Broken

Part 6

Sophia's Point of View

Angel held the apartment door open for me as I lugged my one bag in and dropped it on the floor by the front door. Uncle Hank had refused to let me go back home to get my stuff so I didn't have much to move in. I had appreciated that Hank didn't let me go back because I didn't think I would be emotionally ready to deal with going back to the scene of the crime. The cops were still investigating, but once they are done and they get the place cleaned up I would be able to go back and go through everything.

I collapsed on the couch and let out a big sigh as I looked up at Angel, staring down at me with a small smile on his face. It had been a long and emotional day and I was done. I was ready to close my eyes and forget about everything.

"Thanks again, Angel, for letting me stay here," I said quietly, smiling back at him, "but you don't have to give up your bed. I can sleep on the couch. It really is quite comfy."

"Not going to happen, Soph," he replied as he grabbed my bag and took it into his bedroom, "I can sleep like a baby anywhere. You have been sharing a small trailer with my brother and sleeping on what I can only assume is an uncomfortable table that turns into a bed. You deserve the bed."

He wasn't wrong. I smiled to myself as I looked around the living room before following him into the bedroom. He was struggling to pull some clean sheets onto the bed and I couldn't help but smile. He didn't strike me as the domestic type.

"Angel, I can do that," I said with a smile, "I don't mind."

He stood up and looked over me, relief written all over his face.

We stood there awkwardly, neither one of us really knowing what to say. He shoved his hands in his pockets and I grabbed my bag and put it on the bed, preparing to unpack it. Before I had a chance to get very far, Angel had closed the distance between us in a couple strides and wrapped me in his arms. He buried his head in my hair and I wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Angel...what's wrong?" I asked quietly, his behavior catching me slightly off guard. It moved me. I held him close as he slowly came apart in my arms.

"I just...I hate what this whole situation is doing to you. I hate the way you almost came apart today during the interview. It broke me, Soph," he murmured, "Seeing you in that hospital bed and seeing what he almost did to you...I was scared, worried that I was going to lose you."

I pulled away from him slightly and cupped his face in my hands. Looking into his deep brown eyes, I could see the pain he was trying so hard to hide.

"But look at me now," I whispered, "I am alive and I am here with you. It's going to be hard sometimes, but I've got you and the club. I know I'm going to get through this."

"I can't lose you, Sophia," he said as he pulled me back into his arms.

"You aren't going to," I replied, "I promise you, I'm not going anywhere."

I held him close and ran my hand through his hair. In the time I had known him, I had only seen him this vulnerable one other time and that was when his mother was murdered nine years earlier. It moved me that he should feel this way when it came to me. I buried my head in his t-shirt and we stood there for a quite a long time until Angel finally pulled away and swiped at his eyes.

"Look, I hate to do this your first night here," Angel stated, "but I have to be somewhere tonight and I won't be home until early morning. EZ is coming with me so I gave Laura a call. I figured you two could have a girls night."

"Where are you going?" I asked curiously already knowing that he wasn't going to give me an honest answer.

"Don't worry about that, Soph," he replied as he turned to leave the bedroom, "It's just some club business."