I'm With You

Chapter 34

"It's been a couple of hours, honey, go up and give her something to drink. She's the only one that hasn't had anything - just leave it on the nightstand for her." Darlene urged, handing Miguel a large glass of water, and Miguel smiled. It meant a lot that his parents cared about the sisters as much as he did and that Donna and Lauren were so open. It was shocking that Lauren even met Eira before she knew him, but it was another familiar face that would hopefully make the transition easier. He headed up the stairs, slowly poking his head around his old bedroom door and he saw Eira stood by the side of the bed.

"I swear to God, if you were considering moving onto the floor, I would be dumping this all over you." Miguel jokingly warned, handing her the glass and she bit her lip.

"It's too soft... the hospital bed was harder, but even that had to cushion. I'm not used to it." Eira said and Miguel sighed, kissing her forehead.

"The couch in the corner pulls out and it's firmer. Wait there." Miguel assured her, walking to the loveseat that was facing the bed and he pulled off the cushions before setting up the bed, motioning for Eira to come over and she sat on the bed. "That better?" He asked and Eira nodded her head.

"Much better."

"Good, and when we get our own place you can come out with me to pick a mattress for our bed," Miguel assured her, starting to move the bedding over onto the couch bed.

"But what about you?"

"Baby, I can sleep on a rock if I have to. My Mom has a whole collection of pictures of me sleeping in random places - comes in handy when I'm pulling the occasional twenty-four-hour shift at the hospital if there's an emergency." Miguel said and Eira cracked a smile, leaning back on the couch once Miguel had moved over all the bedding and he climbed up beside her.

"I never really had sex before... voluntarily... before I had sex with you." Eira said quietly, nervous to look over at him but she did, seeing the shock cross his face.

"Who touched you?" Miguel demanded to know, his body tense with anger and Eira placed a hand on his chest, trying to calm him down.

"You remember when I told you I was hooked on drugs in the beginning?" Eira asked and Miguel nodded, nervous for what she was going to admit to him. "I didn't have the money to pay the dealers, they'd give me booze for free, but not the drugs... I was so young and so desperate that I didn't even realize what they were forcing me to do... to have sex with them, with strangers... after Mackenzie made sure I got clean, they started to hunt me down and I'm pretty sure it was them that beat me in the homeless shelter and robbed us... th-they'd even give me money, manipulated me into basically being their prostitute and it was how I could afford to care for Mackenzie in the beginning until she found out where the money came from, what they were doing to me, what I was doing to myself... I-I never wanted it, until the moment I shared with you and I panicked - everybody I've ever trusted besides Mackenzie has let me down and sex just means..." Eira trailed off.

"It meant prostitution to you." Miguel finished, breathless with shock, and Eira hesitated before nodding her head, a small sob escaping her lips. "Eira, nothing has changed in how I feel about you," Miguel assured her, and Eira looked over at him again.

"It hasn't?"

"Not even for a second." He vowed, wrapping his arms around her as she brought herself closer, resting her head against his chest. "But all of that is behind you now... you never have to be fearful of that happening again, of those men... we won't do anything like that until you feel ready." Miguel said, kissing her hair and Eira closed her eyes, Miguel able to feel her relaxing against him.

"I love you," Eira said softly.

"I love you too... you and the little peanut in there." Miguel said, laying a hand on her flat stomach and she smiled, laying her hand over his.

"Our miracle peanut."

"Oh, for sure."Miguel agreed, holding her close in comfortable silence and he looked down after a few minutes, seeing that she'd fallen asleep. He smiled, kissing her hair again before he very slowly got up and laid her down properly, covering her with the duvet before going downstairs.

"Is Eira okay?" Mackenzie asked almost instantly and Miguel sat beside her.

"She's fine, she's sleeping... she told me why she left." Miguel said and Mackenzie bit her lip.

"You don't judge her, do you? She was fifteen, these guys manipulated her-" Mackenzie started to defend her, but she stopped when Miguel laid a hand over both of hers.

"I don't judge her. Those men took advantage of a very vulnerable young girl, but she's safe now... you helped her get away from them, now I'll be around to make sure they stay away." Miguel promised and Mackenzie hesitated before hugging him tightly and Miguel hugged her back just as tight. No words were spoken to each other, but no words were needed.