Chapter 4:

Aria opened her eyes slowly, trying to block out the sudden light that streamed through the windows. She recollected all of the things that happened last night. She and Ezra talking, he saying he was truly sorry, and them both crying themselves to sleep. She lifted her head, which was rested on Ezra's stomach. Her eyes traveled up to his face, which seemed to still be sleeping.

Slowly, she untangled her legs from his. Since she was in between the back of the couch and Ezra's body, she had trouble getting off of the sofa. Aria gently placed a hand on either side of Ezra and attempted to climb over him. As she got one foot on the ground and trying to pull the other one over, she lost her balance and fell flat onto the floor with a loud thud.

"Ow," Aria said softly as she got knocked out of breath.

Ezra's eyes shot open and quickly found Aria on the floor. He laughed, stood up, and extended his hand to her, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. My, uh, dignity broke my fall," Aria giggled, taking his hand. Ezra pulled her up to her feet, "Thanks."

Ezra smiled widely, "This reminds me of when you tripped at our wedding. I forget how clumsy you are sometimes."

Aria pushed him onto the sofa and grabbed his hands, "We said we would never talk about that again."

Ezra chuckled and flipped her so now she was pinned against the sofa. Ezra held both of her arms with one hand as his other went to her stomach. "You know what else I forget?"

"Don't."

"Oh, yes, I always forget how-," Ezra trailed off to look her in the eyes.

"Ezra, I swear if you do it…"

"How ticklish you are," Ezra started tickling her, causing her to squirm beneath his weight. She laughed uncontrollably, kicking her legs as Ezra continued. However, one of her hands was free, and she punched him square in the jaw.

"I am so sorry," Aria said as he climbed off of her, "I warned you not to tickle me. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ezra choked out as he held his nose, "I'm fine."

Aria scooted closer to him, "Come here, and let me see it." She slapped his hand away and began to observe it carefully. "Well, you can stop your whining, you big sissy. It is just fine."

"Okay," Ezra said as he rested his head against the cushions, "How about we talk about something else? For starters, have you thought about what we are going to do?"

Aria let out a breath and shook her head, "Not really. But I think we should go and see a marriage counselor or someone soon. I think there is one nearby that offers a first visit for free. We could start there."

Ezra looked at Aria and grabbed her hand, "I'm so sorry for everything, Aria."

Aria looked down and pulled her hand away, "Well, I probably drove you to it, Ezra."

"Aria-," Ezra began, but Aria silenced him sharply.

"Don't try and sugar coat it, okay? Please just tell me the truth," Aria sighed and looked back into his eyes, "No more secrets."

"It wasn't just you," Ezra said, putting a hand on her leg, "Do you remember when we used to have petty arguments over nothing? We had them nonstop for a couple months. But when the big fight happened, I was filled with adrenaline and anger, that I didn't care what the hell I did."

Aria looked back down, "Thanks for being honest with me."

"How about I call that marriage counselor's office right now," Ezra said, looking into Aria's now tear filled eyes, "I want to save our marriage as fast as I possibly can."

Aria nodded softly and tried to blink away her tears, but Ezra saw that her lip was pouty, signaling that she was about to cry. Ezra wrapped his arms around her. He waited for her to pull away, but she never did. She just held onto him tighter and started to cry into him.

"I want us back to the way we were before," Aria whispered, "What happened to us, Ezra?"

"I don't know," Ezra admitted as he kissed her hair, "But that is what we are going to find out." Ezra grabbed her hands and led her to the bedroom. She climbed in bed, but Ezra stopped at the foot of it.

"Ezra, this is your bed, too," Aria half-smiled and patted the seat next to her.

She opened her laptop as he settled next to her. They both looked up the number and made an appointment for the following day. Aria let out a breath that she had been holding and fell back onto the pillows. Ezra pushed the laptop aside and lay down next to her. Out of habit, Ezra pulled her close to him, and she draped an arm across his abdomen.

Ezra looked into Aria's eyes, seeing what he has seen every time he looked into them for the past couple of weeks. Sadness, shock, sorrowfulness. But now there was a spark of something that was different. Ezra saw hope.

"Aria," Ezra asked softly.

She turned her head and propped her chin up on his chest, "Yeah?"

"I've missed you," Ezra whispered as he tucked a curl behind her ear.

"I've missed you, too," she said back, rubbing his stomach lightly, but just enough to send chills down his body.

Ezra hugged her tighter and planted kisses along her hairline. Aria closed her eyes and wiped the remaining tears off of her face. Ezra rubbed along her arms, soothing her the best way he could.

"Do you think we will be okay," Aria sniffed and looked up at him.

Ezra stroked her hair and sighed, "I hope so, Aria. I really and truly hope so."

"Me, too," she breathed.

Ezra looked out of their window, "David must think I'm a monster. He probably hates me."

Aria immediately sat up, "Don't say that. Didn't you see the way his face lit up when he saw you yesterday? He missed you. When I tucked him in last night, he was so happy."

Ezra shook his head slightly, "That is only because he is too young to understand what is really going on. Once he gets older, he is going to hate me. He won't even see me as his father. I don't even feel like a real father. Or husband."

Aria turned his head to look at her, revealing the tears on his face, "Ezra, you have done unbelievably wondrous things to our family. You have been a great father to our son. And you have given me all of the love you possibly could. We hit our rough spot recently. The only rough spot throughout our whole marriage."

"Yeah, but what I did is unforgivable, Aria," Ezra choked out, fighting back more tears.

"No," Aria shook her head, feeling her eyes becoming wet also, "The worst possible thing you could've done was to not admit it. You could've kept up the act for as long as you wanted. Or leave your son and I after you cheated. That would've been unforgivable. But, you told me the truth, and you are fighting for me."

Ezra shook his head again; lost for words. Aria silently let out a few tears as she watched Ezra break all over again. She embraced him just as she had hours before. He shook and sobbed into her arms, apologizing every so often.

After the sobs had calmed to weeping, Aria held him in her arms, his head on her shoulder. "We need that appointment. Now. I can't stand to see you like this. Ezra, you need to forgive yourself for this. If I can forgive you for this, you need to forgive yourself."

"I ruined us," he whispered in monotone. "None of this would've happened if I didn't do that. I was supposed to be the leader of this family. To be true to you in good times and in bad. I vowed that to you on our wedding day. I broke the most important promise of my life."

"Well, I vowed that, too," Aria said after a long pause, "And this is a bad time. You are truly sorry, Ezra, and I am forgiving you, so you need to forgive yourself, too."

Ezra stayed silent and just held onto her. Aria kissed him on the head and ran her fingers through his hair. She just held him in her arms.

"Please help us, God. Please."

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