This should have really been at least one of the happiest times of your adult life because not only did you have a new puppy just as you had always wanted since graduating from university but you were also engaged to the man you loved more than anyone else in the world, well with the notable exception of your family, but they knew that Richard was very important to you and as he had earned their approvals, nothing else mattered as long as you were happy with your brother going as far as to 'warn' Richard what would happen to him.
"If you so much as think of cheating on my sister it's not going to be so good between the two of us" he had warned when you weren't around but Richard took it in stride, saying that if there was one thing he would never do, it was cheat on you because he had never felt about anyone the way he feels about you and it was going to take one hell of a lot to change that. Little did he know at the time of saying that how things would take a turn not too long after becoming engaged.
You were on your way home after a pretty hectic day and the only thing on your mind now was to cuddle up on the sofa with Richard and your new puppy, Brody, who you had named after an old friend of yours who had died suddenly and unexpectedly about a decade ago. You opened the door to your home as quietly as possible, not expecting to hear what you did, moans that at least sounded authentic but it was definitely Richard making those noises so you tiptoed up the stairs and peeked into your bedroom, shocked by what you saw.
One of your co-workers under him, her legs wrapped around his waist and her thankfully very short nails on his upper shoulder. Not caring what happened, you swung the door open until it bounced against the wall, scaring the living daylights out of the two of them. "Y/N" was all Richard could say as he pulled away from the woman, landing promptly on his backside on the floor on the other side of the bed as your co-worker slowly redressed and walked out of the door, whispering in your ear "you were so lucky to have him" then kept on walking.
"Y/N" Richard now yelled as you ran down the stairs and into the basement which is where you found Brody happily lying on his bed, his tail thumping the polystyrene balls within the cloth sleeping place when he saw you coming into the room. "Honey please" Richard panted after he had finally caught up with you. "Don't honey me Richard Armitage" was the way you responded as you turned on him, "Would you care to explain to me just what was going through your mind when you ended up in OUR bed with someone I'm supposed to be working with everyday".
You sat on the sofa and Brody tried to jump up next to you but because he was so small he just couldn't do it so you lifted him before Richard could take one step. He sat himself down on the stairs leading out of the basement, his head in his hands, "I honestly don't know what I was thinking Y/N" he began, his head in his hands but you could still clearly hear his voice trembling with contained emotions, "I love you so much and would do anything you asked to retain that" but all you thought of was leaving.
Without saying a word, you used your exactly 6" frame to step over Richard and headed up the stairs and out the front door, not watching where you were going until you heard a horn of what you thought to be a lorry truck coming down the road and it struck you, knocking you back towards the house in front of a horrified Richard, who dialled 999 on his mobile phone as he lifted your head off the road and placed the jacket he was wearing under it to give you at least a little comfort when your whole body hurt.
The next thing he had to do was call your parents and siblings, along with Y/BFF/N even if it was to let them know what had happened before they heard about it on the news or had to be reading about it on one of the innumerable internet gossip sites. Before Richard could set foot in the A&E/ER, your brother took him aside and demanded in a quiet tone to know what had happened to you to end up here and to say that he was furious is definitely an understatement but you were the most important person to him now.
Your mother had slipped your engagement ring back on when the doctors were finished with you, but your brother took it off again and shoved it at Richard. "He's the reason why she is in here mum" was his response when she asked why he did what he had done, "She got him and caught him red-handed with a colleague of hers from where she works in what some might describe as something of a compromising situation" he went on, the look on your mother's face turning from confusion at her son to confusion at Richard who could only nod quietly.
"Y/N means everything to me" Richard said in a whispered voice when explaining what had happened to a nun who had approached him in the hospital chapel, "If I could turn back time it never would have happened but I can't and it's possible that I have lost her for good and I can't think about a life without her". Sister Mary Anthony, who had to be at least fifty if not older, sat listening intently to what he said before replying that this might help Y/N see how much she needs you after all, angry though she may have been.
"I hope you're right Sister because as I said it's impossible to imagine living the rest of my life on this Earth without her in it" Richard said as your sister appeared at the chapel door, a perhaps intutive feeling that was where he was most likely to have been. "She's awake now Richard; she's asking for you" Gabi said as Richard smiled at the nun before following Gabi out and up to the floor where you were being kept, not able to look at Gabi the entire time it took for the lift to reach the floor in question.
Your family were sitting outside your door, none of them able to look at Richard until you had the chance to talk to him for yourself. "Richard" you said, your voice breaking with just a hint of emotion as he stood in the doorway. You held your hand that didn't have the IV in it out to him and he approached, taking your hand and kissing it gently as more tears fell off your face onto the bedsheets of the hospital, "I'm so sorry for acting the way I did" you began but he cut you off and start speaking for himself.
"No" he said simply, "If anyone should be apologising for the way they acted then it has got to be me" he continued, "I have heard you talk about how little she cared about what others at work think about her; going around from one department head to the next in the hopes of a promotion but never getting it and if intoxication was a reason for why I did what I did then you might have accepted it but there was obviously no alcohol involved; so honey I ask you to at least think about the possibility of forgiving me".
You nodded, having brought your emotions under control but still not trusting yourself to be able to say anything. Smiling broadly, Richard quietly stood and leaned over to place a kiss to your lips as your free hand brought itself up to his hair, stroking it as the kiss deepened a bit before someone clearing their throat from the doorway forced you apart and there stood your sister, smiling widely as she looked to the side and nodded, as if indicationg that it was alright between you and Richard again, leaving your brother with no other alternative but to accept it.
