Tom awoke with a bit of a gasp one morning. He wasn't quite sure what he'd been dreaming about, but he could tell by the staggered breaths and sweat dripping down his brow that it hadn't been good. The more he came into consciousness, however, the more he was overcome by quiet a different feeling. His arm was dead asleep just as he had been, tingling from his shoulder to his fingertips. It wasn't until he turned his head though that he realized why. Head perched on his shoulder, body curled perfectly against his, was Sophia, still deep in slumber. The vision, the feeling of her beside him was almost enough to bring tears to his eyes. In the last two weeks, this feeling, this sensation was all he craved, all he wanted: her, beside him, affectionately as she had been for most nights within the last year. He had begun to believe it wasn't ever going to happen again, yet here she was and here he was and things, for a moment, began to feel normal.

As his lips grazed her forehead ever so softly, Sophia's eyelids fluttered open, much to Tom's dismay. She groaned a bit and stretched toward the ceiling, but didn't leave her place on his arm. "Morning," she said groggily.

Tom chuckled. "Good morning to you, cuddle bug. What's up?"

"Nothing," Sophia said softly, nuzzling into the soft blue Tshirt adorning his chest. "I'm just comfortable."

Tom kissed her head once again. "I missed this."

"Me too."

"You feeling okay?"

Sophia shrugged, her eyes once again closing. "It's hard to tell, considering I literally just opened my eyes."

"Well, she's sassy today, so that's a good sign."

Sophia smiled sweetly. "I'm okay."

"I'll take okay," Tom said softly, turning a bit so his free arm could wrap around her. He didn't want to leave the bed, despite the growing urgency of needing to use the restroom. "We should go get breakfast. Have a date day. Just me and you." Her silence was beginning to tell him he had his answer, but to his surprise, a very different response escaped her lips.

"Okay."

"Did you just say yes?" he questioned excitedly.

"Yes, I did."

"Well Jesus Christ. Someone is just full of surprises today."

Sophia scoffed a bit. "Can't hide in here forever."

"No, no you cannot." Tom took a deep breath and pressed the side of his face against her head. "You know… if I've been pushing you, or making you…more upset in any way, that was never my intent. I just… I don't like seeing you like this and I really don't like not being able to do anything about it. Because…out of all the things in this universe, all I want is for you to be happy and I know right now…maybe, that's not possible. But if there's…anything I can do to perhaps make things even the slightest bit easier…I hope you'll tell me."

Sophia gulped. "There's a reason I was gone so long yesterday."

"Yeah?"

"After I got done at the doctor… he thought I needed, well we both thought I needed to talk to someone, so I went to my therapist. He, um… he put me on a pretty heavy fucking dosage of Remeron…so maybe…sometime soon I won't be such an infernal bitch to deal with."

"Anti-depressants?"

"Yeah…anti-depressant, anti-anxiety. So maybe I'll either be nice or just sleep fucking constantly so no one has to deal with me. Plus I'm going back to therapy, at least for the time being." She paused and laughed. "I'm starting to think I'm too fucked up to live a normal life."

"Don't say that." Tom's lips pursed and his brow furrowed. "Why didn't you say something?"

Sophia shook her head as tears began glistening in her eyes. "I don't know. It's kind of embarrassing. I don't like needing drugs to make me not be a bitch to the people I love."

"Stop it, "Tom commanded, pulling her into him even tighter. "You've gone through something pretty fucking traumatic. No one blames you for feeling the way you do."

"I hate needing drugs to be happy. I hate that…I'm better at talking to a complete stranger rather than the people that care about me. It shouldn't be like this. I should be able to do it on my own."

"There is no shame in admitting you need a bit of help, alright? It's not forever; it's just…until we can deal with all of this."

"You mean me."

"No I mean we. We're in this together, darling. For the long haul."

"I need to talk to Ben and Maggie. Apologize for being a cunt."

"Okay, a: don't ever call yourself that again and b: they get it, Soph. We all…get it. I mean, it hasn't been particularly enjoyable but no one is harboring any ill will toward you. We were just worried."

