Juliette was always prepared to fight, that was her job after all. And without a seconds thought, she grabbed the lunging woman’s shoulder and kicked her towards the wall with great strength while still on her back. She quickly got up, raising her hands as she did. A quick glance around the room confirmed there was no other human to witness what she was about to do. If someone were to look at the camera footage, they would see nothing other than two grieving women.
Bright, golden white light burst from her hand, almost as if her palm were part of the sun. In doing this, Juliette hoped that the holy light would banish whatever rage Alicia was in. If not, then greater measures would have to be taken.

Alicia didn't expect Juliette to fight back. Actually she didn't expect anything in this mindset. She didn't have time to resist Juliette's counter and was sent slamming into the wall. Now she was much angrier. Her anger towards her brother subsided, instead fury over the pain in her back grew.

As she began to stand and recover, she saw Juliette send forth a magnificent light. There was no escaping the light as it engulfed Alicia. Immediately she felt a burning sensation and it scared her. She didn't know what was happening. Her rage faded away into confusion as she fell back into the ground with a loud thud.

"Juliette," she murmured, unable to recall the last few minutes, "I want to go home."

The light from her palm instantly faded when Alicia spoke. She scrambled over to her, taking her arm and helping her up. “Ok, love,” she said, “I’lol get you home.” Keeping ahold of her arm, she guided her out of the room. A tall, possibly too tall, woman in a pressed pinstripe suit approached them. This woman was a common sight around Juliette because she was Katherine, her personal assistent and care taker since her parents passed.

Alicia used Juliette as support as she walked. Her stomach churned. The last thing she remembered was watching Jake's eyes close for the last time. Then she blacked out. Did she faint? She couldn't be sure. All she knew was she couldn't bare to see Jake's body any longer. It made her feel sick.

Some of the light from the fluorescent bulbs was blocked and Alicia lifted her head, curious to see what was causing the shadow. "Oh, Katherine," Alicia said in the best greeting she could muster. Even though she only crossed paths with Katherine a few times, she was a hard woman to forget.

Earth's gravity felt like it got ten times stronger, causing Alicia to rely more on Juliette's support. She just wanted to be home. She wanted to forget about today.

Katherine simply looked at Alicia then moved her eyes back to Juliette. “Shall I pull the car around, Madame?” She asked in a low, monotone. Juliette responded with just a curt nod, seemingly unbothered by the weight Alicia was leaning into her.
“You’ll be alright,” she assured her. Following after Katherine, they made quick pace through the hospital until they reached the main doors. The tall woman left them to fetch the car while Juliette say both her and Alicia on the steps. She didn’t leave her untouched, so she took her hand and held it in hers. Nothing could be said at the moment.

Alicia sat beside Juliette on the steps. Under normal circumstances Alicia would have been delighted to hold hands with Juliette, but right now she needed the help. "Thank you Juliette," Alicia said, voice dripping with sincerity. Her mind was much clearer than before and she could remember the moments leading up to Jake's death, just nothing after. "Hey, when you were talking to Jake there was this... I don't know, this glow? I didn't see much, but then there were these things behind your back. Almost like wings," Alicia tried to explain but quickly added, "I'm not sure, I could have been hallucinating or something before the black out. What was it?"

Juliette stares at Alicia as she spoke, almost unblinking. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it. The situation was more severe than she thought. “I don’t... understand,” she murmured. “Maybe it was a moment of grief? I don’t think you were necessarily hallucinating, though.” She squeezed her hand, leaning closer to her face.
“You just went through something very traumatic,” she told her. “You stumbles around a little after he flat-lined and fell to ground. Do you really not remember that?”

Alicia backed away slightly as Juliette leaned forward. Having lived with parents who weren't so affectionate, she wasn't used to so much touching, platonic or not. "Uh, no, I don't remember anything." She didn't understand what meant by "not necessarily hallucinating." Did she really see something? "All I remember is you and Jake and the beeping and that's it. Then I woke up and there was all this light." She tried to remember the gap but couldn't. Maybe she fainted and the hospital lights woke her up? Or did Juliette put her phone light in Alicia's face? She couldn't be sure. "Now we're here."

