Her body was thin and fragile, even skinnier than she was in that picture that she'd posted just a few weeks ago and I was desperate to get her healthy, to make her eat even if it was made by me- a terrible cook, a fact which she would never let me forget.
The doctor sent over a heart healthy diet plan for her to stick to and she wasn't resistant to that at all. The one thing she was resistant to, however, was the restrictions on her physical activity.
She wanted out of the apartment, and she wanted to go for a run, even on the very first day that I brought her home.
"I don't see what a little fresh air would hurt," she'd said and I rolled my eyes and pulled her to the bedroom back to the bed where she needed to stay most of the day.
"Why don't you just focus on your schoolwork. What's going on with this case? Tell me about it."
"I've already done a quick overview. It looks like he was murdered in cold blood, but the only suspect that they have has an alibi for the night in question. The prosecution is planning on ripping apart his alibi but it seems ironclad to me. I don't know why they're pursuing my professor's client anyway, when it's clear there's no motive."
As she rattled off the details of her work, I felt pride shine within me. This was something that she was meant to do, and I was so glad that she'd finally given up her drug of choice for something healthy.
I didn't know what I would have done if she had told me that she couldn't give up her vigilante ways...I probably would've tied her down to the bed and kept her from going out and putting her in danger, although she probably would have liked that given her preferences in the bedroom, something we'd spoken about at length considering we couldn't actually act on our desires.
Once her doctor cleared her to leave the house, the first place I took her, after grabbing takeout from her favorite restaurant, of course, I'd taken her to my favorite place in the city.
I set up a picnic in the park and we huddled together in a thick, fluffy blanket in front of a small pond and watched as ice grew along the foliage gathered by the bank, everything frosted with a touch of cold but still dipped in honey golden sunshine that peaked across the horizon behind us.
Her hand skimmed mine and my heartbeat raced as I took her in with my eyes. I didn't know how I'd gotten so lucky- to have someone all to myself and yet so perfectly fit for me in every way.
She was stubborn and passionate and caring and so kind, she was the warmth to my cold, like the sunshine melting the frost on the grass below us.
She had melted my icy core with her love, and I was more than okay with that side of me being forgotten forever, so long as I had her.
All too soon, our perfect day was over when my heart fell into my stomach. We had just stood up to gather our trash from our impromptu picnic and she hissed out in harsh pain.
"What's wrong?"
Her face crumpled as she gripped her chest, her breathing ragged. I gripped her around the waist as she fell slack against me and to say that I was panicking was an understatement.
Her pallor grew ashen and that once glorious glow behind her eyes fell dull and for a moment I thought she was dying in my arms, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Finally, she sucked in a glorious breath and coughed out a few times while grasping my hands around her waist tightly.
"What just happened? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
"No, no, it's happened a few times. I have to record it on the heart monitor, though."
"Wait, this has happened before? When you've been home with me?"
She attempted to gather her bearings and I watched as guilt flitted across her face.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't want to worry you. The doctor said that this would happen, it's not killing me. I have medicine and once they get the data from me wearing this monitor, they'll be able to figure out my condition even better. You don't have to worry about me, I swear."
"I might not need to worry but I do. That's what it means to love someone, you worry about them when they're perfectly healthy and especially when they're going through something that you're going through right now. You can't tell me not to worry, Lydia."
Her hands met my face, frigid with the temperature outside and I cursed myself. I knew I shouldn't have taken her outside, she was still healing.
I wrapped my fingers around her own that were cupping my face and was surprised when she brought her lips to mine.
The kiss was soft, smooth, our lips eclipsing each other's in a gentle and languid connection that had my head spinning by the time she pulled away.
"I just didn't want you to worry too much. These episodes are normal, the doctor said so."
"Okay, just...don't scare me like that again."
She cracked a smile and the sight was spellbinding.
"I promise."
We walked back to the main road and I called a ride share to take us back to the apartment even though it was only a five minute walk. I didn't want to take my chances.
I remembered the feel of her hand clasped in mine, memorizing the feelings that she brought about in me. The thought that I could lose her at any minute and the fact that there was nothing I could do about that just made every moment all the more important.
