Charming residents attempt to turn over a new leaf as Sydney and Tig learn to let go of the bad habits that consumed their relationship the first time, and Clay and Jax try to focus on their families instead of their brothers.

General trigger warnings for this story: Language, smut, mentions of rape, abuse, drug use/overdose, violence/death, racism/gang activity.

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CHAPTER 46: LETTING GO

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Tig didn't sleep that night. Even after hours between the sheets, making enough love to make up for all of their lost time, he still hadn't been able to accept that he had pulled this off, even as she laid in his arms. His mind wandered to the man that he'd seen her with as the first light of morning began to trickle through the blinds, wondering how much of a problem the long-haired asshole was going to cause now that they were back together. He shook his head, looking down at where she slept soundly against his chest, he wasn't going to allow the negativity to seep in that easily.

Sydney felt herself being coaxed awake from her peaceful slumber by a light tickling by her ear - a light tickling that she almost tricked herself into believing was a dream once she recognized the familiar feeling to be Tig's rough facial hair against her soft skin, pressing herself against his touch to be sure that it was real.

"I'm sorry." He whispered into her ear as he rolled her onto her stomach and hovered over her, pressing his lips to her cheek, then her shoulder, then her back.

"You keep saying that." She smiled with her eyes still closed, feeling his gentle butterfly kisses making their way back up the side of her now heavily bruised neck.

"I mean it." He nodded as he slid his arms under her stomach, rolling her gently onto her back where his lips pressed against her neck before moving to her jaw.

"I know you do, baby." She wove her fingers through his hair as his mouth began descending her body.

"I am going to spend the rest-" His lips wrapped around her hardened nipple, sending a wave of goosebumps breaking out across her chest. "Of my life making up for it." He kissed the other one lightly.

"You know you don't have to do that..." She giggled as he sucked on her diamond belly ring, gasping lightly when his lips continued trailing down her stomach. "But if this is how you wanna do it…" She raised a brow.

After a lazy morning of makeup sex - a direct continuation of the night that they had shared together before she eventually gave in to the first peaceful sleep that she'd had in days, Sydney found herself wrapped tightly in Tig's arms, and she wouldn't have had it any other way. Although she hadn't wanted to acknowledge it over the last week, she'd missed him; how she felt with him, how he felt next to her. She snaked her hand up his chest and to his face, stroking the grown out stubble on his jaw while she kept her face buried in the warmth of his chest.

"I know I need to shave." He chuckled, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles.

She hummed as she shook her head, tilting up to look at him. "I like it." She bit her lip, running her thumb over his moustache. "It's sexy." He raised a brow, doubtful that his wild curls and unkempt facial hair after almost a week away from home could really be that attractive to someone like her.

Sydney grinned when he didn't believe her, tapping her index finger over his lips before pulling him down into a passionate kiss. She sighed as she held him close, soaking up the comfort of the familiar position that she'd thought she'd lost forever. "I love you." She whispered, kissing him tenderly once again.

Tig felt every single one of his nerve endings fry when he heard those three little words coming from the pouty lips that were finally pressed back against his where they belong. He'd heard it in his head hundreds of times over the past week - having thought that it would be the only place that he would ever hear it again, until now. "I love you too, angel." He kissed her nose as he stood from the bed, looking down at her as she smiled up at him, but he felt his forehead begin to crease. Something about the heavenly scene was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, until his eyes started trailing down her chest...

Sydney knit her brows when he scowled before suddenly diving down to the ground for his kutte, frantically digging through the deep pockets. "It's a little late for a condom." She joked.

Tig chuckled, shaking his head as he opened his fist to reveal her necklace sitting in the palm of his hand. "I found it - in my room, after the job..." He explained guiltily, avoiding her eyes as he prayed that she wouldn't be too upset with him for taking what he knew to be her most prized possession. "I brought it with me, for…" He blinked as he tried to figure out why he did bring it with him...

"Good luck?" She raised a brow when he struggled to find the right words, plucking the gold chain from his calloused palm.

"Yeah… Good luck." He smiled. His answer was going to be 'safe keeping', but he supposed that good luck was the best explanation for whatever force had subconsciously driven him to take it - and it had worked.

Sydney stared at the smooth gold heart as she turned it in her fingers - a feeling that used to bring her immense comfort, but now felt foreign. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, squeezing the cold metal in her hand before looking back up at Tig, reaching for his hand where she pulled him to sit next to her.

