She opens her mouth, closes it, opens it again, and —

— everything comes spilling out at once; she keeps the fact that she's a girl and Harry is a boy firmly out of it but everything else, from how she started out enjoying it to how at least it wasn't one of her own needles to crying on Lev in the bathroom afterwards; there's probably some sort of order but it's. Hard to tell. 

By a third of the way through she feels like she's about to cry. By the time she gets to the end she's sobbing. 

When Ghost seems to have reached a stopping point Christine says, "Fuck."

Raine curls up very very small and nods. 

She recovers herself and says, "I'm sorry that happened to you."

She nods again and doesn't uncurl and — isn't sure what would help, she can't have Asher holding her and swearing to protect her and she can't fall asleep in Lev's arms and she can't have any of what she wants. "Thank you," she says, because it seems like the thing to say. 

"Do you have any idea what you need?"

"Not having to talk to her is good. 

...it's hard to fall asleep alone but that's kind of intractable. There are probably more things that would help if I thought of them but those are the ones I've thought of." 

"You can cuddle Lev if you think it would help, I'll pretend I didn't notice it."

She feels like she's going to cry again. "Thank you." 

"If there's anything else you need, please don't hesitate to ask. Rules can bend."

Nod. She's not going to cry she's not going to cry she's not. "...thank you," she says again. 

"I have made sure Harriet was tested regularly for STDs. She's clean."

"Oh thank god." 

"You can leave the session early if you like."

She nods and stands up and says "Thank you again," and goes. 

Lev spends his entire session talking about Jan. Jan is so pretty and she likes him and listens to him and pays attention to him and he kissed her (!!!!) and liked it (!!!!) and this has never happened before. 

Raine finds a place to curl up small and does that, lets Marlo hold her. 

When Lev gets back he joins in the holding.

Yesgood. More contact.

"Christine said I could cuddle you at night instead of sleeping alone," Raine says into Lev's shoulder. 

"Really?"

"Yeah. She asked if there was anything I needed and I said it was hard to sleep alone but I didn't expect it to be tractable and. It was, at least a little." 

She's not alone she's not alone she has Marlo and Lev right here and they get it they know they're looking out for her —

"I'm glad Christine is ever capable of compromising about anything?"

He pets Raine's hair, very gently. "She told me she didn't want to have Harry participating in this step at all, Serena overruled her." 

Not alone. not alone not alone. 

"For once I'm glad I'm not on the girls' side." She cuddles up to both of them. 

"Jan says they play with toddlers on the girls' side, you might be grateful you're over here."