Mileven Oneshots

You're The Key To My Peace Of Mind

Yes, this is another depressing one (kinda) but I promise that it has a happy ending, and we all know a promise is something you can't break, ever. Enjoy!

Home.

Although she didn't know what the word meant until her  12th year, it was something she'd craved her whole life and found when  she was 12, soaking wet, wearing nothing but a ginormous mustard shirt, three flashlights shoved in her face.

She found it in his eyes. The dark orbs that gave her comfort, love, stability.

She found it in the fort he built for her in his basement.

She found it in every movement he made, everything he did to reassure her, to comfort her, to care for her.

She found it in the way he danced around the kitchen singing ABBA, and how he would braid her hair in visits to the cabin.

She found it in his arms, in his lips, in his heart.

She found it in the snowflake necklace he presented to her at age 13.

She found it in the locket he gave her at age 17.

And she found it in the diamond ring he used to ask her a very big question at age 23.

She stared at the ring now, twirling it around her finger. Dried tear tracks streaked her cheeks and she leaned against the couch, shifting uncomfortably on the floor and sighing in despair.

She shouldn't have brought it up. She should've guessed it would lead to an argument, her crying and yelling, him backing away as she reached out to him, him saying softly "don't you trust me?" and "why would you ever think for a minute we'll be like my parents?"

But she couldn't keep it in. It had been gnawing at her insides since Thanksgiving, and it was now early February. She'd brought it up during dinner, their plates of spaghetti now growing cold in the hour he'd been  gone.

It had started at the Thanksgiving table. The Wheeler house had lost all its homely-ness ever since Karen and Ted had become less like a married couple and more like enemies forced to live together.  Their divorce had been announced that night. It wasn't exactly a surprise. Everyone had just kinda nodded, asking about the technicalities, who would get the house and custody of Holly, blah, blah, blah.

But El was a Psychology major, and an over thinker. Ever since she was a kid, she was prone to over thinking and stressing about things, (from what punishment Papa would give her, and eventually turning into stuff like finishing her assignments on time and getting 100% on her math quiz) and from her hours of psychology study she knew that it was more likely for children from broken homes future relationships to fail, and it was safe to say that neither Mike or El's  homes had been happy, with Mike's having constant fighting and a lack of  love, and El's being filled with abuse and sorrow. Neither of them had an example of a healthy, loving relationship.

She knew it was stupid to worry about this. This was her and him. Mike and Eleven.  They were soulmates, they had been since they were twelve, destined to be together, to weather every storm and come out the other end victorious. She wanted to be with him for the rest of her life, until they were old and grey and having to use walking sticks and hearing  aids.

But her over thinking tendencies got the better of her. She figured Mike would understand? Maybe? He'd supported her her whole life, been the voice of reason through all her crazy, the person who she went to. He listened to every single one of her doubts and dark thoughts, and he supported her, gave her clarity. She loved him unconditionally, forever.

He was talking about a new computer program he was working with when she said it. It just kinda burst out, like word vomit.

"Do you ever worry about us?"