***Here is the next chapter. Again, I only own Sofia and her dad. Thanks to everyone for reading! It makes me happy to see the views and comments. Enjoy!***

The Next Day

Alex sat in the parking lot of the funeral home in Plymouth, Michigan. He was an hour earlier than he told Chris, but sitting at home by himself didn't seem like a good idea. Memories of Sofia and her dad had been replaying in his mind since his conversation with Chris the day before.

Chris had been calling and texting all day. He wasn't even sure how many texts Chris had sent asking if he was okay. His last message told Chris that he was fine and was going to turn off his phone if he didn't stop asking. Chris replied back with and 'ok' and that was the last one he got…from him. His mom had called him a few times, but she only got a text message too. He just wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn't use to the nicer dress pants and button-up shirt he was wearing, but for Mr. Donaldson and Sofia he would. But he knew it wasn't just the clothes that were making him uncomfortable. The thought of seeing Sofia again scared him and the reason why he was going to see her made his heart break. Not even music was helping calm his nerves like it usually did. He sat quietly in the car as he went over what he would say to Sofia when he saw her, but nothing seemed like it would mean anything. A knock on the window caused Alex to jump at the sound. He looked over and saw Chris looking at him. Alex unlocked the doors and noticed it was already almost 4. The time just flew. Chris climbed in and smiled weakly.

"How long have you been here?" Alex shrugged.

"Almost an hour I guess."

"Figure anything out?" Chris knew him really well.

"I don't know if I can go in there Chris."

"Yes you can Alex. You need this as much as Sofia does." Alex looked over at Chris.

"How do you know Sofia needs this?" The look on Chris' face made Alex nervous.

"I ran into her last night."

"You ran into her last night? Where did you run into Sofia?" Alex was shocked that Chris had actually seen her…the girl he missed so much.

"I was driving home and I saw her sitting outside of her dad's house. So I stopped and we talked for a few minutes."

"What did she say?"

"Not much…until I mentioned that you were coming to the visitation."

"What do you mean Chris? Was she upset about it?"

"Let's go in Alex." Chris got up and started into the funeral home. He didn't even give Alex any idea of what Sofia might have said. The nerves finally got to Alex. He reached for the keys, but wound up with only air. He looked down and noticed the ignition was empty. He looked towards the funeral home and saw Chris holding his keys.

"Damnit Chris!" Alex muttered as he climbed out of the car and walked over to his friend.

"I thought you'd try and leave plus I think you need to go in there."

"Why Chris?" But again Chris just walked away and through the front doors. Alex took a deep breath and followed his best friend inside.

There was already a fairly long line when Alex and Chris got to the room, but it didn't surprise either one of them. William Donaldson was a good man and a good mayor. If he wasn't so concerned with Sofia, the people of Detroit would still have had him in office. But Sofia and his family always came first in his book. And after everything that happened with Sofia's mom he knew that he had to put Sofia first.

Even though Sofia, her uncle, and his wife were the only people in the visiting line it moved slowly. Alex couldn't even get a good look at the girl he had once thought he would marry. About 10 minutes later the line had moved enough for Alex to finally catch a glimpse of Sofia. And when he did his breath got caught in his throat. He hadn't thought it was possible for her to be any more beautiful than when they were going out, but the woman standing in the front of the room was 10 times more beautiful. Her short dirty blonde hair had grown out past her shoulders and it was darker than before. She had put on a few more pounds, but Alex could tell she was at a healthy weight. He was happy that she was looking as good as she did given the circumstances.

"She looks pretty good right Alex?" Alex knew what Chris meant and his mind shifted to another time.

Flashback

"Hey Mr. Donaldson." Alex said when the mayor opened the front door.

"Morning Alex. Sofia is upstairs sleeping still. You can go up there." Alex walked up the stairs quietly making sure to not wake up his girlfriend in case she was still actually sleeping. She hadn't been sleeping well since her mom had killed herself. Alex had been over to the house every day for the past 3 weeks and Sofia just wasn't herself. She rarely talked and barely touched her food. He couldn't even remember the last time she ate a decent meal.

When he got to her room he noticed that a breakfast tray was sitting outside the door and it was empty. He smiled as he knocked on the door knowing his girlfriend was trying to get better. There was no answer, but he poked his head in anyway. She wasn't in the room, but he noticed the bathroom door was shut. He went to knock at the door so he wouldn't scare her when the noise coming from inside the bathroom stopped him. He listened a little closer and realized that she was throwing up. He knocked and walked in before she could answer. The surprise on her face was prominent, but Alex could also see sadness and pain.

"Alex? What are you doing here?" She asked starting to get up. Alex was right by her side as she lost her balance. He could tell that she was dizzy from throwing up.

"I was just going to ask you the same question Sofi."

"Um…there must have been some bad fruit on my tray this morning."

"Let's get you back to bed." Alex said as he helped her back into her bed. He noticed the window to her bedroom was open. "Sof, why is your window open? It's like 4 degrees outside with a wind chill of like negative 30."

"Oh, um…" Sofia started to explain as Alex went to shut the window. When he looked out he noticed there was food on the ground below. He turned around and noticed how sickly Sofia actually looked and it wasn't the flu sick.

"You didn't eat all your breakfast…did you? And please don't lie to me." With those words Alex knew the grieving process was going to be a hell of a lot harder than anyone imagined.

The line had moved a little more and Alex could remember the defeat in Sofia's voice as she told him that she was making herself throw-up because she felt it was her fault that her mom had killed herself. She thought she was fat. It didn't make sense to him then or now. She had never been fat and if he would have heard anyone say she was he would have kicked their ass. They had worked hard on her perspective of why her mom committed suicide and the real reason it happened. Alex had told her father about her feelings and he showed her the note from her mom explaining that it was too hard to keep going with all the medical problems surrounding her sickness. It took Sofia a long time before she stopped blaming herself for what happened, even with the note from her mom. Now Alex just prayed she didn't blame herself for her father's death too.