...Comes From Some Other Beginnings End (Chris Evans A/U)

.33.

Opal POV

I didn't really need to check in on anything at the inn, but I needed to get out of the house. The little time Chris has actually spent at home leads to us bickering with one another. We're using our ears more than our eyes, listening to each other's words and twisting them in our own minds, rather than seeing the fact that we're both hopelessly broken people not truly mourning the loss of our unborn son.

I caught the look my husband gave me when he noticed my slummy attire. It's not very like me, and he knows I certainly wouldn't go into work or a doctor's appointment looking anything less than at least half way put together. But, he hasn't given me much reason to want to look more like myself, either.

Take the earlier conversation. I mention coming in to the inn and he assumes I'm not appreciative of the job he or Mila have been putting forth. I never said anything like that. But, I also didn't tell him that I just needed a bit of normalcy after weeks of closing myself off to our outside world.

Then there's the fact that he's picked up yet another shift, keeping him away from home another full day. I'm not even sure if he's sleeping anymore at all. If he is, it's not with me.

But the twist of the dagger came when he didn't tell me he loved me. Rather focusing in on me asking him to be careful by speaking condescendingly to me and saying, 'aren't I always?'

Even now, sitting in my office, I don't want to be here. I want to be in the arms of my husband. I want to have a hand sitting over my swollen belly. I want to be feeling the sweet little nudges of my son's hands or feet. I'd even gladly take him bouncing on my bladder. 

  But God had another plan. One that I don't and never will understand. 

  There is such a void in my life now. All of the excitement I was feeling in preparation for our little boy's arrival has now been replaced with an emptiness that is stronger than when I lost Pops, stronger than when I pushed Chris away from me. 

  Chris. He was always the one who could bring me back to myself, even when he gave me space I knew that he was still right there, waiting for me to come to terms on my own that I wanted, that I needed him. But in the midst of those issues, he wasn't dealing with anything like he is now.  

  If I said the words out loud to him, 'I need you,' I'm not sure of the response he'd give me.  Would he come running like always, hold me against him while making sure that my ear is right over his heartbeat? Would he give me random facts to keep my mind occupied on anything other than what is eating away at me? Or my biggest fear, would he ignore my pleas to save me?

  He's hurting as much as I am, I'm not stupid to think differently. But right now he's becoming a man that I don't know. A man I'm not sure I want to know.

  I stare at the computer screen, contemplating buying a plane ticket to Jacksonville under the guise of checking on Magnolia. I've had more loss than most people my age will experience in their lifetime. 

Running away won't solve anything.

  Instead, I pick up the phone and call the counselor I'd been seeing since moving here, requesting another meeting in the hope that she can tell me how to navigate this new season in my life. 

  And prayerfully save my marriage.

Chris POV

  I slam my locker shut, the loud bang making it ricochet rather than close. It earns me a couple of extra long glances from others in the precinct. "Got a problem?" I ask one young rookie who looks like he's about to crap himself. 

  "No, Sergeant." He scurries out before I can question him any further. 

  "What the hell was that, Evans?" Spencer asks sternly, walking in with Cooper behind him. 

  "I was doing my job. Is there a problem with that now a days? You two should've had my six and went with me."  I can feel the vein in my neck protruding the angrier I get, heat rising from my chest. 

  Cooper takes a hesitant step towards me as I sit on the bench. "There's protocol, man. You know that. You know it better than any of us. You broke protocol and could've gotten hurt."

  "Or worse, Chris. We could all be standing along a hospital hallway right now, watching your damn gurney making its way down to an OR. We could be having a gut wrenching conversation with Ope right now, all because you went in with guns blazing instead of waiting for the appropriate back up!" Spencer yells, walking closer until he's leaning down to me, face to face. 

  I stand up, shoving him against his chest and sending him flying back into the lockers behind him. "Back off! I'm your commanding officer, Spence. Don't forget that! Back off!"

  "Then act like it!"

  I saw red, my fist curling at my side ready to lay out one of my closest friends. I feel a hand gripping my shoulder and I jerk away. "Back off, Coop."

  "You got lucky today, Evans. You're going home to your wife. But you keep pulling crap like that and it'll eventually have a whole other outcome. I don't know why you suddenly have a death wish, but get it together!" Spencer walks past me, slamming my locker once more as he passes. 

  I stand with my hands on my hips, a challenging glare towards Cooper, silently begging for him to come at me as well.  "How long they'd give you?" 

  "Two weeks," I snap through gritted teeth as I grab my bag from the floor. 

  "You may not see it now, but that'll be good for you and Ope. More time to heal so maybe you'll come back with a clearer mind and make better choices."

  I cast him one last glare before I shoving the door open, walking away as the thud reverberates among the precinct walls. 

*Unedited

*Looks like the couple is about to be thrust into time with one another. Will it help them heal, or make things worse?