Tig scowled as she stood, sliding the pendant off of the chain before straddling his lap where she avoided his questioning eyes as she hooked her pinky into the silver chain around his neck, and fastened the golden heart behind the spiral charm. "For good luck." She pressed her hand against his chest with a small smile.

"Syd… I can't-" He shook his head, stopping when she pressed her finger to his lips.

"You can." She nodded, pulling her hand away and replacing it with her lips. She wasn't quite sure what had made it so easy to part with the sentimental piece of jewelry. Maybe it was the fact that she had gotten through the storm without it, maybe it was because she wanted to show him that he didn't have to be guilty, maybe it was because she felt guilty, or maybe it was just him.

"My sugar mama." He mused against her lips. Any thought of the other man had now completely washed away.

;

Sydney fidgeted in her seat as she pulled her car into her usual parking spot at TM, taking a deep breath as she gripped the steering wheel before cutting the engine, trying to stop her hands from shaking. It wasn't that she wasn't thrilled to be back with Tig, she was, it was that she wasn't thrilled to have to deal with the questions that would accompany their reunion. She had no idea how everybody was going to react, including Jax, and she hoped that it wouldn't change the unspoken agreement that they had come to about their unfavorable tryst.

"You comin', babe?" She was startled by Tig, standing at her rolled down window with a smile.

"Yeah." She forced a smile in return.

"So, how much of a beating should I expect?" He asked with a knowing smirk as they walked across the lot hand in hand.

Sydney laughed, feeling the awkwardness beginning to melt away, thanks to him. "On top of what you got from Hap? Two more, maybe… Not as substantial, I'd say probably one pop each." She mused theatrically.

"Okay." He sighed. "Let's get this over with." He nodded to the door with a knowing smile, hoping to lighten the situation that he could tell was weighing on her.

As soon as they crossed the threshold, Sydney was met with Gemma's infamously discerning smirk from behind the bar. She chortled, rolling her eyes at the older woman before she felt herself being hauled into a pair of giant arms that spun her around in a bear hug.

"You didn't come to party with me last night, Princess." Donut's deep voice rumbled in her ear.

"I'll be here tonight." She laughed into his sun-bleached, dark hair.

The first reaction that Tig had to Sydney being ripped away from him, was fight or flight - heavy on the fight - and perhaps a little PTSD from his vivid dreams that had taken her from him in the first place, but the instinct to pull her back quickly faded when he recognized the Tacoma patches underneath the reaper on the back of the man's kutte. But that wasn't the only thing that he recognized as his eyes affixed to the long, wavy hair - the long, wavy hair from the mystery asshole that Sydney had been with at the coffee shop. He looked at her with a scowl once her feet were back on the ground, catching that cocky little smile as she kept her arms wrapped tightly around the Road Captain's neck. She'd never been on a date at all, she'd been catching up with her old friend.

"One, for good measure. I don't want a scene." Sydney whispered into the tall man's ear as he side-eyed Tig with a raised brow.

"Hey, man." Tig extended his arm once Donut separated from Sydney. "Didn't know you were comin' dow-" Before he could finish his greeting, he found himself being harshly knocked to the ground by the northerner's elbow. "Jesus." He shook his head, regaining his bearings as blood began to gush from his nose. "Okay… I deserved that." He nodded.

"Hell yeah you did." Donut chuckled heartily before offering his hand to the Sergeant, pulling him up into an embrace.

Tig looked around the room as he indulged the larger man, glad to see that Donut was the only visitor from Tacoma. He would've happily taken cheap shots for the rest of the day if it meant that Kozik would stay where he belonged.

Sydney watched the squabble with a small smile of amusement, as did the onlookers around the clubhouse. She was pleasantly surprised so far as everyone managed to mind their business, acknowledging her and Tig with a simple raised brow, or a small nod, and nothing more - nothing like the way that the guys back home would hassle her for every detail of her personal life. However, she had a feeling that the bliss of ignorance would be short-lived as she finally made her way over to Gemma...

"I knew that would all work out." The Matriarch smirked. It was in her nature to be smug when she was right about something, but she was genuinely happy to see that one of her oldest friends, and her newest partner in crime, were back where they belonged; together.

"And how do you know it's worked out?" Sydney couldn't help but throw in a little playful smugness of her own.

