Trigger Warning: emotional and physical abuse
The two weeks had actually passed rather quickly. Hermione found herself in the company of the dark haired woman almost everyday. Bella would show up at the English Rose around closing time each day, just taking in the quiet and enjoying a book while the owner finished her shift and closed up the shop for the night. After the Rose was closed, the pair would either go through the donation books, read together, watch televisions or just sit and talk. Spending time with the older woman was never a chore and it was an occurrence that Hermione had grown quite fond of. She looked forward to the door chiming and her Red Queen walking through the door. Bella would often slip a piece of paper in her hand before she left each evening with some sort of letter or poem written on it. The simple fact that Bella composed poetry for her, made the brunette swoon like she never had before. Yes, she wanted to explore a relationship with the older woman. It was never really a question, she just didn't let herself get swept up in the emotions. When she had met Bella, she was committed to her long term girlfriend and had every intention of making it work, now sitting by the window watching the snow fall, Hermione knew it was time.
Finally being graced with the number to Bella's direct house phone, she called up the dark haired woman before she made the half hour trip to London. The phone rang twice before she heard a voice on the other line answer, "hello?"
"Hi," Hermione couldn't help smiling at the normalcy of the phone conversation though it just started. "I'm getting ready to leave."
The other woman hummed into the phone, "are you sure this is what you want? Are you sure I'm what you want?" Hermione could hear the trepidation in the tone of the older woman and it both warmed and broke her heart.
"I've never been more sure of anything," she reassured her, "I just don't want to hurt Laura. She doesn't deserve to be hurt."
The older woman sighed into the phone, "you don't have to tell her you are leaving her because you fancy a much more compatible, and much sexier old woman."
Hermione's butterflies activated when she heard the deep chuckle of the other woman, "well no I didn't intend to tell her that. We've grown apart and it was never the most enjoyable relationship. I'm
sure she will be relieved when I tell her she doesn't have to drive out here anymore."
"She's a fool then," Bella said quietly, "I would travel any distance just to be with you."
"Okay you cannot say sweet things like that to me when you aren't here to follow it up with a hug," the sentence came out a little needier than Hermione had hoped.
"Soon enough, love. Now, are you staying the night or coming back?"
"I plan to come straight home. Let her down gently and leave. It's not like London is that far away." She let out a little laugh thinking of how Laura had complained about the distance.
"Can I take you out tomorrow? On a proper date?" Bella asked with the excitement of a small child on Christmas morning.
"What's tomorrow? Friday? I suppose I can go out..." Hermione was teasing the older woman of course she'd be available any day for her.
"Wait. Did you say Friday?" Bella's voice shifted. "I can't tomorrow. Fuck. I forgot. I kind of have this all day thing with my youngest sister. Saturday? Please say yes."
"Saturday it is." Hermione smiled into the phone though she knew the other lady couldn't see her. "I should go now. Okay?."
Neither woman really wanted to hang up and the conversation went on for another 15 minutes before they said their final goodbyes and Hermione hung up the phone. She turned off the shop lights, put her coat on, walked around to her car and started the fateful drive to break up with Laura.
*******
Hermione pulled up in front of the apartment complex that Laura had lived in for the entirety of their relationship. The nerves in her stomach were doing flips and she had that telltale taste of bile in the back of her throat. She was never the one in any of her relationships that ended things in the past. Her partners would just grow bored and move on. Doing the breaking up was a new experience for Hermione and one that she was confident that she wouldn't ever want to experience again. She sat in her car for ten minutes, deep breathing and calming her stomach flips before working up the courage to turn off her car and make her way into the apartment building. She still had her key and didn't tell Laura that she was coming. "Quick and painless," Hermione kept telling herself as she ascended the three flights of stairs up to the third floor. Upon opening up the door, the brunette was suddenly filled with a rush of dread and she had no explanation for it. All the lights to the apartment were out but the television was on and there were recently used plates on the table. Everything about the situation was screaming at Hermione to leave but she pressed on. At that moment, she saw two glasses of wine on the coffee table and she knew exactly what she was walking into. Hermione quietly walked into the kitchen, unscrewed the cap of the bourbon and poured herself a shot which she knocked back in one gulp. "Should I walk in on her fucking another woman or call her name from out here?" Hermione weighed her options in her own mind, no she didn't want to see her girlfriend in the throes of passion with another woman. So she put the glass down, turned on all the lights and loudly slammed the front door. "Laura? Did you make it home okay?" Hermione called out in her sweetest voice possible. She immediately heard banging of some form coming from the bedroom and hushed words coming from more than one voice. Walking back into the kitchen, she poured herself another shot of bourbon because it seemed like it would be needed to get through this conversation. Hermione was suddenly hit with the audacity of the situation, she was going out of her way not to hurt Laura with her feelings for another woman when her girlfriend had no problem shagging another woman behind her back. "Wait until I tell Bella," Hermione thought as her girlfriend emerged from the bedroom in gym pants and an oversized T-shirt, alone.