"I was too."

"I was so scared to leave you alone…"

"You thought I was going to do something?"

"I don't know. I mean, I guess in a way, yeah. I knew you weren't yourself and… I don't know. I was thinking about every horrible possible thing I could I guess."

"I would never…do that, Tom. I would never hurt myself. No matter…how much all of this hurts because it does. But…I couldn't do that. Not to you. Not to Ben or Maggie. I'm not that out of it."

"Well…that is relieving to hear," Tom stated.

"I think I'm too big of a pussy to ever do anything successfully anyway."

Tom tried not to laugh. "Stop it. This is not something we should be laughing about."

"I'm laughing. You should just count your blessings right now."

"I definitely am," Tom chuckled. "Alright. Shower? Who's first?"

"You. I'm going to refuse to get out of bed for awhile longer."

"I will pick you up and put you in that shower myself if I have to. We're going out," Tom stated. "You already agreed."

"Yeah, yeah. Just get moving."

Tom grinned, but leaned his head toward her, pressing his lips into hers. She once again surprised him. She didn't stop him, she didn't pull away. Instead, Sophia placed her hand against his scruffy cheek and kissed him back. Like she used to, hard and deep, sincerely and lovingly and she kissed him for a long time. Tom was in heaven, pure and simple.

He blinked as he unwillingly pulled away. "Mm…That. I missed that as well."

Sophia smiled. "Would you go shower? You wait much longer and we'll miss breakfast entirely."

"So we'll get lunch," Tom stated, kissing her again, much quicker this time. "I love you, Sophia. I love you…with all of my heart."

"I know," she beamed. "I love you too."

"Well then…everything will be just fine, won't it?" He grazed his lips against her forehead before flinging back the covers and climbing out of bed. "Alright. Off we go. Do not go back to sleep."

"You ain't the boss of me."

"I am today."

"No."

"Just once can I be the boss? One time?"

"No."

"Fuck."

Sophia just laughed as Tom disappeared into the hallway. There was a huge part of her that wanted to take back her agreement to venture out of the apartment. But she couldn't. She had to go, she had to try. Not so much for her, but for him. She would not lose him, she couldn't.

Breakfast and bookstores, tea shops and walking around their city; it was the most normal, perfect day either of them had in a very long time. Walking hand in hand, in and out of shops and stores, laughing and smiling, kissing and talking like normal. Like they always had.

"I don't need any more books," Sophia sighed, shoving the book on her hand back onto the shelf. "We don't have any more room."

"We should build a library."

"What're you going to do?" Sophia asked. "Add one onto the house?"

Tom shrugged. "There's an extra room."

Sophia gulped. "There's two."

"Hey," he soothed, taking hold of her hand. "It's okay. You know…it'll happen, right? We'll get our chance. Just…not right now."

"I hope so."

"We will, my love. I promise you," Tom assured, wrapping his arms around her waist as he stood behind her. "Cause I sure as hell ain't going to stop trying."

Sophia laughed. "You've got…a few more weeks before we can even attempt trying."

"Well I wasn't…hinting at anything, but…"

"Yes you were."

"Ehh…maybe a little bit," Tom smirked before planting his lips on her cheek. "Get the damn book."

"Tom."

"Fine, I'll get the damn book." He reached in front of her and grabbed the copy of F Scott Fitzgerald's "The Beautiful and the Damned" his love had just been ogling.

"Tom, don't. I already have it."

"Yeah but this is first edition. It's much better."

"It's much more expensive."

"You're talking but I'm not hearing anything."

"You're an ass."

"But you love me."

As Tom jogged his way to the register, Sophia's phone rang out from her purse. She pulled it out and simply stared at the screen for a moment. She expected it to be Benedict or Maggie. But it wasn't. It was her mother. And she didn't know what to do.

"Who is it?" Tom asked as the call faded to silence and he returned to her side.

