Phoenix's Revenge

34.

Nikolai's POV

"Phoenix!" I call out but hear nothing in return.

"Baby?" Nothing.

I burst through Tommy's door.

"Where's Phoenix?" His eyes grow wide with worry as he shrugs.

The last few days have been rough to say the least. Both Calen and Phoenix have been drinking like fish every night, I've had to pick each of them up off of the floor many times.

One night, things got really bad. Suicide watch bad.

"Phoenix!" I yell again, now making my way outside.

Finally, Calen comes running down the stairs. "By the lake. That's where she'll be." He says out of breath.

I run down to the hill to the lake with nothing but my boxers and my shoes on. The biting cold doesn't phase me, however. I'm too worried. My eyes automatically scan my surroundings searching for that dark head of hair that melts me.

I spot her.

I look down at her as she lays in the snow, the tip of her nose cherry red from the cold.

She looks at me and her eyes grow wide.

"What are you doing? You'll get sick." She says.

"So will you."

She rolls her eyes at me and goes back to staring.

"My mom loves the snow. Loved. She loved the snow. Not loves because she's dead. Gone. And so is my dad." She speaks as if I'm not there. As if she's convincing herself.

"At least she'll be with my uncle. I never met him, but they both spoke highly of him."

Another moment of silence passes as we both sit in the snow. I start to shiver but do my best to conceal it. It doesn't work. She looks over at me with those beautiful eyes and crawls over into my lap, effectively warming me up.

"I have no family."

I feel the spiral coming on so I decide to put an end to it. I stand up with her in my arms and walk back up the hill.

"You're not alone, sweetheart." I say as I place a kiss on her forehead.

"You have Tommy." Kiss. "And Calen." Kiss. "And me."

At the last one, she looks up and I finally see that grin that I've been missing so much. She flashes her teeth and it makes me smile just as wide.

I could look at her for the rest of my life.

Her eyes shine at me as she pulls me down and kisses me hard.

"Please don't leave me." She whispers.

"Never."

She leans her head into my chest and curls in tighter.

If I have to be the one that holds her together, then I'll do it for the rest of my life. Gladly.

...

"CALEN!" She screams through the house. "Get your ass out of bed. Wallowing in bed time is done. My mom would kill you if she knew what you were doing."

She leaps up the steps and pounds on the door.

"I'll give you three seconds, big guy."

Tommy exits his room to look in on the commotion. He looks towards me and I shrug. Let them duke it out.

"One!"

She backs up.

"Two!"

She aims for the area right by the doorknob.

"THREE!"

She steps forward and sends her foot slamming through the door.

"Jesus Christ, you couldn't have stopped her?" Calen snaps. He looks horrible. Unshaved, hair disheveled and skinny. Too skinny and the bruises on his face have turned a sickly yellow and green color.

I just look at him and shake my head.

"You look terrible." Phoenix says.

"Gee. Thanks."

"Well, it's true. So starting tomorrow, you meet me in the gym at 9am sharp and we train. We train until we can't train anymore and then we keep going. We will be people that they would be proud of." She says this with such a firm tone that I find myself nodding in agreeance as well.

He looks at her a second, then slowly nods.

"Okay."

"Okay." She answers back.

She turns to leave but stops abruptly at the door.

"I'm sorry." She says with a shaky voice.

"Don't."

She nods her head and we leave the room.

It's good to see her like this.

Sorry for not updating. I just found out I'm pregnant with baby #2!