Chapter Text
Y/n's POV:
Sophie and I didn't sleep much last night. I ended up climbing into bed with Ava when she asked, and she cuddled up to me before falling back to sleep. The nurse was in every 2 hours to check on her, something Ava didn't like as she had to wake up. But it didn't take long for her to fall back asleep.
Matt, Robert, and Susan all came by to visit. Susan had brought some food which Sophie and I were very grateful for after having a small lunch from the hospital cafeteria.
Surprisingly, it was Susan who didn't want to leave when it was getting late. I for sure thought it was going to be Robert. When she arrived, I could tell she had been crying by the redness of her eyes. But she was great at comforting me. Spending her time next to me, holding my empty hand for most of it.
I'm so lucky to have her and Robert in my life. Robert was in the middle of an interview when he up and left after Chris' phone call. "We'll come over tomorrow once she's settled back at home." Susan says with a warm smile, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. I stood up and gave her a big hug. "We'll be at Sophie's, but Ava will be excited to see you." I tell her.
She looks at me surprised. I know that Sophie had given Robert the gist of things whilst I was taking a break, but I couldn't bring myself to talk about it to them. "Robert can explain." I say in response to her confused look. She nodded and turned to say goodbye to Ava whilst Robert gave me a big hug goodbye.
After Susan had her moment, she stood up and walked past me, place a kiss on my forehead. "I love you. See you tomorrow." She says and I can't help but smile. "Love you too. Thanks for the food." I reply and she nods.
After a couple of hours, when we realised that sleep was going to escape us, Sophie and I began chatting about life, as one does in the middle of the night in a hospital. Hearing her talk about Matt makes me so glad she is happy, and they are right back on track. I'm waiting for the moment he asks her to move in with him, considering they basically live together anyway. But so far, no signs of it.
I thought I had gotten lucky when Sophie had avoided talking about Scarlett, but when a silence fell on the room, she took the opportunity. "Why did you let Scarlett stay earlier? I would have kicked her out the moment she stepped in the room." She asks angrily.
I sigh, rubbing my hand across my face. I look down to make sure Ava is asleep. The small snores indicate that it's safe to talk. "She deserves to see Ava. Regardless of what is going on between us, she has basically been Ava's second mum recently, she had a right to be here." I defend. Sophie scoffs a little but eventually nods in understanding. "It just angers me that she can break up with you and then just assume she can be around. And to think you'd be going back to her tomorrow!" Sophie started agitated.
"We're not broken up just on a break." I mumble, looking down to my hand enclosed around Ava's. "Yeah, because she accused you of cheating with your ex and wouldn't give you a chance to talk. She even did it over the phone whilst you were in another country. Like come on!" Sophie points out.
Seeing Scarlett today had me really conflicted. I'm so unbelievably mad at her. She has hurt me so much yet seeing her broken and crying probably hurt me more. I hate seeing her in pain. The way she almost pleaded for us to go home to her. I want to fix things between us, but there is work to do. We're not going to work if there is no trust.
"I'm very aware of what happened Sophie. But I can't just throw this away. It's not just me that will be affected. We both need time before we talk. She needs to figure out if she can move past this and work to get over the trust issue. If not then there isn't a relationship to be had... And the thought of that kills me." I tell her honestly, sighing when I start crying again. I've had enough of the tears!
Sophie softens and stands up, making her way over to me. She gently gets behind me in the bed and wraps her arms around me and places a kiss against the top of my head. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to see you hurt. Again." She comforts. I know she only has my best interests at heart and I'm grateful that I've got her in my corner.
"Though the desire to do a Matt on her is very strong right now!" She jokes and I look up at her confused. "A Matt?" I ask and she smirks. "That's what I'm calling it when you want to punch someone that hurts your best friend." She responds with a cheeky smirk. I shake my head at her antics and snuggle in between her and Ava.
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Sophie and I are woken up by giggling and we both smile when we're greeted by a grinning Ava who has my phone in her hand, taking photos of us. Her colour is back in her face and it's great to hear that laugh! "What are you up to bug?" I ask and she shows me the phone which has about 100 photos of us asleep.
I look up to the clock and see that it's 9am so we must have gotten a couple of hours sleep which was good. I stretch my arms out but I'm quickly on the receiving end of a tickle attack from Ava. I look over to Sophie for help, but she just shrugs, getting out of the bed.
When Ava finally relents, I'm out of breath, sprawled on the bed. "Someone is clearly feeling better this morning!" I tease, gently pulling her towards me in a hug. "Can we go home yet?" She asks. "Once the doctor has seen you yes. We have a day full of movies planned at Sophie's. Robert and Susan are going to come over for dinner too. Doesn't that sound good?!" I inform her enthusiastically. She gives a little fist pump in excitement.
