Mia's Open Heart (Choices Open Heart AU)

Chapter 39: Broken Restraints

At only 6:30am, Mia's alarm for work rang, yanking her and Ethan awake. Ethan, who still had his head on her chest while they slept, turned in bed and she pulled the blanket over her head, groaning as she overcame with a terrible headache. She felt the man beside her move, groaning as he leaned over her to grab her phone, effectively shutting off the alarm.

"You're the one who has to wake up for work today." he said, trying to shake her. She pulled the cover done from her face, looking at him while her eyes adjusted to the light.

"Motherfucker, it's too early." she said, pulling the covers back over her face.

"But you have work."

"And you woke me up at 5AM."

"And I barely slept before then, but I'm awake." Mia groaned a final time, pulling the covers off of her before she slowly got out of bed, going over to the bathroom to brush her teeth and start getting ready for bed.

While she was in there, Ethan decided there was no use in going back to sleep. He grabbed his laptop from the nightstand near Mia's side of the bed, where she had placed it after they both awoke hours before. Ethan opened the laptop to check his work, but instead, didn't find what he was trying to look for.

"What's wrong?" Mia asked, walking back into the bedroom when she saw the terrified look on Ethan's face, frantically searching through his laptop and his stack of papers.

"The paperwork from last night. I had completed it on paper, but had to type it up. And I did, it took me hours, and I had finished before I fell asleep, but I did it. And it's not here." he said. Mia's eyes widened, as she recounted the events. While she held a sobbing Ethan, she took the laptop, which had the full transcribed papers typed up on it. And then she closed the laptop. She was the last person with it, and he realized it at the same time.

"Ethan..." she said, feeling terrible at the mistake she made.

"You didn't even think to save it before you closed it?" he asked, rubbing his face with his hands. "Dammit Mia, it took me hours upon hours to do that. I'm going to have to work on it after the day with my parents." he sighed, knowing that this day of supposed relaxation and calm wouldn't happen.

"I'm sorry Ethan, I can help you..."

"No." he said sternly. "I don't need your help to fix it."

"I didn't do it on purpose, it was an accident, I can help type it up-"

"Mia stop!" he said, his voice raising as his anger and exhaustion collided to create a deadly mix. "There's already been enough 'accidents' around here." he said, his voice mumbling.

"What?" she asked, her voice holding her disbelief. He wasn't talking about their babies, was he?

"You go around like some fucking idiot thinking you can fix whatever you touch, but you can't!" he said, his voice raising slightly once again as she just continued to stare in disbelief and shock.

"Ethan, I said I was sorry. I didn't mean to do it..." she said, tears starting to gather in her eyes. Ethan simply scoffed at her words.

"Well, now do I not only have to deal with a whole day with my parents, I need to also be able to type up this entire paperwork, that I had already spent hours upon hours doing." he scoffed. "I already have enough on my plate with you-"

"What do you mean?" she said, the tears still in her eyes as her face curled in slight anger and confusion. "Am I just that much of an inconvenience for you?" The anger in his face subsided, as if the argument and the words he said finally caught up with him.