Ever since Nickolas and Nelson left the family's home, Lain had stuck herself inside of her bedroom once again. The last thing she wanted was for her girls to question her about her sudden shift in moods.
But after hours of being alone in her room with the door shut, Nina got worried not seeing her wife around the house. Leaving the girls occasionally to check on Lain, Nina wasn't surprised to find their locked.
After several attempts to get in, Lain dismissed her wife over and over again begging for some time to herself. In Lain's mind, staying away from Nina meant keeping their relationship intact. Her wife wouldn't have to hear about her problems and everything would be alright in a few days.
However, with Lain locking herself away again, Nina hated as the feeling of deja vu made its way back into her heart. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and gave her stomach a horrible ache.
Seeing as the girls were doing fine as they played with their stuffed creations in Faye's room, Nina was about to walk away to check on Lain again before Kaila stopped her.
"Mama?" She asked.
Mentally sighing as she turned around, Nina grinned back. "What do you need baby?"
"Bottle please." She politely asked with a smile.
Nodding her head Nina looked at her other girls. "Lauren do you want a bottle too?"
"No."
"Faye, do you want your sippy?"
Shaking her head as she talked with her stuffed gingerbread man, Nina walked out momentarily. Rushing downstairs and making Kaila her bottle, she returned a minute later.
By the time she came back she could see Kaila was now sitting strangely. "Here you go princess." She passed the bottle over as she watched Kaila awkwardly reach for it. Raising an eyebrow Nina asked. "Do you need mama to change you sweet girl?"
Blushing as she shook her head Kaila stuck the bottle into her mouth before returning to play.
Sighing externally now, Nina walked over and checked her little girls diaper. Seeing it was clearly wet she tsked her tongue. "Come on you." She said while whisking the girl away.
"No mama. Playing!" Kaila fought to stay while the others carried on without her but Nina only held her tighter.
"Sorry cutie, but mama doesn't want you getting a rash with that wet diaper of yours." Walking into Kaila's room, Nina gathered all of her supplies after placing the girl on her floor.
Kaila whined and protested the entire time wanting nothing more than to be back in Faye's room playing make believe.
Shushing her, Nina began to quickly make the switch after a thorough cleaning. "Mama will be done soon." She said as she applied a cold wipe onto her little ones bottom making her whine even more. "I know it's cold baby, why don't you just focus on drinking your milk for mama." She tried to shift the girls attention.
While it worked in making Kaila's whines soften, Nina made quick work to get the new diaper attached to the girls waist. The woman put Kaila's warm pants back on after disposing the soiled item and washing her hands. Cradling her upset baby in her arms, Nina waited until Kaila calmed down enough before taking her back to the others.
"Finish your bottle for mama." She reminded as she sat Kaila back down next to her Jasmine themed bear.
Watching them for another second, Nina smiled as Kaila was instantly sucked back into the girls world of imagination, completely forgetting about the cold changing that just occurred. Making their stuffed friends dance along a makeshift stage, the woman finally left to address the other situation brewing in the household.
Knocking for what seemed like the fifth time within the past hour, Nina tried to talk to Lain again. "Babe, can you let me in?" She asked slightly unhopeful given her past failed attempts.
However, this time felt different.
She couldn't hear Lain sobbing nearly as hard as before. And by the sounds of the silence within, Nina didn't know whether to be thankful for the silence or worried. "Babe?" She called again.
For a moment there was absolutely no sound coming from her bedroom. The only thing she could hear was the sound of her girls laughing in the background and the muffled noises of a static station on their television that came from behind the locked door.
"Babe?" She called one last time knocking harder than before. "Are you alright?"
Waiting another few seconds the woman was about to give up for the night. 'Maybe she fell asleep.' She tried to make sense of the situation.
Exhaling sharply as she turned around to leave, a creak in their wooden flooring echoed out. Twisting around swiftly, the woman watched as Lain hesitantly opened the door. Seeing the tan woman's slightly pink and puffy eyes, the woman entered the room and shut the door behind her swiftly before her wife could change her mind.
"Lain, are you okay?" She asked holding onto her wife tightly.
Feeling her wife's strong arms wrap around her waist, Lain felt choked up. She had finally taken enough time to stop her tears from her nervous breakdown earlier, she didn't want to fall into another episode again.
But regardless Lain silently shook her head in response into her wife's shoulder, making the mocha woman look at her wife more concerned. "Did something happen?" She asked.
As Lain shook her head again, she couldn't help as a louder sob made its way to the surface. Even after all her hard work to keep her tears suppressed, being in Nina's arms just felt so right that she couldn't help but let her natural feelings go.
"Lain, why are you crying?" Nina asked completely unaware of the situation that had happened under her nose hours earlier. "Is it because Nick and Nelson left?" She guessed.
And once again Lain shook her head.
It was so much more than just the twins leaving her. This was about an entire dark spell the twins had cast her under from her unanswered questions.
By not letting her in on their scheme, they had unintentionally left Lain to her own terrifying imagination.
While Faye, Lauren, and Kaila were lucky enough to be imagining a talent show currently in Faye's room. Lain couldn't stop thinking about all the mental troubles she must be causing her wife through her distress. They left her mind to rot in her own sickness. She didn't know how to stop the horrifying thoughts of her ruining her relationship because of all the drama she was unwillingly bringing into their lives.
Her thoughts were something Nina was unaware about—until now.
While this was a twisted game the brothers played, this wasn't Lain's first rodeo. She knew her mind well and she knew the strong bond that she held with the woman in front of her wasn't going to be broken so easily.
Over time Lain had found that one of the biggest reliefs she could have on her mental well-being was to invite conversation. As much as she didn't want to extend her worries out to her wife, she knew she couldn't be better until she did so.
Sitting Nina down in their bed, Lain grabbed a ahold of Nina's hands tightly as she cried out her entire hearts dread.
Informing her wife of the horror and stress that filled her head, Nina had tears dropping out of her eyes by the time their conversation ended as well.
"Why would you think that? You aren't hurting my health babe when trouble comes your way. I'm your wife. I'm here to support you, not to let you go though pain alone!" Nina said as her heart ached with a familiar pain. It was the strongest kind of pain she knew to exist.
It was the one she got every time Lain opened her heart out to her. Whether it be for good or bad, the level of intensity always debated on the broken news.
"I know but-"
"No Lain listen. There are no buts in this situation. I understand Nelson said he and Nick were talking about us behind our backs, I'm going to be having a long talk to them about that, but what I don't understand is how after all this time you can't see how much I love you. Nothing is coming between us."
Silently staring at her wife's beautiful brown eyes, Lain couldn't find any words to say. The woman before her rendered her speechless. It was like someone had sealed her mouth shut, leaving her only with the ability to listen to the reassuring words that came from the one person that mattered.
"I love you, Lain. I don't care if my brothers were talking about us. I don't care about what your mom thinks of us. I don't care about anyone other than you—and our girls. Nothing is going to change that." Nina said as her wife sobbed harder collapsing into her chest as she wrapped her arms around her neck.
Holding on tightly Lain refused to let her wife go.
After all Nina was her anchor.
And right now, Lain desperately needed her wife to keep her shaky mind from drifting out into the green murky water of fear just waiting to suck her into its thick hazy fog.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off