Richie scratched his belly as he walked back in the room. Rubbing his eyes he slammed his toe into her dresser. "Son of a--" he whispered and rapped the heel of his hand on her dresser to put the sting somewhere else. Nothing hurt worse than the pinky fucking toe.
Her makeup toppled and he winced, shoving it all back on the pretty little silver tray on her dresser. "Shit," he muttered and stood everything up. He grinned at the little round pink thing that was the same size as a compact. The dial of pink and white pills was carefully showing the correct day. The other brown bottle had him frowning. Lifting the bottle his frown grew. He didn't know much about prescriptions, but he damn well knew the names for sleeping pills.
Dammit. He rattled the bottle softly and looked at the date then at the number of refills. She was on the last refill. "Three of three," he said softly.
She rolled over in the bed attempting to snuggle, her hand brushing over an empty space. Murmuring softly she pulled the pillow closer, her nose rubbing against the scent there. She didn’t wanna wake up, after last night she'd finally been able to rest without the dreams to pester her every sleeping moment..
A thud near the dresser had her eyes flickering open a moment. Seeing it was just Richie coming back from the bathroom put a slight smile on her lips as her eyes closed again, ready to grab more of the sleep she'd missed.
Richie looked down at the bottle then back to his wife and curled his fingers around it hard enough that the plastic creaked in response. "Dammit, Lains." If it was on the first refill he wouldn't have cared. But he hadn't been gone that long, not long enough to warrant that many refills. He sat down on the bed, running his hand along her naked hip and thigh.
A shiver ran along her skin at the feel of his fingertip, her eyes fluttering back open an expectant smile creeping into her eyes and on her lips. "Morning handsome."
Everything inside of him wanted to smile back at her. He wanted to file it away and pretend it couldn't touch them, but he couldn't. Not now, not ever again. "We need to talk, darlin'."
She stretched slowly, the sheet dropping down as she pulled herself up. Rubbing her eyes she winced internally at the serious look in his eyes. "Ok, what's so important this early?"
He lifted the bottle and shook it like a maraca. "What's goin' on Lains?"
Damn, he'd found them? How the heck could he tell that from all the bottles of make up? She lifted her eyes to his and tilted her head, "Just something to help me sleep Pony. Nothing so major really."
He twisted the bottle until the label was facing her. "What's that say? The date there."
She winced slightly, “Umm it says December 9th Richie.”
"Uh huh. And how many refills does it say you've used at thirty pills a pop?"
She closed her eyes and leaned back against the headboard, "Three, but they weren't that strong, Katy tried to be sneaky, it just took more is all."
"Katy? You mean there was another prescription?" Richie's eyes widened as he glanced down at a doctor's name that wasn't Kate's.
Elena nearly flinched at the admission. "Umm she only gave me a few, I had to find a doctor who would write it for more.. Its not a big thing honey, I just couldn't sleep while you were gone is all."
He stood and drilled his fingers through his hair. "Is it the nightmares?"
She worried her lower lip with her teeth as she looked up at him stunned. "They tend to come back when you aren't around yeah."
"Ahhh babe," he whispered and sat down, dragging her close. "Why didn't you tell me?"
She snuggled into his body, a whispery sigh on her lips. "You had back to back concerts love, you needed to not worry. You couldn't have done anything from where you were, the pills helped." She offered a smile as she continued, "Didnt need any of it last night though."
He pulled back at her reasoning. "Darlin' I can't be here every night. Do you know how addicting these things are?"
She shook her head, "not really, I didn’t use it every night Richie..." She couldn’t tell him it was damn near every night, that the nights she didn’t take them she just didn’t sleep. Heck she had to be strong, had to be.
"Don't lie to me, Lains. Just don't ever lie to me," he said and pushed her hair back from her face. "Three refills in two months means you're taking it at least every day and doubling up the dose."
She took a deep breath and looked up calmly, "OK I won’t ever lie to you, promise. It was our first real separation; the dreams were a bit fresher ok? I couldn't cry and call you home, what kind of wife would I have been to ruin your work? It was pills or not sleep Richie." She tilted her head and managed a smile. "It's just that with you around I feel SAFER somehow, it’s like the dreams can't get through. When you're gone, they can get too me, so I used something to help me sleep. I didn't want to be a blubbering mess when you finally got home, we have better things to do when you're able to be here."
"It's not about that, Elena." He cupped her face. "I want you to BE okay, not pretend to be okay for me."
Elena looked up, her gaze intense, "It’s gonna take time baby, but I'm dealing with it honest, I just missed you, and well, the dreams plagued me. I don’t seem to have them at all when your close by, its just when you're so far away. When you aren’t close by well," she sighed, her eyes going up to settle on his worried face, “the dreams always end with you not getting there in time.”
He tugged her in and stroked her hair. He wished he believed her. Part of him had always known she wasn't dealing with it, but he'd hoped. And now with that kind of proof he was going to have to think about some things and talk to Jon. "Whattaya say we get out of the house? Take a drive, just you and me?"
She scooted a bit closer to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Sure thing babe." She slipped from the bed and pulled a few items from the dresser. "You want the shower first? OR?"
"Why don't you go first. It only takes me five minutes to get ready."
She nodded and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, determined to keep the smile on her face. Stepping away she moved towards the bathroom, glancing back just once, her brown eyes soft and murky with worry. "Won't be long babe." Stepping into the bathroom she shut the door and leaned against it for a moment before starting her morning rituals.
