Dying For You

Chapter 15

Theo's POV

It's been a few days since we learned that Laila could hear us if we talked loudly. She's been doing a lot better since we have been able to explain things more to her. She's getting more comfortable leaving her room and interacting with us. She still sleeps a lot, but it's been more like sleeping for 16 hours and waking for 8 hours. Usually, she is awake from 10 am to about six pm-ish. Sometimes, if she takes a nap in the middle of the day, she will stay up a little later.

The more she interacts with us, the more it's evident that she still has a long way to go. She had a four-year-old's mental, emotional, and social skills. But we're working on it. The social skills are funny because it makes for some awkward situations. All her brothers and their mates came over to hang out with her yesterday, and we were all sitting on the couch as they were talking to her when Laila just turned to Amber, Reid's heavily pregnant mate, and asked why she looked like that. That's when Laila's mom had to explain that Amber was pregnant and where the babies came from. It was a very watered-down version, but the question made it awkward for a little while.

Laila's been getting more vocal about what she wants or needs, but it's like a kid. She questions almost everything we are doing, always asking why. We try to explain things to her as much as possible, but it gets frustrating sometimes when I've never had to explain my actions to this extent. Every time I go to leave the room, she asks where I'm going, then I have to explain why she can't come with me to the bathroom; I've had to explain why I'm drinking water, why my pants had pockets, and hers didn't, why my shoes don't fit on her feet, why I'm so tall, why I eat so much food. I don't care, though; she is my mate. I will spend the rest of my life answering every question she has because I'm already head over heels in love with her. The look on her face when she learns something new, the confidence she is gaining in herself, and seeing her trust us more and more every day. It's amazing. How could I not be in love with her?

The one thing I wouldn't say I like that I'm working on fixing is that she's a Daddy's Girl when she gets upset. It started when she was eating dinner the other night, and her mom took away her empty plate to get her a second helping of something she liked. Laila lashed out, pushed her mom, and started screaming, thinking her mom was taking the little food she had left on her plate. She threw a full-on tantrum until her Dad grabbed her and set her in his lap as she cried and finally calmed down. Ever since then, whenever she gets upset, she goes to him and hugs him until she feels better. I know he is Laila's Dad, so I don't have an issue with it; I have a problem with her never coming to me to feel better. I'm not her safe place, but I'm working on it.

Today is going to be hard, though. We need to take her back to the doctor so he can check her, especially her hearing and vision. We need to tell her that she is going to the doctor.

"I don't want to do it; who will she cry to when she gets upset." Ron and Rebecca quietly argue as we stand in her kitchen, waiting for Laila to wake up.

"I'm her mother; she was crying to me before she's be crying to you," Rebecca argues.

"Yeah, now. But when she was little, you know she was the same way. Every time she scraped her knee, she came to me. Who knows, she could remember us from when she was little." Ron retorts.

"No. Please do not give me false hope like that. We know she was too young. The doctor even said-"

"I'll tell her." I volunteer, primarily so that I can stop hearing them argue.

"Tell me what?" Laila asks. We all turn around to see her looking nervous in the doorway in her pj's.

"Oh, Princess, you're awake. Do you want some breakfast?" Ron says, trying to distract her.

"No, tell me. What's going on?" Laila raises her voice, getting frustrated.

Rebecca walks over to Laila and grabs her hand, leading her to sit at the table. Laila looks between us nervously as she sits down. "What are you not telling me?" Laila asks.

I guess it's time to eat my words. I walk over to Laila and kneel in front of her. "Laila, I don't want you to be scared because we will be right by your side, and we wouldn't be asking you to do this if it was dangerous. But we have an appointment scheduled for you today for a check-up with the doctor." I explain loud enough for her to hear me.

Laila's eyes widen as she starts to shake her head and her eyes water. She takes a deep breath, still looking like she could cry. "Ok," she whispers.

"Princess, are you ok?" Ron asks.

“Mmmhhhmmmm” she humms with a nod. She gulps loudly. "Are we going now?" she asks with a voice crack.

"The appointment is in an hour and a half, so you have time to eat and great ready," Rebecca says.

"I don't want to eat." she shakes her head. "Can I go to my space now?" she asks.

"Yes.-" As soon as Rebecca answered her, Laila got up and ran out of the room. Her parents look at each other confused.

I follow after Laila. I need to make sure she is ok.

I stand in the doorway of her empty room but her sniffling. I slowly walk in, knocking on the door so I don't scare her as I walk farther into the room, looking around for her. As I walk past the closet, I see Laila sitting on the ground in the corner, crying. "Laila, what's wrong?" I ask. She moves away from me, curling more into the corner as she eyes me with red puffy eyes.

I slowly walk into the closet, trying to see where her boundary is that she is comfortable with me. I'm waiting for her to lash out and try to kick, hit, or whimper, moving away from me.

I get within a few feet of her and crouch to her level. "Laila, tell me why you're upset. I want to help you but can't help you if I don't know what's wrong." I explain.

Laila looks at me and sniffles. "I thought you were different." I don't know what that means.

"I am different-"

"You all were so nice; you didn't hurt me. You promised I wouldn't go back, and I wanted to believe you. I did. And I started to believe you. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did. I don't want to go back. Please don't make me go back," Laila sobs.

I move next to her, sitting on the ground. I put my arm around her and pull her away from the wall so she cries on my shoulder. "It's going to be ok. You're not going back there." I say, rubbing her back. Laila looks up at me with a sniffle.

"But you said I'm going to the doctor," she says.

"Yes. But that's not dangerous. That's just the doctor." I explain. "You remember the doctor. When you first got here. When you first met your parents." I try to jog her memory.

"I remember the doctor." Laila sobs. "He was so mean. He hurt me so much. Please don't make me go back." Laila sobs, putting her head back on my shoulder.

"The doctor hurt you?" I question.

"Yes"

"Was this before you met your mom and dad or after?" I ask.

"Before." she nods. "He was so mean. He would send someone to pull me out of my space to go to The Above, then drag me to him; then he would do something to hurt me, then make me take all these tests before finally letting me go back to my space. I like my space; it was so dark, like you made this room. Please don't make me go to the doctor. Please." she is sobbing again by the end.

Ok, so there is a hunter that she refers to as a doctor, and she thinks she is seeing him. "No, you're never going back there. We are taking you to a different doctor. A good doctor is just going to make sure you're feeling better. He is only here to help." I explain. "He won't hurt you; I promise nobody will ever hurt you again. Not as long as I'm still alive to have a say." I say.

After a few more minutes of Laila crying, she finally calms down. I don't know if I'm helping, but she's not fighting me. It's great! "Do you promise?" she asks. "I'm tired of hurting."

"I will protect you with my life," I answer honestly. "I promise, gorgeous." I smile at her.

Laila looks at me, knitting her brows together in confusion. "What's gorgeous?" she sniffles.

"You're gorgeous," I answer, wanting to make her feel better.

"No, I'm Laila." she shakes her head.

I laugh. "Yes, you are, Laila." I agree.