What Could Have Been

Begin Again

A/N: Heeey guys happy Sunday/Mother's Day! So, I literally forgot that I had to update over here after posting on AO3. Sorry for the delay but anyways enjoy the chapter!!
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The buzzing of both their phones startled them awake. They scrambled for their phones as they untangled themselves from each other.

"Crap! We fell asleep. My dad's looking for me." Ethan exclaimed as he slapped a hand to his forehead at the influx of messages coming from his father.

Stacey stared at her phone. Three missed calls from her mom and a text telling her to come see them in one of the conference rooms. This was it.

Ethan got up and started to right himself before he noticed the lack of motion coming from his companion. He crouched down in front of her and put both hands on her knees. "Hey, are you okay?" His voice was gentle, as if talking to a small child that was lost in a grocery store.

She stilled for a moment, not knowing how to react. She shook her head to clear it and gave him a small smile. "Yeah" she sighed "I'm okay."

She stood up and dusted herself off. She was ready. Well, not exactly ready more than she just wanted it over with. To let go of the anxiety and fear mongering that plagued her about this decision. He's going to sign them and then she was going to get on a plane and go back to her life. No more of this Seattle nonsense.

She stretched her aching limbs from sleeping on a literal staircase. She gave Ethan a nod before heading out. However before she could open the door, he grabbed her hand to turn her to him. "Wait." He said as he pulled her in for a hug.

She closed her eyes at the contact and let herself soak him in for a minute.

"Whatever they decide, it's going to be okay. And for what it's worth, you're still in Seattle. So if you need someone to talk to, or not talk to, you know where to find me."

Her hands fisted his shirt as she listened to him. God, she was going to miss him. He was going to be one of the very few good things that came out of Seattle.

"Thank you." She whispered before giving him a final squeeze and pulling away. She gave him one last smile, blue meeting brown, before she turned around to leave.

She always left first. It was just easier that way. Better to be the one leaving than be the one that gets left behind. She never wanted to feel that again.

Her footsteps grew heavier and her heart beat faster as she got closer. She could see them through the glass panes. The back of red hair sitting in front of obsidian curls and steely blue eyes.

She tried to read their body language as she approached, a skill she had tried to acquire from her infrequent visits to her mother's side of the family. WASPs tended to have a certain air about them. They even had their own way of speaking. To an outsider they could be having a simple conversation about flowers, but in actuality it was code for something else. She didn't spend much time in Connecticut, her mother always scheduled the visits short, but it was enough to get the basics of reading people down. That's why she hated liars. She could sniff them out from a mile away.

Her pace slowed, hesitant to get to her destination. From what she could tell, the atmosphere wasn't so bad. Her dad looked a little perplexed but her mother's shoulders weren't as tight as she had expected them to be.

'C'mon the sooner you get this over with, the sooner we get back to New York, the sooner we get back to reality.' she shook her head and proceeded to make her way to the room. She opened the door and both pairs of eyes turned towards her.