i confess i confess [glowverse]

[theunpressuredclub]

 Her shoulder had healed up well enough, although there would be some ugly scarring that would remain. The conversation with Lorraine, while not progressing much further that night, had opened up the door to equally careful conversations-- to a deep amount of thought, on Rachel's part.

Curled up beside Edgar now, his lips pressing softly against the cloth over her healed shoulder as they snuggle on the couch, she finds the words slipping out of their own accord. Doesn't doing anything to stop them, because she's finally started to recognize that maybe it's time to let it go.

"I know Drew-- thinks it's Papa," she murmurs, quite suddenly, "And it-- it is, sometimes. But it's usually... The bad ones, Ed, it's-- it's not him that does it. It's..."

And she can't quite work up the strength to actually name who it is, just yet. She needs to shift, settle more properly into his arms and tuck her head against his chest so she doesn't have to see the expression on his face.

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[ofthecubs]

There's been a change. There's been a marked difference since the night they'd had a quiet dinner with a sling on Rachel's shoulder and a shadow on Lorraine's features. It's been difficult, holding himself down and back while Rachel's been so quiet.

It's meant less time with his father. It's meant more time with his mother's fingers tight on his shoulder helping him focus on what helps and what hurts. It's meant a lot of being quiet and present and full of an open trust in a process he didn't fully understand.

It's a work in progress, still. Rachel's soft words now do have tension pulling tight through him, fingers tensing unconsciously in her arm before he can force a few quiet breaths. Anger isn't the right emotion now. Anger can come later, with Andrew, with his mother; not with her.

"...it's someone else?"