Louis's POV:

I hung up with Ro and physically deflated.  It was like my entire body suddenly became boneless and I collapsed back onto my bed, and giant smile almost splitting my face in two.  I lay there for a minute or two, and then hopped up to head over to Harry's.  As soon as I stepped out into the hallway I could smell dinner, and my smile somehow got larger.  Only Harry and Lou would go to that kind of effort for a simple dinner with family.  I didn't bother knocking when I got there, instead I pulled my key to his flat out of my pocket and unlocked the door, slipping in unnoticed.  Everyone seemed to be gathered in the kitchen, I could hear them laughing happily.  I sneaked in, tiptoeing up behind the person closest to the door, who happened to be Lou.

"BOO!"  

I shouted, tickling her sides at the same time.  She screamed, jumping into the air and away from me, eyes wide and startled.  A thunderous frown replaced the surprise as soon as she saw it was me, and she stalked towards me, promptly slapping me on the arm.  I couldn't have cared less, I was laughing so hard that I was holding onto my sides.  Everyone else was laughing too, so loud that I'm sure we would have gotten a noise complaint if there was anyone else on our floor of the building.

"Hey, you're just in time for dinner Louis!"  Harry happily exclaimed, coming over to give me a hug, his long curls tickling my cheek.  

"I have impeccable timing."  I joked, reaching up to ruffle his hair when he pulled back.  I went round the room and hugged everyone before joining them at the table.  Harry and Lou brought out the mountains of food that they had cooked, making the table creak under its weight.  Salad, chicken, pasta, fresh baked bread, the whole kit-and-kabootle.  We laughed and ate the night away, sipping white wine that Lou had produced from somewhere.  I looked around at all my friends, the people I was lucky enough to work with, and smiled.  But then I frowned, because there was one person missing who should have been there.

Rosanna's POV:

Earlier:

I had just finished lunch.  Kurt and I had heated some hot dogs up in the microwave, with him eating three and I one.  That bottomless stomach of his never ceases to amaze me.  He decided that we were going to go visit Mom again, given the fact that she was the whole reason that I had returned in the first place.  The drive there was filled with banter, just like old times, with us bouncing jokes off of each other and singing our lungs out to our favorite songs from our youth.  It felt like one of the shortest drives of my life.  They say that time flies when you're having fun, and I guess that's true.

We got to the hospital, still smiling and talking happily.  I knew that the nurses and doctors were giving us dirty looks, but I managed to ignore them.  I was having fun, and I wasn't going to let anybody ruin that for me, not even my mother.  

I should never have made that resolution.

As soon as I had that thought, I saw a familiar face.  One that I had hoped that I would never see again.  She had aged a bit since I had last seen her, about a year ago.  Gray hair, short and curled, reading glasses forever perched on top of her head.  The signature cardigan and jeans, practical shoes.  The only thing that had changed was that she seemed thinner, with a few more wrinkles.  We passed her in the hallway, and I prayed that Kurt hadn't seen her.  But I guess my luck hadn't returned after it ran out two years ago.  We entered my mom's hospital room, and as soon as the door had closed Kurt opened his mouth.

"Mom!  You're never gonna guess who we just saw in the hallway!"

"Who, Kurt?"  Her tone sickeningly sweet, as it always was when she spoke to him.

"Mrs. Doen!"

I had held onto a tiny shred of hope, but as soon as the name was uttered I felt my entire face pale.

"Oh yes, she came and saw me earlier this morning, before you two got here.  It was so nice to catch up.  She said to tell you, Rosanna, that Joshua wants to get together while you're here."

My knees buckled, and I dropped into a conveniently placed chair.  Kurt gave me a strange look, but refrained from asking me about it.  Then, anyway.

"R-really?"  I squeaked, my voice sounding foreign in my ears.  "Did she say why?"

"Just that he wanted to rekindle your relationship."