Juliette noticed the uncomfortable movement and leaned back to her straight back posture. “Maybe it was the lights above? They are quite bright,” she commented. “But it’ll be alright, I’m here for you.” She smiles at her gently. At that moment, a sleek black car rolled near the enterance and beeped at them. Juliette stood up, gesturing towards the car.

"Maybe some photosensitivity," Alicia agreed. She smiled and nodded, "Thank you. I really need someone like you around, especially now." The black car pulled up to them. Alicia didn't even realize it was Juliette's car. She thought they were honking for another car to move or something. When Juliette stood and motioned to the car, Alicia took the hint and entered the back seat.

The interior of the car was nicer than any car she had ever been in. Even the seats were better than her bed- which happened to be the living room couch. Thinking of Jake's now abandoned room made her stomach sick. She couldn't think about it and yet she had so many questions.

"So the glowing on you I saw wasn't a hallucination but... It wasn't real either? And the bright lights," she added, covering her eyes just remembering it. Her skin felt irritated, almost as if she had a sunburn. She wondered if she contracted some sort of skin infection from falling into the dirty hospital floor.

Juliette opened the door for her and slid in after her. “Chez moi, s’il vous plaït,” she instructed Katherine. The tall woman nodded and started forward. Juliette turned her attention back to Alicia to listen to her words. “You’re just in shock,” she assured her. “I remember how I felt that one night,” she was referring to her parents murder, but she mumbled the sentence under her breath.

Alicia listened to Juliette's instructions in French, but only understood the "thank you" part. Although she had been around during Juliette's French lessons with Jake, she didn't pay attention to them much. All she focused on was the two having a good time. "Shock," Alicia repeated. That must've been it. How else could she explain everything? She barely heard Juliette's quiet comment. She always forgot about the tragedy Juliette faced as a child. Juliette just didn't seem like the person who had any darkness to their life. The kind of person who could go through anything bad with a smile. But maybe that wasn't true.

Alicia shifted around in the seat. "I must've fallen hard when I fell," she chuckled, rubbing her back. She had no recollection of being slammed against the wall by Juliette.

Juliette watched the buildings and cars pass by as they sped down the street. Her thoughts started to wander to other places before Alicia’s voice brought her back. “You did hit the floor fairly hard,” she told her. She turned her head towards her, pushing her blonde curls over one should in the process. “Are you in any pain?” She shouldn’t have kicked some hard, but it was an instinct for her to fight with all her strength.

"Uh, kind of," Alicia replied, trying to stretch out her back in the seat. She began to shake her head slightly as she thought back on her brother. She struggles to believe he was actually gone. Part of her thought that when she got home she would see Jake lying in his bed. She knew better than this, but couldn't help but imagine. She wanted Jake to be home and safe, but he wasn't. "I don't know if I can go home," Alicia told Juliette in all honesty. She brought her hands up to her temples and tried to massage the sadness and stress away. Still unaware their destination was Juliette's home, Alicia tried to prepare herself to go to a home without Jake.

Juliette pressed her lips together. She patted her shoulder, and by doing this, she took away the pain in her back to make it seem like it was just a temporary pain. That pain was taken from her and transferred to Juliette, but the ache in her back was a light injury to what she has faced.
“I know,” she said, facing forwards with her hands in her lap. “I didn’t plan on taking you home. Chez moi means to my home.” After the incident with her parents, Juliette would cry any time she was at her home so she stayed at a summer house they owned in Switzerland. Now that many years had passed, she lived in her childhood home and stayed there for a majority of her time.

Juliette's touch felt healing to Alicia. Her pain seemed to melt away. Alicia figured Juliette's support gave her the mental strength to ignore her pain. She had no idea that Juliette had the ability to take pain away from another.

