Kennedy exhaled through her nose and looked up at Ian's worried green eyes. Reaching up, she let her hand trace his jaw before cupping his cheek and he subconsciously leaned in.
"I can't choose for you, Ian. If you want to go and run away with Mi...
Tossing her keys into the bowl in the kitchen, Kennedy rolled her neck and sighed. Ian had returned to Chicago a few hours earlier, and their goodbye was a bitter one.
"Are you sure you don't want to run?" Ian asked as Kennedy's car drove to the airport. Mickey was already there, obvious from his texts that he was getting impatient.
"I'm tired of running around Ian. I'm just tired. It's not good for any of us," She sorrowfully looked at him, "I'm sorry."
"I'm not giving up on you. Someway or another we will be together." He rubbed her knuckles with his thumb as he held her hands and those green eyes that she loved so much gazed into hers.
Smiling sadly, she nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder, trying to preserve the feeling of his body next to hers.
"Please be safe and stay out of trouble." She get his head rest on top of hers.
"I'll try my best. You just take care of our boy......and Kennedy?" Ian lifted his head to properly look at her, "don't let him hurt you again. If he does, leave. Regardless if you return to me or not. Leave. Promise me you'll leave."
Nodding her head, she sniffed, leaning into his touch as he wiped her tears, "I promise."
A pair of hands suddenly touched her shoulders and started massaging them, getting at all the knots and causing her body to sag with relief. He chuckled, and leaned closer, his warm breath tickling her ear.
"Tired?" She nodded and he let go of her shoulder to pour her a glass of sparkling water.
Accepting the glass handed to her, she turned to face him while he leaned on the counter opposite of her. "I'm sorry for the other day. I've been under a lot of stress lately and dad's just been on my ass. He gave the job to Jake and I just.....took it out on you." Tony sighed and ran a hand down his face.
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"Okay." Kennedy watched him as he gripped the table tighter.
"Ma suggested, that we go to couples therapy. Try to work out what's going on. I do love you, Kennedy," he looked at her, "and I want us to be better together. We're having a baby and I want to be a better father than mine ever was. I want to do right by you, Shiloh and the baby. I'm just asking for a chance to prove that to you."
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"Tony......." Kennedy put down her glass and bit her lip, "do you remember when we first met? My sister brought me to your cousin Bella's wedding. My sister left me alone there. I was so frightened. There were so many people, some of them, colder than others. My hands were shaking, I thought I would die and you walked over to me and you smiled," Kennedy smiled at Tony whose own lips quirked into a smile, "and I knew you were a good man."
"I've been such an asshole to you.....I've hurt you, physically and mentally. How can any apology change that?"
"We're all sinners in one way or another....You are a man, like any other. Our lives aren't always meant to be happy all the time, but that doesn't mean I don't love you and that we can't be happy." She smiled shyly at him. For all his physical, Tony had never cheated on her.
"You're too good for me angel." Tony mumbled, looking away, seemingly at war with himself.
"If Jesus can forgive the men who nailed him to the cross, than surely I can forgive you." Kennedy placed her hands in his chest and leaned in, bringing his lips to hers.
"Ma was right, getting together with a good Catholic girl is best." He joked, arms pulling her closer before settling on her waist.
She would try. She knew Tony would try. For the sake of their unborn child, and the love she knew she had for him, she wouldn't abandon their relationship.
She had tried, so many times with Ian, to try to look the other way, to adapt to a life that wasn't one she was accustomed to, to forgive him over and over again. But she couldn't anymore.
Here, she had a man who loved her, who just didn't know better. Who came from a culture that she knew about, knew about the horrors and the stress that being apart of a mob would take on a man. She didn't excuse Tony's behavior, but she knew that with help, he would stop.
She still held a candle burning for Ian though. Life was unpredictable and no doubt her path would cross with the redheaded Gallagher again in what way she didn't know, but she knew there was no chance for a romantic relationship with Ian in the near future.
But now, she would focus to the task that she had: rebuilding her relationship with Tony and preparing to carry their child for the next eight months.
Please note. I NEVER said this story was going to be fluffy and the guy meets the girl and they're together forever etc. in real life, people break up, don't see each other for years and get back together. I'm being as realistic as possible. Also, Kennedy doesn't have Stockholm Syndrome, she knows it's Tony's father's influence, the Mob and the stress of the job. I'm not saying he had a right to hit her, but he genuinely wants to get better.
