Promise to Forget

"How long has it been?" The nurse asks from behind me, where she's cleaning my awful hair for the fourth time. I didn't shower much when I was with my mom and I actually haven't had access to a shower for a year so I knew I was a mess.

"Hm?" I ask.

"Since you showered?" She clarifies.

"...A time last year," I mumble, waiting for the familiar flinch or shudder of disgust. She just sighs a little and keeps going, it eases my nerves a little.

"Liam told me," She says, rinsing my hair off, "about your situation,"

"O-oh,"

"And I heard some stuff through the door about your mom," I blush a little, I liked Nurse Sandy a lot but that didn't mean I wanted her to know everything about me.

"Well... I am dramatic. It fine... really fine," I stutter, trying my hardest to convince her and failing spectacularly.

"It's okay honey," She mutters, finally letting my hair go, "You don't have to lie for her,"

"Okay," My voice is hardly a whisper as I try to keep my tears under control.

"Well, I think you're nice and clean now, let me help you dry off and into some clean clothes," She says, but I don't miss the way her head whips around when I try to look at her and the slight sniffle in her voice.

She helps me up, walking was getting a little easier as I kept doing it but it still stung. I dried myself off to the best of my ability, then she changes my dressing and helps me into clothes that actually fit me, they didn't smell bad or look broken or have any rips and stains.

I can't help but cry as I walk back to the room.

"Livia, honey are you okay, does anything hurt?" She asks frantically, pulling up my shirt to see the clean bandages. I shake my head.

"Sorry," I mutter, sobbing loudly. She smiles softly and hugs me, really hugs me. I'd never been hugged before, not that I could remember, my mom wasn't exactly affectionate and Tessa didn't like being touched and I respected that. I cry a little harder and press my face into her shirt, she doesn't seem to mind, just puts a gentle hand on my back and rocks slightly, until I calm down.

"Sorry," I say, again, as I pull away from her.

"You don't need to apologize every time you show emotions," She says, softly. I sniffle and nod a little, resisting the urge to say sorry for saying sorry, "Now let's get you back to your room, you should rest for a while before you get discharged," She says, leading me back to Liam and Aidan.

"Oh my god, Livvy are you okay?" Aidan asks as I walk into the room, both he and Liam sit up straighter as they take in my red puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"Fine, just happy," I say, smiling.

"Come sit down for a bit, we'll get the discharge papers in a few minutes," Liam says, patting the bed and taking me from the nurse, helping me over and thanking her as she whirls around and leaves the room.

"Thank you,"

"Okay while we wait we wanted to talk about some stuff, I know I haven't known you that long but I'm a little worried, I don't need you to tell me why but you didn't have access to a lot of food for a while did you?" Liam asks, I shake my head and feel a hand grab mine, Aidan's, I give him a grateful squeeze.

"No, not a lot," I say.

"Well, you are a little underdeveloped, and I was talking to the nurse who said you had some nutrient deprivation and I just want to make sure you are taken care of, so she gave me some supplements to pick up from the pharmacy," He carries on.

"Whats supplements?" I ask.

"Well, you need these things in your body called vitamins and because of the little amount of food you got, you don't have enough of this stuff, so the supplements just put the stuff that needs to be inside you, inside of you," He explains. I nod.

"So I'll be better?" I ask.

"Well, the nurse seems to doubt you'll fully catch up when it comes to height, so you'll always be small, but we can help with your eyes and your overall strength," he says, I frown a bit.

"I'm strong," I mutter.

"Very strong, but you get tired fast and your bones are weaker than other peoples," he says, I nod, understanding, "We'll pick them up on the way out," He finishes, smiling and raising his hand.

My head tells me he's probably just going to pat my back or shoulder but my heart remembers all the times my mom raised a hand to me. I flinch and cower away, kicking myself when a look of hurt and panic crosses his face. He puts his hand down carefully and a sad smile spreads across his face.

"I won't hurt you," He says, I nod a little.

"My head knows, but my body remembers," I mutter.

"We'll help your body forget," Aidan chimes in, shuffling closer to me, gently pushing my head so it rests on his shoulder, "Promise,"

"What is promise?"

"It means you cant go back on what you said," He explains, "So I promise we are going to help you,"

"Here you guys go," My eyes drift to where nurse Sandy just walked in, giving Liam a piece of paper, "The discharge papers are at the desk if you are sure you're ready to go?" She says, turning to me, I nod quickly and she chuckles a bit.

"Your dad is picking us up, he'll be waiting for us at the pharmacy," Liam says, looking at Aidan, who nods.

"You ready to go home Livvy?" Aidan asks, helping me up and grinning.

"Yes, home,"