Checks & Championships

34

//Flashback//

Marlana's P.O.V

"Okay, I think that's it." Seth tells me as him and Jon bring the last of my things into the apartment. 

"Thank you both so much. I owe you one." I tell them, and the just shake their heads, waving me off. 

"This is what we do for family." Jon says, and Seth nods. I nod back and take a look around to see that I had a lot of unpacking to get to. "Need us to help unpack as well?"

"No, you guys have done enough. I got it from here." I tell them, and they both give me a fist bump, and a hug. 

"Alright, text us if you need anything else, lil sis." Seth says, and I give them both a nod and watch them both walk out of the apartment. I look around and just have a bitter sweet feeling as I see all the boxes, but no Roman. 

It had just been a couple weeks since he left, but fuck I missed him with every ounce of my being. Just then my phone rings, and it was him. Boy did he have good timing. "Hi." I say into the phone to try and not make it evident that I was just crying. 

"What's the matter baby girl?" He asks, concerned. I should have known he would have noticed the moment that I opened my mouth. 

"I miss you." I whisper, and grip the phone tight. "I'm sorry. I just had Seth and Jon's help moving the last of the stuff, and I got to looking around at all the boxes, but noticed you weren't here." 

"You have no idea how bad I want to be there, baby girl." He whispers, and I nod my head at him, not like he could see though. 

"I was actually going to ask you if there was anything you wanted kept the same way because I was just thinking about rearranging." I tell him, and I hear him laugh lightly. 

"No baby, do whatever you want. Turn your video on so I can see." He says, and I accept his video request and show him all of the boxes. "Damn you have a lot of stuff." He jokes, trying to lighten the mood. 

"I'm a woman! Besides, you're the one that signed up for this remember?" I joke, and he nods at me with a huge smile. 

"Damn right I did." He says, and I sit down in the recliner, looking at him. "Well, good news is that I may be back sooner than I thought." 

"Really?" I ask excitedly, and he nods at me. "How soon?"

"Probably sometime next month." He says, and smiles at me. "It's not definite, and I debated on telling you, but I can feel it in my gut." 

"Always trust your gut." I tell him, and he nods, smiling at me. "I miss your handsome face." 

He laughs at me, and licks his lips. "I miss you too, baby girl. Think you can hang on a little bit longer for me?" I nod at him, and he smiles at me. "Good." 

"You look like you're getting stronger." I tell him, he used to have a pale tone to his skin, but you can tell that he was darker again. 

"I feel stronger. Doc said that my recovery is coming in faster than he expected." He says, and he looks into my eyes. "I'm stronger because of you." 

"No, you're stronger because you're a fighter." I tell him, and he smiles, looking down. 

"Yeah, but you're always the one telling me that I have more fight in me when I feel like giving up. It's like you're my personal motivator." 

"That's because I know how much fight you have in you. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for. I don't know many people who can fight and defeat cancer once, yet here you are on round two." I tell him, and I watch as his eyes fill with tears. "I didn't mean to make you cry, R."