CH 42

Gia stood up nervously and looked around the room she was in. She observed the dark oak desk in front of her, picking up a framed picture and looking at it. The little girl in the picture looked to be about eight years old, a very pretty little girl with red hair and green eyes. Gia looked at her smiling face for a while before setting it back down on the desk. She began to panic and was just about to walk out of the room, not wanting to be there, when the door swung open. Gia looked over and her eyes landed on the woman in the doorway. She looked to be in her late twenties, her auburn hair was up in a high ponytail, she had on a pair of jogging pants and a black exercise shirt and she wore a pair of white Nike’s on her feet. Her dark green eyes connected with Gia’s, they took a few moments to acquaint themselves with their eyes before the woman moved to walk past her. “I’ll be back in a second, I’m going to change.” The woman said. Gia said a brief OK as the woman closed the door to a small bathroom in the corner of the room. Gia let out a long breath, feeling flustered by the woman as she walked forward again, seeing her moment to make her escape. Gia reached for the door handle but froze; she had to do this, for Nikolas. Gia turned around walked back to where she was standing before. The woman came back out, dressed in a knee-length black skirt and a dark pink top on and sat down behind her desk. “I’m Dawn Carter, please have a seat. Gia is it?” She said. Gia nodded her head and sat down in the chair across from her. “Well I see you’re a little bit quiet, lets start by you answering a question for me. Why are you here Gia?” Dawn asked. Gia thought about it. “Because my fiancé thinks I’m crazy.” Gia answered. Dawn laugh slightly. “You need more of a reason then that to see a therapists Gia.” Dawn said. Gia looked down and nodded her head softly. “Because I didn’t have the greatest childhood and I could use someone to talk to about it.” Gia said shyly. Dawn smiled at her. “Well you’ve come to the right place.” She said.

Nikolas looked over at his brother with a clueless expression on his face. “I have no idea what to get her Lucky.” He said as he through his hands in the air. Nikolas wanted to get Gia something to celebrate that she had been in his life for four months today. A month from now it will be five months and they will be married. He never thought when he first met Gia that they would last this long, he hoped yes but he never really thought they would. He needed to find the perfect to gift to celebrate the fact that she was still in his life. But as he walked the mall with his brother, nothing jumped out at him. “Nikolas can I make a suggestion?” Lucky said, turning to him. Nikolas stopped and turned to his brother. “You guys have never been an average couple. Right from the start your relationship was unconventional, I just don’t think you’re going to find something here.” Lucky said. Nikolas smiled at Lucky. “I have an idea, there is something that I want to get here.” Nik said. Lucky was confused, thinking Nikolas just blew off what he was saying, but he fallowed his brother anyway.

Gia dropped her things down, not in a good mood at all when she got home. Dawn was nice enough but Gia was not happy having to talk about her problems. Luckily, Dawn did not push her to talk; all they did was make small talk. But Gia was nervous about having to open up to her eventually. What she did today was not fun for her; she hated being analyzed by a professional like that. She was still uneasy about the whole thing. “Nikolas!” She yelled into the house. She sighed when he didn’t answer her. She walked around the house looking for him and couldn’t find him anywhere. She began to feel sad, even though she didn’t discus anything personal in her session with Dawn, she still felt like it was an emotional day. “It would be nice, since it was your stupid idea to go to a stupid Dr. if you would be home so we could talk about it afterwards.” Gia grumbled as she headed back downstairs to wait for him.

Nikolas walked in the door and walked around until he found Gia, she was sitting on the couch with her arms wrapped around her knees and looking sad. “Gia?” Nik said walking up to her and crouching down to her level. “What’s wrong Sparky?” Nik asked. “I don’t know. I’m just in a weird mood.” Gia sighed as she continued to gaze forward. “I have something for you.” Nik said. Gia looked up at him. “What is it?” She asked softly. “Well you’ll have to come with me.” Nik said stroking her cheek lightly. Gia sighed. “OK.” She said standing up and talking her hand.

Gia was shocked when Nikolas guided her to the stables, and had her mount onto Sheba behind him. Always replying, “you’ll see.” when asked where they were going. Gia smiled as she saw where they were headed. Their favorite hilltop, when Sheba stopped and Nikolas helped her down, Gia looked over at “their tree” and saw that there was a small basket sitting there. “Is that it?” Gia asked walking towards the basket. Nik caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Hold on there Sparky.” Nik said holding onto her. Gia giggled slightly. “Do you know what today is?” Nik asked. Gia thought about it. “I’m not sure.” She said. “Today it’s been four months since you came here.” Nik explained. “Shh.” He said when she began to apologize. “Gia, I know you hated me when you first got here but I always liked you, even when you were mean to me. It was part of what made you special to me. I’ll never forget those first few weeks you lived here.” Nik said into her ear. “I’m so sorry I was mean to you Nikolas. I want you to know that I never hated you, I hated that I was forced to be with you, but I never hated you as a person. I’m sorry.” Gia said sadly. “No no no, Gia don’t cry OK? This isn’t supposed to be sad, I just wanted to tell you how much I loved you, even back then.” Nikolas said letting her go and grabbing her hand as he guided her toward the tree. Nikolas bent down and pulled out two peaches. “First there’s these.” Nik said handing her one. Gia smiled brightly as she held the peach in her hand, smelling it as he bent over to grab something else. “And then there’s this, the real present.” Nik said handing her a small black jewelry box. Gia looked up at him questioningly as she took the box from him. She opened up the box to find a small silver bracelet; in the middle was a bar, eloquently engraved with the word Sparky across it. Gia laughed and cried as she picked it up. “Thank you Nikolas.” Gia said through tears. Nikolas knew that they were happy tears. “You’re welcome Gia, you’ll always be my Sparky.” Nik said picking her hand up and putting her bracelet on for her. “I love you so much.” Gia said wrapping her arms around each other.

They sat silently eating their peaches under the tree, coming together for a sweet delicious kiss after they finished. Nikolas pulled back and pulled her so that she was resting her head on his shoulder. “So tell me about your day.” He said. Gia smiled and began to tell him all about her trip to DR. Carter’s. Nikolas listened intently and discussed that maybe he would go with her next time if she wanted him to. Gia thanked him again and they just sat silently as they watched the sunset.