#valencia ftf: 011

[andiesmu-archive]

WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER ➝ VEELEN

TAGGING ➝ Vienna Cortez, Valencia Cortez.

LOCATION ➝ Vienna’s Apartment.

TIME FRAME ➝ 2/22. Afternoon.

WARNINGS ➝ Mentions of abuse. Mentions of violence. Mentions of SIDS. 

NOTES ➝ Len goes to Vee’s house to be with her sister during a hard time, but has to explain the bruise on her face. 

VALENCIA

It wasn't a great time of year for her sister. Not that it was a walk in the park for her, the whole time surrounding this week was always hard for Len as well, but she knew it was infinitely worse for Vee, and she always tried her best to be there for her sister, to just be positive when she should for her. Which meant not wanting to tell her about the other night, but not telling her would also mean avoiding her, since the evidence was literally written on her face. Len let herself into the other girl's apartment, looking around for the other girl, and then bracing herself when she finally found her. "Hi," She said softly, not sure of what she should even say to her. She didn't want to make this about her, but she knew Vee would want to know what had happened.

VIENNA

Vienna really wasn’t one for moping, at least not for a good majority of the year. She’d always been a pretty positive person, it was just unfortunate — incredibly unfortunate — that some pretty terrible things had happened to her, and while she would like to say she was happy one hundred percent of the time, that really wasn’t the case. Just like she did every year, she’d taken off work the whole week, with her bosses completely understanding of the fact, and had taken up residence on her couch, where she planned to stay for the foreseeable. Sweats, an old tank, scraped back hair and an old blanket were her items of choice, and Vee watched in disgust as Abducted In Plain Sight played out on the television screen in front of her, not even bothering to look up when she heard the door opening. Her sister’s presence in the living room of course finally caught her attention, though, and the moment she laid eyes on her, her jaw dropped in horror. “What the fuck?” She questioned, sitting upright. It was always instinct, no matter how she was feeling in herself, for her to protect her siblings, but especially Len; she was the baby, after all. Vee hopped up from the couch, making her way over to the younger girl and gently taking her chin between her thumb and pointer to get a better look at her face. “Len, what happened? Are you okay?”

VALENCIA

Len sighed as Vee got out of her seat and came towards her. She allowed her to look at the bruise on her face and then pulled away gently, nodding her head. "I'm fine, honestly. I really am." She assured her, and then bit her lip, but released it right away when she felt a sting from where it was split. "I was out the other night and I ran into Josh, apparently he's out of jail." She frowned and then shrugged a shoulder, "I guess he's still bitter about me not bailing him out." She shrugged. "I would have told you sooner, but I just didn't want you to be worried with everything going on right now. But I went to Clark's afterwards, and he had the cops out looking for him and they picked him up, so there's really nothing to worry about."  She tried to reassure her sister, though she didn't really know what that would do. She had a feeling it really wasn't a solution to the problem, but at least neither of them had to worry about it at the moment, and the last thing she wanted was for Vee to be worrying about it.

VIENNA

Her sister’s ex should’ve probably been the first person to spring to mind when she’d seen the state of her face, but for some reason, he hadn’t. Vee had been more concerned with making sure Len was okay than with pointing the blame at anybody, but she felt her entire body fill with rage as the younger girl explained. “So, he did this to you? He put his hands on you?” She asked, brows raising, though not in a surprised way. It was kind of accusatory, toward Josh not her sister. Finally releasing Len’s chin, Vee shook her head, settling her hands on the younger girl’s arms. “How are you going to tell me your ex boyfriend did this to you, and then tell me it’s nothing to worry about? What actually happened? I want the whole story.”

VALENCIA

Len let her sister speak, not wanting to cause drama by telling her to back off, she knew she had the right to be concerned. "There's nothing to worry about because he got arrested the same night, what's he going to do from jail?" She asked, shrugging a shoulder, "I was just out with some friends and I saw him at the bar where we were drinking. As soon as I saw him, I left, I didn't think he saw me, so I figured I could just slip out and avoid the drama of it all. But I guess he saw me and he followed me out. He was yelling about how I never bailed him out and all this shit." She shrugged again, Len moved to the couch, sitting herself down now, "He says I owe him the money, and he was just trying to scare me. But I'm really fine, it's okay." She said, hoping her sister would believe her.

VIENNA

“No, you’re not understanding me here,” Vee shook her head, voice a little irritated. She wasn’t mad at her sister, she was mad at the situation. And maybe a little annoyed that Len seemed to be acting like it was no big deal. “I’m glad he was arrested. I’m worried because he actually did this to you. Nobody should ever feel like they have any right to put their hands on you, Valencia.” She spoke in a stern tone, looking her sister in the eye. Watching the younger girl for a moment, Vee sighed as she followed her over to the couch, plopping back down where she’d previously been sitting before her sister’s arrival. “Did you tell the police all of this? That he did it because he thinks you owe him money?” The idea made her angry. “How much does he think you owe him? We’re going to give it to him, and not because you owe him anything, but because I don’t want this happening again.”

