Not Without You [Chris Evans]

27

Chris' POV

I put my phone  in my jacket pocket as I walked back to my bedroom. My place felt a little empty again now that it was just me and Sadie here, but Sebastian and Scarlett would be here soon. I just hoped it went well tonight; I knew Sebastian was really looking forward to this. Judging by the effort Sadie was putting into her appearance, she was as well.

"Hey Sadie, you ready yet?" I asked, leaning on the door jamb. She met my eyes in the mirror and smiled.

"Almost. Will you finish zipping up my dress for me?"

I walked up behind her and carefully finished zipping her dress and fastened the hidden hooks to keep it closed before resting my hands on her shoulders and kissing the scar on her shoulder.

"So I just got a message from Ellen," I said slowly.

"DeGeneres?" she asked, putting in her earrings and turning to face me. "About what?"

I straightened her necklace and smiled. "The one and only. She wants us to be on her show Monday morning."

"Really? Why? I thought we were done with the talk shows for a while again."

I shrugged, knowing that was never really the case. "My guess is that she saw the video that Lizzie put up of us dancing last night because she said she wants Megan too. Check your messages; I'm sure you have one."

"I will in a minute. How do I look?"

I caught her hand and twirled her, making her laugh. "Stunning. I'm really glad you're doing this, Sadie. I know it hasn't been easy lately, but things are getting better." I pulled her into a hug. "They'll just keep getting better as time passes."

Her arms tightened around me. "I'm just concerned that this is too soon, Chris."

I swayed from side to side with her, rubbing her back lightly. I'd been waiting for this to come up again; Liam had warned me she wasn't sure after he'd talked to her earlier today. "It's not, doll. It's not - Justin wouldn't want you to torture yourself like this. He'd want you to be happy. The boys just want you to be happy again too."

"I know," she said, and she tucked her face into my neck, taking a deep breath.

"He misses you when you're not here, you know."

"I miss you guys too," she said, her voice failing.

I pulled back to look at her. "Hey, no crying tonight - happy occasion, remember? I'm gonna take a picture of you to send to the boys."

"Better take one of both of us, then. You're looking pretty handsome yourself there, Captain." She flashed me a smile waved a hand in front of her face to cool it, bringing my attention to the jewelry she was wearing.

"Sadie, when are you going to leave this off?" I asked, indicating her wedding ring. She only ever took it off on set and at night, so I wasn't surprised to see her still wearing it.

"When I'm ready to, I will," she said, meeting my eyes and handing me her phone. "I promise."

"Come out into the living room so I can take your picture. I'm sure you don't want our messy bed in the background."

"Yeah, no - I don't need to start a new rumor," she said with a smile, following me out and striking a pose for me. I laughed and took a couple before coming up and putting my arm around her to take a selfie. "Perfect - I'm going to post that one just to show Liam I can too take a selfie."

"Post the one of you alone too so everyone * cough* Lizzie * cough * can see your dress."

"She won't stop texting until I do," she agreed, laughing. "So what happened between you and Scarlett, Chris? I leave for a month and when I come back something's wrong."