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It starts when Piper comes in to report being attacked. She is small, thin and delicate and so close to breaking that Karen waits to be sure they have the needed kit and evidence, moving to take Piper’s hand as she talks, she’s always the smaller, quieter one and yet she can see the care start to blossom in Grace’s eyes when Piper cries.
They take the case day by day, Piper hidden away someplace safe until trial. It’s only when the trial is over that Piper is able to be moved into their shared house. Things with both relationships had crumbled and Karen had moved in with Grace, now they had Piper too.
Piper trembles when she’s touched and Karen takes her time to convince Piper into the bed, curling against her chest gently, letting Piper curl her arms around her, sensing Piper tense when Grace slides into the bed behind her, but Grace’s voice is tender even as she slides soft arms around Piper’s waist.
“Easy Piper, it’s just Gracie… just me baby.”
Piper sighs then, curls herself tighter against Karen and tries to believe she will be okay. One day.
Grace wakes to just Piper the next day, Karen has taken a call and left, but she is free to take a day off and she has. Piper shifts when she wakes up, nestling into Grace’s neck before falling asleep again, her soft copper curls resting so gently across Grace’s shoulder that she sighs, accepting this is her life now, this and loving both Karen and Piper so deeply she’s afraid of how deeply she feels.
Piper’s soft sigh of contentment washes away all thought, the curl of a slim hand into her own is rewarded with a soft kiss, her smile soft.
“Good girl, you rest now… it’s alright.”