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She shook her head, pulling herself back. She needed to focus. They were home. Hannah needed sleep. They all needed rest.
She looked down at Hannah, who was silent. She hadn't fallen asleep, but she was on the verge of doing so. Her eyes were half open, and she was still covered in dirt. She wanted to bathe her, but she didn't have the energy.
"I should get her to bed," she whispered, looking at Hudson. "Or at least a bath. I don't know what to do." His eyes shifted to her, taking them both in.
"I'll take her," he said, looking at Hannah. "I will get her in bed." He pulled himself out of the chair and walked to her, reaching out to take Hannah, but suddenly, Hannah's hold tightened even more.
"No," she whimpered, her bottom lip quivering. Her eyes snapped wide open with fear. "Don't make me. If I go to bed, you'll be gone. They will come back and take me away from you again. I can't go to sleep."
Hudson dropped to her level, looking at her. He held onto her arms. "Hannah, sweetie, no one is going to hurt you. I made sure of that."
"I can't lose anyone else," she whispered, looking between Nora and Hudson. "I already lost my mom and dad. Don't make me lose anyone else. I can’t."
Tears finally broke away, and she held Hannah even tighter. She could hear the hurt in the girl’s voice, and she wished she could take away all the pain.
The child saw things she shouldn't have. Things that would give even grown adults nightmares. Hannah would likely never forget the fight and the massacre that went with it.
She could still hear the screaming and her begging for Hudson to be okay. Hannah thought the people she cared most about were going to be ripped from her, and she'd be left with nothing again.
She could imagine how Hannah felt. Being taken from Hudson and then being alone and scared. Nora wished she could make her forget everything. She wished she hadn't left the living room, to begin with, when the kidnappers arrived in their disguises.
She wiped at her own eyes and leaned back to look at Hannah with tears streaming down her face. She wiped at them. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to see that. But Hudson is right. They aren't coming back. You're safe. That is never going to happen again."
"Are we a family?" Hannah asked, looking at Hudson. "I feel like we are. And when you were fighting, I just kept thinking I was about to lose my family again."
Hudson's eyes were red when she looked at him, trying to keep it together. Rage filled his face, wanting to go back and rip each person apart again, piece by piece.
After a moment, he nodded, cracking a smile. "Yes, sweetie, we are. We're a family.”
He looked up at her, locking his eyes with her. "If that is what Nora wants."
She did. She felt the pull to stay with them. She loved them with every part of her soul. And the thought of not seeing them made her heartache. She wanted them to be a family.
She nodded, leaning back to get a better look at Hannah. "Yes, we're a family. I would like that more than anything, Hannah."
Hannah leaned into her arms, and she rocked her. She held her close, gratefully.
Nora pushed away questions she had for another time. She didn't want to think about the elders or whether or not she and Hudson were even a thing. She was just going to hold Hannah until she fell asleep.
She held onto Hannah until she drifted off. Neither of them moved, allowing the silence and the knowledge of knowing they were alive to soak in.
Hudson eventually got up to shower, letting her mind relax and mull over everything up to this point. A lot had changed.
She never thought she would be able to trust someone with her life. She never thought she'd find someone who cared about her as much as Hudson did.
She loved him. She never wanted to be apart from him, and she needed to be honest with him and herself.
She heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Hudson emerged into the living room with pj’s on and gave her a smile. "I can take Hannah if you want to wash up."
"Did you mean it?" she asked, looking at Hudson. "Do you feel we are a family? Or were you just saying that because she wanted to hear it?"
He gave her a gentle smile, taking a couple more steps toward the couch. "I meant it. I have felt it for a while. Did you mean what you said?"
She had. She'd known what family felt like, and being around them was exactly that. She also felt that Hannah was so much more than a person she watched. She loved and cared for her like she was her own child.
"I did," she said, moving a strand of hair from Hannah's face. She slept peacefully now. "She's a smart, full-of-life child who is going to do amazing things. I can't wait to see what she does with her life."
Hudson smiled as he sat next to her. "I can't either."