"Hermione. What a surprise. What are you doing here, love?" Laura asked, keeping her voice cool coming over to where Hermione was standing.
"Just thought I'd stop by and see you since you've been away for work." Hermione saw her girlfriend eyeing the empty plates and wine glasses trying to come up with an excuse on the spot if she needed to. "Were you napping?" She asked innocently enough, watching Laura chewing on her bottom lip.
"Yeah. You know I've never been good with jet lag."
"Right," Hermione responded curtly. "How long have you been back? I can't believe you cooked. It's always a takeaway night when you come home from a trip."
"Ask the question, Hermione." Laura said, losing all the playfulness out of her voice. Her face had turned hard and the sharp tone caused Hermione to flinch in response. The tone was all too familiar to her and her fear response was already kicking in.
"Who is in the bedroom?" The brunette asked, taking two steps back from her girlfriend in preparation for the storm to come.
"Her name is Kelsi," Laura responded. Hermione nodded and continued backing up as Laura approached her slowly backing her into the corner. "Since you moved away is the answer to your next meddling question." The brunette gulped when her back hit the wall. "She moved in as soon as you left. We've been fucking since long before then but without you around it was so much easier to move on."
"You said you loved me," Hermione couldn't help the hurt that was clear in her voice.
"Loved you? Like you loved me when you started fucking that little cunt who has been writing you letters all these months," the younger woman spat.
"How dare you." Hermione straightened up standing taller than Laura. "I haven't done anything with Bella. I would never have cheated on you."
"Please," Laura laughed. "If it wasn't her then it was that red headed bitch we had dinner with."
"You mean my obnoxiously straight friend who also has a long term partner?" Hermione wiped a tear that was falling down her cheek with the back of her hand. "No, the only cheater here is you."
A smack rang through the apartment as Laura's open palm connected with Hermione's cheek. "Don't you dare speak to me like that, you ungrateful little slag. We've done this dance before. That girl who worked at the blog with you. She fancied you and you led her on dressing the way you do." Hermione was crying by this point. Laura had always been accusational and verbally abusive with her but it was a rare occurrence when she laid hands on her. "You don't deserve me."
Grabbing her cheek to soothe the stinging pain, "you are right. I don't deserve you. I don't deserve someone who would treat me so horribly. I deserve someone who will love me and all my quirks. I deserve someone who wants to be with me and only me. And I deserve someone who would never touch me like you just did." She hurried past her and made her way to the door and fell as Laura shoved her down hard to the ground, kicking her in the ribs upon contact. Hermione groaned and cried out harder.
"Now you are going to act like the fucking victim?" Laura spat on her as she landed another kick into the side of the woman writhing in pain. "Get out."
Hermione coughed trying to suck a deep breath in, "I'm trying," she cried out as she attempted to get back up, her ribs searing in pain.
Laura moved past the brunette and landed one final kick pushing her back down to the ground and pressing her foot onto Hermione's throat constricting her airway, "never come back here," she pressed down slightly before she left the gasping woman lying on the floor sobbing.
Hermione managed to drag herself over to the stool by the door and hoist herself up, her ribs screaming as she moved. Making her way outside of the apartment, she managed to get to her car motivated only by fear and adrenaline. She was in so much pain but forced herself to push through it and make the half hour drive back to her shop.
