"So, what is this all about?"

Eleanora stared at her mother for a moment, stunned by the question. As if she had chosen this, as if this was some stunt she had pulled to get her parents' attention or prove a point.

"I didn't ask you guys to come," she said bluntly.

Reginald let out an impatient sigh. "Eleanora, just tell us what's going on. This isn't a good look for you or the family."

Eleanora felt as if she had been struck, and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "That, right there. It's not a good look, you're always so concerned about appearances and looking good and maintaining reputation and being perfect. Not only that, you're always judging and criticising other people - and for the most trivial things, too.

"And it's one thing to think that way, but I've grown up hearing it constantly from both of you and it taught me to think that way too. I've spent the last five years or so of my life trying to be a better person and change the way I think about other people, to not criticise or judge the way that you do. And I have, I've become a much better person, but for some reason I still couldn't stop thinking that way about myself.

"You always expected me to be confident but I how the fuck could you expect that when you trained me to nitpick at everyone around me, to find their flaws. How could I not look at myself the same way? You knew I looked up to you, you knew the influence you-"

"Give me a break!" Beatrice cut her off harshly. "You really want to blame this on us? We just wanted you to fulfil your potential, to always seek improvement and not settle for good enough. If it was really our fault then how come Serena turned out just fine? Just because you took that too far and that you were too sensitive to handle it and decided to act out and throw this big hissy fit instead, doesn't mean that we need to be sorry for that." 

Eleanora stared at her in disbelief. "You really have no idea, do you?"

"You're eighteen, Eleanora," Reginald sighed condescendingly, "don't tell us that we don't understand."

"But you don't! You don't have a fucking clue, and the frustrating thing is that you refuse to even try to understand or to accept the vaguest shred of blame."

"Why should we? You can't handle a bit of tough love so you try to blame us for insecurities and pull a stunt like this to- to what? To embarrass us? If so, congratulations, you've done it well."

"I think you should leave," Tony declared furiously, standing up from his seat.

"This is none of your business-"

"Get out," Eleanora cut Beatrice off, voice trembling. "Get out!"

"Come on," Reginald shook his head, guiding his wife out of the room.

Eleanora had known that the conversation wasn't going to be pleasant, but her parents' words were so much more hurtful than she had expected, and her eyes burned with tears. That wasn't just rejection, that was cruel. And yet, she still didn't think they were even trying to be.

"How dare they?" Tony seethed, staring at the door. "How- I can't even- I don't understand how people like that produced someone as kind as you, I'll tell you, It's a fucking miracle."

"That really fucking hurt," she managed calmly, making the boy turn around as tears started to trickle down her cheeks. His expression softened and he sat straight back down and placed his hand over hers.

"Lenny, none of what they said was true. You know that, right?"

She stared a their hands for a moment, not sure all of a sudden. Was she just weak? Was she being too harsh on them? She didn't argue though, just gave a small sniff, trying her hardest to keep herself together, but fighting a losing battle. "Still hurts."

"You don't have to put up some act with me," he told her softly. "What they said was fucking horrible and you're allowed to be upset about it."

A small sob escaped her lips and she curled into herself, drawing her knees up to her chest and hiding her face behind her hands.

"Oh, Lenny..." She heard Tony moved and then she felt a dip in the bed as he sat beside her and used an arm to pull her into his side, rubbing her arm comfortingly. A feeling of safety engulfed her like a warm blanket, and she leant into him. "They don't deserve you."

• • •

It didn't take long for Eleanora's breaths to even out and her eyes to drift shut as she fell asleep once more. Tony awkwardly lowered her back down onto the bed, extracting his arm out from under her back. He took a seat back in the chair and took a few moments to examine her sleeping form.

