The Desolated Two

// ninety eight //

Aaron's POV

I look at her sleeping state, my eyes tracing the hollowness of her cheeks because of the weight loss. Her lashes graze the the darkness beneath her eyes as her evened out breathing leaves through her parted lips.

My heart physically hurts to see her like this. But today is the first time in three weeks that she hasn't woken up crying.

Quietly moving, I reach over the bedside table to turn off the alarm, afraid that it'll wake her up because it's due to go off any minute now. Glancing at her one last time, I get out of bed and make my way to the bathroom.

I open the joined door to Emily's room and look at her sleeping peacefully so I indulge myself into the morning routine. After freshening up, I decide to make breakfast first before taking a shower so I make my way out of the bathroom to the hallway.

It's been a week since we came back to New York, and three weeks since Viviana Rose passed away. Diana didn't want to leave her father alone and tried to convince him to leave Larkspur and come with us, but he had to go back to his duty just a week later after he lost his wife.

He still had a couple of years left of his service, and he somehow convinced her that he would give it a thought after that.

She has been a wreck.

I lost count of how many times she has reread the letters from her mother and the amount of tears she has shed. When she read them for the first time, she ended up in Marcel's arms with both of them crying.

But she talked to Emily the next day for the first time in a few days. She fed her breakfast and tried to keep herself collected around her, but it was evident to an outsider how much she was breaking inside.

A movement behind me makes me jerk my head back and I notice Diana sleepily walking in the kitchen. She yawns before coming right in front of me and wrapping her arms around me, resting her head on my chest.

"Morning." I wrap one arm around her waist.

"Missed you in bed." She grumbles as she looks up and kisses my jaw, "Missed your face."

I grin, because she had been persisting me to shave from a long time now and I let her do the honours yesterday. Because 'C'mon, babe, it can't be harder than shaving your legs.'

That ended up with two cuts on my cheek.

Lifting her face up with a finger under her chin, I kiss her lips, "I love you but you should be in bed."

"We have to go to work."

"I have to go to work. You have to go to bed."

She frowns at me, "I need to fall back into routine in order to move on. You realise that, right?"

Her words make me sigh because I know she's right but I don't want her to feel any kind of burden. I look at her as she moves out of my arms and sims down the stove.

"Chocolate chip pancakes." She says, looking at the batter and I nod. "I'll get freshen up, take a shower and wake up Emily."

"Need help?" I ask and she shakes her head. She's about to move out when I pull her back to myself, searching her eyes, "Did you sleep well?"

She shrugs, "Better than yesterday."

I nod as I let her go. It takes me time to prepare breakfast because I also pack a sandwich for Emily even though she gets meals from school. After some time, I move to the bedroom and notice Diana slipping into one of her office skirts.

Her make up is done and she looks almost ready as I move to take out a suit from the closet. I settle on a dark grey one with white shirt before looking at her again.