********
Friday had come and gone without her opening the shop. She had phoned her grandfather early that morning and said she was under the weather and that she was going to leave the shop closed Friday and Saturday. Henry didn't question her but asked if she needed him to come over and do anything for her which she politely declined stating that she had everything she currently needed but would call if she thought of anything. Two days had passed since the attack and the pain was excruciating but slowly getting better each day. Hermione was now able to get up to go to the bathroom without screaming for ten minutes. She was desperate to get dressed and put on her best happy face to greet Bella down at the door for their first date. She didn't want to show any signs of discomfort and make Bella feel awkward about the situation. If she was being completely honest with herself, she felt nothing but embarrassment regarding what happened and didn't want her to find out. After thirty long and painful minutes Hermione emerged from the shower freshly washed and towel dried her hair until it became too painful. It was time like this she wished she had magic. She put on a pair of jeans and a turtleneck knit shirt in an attempt to hide the bruise that formed on her throat from Laura's foot. After putting on light makeup, she looked in the mirror, "it'll have to do." Sure she would have postponed the date but she didn't want to upset Bella. She was sure the older woman would understand but then she'd have to get into the truth of everything and she wasn't sure she was ready for that. "I better make my descent if I'm going to make it down there sometime today," she laughed as she told Crooks she was leaving and made her way downstairs.
Opening the front door, she saw a shocked looking Bella standing on the other side fist raised in a knocking position. "Hi," the old woman said with a soft smile. "I realized we never set a time so I just came now. I hope that's okay. I can just read if you still have the shop open for a spell." Bella had this sheepish smile that always came out when she talked about reading.
"Already closed up for the day," Hermione nodded and looked down, seeing a few packages delivered from the post and a big bag in the donation bin.
"Do you want to get that?" Bella asked when the other woman made no move to bend down and pick up the doors.
Hermione shook her head, "no it'll be okay okay out there until morning."
"At least let me get these," Bella said, bending down and picking up the heavy looking boxes which she was sure contained this week's new book deliveries. "I'll just put them inside," she moved past Hermione and set the boxes on top of the counter. "Are you okay, love?"
Hermione waved the older woman off and slowly made her way over to the counter. Bella eyed her suspiciously but turned her attention back to the boxes and looked up with gleeful eyes. "Should we open them?"
Hermione got caught up in Bella's excitement and carefully made her way around the counter and pulled out the box cutter, handing it to the older woman. "Here, you do the honors." Grabbing the box cutter, she carefully opened all three boxes, peeking inside only getting more and more excited pulling out the new books. "It's magical isn't it?"
Bella could only nod in agreement, already flipping the books over to read the backs. "I really need to work here." She looked over and smiled, "so... how did everything go with The Laura?"
Hermione gulped and suppressed a tremble at the memory, "it was as expected. It's over and I'm happy about that." She saw the woman frown a little with the short answer but she didn't press the subject. "I don't want to talk about that right now. I just want to be in the moment with you." She leaned in and placed a kiss on Bella's cheek.
Bella turned to face her, "hi," she whispered. The brunette returned the greeting as her companion went in for a hug. She felt the younger woman wince as Bella put her arms around her waist. "What?" She pulled back in concern, "what's wrong? Did I hurt you?"
The younger woman shook her head, her bottom lip was quivering. "It's nothing. I'll be fine," she tried to go back in more enthusiastically for a hug and she was stopped softly by a hand on her wrist.
"Please. Are you hurt? You can tell me what's wrong. You can trust me, Hermione. I promise you."
"Would you believe me if I told you I fell down the stairs?" Hermione tried to laugh the situation off.
"No," she reached out and cupped a soft cheek offering her a sad smile. "You can tell me anything."
"Aren't we meant to be going on a date?" Hermione tried changing the subject.
"Yes we are," Bella skimmed her thumb over a soft cheek, "but darling it looks like you can barely stand. Please just let me take you upstairs, put you in comfortable clothes, make you some soup and then you can tell me what happened."