Her cheeks were slightly puffy, her lips dry and cracked from dehydration. His gaze drifted to her knuckles and he brushed his thumb over the calluses he had noticed multiple times but never thought anything of. He thought about every instance he could recall in which she avoided food or acted weird about it, subtle critical comments she had made about herself, about her eating habits, and the way she would often cross her arms across her stomach. He thought about how often she chewed gum, he'd thought she just really liked gum, not even considering that she may be trying to mask the scent of vomit. The signs were there, he should have noticed, should have put the pieces together.

Instead, he was distracted. Distracted by the shine in her eyes, the brightness of her smile and the little black hearts she drew on her face. He'd only noticed what he'd wanted to - her happiness.

He had failed her.

• • •

When Eleanora blearily opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was Rhodey sitting beside her bed reading a newspaper. 

"Hey, Nora. I didn't wake you, did I?" 

Eleanora let out a huff of laughter as she sat up in her bed. "You're reading silently, Rhodey. No, you didn't wake me." 

"How are you feeling?" he asked, putting the paper aside. 

She thought about the question for a few seconds. "Weird. I feel this sense of dread and anxiety about it all coming out and what's to come, but I also feel this immense sense of relief. I can feel that this is the start of something, and I know it's going to be hard and going to suck, but I also know that it's going to be a good thing." 

"It will," he nodded with a soft smile. "If there's any way at all that I can help with anything, just let me know." 

"Thank you, Rhodey," she said sincerely. "I really appreciate that." 

"Not a problem. Do you wanna do the puzzles?" he asked, holding the newspaper out to her. 

Eleanora took it with a grin. "Thanks. I don't have the patience for the cryptic crosswords but I love sudokus. I could do them all day." 

"Yeah, cryptic crosswords are bullshit." 

"So, uh, not that I don't appreciate your company-" 

"He's gone to get coffee," Rhodey answered knowingly. "Should be back in a minute or so." 

"Is he... okay?" 

He let out a small laugh. "You're the one in a hospital bed and you're asking if he's okay? Yeah, he's just really worried. And he feels guilty." 

Eleanora blinked. "Guilty?" 

"For not noticing." 

"That was kind of the point." 

"I know... but he still blames himself. Nora, I'm not gonna pretend to understand, because I have no idea what you're going through, but please promise me you'll get help?" 

Eleanora met Rhodey's imploring gaze and nodded. "I promise."

The pair settled into a comfortable silence and, sure enough, it wasn't long later that Tony walked in, a smile forming on his face when he saw Eleanora. "There you go," he said, handing a coffee to Rhodey before looking at her again. "Do you want anything? I can run back to the cafe if there's anything you want?" 

"I'm good, thanks." 

Tony nodded and pushed her legs to one side of the bed so he could sit down, shooting her an innocent grin when she kicked him lightly. "How long are you gonna be in here for?" 

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly. "I think they want to keep me here for a couple nights so they can... observe me, I guess. See how much of a risk I am to myself." 

"To be fair, you did have a seizure," Tony pointed out bluntly, and Rhodey face-palmed but Eleanora just rolled her eyes dramatically. 

"It was one time. First offence and all." 

"Well that's good to hear at least. Can I ask... did Tucker know?" 

"Nope, no one did. And... I'm not blaming him because there was so much that contributed to it but... he certainly didn't help. There were a lot of comments he made that..." she shrugged. 
He was joking, but it still... you know, it still-" 

"You don't have to defend him," Rhodey scowled. 

"I'm not defending him," Eleanora shook her head. "I just know that I had issues with food long before we met and there's so much that built up and started it that it really wouldn't be true to say it's his fault." She paused. "Although... I was doing good, I was doing quite a bit better before I found out about his fiancee and I guess after finding that out, it really fucked me up. I couldn't help but feel like the second option, you know? And I didn't want to be his first option, but I wanted to be something, and with everything that happened, I got really stuck in this rut of 'I'm not good enough' and I know it's really fucked but... it was like another person within me that would take over and then I'd be left with the self-loathing." 

Eleanora hadn't meant to go quite that deep, and a heavy silence filled the room at her last sentence. 

