Demi POV
I woke up from Laur shaking me desperately, heart wrenching sobs causing her to shake in my arms, her face red from crying and her eyes bloodshot.
Tears streamed down her face and she hiccuped between her sobs. Once I was able to process it fully, I pulled her into my arms.
"Shhh, sweetheart..." I whispered, continuing to coo to her as I rocked her softly. I ran my fingers through her hair, holding her head close to my chest, allowing her to be comforted.
"What's wrong, Lauren? Is it your head?" I questioned. Lauren only continued sobbing hysterically.
"Does something hurt, hun?" I asked again, but in different words, hoping to provoke an answer from the small girl.
She only gripped my shirt tightly, burying her face and crying harder. The hiccups in Lauren's cries worsened and her breathing became more erratic.
"Shh.. you need to breathe, darling. Breathe with me, yeah?" I whispered, wiping the sweat and tears from her face. Laur shook her head once, her starting to scream into my shirt.
"Hey, hey, hey... shhhhh, I have you, what's wrong, sweetie? You need to tell me or I can't possibly help make it better.." I said sadly, hating seeing Lauren in so much distress.
Lauren flinched in my arms and seemingly out of reflex, brought her hands up over her ears, the desperation of her sobs becoming more apparent.
Then, I remembered the severity of Lauren's schizophrenia and the fact that we hadn't picked up her medication yet.
I quickly texted the driver to remind her and she immediately got back to me, saying we were only a little bit away from the closest one and she would run in and grab it for us. I looked back down at Lauren.
"Lauren.. you're gonna make yourself..." Lauren threw up all over herself, also causing her to have an accident and only make herself more distraught.
"Sick..." I wiped her tears and carried her to the bathroom. It was an immense struggle just getting Lauren undressed because she was so upset. I was eventually able to get her into the tub and washed up, including her hair.
I knew it was a lot happening for the poor girl, especially considering how badly she must have had to been hallucinating for her to freak out so bad.
I remembered when Ally and I had gotten up in the middle of the night for a bottle of water she told me that Lauren had an accident and that she considered putting a pull up on her because of her behavior but she wasn't sure.
We'd decided that if she continued to be sick or if one of us felt it could be a good precaution for other reasons that we sould go ahead with it.
I laid Lauren on the couch, glad that she had stopped screaming, but also saddened because her breathing had gotten worse. I just wanted to get her dressed so that I could comfort her until she had medication.
I quickly found a pull up amongst some of Camie's stuff and slid it onto Lauren, then managed to get her into an oversized lion king T-shirt that I think was Dinah's and bloomer shorts.
Lauren didn't take her hands off of her ears or open her eyes the entire time aside from when I put the shirt on. I carefully moved her back into my arms, holding her close and rocking her.
I remembered how a couple of years ago when I met and got close to Laur and she would have episodes like this but none of us knew what was wrong, I would always lay her on my chest and braid her hair and it would help calm her down some.
I decided to just do that, becoming desperate myself to help Laur in any way I could. I laid down on the couch and positioned her on my chest, beginning to run my fingers through her hair and braid it.
The familiar soothing motions must have helped calm Lauren down because she slowly got her cries under control, now it was just her breathing I was worried about.
I kissed her forehead gently and rocked her side to side while laying down. I reached above us, opening the window some, letting the cool breeze blow in on Lauren. I traced my fingers along her back with one hand and used my other arm to support the smaller girl as I started singing softly to her.
I smiled when I looked down at her and her eyes were fluttering shut. Once I was sure she was sound asleep, I stood up, carried her to her bunk, and tucked her in, placing another gentle kiss on her forehead.
I made sure she had her stuffed Nala since I didn't see her blanket and then shut her curtain, hoping she would sleep a little longer since it was still a tad early and I knew she was emotionally exhausted from the entire ordeal.
I turned on the tv and few minutes later, Ally came and sat next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. "How long have you been up?" She asked me. I knew she was asking because usually she beat me to the whole waking up thing.
"I've been up since 6ish with Laur, I just got her back to sleep." Ally looked at me sadly,
"Awe, poor kid. Also, why didn't you wake me?" I shook my head,
"I had her, it's alright, but I was so worried about her. At first I didn't know what set her off, but then I realized she was hallucinating." I sighed. Ally expressed a look of sympathy for Lauren.
"Like how it used to be?" Ally asked. I nodded.
"How bad did it get?" I looked down sadly,
"The poor kid made herself throw up and had an accident so I had to get her in the bath and that was just extremely overwhelming for her.. I mean, I could only imagine how hard that must have been on her. But then I was able to get her in a pull up and some lounge clothes and after a bit I was able to get her her to fall back asleep." I vented, feeling like I'd said everything in only one breath. Ally sighed,
"We have to get her medicine, Dems." I nodded quickly.