Hermione sighed, "only if you promise to lay with me and hold my hand." Bella nodded and took her hand, slowly leading her up the stairs back into her apartment. Bella walked Hermione over to the sofa and helped her ease down, then handed her the remote for the telly. She inquired about her soup preferences for the evening and went in and started preparing the meal. "I'm sorry that our first date is you in my kitchen cooking soup for us. That's not exactly how I wanted this to start."
Bella stopped for a second at the stove and a little laugh escaped through her nose, "I'm happy to be spending time with you Hermione. I don't care if it's eating soup in your apartment or dining at a five star restaurant. I just want any opportunity to be with you." She didn't hear anything else from the girl in the living room after she heard the static from the television turning on. Putting the soup in a pot on the stove, she stirred it a few times while it warmed. There was nothing like a bowl of chicken noodle soup to warm any horrible situation. Bella's childhood was full of bowls of chicken noodle soup. That's precisely why she picked wedding soup to heat up. No need for Hermione to associate a soup with whatever terrible situation she had encountered. She just hoped the younger woman trusted her enough with her story. After sufficient time had passed, Bella moved the soup into bowls and let them cool as she washed the pot and returned it to the cabinet where she found it. She looked through a few more cabinets and found a serving tray, spoons, napkins and finally went in the fridge to grab a couple of Diet Cokes. When she walked back into the living room holding the tray she saw Hermione staring at the tv with a few tears that escaped down her cheeks in the short moments that she had been in the other room. She deposited the tray on the coffee table and sat next to the brunette pulling her softly into her side. Hermione rested her head in Bella's neck and started to sob. "Shhh," she comforted her, gently running her fingers through the brunette hair. "It's all going to be all right now." She softly kissed the top of Hermione's head, "I won't let anything happen to you."
They stayed like that for what felt forever but by the time Hermione's tears had run dry, the soup was still warm so it couldn't have been as long as she thought. She reached out and touched the collar of Bella's white button up shirt, "I've made a mess of you. My mascara ran all over your shirt. I'm sorry." She sighed and brought the bowl up to her lips to take a sip of the relaxing broth. "I can get it dry cleaned for you."
Bella shook her head, "you'll do nothing of the sort. It's my job to comfort you and the shirt is an afterthought, love. Now," she said, taking a sip from her can of soda, "finish up so I can help you change and you can tell me what happened if you want."
The pair finished their soup and Bella took the dishes out to the kitchen to wash them after Hermione said it wasn't necessary. As her guest, she tried insisting that she wasn't supposed to do the dishes but the dark haired woman wouldn't hear it. When she came back in, she stopped in front of the tree for a moment to appreciate the hard work her companion took in setting it up. "You really did a beautiful job with this tree."
Hermione groaned as she got up and walked slowly over to the tree. She pointed to one ornament that was a picture of her as a baby and her parents, "this is my favorite ornament. It always makes me happy looking at it."
"It's beautiful," she smiled, leaning in to get a better look, "the whole tree is amazing." Bella stood upright and looked at Hermione, "now, will you tell me what happened?"
Hermione sighed and bit her lip thinking. She knew that she could trust the older woman but she was nervous about being judged for staying with Laura for so long. "Promise you won't judge me," she saw Bella raise an eyebrow curiously as she lifted her shirt up revealing large purple and red bruises all down her left side. Bella gasped and reached out to lightly trace the wounds. Hermione's breath caught both from slight pain and the gentleness of her touch. "Laura was never the nicest person. She would yell a lot and degrade me but she rarely physically hurt me. It happened occasionally," she paused as she dropped her shirt and turned away from Bella to continue, "when I went to her apartment... she was in bed with another woman then started blaming me for the whole situation. She was convinced I was cheating on her. I started to defend myself because I hadn't done anything wrong and she attacked me. I was so scared." Bella heard a small sniff and reached out to lightly touch her shoulder, "and now I'm worried for the girl she's with. I pray to whatever god is out there that she doesn't attack anyone else. Nobody deserves to be treated like they are worthless." Hermione turned back around with tears brimming her eyes, "after she started kicking me, I knew I had to get out of there. I made it to my car, drove home and closed the shop for two days. I've barely made it out of bed."
