Gen had picked up cleaning Justin's wound where Sasha had left off to crouch down to comfort Justin. Even doing that, she still observed how gentle and tender Sasha was with Justin. But he was also calm, and Gen didn't miss that Justin responded to that. He wasn't withdrawing from Sasha's touch, and as a result, he wasn't from Gen's now either. Keeping her distance from him meant she had missed the escalating. She knew from Mark that Justin had been on the wired side over the prior few days, but rather than try to get up in his face while that was happening, she made herself scarce, still waiting for him to come to her when he was ready. Maybe just not completely pulling away from her was the start, and all he could offer at the moment. He was so upset and his crying was breaking her heart. She was glad Sasha had the ability to intervene peacefully, at leas in this instance. Next time, it might be completely different. You couldn't set any precedent on Justin's prior episodes, because no two were the same.

Justin's sobbed need of sleep hurt too. "If we get this cleaned up, you can lie down, sweetheart. It's probably better if you do. Sasha's here now, he can take care of you. She had asked the paramedics about whether it was okay for him to sleep, not knowing until now how manic Justin was. She was shaken over the whole concussion thing, but they reassured her that was a myth, and sleep and rest would be exactly what he needed. Granted, the paramedics weren't privy to the fact Justin was a self-harmer, though now the intense gym session was seeming like it could be just that. That was another myth, that self-harm was isolated only to cutting. Gen knew of her son having slammed his hand into draws or lockers, sticking his hand in hot water, eating something that would make him sick, hyperventilating until he passed out. All this stuff, the parts concealed from the public, were the hardest of all.