Love At All— Chapter 1
|Prologue| Next |
Chapter Warnings: some minor injuries, mentions of captivity, pretty tame overall
A second meeting and a donation.
It was only a few days later when they met again. The sky, this time, was clear. The curly haired girl knocked gently on the glass door as it, again, neared midnight.
"Hello, again," Sapphire greeted in her calm way, welcoming her in. She took note of a black eye— she couldn't patch that up like she had the scrapes.
"Hey. I'm sorry to bother you again, but you said I should stop by again, and I took it to heart-"
"As you should have," Sapphire smiled and led the girl to the same small doctors office. "May I see how your hands are?"
The guest immediately nodded and offered her palms to the lawyer. Her hands were certainly cleaner, though there were some open wounds beneath the bandages. "They look better. You should have rested them more though."
"It isn't bad," the guest offered. "I just work with them a lot. Blisters happen." Sapphire nodded and rewrapped them carefully. "Would you like to take the bandage off your cheek or would you prefer that I do it?"
"Yeah, I can," The dark-skinned girl mumbled before ripping the bandage from her face with a small grunt.
"That looks better too."
"It is. Thank you, again, by the way."
"It's my job," Sapphire smiled slightly, "don't worry about it." The owner took a slow breath as she went to grab frozen peas for her guest's black eye.
Sapphire smiled to comfort; that was all. It could hurt her face to smile so much, since her normal expression was often stoic.
It was the opposite with the bruised woman. It didn't seem to fit that the guest's expression was plain. Her face was more becoming of a smile, or at least a cheeky grin, though Sapphire hadn't imagined what it might appear like for her to wear one.
"Does that help?" Sapphire asked when the girl greeted the bag of frozen vegetables with a sigh.
"You've got no idea," she relaxed, her spare hand mussing her own curly hair. "Thank you so much."
"Anytime. If you need anything, please remember that you're always welcome here." The visitor nodded and shrugged, following Sapphire to the foyer. "If it helps at all, you can always ask for Sapphire. If I'm not here, I'm only a few minutes away."
"Thank you, Sapphire, it means a lot," the girl tried out the name. "I will, next time I need to."
At this, Sapphire smile was far less forced. "You keep those peas. And be careful."
"I will."
—
"Sapphire," Pearl, a receptionist working on her psychology degree, radioed the lawyer. "There's an envelope here addressed to you."
Sapphire, used to bills and other mail being addressed directly to her, answered that she'd be down when she was done. She returned to the guest she had been speaking too. "I appreciate you waiting on that. Now, back what you were telling me, Miss Lazuli?"
The taller woman nodded, "I just can't stop thinking about it -- I was locked away from the real world for years, Sapphire. It consumed everything I am."
"You are more than your that, Lapis, I promise you. But I know that doesn't change how you're feeling right now."
"Everything just happened so fast. As soon as I was free, I, I was with her."
"Does that unsettle you?" Sapphire questioned carefully, knowing that Lapis preferred her company to the therapist.
Sapphire wasn't a psychologist, but she had more than enough experience in how to talk with the women at the shelter. She did run it, after all: the manager of her own women's shelter, only answering to the benefactors and donors.
Despite her trade, she chose to be a friend with a listening ear and a shoulder to lean on, rather than mere council. She charged nothing for her appointments and time, discussed with the police if requested, and had even testified on a number of occasions. It was a wonder she ever had any of her very limited free time at all.
Lapis had only been living with them for a month, but the new resident had taken a quiet liking to the lawyer-by-trade. Lapis wondered sometimes if they would mesh so well, once she discovered herself, whom she had never gotten to truly meet. But even if they didn't mesh well, Lapis was under the impression that she and Sapphire would remain friends as she healed.
They talked for the rest of the hour.
—
"Sapphire!" Pearl called out, as Sapphire made her way through the foyer. "The mail."
"Oh, right," Sapphire muttered and gratefully received the stack of papers. "Thank you very much, Pearl." Pearl smiled proudly and continued with her typical assignments of filing and offering quick diagnoses.
Sapphire sat and opened the letter, which was addressed in sloppy handwriting, rather than the usual black sans font. There was no return address, but the envelope was thin enough to be safe.
Miss Sapphire,
Thanks again. Won these last night. Thought if there was any luck in them, you guys deserve it.
P.S. Guy I won them from said they were from Motomart.
There was no signature, but three scratch-off lottery cards included in the envelope. Sapphire raised an eyebrow and chuckled at the odd donation.
"What is it?" Pearl asked, looking up at the rarity that was Sapphire's laugh.
"Pearl, do you have a coin?" Sapphire smiled, giggling again as she held up the cards, "we received an anonymous donation."
Pearl raised a brow at the sight of the lottery tickets, but dug a penny out of her desk quickly.
"An anonymous donation of... Drumroll, please, Pearl," Sapphire giggled, unable to stop herself from being uncharacteristically goofy.
She hadn’t slept well last night, she reasoned to herself, and this had caught her off guard.
She scratched off the first, row by row. "... Of five dollars." The second, "nothing, and..." The third, "fifty-two dollars. For a total donation of fifty-seven U.S. Dollars, redeemable anywhere Cash Case Cards are sold!" Sapphire glanced at the note again. "... More specifically, redeemable at Motomart!" Sapphire interrupted herself with another fit of giggles.
Finally, the lawyer cleared her throat. "Pearl, on your lunch break, would you like to cash these in? You can take the seven for the gas."
"Sure, Sapphire," Pearl humored her.
"Thank you," Sapphire returned to her subtle smile, as she typically did, before making her way to her other tasks.