"Because there is not another man in this town that has the balls to claim you." She nodded to the fresh hickies that littered Sydney's neck, a familiar sight that she never thought she would've missed seeing. All that the younger girl could do was bite her lip, knowing that Gemma would surely get her to spill the dirty details during their next office shift together.

;

"Alright, there's a lot that's gone down over the last few days..." Clay spoke to a full table - Opie and Piney included. "First up, we need to get somewhere on this shit with Indian Hills." He looked to Tig.

"They think somethin's up, man." Tig shook his head worriedly. "Even after sticking around, they think it's just a cover."

"Do they know anything about what we did for Trammel?"

"Nah. But if it comes out, they're gonna wonder why we didn't tell them." Tig grimaced.

Jax stole a glance at Tig from where he sat across the table, getting an idea or two about what exactly Happy had meant when he'd warned him that anyone who hurt Sydney, would get worse. But the Tacoma Killer seemed to be okay with the fact that the couple had reconciled, so Jax hoped that meant that his suspicions would diminish along with the issue itself.

"We need to find out who the hell is behind this!" Piney slammed his large hand on the table.

"We need to do damage control." Sydney countered with a sigh. She hadn't met any of the members of their newest charter, nor had she paid all that much attention over the last week as to what they might have been thinking. She had been focused on why they'd even had to think anything in the first place, but that was between her and Jax, and she intended to keep it that way until they could come up with an answer. "Jax?" She volunteered the VP, knowing that it would be an easy sell after he'd felt so strongly about selling them guns in the first place.

"We can't afford to be risking anymore money or manpower right now. Indian Hills' gotten more than enough good faith from us." Clay shot down the idea as he grew more and more impatient with the charter that hadn't yet come into their own.

"Jury's not gonna buy-"

"We need to think about how they're seeing this, and how that will affect us in the future." Sydney cut Jax off before he could jump right back into the hole that he'd dug with Clay. "Right now, all they know is that we sprung guns on them in the name of protection; they hesitate, then, all of a sudden, they're being given all kinds of reasons to be needing said protection. It doesn't look good on us. They're seeing our 'good faith' as us covering our asses. We need to send somebody up there, who they trust, with some answers - bullshit or not."

"Yeah… Princess' got a point." Bobby groaned.

"Aye." Chibs agreed.

Donut's honey-coloured eyes sparkled as he watched Sydney take charge, captivating the attention of every single man in the room with her words, and not her looks. He'd always known that she was a force to be reckoned with, but he never thought that an entire charter would be able to look past their misogyny to see that - let alone the founding charter. He was bursting with pride to see her doing what he knew she was born to do.

"Next week." Clay agreed reluctantly. "After we figure out this gun shit."

"What gun shit?" Jax scowled.

"Cameron called." Clay lowered his head as he delivered the next piece of possibly threatening news - as if they needed any more of that. "He wants to meet Sunday evening at Devon's."

"I thought we were meeting McKeevy at the ports for the drop?" Chibs' brows knit.

"Guess something came up." Clay shrugged.

"Any more delays and we lose Laroy." Sydney warned, a little extra worried about the patience of the Niners after she'd missed the last drop.

"Well then I guess you'll take care of that, since you offered to be our broker. Do some of that damage control that you're so eager about." The white-haired man grinned sarcastically around his unlit cigar.

Tig used his better judgment and kept his mouth shut about Sydney meeting with a pissed off Laroy, remembering what it was that he needed to practice if he wanted this relationship to work - and if he wanted to keep his Sergeant's patch.

"Aight well, I gotta get going." Jax stood, doing some damage control of his own. "Kid gets outta the toaster today." He explained with a grin.

"You get to hold your son?" Tig smiled as a light cheering spread over the previously dreary room.

Clay smiled genuinely, happy for his stepson, but also grateful for his VP bringing some much-needed good news to the club. "At least we know one good thing's gonna happen today, huh?" He bumped the fist of the blonde man as he accepted a round of high-fives from his brothers.

;

"Woah, woah, woah. Where you goin', Kitty Cat?" Sydney smiled as she turned around to see Donut towering over her with his hands on his hips.

"Didn't you hear? I have business to tend to." She mused before continuing her walk across the lot to her car. Even though she was unhappy with the circumstances of the task, she was still excited to share it with her old friend who knew how big of a deal it was for her to have been given a task, at all.

"Charming boys let you go alone?" He raised a brow.

"Yeah. Unlike some people, they actually trust that I can handle myself." Her tone was light and playful.

