Safe Place

Rey made her way home, her tears having dried in, hugging her jacket around her as she got to her apartment building, staring with confusion as she saw someone sitting outside with a pizza box.

She got closer and realised it was Josh, who she had sadly been avoiding the past few days.

"Hey." Rey shook her head, "How long have you been sitting out here?" She questioned. She felt terrible for cutting off her contact with him over the past few days. She knew talking to him was probably some of the things that would have helped her but really wasn't sure what to do with herself.

"Uh… I'm not sure. Long enough to know this pizza is definitely cold." Josh laughed a little as Rey smiled.

"Good job I like cold pizza." Rey nodded, walking by him up the steps, brushing her leg against his shoulder on the way by deliberately with a smile as he gulped and stood up, following her into the building.

"I just got cheese, I didn't really know what you'd like." He said as Rey smiled, opening up her apartment door.

"Well good, because I only like cheese on my pizza." Rey smiled, walking into the apartment as he followed.

"Really? That's kinda boring." Josh laughed a little, "For someone who… is the least boring person I've met." He nodded as Rey laughed a little.

"Is that a compliment?" She smiled, closing her door over and taking her jacket off.

"I think so." Josh laughed a little.

"Go make yourself comfortable. I'm just gonna go get changed into something else." She said as he nodded, strolling on over to the couch and opening up the pizza box as she disappeared up into her bedroom area.

Her bedroom was just up a step from her kitchen without much closure around it, which meant he could pretty much see everything as she shimmied her skirt off. He quickly focused his attention to the pizza, not being the guy who looked, but he couldn't help it entirely.

He busied himself and put on the TV to distract himself by the time she appeared back into the living area, wearing some shorts and t-shirt, collapsing down beside him and reaching for a slice of pizza.

"Were you out with your friend?" Josh asked her.

"Uh no… I was…" She looked at him, "I don't know what I was doing." She admitted truthfully as he looked at her, "Making bad decisions." She nodded.

"I won't ask any further then." Josh assured her as she smiled, "As long as you're ok."

"I don't know how I'm feeling at the minute." She admitted truthfully as he looked at her, "I just… I've never felt so lost before." She said as he looked at her.

"This stuff with your parents?" He figured as she nodded, "Yeah, it's a tough one." He agreed, "Have you spoke to them again?"

"No, just once." Rey said, "It's just so hard to be on board with it when I… I really don't know how to deal with it. I don't know what it feels like to have parents. Do I trust them? Do they really love me? I got all these questions." She sighed.

"I'm sure they've got some questions for you." Josh nodded.

"Yeah, probably." Rey nodded, "I just never thought this would happen. I never thought I would meet them."

"How do you feel now that you have? Now you know their faces and who they are?" He asked her.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I don't think I know how I feel." She admitted honestly.

"You probably need to give yourself some time and some space." Josh nodded, "It's not gonna straighten out overnight." He said as she nodded.

"Bet you think I'm fucked up." She rolled her eyes as he shook his head.

"Of course I don't." Josh shook his head, "No. We all got our problems. Life isn't straight forward for anyone." He shook his head as she smiled.

"Well I appreciate you saying that to make me feel better." She smiled. She was surprised at how much she actually enjoyed just sitting talking to him. She wasn't trying to impress him and she realised just how free and comfortable she felt. It was strange considering she really didn't know him, "What about you? Do you see your parents?" She asked him, "Is it too soon to ask you that?"

"No, of course not. Yeah, I see them every now and then. I got a pretty good relationship with them." He nodded as she reached for another slice of pizza, "They live out of town so I don't see them as much." He said as she nodded. She realised that talking to someone about something else was nice and it took her mind off things.

"Did you grow up here?" Rey asked him.

"No, actually. I grew up out of town." He nodded, "I moved out here for college. I got a bachelors in structural engineering but… I guess I haven't put it to good use." He shrugged.

"Damn, that could get you some good money." Rey smiled, "I'd be looking for jobs right away." She laughed a little.

"That's what my mom says." Josh nodded, "I don't know, I like just living casual. It feels like I'd have more freedom." He said as she nodded.

"Yeah, I get it. I wanted to be a doctor when I was a kid. I always go through these moments every year where I tell myself I'm gonna apply to college but… I always let it fall through and forget about it."

"You should do it if you really want to." Josh said.

"I do but I don't know, I know it'll be a lot of hard work and I'm not sure if I'd stick at it. I barely made it through school without… getting into trouble or dropping out of things." She rolled her eyes.

