Subject 001

The End of Something

Diego sighed, walking over to the kitchen where Raymond was, still looking frazzled.

"Hey man, I'm Diego. Allison's brother."

"Yeah, she mentioned," Raymond said, shaking his hand. "I'm Raymond, her husband."

"Do you happen to have something I can put on my eye?" Diego asked, motioning to his hurt eye.

"Yeah, I think there's some frozen peas," Raymond answered, searching his fridge. "Here."

"Thanks."

An awkward silence fell over them, both sitting in the kitchen, Diego held the bag of frozen peas to his eye while Raymond fidgeted with his fingers, unsure of what to do.

"Do you want some water or coffee?" he asked tentatively.

"Coffee's a good idea, Em will need it when she wakes up,"

Raymond nodded, starting to make the coffee, "Did you really, uh, cheat on her?"

"No," Diego shook his head firmly. "No, it was just miscommunication. I'd never do that to her."

"Might wanna tell her that, she seemed pretty sure you did," Raymond commented offhandedly.

"Yeah, she has some self-esteem problems, but I don't blame her," Diego muttered, his shoulders falling in defeat. "I haven't been the best about reassuring her lately."

Em woke up after a few moments, her head pounding heavily but no sign of drunkenness and she cursed her fast metabolism for not allowing her to be wasted for as long as normal people. With a sigh, she did her best to look presentable and happy. She walked to the living room hoping to find Klaus still there, but her heart fell when she passed the threshold of the door, finding Diego sitting in the kitchen with Ray.

"What are you doing here?" her voice was weak, she looked composed but her eyes told him a different story.

"Princess," Diego mumbled, hurrying to his feet he left the frozen peas bag forgotten on the table, his black eye now in her view. "It's not what you think."

Em resisted the urge to heal him, even if it pained her to see him like that, "So you weren't with her?"

"I-" he couldn't lie to her, it'd be worse. "I was b-"

"I knew it."

"But it wasn't like that!" Diego called before she could leave.

"What was it like? You didn't go after her but somehow ended up with her? You expect me to be-"

"She kidnapped me," he explained seriously, making her quiet down. "I was burying Elliott and she just showed up, I thought she went to apologize but she drugged me and took me to the Commission. I never cheated on you, I would never do that and you know it. Please, if you hate me at least hate me for something I actually did."

Em stood there dumbfounded, she believed him, she believed the tears rolling down his face, she believed the raw emotion in his words. She whipped her own tears, she didn't even know were there, "I don't hate you."

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"I don't hate you," she repeated. "I can't. That's why it hurts so much."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, getting closer to her. "I'm so sorry, princess. I never meant to hurt you, I promise. I should have told you what I was doing, but I swear I did not go after her. I don't know why I defended her when Five told me who she really was, I don't know why I wanted to say goodbye to her rather than be happy we were going home... I don't have the answers. But I love you and only you, there's no one else, I need you to believe me because if you-"