"I actually texted the driver and she said we aren't far from the pharmacy and she will get it for us." Ally smiled thankfully. I felt the bus come to a stop and a few minutes later the driver walked onto the bus with Lauren's medicine.
"Thank you so much." Ally and I said in unison.
"You're welcome, Is she doing any better than when you texted?" She asked. I nodded,
"She's asleep again. She's emotionally drained and it's just making stuff worse for her." I explained, Ally nodding in agreement.
"Poor thing, well you girls will be home before you know it." She said kindly before leaving and driving again. I set the medicine aside and decided on having breakfast, cuddles, and I love Lucy with Ally.
*time skip*
Everyone was awake now aside from Lauren and it was approaching 2pm. The girls and I were all running rounds checking on her every 10 minutes, but she was sound asleep every time one is us checked.
"Mommy?" Camie tugged gently on Dinah's sleeve to get her attention.
"Lolo will be otay? Lolo's sick?" She asked worriedly. Dinah nodded,
"Yea, baby, Lolo's sick right now so we need to check on her lots and be extra gentle with her, okay? She also needs to have lots of rest." Camie nodded and smiled, resting her head back on Normani's chest as she held onto Dinah's hand.
I smiled at the three while I snuggled with Ally.
"Should we wake Lauren to eat something, she didn't even have anything this morning because she was so upset." I asked Ally.
"I think so, hopefully she's alright when we wake her up. Want me to go get her?" Ally asked me.
"I can come if you like." I offered. She gave me s friendly smile,
"I'll go get her, babe." She giggled a little, heading back towards Lauren's bunk.
Ally POV
I opened the curtain of Lauren's bunk, causing the light to shine in on her face. She furrowed her eyebrows slightly in her sleep and put her forearm over her eyes, still sleeping. I smiled a little.
"Lauuur." I cooed, smoothing her hair out of her face and moving her arm.
"Laureeen." I cooed a second time, shaking her gently this go around. The slight shaking was enough to bring Lauren out of her sleep.
"Hey, mija." I whispered, giving Lauren a gentle smile. She rubbed her eyes and reached for me to help her out of her bunk. I carefully helped her up out of bed and pulled her in for a hug, letting her stay like that for a few moments because she seemed like she could use a hug after the morning she had.
"Want me to make you something to eat?" She shook her head, rubbing her eyes again, keeping her hands over her eyes.
"How about you take some medicine and then we'll see how you feel?" I said softly, aware of the possibility that Lauren could see something that could scare her very badly.
"Come on, lets go see the girls, yea?" Lauren nodded and I led her to where everyone was. She quickly took her spot next to Demi, snuggling close to her. Camie practically jumped over Dinah to get to Lauren.
"Easy, Camie, Baby. Remember, Laur doesn't feel god and has a booboo." Camie nodded sweetly and rested her head on Lauren's. Lauren smiled a bit and snuggled closely to Camie. All of us cooed at the sight, causing them to blush.
"Will she eat?" Demi asked me. I shook my head,
"She told me no, but I told her we would give her the medicines and then see how she feels." Demi smiled,
"Thanks." She told me.
"Laur, did you sleep okay?" Dinah asked. Lauren nodded, reaching her arms out to give Dinah a hug, an apologetic look on her face. Dinah allowed Laur to be pulled into a hug before Mani was invited for a hug in the same manner.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked, taking note of Lauren's mannerisms. Lauren looked down, picking at her fingers quite harshly.
"Hey..hey, no ma'am. Don't pick your skin, baby. That'll hurt." Demi cooed, separating Lauren's hands and holding them each in her own. Lauren eyed Camie.
"Sorry.." Lauren whispered in a very vulnerable, childlike voice.
"Sorry for what, Lauren?" Camila asked concerned, slipping out of her headspace temporarily.
"H..hurt chu." Lauren whimpered, turning her head away from all of us, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.
"Lauren, don't be sorry okay? I'm okay.. I still love you, you're still my Lauren. I promise." Camila reassured her, wiping her tears.
"My Camz?" Lauren asked, pointing at Camila, an anxious expression played on her face. Camila nodded quickly.
"Yes, of course! Always!" She responded, pulling Lauren close for a hug. I had to refrain from cooing and ruining the moment.
After a few minutes, We'd all selected a movie to watch and Demi thought it was a good idea to give Lauren her medicine because she seemed pretty distracted and we didn't want another episode to kick off before her medicine set in and for the moment, she seemed relatively calm. Demi got a juice box as well as one of Lauren's pills and her headache medicine for her wound.
Demi POV
I handed Lauren her pain medicine and she took that without a problem, but when it came to the new pill she was a bit hesitant.
