A/N: Just another reminder that every chapter is random in timeline and it doesn't go in order. Some snippets will be short, others will be longer.

"You're supposed to be watching the lecture, Anastasia." Christian walked in to their bedroom, finding his girl sitting on the bed with her laptop playing the prerecorded lecture from her Biology Professor, but she sat with her phone in one hand, a stylus in the other running it back and forth along her screen furiously.

Startling, Ana hurried to pause the lecture. "I'm listening!"

"Why are you on your phone then?" His family was over for a barbecue and she made the excuse that she had homework and shut herself in the bedroom for awhile.

"I'm coloring. It helps me listen."

"You're coloring?" He didn't believe her.

She showed him her phone. "It's called PixelArt. You color the little boxes and it makes pictures. It helps me concentrate."

"I'm not sure I believe you." He took the phone from her and looked at it. "You aren't even coloring in the right boxes." He was really confused and half pissed that she used homework as an excuse to hide.

"It doesn't matter! it will still let you put the right color in later! It helps me concentrate." She was hurt that he didn't believe her.

"That doesn't make any sense. I think you just wanted to hide. My parents treat you like family now. I don't understand why you're doing this."

Shaking her head, her eyes fill with tears. "No, Christian, I promise! I always do this. I can hear it better! My mind doesn't wander when I do it."

He handed back her phone, not wanting to fight with her over it. "Okay, Ana. I hope you come out soon."

"As soon as it's over I'll be out, I swear. thirty minutes."

Shaking his head, he left her to it, and went out to check on the grill.

"Christian? What's wrong?"

He sighed. "Nothing."

His mother gave him the look. The one that every mother knew how to use.

Running his hand through his hair, he shrugged. "I caught Ana playing on her phone while she was watching her lecture on her laptop. She said she was coloring and that it helps her concentrate, but all she was doing was scribbling on the screen randomly. I don't get it. I feel like she's lying to me."

His mother was quiet for a moment, drep in thought. "Christian, you didn't yell at her, did you?"

"What? Why?"

His mother smacked him on the back of his head. "Christian, she was stimming."

"Stimming? Like cousin Jeff?" His cousin Jeff was autistic.

"Yes, kind of. Everyone stimms, but it's more common in people with ADHD and autism."

His heart dropped. "Should I be worried?"

Grace took a drink of her iced tea and sat in one of the patio chairs, motioning for him to sit next to her. "No. She's a functioning adult, so it isn't life threatening, but it explains some things. Has her therapist mentioned anything that you know of? Do you notice Ana doing anything over and over again regularly?"

Bringing his hand up, he touched his thumb to each one of his fingers over and over. "She does this. And she chews her lips... does that count? And when its quiet and we're just sitting there she'll wiggle back and forth because she gets songs stuck in her head a lot... I thought that was normal." Now he was starting to panic. Did Ana have something wrong that he failed to recognize? He thought back to all the little things she did on the regular. She did have an issue with keeping still.

"She's not abnormal, Christian. Like I said, everyone stimms. You tap your thumbs against your chair or the table." She nodded toward his thumbs which were doing just that, making him stop. "But girls her age were highly undiagnosed for things like ADHD and autism as children because the signs were so much different than they were in boys. Only in the last ten years have they really started to research female neurodivergence. With her anxiety and all that, getting her tested might help her a lot. It would help with her healing in therapy. It would help her understand herself."

"Oh, my God. I think I just called her a liar." He yanked at his hair. "I'm a terrible boyfriend. I jumped to conclusions instead of listening to her."

"You didn't know. The best you can do is learn to be better for next time."

He jumped up. "I need to go talk to her."

"That's probably best."

Christian slipped back into their bedroom and watched as Ana startled and tried to hide her phone.

"No... it's okay." He sat beside her and paused her lecture. "I am so sorry I didn't believe you. I spoke with my mom and she smacked me and said that you were stimming."

"Stimming?" Ana was confused.

"Yes. Um, it's like... it's like a self-soothing behavior... or one that helps you concentrate better. Usually it's repetitive movements. You've heard of fidget spinners before, right?"

"Oh, yes. For kids with ADHD, right?" Her eyebrows knit together. "Your mom thinks I have ADHD?"

He shrugged. "She said everyone stimms every once in awhile, but with your history of anxiety and stimming behavior... we might want to get it looked at. That and autism."

Her eyes widened. Sure, she felt different than others growing up and people always thought of her as awkward, but she just thought it was a personality flaw. "Oh, wow. But no one ever mentioned it before! Why wouldn't someone tell me something was wrong with me?"

He cradled her face when he saw the tears form. "Nothing is wrong with you, Ana. It's just something that makes you more interesting. Fun."

"Fun?"

Wiping the tears that fell, he nodded. "I wouldn't change anything about you, baby, but this might help you heal emotionally. This might help answer why you feel so out of control and why you have some of your anxiety issues."

"Stimming." She let the word seep in. "Is that why Jose always told me to stop squirming? To stop humming or playing with my hair, or wiggling my feet? Everything I did seemed to annoy him. I was never good enough."

"He's disgusting. He wanted a wife that sat still and shut up. He's nothing but an abusive bully. I'm thankful you found the courage to leave him." He kissed her pout.

"Yea, but only because I caught him in bed with someone I thought was a friend."

"The reason doesn't matter anymore. You're strong, Ana. And we'll figure this out. Looking into it will only help, right?"

She gave a nod. "Did your mom really hit you?"

Laughing, he nodded. "Right upside the head."

She giggled. "Serves you right for being mad at me."

Giving her a playful scowl, he lunged, his fingers tickling her sides mercilessly.

A/N: I'll say it now. I don't want to hear anything negative or bitchy about neurodivergence! There are a lot of us out there and we're proud to be a little spicy! So be kind. I know that a lot of my readers are neurodivergent. I am, too. I am ADHD and autistic and I didn't know until just a couple years ago. I struggled through my whole life being different, feeling alone, and wondering why I couldn't just 'be normal' like my friends. It wasn't until I went to trauma therapy for my childhood trauma that it came to light and I went to specialists. Most creative people you come across are neurodivergent... so again, I say be kind with your words.