Laura couldn't believe that she gave into her emotions and sexual desires. She told herself before she came over the night before that she would only stay to care for Bradley. That didn't last long. Laura felt a peace and calmness around herself and Bradley, she wanted nothing more than to be in this moment, in this bubble forever.

But she knew at some point they would have to face reality. Laura lay next to Bradley, as she quietly snored. They had had sex until they were both physically exhausted, neither of them wanted to be the first one to stop, so they kept going until neither could mentally nor physically continue.

As they finally gave in to their body's tiredness, they naturally fell into their favourite positions to sleep in. Bradley spooning and cradling Laura from behind. They quickly fell asleep, neither of them wanting to give in, but both knowing they couldn't keep their eyes open for much longer.

Bradley woke in the afternoon, as she could hear noise coming from outside. She pulled Laura close to her chest, still not believing that yesterday, last night or this morning really happened. Bradley had been dreaming constantly of a future with Laura. She thought that after she dealt with the repercussions of deleting the video of Hal and lying to the FBI, that her and Laura would find a way back to one another. She needed to hold onto some kind of hope, she needed to hold onto the possibility of a future with Laura. It was the only thing that kept her from fully breaking.

Bradley pulled herself away from Laura's naked body, she could smell sex, passion and sweat from the both of them. She remained quiet as she tiptoed away and pulled a robe on top of her own bare body. She slowly walked downstairs and decided to make brunch.

As Bradley walked away from the bed, Laura slowly woke up, she reached out behind her to feel an empty bed. It was still warm; she knew Bradley wasn't gone long. She sat up on her elbows and looked around the room, she saw mountains of clothes, a half full suitcase, as well as a small heap of her own clothes that she had discarded that morning. Laura smiled as she remembered. She touched the empty side of the bed and sighed, remembering everything from that morning. She checked the clock on the bedside cabinet, it read 2:34pm.

Laura didn't have anywhere to be today, she had taken a couple of weeks off, as a result of the merger and the vault article about Corey and Bradley. She knew she needed time to decompress and get her head in the right space to take a management role in the new company. She grabbed her underwear and a t-shirt from Bradley's pile of laundry.

She could hear pots and pans moving about below her and knew that Bradley was attempting to make food. Laura walked to the stairs, and watched Bradley frantically juggle multiple tasks in the kitchen. Laura kept her eyes glued to her, as she descended the stairs, and walked directly towards her.

"I'll make the coffee." Said Laura as she reached the kitchen.

Bradley looked around, smiled, and said, "I make good coffee."

"Be that as it may, you have your hands food with the food, let me help, I'll make the coffee."

…

Bradley had tried her best to make the best meal she could, but she kept forgetting to check on things, her mind kept wondering to that morning. She could feel Laura's hands all over her body, she would close her eyes for what felt like a second or two to remember how nice it felt, but when she opened her eyes, pots were over following.

After a slightly awkward, but peaceful brunch Laura and Bradley sat on the kitchen stools making small talk, neither one wanting to end this beautiful moment.

"I am seeing a psychologist." Blurted out Bradley. She sat upright in her chair, waiting for some kind of response or reaction from Laura. She needs to know what Laura thought about it.

"Finally Bradley" Laura reached over and held onto Bradley's hand, cupping it in her own. "I am so proud of you; I know it wouldn't have been easy, but I truly think it will help you."

"It already has, I feel like I can see myself better, I can understand my decisions, why I've acted or more likely reacted to situations in some ways. At the moment I am meeting her in her office once a week and doing another zoom call towards the end of the week. I've been seeing her since I got back from Hanover, a few weeks ago. We are doing a lot of talk therapy at the moment, but I think we will be going into EMDR at some point."

"What's EMDR?"

"Its Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy. It's to help people deal with trauma, a lot of people with PTSD go through EMDR, to help them reprocess trauma, their behaviours. I know it's only been a few weeks of talking to someone, but it's been helping a lot, though I feel so exhausted sometimes after a session, all I want to do is sleep, or have a long shower or a long soak in a bath."

"It can be hard, but I'm really glad you are seeing the benefits of it. I hope it keeps helping you."

