It was thundering and lightening in L.A

Cory knew that whenever the weather wasn't sunny and bright, Lea's mood seemed to parallel it.

"Cory, I told you to defrost your chicken!" she shouted to her boyfriend, who was lying on the sofa catching up on NHL scores, "Now you can't eat that for dinner!"

He hated it when she got upset at him for the littlest things.

"Babe, it's okay! We'll just order in or something…"

"Oh yeah, okay. Order in! You know, seeing as though I prepared this salad for absolutely nothing!"

Rising to his feet, Cory plodded over to his red faced girlfriend and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Lea, it'll be okay. I'm sorry I didn't defrost the meat. I completely forgot…"

"Well you forget everything Cory!" she continued to shout, "You never help me with any of this stuff!"

Something had brought this on and he knew it. This whole episode hadn't just come out of thin air and he wanted to know what was troubling her.

"Lee, are you okay?"

He moved his hands to her face, feeling how hot she was under his touch.

"Do I look like I'm okay, Cory?"

"No."

"Well there you go, you could've answered that question yourself then, couldn't you?"

The sarcasm in her voice made him shudder. She was hardly ever sarcastic, but when she was, it made him feel so uncomfortable and anxious.

She turned her back on him, throwing her freshly made salad into the trash.

"Wait, no! Why did you do that?"

"Because you have no chicken to eat it with!"

He watched her place the empty salad bowl into the sink, running the cold water over it.

Once she tried the bowl, she placed it back down on to the counter top and sat herself at her dining table.

Several seconds later he heard her whole body rattle as she cried huge, ugly sobs.

"Lea? Babe, talk to me."

He knelt down by her side and stroked her hair as she cried, her hands covering her face as she rested her heavy head on the table.

She didn't say anything, just continued to cry.

"Lea I'm sorry. I really am, I should be helping you more. And I will. I promise that from now on I'll do whatever it is that needs doing."

She still didn't respond, her lungs gasping for air as she sobbed.

He began to worry. This surely wasn't just about the chicken and the salad? It was something a lot deeper than that.

"I-I can't do it anymore, Cory." She cried, picking up her head from the table and cradling it in her hands.

"Do what, baby?"

"I just can't do it anymore. I'm so exhausted with being me."

It seriously broke his heart to see her so upset and so distressed, he knew he needed to make things right.

Scooping her up in his arms, she wrapped herself around him, her arms cradling his neck as he placed her down onto her bed.

He led down on the bed and held her while she cried, feeling her tears dampen the material, her mascara staining it.

"It's okay. I've got you." He whispered into her ears softly, reassuring her that he was there for her.

Once she'd calmed down a little, he sat her up in his lap and looked her in the eye.

"You need to tell me what's going on, Lea. Something is going on with you and I need to know."

She rubbed her puffy eyes with the back of her hand, exhaling deeply.

"I just can't do this anymore. I feel so stressed and tired and like everyone wants a piece of me. I try so hard to please everyone but it never works, everyone just wants more off of me all the time. And everyone just expects me to be perfect and shiny and bright all the time, but I'm not. I have feelings and I just can't handle this anymore… it's too much."

It took her about a minute to complete her entire speech, in between her sobs.

Cory pulled her into his chest, feeling his own emotions start to get a hold of him. It pained him to see her so distraught.

She continued to cry, her tears falling on to Cory's chest, making a huge damp stain.

"Lea… Lea!" he called to her softly, bringing her face up to his and snapping their gazes together.

"You are wonderful. You're beautiful and talented and hardworking and special. People ask things of you because they know you can do it and they know that you're the best person for the job. Sure, I agree with you, people are relying on you a bit more than they should be, but you're incredible, Lea. Look at what you've achieved in your life so far. Look what you achieve every day. You are perfect, regardless of what you think. You're perfect to me, okay?"

A small, watery smile tugged at her lips. If there was one thing for sure, it was that Cory made her feel loved and appreciated.

Snapping back to reality, a frown formed on her face once again.

"But look at me, Cory. I just feel so fat and ugly. Look at all the other girls out there. Look at Dianna and Naya! They're tall and gorgeous and beautiful. I'm just short and stubby. I'm so sick of always being the odd one out."

Shaking his head violently, Cory truly could not believe what he was hearing.

"What the hell are you talking about? You're more beautiful than Dianna and Naya put together, god! And I seriously have no idea what you're talking about when you say that you look fat, because I know for a fact that you work out and that you keep yourself in brilliant shape. You have a perfect body, Lee. Stop hating yourself. Please. It's breaking my heart to see you like this…"

Hearing Cory say all of those beautiful, positive things about her brought even more tears to her eyes.

"I'm so lucky to call you my boyfriend."

He felt the stress flush out of her body as she relaxed her muscles and laid between his legs.

"I'm so fucking lucky to call you my beautiful girlfriend."

He leaned over her face and kissed her lips softly, taking her breath away.

"I'm so sorry." She sniffed, pulling away from the kiss, "I just, I was feeling so stressed and I've just been bottling it up for so long. It only takes something as stupid as hormones to bring it all out."

Hormones.

He should've known it was that time again.

"Well how about next time you don't bottle it up and you come and tell me what's bothering you straight away."

She smiled up at him and pecked his lips.

"Deal."