"So...I need to take a shower. Are you going to make me sit on that stupid chair you got for me in there?"
Emmett's laugh reverberated through the bedroom and echoed through the ensuite bathroom that I was currently in trying to decide if he was really serious.
"What if you have an episode in the shower? You won't let me go in there to help you so this is the next best option."
"Yeah because we both know we'll be breaking doctor's orders if you do go in there with me."
I locked the door behind me just to be sure and let the water fall on my shoulders.
The past three days with Emmett were complete paradise. We'd only been interrupted in our domestic bliss twice from the outside world. Once was my mother trying to get me to hang out with her and the other was a call from Emmett's agent about renegotiating his contract.
Apparently being the MVP of the Super Bowl had its perks, and one of them was money money money.
I grew up with money, so that didn't phase me. What did, however, was the fame that came with being with someone like Emmett.
The day that I got out of the hospital, TMZ was there and they photographed everything, including Emmett carrying me bridal style into his truck and the press had had a field day with that one.
The headlines were accusing Emmet of moving on too fast from Sofia even though she'd cheated on him, but I knew that wasn't the case.
Being around each other twenty four seven gave us a lot of topics to talk about, and one of them included how he had used her to try and get over me but it never worked, and eventually they had become friends with benefits and used each other, as she just wanted to show the world that she was over her ex even though they got back together as soon as her and Emmett 'broke up'.
I wasn't ready for the swarm of paparazzi at the apartment when we'd arrived but Emmett kept me carefully hidden for which I was more than grateful considering I wasn't looking my best.
And then it was just the two of us and Emmett's horrible cooking, but then I wasn't so great at it either so we were basically screwed. It was a good thing that Emmett had enough money to order out almost every night otherwise we'd have starved.
He got his groceries delivered and although he hadn't had to leave without me just yet, I knew that he'd be inviting Amalia or my family members over to keep me company in case he did.
I was grateful that he didn't treat me like I was made of glass at first, but after the incident at the picnic three days into my restricted activity week, everything changed...hence the chair in the shower.
It was almost endearing that he cared so much about my wellbeing to do something like that but it made me almost feel smothered.
I spent the rest of the shower contemplating the case, the details leaving me stumped. There was no motive for the suspect and he had an alibi for the night in question.
Once I was finished showering, I searched my professor's client on social media. I checked his profile for anything that could lead to the victim, any connection that they knew each other whatsoever.
I snuggled up next to Emmett in the living room once I had my lounge clothes on and he stroked my back in soft, soothing circles while I continued to search and found nothing.
I finally decided to go to the victim's profile and after I was done combing through their personal pictures I switched over to pictures they'd been tagged in and one halfway down the page finally caught my attention.
Understanding and realization dawned on me as a paralyzed tingle crawled down my spine.
I immediately sat up, alert at what I'd found. I was almost at a loss for words, until Emmett nudged me and came up to kiss my shoulder gently, asking me what was wrong.
"C-Christian. The victim and Christian went to the same school, were best friends, even...I don't know why I didn't put the connections together before. The victim was living in Texas up until recently and moved to Boston for a job. He had a sister in my grade, too."
The pieces were slowly starting to come together.
"But...no, Christian couldn't have been the killer. He's been out on bail, yeah, but-"
I broke off mid sentence. Christian's father was a well connected judge. He could have easily gotten him bail without having to be on house arrest, trying to argue that he wasn't a flight risk.
"I need to make a call."
Emmett nodded silently while I stood up and grabbed the files from the bed we'd been sharing. I dialed the number blindly, desperate for this to not be true...or did I want it to be true? I didn't know what I wanted anymore.
"Lydia? Are you okay?"
"Hey dad. I need a favor."
"Sure, what is it?"
I chewed my lip as I stared through the bedroom door through the hallway to where Emmett was seated on the grey sectional in the middle of his giant loft.
"I need you to run any kind of facial recognition you can get your hands on and tell me if Christian Westmore was in Boston three months ago."
"Okay, and can I ask why?"
"I think he murdered his best friend."