"They're smart here." He smirked. "Mind if I ride along? You know… Get some pointers from the Cali Queen herself." He spoke with mock-nonchalance, and a playful look of exaggerated interest on his rugged face.

"I guess." She rolled her eyes with a smile. She knew that under the facade, he was still being protective, but she wasn't going to pass up precious time with him. Donut was probably the only man that could treat her with such lightness without offending her, baby her without making her feel like a child, and protect her while still believing in her strength.

She led him to her car, signalling for him to be quiet while she flipped her burner open. "Hi Teaj." She spoke down the line once the voice of the Niner came through. "Wanna put your boss on for me?"

"Who the hell is this?"

"You need me to talk dirty?" She raised a brow.

"Oh..." The man on the other end of the phone smirked as he realized who he was speaking to. "Hey, blondie. You know… He's gonna be a minute, you mind talkin' to me while you wait?"

"Only if you talk dirty." She rasped with a smirk of her own, trying not to laugh as she heard Laroy cussing out his henchman for fucking around on the business phone.

"Yeah?" The gang leader panted as he finally pried the flip phone from Teaj's grip.

"Hi, Mr. Wayne. Care to meet a girl for a drink?"

"Don't know. You gonna send some bitch boy in your place?"

Sydney rolled her eyes when she heard exactly what she'd been hoping to avoid. "Cesar Chavez. One hour." She snapped the phone shut, and began the drive to Oakland.

"So, you think I hit him hard enough?" Donut finally felt like it was acceptable to bring up Tig after over half an hour of laughs and good conversation, looking over at her with a tentative smirk.

"He might need another one." She met his eyes with a knowing smirk of her own.

"He fix things?" She nodded silently, still not feeling completely comfortable talking about the situation. "Good." He nodded. "I hope that he came grovelling at your feet with the apology that my princess deserves."

"Close enough." She laughed, he came alright... "So, no lecture about how he's an asshole, or how he's got the clap, or how shocking it is that I went for him?"

"Nah." Donut shrugged. "I'll always think you're too good for everyone but me." He winked. "But I know exactly why you went for him, and I gotta say, he's a good second choice." She laughed at his jokes, wishing that this was the way that she had to talk about her relationship, all of the time; fun, and lighthearted. "Gotta admit, though... I always thought you and Hap were gonna hook up one day."

"Try telling him that." She scoffed. "You know he has a girlfriend now?

"What?" His long hair shook as he whipped his head around in disbelief. "No way..."

"Yup." She nodded smugly. "Not that he tells me anything about her." She rolled her eyes.

"That poor girl… He's still pulling sweetbutts left and right." Sydney chuckled, but she quickly felt it fading as the simple words reminded her of what she'd done, which only reminded of what Tig might do. After his first trip to Nevada, that worry had been put to bed - literally - but after his second one, she'd become painfully aware of how easy it was to go back on promises, even ones that she'd only ever made to herself. She shook the thought away as she pulled to the side of the road, glad to be arriving at their destination where she left Donut standing by the car as she sauntered towards the park bench that Laroy was sitting at.

"Hi, Mr. Wayne." She greeted with her hand on his shoulder as she rounded the bench, taking a seat next to him where she leaned over to wave at Teaj who was standing across the field by their black Escalade.

Laroy glared between her and his right-hand who was grinning like a schoolboy as he returned her wave. "I'm not smilin'." He narrowed his eyes as she continued to ignore him.

"Well, I'm here to change that." She straightened up.

"Just like you were supposed to be at the last drop?" He raised a brow.

"You didn't seem to have too much of a problem with it." She shrugged.

"This was not our deal, Cali Queen. " He mocked with his finger in her face, hoping to wipe that smug little smile off of it.

Sydney's lips flattened into a straight line, not daring to flinch as he wagged his digit between her eyes as she glanced down at it, then looked back up into his. "You got your guns, at a discount, and you didn't have to deal with Clay." She reminded him as he stared at her, saying nothing.

"So, why did you want to meet?" He finally caved when it became clear that she wasn't going to.

"We might have another delay." Sydney dropped her facade to deliver the news, sighing as she looked out over the playground.

"You're joking, right?" Laroy laughed.

She shook her head, inhaling sharply. "Feds are on us, we needed a cover. It was about protecting both parties - which is what this potential delay is about; protection. I'll make sure you get a generous 'customer appreciation' price if it ends up being late."

