes, her lips separated as she did. I bite my lip and shake my head. "Fine...I've never been in that type of situation. I've always been behind the screen."
"You handled it well."
"Well?" I tilt my head and stand up, causing Alycia's hands to drop from mine. I walk a little ways away from her and shake my head. "Look at my face Alycia. You call this well?" Alycia remains silent, looking at me and I ball up the towel in my hand before swiftly turning and throwing it like I was a baseball player. Once it hits the wall I turn back around and see Alycia standing.
"Y/N-"
"He could have killed you, done things to you Alycia," I say, cutting her off. "I would never be able to forgive myself if anything happened to you!"
"But I'm fine. Everything's fine," Alycia says, pain itching her throat looking at me.
"Fine? Nothing's fine Alycia! You didn't see it!"
"Didn't see what?"
"The look, the look he had in his eyes when he was coming after you! He wanted to hurt you in ways I don't even want to think or imagine about! Things he would have probably done if I didn't turn on my radio for the team to come. If he would have knocked me out, he would've gotten to you and I couldn't-I couldn't let that happen."
"That's why you pulled your gun..." Her voice trailed and her eyes tore from mine.
"It was me or him Alycia. I had no other option! Because at the end of the day, he was either going to bash my face in and beat me to death and get to you. Or, I reach for my gun and pull damn trigger so he wouldn't get to you!" I shake my head from side to side, tossing up my hands. "I mean that's why this whole place was created, to protect you!"
"But you guys don't even know me. Why-"
"You're right, we don't. We know of you," I cut the girl off swiftly shaking my head from side to side. "We see what you allow us to see. We don't really know you. We see what you post on social media, we see you act on tv shows and movies, we see interviews but we don't know you personally, so why did we decide to start this place? Because why the hell not! Why not protect someone who seems pure, who seems like they need protection! We're fans of you Alycia! We want nothing but for you to succeed! But since you've been here, I have gotten to know you. Some of us have gotten to know you and if something, literally anything different had gone down up there I wouldn't be able to live with myself! I wouldn't be able to do anything because you-"
Alycia walks towards me swiftly cupping my face in her hands, causing me to stop talking. "Breathe," Alycia whispers, our eyes lock and I clench my jaw as her thumbs begin to rub back and forth. Her green eyes are tearing up and I already can feel tears slip down my cheeks during my banter. But as they roll down I can feel the girl wiping them away. And we don't speak, we just stare at one another. "Breathe Y/N."
My eyes shift between her eyes and I let out a low breathe as a small smile inches to her lips. Her head nodding up and down. I glance down to her lips briefly then back up to her, seeing her eyes do the same to me. But neither one of us move. We stand in silence, keeping our eyes on one another's or every now and then glancing to one another's lips until I hear footsteps and a voice begin to speak. Swiftly I reach my hands up and grab Alycia's wrists, gently tearing her hands from my cheeks and both of us taking a step back.
"Y/N- Um-" Cherry stops in the doorway. I look to her, crossing my arms over my chest seeing out of the corner of my eye Alycia looking around the room.
"Whatcha need Cherry?" I ask, clenching my jaw and glancing to the ground briefly.
"Ducky's called a meeting," Cherry responds and I nod noticing her eyes shifting back and forth between Alycia and I.
"Alright, we'll be there in a minute," I say and Cherry nods, continuing her glances before nodding and heading out of the room. I tear my eyes from the door and glance to the ground in front of me, a silence filling between Alycia and I momentarily. I'm not even sure what to say. So I drop my hands from across my chest and slowly pick up my head, gently looking to the girl who's slowly picking up her own head. "We should-"
"Yeah," Alycia says as I speak and before I can even say that we should go. But I nod my head and extend my arm out to the door, allowing for the girl to go first. She nods back at me, beginning to walk to the door as I follow behind.
<<<<>>>>
We get to the conference room and I open the door, stepping aside letting Alycia walk in first. Once she's walked past me and inside I follow behind now realizing how silent it was in the room. Everyone's eyes were in a different space. Some were on me and Alycia, some were looking around the room, and others were trained on the table. I tear my eyes from all of them and head to my seat as Alycia sits down in the seat she did when we were in here the last. Once the both of us have sat down my eyes go around the table.
"Alright, Rovvie," Ducky says, gently. My eyes go from her to Rovvie who nods his head.
"I know the events that unfolded within just a few minutes ago was a lot, but I have to say this, it's a rule...The guy Y/N shot is--is dead," Rovvie speaks, his voice low and gentle. I tear my eyes from Rovvie and to the table, biting the inside of my lip. I could feel some eyes on me, but I don't move or speak. "With that said I wanted to bring up that no one is to go to the upper ground levels without me, Jax or Rae. We're the tacteam and we think it'd be the best policy. Of course with Y/N's approval we'd want to put that in place along with having everyone train under us. Simple combat, physical fighting skills to protect ourselves and everyone here."
Silence fills the air. My fingers begin messing with one another as my eyes stay fixated on the table. That is till I feel a hand on my knee. Gently I glance to it and then briefly to Alycia who's looking down at the table. "Y/N?" Ducky's voice speaks up. I tear my eyes from Alycia and to Ducky noticing everyone's looking to me.
"Yeah, that's fine Rovvie. Go ahead," I say, looking away after seeing Rovvie nod his head. "Is that all?" My eyes look around the table. Everyone looks at me, no one speaking. I nod my head and slowly stand feeling Alycia's hand slip off of my knee. I walk out from my seat and begin to walk but stop when I hear someone stand and say my name.
"Y/N-" I stop and look to Ducky who's standing, locking our eyes. Her eyes look to me and I tilt my head waiting for her to say something, but then I see her eyes glance around the room. After a moment she shakes her head and looks back to me. "Nevermind." I nod and look around to everyone.
"Keep up the great work everyone-" I pause, adding. "I also want everyone to have a radio on them. If you're in danger you make sure it's on that way we can all hear you and get to you. Also, sleep in, in the mornings. Alycia's here now. No need to get up at seven." Everyone nods and I nod back, tearing my eyes away from all of them and heading for the door. As I do I could feel all of their eyes on me but it didn't bother me. What bothered me was the constant image of that guy's eyes and the screaming and the loud gun shot replaying over and over inside my head.