Everything was going great.
If Kate was being honest, she'd been nervous about meeting all of Eva's extended family, of which there was a lot. But it was fine. Eva's family liked her (for some reason, but she really was trying to get along with them), and she liked them. At the moment, one of Eva's cousins was cutting up fruit for dinner while Kate sat cross-legged on the counter, her arms around Eva, who stood in front of her with her back to Kate, the three of them laughing and joking and talking.
Kate was having fun.
Then Kate cracked a joke that made Eva groan, and Eva's cousin, who was in the middle of cutting a pomegranate, gestured towards her with a knife, and Kate’s breath caught in her throat.
"You are a lady of excellent taste," he said, but Kate barely heard him. She was too busy staring at the knife, at the blood no not blood it's not blood it isn't but it looks like it but it's not but it is it's blood it's blood it's my blood that's my blood that's blood-
"Kate? Katie, are you okay? Baby, can you hear me?" Eva's voice sounded underwater, even as she turned around and cupped Kate's jaw in her hand. Kate tried to answer, found even breathing impossible, and shut her mouth again.
"What's going on? What did I do?" Eva's cousin asked.
Eva pulled Kate off the counter and into her arms, supporting her but not quite carrying her. Kate buried her face in Eva's hoodie, tuning out the world around her. All she could see was blood blood blood and all she could hear was "you're just so fucking annoying" and all she could feel was pain in her leg, more intense than anything she'd ever felt before.
Fuck.
~~~~~
Eva loved a lot of things about Kate.
She loved Kate's giggle, she loved Kate's smirk, and she loved the look in Kate's eyes whenever she looked at Eva.
But she didn't love the look in Kate's eyes right now.
She tried to get Kate to focus on her, but Kate’s eyes darted around the room, almost like she was seeing ghosts in every corner. Maybe one ghost in particular. She looked absolutely terrified, and Eva swallowed back her own tears. Kate needed her to be strong for her right now.
"Hey," she said in the calmest, most soothing voice she could manage. "Hey, baby girl, I'm right here, yeah? It's gonna be fine, I'm right here, you're gonna be fine. I promise."
Kate just kept choking on her tears and gasping for breath, and Eva held her hands and whispered to her, getting more and more worried the longer time went on and Kate kept crying.
At least she wasn’t numb.
"I-I'm sor-sorry," Kate choked out after several minutes, but Eva was already shaking her head.
"Nothing to be sorry for, Katie-Kat, okay?" She held one of Kate's hands to her lips and pressed a kiss against her palm. "You're allowed to cry. It's okay. You have nothing to be sorry for."
Kate clenched her jaw and nodded slowly, her breathing uneven and gasping, trying desperately to calm it down but not having much success.
"Take your time, love, there’s no rush," Eva murmured, letting go of one of Kate's hands to brush her hair away from her face. "We'll take as long as you need until you feel better, just like we always do."
Kate swallowed hard, then tugged lightly on Eva's hands to signal that she wanted to be held, so Eva pulled her into her lap and held her while she cried, pressing kisses to her hair and rubbing her bicep and whispering that it was gonna be okay. She could hear footsteps in the hall, and wondered if she was hearing her mom shooing her cousins away from her room. She hoped she was - Kate needed privacy while she calmed down.
Eventually, Kate's grip on Eva loosened and her sobs slowed and stopped, and Eva took a deep breath. Kate immediately started trying to match her breathing with Eva's, which was something they’d been working on and Eva was proud of her for remembering. After a few minutes of that, Kate's breathing was mostly back to normal, and she wasn't sobbing and barely crying.
"Thank you," she murmured. Eva adjusted her arms around her.
"Always," she promised. "I'm here for you, love."
"Love you."
"Love you, too." Eva kissed her forehead. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
Kate shrugged. "I just… the knife…"
"Did it have blood on it?"
"Yeah. Dunno whose."
"That's okay." Eva reached for Kate's hand and laced their fingers together. "Do you wanna go back down or stay here for a bit?"
"We should probably go back down-"
"That's not what I asked. What do you want to do?"
Kate hesitated. "I wanna stay here."
"We'll do that, then, yeah?"
"Yeah." Kate started to fiddle with the hem of Eva's shirt, leaning her head against Eva's shoulder. "God, you're the best."
"Nah, you are." Eva offered a little smile.
"C'mon, Aves, you're totally the best." Kate made a face at her. "You can't argue with me."
"Watch me."
"Oh, it's on-" Kate cut herself off with a shriek as Eva stood up, scooping her into her arms, and then tossed her on the bed. "Eva!"
Eva crawled onto the bed and pinned Kate against the mattress, smirking. "Hey, all you gotta do is admit that you're the best and I'll let you go."
"Never! I'll never tell a lie to you!" Kate kicked and wriggled, but Eva didn't move and she quickly gave up. "Evie…"
"My name isn't even pronounced Ee-va," Eva reminded her.
Kate huffed. "It's spelled like it."
"But it isn't- mmph." Eva stopped talking as Kate dug a hand into her hair and kissed her, effectively silencing her for the moment. Kate wrapped a leg around one of Eva's and slid her other arm around Eva's waist, a little more under her shirt than she normally would, and Eva shivered, enjoying the kiss that was quickly growing more heated and even more fun. She braced herself over Kate with an elbow and a knee, as low as she could get, barely pausing to breathe-
There was a knock on her bedroom door.
“Oh, come on,” Kate mumbled as she let go of Eva and relaxed into the bedspread, scowling. Eva sat up, rolling so she was sitting next to Kate instead of straddling her. Frantically finger-combing her hair, she answered the door and hoped she wasn't as pink as she felt. When she glanced back, Kate was leaning back on her elbows and staring up at the ceiling, looking thoughtful and making no effort to appear like they hadn’t been making out ten seconds ago.
Her cousin, the one who'd had the knife, was standing awkwardly with two plates. Eva vaguely wondered how he'd knocked - probably kicked the door, honestly - before he started talking.
"Hey, so I'm not really sure what happened, but I'm really sorry," he started. "I wasn't sure you were gonna come back down for dinner, so I brought you some and your mom says you can come down whenever you're ready."
Eva took the plates from him. "Right. Thanks."
He nodded awkwardly and glanced behind Eva, but she stepped to the side, worried he'd see Kate rumpled on the bed and assume the wrong thing. Or the right thing. Technically. Whatever.
She closed the door and handed Kate one of the plates, raising an eyebrow when Kate tried to push it away. "Baby, you've got to eat something after crying."
"Not hungry."
"Bad answer." Eva reached for Kate's fork and held a bit of salad up to her lips. "Come on, eat something. Please?"
Kate scowled, but let Eva feed her a bite of lettuce and tomato, chewing reluctantly. "Do I have to keep eating?"
"Yep, finish at least half of it." Eva handed her the fork. "C'mon, it's good for you."
"You sound like my mom." Still, she managed another bite. "I'm sorry I freaked out."
"Hey, it's okay. You've been through a lot, and sometimes stuff is going to remind you of that." Eva paused to chew. "And I'm gonna be there, always. Every single time. Even if I can’t be physically next to you, you won't have to get through it alone."
Kate smiled a little, picking at her food until Eva gave her a look. "I don't deserve you."
"You're right, you deserve better."
"Oh, don't fucking start with me there." Kate glanced up at Eva through her lashes, which was a ridiculously cute angle. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Eva leaned forward and kissed her. "And I'm here, okay?"
"Okay."