The doctor comes around a little later and checks that everything is ok and gives Ava the all clear to go home. Whilst we wait for the discharge papers, the nurse comes in to clean Ava's wound and shows me what to do when we're home. Thankfully they're dissolvable stitches so she won't need to come in to get them removed.
She takes off the head bandage and leaves her with a gauze pad taped to her head instead, making it no long look like she's had brain surgery! She then hands over a bag with supplies and leaves us. As soon as the discharge papers are signed, we collected the few things we have and start to leave.
Ava is sat on the bed and looks at me with puppy dog eyes and holds her arms out towards me. "Carry me?" She asks dramatically. I laugh but don't hesitate to lift her into my arms. Matt meets us in the lobby as he had gone to collect Sophie's car which had been left at the pool. He took the bag from Sophie, and we made our way out to the car park.
When we got home, Robert and Susan were already there, with plenty of food waiting for us. I placed Ava on the floor, and she ran towards them. "Bug! Don't run!" I call after her, afraid she'll hurt herself. But she doesn't have a care in the world as she launches herself at the two of them. They have a long hug and then Susan moves towards me. "I hope you don't mind that we came early. We were both anxious to see her. We brought food!" She explains and I just shake my head.
"Not at all. She's happy to see you both." I respond, smiling at Matt, Robert and Ava having some funny discussion at the dinner table. I feel a hand on my shoulder and see Susan giving me a comforting smile. "How are you doing?" She asks and I let out a sigh. "Much better now she's home. Apart from the bandage you'd never know there was anything wrong with her with how she's acting." I laugh and Susan joins.
"And how are you doing with everything else?" She tentatively asks. " It just feels like it's one bad thing after another. But I'm trying to focus on Ava today. I can deal with my shit when she's better." I respond. Susan is quick to slap the back of head. "Language." She teases with a smirk. "Just make sure you take care of yourself too." She says firmly, slipping her arm around mine and leading me to join the others at the table. "Yes mum!" I reply, earning a pinch to my hip.
We all eat lunch and then get comfortable in the lounge, ready for our movie marathon. Today's movies of choice are Shrek, much to Robert's annoyance. We all settled down, Ava placing herself firmly between me and Sophie with a big bowl of popcorn on her lap. That was how we spent the rest of the day, enjoying being together. Though in the back of my mind, I was very aware of the person that was missing.
Scarlett's POV:
Lizzie came over this morning after hearing about Ava. I hadn't told her about what had happened between Y/n and I, so she got a surprise when she turned up to find Ava wasn't there and that her and Y/n are staying with Sophie. After receiving another lecture, she comforted me and talking things through.
Yesterday was hard, but Y/n thankfully talked to me when I called her on the phone to check in. I even got to talk to Ava briefly, but she was sleepy, so I didn't keep her long. I know that they had a lot of people around them giving them support. I just hope that Y/n will give me some time to talk soon.
Wanting to show that I'm still here for anything they need, I sent some flowers for Y/n, lillies her favourite, and also a box of Ava's favourite sweets. I know it's just trival stuff, but I want them to know that I'm making an effort. I need Y/n to see that I'm going to fight and small things like this are only the start.
"So, what are you going to do about it all?" Lizzie asks. "Beg." I jokingly respond earning an eye roll. "Well, I've got myself a therapist and had my first session this moring. I need to talk to someone about the insecurities that I have. Its not fair to Y/n that she's on the receiving end of them when she has done nothing to make me think otherwise." I explain and Lizzie smiles proudly. "That's a big step. " She states and I nod.
"I hope that she can see that I'm serious on working on this, making myself better for her. If we get back together, I never want this to cause an issue, ever again." I share. "When I think of our relationship, I genuinely can't point to anything I would change. She's understanding of my job. She supports everything I do. She's allowed me to play an important role in Ava's life. She is my safe place where I feel protected and loved. But there is something in my brain that made me snap that day. I need to work on myself and make sure I'm the best version I can be for her and Ava. I just hope I'm not too late" I rationalise.
Lizzie slides a coffee over to me and reaches out to give me hand a squeeze. "The fact you can recognise that is good. It means you can change. Y/n adores you and I don't think for one second that this is the end for you. She may need time, but you'll get back to how you were with some hard work." She reassures me. "How did you find your first session?" She questions and a small smile tugs at my lips.
"It was good. It was just a start and we only briefly talked about what happened with Y/n. She mainly wanted to hear about my past relationships. She helped me to pin points behaviours that I've taken with me from those bad relationships and allowed them to become accepted parts of my later ones. I know it's going to take a while, but I already feel like I'm able to to start looking at things differently. I just hope Y/n gives me a second chance to show that I'm trying." I share easily. Lizze is sat there with a proud smile on her face and reaches out to take my hand.
"That's really good Scar. This isn't just going to help your relationship with Y/n. It's going to help you too. You deserve to be happy and not second guessing people unnecessarily." She replies and I instantly feel better that I've committed to this.
