Finding Her Joy

The Next Morning

*A/N- I'm so happy you guys liked the last chapter. Honestly, I was on a high all morning from the comments. I love it when you guys interact like that. I feel like I'm sitting there reading it with you, and I love it. Anyway, happy reading! Enjoy!

(CHAR POV)
The next morning, I woke up very early. I checked my phone and saw I didn't even need to be up for at least 45 minutes. I tried to get up, but I was being held down by something. Among further inspection, I noticed Mia was behind me with her arms wrapped firmly around my waist.

She must've felt me move because her grip got tighter, and she pulled me in closer. Her head was tucked into the back of my neck, and I heard a very muffled, "No," come from her.

I laughed and rolled over to face her. She kept her eyes closed, pretending she was still asleep. "Good morning, Mia." I said, putting her hair behind her ear.

"Mia's not here right now. She's sleeping." She said, nuzzling into my neck. "You smell nice." Her voice was sleepy. I thought it was absolutely adorable that she was being so clingy. Granted, that's how I had behaved last night, but I never expected Mia to act that way. She was always so tough before that seeing her like this was a bit of a shock.

"You realize that I still have work this morning, right? At some point, we are going to have to get up and ready for the day." I said, trying to look at her.

"Uuugghhh," she groaned, moving herself away just enough to where we could see each other's faces. "Just tell them you're sick, and then we can stay in our little bubble all day." It was a very tempting offer, but we both had very busy days ahead of us.

"Don't you have a flight to catch in a few hours? You wouldn't want to miss that." I smiled at her, and she glared at me. Sleepy Mia was cute, but not when she was angry.

"I'd rather miss my flight than miss you, Sweetheart." I felt my face get really warm and butterflies in my stomach.

She was almost impossible to turn down, but I didn't want to rush into something with her. We were both still healing and dealing with our own messes. She needed to figure out who she was without Roger there to hold her back, and I needed to get comfortable in my own skin again. I'd spent so long trying to hide what was going on that I took it out on myself and started to doubt if I was good enough. I needed to regain my confidence if I wanted to get into something new with Mia.

She was smirking at me as she went back to her previous position. "Fine," I began, "we can stay here, but only until my alarm goes off in 30 minutes. Then I really need to get ready for work." Her arms were still around my waist, so I put mine around her as well.

"Not what I wanted, but I guess it will have to do." She let out a deep breath against my neck, and I felt goosebumps everywhere. I think she noticed because I felt her grin and pull me in closer.

It only took a couple of minutes for Mia to fall back asleep. Her breathing was steady, and her whole body was relaxed in my arms. I'd never felt anything like this before, this sort of peace I had found in her. A peace I never knew I was missing until now. I loved it.

I found myself thinking about last night again. Our conversations, her artwork, and my fight with Marjorie. Marjorie and I had been friends for so long that I didn't even know we could have a fight like this. Since she'd come out of her villain era, we became best friends and always stuck up for one another. Why is it that she was so against me now?

I know I crossed a line when I made those comments about Reece, but I just got so tired of her not listening to me or my concerns lately. It wasn't right to bring him into it, but it did make her finally open her eyes a bit more to what was going on around her.