"Ysabel," Mickie sighed.
The woman lying on the bed looked up to see her friend Mickie stand next to the bed. Mickie sat down on the edge and stroked Ysabel over her chestnut brown hair.
"What are you doing here?" Ysabel asked.
"Checking up on you, of course," Mickie answered. "Like I always do."
Mickie wasn't lying. She always checked up on Ysabel after every incident. She was the only friend Ysabel had left these days. The rest had either left on their own or Bray had forced them away. Mickie refused to go away. She just sank her claws in deeper and didn't back down from Bray.
"Don't you think it's time to leave him?" Mickie asked.
"He didn't mean to. It was an..." Ysabel said.
"Accident. I know. It always is," Mickie sounded annoyed. "Only it never is and you know better than to lie to me. He pushed you down the stairs, for crying out loud."
"It was a good thing. I lost the baby," Ysabel said.
"The baby?" Mickie looked shocked. "You know better than to give him that. What happened to the pills I gave you?"
"He found them," Ysabel sucked in her breath. "But it's good. It's gone. Doctor says I have to relax for 14 days and you know he always follows doctors' orders. He won't touch me. I'll be fine."
"Oh honey," Mickie sighed.
She pulled Ysabel up to sit and wrapped her arms around her. No matter how hard Mickie tried, Ysabel never left Bray. She made excuses like now, saying in the end her taking a fall down the stairs was a good thing because it meant 14 days of freedom. No beatings and no sex. That was as fucked up as her friend's brain had gotten. The women broke apart as someone cleared their throat from the door. Ysabel looked past Mickie and saw Roman standing there.
"What is he doing here?" She asked.
"I brought him here. He wanted to see you," Mickie answered.
"Why? What did you tell him?" Ysabel asked.
"She told me you fell down the stairs," Roman walked towards them. "You do realize I can hear you perfectly fine, right?"
He stopped in front of the two women and smiled warmly at Ysabel. Her ocean blue eyes looked into his dark brown ones and he had to fight the urge to reach a hand forward to touch her.
"I brought ice cream," he held up a small bag.
"If Bray catches him here," Ysabel looked at Mickie.
"He's with me. Dean's here too. He has suddenly grown a huge interest in Bray's hunting knives collection and I don't need to tell you how much time he can take up while talking about that," Mickie said.
She went to stand up and Roman sat down on the spot where she had just been.
"I'll get you some spoons," she said.
She disappeared out of the bedroom and Roman pulled out the tub of ice cream.
"Tiramisu? How did you know?" She asked.
"Mickie told me and it's also my favourite so you better share," he answered with a wink.
"Here we go," Mickie came walking back in.
She walked over with the spoons and as Ysabel reached her hand up to take one, Mickie's jaw dropped. She grabbed her friend's hand and stared at the ring on her finger.
"What the fuck is this?" She asked angrily.
"An engagement ring," Ysabel answered ashamed.
"What the hell are you thinking?" Mickie asked.
"He told me to marry him," Ysabel answered.
"Told you! Not asked you!" Mickie was clearly mad. "No, I will not allow that to happen!"
"Please, Mickie, just leave it be," Ysabel begged.
"For now but I'm not gonna let this fly. You know me better than that," Mickie crossed her arms. "You two enjoy your ice cream. I'm gonna go learn about those stupid hunting knives."
She left the bedroom again and Roman pulled the lid off the ice cream. He smiled at her again as they dug into it. They got around 20 minutes together alone, way too short in his opinion, but he enjoyed those 20 minutes nonetheless. Dean and Mickie had done their best to keep Bray occupied but too soon all three of them were back in the car.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Roman asked.
"Tell you what?" Mickie asked.
"You said she fell down the stairs," Roman said.
"Seriously?" She looked at him. "How can you not have connected the dots yet? Haven't you noticed how she always falls and hits something?"
"I just thought she was really clumsy," he said.
"Really? Her lies are so bad that you should have seen through them a long time ago," she said.
He sighed loudly and looked back at Dean in the back seat. He knew. He had always known. He just didn't wanna say it out loud but he and Dean had touched the subject a few times.
"I know," he finally said. "I just really wanted to believe her because if what she's saying isn't true..."
"That means Bray needs to take a bat to his face," Dean finished the sentence.
"I'm not stupid, Roman. I know you got feelings for her. That's the sole reason I brought you along today," Mickie said.
"He's in love with her," Dean piped in from the back seat.
"I figured," she said.
"It doesn't matter. I was taught to always respect other people's relationships," Roman said.
"I don't care," she smirked. "I know she feels something for you too even though she always denies it. She's a terrible liar and I always see right through her."
Roman turned his head again to look at Dean and he got a grin and a nod back in return. Clearly his best friend was on the same page as Mickie.
"What do you want me to do?" Roman finally asked.
"Be yourself. Do what you feel is the right thing to do. I just wanna get her away from Bray and see her happy, with or without your help," she answered.