"Little white boys gonna let you squander away their cash to a black man?" He scoffed.

"'Little white boys' are gonna do whatever I ask them to do, the same way that you're going to wait patiently for your guns, while I get this taken care of." She snarked, ending the conversation as she got to her feet.

Donut smirked as Sydney made her way back from what he could tell had been a tense meeting. "Damage control?" He nodded from where he leant against the car with his arms crossed.

"Damage control…" She nodded hopefully as she watched them drive away, squealing in surprise when Donut swiftly leant down and lifted her over his shoulder, spinning her around before pulling her down into a hug.

"I'm so proud of you." He whispered into her hair.

There weren't a lot of phrases in the english language that could truly touch Sydney, but hearing someone say that they were proud of her, was one of them. Especially when that someone had been with her from the beginningm and had seen her at her worst.

"We doin' this boss?" Teaj looked to Laroy from where he sat wearily in the passenger seat.

"Nah..." Laroy shook his head as he weighed his heavy options. "We get our cheap guns first."

;

Sydney returned with Donut less than an hour later, happy to see that even though the atmosphere in the chapel had been bleak, the atmosphere around the bar was lively as everyone gathered to celebrate Abel's progress with Jax. It was only midday, but crowds were already littering the compound where hoards of people stood around with beers in hand. Tig sat at a picnic table with Bobby, Clay, Jax and Gemma, and Half-Sack sat by the ring with Cherry perched happily in his lap, talking with Chibs and Juice.

"Hey." Tig stood once he noticed the pair approaching, walking over where he put his arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek, nodding formally to the Tacoma man. "You want a drink?"

Sydney smiled, once again feeling any trace of discomfort wash away as soon as he was touching her. "Yeah, just hold on, I'll come with you." She spoke softly as she ran her hand over his stomach. She could tell that he was on his best behaviour, trying to prove that he was worthy not only to her, but to his brothers as well.

"How'd it go?" Jax nodded.

"Guess we'll see… Might cost us another discount." She grimaced, still unhappy with the situation.

"Eh, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Clay shrugged from where he sat with his arm around his wife. "Today, we celebrate." He held up his beer.

"When does Abel get out?" Sydney asked Jax.

"Later tonight." He grinned. He was beyond excited to hold his son for the first time, but he would be lying if he said that a small part of that excitement didn't have to do with the fact that he would be seeing Tara. He didn't know why he still wanted to see her after what she'd done, but he supposed that wanting to see her after she had fucked him over, wasn't exactly a new development. There was a part of him, deep down, that no amount of booze or pussy could silence - a part of him that longed for the purity that she brought to his often dark and grim life.

Sydney nodded with a friendly smile before letting Tig lead her into the clubhouse, clutching his hand tightly as they crossed the threshold. "What do you want?" He asked as they approached the relatively empty bar, since everybody had opted to gather outside during the hot day.

"You." She looked up at him with those glossy eyes, feeling abnormally clingy once she realized that she wanted nothing more than to curl up in his arms for the rest of the day, rather than joining the party - something that she wasn't used to. Maybe it was all of the ignored feelings catching up to her, maybe she was just feeling sentimental having Donut around, maybe it was the need for the comfort of something familiar, or maybe it was because the last time that she drank, she'd broken down and perpetually embarrassed herself, and she needed a stark reminder that she was no longer in that position.

"You okay?" He brought his hand to her face, tilting her chin up so that she couldn't look away.

She nodded. "I love you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her nose into his chest.

Tig's heart swelled so big in his ribcage, that he actually worried it might explode. "I love you too, baby." He lifted her off of the ground, hugging her tightly as her legs wrapped around his waist, capturing her waiting lips in a kiss. "We can go do something else, if you want… Just me and you." He whispered into her hair, having been on high alert and wanting to show her that he was capable of tending to her every need without question, it hadn't taken much for him to recognize that she wasn't feeling as comfortable around everyone as usual.

"No, it's okay." She shook her head, forcing herself to work through the vulnerability instead of fighting it off. "Donut would kill me if I skipped out on a party two nights in a row." She chuckled. "I'm gonna go home and change..." She glanced down at her casual outfit that consisted of black denim shorts, a white tank top, and Converse.

"Okay, you want me to come?"

"Nah, it's okay." She shook her head. "I need to talk to Hap… Try and save whatever's left of your face." She winked as she looked over his twice-battered complexion.