"It's to help you, darling. I promise. If it doesn't work well, we'll switch it or take you off completely, okay?" She nodded and took the pill.
"Good job." I told her with a smile, causing her to smile back as she rested her head on my chest, focusing back on the movie.
*time skip to way after dinner*
Dinah POV
Camie was snuggled up against me, holding onto Lauren's fingers, which made me smile. Ever since the incident, Camie didn't seem to fear Lauren anymore, it was like she knew that in the moment, she was more vulnerable than her and that she hadn't meant to harm her in the first place.
She rubbed her eyes, burying her head in my chest, whimpering a little.
"Are you sleepy, babydoll?" Mani asked her softly, smoothing her hair out of her face. Camie slowly nodded. Mani and I shared a look, knowing that she was fighting it.
"Want some gummies, love?" Ally asked Camie, who sat up a little bit and nodded, a small smile on her face. Ally went to the kitchen and grabbed two gummies out of a bottle. I knew it was medicine right away.
"Here, camie." Camie took them and ate them,
"Fanks." She mumbled, resting her head back on my chest, her eyes focusing on the tv as an attempt to keep herself awake. It only took about 20 minutes before she had fallen asleep.
"That was fast." I giggled.
"They're melatonin gummies, I figured they'd help." Ally said with a smile.
"They did, how long have you had those? Where did you get them?" I asked, wanting to get some for Camie and possibly Laur.
"I've used them for years since our sleep schedule changes so often that sometimes it's hard to fall asleep at the start of a new schedule. They have them pretty much everywhere they sell supplements." Ally told me.
"Ohhh. Thanks."
"No problem!"
"I'm gonna lay her down." I yawned, causing everyone else to as well.
"You coming, Babe?" I asked Mani as I stood up, holding Camie. She nodded.
"Goodnight, I love you all." I told the girls.
"Love you." Mani repeated to them.
"Love you too." Dems and Ally said with smiles. We hugged before the three of us head off to bed, sleeping in Mani's bunk.
We both kissed Camie goodnight on the forehead before giving each other a sweet goodnight kiss and quickly giving in to our exhaustion.
Demi POV
"Do you think she's tired?" I asked Ally as I looked down at Lauren, who was whimpering, starting to move like she was uncomfortable. Ally watched Lauren, questioning her body language and mannerisms.
"Are you wet, baby?" Ally asked Lauren, gently tilting her chin so she was looking up at her. Lauren's lip quivered and unshed tears filled the small girl's eyes.
"Hey, it's okay... We'll get you all cleaned up, yea?" Lauren sniffled, letting out a sob, which lead to another, then another.
"Shhhhh.." I cooed, pulling her back close to my chest, allowing her to cry. She was definitely sleepy, exhausted at that.
"I'll grab a pull up, where are they?" Ally offered.
"The wipes, powder, and pull ups are all in Camie's stuff under her bunk." I whispered, earning a smile and nod from Ally, who left and soon returned with the items. I laid Lauren down on the couch, the loss of physical contact causing her silent cries to pick up more.
"Shhh, sweetheart... was she like this this morning, babe?" Ally asked me. I sighed sadly as I made quick and gentle work of changing Lauren's pull up, putting her pajama shorts back on.
"It was a lot worse this morning at one point, that's why I'm trying to calm her down before it escalates. I know we can't give her medicine until she calms down some because it could just make her more overwhelmed." I responded, pulling Lauren back into my arms, rocking her and allowing her to cry softly into my shirt, her cries slowly lessening.
"You're okay, Lauren. I have you, I promise." I cooed, smoothing Lauren's hair while Ally wiped away her tears.
"I think she's calm enough now, baby, would you grab her medicine please?" I asked kindly.
Ally quickly nodded then came back with two gummies, Lauren's pain medicine, and the medicine that helps with her hallucinations as well as a juice box.
I gave her a thankful smile as I got Lauren to take her pills then eat the gummies.
"Wanna cuddle, Laur?" Ally asked Lauren sweetly. Lauren nodded, rubbing her eyes,
"Yes, please." She mumbled softly. Ally and I cooed quietly. I carried lauren to the back lounge and laid down with her on my chest, Ally snuggling up to the both of us as we both comforted Lauren as she drifted off to sleep.
We were both thankful when she finally fell asleep because we both understood how sleepy she was. I laid her on the other part of the couch, wrapping a banket around her and nestling Nala in her arms, kissing her forehead afterwards.
Ally and I shut the lights off and turned on a movie, eventually falling asleep as well.
No One's POV
Everyone was woken abruptly by a loud, rumbling sound that shook them all out of their sleep...
**TO BE CONTINUED**