Twin Image: Family, Before Anything

Chapter 46

~Tobias' POV~

-January 13th, Monday-

4:27 a.m.

I wake up, hearing my wife whine and yelp. And instantly I turn over, seeing she was still asleep with tears falling from her eyes. I softly touch her side, in order not to scare her awake. She breathes in sharply through her nose and she sits up a bit, looking at me with wide eyes. Soon after, she hides her face as she lays back down, upset. I wrap my arm around her waist and make her my little spoon again.

I wipe her tears as she sniffles and shakes in my arms. "I'm s-sorry," She tells me, and I shake my head. "Don't apologize Natalie. In fact, I'm glad I heard you before it got worse." I tell her, nestling in her neck. She holds my arms around her, obviously trying to get her mind to realize it was just a nightmare. I hold her tighter, and I could feel her relax a bit.

"I just want it to get better." She says, and I kiss her neck. It will. I don't care what I have to do. It will get better. I'm gonna be here for her, always.

"Baby?" She says, "Yes love?" I answer, and she fidgets. "I can't stop t-thinking about him." She tells me, and my heart hurts for my wife. But this, I can help with, "Here, just listen to my words and try to sleep then. I'm gonna tell you a little story of mine." I say, and she snuggles back into me. "Once upon a time ago, there was man." I start, "A very lonely man. And this, very lonely man, wasn't always lonely. Years beforehand, this man was the very opposite of lonely. But, he only felt this way because of manipulative young woman. The man found out about her manipulative ways and left said woman. Thus, explaining his lonely ways. He choose to be alone, afraid of being tricked again by another pretty young dime. He kept to himself, and refused to tell anyone his real name. And just when the solidarity got close to unbearable, and the thought of ending it all seemed right, fate drops his savior just beside him. Into a net." I keep going, remembering that day all too well. "The man was knocked out of his suicidal thoughts when the smell of cinnamon and honey filled his nose, and contagious laughter rang in his ears from above. He grabbed the net and pulled to where this obvious girl would roll towards him, curious to see the face behind the plethora of chocolate brown curls he could see." I go on, smelling said curls near my face.

"It was obvious this girl liked what she saw, and after the man helped her out of the net, and when she flipped her hair out of her face, he surely felt the same. And the man didn't know it yet but," I pause, realizing I've been caressing her skin, "She'd be the reason he chose to live." I add, staring up the top of my canopy ceiling for a minute. And that's when I hear her snoring, putting a smile on my face. I hold her close, but I be sure not to wake her.

***

~Natalie's POV~

"Where are your parents? We ran into Teresa just now." I hear from my front door as I step down the stairs. I recognize the voice as Vanessa, and just as I come into view, she gasps. Junior let's her in, and I realize Alexander's with her. I smile at my bestfriend's, but they don't smile back.  Given they were too busy absorbing my appearance with their eyeballs.

Especially Vanessa. I met Vanessa when I was just about twenty-three so, she hasn't ever seen me this young. "Jesus Christ. " She exclaims, coming over to me to get a full three-sixty. Alex on the other hand, was stuck staring at me. "She really did make you nineteen again. Tits and all." Vanessa says, making me laugh as I look down to realize I'm in a very white, and very tight see-through muscle shirt.

"And you got shorter too." She says, and I fucking knew it! "Is it bad? Cuz I'm not totally sure if Rosie knows how to induce age." I ask, and she looks at me crazy. "Is it bad? Are you nuts? You look amazing." She says, just as I hear my husband coming downstairs. I watch and feel Vanessa look with me, and when I see he's shirtless, out of impulse, I enhance my vision and use my peripherals to see where her eyes land. They land on his abs as he stretches and her eyes widen as she takes in his appearance.