"College is nothing like school, trust me." He assured her, "You always wanted to be a doctor?"

"Yeah, ever since I was little. I would bandage up all my stuffed animals and pretend I was making them better." She nodded, "I don't know, I guess I just like the idea of helping people." She nodded.

"That's nice." Josh smiled, "You shouldn't give up on it." He said as she smiled, "And I don't think you should dismiss the idea of seeing your parents either. Because then you'll only feel guilty if for some reason… you actually get along with them. Keep an open mind. Maybe things will go different to how you expect." He said as she nodded and smiled.

"Yeah." Rey nodded with a smile, "Uh… do you wanna put a movie on?" She asked him as he nodded.

"Her kid is cute." Dean nodded, standing at Punk's bedroom door with Punk as they looked on at where AJ was asleep in the bed with Amelia, with of course the dog at the bottom of the bed.

"Yeah." Punk smiled and nodded, "Hey, you don't mind her staying her for a little bit. I don't know when she's gonna wanna go back to her place." He said, closing the door over and walking on into the living room with him.

"Of course I don't mind. She's going through a shitty time." Dean said, "She could use some company."

"I wanna beat her husband up." Punk told him honestly as Dean nodded, "I mean why? Why do that to her?" He asked as Dean sat down on the couch with a beer, "She's so selfless and amazing… how could you even think about anyone else when you're with her?" Punk questioned as Dean looked at him.

"Sounds like you'd know how to treat her better." Dean raised a brow.

"Yeah, I sure fucking would." Punk agreed as Dean nodded.

"You still love her?" Dean asked him.

"What?" Punk shook his head.

"You still love her." Dean nodded, more as a statement, "It's painfully obvious."

"Yeah, as like… a friend, what we've been through-"

"Bullshit." Dean said, "You still love her, you still care about her and you still want her." Dean nodded, "I could see it whilst we were eating pizza."

"Oh, yeah. What could you see?" Punk scoffed.

"You looking at her like you've never saw a woman in the flesh. Trying to make her laugh, smiling at her when she wasn't looking-"

"She's just found out her husband has been cheating on her. I think it's important that I'm there for her. That doesn't mean I want her. Plus, with everything that's been going on, finding out about Reylissa… it has made us closer again-"

"Didn't take you long to get close again." Dean scoffed, "Especially after all this time."

"Yeah well when you have a kid with someone, that doesn't go away. You have something special no matter how long you've been apart for." Punk said as Dean nodded.

"But you'll admit you are still in love with her." Dean nodded as Punk put his hands on his hips, "I'm just saying, let her work out her marriage before you try anything."

"I'm not gonna try anything." Punk scoffed.

"I know you." Dean said, "You will." He said, "Hey, you're right. Having a kid with someone, it is a big deal, and you do have something special with them forever, but you were in love with her before you had Reylissa. Think about that." He nodded as Punk sat down on the couch, "And speaking of… what are you actually going to do? Are you gonna go see your daughter?"

"Well I want to but… I think it's best we give her space right now. Maybe in a few days I'll… I don't know, go see if she wants to talk to us, maybe she'll have calmed down." He nodded, "Take it from there, I guess."

"You prepared in case she really doesn't want you in her life?" Dean asked him.

"Well it's hard to prepare for that but… I mean, it's her decision. It's weird how I… I don't know her, like at all, but for some reason I still really want her to be happy and safe." He said.

"That's not weird. She's your daughter. If you felt nothing then I'd be a little concerned." Dean chuckled as Punk nodded, "Sounds like you got a lot on your plate right now."

"Yeah, you don't say." Punk sighed to himself.

Rey had sat all night with Josh just talking to him and watching some movies. It was an unexpected comfort that she never even thought of. Truthfully, she'd never really had a relationship with a guy that was actually normal. But this seemed pretty normal, and she really liked how genuine and comforting he was.

She liked it so much that she fell asleep, which was actually a huge compliment for him as she would never trust herself to fall asleep with any guy sitting around. She was so exhausted from the crying, from her mind spinning and all the things she was thinking about, that she completely crashed towards the end of the movie on the couch.

Josh noticed she had fallen asleep and once the movie had finished, he cleared everything up, taking away the pizza box and turning the TV off. He then scooped her up and took her over to her bed, placing her on top and pulling the covers over her, making sure she was comfortable before kissing her head and leaving the apartment.