"Fun, fun," she added awkwardly, as if that would help. "So I guess it's fair to say that while this isn't Tucker's fault, he did... aggravate it. Quite a lot." She gave another shrug in an attempt to brush it off. 

"I still vote we kill him," Tony piped up. 

"Still? When was that first brought up for discussion?" 

"I don't know, some time in the last few days?"

"Okay, well, I appreciate the thought, but I'll just think about it for now." 

Just as Tony went to respond, there was a knock on the door, and upon invitation, Katie walked in, holding a small duffel bag. "Nora, you idiot." 

Eleanora just laughed.  

"I'm not sure how long you're going to be here so I brought you some of your stuff. Some clothes and toiletries and things. I need to ask you something though," she said, unzipping the bag and pulling out a t-shirt with the words 'self-love' printed across the front, making Eleanora grimace. "Do you think this is fucking funny? I've seen you wear this so many times and this whole time you've had a fucking eating disorder? Self-love, my ass." 

She grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, to be honest, I do." 

"You're insane. Anyway, I bought a sudoku book too since you'll probably be bored out of your ass." 

Katie tossed the book into her lap, and Eleanora stared at her for a few seconds, her chest growing warm. 

"Thanks, Katie." 

"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't. Now, scooch." 

Eleanora shifted over on the bed, allowing the other girl to sit beside her.  

"Do you wanna go for a walk to find a vending machine, Tony?" Rhodey asked, standing up. 

"I'm not really- uh, I mean, yeah, sure," Tony corrected when he made eye contact with him , also getting to his feet and following the taller boy out the door. 

"Smooth," Katie sniggered with a slight shake of her head. 

Eleanora smiled and looked down at her lap before letting out a small sigh. "I thought you didn't like me that much." 

"Nora, I thought you didn't like me that much!" she retorted. "I've... I've had some pretty shitty friends in the past... trust issues, all that jazz. Thought it'd be easier to just keep my distance but then you had to go and get cheated on and roofied and you made it really hard to act like I didn't care. And now that this has happened, I can't help but feel like if I wasn't the way I was, I would've noticed or maybe you would've felt comfortable opening up to me and this wouldn't have gotten this far." 

Eleanora playfully bumped her shoulder and teasingly said, "don't flatter yourself. Not everything is about you. Besides, this is something that's been building up over years, something that I've been learning to hide for years, the whole point was that no one would know." 

Katie nodded and was quiet for a moment. "I think you're right about Tony - he's not the person he pretends to be. I think you guys would be cute together." 

Eleanora sighed. "Katie, for starters, he's my friend, and secondly, a relationship is the last thing on my mind right now. With everything that's happened the last couple of weeks, I just... I need to focus on myself for awhile." 

"I know. And I completely agree with you. I'm just saying... for future reference, y'know? He really cares about you. Also James is a specimen, I would climb that man like a tree any day." 

She burst into laughter and beamed across at the red head. "I really appreciate you being here." 

Katie smiled back and grabbed her hand. "Whatever you need, Nora, I'll be here." 

A short while later, as the end of visiting hours approached, Eleanora managed to convince the three of them to go eat dinner and that she would be fine on her own. Not even a few minutes after they left, there was another knock at her door. 

"Siri?" Eleanora breathed when Serena stepped inside, hands wringing together nervously. The young woman didn't say anything, but when Eleanora moved over and patted the bed beside her, Serena came forward and climbed in beside her, resting her head on Eleanora's shoulder. 

Eleanora didn't say anything else, just snuggled into her sister's side as Serena placed a kiss on the top of her head and started gently stroking her hair. 

"I'm so sorry," Serena finally whispered a few minutes later. "I shouldn't have been so pushy about... all of it. I wasn't- I wasn't just trying to suck up for attention, you know. I figured that if I acted like the perfect child, they'd leave you alone more. I had no idea how bad it really was or what you were going through. I'm starting to realise just how wrong Mum and Dad are about... everything." 

She gave a small smile and squeezed Serena's hand. "Better late than never."