"You could've called me. I would've been here. Instantly. No questions asked," she reached out and grabbed Hermione's hand.
"I know but starting a relationship or whatever this might become by dragging my ex and her baggage into it isn't what I wanted. I wanted to just see you and continue as normal. I didn't want you to see me like this," a tear fell down her cheek, "so weak and broken."
Bella sighed and pushed her hand through her curly hair, "I have bruises and scars too, love. Believe me when I say to you that I know what you are feeling and I am here for all of it. I can handle anything you let me hold for you." She set her with a look and Hermione nodded in response, "now, show me where you keep your comfortable pajamas so I can tuck you into bed and maybe read to you for awhile."
"Come on then," Hermione grabbed the other woman's hand and pulled her into her bedroom for the first time only slightly self-conscious of the clothes on her chair in the corner, her unmade bed and all the books on the bedside table. "Sorry for the mess, I wasn't expecting to offer you an invite into my room after one date." She winked at the woman who was smirking at her. "Here are my pajamas," she went into her top drawer.
"Well go on then," when Hermione wasn't moving she rolled her eyes and turned around, "okay I'm not looking. Go on and change." Taking a little longer than it normally would, she changed and signaled she was finished. When Bella turned around her eyes immediately went to the large dark bruise on the brunette's neck. Seeing Hermione's worried eyes, she simply reached her hand out, "come." She pulled the younger girl to the bed. "Get in and get comfortable." Bella grabbed Hermione's current read off of the table and walked over to the other side of the bed, leaned back against the headboard and patted her lap. Hermione immediately moved onto her good side and snuggled her head in the older woman's lap. Bella opened the book and began to read out loud while her other hand started absentmindedly playing with the other woman's hair.
***
The warm sun rays snuck in through the closed curtains tickling the cold cheek of the brunette. She started to stretch and felt a surge of panic as she felt herself atop a warm body. She promptly squeezed her eyes shut before peeking up and seeing a sea of dark curls. Bella was laying on her back on top of the covers still in her dress shirt and slacks, one arm around the brunette's back and the other behind her head. Hermione was spooned up against her side with her head resting on her shoulder. Crooks meowed from his spot on Bella's stomach. She gave her cat the best 'clear out of here' look that she could muster but Crooks just yawned and settled back down onto the warm stomach. The older woman must have fallen asleep when she was reading because she saw her book resting on Bella's chest. The sight of this woman and her soft feminine snores filled Hermione with so much warmth that she thought she would explode from happiness. She couldn't believe that Bella stayed to make sure she was okay and how understanding she had been last night. She reached her arm out and over Bella and snuggled deeper to her side. This caused the older woman to stir slightly. Hermione could get used to this level of intimacy and she wasn't even dating her yet. She's never had someone care enough to read to her until she fell asleep before and now that she had a taste of it, she'd be reluctant to let it go now.
When she looked up again she saw two beautiful deep dark eyes staring at her with a sleepy smile, "hi," came the thick sleep filled voice of the older lady. The simple 'hi' accompanied by her husky morning voice did things to Hermione that she hadn't felt in years. Her stomach butterflies were awake and very active this morning. She wasn't going to allow herself to think of the dark haired woman in that way until they were in a stable relationship and she was healed but damn if that morning voice didn't stir the pot.
"Good morning," she finally replied, smiling at the older woman. "Seems Crooks found you comfy, too." The laughter rippled through Bella, causing Hermione to shake a little. "Thank you for last night. It meant a lot to me. More than I can express."
"I don't think you made it more than 10 pages in the book. I put your original book mark back, love. Didn't want you to miss out." Bella was running her fingers up and down Hermione's back taking special care not to graze her side with the bruises. "I have to admit... that was the best night's sleep I had in ages." Hermione hummed in response tilting her head slightly to press her nose into Bella's neck, sniffing, committing her smell to memory. She brought her hand back up and threaded it through the brunette's bed head. "Though if we have another unscheduled sleepover, I might have to borrow some pajamas."