All I Want - Sequel

•47•

•Toms Pov•
"George! Where is my tea?!" I hear Lia yell from her office. She's been on edge, yelling at everyone, getting mad at small mistakes. She even yelled at Haz this morning for printing out the wrong papers. I know it's all my fault.. and now she's taking her upset out on everyone else. If it were any other employee I would send them home for the day, tell them to get their shit worked out. I just can't do that to her..

I watch as she walks past my window, into Haz's office that is across the hall from mine. She looks angry, irritated, but most of all she looks emotionally exhausted. She's barely spoken to me over the past few days, she won't let me sleep in bed with her, she told me she needs space. I'm trying my hardest to give her that space but I miss her so god damn much. It feels like I've lost my wife.

As she talks to him, there's a knock on my door and I see George walk in, closing it behind him quickly.
"Sir we need to talk about Mrs. Holland." He says.
"Yea, what's the concern?" I ask.
"Don't take this the wrong way but.. your wife is being a little harsh." He states.
He's not wrong at all. She's lashing out at everyone.
"I'm really sorry about that. I'll give you hazard pay." I say because my wife quite literally is making this workplace a living hell for some of these people.

"Is there anything I can do?" George questions.
My office door opens, and I look around to see it's Lia standing there with her arms crossed, obviously irritated.
"And why aren't you working?" She asks.
"Sorry, I was talking to Mr. Holland." He apologizes.
"You're supposed to be doing paper work." She says.
"I'll get right on it." George leaves the room in a panicky worry. Poor guy. He doesn't deserve to be treated like this.

"You know you really shouldn't be treating your best worker like shit." I say.
Her eyes dart to me almost immediately, widening as she looks at me with anger. Okay.. maybe not the best thing to say when she's been upset with me for days. But.. it did need to be said. She can't just be pissy to our employees because she's in a bad mood.
"You are the last person who should be telling me off for being in a bad mood." She states.
"I get it, you're mad at me, so take it out on me. Not everyone else."
Oh no. I fucked up again.
"I don't want to take it out on anyone. I don't even want to be mad in the first place. You didn't give me much of a choice." She says.
I just wish she could understand my point of view. I've seen how it affects children emotionally when their fathers abandon them, and I can't do that to my child. I just want her to understand but I don't think she ever will.

"Lia I think we should go to therapy." I suggest.
She laughs loudly, looking amused by the idea. She's so pro therapy, she's the one who pushed Haz and Stass into it. Why is she suddenly against it?
"Therapy?" She asks. "Tom, therapy can't fix this."
"I just think if we talk about it in a safe space-"
"Talk about it?!" She exclaims. "You now have an entire family that doesn't include me or our baby! What about this isn't clicking in your brain?!"
I understand I will have another baby, but that doesn't mean I have a whole different family. She's my family.
"Lia I'm really trying here but I don't know how to make you happy.." I sigh.

She scoffs, looking to the ground before her eyes rise once more to meet mine.
"Don't be apart of the kids life." She says plainly.
"What?" I ask.
"I shouldn't have said that.." she sighs with frustration.
"You don't want me to be a part of my child's life?" I question. "How would you feel if I abandoned you and our baby?"
Her mouth drops slightly, almost looking offended.
"Did you just compare our situations? She's your insane ex Tom!" She yells.
"Okay? And what about your insane ex? I'm not the only one here bringing ex drama to our relationship."
"I can't believe you're actually throwing this in my face. Derek followed me! You chose to be apart of all of this with Lydia! It's not the same!" She says, and leaves my office without another word.

•Lias Pov•
I can't believe he would compare Derek and Lydia.. and even more so I can't believe that he acted as if Derek has been a preventable inconvenience to him. I didn't 'bring ex drama to this relationship' and he never would have said that before.. he was trying to hurt me. It's not like Tom to throw Derek in my face.. but he did. He's already changing.

"Stop what your doing and grab your shit." I say to Haz as I walk into his office.
"What? Why?" He asks.
"I need a best friend date." I say.
Haz and I used to go on 'best friend dates' when we were a little younger. Anytime one of us was sad and upset, we would go to grab some food, and walk out on a pier to eat while looking at the water. It can cure just about anything. Maybe not my crumbling marriage, but just about everything else.

We first drive to Stassies restaurant to pick up some food. just about every girl flirted with Haz until Stassie let everyone know he's her fiancé, and once everyone knew they were all pretty quiet. Haz really just seems to charm every female on this planet. All except me. I never once had a crush on him and it's my biggest flex.

We then get in the car and head to the pier. I'm trying my hardest to stay positive, but it's really hard when I have so much going on. A law suit, pregnancy, Toms second baby mama.
"What can I do?" Haz asks, noticing the upset as we walk out to the end of the pier.
"I don't think there's anything you can do. This is just a fucking mess.."
I can tell Haz is struggling with being stuck in the middle. Of course he's always on my side, but I know for a fact he doesn't want to ruin his friendship with Tom. I don't want that either.

We sit on the pier, and look out at the water as we eat our food. My phone dings and rings several times, and I mute it. I just need to kind of forget about his existence right now.
"I miss when we were young and you would fall for some shitty guy in class and I'd beat them up in the gym." Haz laughs lightly. "Everything was so simple. You dated a guy, and I hated them."
"And then I'd scold you for beating them up even though they were cheating the entire time." I shake my head at how stupid my younger self was.
"Part of me wants to protect you from Tom, keep you from getting hurt.. but I can't." He frowns.

My hand rests on my stomach, knowing a piece of the two of us is growing in there. Our little love. Why did they have to come at the best, and worst time possible..
"Do you think we're going to make it through this?" I ask.
"Only you know that Lia.." he answers.
"I feel like I don't know anything anymore." I shake my head.
He wraps his arm around me, and I let my head fall to his shoulder.
"If it doesn't work out, you always have a place with me. Always."