Redemption {Charles Leclerc}

31

Sophia's POV. 

You watch Charles close the door to the living room behind him and you turn yourself to Seb in the kitchen. 

His eyes are glossy and so are yours. 

"Seb...", you say with a cracked voice. 

"Soph, please come here," he says on the verge of crying as he opens his arms for a hug.

You run towards him and jump in his arms as tears start to flow from your eyes once again. The two of you cry and hug for a few seconds without saying anything. You try to take a few deep breaths to prepare yourself to speak before you release yourself from his arms. 

Before you can say something, Seb beats you to it. 

"I'm so sorry Soph. I promise you I didn't mean any of the things I said. You're an amazing woman and you're so strong, like the strongest girl I know. I don't know why I said what I said, I really don't know. I promise you it couldn't be further from the truth. I'm so sorry to hurt your feelings like that." 

You look at him and sigh. You know that he genuinely means it. It's nothing like Seb to lose his temper like that and before your chat with Holly you just couldn't understand where his frustration was coming from. 

But now you do know and you can understand his perspective. 

"I know you are Seb. I accept your apology. Holly... she just told me... well the reason why you've been pushing me to talk with Charles. I can see where you're coming from now and I know I've been pushing everyone away... I'm so sorry too Seb, I didn't mean to be so rude to you." 

Another tear falls over your cheek and Seb immediately tries to wipe it away. 

"It's okay Soph. I really didn't mean to push you like that but... it's just frustrating to see you doing this, you know, this whole pushing away thing... again. All I want is to see you happy. I know you've been through so much and it's not fair that you have to live with all this trauma, it really isn't. And I would do anything in the world to take that pain away from you but..." 

He takes a pause for a second as you try to listen carefully to his words. 

"But when it happened with mom and dad... you started pushing everyone away as well. Me, Holly, Skyler... and it's a completely normal reaction, don't get me wrong. We all knew where it was coming from and we all got through it together eventually. But you were in so much pain then trying to deal with everything on your own. And yes you're strong, yes you're capable of taking care of yourself, but that doesn't mean we're not here for you. That doesn't mean we're not allowed to help you and you're not allowed to accept our help." 

You try to apprehend his words as you nod silently. You know he's right. He's spot on, actually. 

"I know Seb... I understand. But it's... it's so hard," you tell him as you look down at your feet. 

"I know it is Soph, I really do. But that's why I tried to prevent you from doing it again. I know now that my approach wasn't the right one and that I should have just been honest with you but Charles..." 

He sighs deeply and you look at him with big eyes. What about Charles? 

"Look. I never thought I would say this and I can't deny that this is going to sound really weird but... Soph, you guys are made for each other. I know you think I haven't been paying attention and maybe you think I don't want the two of you to be with each other because you're my sister and he's my teammate but that's definitely not true. I mean, I don't think I ever imagined the two of you liking each other and it might become a bit complicated at times but it's hard to ignore the sparkle between you. Not even Holly and I can beat that."