Tiffany's pov:

It took everything in me to not break every traffic law as I jumped into my car and made my way to the place that was once and always would be my home. I'd been in this situation before. I'd walked through that door and seen Ronan at his lowest.

I knew all the signs and right now there was a giant neon sign blinking over that house telling me that Ro needed me. I needed to get there before he did something he couldn't take back. I'd spent most of the years I've known Ronan holding him up, fighting off his demons. I did it happily until he pushed me away and asked me to trust him to fight them for himself.

It was the biggest mistake of my life not fighting to stay by his side. If I made it to the house and he was okay, I wasn't going to make that mistake again. Ro needed someone to support him and he was too much of an idiot to let people in. It'd taken a lot of hard work for him to let me past his walls and it's because of all of that work that I knew the signs.

I knew exactly what it meant when he shoved hard against the people he loved. The last time he did I had found him passed out of the floor of his bedroom after taking a handful of pain meds.

He promised me it wouldn't happen again. He promised he would put the work in to stay.

I didn't know what I was expecting when I walked into that house. I didn't know much but I knew that those promises he made me were broken.

I'd watched him start to spiral, I watched as he stopped going to his therapy sessions and his relationship with Reid crumbled apart. I forced my way back into his life just to try to get him to at least start taking his meds again. He had shut me down every time and now I was kicking myself for not doing more.

I should've moved back in months ago. I should've dragged his ass to his appointments the second I found out he stopped going.

I was going to lose Ronan. I was going to walk into that house and this time he wouldn't still be breathing when I got to him.

I felt that panic race through me and I barely got my car into park before I was lunging out of the drivers seat and racing towards the door.

"Ro?" I called out but the house was eerily quiet.

I made my way inside searching for some sign of him. The living room was empty and each second made my heart sink further into my chest.

I checked the kitchen next and I almost didn't even notice it. I almost missed his form.

Ronan was curled into himself cradling something in his hands. I didn't bother looking to see what it was because I was too busy trying not to throw up at the scene.

The blood trickling down the side of his neck staining his shirt.

"Oh god." My voice wavered and my body collapsed in front of him.

My hand instinctively reached out covering the cut on the side of his neck putting pressure. The second I touched him he flinched back almost like he hadn't even noticed me approaching.

"I'm sorry." His voice was soft and broken as he sat there and cried. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay Ro, it's okay. We just got to get you to the hospital and it will be all okay." I assured him.

"No, no." He tried to shake his head but rested my other hand on the other side of his face keeping him still.

"You need to get this looked at." I didn't want to say that he probably also needed a different kind of help.

It was obvious the meds he had been taken weren't the right fit and I didn't know if I could trust him to start going back to his therapy appointments.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't do it." His hands moved holding the thing in his hand tighter against his body.

I used the moment to lower my gaze and I felt that wave of sickness pass over me again. Ro was gripping a knife, a knife at that had his blood slicked over the edge where it had touched his skin.

I let the hand not on his neck cover his pulling the knife away from his body.

"I couldn't do it. I couldn't." He was muttering the words almost too softly for me to hear them.

I didn't know if he was saying he couldn't be better or if he was saying he couldn't end it the way he wanted to. I didn't know which one I wanted him to mean. Both felt like the knife was driving its way into my own chest.

"Can I have the knife?"

His hands loosened their grip and I pulled it away from him.

"Tiff." His empty hand clamped around my wrist holding me tight.

"I'm right here, I'll always be right here. I'm always going to be here standing between you and anyone that tries to hurt you, even if that person is yourself. You got me forever Ro."

"I'm sorry, I broke my promise."

"I'll forgive you if you let me move back in."

"Ok."

I let my hand move away from the cut slowly to see the bleeding mostly stopped. It wasn't a very deep cut, a thin slice against the side of his neck. It was obvious he'd hesitated, changed his mind once the knife had been to his neck. I had to thank everything in the world that he did, if he'd dug that knife in deeper I would have been finding his body.

"Can I take you to the hospital now?" I asked him.

"I'm fine." His hand went up to the cut. "Bleeding stopped."

"Ro you need help."

"I'll go back to therapy, I'll start taking my meds again. It was better when I was on them." He tried to reason.

I knew he hated the hospital. He'd spent a lot of time there after the motorcycle crash. And after he'd swallowed a bunch of pills I'd rushed him right there where the doctors tried to hospitalize him. He'd fought against it and agreed to start seeing a therapist to try to help fight against some of his demons. It had helped a lot but sometimes he'd fall right back into it, he'd stop taking his meds and miss his appointments. He'd bottle everything up until the bomb went off.

"What happens when you stop taking them again?"

"I'll let you force them down my throat if I try."

"I can't be the thing keeping you alive, I can't do that again. I need you to want to try, I need you to want to do better. You were supposed to be putting yourself first, working on yourself and getting better. I can't be the reason you neglect your needs again."

"I want to try, I want to do better. It's just hard to climb out of the dark without my light."

"You got me Ro. I love your stupid idiot self." I knew that was the one truth I'd never be able to deny.

I loved Ronan. He was inked into my soul. I wasn't ever going to be able to live my life without him. I never wanted to live my life without him by my side. After everything we'd been through, everything he'd had to suffer. It was about time we both fought for that happy ending we both deserved.

"I love you." And there hadn't been a second I had ever doubted that, even when he sat there breaking up with me.

Our hearts beat as one, they always have.

"Come on let's get you cleaned up so I can force those meds down your throat." I pulled him up and led him towards the bathroom to wash the blood off him.

"I'm sorry Tiff, you shouldn't have had to walk into that again." He said quietly.

"No more apologies, let's get you into a nice warm shower."

I didn't think I'd ever get the image out of my head. But it wasn't the only one that haunted me. I just added to the list and moved my focus towards Ronan and what he needed. I was going to make sure I didn't have to walk into this again.

I put my entire focus into Ronan tonight and in the morning I'd work on trying to figure out what to do about Reid.

It could wait until Ro was feeling more himself and had gotten some rest. The last thing I needed was for Ro to spiral again and make the situation worse.

A/n:

Have a little Monday surprise! I don't know if it's a good Monday surprise but a surprise none the less.

I figured I'd get an extra chapter out for you since it's my birthday and I want to spread the love a little. I'll try to get a chapter up on Friday as well but I make no promises.

I've been trying to work out exactly what I want to do when it comes to this story. Originally this was the only chapter from Tiff/Ronans pov planned. The rest of Ronans story and journey in this book is through Reid's eyes. But I feel like there is one more chapter in my brain but I don't want to divert to different povs too much. I'm working it all out in my head and figuring it out. But if you would want to see a chapter from Ronans pov, let me know it might help figure out if I want to add it to the book or not.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

-Cora Leigh