"Okay." He nodded with a small chuckle, kissing her temple.

"Are we staying here tonight?" Her hopeful eyes sparkled up at him from where she stood so innocently on her tiptoes in the shoes that greatly exaggerated their height difference.

"Yeah..." His lips broke into a grin. "That's what I was thinking…" He nodded slowly. He hadn't thought about it at all; her placing her trust back in him that quickly - and he didn't mind if she wasn't, he'd meant what he said about proving for the rest of his life that she was what he wanted. "We can drink, and then get ready here tomorrow, if you wanted to bring some of your stuff back…"

"Okay." She smiled, leaning up to kiss him again.

;

Happy rode silently in the passenger seat of Sydney's car on the way to her house, unsure why she'd wanted him to accompany her in choosing an outfit for what he assumed was just another Saturday night at the clubhouse, but he didn't ask. It's not like he had anything better to do.

"Thought you'd wanna bring Donut." He commented as they pulled into the driveway.

"I already drove with Donut today." She answered with a smug smirk as she stepped out of the vehicle, giving him a taste of his own medicine with the blunt statement that did absolutely nothing to move the conversation along.

Happy grumbled, following her out of the car and into the house where she led him up the stairs and into the bedroom that looked nearly identical to how she'd had it arranged back at the house that she and her dad had shared in San Bernardino. "This is the first time I've been here." He commented as he sat himself down on the foot of her bed.

"You've never asked to come over." She rolled her eyes before disappearing into the closet.

"You work shit out with Tig?"

"I did..." She confirmed as she wiggled a silky, olive green skirt up her legs, getting no response. "I thought that's what you wanted?" She stood in the doorway with a scowl as she pulled a satin black tanktop over her head.

"It is." He nodded.

"Well you don't sound too happy about it." She scoffed, crouching down where she began rooting through the crowded shoe rack for her heeled combat boots.

"He hurt you, that doesn't make me happy."

"Well make up your fuckin' mind." She giggled as she pulled on the chunky shoes, clunking along the light-coloured carpet on her way over to her vanity to spruce up her makeup.

"It's important to me that he respects you."

The simple statement flooded Sydney with the bitter reminder that she was trying so desperately to escape, the one that now she couldn't stop thinking about, no matter how much love-bombing she covered it up with. "Me dirias?" She turned to face him. Somewhere between the decision to take Tig back, and the effort that she was putting into being transparent, the question slipped past her lips before she could catch it.

Happy's brow creased as he recognized the sincerity, and rarely seen vulnerability behind her eyes. "I don't rat on my brothers."

"Do you lie to your brothers?" She raised a brow.

"You ain't a brother."

"When I am." She rolled her eyes.

"It'll be different." Happy shook his head.

"So that's a no then." She surmised with a nod.

"I ain't a rat." He shook his head. "But I ain't gonna let him disrespect you in front of me, either."

"What about the run clause?" Sydney forced herself to think only about the task at hand, and not about how easy it had been to get him to crack - she needed to keep the smirk off of her face if she wanted a real answer.

"I ain't the one in a relationship." He shrugged. "Run clause don't mean shit to me."

"Damn." She scoffed. "I feel sorry for that girlfriend of yours." She mused as she turned back around to face the mirror.

"We ain't together." He huffed, stomping downstairs to wait for her.

;

Tig tidied his clothing-littered dorm room while he waited for Sydney to return. It stung to see all of the empty drawers in his dresser where her stuff had once been, but he just kept telling himself that it meant nothing, because she was coming back.

But what if she wasn't coming back?

He shook his head, trying to shake the hateful voice away. He sat back onto his bed, leaning over where he dug in his nightstand for the other half of the strip of photos from the fair - the one thing that had always been able to chase away his doubts. He placed them along the mirror with his other photos, but that only made the evidence blend in among the other mistakes of his past.

"No, no, no." He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. "Dammit." He slammed his fist down against the dresser, slowly raising his eyes back up to the photos as he gathered his strength in another attempt.

But that was when he saw it; the flash of the camera reflecting off of Sydney's necklace in the picture; the necklace that meant so much to her, the necklace that she'd given to him. He took a deep breath, folding his hand over the charm around his neck where the nasty voices began to fade. She was coming back.

;

Me dirias? - "Would you tell me?"

Song for this chapter

Gingerbread Man - Melanie Martinez