“Hi, Daph,” Zoey smiled as she approached Daphne.

“Um, hi,” Daphne replied, putting out her cigarette.

They stood there awkwardly for a few moments.

“So, how are you?” Daphne asked.

“I’m okay; how about you?” Zoey smiled.

“I’m alright. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Actually, I just came here to talk. Could I come in?”

“Oh yeah, sure.”

Daphne led the way upstairs and into the apartment. Zoey placed the umbrella by the door and hung her coat up.

“Misty, say hi to Zoey,” Daphne told Misty.

“Hi,” Misty smiled, shyly.

“Hi Misty,” Zoey smiled.

“Can I get you some coffee?” Daphne called from the kitchen.

“That be great,” Zoey replied as she walked into the kitchen.

Daphne turned to her with two steaming cups of coffee.

“So what’s up?” Daphne asked as she awkwardly sipped the coffee.

“I wanted to thank you again for all you did for me that day. You really didn’t have to considering I was such a bitch to you,” Zoey started.

“Well its not I didn’t deserve it,” Daphne shrugged.

“Regardless, you didn’t have to. You could’ve left me there to fend for myself, but you didn’t. You took care of me like we were actually friends even though I was calling you all kinds of horrible names two seconds before that. So, thank you,” Zoey smiled.

“You didn’t have to come all the way out here to say thank you. You could’ve called,” Daphne smiled.

“Well that’s not all.”

“Well what else then?” Daphne asked as she drank her coffee.

“I left Brian.”

Daphne spit her coffee out, out of surprise. She coughed trying to catch her breath.

“Are you okay?” Zoey asked, frantically.

Daphne nodded once she caught her breath.

“So, what was that you were saying?” she asked.

“I left Brian,” Zoey repeated.

“Yeah, I got that part. But why?’ Daphne asked.

“Our marriage wasn’t going anywhere.”

“It wasn’t because of me was it?”

“Not entirely. Neither one of us were happy and I knew Brian wasn’t going to leave because of the miscarriage. He’s too noble for that. So I took the initiative and I filed for divorce. We signed the papers already.”

“So, why did you come out here to tell me all of this? I would’ve found out through Matt and Jade.”

“I wanted to tell you myself. I’m also leaving town so I wanted to say goodbye.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll be staying with my parents in Seattle. I need a fresh start and I figured it would be better for you and Brian if I wasn’t around,” Zoey smirked.

“Me and Brian? You guys just got divorced. This would be way too soon. I would not do something like that!” Daphne rambled.

Zoey just gave her a look.

“Okay, I probably would. But not to you!”

“Daph, its okay. I want you and Brian to be happy. You two deserve each other. Brian and I are divorced now, so its okay. I wasn’t going to make him stick around for pity. We both need to start over. I’m just glad Brian can start over so easily. You and Misty are his whole world, Daph. I can tell that this past month has been killing him because he hasn’t seen you two. I just want him to be happy, so I’m supporting whatever you two do. Just don’t hurt him please, he doesn’t deserve it.”

Stunned by her words, instead of saying anything, Daphne merely embraced Zoey.

“Thank you,” she muttered.

“You’re welcome,” Zoey smiled.

“Oh, and I wanted to thank you for being there for Brian after the miscarriage. I was too much of a mess to be, so thank you,” Zoey added.

“Wait, you knew that he came here last night?” Daphne asked.

“Well I figured it didn’t take him three hours to grab a shower,” Zoey shrugged.

“Yeah, I thought that was a pretty lame excuse too,” Daphne laughed.

“We should’ve hung out long before this. We could’ve actually been friends,” Zoey muttered.

“Well at least we are now. We just had to set our differences aside.”

“Its too bad we don’t have differences in our taste of men,” Zoey laughed.

“Yeah that is one thing we have in common,” Daphne laughed.

After talked for a few more minutes, Zoey decided to leave.

“Misty, why don’t you come say goodbye to Daphne? She’s leaving town,” Daphne announced.

Misty hesitantly made her way over to Zoey.

“Bye, Misty,” Zoey smiled as she hugged her.

“Bye,” Misty muttered.

“She is so pretty,” Zoey muttered as she stood back up.

Daphne smiled and walked her to the door.

“Thank you again, for everything,” Zoey smiled.

“You’re welcome, and thank you. It really means a lot that you’re okay with Brian and me.”

