I See You

~Chapter 12~

"La," Michael whispers, lightly shaking Naila, who had fallen asleep on his shoulder. "We have to go home now Naila."

Naila is so deep in her sleep she doesn't hear nor feel Michael. Once Naila is sleep there is no waking her up unless she's ready to wake up.

Michael sighs looking down at her peacefully sleeping. "You're so beautiful when you sleep."

He then slowly slides Naila's head off of his shoulder and rests it on his arm. Then, he pulls her body on his lap and stands carrying her bridal style.

"You and I must make a pact, we must bring salvation back. Where there is love I'll be there..." Michael sings softly. Naila nuzzles her face into Michael's chest and he smiles.

"I'll reach out my hand to you, I'll have faith in all you do. Just call my name and I'll be there..."

A couple of minutes later he arrives at Naila's house with Naila still completely sleep. As he goes to knock on the door it immediately opens with Crystal's face showing panic.

"Oh my- Michael is she okay? What happened?"

"Everything is fine Crystal," Michael assures her. "She's asleep," he says as Crystal moves to the side allowing him to walk inside.

Crystal lets out a huge sigh of relief then scurries over to the couch to move things off. "Here you can put her on the couch."

"Actually I think she'd be more comfortable in her bed, if that's okay."

"Oh, yeah sure. Follow me." Crystal begins walking up the wooden stairs with Michael following behind. "I'm surprised you're still able to carry her. That girl is heavy."

Michael looks down at Naila shaking his head in disagreement. "She's a perfect fit."

They get to her room and Crystal opens the door and turns the light on. "Here she is."

When Michael enters the room he looks around in awe. He had never been in Naila's room and to see the amount of paintings in her room intrigued him.

"Who painted these?" He asks, with Naila still in his arms, looking around at the paintings.

"She did all of this." Crystal pauses to stop herself from becoming emotional in front of Michael. "Before the accident."

Michael looks to Crystal and offers a somber smile and she returns it. "I'm going to be right downstairs. You can look at the paintings a little bit longer if you'd like," Crystal offers, then leaves the room.

"I didn't know you knew how to paint," Michael says still looking around at the paintings. "You even painted Charlie Chaplin one of my favorite actors."

After admiring the painting he places Naila in her bed and covers her up. He stares at her sleep for a few minutes, enjoying the way she stirred in her sleep. Hoping that someday he'd be holding her while she slept so she could nuzzle her face into his chest again.

He leans down and places a kiss on her forehead letting it linger for a couple of seconds. Then, he whispers, "Just call my name and I promise I'll be there La."

Michael turns off her lamp light and leaves her room, closing the door behind him.

"She's fast asleep and I made sure she was tucked in," Michael says to Crystal after he descends the stairs.

"Michael I don't know how to properly thank you for this. You are truly the best and Naila is blessed-"

Michael quickly interjects, "No I'm the blessed one to even say that I know Naila. Actually I think anyone that gets to know her would agree she's everything and more."

"Yeah—I'm quite lucky to have her as my baby sister," Crystal agrees, suddenly feeling guilty for earlier. Though she doesn't want to bring it up she asks,"Did she uhh.. did she talk to you about earlier?"

"No." Michael answers and she feels a little better thinking maybe Naila got over it. That was until Michael spoke again. "Only because she told me she didn't want to talk about it."

Crystal looks at Michael sadly shaking her head. "She just doesn't understand the possibilities and the risk factors that come along with it. I've already lost my parents and I'll be damned if I lose my little sister too Michael... I won't lose Naila."

Michael walks up to Crystal and pulls her into a hug. She wraps her arms tightly around him and begins to sob.

"I care about her a lot Crystal, way more than anyone could ever imagine." He pulls back from the hug and looks at her. "And all I ever want is for her to be happy."

"So do I Michael! That's all I want for everything she's been through."

"What I'm going to say you are most likely going to disagree with, but she should get the procedure done."

Michael searches Crystal's eyes for answers of her lingering silence. Crystal's silence was due to the reality of her actually wanting Naila to get the procedure done. Part of her is afraid but the other part—that other part wants Naila to be happy.

She lets out a deep sigh and says, "I'll think more about it."

Michael smiles wide and pulls her into a hug. "This is progress, now all we have to work towards now is getting you to say yes."

"Just give me three reasons why I should say yes," she says, holding up three fingers for emphasis.

Michael's eyes widen but he just simple shrugs his shoulder. "That is way too easy. Just three? Okay, she'll be able to see again, she'll be able to paint again," then he pauses. He couldn't control the tear that threatened to escape his eye as he let out a soft chuckle to ease his emotions.

"She'll be able to see me, and I her, and from that she'll know how I truly feel about her. She'll understand, through my eyes, how much I didn't mean to say what I said about her situation a while back. She'll be able to see the smile she brings upon my face whenever I see her. She'll be able understand how much I lo—" he stops himself from his rambling, knowing the reality of Amelia still being in his life. "She'll just be able to understand and see."

Crystal slightly smiles knowing the true deep feelings Michael has for Naila. Anyone could see it because it was written all over his face.

Michael looks up from the floor to see Crystal smiling and that's when he knew...she knew.

"I think I should get going now," Michael says, fake yawning to get away, quickly.

"Mmhmm," Crystal smirks, walking to the door and opening it up for him. "Thank you again and I will think about it."

"I know you will because you can't deny my speech sold you," he jokes, popping his collar.

"Boy get your little behind home before your mother and father get mad."

They hug briefly before they say their goodbyes and Michael is on his way across the street to his home.

-
Now you guys get to see actual dialogue between Crystal and Michael. She sees him as her little bro and he his big sis. Of course Crystal wants Michael to be with Naila—he's perfect for her. Michael needs to get his priorities straight. *sips tea*

To be continued...

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! More to come ;)

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