15
1154 Words
"It's not much…" Selene shoved something into Francesca's hands as soon as the door was open, then turned to walk away.
She had expected Jonas to open the door and when she was faced by Francesca she panicked a little.
"Selene…" she stopped in her tracks, but didn't turn around. "I'm starting to worry about Karoline. Shouldn't she be here by now?"
Selene sighed, then turned around to look at Francesca.
"I don't know where she is. It's there something you needed to talk to her about?"
"Nothing important - it can wait."
Selene was about to leave, but she felt guilty and in the end she decided it would be better to just deal with the fact Francesca was difficult sometimes and make sure she wasn't hiding something serious.
"I have time. Karoline will be mad at me if I don't at least try to help."
Francesca stepped aside to let Selene in without actually accepting her offer.
"What is this, anyway?" Francesca finally looked down at the things Selene had thrust into her hands when she answered the door.
"I told you, it's not much. It's just the clothes I still have left that don't fit Robin anymore. They're far too big, and I know you can afford much nicer things, but Jonas said you don't have anything and I didn't want to leave you with nothing."
Francesca muttered a thanks and put the things down on a side table.
She remained awkwardly positioned in the hall, and Selene couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.
"Is everything OK? I tried my best to check you both but I wasn't thinking straight and I've never had to deal with that part before."
"Saga is fine, and I'm sure I'm fine, too."
"Where's Jonas? Is he OK?"
"He's asleep, and he's fine."
Selene still seemed concerned, and she wasn't convinced that Francesca was actually fine but she didn't know what to say.
"I know you find it weird to talk to me, but I would appreciate it if you could tell me what is going on. If you need Karoline I can send people to find her but if you won't at least tell me that I can't help you."
"I don't need her. It's just odd that she's not back yet."
"Francesca, she's not a young woman. If you wanted to ask her more practical questions because you don't know what to do, I'm probably going to have better answers. Do you need help with how to feed Saga or something?"
Francesca glared at Selene, but she wasn't entirely wrong.
"Does it sound like there's a starving infant in this house? I've managed to master the art of holding her to my breast when she cries - I'm not that oblivious, and it's pretty instinctive."
"It's not exactly that simple, but I'm glad you've figured that out without help. I guess I'll try to find out where Karoline is and let her know you need her."
Francesca looked worried when she realized Selene was about to leave her, and she almost leaped across the hallway to block the door.
"Please wait. I'm sorry… I'm still in pain and I'm tired and we're worried about how people are going to react when they know. I didn't mean to be…"
"...needlessly hostile?"
"Right. And I'm not great at accepting help."
Selene laughed dryly and Francesca squirmed slightly.
"I hadn't noticed that when you waited until it was far too late for me to be of any real use to let me in here."
"You did help. I was afraid and I didn't want to accept what was happening. I wasn't ready, but then you were there and it wasn't as scary anymore, and…"
She stopped speaking because she was acutely aware that nobody had been there to make things less scary for Selene.
"I considered it my duty to help. Like it's my duty to make sure you're OK now. So, please just tell me what is wrong."
"My breasts hurt a lot and they're hard if I touch them."
Selene rubbed her arms nervously and avoided looking at Francesca.
"If that's what's been concerning you, there's nothing to be worried about. It happens when you have too much milk - if she cries now or you go much longer without feeding her they'll leak. I'm surprised you didn't know that; and if you're in pain I suggest you wake her up to feed her - you should listen to what your body is telling you."
"I don't know what my body is telling me right now."
"Then listen to what I'm telling you. Feed the baby; it will help. And if you have cramps while she's feeding for a couple of days, that's nothing to worry about. I don't know why, but it's happened to everyone I know and I guess your body picks a time like that to do the uncomfortable stuff that gets things back to normal."
"Would you like to know?"
Selene laughed at the odd question and shook her head.
"I know how the internet works, Francesca. I can look it up."
"Assuming it happens to humans."
"They don't have wombs?" Selene laughed again, but Francesca was being serious and she didn't find it funny, so it seemed like it she needed a less flippant response. "Listen, Francesca… I don't think the physical side of things is that different for us where this is concerned, and I don't even think it's important to know why you get cramps when you breastfeed for the first few days, as long as you know to expect it. But I guess I might read about it if I remember later and I don't have anything better to do."
"You should."
"If you're curious, perhaps you should be the one to research it."
"No," Francesca shook her head and locked eyes with Selene. "I meant… you shouldn't just look it up. You should study it the way Karoline did. You're an intuitive healer, and you have the right attitude for it - a lot of people would not have helped someone they dislike the way you dislike me. And she might just be away for a few days, but someone is going to need to replace Karoline one day and… I know this isn't my pack, and it isn't my decision to make, and you don't trust me, but if you want to train properly I can arrange for it to happen. Karoline said she can use the things she knows about humans and improve them for our kind. She's already taken my blood more times than I can count so she can use the results as a reference in the future. I know you're smarter than her, even if you don't think it, and if you had the training that she does… you would be able to help a lot of people."
- Writer
