Saving Natasha

PART 66: YESTERDAY IS HISTORY

NATASHAS POV

I lay in the uncomfortable hospital while some psychologist started questioning me. I soon got annoyed at him because he was asking indirect questions.

"Ok enough. Yeah I know. I kinda went off the rails a bit. But wouldn't you. If you were brought back to the place of all of your childhood trauma. Where you were literally tortured, day and night, no breaks, no days off, no birthdays, no holidays, no Christmas.Being starved and dehydrated, physically and mentally abused. Imagine being told you hallucinated a person. A whole person with a life and a family. Imagine the what you'd be thinking after being told they weren't real. I was terrified. But I'm fine now. Perfectly normal. And right now, I really just want to go home to my own bed and spend time with my fiancé"

He stared at me blankly for a second. Startled by my sudden confession. He looked down at a page on his lap, and then back up to me. He slowly walked out the door, still looking shocked. Steve walked in a few minutes later and my whole mood changed from grumpy and fed up, to happy and almost childlike, in a matter of milliseconds.

"You really did a number on that poor psychologist. He looked pretty shaken up." He smiled up at me as he sat down.

"And that was all just in the past two days"

"You're so strong Nat. I don't know how you deal with everything and still manage to be so, happy"

"I was trained in dealing with emotion. To process it quickly and then lock it away. Leaving it hidden away out of sight, out of mind. All my sadness and anger locked away. All my happiness and joy locked away. You brought the key to release my happiness. And you created your own little box just for you, filled to the brim with all my love for you"

He carefully lifted my arm, holding my hand loosely. I looked down at my bandaged arms and felt tears trying to fall.

"I brought this"

He held up the engagement ring. It dangled on a long thin chain. He carefully pulled it off and I offered him my hand. He gently slipped the ring on.

"I wore it on this" he lifted up the chain "when you were gone. It kept you close to my heart."

His eyes filled with tears.

"Hey. Look at me. The last two weeks have been......a lot, they've been painful, and i know I haven't made things easy. But i didn't mean to. I'm sorry Steve I didn't mean to hurt you" a tear slipped down my cheek. I felt so guilty

"Hey. Look at me. Don't you dare be sorry. This was not your fault. This is more than you, more than me. This is bigger than the both of us."

(Play the video)

"Listen, bad things happen and you cant do anything about it right?"

I wanted to argue with that point, but I wanted to see where he was going with this "right"

"Wrong! When the world turns it's back on you, you turn you're back on the world. When life gets you down you know what you gotta do?"

"I don't know what you gotta do"

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. You gotta put your past behind you"

"But it still hurts"

"Ooh yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it."

"Yesterday.."

"Is history" he interrupted "tomorrow is a mystery, but today...is a gift. That is why it is called a present"

I smiled at him.

God. I love this man.