Broken Branches (Bleed Me Dry/Drown Me In Sequel)

Bleeding

"But something happened for the very first time with you. My heart melted to the ground found something true. And everyone's looking round thinking I'm going crazy." Bleeding Love, Leona Lewis.

Tanner

I'm back to my business suits and working with people I haven't seen in years. Yet I don't feel any nostalgia. I only can feel how much I've changed since I've been gone. I can only feel how I went from being a 25 year old lawyer with a crush on two waitresses to being a dead-beat dad trying to win back his life. I love MJ I really do, but every time she mentions her mom is when my heart starts to beat out of my chest. I knew when I came here that I was still in love with Gia, that I had gotten over Millie. But I was afraid to admit it to myself until I walked in this office.

I work the same, it's still cases and people, typing and reading. I used to be such a hard worker, always going for what no one though I could have. I see that part of myself in MJ, a girl who is determined to know her past, determined to succeed, and determined to please the people she loves. That is the only thing I have given her, the rest is all her mother, and a little bit of Andie that she might want to consider getting rid of.

After I talked to Andie I had to take a look at myself and who I've become. I'm a man in love and a father who wants to show his daughter what it means to live. It's important I show Gia who I am now.

I go to Wrigley's after work, I still remember when Gia broke up with me in here, I loved her so much it tore me to pieces. She catches my eye as soon as walk in, for a moment we both light up like we were never apart but then we both remember we're not supposed to be in love anymore.

I'm over come with my love for her, it's like as soon as I see her face nothing ever happened. But it breaks my inside to know I could have had her. There's no way to tell if we would have worked out if I hadn't left but there would have at least been a chance. The worst feeling in the world is when you know you could have done something different, something that made all the problems go away but you didn't do anything, you just made it worse.

Gia continues to work, like I never came in. It doesn't suprise me, but she's going to talk to me whether she likes it or not.

I walk up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. This contact makes it all worth it, the pain, the lost love, this moment makes everything okay. I'm fully prepared to cut my heart open for her.

"Tanner what are you doing?" she asks irritatedly.

I don't need to say anyhting else, she and I both know we are bound to each other.