Alicia sat up straighter when Juliette explained her intentions. "To your house?" she repeated, shocked, "I haven't been there before." Alicia wasn't even sure if it was appropriate to be in Juliette's house. Sure they were friends, but Juliette probably lived in some huge mansion. Did she belong there? What if she accidentally broke something? Or dirtied furniture? Then again, she knew she wasn't going to be able to go home, at least not yet.

Juliette glanced at her and Alicia’s troubled tone made her smile softly. “Don’t frett so much,” she assured. “I have more then enough room for you to stay. And it’s not a big deal, I assure you.” The place they were going was a smaller home she owned, smaller than the one she grew up in anyways.
Another twenty minutes passed by before Katherine turned the car into a gate checkpoint. The surrounding buildings were large homes were tall trees guarding the yards. Once they were through the gates, Katherine continued to drive through the Main Street. She pulled into a driveway of a noticeably different house compared to the others. This one, instead of being overly decorated, was simple with white walls and dark shutters, and a dark tiled roof. The front doors were two heavy-looking double doors with a security system for a handle.
Once the car was parked, Katherine got out to open the back seat door and let the two women out.

"Thank you," Alicia repeated for what felt like the millionth time. They pulled into the gated community. The young woman was shocked by the beauty of the place. While her apartment wasn't the worst in the community, it didn't compare to this. Each home looked new and kept, each garden bright and trimmed, each car shiny and high tech. She sighed and secretly hoped to have this one day for herself.

Alicia looked over at Juliette and smiled. She couldn't figure out why Juliette did so many wonderful things for Jake and she especially couldn't figure out why she did so many wonderful things for her. Alicia had nothing to offer to Juliette except friendship and... possibly something more personal than friendship. Alicia's thoughts wondered. From the moment Juliette showed her extreme kindness at the restaurant Alicia fell for her. It wasn't even because Juliette was a world famous model- something Alicia didn't realize until after a few meetings- it was because of her sympathy and friendliness. At times she wondered if Juliette felt the same way, even a little bit. Why else would she be so kind? Then again, Alicia would never have the courage to reveal her feelings.

After a few moments, the car pulled to a stop and Alicia realized she had been staring at Juliette. She had zoned out while thinking and her gaze just so happened to rest onto Juliette. Even without the abilities of an angel, anyone could read Alicia's emotions. She was the definition of an open book and was completely unaware.

Katherine opened up the door and Alicia quickly stepped out. She wasn't used to anyone catering to her. The simple gesture made her uncomfortable. "Um, thank you, uh, Katherine."

They were at the driveway of the house and Alicia was in awe. Although it was simplier than the other houses, it was much more than she had ever in person so close. She had driven by nice communities, dreaming with her brother that one day they would live in one. Other than that, this was her first time being at the doorstep of such a beautiful house.

Juliette felt Alicia’s gaze on her for the remainder of the car ride but did not turn to look back at her. She was accustomed to people staring, even in such a personal space as a car. She didn’t have to look at her to know how she felt. Emotions like affection were more...complicated for someone like Juliette. She was human, technically yes, but her “job” required her to ignore those feelings because that meant ties and ties were for people who stayed.

Juliette slid out of the car after Alicia and smoothed out the fabric of her shirt. Katherine simply nodded in response to Alicia’s thank you. The expression on Alicia’s face was amusing, but she suppressed her giggle. Placing her hand between the space of her shoulder blades, Juliette guided her towards the front door. “I’ll have my assistances prepare the guest room for you,” she told her. “If you need anything from your home, I can send Katherine to fetch it if you would like?”

"Thanks, I don't think I'll need anything," Alicia said, allowing herself to be led to the front door. Of course she would need some essentials from her home eventually such as clothes, but that was the least of her concerns. She wanted to detach herself from the place Jake was confined in for the last months of his life.

Alicia liked the soft touch on her back much more than the other personal touches. It made her feel comfortable. The touch wasn't so intimate as it was friendly and Alicia always appreciated that regardless of her affection towards Juliette. "It must be great living here, huh?"