Chapter 14

Kristina sat on the couch in her living room flipping through the channels. Her mom had decided it was best she take a break from school for awhile, which meant Kristina had very little contact with the outside world. She could tell her mom was disappointed in her, but was trying to be supportive. Sonny, on the other hand, seemed to almost bond with Kristina after her arrest. Diane was pretty confident that once she displayed Kristina to the jury as a abused girlfriend, desperate to look for an out after months of being threatened, she'd be found not guilty.

Kristina sighed, turning the T.V. off and looking at her phone she had a text message from Ethan, which made her smile. Strangely, this whole thing brought them even closer. While he was upset she didn't confide in him, he didn't judge her for her choices.

Ethan: I'll be done here soon, want anything for dinner?

Kristina: Sure.. Kelly's?

Ethan: So predictable. Be there in a bit.

Kristina smiled, putting her phone back on the table and laying down. Even though everything around her was chaotic and dismantled, with Ethan around things seemed bearable.

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Ethan was waiting for his food at Kelly's when Maxie took a seat next to him. "Haven't seen you in awhile," she told him, giving him a big smile. He smirked, nodding his head.

"I've been really busy," he replied, tapping his finger on the counter.

"Busy babysitting Kristina?" she asked, elbowing him gently. Ethan smirked, shaking his head. "I'm just kidding… sort of," Maxie added with a laugh. "How is she doing?"

"She's doing alright. Taking everything one day at a time. She's acting like she's fine now, but I know that she has some inter demons that she still needs to face," Ethan told her.

"Well she has you, so I'm sure she can get through anything," Maxie assured him, smiling. Mike brought over the bag of food and Ethan pulled out his wallet.

"It's on me. I put some cookies in there for Kristina… please send her my love," Mike told him, handing him the bag of food.

"Thanks Mike," Ethan replied with a smile. "I should get going, gotta hungry lady to feed," Ethan said with a laugh. Maxie smiled, nodding as she grabbed her coffee from the counter.

"Tell Kristina I said hi, and that I hope she takes me up on the offer to go get her hair cut soon. I'd love to hang out with her," Maxie said following Ethan out.

"I definitely will. Might be nice for her to get out with someone other than me or Sam…"

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Ethan watched Kristina carefully as she slowly ate her food. Her mind seemed to be somewhere else, and he wondered if he should be worried about that or not. While he knew she would most likely be able got beat the charges pending against her, he wondered what would happened if she didn't. Kristina would not last in jail, and he didn't want her to have to go through all of that because of him. Ethan began privately blaming himself for Kristina trying to hire a hit-man because he should have taken care of it when she confided in him.

"Where's your head at?" Kristina asked softly, looking over at Ethan. He glanced back at her and smiled sweetly.

"Just thinking about stuff," he replied, placing his food on the table.

"Thanks for bringing me dinner… We have nothing to eat here," she told him, trying to make small talk.

"Not a problem love." He smiled at her, noticing how beautiful she looked. She had no make-up on and her hair was up in a messy pony. "What do you want to do tonight?" he asked, taking her plate for her. She smiled, shrugging her shoulders.

"You can choose. We've been doing a lot of what I want to do lately," she told him, following him into the kitchen.

"Well babe, that's because you can't really do a lot of what I like to do," he replied with a smirk. Kristina frowned, taking a seat at the island. "I didn't mean that to be rude, I'm just saying… It's been nice not going out so much. I enjoy staying here and spending time with you." Kristina nodded, playing with the string on her hoody. She wanted Ethan to take her out, show her off. She felt like he was willing to play almost boyfriend behind closed doors, but might not be so willing to admit it to the public.

"I want to go out," she replied, eying him careful. Ethan nodded slowly, putting the dishes in the dishwasher. His pause made Kristina's stomach drop, feeling a line of rejection coming on.

"Not that I don't want to take you out love, but I think that with everything going on in your case….it just might not be good being seen out with another guy." What he was saying made sense, but Kristina couldn't help but feel hurt by the rejection.

"Okay," she replied, turning around on the stool and heading back into the living room. Ethan finished cleaning up their garbage before following her.

He stood behind her spot on the couch and leaned down, wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her temple and whispered in her ear, "I want nothing more then to take you out… go on a real date. Hold hand in public. Kiss you at your front door… but I think that until you get cleared of the charges, it would be best if we kept a low profile…" He brushed the hair off of her neck and kissed it softly, causing Kristina to shutter.

"I'm scared that by then you will have moved on… I wont need your protection anymore and you'll realize I'm too young for you," she confessed, feeling like a child the way her voice wavered.

"That wont happen." The statement was small but the tone he used caused Kristina's heart to skip a beat.

"Promise me…" she continued. Ethan leaned over, cupping her face in his hands, and kissed her hard. Kristina's breathe escaped her lungs quickly, being taken in by Ethan's mouth. His hands moved through her hair, while her hands caressed his face.

"I promise you," he said, pulling away and smiling.