Sleepless Nights

Thirty Four

"Mark please. Go." I said from behind Joey who was standing at his front door.
"Mark, she said to leave."
"But-"
"No." Joey said, holding his hand up.
Mark sighed and stormed back to his car, slamming the door and flying down the street. Joey sighed and shut the door.
"What am I supposed to do about this?"
"You two definitely need to talk."
"I'm not ready."
"Anna, it's been a week. You can't sleep, Mark's a mess, just go talk to him."
"And if it ends up being an argument?"
"You know it's going to be an argument. Just because you argue, doesn't mean you're not a happy couple."
"But with Daniel-"
"Daniel hit you. I don't want to listen to you even think about comparing Mark to him."
"Joey-"
"Go, talk to Mark and go see Shane."
I sighed and he placed the keys in my hand and walked me outside of his door and shut it behind me. I turned and I heard the lock click. I rolled my eyes and walked to my car. I decided to go see Shane first, it was going to go better than seeing Mark, and if I went to see Mark first, I probably wouldn't see Shane.

~~•••~~
I knocked on the door and waited patiently . The door opened and Shane gave me a small smile.
"Hey girl." He said softly, rubbing his jaw, which still had a faint bruise. I didn't know what else to do but throw my arms around him and hug him.
"I'm so sorry."
"It's okay."
"No it's not."
He squeezed me lightly and invited me inside.
"How's Mark?" He asked leaning against the counter.
"I haven't spoke to him that much."
"You definitely need to. Sure, things got out of hand, but at the end of the day, he's the father of your child, and you've been through so much already, this is just a small bump in the road."
I nodded, not knowing how to reply.
"When are you going to talk to him?" I asked, taking a drink of Shane's soda.
"When I do, I want you and him to be on good terms."
"I planned on seeing him after I leave here."
"Let me guess, Joey locked you out?"
"He did." Shane chuckled softly.
"Speaking of Joey, how's your Joey?"
"I haven't seen him in awhile, especially after-"
"I get it."
He gave me a small smile and nodded.
"Why don't you go see Mark? I still need to shower and clean up a little."
"Okay."
"You can come back after, unless you decide to stay."
I nodded and gave him a hug before he walked me out.
"Bye Shane."
"Bye Anna."

                           ~~•••~~
  "Baby." Mark sighed out as he opened the door. "Please come in." I walked in and he shut the door behind me. Chica came flying down the hall, her tail wagging a mile an hour. "Chica, go lay down." She darted back down the hallway and I heard her go up the stairs.
"We need to talk."
Mark nodded and pulled out a chair for me at the kitchen table. He sat in front of me, twiddling with his fingers.
"Mark, what possessed you to think that was a good idea?"
"I don't know. I just snapped. I regretted it as soon as we walked outside."
I nodded. "I miss you so much. Please come home. I'm so sorry for what I did. I know you don't like fighting, and I did it anyway, I'm such an ass."
I reached across the table and grabbed his hand.
"You're not an ass. People make mistakes but you shouldn't be apologizing to me. You know who you need to go see." He closed his eyes and gave me a small nod. "After you leave Shane's, you can come see me at Joey's okay?"
"See you? You won't be coming home?"
"I'm coming home." He sighed with relief and disappeared upstairs and returned with my ring in his grasp.
"Anna, in all my life-"
"You don't have to propose again you goof." He laughed and slid the ring on my finger.
"Now, go see Shane, come by Joey's, and we'll talk more when we get back here okay?"
"Yes ma'am." He kissed me passionately, his lips tasting like peppermint and something else, I couldn't make out what it was, but it was distinctly him.
"I love you so much." He said, snaking his arms around my waist.
"I love you."

                           ~~•••~~
  "You made up?" Joey asked as he stood in front of the stove, watching the food he was making.
"Yeah."
"Good. That's great." He turned off the stove and put the grilled cheese on another plate on the table.
"Come eat." I walked in the kitchen and sat down in front of him, he wanted to break the tension by bringing up old times. I almost choked on my food when he brought up Christmas.
"Why did you think it was a good idea to dress as Santa?"
"Because Mark had that costume lying around, he wasn't going to do it."
"But why did you think it was a good idea drunk?" I said chuckling.
"Because when I went upstairs I saw it and I was like 'Yes, this is it.'"
"Joey, you fell down the stairs after you shouted Merry Christmas."
He laughed so hard he held his side, wiping the tears away.
"It was a lot of fun."
"Until Felix wanted the costume."
"He definitely would've fell down the stairs."
"How are Marzia and him?"
"They're good."
"When are they going to get married?"
"Felix is all about taking things slow."
"And you're not?"
"In the short time I've been with Mark, we've definitely went through enough to last a lifetime, there wasn't time to take things slow."
"Do you miss the old days?"
"No, because nothing has changed. Sure, we went through some bad stuff, but I still have my friends and I still have Mark and now I have Jackson."
"What are we doing for your birthday?"
"I don't know. That's all Mark."
"I'm sure he'll go over the top."
A knock on the door interrupted our conversation, I assumed it was Mark. The chair scraped as Joey got out and walked towards the front door.
"Hey Mark."
"Hey."
"What happened to your hand?"
"I cut it. No big deal." The door shut and the footsteps of the two echoed towards the kitchen.
"Hey Anna."
"Hey Mark." He sat beside me and Joey opened the fridge and tossed him a bottle of water and got himself a bottle of beer.
"Anything new?" Joey asked and Mark shook his head.
"All I've done is look for a new game to play."
"Why don't you play the new Outlast?" I asked.
"Yeah! You know that's Anna's favorite game."
"I watched Felix play it. After he finished he gave the game to me."
"Do you still have it?"
"No, it's at Felix's."
"Dang, I really wanted to play it." Joey said.
"Maybe Mark will let you play it?"
"Yeah I will." Mark put his hand on my thigh and squeezed it lightly.
"I hate to cut this short, but I have to go to Matthias', we're filming a Team Edge video today."
"Okay Joey. I'll text you later." He smiled and disappeared down the hall and returned with my bag.
"Here you are sir." He handed the bag to Mark, who looked relieved to be holding my bag.
"You ready to go home?" He asked, a smile on his face.
"I'm ready."