VALENCIA

Len's nostrils flared at her sister's words, not because she was angry with her, but the because she was angry with the very idea of paying Josh anything. "I told Clark about it." She said, deciding that that meant yes, but she just shook her head as the girl continued. "I'm not paying him anything, Vee. He thinks I owe him $30,000. Fifteen for the bail and the other fifteen in interest. Do you have an extra thirty grand sitting around? Because I don't, and even if I did, I still wouldn't pay him anything. What's to stop him from coming back and saying oooh actually it was $60,000. He doesn't think I'll actually pay him, he just thinks he can freak me out, or get me to do something for him, and I'm not doing it. I'm not playing that game. I appreciate you wanting to protect me, but trust me, paying him isn't going to do a thing."

VIENNA

The last thing Vienna wanted to do here was show any hostility towards her sister, but she’d always been very protective of her, she was never just going to sit around and accept something like this. “That’s not what I asked.” She was glad that Len had Clark, even more so knowing what his job was, but that wasn’t the same as her divulging everything to the police and actually pressing charges, right? She sighed as she listened to the other girl, the large figure knocking back any plans she may have had to pay off the non-debt herself. “Alright, no, I don’t have that,” she grumbled, pulling her feet up onto the couch and resting her chin on her knees. She wrapped her arms around her legs, looking over at her sister. “I don’t like any of this, Len. We should get a restraining order, at the very least.”

VALENCIA

Len ignored the point that it wasn't what she'd asked, and instead just leaned back against the couch, listening to her sister's concerns. "Okay, there's something else," She said softly, biting her lip as she looked back at her sister. "When it all happened, he started looking through my purse for cash, and I think he saw my license, so I think he knows where my apartment is, that's the part that scares me more than anything. I don't want him to know where I live," she sighed and then shrugged a shoulder, "But that's also why I don't want a restraining order, because if I get one, then he'll definitely have my address, because he has to know where he's not allowed to go, and I just don't know that I'm comfortable with a piece of paper being what's supposed to protect me."

VIENNA

Her little sister was sitting beside her with a bruised face and a split lip, and Vee really believed that that was everything. Even that was too much. So for Len to continue, for her to say there was more, it had Vee’s heart sinking. “Ay dios mío,” she muttered under her breath, hand coming up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “Okay, well, I don’t really want you being at your apartment then, at least not alone.” Vee knew her sister, she knew what an independent person she was, but she wasn’t about to just sit around and let her be in any kind of danger. “You can come and stay with me. Or if there’s someone else you’d rather stay with, then okay, that’s also fine. But I don’t want you at your apartment anymore, Len. I realize I'm not Mom, I can't tell you what to do, but I'm asking you to please not stay there anymore.”

VALENCIA

Len out a small laugh at her words, not because anything she was saying was a joke, she knew that really it was good advice, "You say that like I'd listen to Mom more than I would listen to you," She grinned, hoping to lighten the mood just a bit and then sighed. "I don't want to leave my apartment." She said firmly and then shrugged, "It's my home, it's where I feel safe, and I don't want to give that up. I don't want him to take that away from me, he doesn't get to win like that." She said, and then looked around, "Maybe I'll have someone come stay with me for a while, will that help?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, "Not you, because if anything happened to you because of me I would never forgive myself, but I'll ask someone. If I can't find anyone, then I'll come stay here. Okay?"

VIENNA

Although she didn’t feel very much like smiling, considering firstly what week it was, and secondly that she was still trying to process what had happened to her sister, Vee couldn’t help the small laugh her sister pulled from her, eyes rolling playfully. Her serious face returned as she listened to what the other girl had to say, though, and Vee sighed, but she got it. “Fine. As long as someone stays with you,” she agreed, glancing over at the younger girl. “But until you find someone, will you please stay here? Even if it’s just tonight, or the next couple days or so. I’m not going to be comfortable if I know you’re in your apartment alone.”

VALENCIA

Len nodded at her sister, a small smile forming on her own face as she leaned over to pull her into a hug. “I already put a bag with some clothes for tomorrow in my car, I wasn’t planning on going anywhere but here tonight.” She said softly, and that was partly because she didn’t want her sister to be alone, but it was also because she needed her sister. They needed each other right now, they always did, but especially this time of the year. This situation just added to it, and while she didn’t love that this would make two nights that she’d been out of her apartment since this had happened, she knew it was necessary.