Lizzie doesn't stay for long as she has to get to work. So, I'm left one again in the cold and empty house. It's funny, how it never bothered me when I lived here on my own. But since it's been filled with joy and happiness when Y/n and Ava moved in, it feels so dark and colourless.
I don't want to stay here much longer so I grab my purse and get in the car with no real destination in mind. Without realising, I end up at Mama Gina's. I get out of the car and make my way towards the door and I'm instantly greeted by the woman herself. She instantly pulls me in to a hug. "Scarlett dear! It's so good to see you. Would you like your usual?" She asks as she lets me go.
I shake my head. "Uh, I'm not really sure how I ended up here." I admit embarrassingly. She gives me a concerned look and guides me to the booth we usually sit at. "What's wrong honey?" She asks. "I screwed up." I start and she comforts me. I just tell her that Y/n and I are having problems, not wanting to get into it. "How about I get you a coffee and some of the waffles you like. Then we can talk." She offers. I nod, wiping at my face with a tissue.
She comes back 10 minutes later and places a mug and plate in front of me. "Made these ones myself." She tells me proudly and I can't help but smile as I dig in. Whilst I'm eating Gina starts to talk. "You know, I remember the first time Y/n and Ava came in here like it was yesterday. They walked through the door with big smiles on their faces and I was instantly drawn to them. I decided I wanted to wait their table as I felt connected in some weird way. As Ava chatted away to me about moving here, I could see Y/n observe her daughter with such love. Like she was the only person on the planet." She starts to share, and I smile at how happy she looks as she talks.
"I could see a lot of pain in Y/n's eyes. But she put this front on for Ava, that unless you really looked, you'd never know the turmoil going on inside her head. A couple of months after they started visiting regularly, Y/n came in on her own and we were talking, and she shared how she just wanted to give Ava the best life she could. But when I started to ask about her, it didn't take much to realise that she was lonely. She told me about Lindsey and how a lot of women she dated would run a mile as soon as they found out she had a daughter."
I frown when she says that. All those women missed out in having both of them in their lives. But when I think about it. I'm no better than Lindsey. She just one day decided to up and leave both Y/n and Ava. She had no consideration for the effect that might have on Ava just like I didn't when I told her I wanted a break.
"Y/n has sacrificed a lot for Ava. Not that she would ever see it that way. Her happiness has always come second. But the day that she brought you here, I looked in her eyes and I saw a different person. They were filled with such joy. She got happier every time I saw her. She was finally getting the happy ending that she so desperately deserves. That you both deserve." She states, reaching over to take my hand.
"She loves you with all her heart. You have given her everything she has ever wanted. You not only bring her happiness, but Ava too. Stay strong. This storm will pass, and the rainbow will follow." I smile through the tears, her words warming my heart. "Y/n always said you have a way with words." I reply and she laughs. "Decades of being an ear for depressed patrons." She chuckles.
We spend some time together, as she shares more stories with me about Y/n and Ava. She really does love the two of them. I can see why Y/n is so attached to this place. Besides the amazing food of course! It comforts me to listen to Gina. Although Y/n isn't with me, I feel like I'm still connected with her through the stories being shared.
I eventually leave Gina so she can get back to work and not have to look after my heartbroken ass. She gives me a big hug as I leave and tells me I just need to learn to trust. Which surprises me considering she doesn't know what happened between us. She really is something else!
When I get home, I find myself in the basement, sat in the music booth sadly strumming the guitar. Y/n had been teaching me and I had picked it up quite quickly. I felt close to her whilst I was playing, but today it just shows me the gap in our relationship. Getting frustrated with playing, I grab my phone out of my pocket and take a chance at texting Y/n.
Black Widow🕷:
I didn't want to call and bother you. But I just wanted to check in to see how Ava is doing today.
GI Jane:
She's in a little pain today, so she's been resting a bit more. But that's to be expected. The cut is already looking better too.
Black Widow🕷:
Thanks Y/n. I know things are difficult between us right now, but I appreciate that you are keeping me in the loop. Is there any chance that we could maybe meet up to talk soon? I would really appreciate the chance to apologise and talk this all out.
I hold my breath as I wait for a response. I thought I would try my luck. It at least will let me see where she is at with all of this. I just hope it's not an outright no. After my phone doesn't go off, I try to distract myself by making some food. But as soon as I hear the familiar message ring tone, I practically sprint to my phone on the counter.
GI Jane:
I'm taking Ava to the park tomorrow. You could join us. Maybe bring Lizzie so she can keep Ava occupied whilst we talk?
I feel my heart leap when I see her response. Not only do I get to talk with her, but I can also see Ava too.
Black Widow🕷:
That would be great. Thank so much Y/n. I'll see you tomorrow.
I hold the phone to my chest, a big smile on my face. She's finally giving me the chance to talk. This is my chance and I'm not going to fuck it up. It's time for me to fight to get my family back.