Alessia Berzatto's chest grew more constrained with each ding of the elevator. Maybe she wasn't ready for this after all.

Natalie's worried gaze remained fixed on her little sister, as the elevator continued to rise. Seconds later it slowed to a stop and the doors slid open.

Alessia's hands trembled, and she curled them into fists by her side. Mentally begging them to stop.

They walked down the hall until Alessia stopped in front of the familiar door. She couldn't bring herself to knock, so Natalie stepped in front of her, reaching her hand to the door.

It didn't take more than a minute for the door to open, revealing Julia. The woman looked almost as exauhsted as Alessia.

Julia was in her pajamas and her glasses, clearly winding down, and watching trashy tv before bed.

"Hi," Julia greeted, but her voice was so small it came out as basically a whisper.

Alessia forced a tight-lipped smile, "Hi...sorry that it's so late...I just got off work and—"

The woman in front of her shook her head, opening the door further, "It's okay."

At first Alessia didn't dare to step inside the apartment, but Natalie gently touched her arm, guiding her inside.

Her shoulders remained tense, afraid to say or do anything that could be considered the wrong move in this situation.

"Um—your stuff is all packed up in the spare room..." Julia trailed off,

"Thank you, Julia," Natalie noted, as Alessia had gone entirely silent.

Alessia shook her head as Natalie walked with her to the spare room, "I changed my mind...I don't think I can do this."

"Honey, we're here." Natalie noted, motioning around the room, "You're doing this."

Alessia frowned, tugging at the collar of her shirt, trying to take the non-existent pressure away from her chest.

"Look, it's just a couple of boxes, we grab them and we go." Natalie said gently, "but Less, you gotta breath."

Alessia sucked in a deep breath, and slowly let it out, she then leaned down picking up one of the boxes, "Yeah ok, let's get out of here."

Natalie offered a comforting smile to her little sister, picking up a box of her own. She lead the way down the hallway and to the apartment's entrance.

"Hey um, Alessia," Julia scrambled to reach the door before the other woman was gone.

She sucked in a sharp breath, and spun on her heels, finally facing her ex-girlfriend, "Yeah?"

"Can we uh, can we talk...for just a minute?"

Alessia's eyes widened, panic washing over her. She glanced at Natalie, waiting for any suggestion for what she should do.

Natalie just shrugged, and Alessia turned back to Julia, "I uh— sure."

"I'll give you two a minute?" Natalie asked carefully, ensuring that Alessia was okay with her leaving them alone.

"It's okay," Alessia mouthed, setting down her box on the shoe rack that sat beside them.

After the click of the door shutting reached her ears Julia looked at Alessia, "Are you okay?"

Alessia scoffed, "If anything I should be asking you that..."

Julia shook her head, "I'm okay, I'm good."

The woman smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Hurt and disappointment loomed under the surface.

After a brief pause, Julia sighed, "Look, we're done, and I know that...but I'm worried. Why are you throwing your dreams away for that shitty ass restaurant?"

Alessia could not help but scoff, it was safe to say Julia's question pissed her off. She was so sick of everyone getting on her about that, who cares? It was her decision, and her life.

"Is this some sort of flight or fight thing because of your brother? I get it, I do...I just don't want you to make decisions that you're going to regret when you still have your whole life ahead of you."

A flash of anger crossed Alessia's face, she crossed her arms, a frown evident on her face.

"Oh fuck off, Julia," Alessia snapped, "It's not some stupid grief driven thing, okay? I'm not your girlfriend and I'm certainly not your patient, so stop fucking psycho-analyzing me."

Julia held up her hands in surrender, "Look, I didn't want to start a fight, I just wanted to make sure someone was looking out for you. You hurt me Alessia, you broke my fucking heart, but I still give a shit about you."

Alessia shook her head, angrily scooping up the box. Preparing to storm out of the apartment any second.

"It's not your job to give a shit about me, anymore," Alessia stated, before opening the apartment door.

"Alessia—"

The door clicked shut behind her before Julia got out another word. Tears pricked at Alessia's eyes as she rapidly pressed the button for the elevator.

She looked back over her shoulder, praying that the door to Julia's apartment would remain sealed shut.

The doors slid open after a few seconds, and Alessia could not step into it quickly enough. The door shut once more, leaving her with a box of her junk and her thoughts.

Alessia tried to stay present, counting the elevators buttons, and tapping her fingertips against her arms.

Absolutely anything to keep her out of a thought spiral.

She had dealt with them for years and years, but she had them in check...until Mikey's death.

After that phone call everything seemed to spiral out of her control. Suddenly she couldn't even have a conversation with Julia without starting a fight.

With the final ding of the elevator the doors slid open once again. The second Alessia's eyes met her sister's she couldn't stop the tears.

Natalie frowned, gently giving Alessia's shoulder a squeeze, and taking the box from her hands.

Alessia wiped her cheeks, and opened the passenger side door. When Natalie got in she cracked a small watery smile, "That went well."

Natalie chuckled softly, "Could have gone worse, I guess."

"Way worse," Alessia agreed, her eyes moving to the car window.