Laura took a sip from her coffee, and watched Bradley actively avoid eye contact with her. Bradley looked so broken and hurt. She looked vulnerable; Laura knew it was a lot for Bradley to talk to her about therapy. She was incredibly proud of her. She knew the physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion therapy caused. Looking back in your life, pulling out horrible memories of hurt, pain, betrayal, love, and loss wasn't easy. And she knew not everyone could do it.

"But can I ask you something? About what you said on the recording Alex took?"

"You can ask me anything" Bradley answered finally looking directly at Laura.

Laura took a deep breath and asked what had been bugging her since she first watched the video.

"What happened with the FBI? In the video you asked Alex not to tell me about the FBI, but I know now, and I need to know what's going on."

Bradley knew this would come up as soon as she heard it on the recording. She stood up and walked over to the couch. She indicated for Laura to follow her, she did, Bradley began to fidget.

"Before I say anything, I want you to know, that I am so sorry for putting you in this position, for you having to come over last night, to look after me, even though I know you want little to do with me. Regardless of what happened today. I am sorry.

Yesterday I went to the FBI with Hal, we met with my lawyer and a couple of case workers for the Capitol. I told them everything; everything I had done to keep them from finding out about Hal. They will be working out a deal with my lawyer now, to ensure that I don't go to prison. I don't care if they tell the whole world I lied. I just don't think I would survive in prison. And from what my lawyer told me, it doesn't seem like I will have to serve jailtime which is good."

Laura moved closer to Bradley on the couch and reached out to grab hold of Bradley's hand. A tear leapt from Bradley's eye as she saw the pain in Laura's face as she spoke. She knew she had to continue, or she wouldn't be able to finish what she had to say.

"Hal is going to serving I think 2-4 years depending on good behaviour. But he says he will be okay. I'm not sure though."

"Why didn't you want Alex to tell me this?"

"I didn't want her to tell you why I gave myself in. One the day we broke up, on the day you told me you wanted nothing to do with me. I went to the show to get through the evening news, Paul Marks came into my dressing room right before the show and threatened me. "

"Bradley I'm sorry. I was so upset and angry at you. But why wouldn't you want me to know this?"

Laura looked concerned and confused, as she focused all of her attention on Bradley.

"It turns out Paul had been monitoring my phone, he was listening in earlier in the day when you confronted me about Hal. He overheard everything. I was so scared; I was worried about what he would do. But I wanted to expose him, and his lies and I think he knew that exposing Hal wasn't going to get him what he wanted. So he threated you."

"Me? How could he threaten me?"

"Well, he listened into our conversation, so he knew you knew about Hal, and he knew you didn't tell anyone about it. He knew everything you had said to me, and threatened to ruin your life, to end your career, so I. Well, I couldn't and would never let that happen. This was all my fault; you should have never been a part of this. You worked so hard to be where you are, and I knew then what I had to do. So, I quit. I told Alex everything, about how he threatened you. And she understood, she knows what you mean to me. So I begged her to find a way to stop the deal, and well she did. Or should I say you both did."

Laura was now in floods of tears, as was Bradley. They were sitting right next to one another, Laura wanted nothing more than to hold Bradley.

Bradley stood up walked around the room, clearly agitated, and upset, but she knew she had to get everything out now.

"Even after quitting I knew things weren't over, I knew the only way to make things right for myself, my own peace of mind, and to make sure you couldn't be implicated. To make sure Paul couldn't get to you. Was to do what I should have done months ago; I turned myself in. That's why I was so upset yesterday. Regardless though, Alex should have never called you, I've done enough horrible things to you, you don't need to look after me anymore. I need to stand up for myself."

"Bradley, you never let me look after you, that's the point. You never let yourself be vulnerable with me. When your mum died, all I wanted to do, was be there for you, be close to you, be there when you felt like you were breaking but you wouldn't let me. I wish you had told me about Paul."

"You said you didn't want anything to do with me. In that moment I didn't care if we ever got back together, in all honesty I hoped we never would, so that you would be safe and happy away from my chaos. I just wanted to make sure he couldn't hurt you."

Laura stood up and walked towards Bradley, they stared at one another. Then Laura pulled her towards her body. They held one another, as both women gave in and sobbed.