I've been staying with Sophia for the past week. Everything's been going well, except she's been really clingy. It's driving me fucking insane. I need some space. I decide to call Caleb.

The phone starts to ring.

Caleb: Hey Mia, are you okay? Do I need to come to Sophia's?

Me: no! You two are driving me crazy. Take her to your house and make her stay the night. She's making me claustrophobic.

Caleb: she just cares about you. She worries about you. We both do. Actually, all five of us do.

I know he's referring to our group of friends and Aiden. I clench my teeth thinking about him.

Me: please Caleb, I just want a little bit of space. Please?

Caleb: okay. I can do that Thursday. You know we leave Friday, right?

My heart drops, thinking about Aiden getting hurt overseas.

Me: yeah, I know.

Caleb: okay, I guess I'll talk to you later. Bye Mia.

He hangs up. God, the last thing I want to do is think about Aiden.

I go into the living room and flop on the couch. I turn the tv on and start flipping through channels. There is nothing on...I'm so bored. One more week. Get through one more week and you can go back to work.

I get up and decide to try new cooking recipes. At least this is kind of relaxing. Later in the day Sophia gets home from her shift.

"MIA VINATIERI! You are supposed to be resting!" Sophia yells.

I roll my eyes, "would you chill out. I'm dying of boredom here, so I cooked. I hardly think it's strenuous."

She rolls her eyes and looks at everything I've made. "Damn girl...I should keep you home more often. It looks and smells amazing."

I smile, "thanks. I wanted to keep my mind occupied. Oh, before I forget, your going to stay with Caleb Thursday night."

She looks at me with a scowl, as she takes a bite of a yeast roll. "No, I'm staying here to watch you."

I shake my head, "I'm not a child Sophia. You're smothering me. I need a little space too. I'm not use to this. Im just asking for one night. I don't want to fight." I sigh.

She smirks, "fine. God, we sound like a married couple." She chuckles.

She's not wrong...

"So...the guys are leaving Friday. Have you spoken to Aiden?" Sophia asks.

I give her the death stare, "no, I haven't and I don't plan to. Don't fucking push me about it either." I point my knife at her.

She throws up her hands, "I wasn't, I was just genuinely curious. How many of those painkillers do you have left? They make you bitchy."

I roll my eyes, "today is my last day with them."

She chuckles, "thank god, your quite testy."

Sophia and I sit at the table and start eating.

The week goes by and it's been pretty boring. Sophia is driving me crazy and won't give me space. She feels like she has to watch me all of the time. The detective has come by with my lawyer and asks questions about what happened that night.

I haven't seen or heard a word from Aiden since I smacked him. Maybe he got my message.

Thursday morning...

I wake up and Sophia has already left. I feel a little relieved because she won't be breathing down my neck tonight. It's driving me crazy.

Although, I'm a little nervous about being by myself right now. But, I know I need to do this.

I hear a knock on the door. I go to open it and find a guilt ridden Aiden. I slam the door in his face. I hear him knock on the door.

"Please Mia, I just want to see your face before I leave tomorrow. I just want to hear your voice. I want to know that your okay. I want to see it for my own eyes. Please...I'm begging you. I love you." He says.

I open the door wide and point my finger at him, "don't you dare fucking say that to me." I yell.

He stands there staring at me, "Mia, I mean it I love you and I'm so sorry."

I smack him, "you don't fucking love me! I disgust you, remember? I believe those are the exact words you used. You said you never want to see my face again. Well Aiden, I'm giving you exactly what you asked for!" I yell, slamming the door and locking it.

I run into the bedroom and throw myself on Sophia's bed. I start sobbing into the pillow. At least Sophia won't be here tonight. I fall asleep early because of the mental exhaustion.

He throws me against the refrigerator. "I saw the way that man looked at you. Your fucking him aren't you?"

I shake my head, "no I promise, it's only you baby. You're the only one I want." I pleaded Nick.

He punches my ribs, "your a fucking liar and whore just like your mother."

He punches me repeatedly, until I'm laying on the ground. He walks away and I can't even move.

The maid comes over to me, "I called the doctor." I nod my head.

The doctor comes in and picks me up, taking me to one of the spare bedrooms. He bandages me. "You have two broken ribs. You need bed rest." I nod my head and he leaves.

I try to fall asleep, but I hear slamming. I tremble with fear. Hoping Nick would leave me alone for tonight. I soon realize it's the headboard slamming against the wall. I hear a woman moaning and begging him to fuck her harder. He's having sex in our bed."

I jolt awake from my nightmare. I look at my alarm clock, 4:45 am. Ugh...

I lay awake, thinking about all of the awful things Aiden said. But soon, I start thinking about all of the amazing things he's done. How wonderful he has always been to me. All the small details. I try to push it out of my brain. I can't think of him like that. I feel bad of how our conversation ended and he leaves today for a month. He thinks you hate him. I do hate him though.... no you fucking don't Mia. You just want to hate him because he broke your heart.

The day goes on and Sophia comes home. I can tell she's feeling depressed because Caleb is gone. I get how she feels. I know Aiden and I aren't on speaking terms, but that doesn't mean I wish he wasn't here, where I know he's safe.

"Hey Soph, he's going to be fine. Aiden and Lee are with him." I say.

She hugs me and starts crying, "I know Mia, I just love him so much. I can't even imagine what my life would be without him."

I wipe her tears, "come on, stop thinking like that. He's coming back to you, I promise." I instantly thought about Aiden's words after we had made love. He told me, he was coming back to me. It sets my stomach on fire thinking about the week prior. We made so much love that week. He showered me with so much compassion and intimacy.

She smiles, "hey, uncle made you a therapy appointment for Monday. He said he would take you. But, he doesn't want you working a long shift on your first day back."

I huff at her, "god, you two are super frustrating." I cross my arms.

She giggles, "I know, but we love you." She kisses me on the cheek and heads to her bedroom to go change her clothing.

Monday....

I get up early to get ready for my 9 am shift. I drive to the restaurant. As soon as I walk into the restaurant, Dad calls me into his office. "Hey sweetheart. I want you to take it easy today. If you feel stressed, I want you to go home."

I sigh, "I'm fine, really. I need this. I'm going stir crazy."

He chuckles, "okay, but, we are leaving at noon to go to lunch. Just me and you. Afterwards, I'm taking you to your therapy appointment at 1:30."

I nod.

Lunch time comes soon and my Dad, makes his way to me. "You ready for lunch?"

I smile and nod.

He drives me to a small cafe. It's cute. We sit at a small table and he takes out documents. I lean up to peer over what the documents are - I realize they are adoption papers.

He smiles, "besides spending time with you, I also wanted to finalize the adoption. All you have to do is sign these papers. Do you want to keep your new identity last name, Thompson?"

I smirk, shaking my head. "No, Soph called me Mia Vinatieri. Even though she was yelling at me, it has a nice to ring to it. If it's okay with you, I would like to take your last name."

He smiles, "I would be honored if you took my last name. I love you so much Mia."

I signed the papers and we enjoyed our lunch together.

We got into the car and he starts to drive me to my appointment. My leg starts shaking with anxiety.

Bob places his hand on top of my hand, "Mia, it's going to be okay. You don't have to talk about anything your uncomfortable with today, okay?"

I take a deep breath, "okay, I will give this a try."

With that, we pull up to the building and the butterflies in my stomach feel like they are swarming.