Stella's tears stopped almost as soon as they had started, soaking in reassurance from Claude's presence and kiss. Her small hand clenched tightly around the blood-stained cloth and as Claude left her room, her body slowly fell into the mattress. Laying down on her side, Stella curled up into fetal position, only her arm poking out as it hung over the side of the mattress. Bloody water dripped into a small puddle on the tile floor beneath her hand, the soft drip-drip of the red water was almost trance-like for her. Where distress had been so clearly on a few moments before, Stella's face showed a completely blank expression. The green in her eyes was dull and distant, her mind was most noticeably gone from the present.<br/><br/>Even the sudden appearance of Hector and Jerome didn't shake her from the sudden life-less look that overcame Stella. Not even a twitch came from her as she stared distantly at the bloody cloth clutched in her fist. Her nails dug into the soft skin of her palm, soon her own blood mixing with that of the cloth's. 'How... How did it happen...' she thought silently to herself, fear digging it's long, cold claws into her very soul. Hardly registering Claude's touch, it was the electric tingling his touch produced that drew her, for a mere moment, out of the depths of her distress. Slowly her eyes trailed up to Claude's, searching his for any answer he could give her to her father's disappearance and the bloody cloth. "Don't..leave me...too.." was all she could manage and it was hardly audible as Stella moved to the edge of the bed, as close as she could get to Claude without leaving the warm reassurance of the bed.