Nathan p.o.v

For the next three days, Rose stayed little and was stuck to Derek's side. Not for one moment, she wanted to be away from him. I didn't mind, I didn't see any problem with it at first. But as the days progressed I got worried. 

What was going on in Rose's mind?

The biggest problem was that she couldn't talk properly because of her younger headspace, a headspace I hadn't seen much, which was another reason why I wanted Derek to stay close to her. Derek knew how to handle Rose, how to calm her down, and how to take care of her. 

I wouldn't say I couldn't do it, but if I would Rose wouldn't be happy about it. In the short moments, I had to take over Rose would go berserk. Crying, screaming for Derek to come back. 

I remembered when Derek had to take a quick shower. 

I had just put Max to bed telling him a longer bedtime story than I would normally do as I knew that with Rose's situation things didn't go as normal and I tried to show him I still loved him, I still cared for him and he wasn't out of my sight. 

Right when I wanted to check up on Rose and Derek I saw he had a difficult time communicating with Rose, explaining to her she had to stay on the bed while he was in the shower. 

"Do you need a hand?" I asked as I knocked on their door. 

"If you don't mind. I just need a quick shower, that's all." Derek's eyes looked almost pleading. 

I nodded my head. "Of course, you can make it a long one if you want." 

"Thank you so much," He went off in the bathroom and I took Rose in my arms, sitting with her on my lap on the bed. 

The moment Rose didn't see Derek her crying began. I tried to make goofy faces, little jokes, singing songs, making her dance, but nothing worked. She kept on crying for her Daddy and this went on for fifteen minutes straight until Derek walked over the threshold of the bathroom door. 

Never in my life had I seen such desperation as I did then with Rose.

We were talking about Rose's behavior, Derek and I, after the incident. I confessed then my worries. Derek didn't see any problem with Rose's abandonment issues until I hit him with the facts. 

From the moment I grew suspicious I had taken mental notes for myself to see if what I saw was defendable or concerning. 

I spread them all out in front of my best friend and I hoped he would see the problem himself. Fortunately, he did. 

Of course, he didn't want to as I knew how much he had missed Rose and taken care of her. I could see the joy it brought to him while he fed Rose or was playing together with her toys. 

"So... what do we do?" Derek asked after releasing a big sigh. 

We just had come to the conclusion we both had to do something, but the solution wasn't that simple. 

Right as I was about to open my mouth to answer I heard my boy coming down the stairs. "Hey little duck, what are you doing up?" 

"I was wondering where you were Daddy?" He responded. 

"I am sorry pup... You know what maybe you can help us." Maybe Max knew more than we do and he had a way more creative mind than the both of us had. 

"Help with what Daddy?" 

"If you want to help I need you to be a big boy Max. Can you be a big boy for me?" 

Max nodded his head and planted himself on my lap. 

"All right," I explained to him the situation and I could see he was following me and listening. When I was done Max remained silent for a couple of seconds. I saw Derek looking at him intently and I was just rubbing his back. 

"You know, I think it's better to wait it out." He finally said. 

"Wait what out?" Derek asked. 

"Wait until Rose is ready to face reality again, to wait until she is out of her headspace. If you push her out of it right now it will probably cause more problems rather than solutions. It's her safe space and I think she needed it after so many, many hard and difficult weeks. 

"I mean, I think she still hasn't processed her recovery from the coma, let alone what happened before she went into a coma. She struggled, Nathan. She really did. I am not blaming anyone for anything and I know you were just figuring out where your boundaries were and tried to keep me and Rose happy, but she didn't get any rest, at all. During the day she was tired because her body was still recovering and during the night she was haunted by nightmares."

We all were silent to take in what Max just had said. I knew she had a hard time, I saw it. But like Max said I was seeking boundaries, the boundaries of Max and Rose. Was I a caregiver of her or just a friend? Was I a close enough friend to ask about her difficulties? But then again, some people didn't want to discuss certain topics, where was the line? 

I didn't know what to do and tried my best to at least show her comfort and I thought if something really bothered her she would come to me. 

"I know I wasn't the easiest too, because I was jealous of her and Rose is smart, smarter than we might think. I knew she was picking up on it but it was hard for me to not be jealous because Rose needed the attention from you... She had a shitty father, sorry for the language, she lived in a harmful environment, she was treated poorly, she was kinda cheated on too, sorry Derek, and she got in a fucking coma. Like, I mean, Rose must have had the shitties life anyone can have. So, no, don't try to take her out of her safe space. Rose needs it." 

Tears were streaming down Max's face. I gently wiped them away as I said, "All right, we won't do that." 

The next day was Saturday, which meant we all were home. Derek and I were making some cupcakes so the little ones could decorate them. 

We both were watching Rose and Max from a distance just to check if nothing went wrong. They were both in their headspace which could mean they could get in a possible fight. Because Rose was slow in her headspace and Max was fast and I both meant that in every single thing they did. 

Derek and I were actually both surprised that by the time we put the cupcakes in the oven they were still playing nicely together. It was a lovely sight to see. 

The decoration of the cupcakes, however, wasn't so lovely. They both were happily spreading the icing on every single thing they could their hands on. What started as a nice idea to spend some together ended as a big fiasco. 

But, the little ones had both a great time and we weren't exactly scolding them because we didn't want to trigger anything, and Derek and I both knew they didn't do this to be defiant but they were just having some fun. 

All in all, it was a great Saturday. 

A/N: I am sorry for the late update, but sometimes I can only upload only once a week because of my schedule. 

I hope you like how the story is going so far, pleas vote and let me know what you think of the story. 

If you want to read ahead you can on Patreon. I will try to upload there more too. 

Thanks for reading and have a nice day/night.