"My mom," Sophia stated. The look on her face was one of pure terror: white as ghost, eyes wide and fluttering about. "I haven't told her."

"I did," Tom stated, as he gulped. "I, um…I called her a couple days ago. She hadn't heard yet so I suppose that's good. I told her you weren't really up to talking but that I thought she should know."

Sophia looked up at him quizzically. "You called my mom?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I just…"

"No. No. You don't have anything to be sorry for. I should've done it. She's my responsibility."

"There you go again. OURS. She's our responsibility and…you weren't in a place where I even wanted you talking to her because Lord knows what her reaction would've been."

"What'd she say?"

"Not much of anything. Just…that I should have you call her when you were feeling better and…I didn't tell you that, did I?"

Sophia laughed lightly and shook her head. "No. You didn't."

"So…call your mom when you're feeling up to it, alright?"

"Is one ever feeling up to speaking to my mother?" Sophia asked with a sigh. "I should probably let the antidepressants fully kick in before we try to tackle that one."

Tom chuckled and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting his chin atop her head. "Just put her on speakerphone and if she starts being a jerk, I'll take over."

"What're you going to do? Chastise her?"

"No. I'll just deflect her anger toward me. Take one for the team."

Sophia pulled her head away from his chest and looked up at him. "I love you."

"I love you. Let's go to a movie."

"Jesus. You'd think you were the one who hadn't left the house in two weeks."

"It's different. You're with me. Now I want to do everything."

Sophia laughed. "You're like a little kid."

"That's not really a new development, is it?"

"Not at all."

"How long before you go back to Paris?" Sophia asked, curled up on Tom's lap as they sat watching a movie at home that evening. They had spent the entire day out on the town. Sophia was exhausted, but Tom was happy, and that was enough to make it worth her while.

Tom shook his head, the fingers on one hand continuously running through the dark locks atop her head. "Uh, I don't know. Soon, I assume. They're doing whatever they can without me at the moment, but I can't push it off forever. Why?"

"Cuz I don't want you to leave," Sophia said softly with a sad laugh.

Tom smiled and kissed his forehead. "Come with me."

"What?" Sophia asked, sitting up and looking at him.

"Come with me," he repeated. "We missed…birthdays and Valentine's Day…so…just…pack up and come to Paris with me for a few weeks. I won't have to be there long and…it would be much more enjoyable if you were with me."

"I don't want to distract you."

"I would be much more distracted if you were back here by yourself and I was worried about you so…just come with me."

Sophia stared at him a moment before a smile slowly crept over her face. "Okay. Okay I'll come."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Yes," Tom beamed, hissing his 's'. He pressed his lips into hers. "It's going to be fantastic. I'll take you everywhere."

"You'll be working."

"Not all the time. I will make sure I have time to show you the sights and do…all the romantic things a couple is supposed to do in Paris. I'm excited."

"I can tell," Sophia laughed. "You're silly." Tom just stared into her eyes for a moment. "What? What's wrong with you?"

Tom shook his head. "For once…absolutely nothing. This has been…the most perfect day I have had…in a long while. So thank you, for that. I needed it."

Sophia smiled sweetly before leaning toward him and firmly pressing her lips against his. "We both did."

"I think you're right," Tom sighed, as he pulled her back down into his arms, her head once again landing on his chest. "I think we need another movie."

"I think…we should just lay here…and you should read to me."

Tom laughed. "You want me to read to you?"

"I do."

"Alright. What should we read?"

"A phone book. I just want to hear your voice."

Tom laughed again. "I could just talk to you."

"Read me a story, dammit."

"Okay, okay," Tom gave in. He reached back, knowing there was a book of some sort on the side table behind him. But just as he grabbed it, there was a knock at the door. "What the fuck?"

"Who's here?" Sophia asked as she moved from his lap and Tom stood.

"No idea." He ran his hands over his sweatpants and headed to the door. He opened it and stood frozen for a moment. "Um…hi…"

Sophia's eyes widened. Surprise or horror, she had no idea. "Mom?"