Chapter 7  The house was eerily quiet as Carmen walked through the front door with Shane behind her. She stood still after she heard the door shut and turned around to find Shane with silent tears sliding down her hollowed cheeks.

Her Shane. Her strong, beautiful, troubled Shane was falling to pieces before her eyes and she didn’t know what to do.

Every bone in her body was trembling as she made her way towards Carmen in slow steps. ‘This is my fault… This is all my fault.’ Her heart was pounding in her chest as she stared into the distraught eyes of the women she loved so much, the women who never asked for any of this.

Shane fell to her knees in front of Carmen and grabbed onto the front of her shirt, clenching the fabric tightly in her fists as if it were the only thing keeping her grounded. Her voice was shaking and she was finding it hard to breathe, “Fuck, I’m so sorry Carmen. I’m sorry this happened. Oh God…” The lithe, raven haired women’s body started wracking with sobs as herr tears fell freely onto the shirt.

Inside, Carmen was falling apart as well. She had just seen her girlfriend nearly stabbed and her ex-girlfriend beat someone to the verge of death. She needed to sit down, she needed to break down. She got on her knees so that she was at eye level with Shane.

Tentatively bringing one hand up to gently brush Shane’s bangs from her eyes, Carmen cupped Shane’s face with her other hand and didn’t fight the tears that sprung up to her eyes.

Almost in sync, the two women moved towards each other; Carmen wrapped her arms around Shane’s neck and Shane had her arms around Carmen’s mid-section. They stayed this way for the better part of a half hour, heads buried in shoulders as they both cried.

Once she felt that she had some strength in her, Shane lifted her head and moved her hands to Carmen’s hips. “Car? Baby? Please look at me.” She pleaded, her voice ragged and hoarse from wailing.

Carmen slowly brought her head up to look her in the eyes. Going over the red splotchy marks and the tracks from the tears that had run a course down her lovers cheeks, she pressed her forehead against Shane’s own. “Can we go to bed?”