Zoey smiled and tightly hugged her.

“Take care, Daph,” she muttered.

“You too,” Daphne smiled.

“Let me know if you come back to town. I’ll buy you a drink,” Daphne smiled as Zoey walked out.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Zoey smirked.

***

Two hours after Zoey left, Brian was sitting on the couch, staring at his car keys. He was absentmindedly petting Pinkly while doing so. He was debating whether he should go see Daphne or not. Part of him wanted to go tell her everything while another part wanted to wait a while. He began drumming his fingers against his knee as he weighed his options.

“Fuck it,” he muttered.

He quickly stood up, startling Pinkly. He snatched up his car keys and grabbed his jacket. Before he could second guess himself, he made his way to the door and yanked it open. He was about to walk out when he saw her car parked in the driveway. She was leaning into the back. She stood up straight and looked over to the door. Daphne stopped what she was doing when she noticed him standing there. They stared at each other for a few moments before she helped Misty out of the car.

“Brian!” Misty smiled.

He grinned and knelt down when she came running at him.

“Hey princess!” he smiled as he tightly hugged her.

“I missed you,” he muttered as he kissed her head.

“I missed you too,” she smiled.

He heard Daphne’s heels on the porch steps. He stood up as she approached them.

“Hi,” she smiled, tentatively.

“Hey,” he smiled.

“Misty was saying she was really bored so I figured I’d bring her over here to see you,” she told him.

“Is that the only reason?” he asked.

“No, not really,” she admitted.

“Come on in, then,” he told her.

They followed him inside. Brian turned on the TV for Misty and got her settled on the couch with Pinkly.

“We can talk in the kitchen,” he told Daphne.

He led the way and walked over to the liquor cabinet.

“So what’s up?” he asked as he poured them a drink.

When he turned around, she was right behind him. She leaned up and pressed her lips to his. He stumbled a bit, taken by surprise.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” she muttered, pulling away.

She made her way over to the island and sat down.

“Daph, will you chill? Its just me,” he laughed as he sat down opposite of her.

“You know I was heading out to see you,” he told her as he gulped his drink.

“You were?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Zoey came to see me,” she told him.

“So, she told you?” he asked.

“She did. I can’t believe she did all of this.”

“Me either. Its hard to believe she’s gone.”

“Will you miss her?”

“She was my wife; I’ll miss her being around in way. I’m hoping I’ll be busy with other things though,” he smirked.

“How are you doing with everything?” she asked, taking his hand in hers.

“I’m alright. I really missed you and Misty.”

“We missed you too,” she smiled.

“So, you know I’m divorced now,” he started.

“I heard,” she smirked.

“So that means I’m no longer married,” he muttered as he edged closer to her.

“That is what divorced means,” she laughed.

“Smart-ass,” he laughed.

“I wonder if Zoey told everyone else yet,” she wondered.

“Daph, does it really look like I want to be talking about my ex-wife right now?”

“She’s hasn’t even been your ex-wife for three hours!”

“And yet here you are,” he smirked as he stood in front of her.

“Here we are,” she corrected.

“Oh, so its we now?” he smirked.

“Bri, its always been ‘we’. That is if you still want me.”

“Daph, outside of when you were a kid, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want you. I even wanted you when you came home for Christmas that one year when you were pregnant with Misty. You were huge and yet I still wanted you. I-”

“Just shut up and kiss me,” she laughed.

Brian smiled and took her face in his hands. When he kissed her, it felt like it was their first, proper kiss. They felt their connection in that one kiss. Daphne felt passion and heat run through her veins just from a kiss. This moment felt surreal to her. Its what she’d been waiting for and yet it felt too good to be true. When he kissed her, she felt complete. When he held her, she finally felt safe from Derek. When he looked at her, she felt like the most beautiful woman on Earth. From now on, wherever he was, would be home to her.

“Wow,” she muttered when they pulled away, breathless.

He smiled and rested his forehead against hers.

“So, is there an us now?” she asked.

“There was always an us, Daph,” he smiled.

“Always?”

“Always. Until the end,” he muttered, kissing her.

Notes

I can't believe this installment is over already!
Thank you guys so much for reading and commenting!
Be on the lookout for the sequel!
*Update*
The sequel is up and running!
Its called Silence Your Fear.
Hope you like it!
:)
<3