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A sudden scrape of wood against stone halted all conversation around the dining room table, all eyes turning towards the source. Standing straight up, shoulders coiled like a wound spring, Catra looked as if someone's head had exploded.
"I... I'm sorry, I gotta-" and before she could finish her thought, Catra bolted from the room, dropping to all fours to scamper away. She climbed the stairs of Glimmer and Bow's cabin three at a time, before disappearing around the corner. The distinctive sound of a door slamming was the only noise to filter back down the stairs, followed by... Silence. Hardly a breath could be heard, from the remaining people at the table, from the room upstairs, at all. Even the birds outside seemed to remain frozen, not a song or trill to be heard.
"... What just happened?" Was all Bow could muster, after returning from the kitchen, plate full of more food, an extra slice of meat for Catra still suspended on his fork above her plate. "Did I do something wrong?" He whispered, only heard because of the profound quiet that had descended.
"No, of course not. Right Adora?" Glimmer rushed out, looking to Adora for validation and support in comforting her husband.
Adora's wide eyes snapped to Bow, still shocked.
"Did you touch her at all? Make a noise? She didn't react like that for no reason," said Adora, scrunching her brows in worry,chewing her bottom lip. Catra had been doing so well recently, opening up to her friends emotionally and allowing herself to be loved. She hadn't run away like that in... A long time.
"I don't know, Adora! I didn't say anything, I didn't touch her, I know how she is about that. I mean, there was a little bit of a static zap... Oh," the realization hit them all like a cavalry charge, Adora's eyes widening slightly. Out of all the things that could set Catra off, that one might be the hardest on her.
"I need to go check on her." Adora was already standing up, righting Catra's knocked over chair. The memories of Shadow Weaver came flooding back in, making her heart rate quicken. Adora had trauma from that old witch, but Catra had it much worse. As she turned and started up the stairs, she could faintly hear Bow and Glimmer speaking to eachother quietly. She would deal with that later. Right now, Catra needed her. When she got to the top landing, glancing around, she saw only one closed door. The bathroom. Made sense, Catra liked small, defendable places. Ideally high up, which is probably why she decided to go up the stairs. The only sound she heard, apart from the creak of the old wood of the cabin, was soft sniffling, coming from the other side of the door. She raised her hand to knock, but hesitated. That could startle her. So, she simply cleared her throat, and put her back to the door. On the other side, silence descended. Adora lay the back of her head on the door. She knew talking about the past wouldn't help right now. That could come later. Right now, she needed calm. Comfort. Familiarity. The safety that Catra could only feel with Adora.
"This morning, when I got out of bed before you, just like always for my run? I stepped out to the sun rising over the trees. The breeze had the leaves rustling, and it reminded me of our honeymoon. That was the best week of my life. Just you, me, the Whispering Woods, our new home. THAT was magical." Adora sighed wistfully, a smile coming to her lips. She felt, more than she heard, a few quiet footsteps on the other side of the door. The sniffling had resumed, but much closer now.
"I went into that town down the road, and they were having a farmers market. I saw fruits and vegetables I didn't even know existed. There was this one, looked kinda like a blue carrot but... rounder? If that makes sense? And it had these weird spots on it, that were a much darker blue. Never in my life have I seen such a weird vegetable. So I asked the guy at the stand about it. Apparently they are super common, but not many people like them. They are really dense in nutrition, and when mixed with a couple extra ingredients and mashed all together, you can make a travel ration. He then pulled one out, and I shit you not, it was a ration bar. Like, Horde ration bar. The grey one. It was insane to see again."
Adora took a moment to take a breath. There was a soft movement on the other side of the door, like Catra had leaned against the door herself. There was no more sniffling, which Adora took as a good sign.
"I bought two grey ration bars off him. One so Glimmer and Bow can finally try it, and one for us to share. Like old times. I haven't given them theirs yet, figured you would wanna watch. It's gonna be funny, I can already tell. But anyway, I wandered around the farmers market a little longer. Wasn't anything that interesting. I figured I'd been gone long enough, you were probably gonna start waking up. And I love watching you wake up, so I started heading back."
Adora noticed a couple things in that moment. For one, a shaky inhale from the other side of the door. Too fast. Catra must still be panicking. The slight swish of her tail could be heard against the floor, which meant she was still agitated. The next shaky breath however, was slower. Like effort was being put into evening it out.
"On my way back, I just kept thinking about how excited I was to see you, and spend more time with you. I think-" before she could finish her thought, the sound of the door unlocking made her sit up straight. The door opened slowly, to show a still upset Catra sitting on the other side of the door.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak out, it's just, the static reminded me of..." Catra slowly tapered off at the end, like she didn't want to voice that awful witch's name.
"Shhhhh, babe it's alright. No one is mad at you. We are just worried," Adora said with a small smile, patting her lap gently. Catra curled up into her lap, continuing to even out her breathing. Adora started to slowly scratch behind her ears.
"We all love you, and just want you to be ok. I know how scary that must have been for you," she began running her hand through Catra's hair, trying to further soothe her. A soft vibration could begin to be felt through her lap, the soft purr soothing them both.
"You would think I would be over it by now," says Catra, a humorless laugh slipping out.
"You can't put a timer on healing. Thats why we all understand what you're going through. We want you to feel safe." Adora looked down at the woman curled up in her lap, a smile stretching across her face as she kissed the top of her lover's head.
"I feel much better now," Catra purred out, stretching to kiss her blonde softly. At the touch of their lips, Adora could feel the tension in Catra's body begin to fade away.
She'll be ok, as long as we're together thought Adora, smiling into the kiss.