Of all of the answers that she could have given me, that was the one I wanted to hear the least.  My mouth opened and closed comically, like a cartoon fish.

"No.  I won't see him again."

"What!?  Rosanna, you must!  He's your best option to get married.  No one else is going to want to marry you, you're lucky that he wants to rekindle your old spark."

The blood that had left my cheeks suddenly came rushing back in a surge of anger.

"I.  Don't.  Care.  I don't love him, I never did.  Anything that we used to have is gone, in the past.  I have moved on from him, and I refuse to speak to him again.  Hear this, mother."

I stood from my chair, standing proudly beside her bed.

"I will marry whom I want, when I want.  Do I make myself clear?"

For once I managed to stun her to silence, and I nodded sharply, sitting back down and crossing my legs.

"Good.  Now then, how have they been treating you?"

I managed to have a somewhat civil conversation with her and Kurt, with him acting as the mediator.  I left the hospital in an almost happy mood, pleased with how it had went, despite the unfortunate sighting of Mrs. Doen.  The ride home was much quieter, Kurt seeming to have sobered slightly.  Indeed, aside from the music we were silent the entire ride home.  The opposite of time flying when you're having fun: time slowing when you're miserable.

Present:

We pulled into the driveway, the familiar trees glowing with the setting sun.  I hopped out of the car, ready to go inside, but Kurt's voice halted me.

"Rosa?"

He sounded so serious, so unlike him.

"Yes?"  I turned back around, half-smiling at him.  He didn't reciprocate.

"Why were you so mad about seeing Mrs. Doen?  Is it just because you and Joshua parted ways?"

I couldn't believe my ears.  He almost never asked my to open up, he always knew that I would come to him in my own time, in my own way.  Why wasn't he trusting me?

"That's part of it, yes."  I moved to start heading back into the house.

"What's the other part?"

I froze.

"I don't want to talk about it.  Please don't press me, Kurt."

I could hear him walking around the car, since I refused to face him he came to stand in front of me.

"I'm already pressing you, so it's too late to ask me not to.  Why won't you tell me!?  We tell each other everything!  I have been nothing but open with you, and now you come back changed, and won't talk to me!  Rosa, please, TALK TO ME!"

He was shouting at the end, leaning towards me slightly.  I was vibrating in fear, I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was like Joshua all over again, but it was my sweet, loving brother.  His sad blue eyes kept flickering in and out with malicious green ones, until I wasn't sure who or what I was looking at.  I began to feel something that I had never before felt in his presence. 

Fear.

I pushed the fear down, knowing that if I let it take over me I would start crying, and I refused to do that in front of him.  So instead I let myself get angry.

"You want to know why I don't tell you things anymore?  Because you weren't there to witness them.  You left me, to deal with Her, after Dad died.  It was that year that changed me, and you weren't there to witness it.  And maybe, if you were there, you would have been able to salvage what was left of the old me.  But you weren't.  And I was left to put the pieces of my heart and soul back together.  So, SCREW YOU, KURT!"

I screamed the curse from the bottom of my shattered heart, turning and running away at the top of my speed.  Fleeing from the one person who I never thought I'd have to run away from.  Away into the Back Woods, following the now non-existent trail that we had cleared when we first arrived here.  I ran until I couldn't breathe, but didn't stop until I had reached the Tree.  My safe haven.  My sanctuary.  And once I got there, I let myself do what I refused to do in front of Kurt.  I collapsed to my knees, and wailed my grief to the sky.

A/N:  1503 words, guys.  It's a long one, to make up for how long I've been gone.  And to make up for the filler-ish last chapter.  I hope you guys like it, this has been my favorite to write thus far, I don't know why but I loved it.  I think the last paragraph is my fav part, let me know in the comments what yours is!  Oh, also, who do you think Louis was talking about?  Who should have been there but wasn't?  I love hearing your ideas!  Let me know what you think, vote if you liked it.  Love you guys!