{emma pov}
 
 
 
"Ahh, it feels so good to be here again," I say as our plane takes off.

"Yeah, I agree. The break was nice, but I've missed this." Shawn smiles.

"Somethings different now, though." I state.

"Oh really? What's that?" He asks.

"Us," I smile and he nods. "Will things be different now?" I ask and intertwine our fingers.

"Different how?"

"I don't know, I feel like people will look at us differently now that we're dating. Like all those hate comments I've been getting..." I stammer.

"Hate comments? What hate comments?"

"Ever since we announced our relationship, I've been getting people commenting horrible things like how I'm ugly, a s-slut, a bitch, and they've been telling me things like that you're too good for m-me," I stutter, starting to cry a little. "That I'm useless and that you're dumb to see anything in me, and I'm starting to realize that it's all true."

Shawn has his mouth wide open. "No, no, no look at me," he says, pulling my face up so my blue eyes can meet his brown ones. "You're beautiful, smart, funny, talented, and anything I could ever ask for in a girlfriend. Why didn't you tell me about all of this? I could've done something." He looks pained. "Those are all nothing but lies. They're just jealous because I've finally found someone that I love," He smiles, and I giggle.

"Do you really think that?" I bite my lip.

"Yes, baby. I love you, and nothing could ever stop that. Don't let the haters get you down, you have to focus on the good comments, the ones that make you smile. Have there been any of those?"

"Yes, a few," I sniffle, smiling.

"And what did they say?"

"That were really cute together, that were perfect, that I'm gorgeous, and a beautiful singer. But there aren't near as many of those," I pout.

"See? Those are very true. Those are the ones you need to focus on. As for the others, I'll take care of it. You've gone through quite a bit recently and you don't deserve this." he frowns, stroking my hair as I lay my head on his chest. "And we are pretty cute together, if I do say so myself," he chuckles.

"Yeah, that's a bit biased, though," I smile weakly.

"Hey, I'm gonna stop this, don't worry, baby," he smiles and I close my eyes and fall asleep soon after.

✦

I open my eyes and my arms are chained to the ground, and I can't get out. I look up, and Dylan is there, with Shawn. Dylan is holding both of Shawn's wrists.

"Oh, guess who's finally awake?" Dylan snickers. "Time to do what we came here to do," he says, pulling a gun out of his pocket, putting it up to Shawn's temple.

"NO!" I scream and I start crying.

"There's only one possible way to get you back, and to think it has actually come to this..."

"No!" I scream. "Dylan don't do this!" I claw, trying to get out of the chains.

I'm shaking, trying to find the quickest way out, kicking and screaming, and I look Shawn in the eyes for a second, then at the ground and I hear a loud boom. It's over.

I jolt up, panting and crying, realizing that I am still laying on Shawn in the plane.

"What's wrong?" Shawn asks worriedly.

"I love you so much," I turn my body around and bury my face in his chest, crying.

"I love you too," he rubs my head, "shh, it's going to be okay."

"It was Dylan, he-he shot you," I knit my eyebrows together. "He said that was the only way he could get me back."

"Shh, I'm okay, you're okay. He's not going to hurt us, I promise." he says, trying to soothe me.

"It's just that - why did I have that dream? I-I don't understand," I stutter.

"I don't know, but everything is going to be okay, I can assure you that," he kisses my forehead.

✦

 
 
"Do you trust me?" Shawn asks me as I stand in front of him, trying to do trust exercises. We've arrived at the hotel in Boca Raton for the show tomorrow night.

It seems really simple just to fall into his arms, but not for me. It's very difficult for me to trust and that's why we're doing these exercises.

"Yeah..." I bite my lip. "But I'm scared." I shake my head.

"Darling, I'll never let you fall, you know I wouldn't."

"I know, it's just - okay I'm ready." I take a deep breath and close my eyes, falling backwards until I almost hit the floor, but Shawn catches me right before I hit the ground.

He pulls me up and turns me around to face him. "See, that wasn't that hard, was it?" he asks.

 
My heart beats at warp speed. "Yeah, it really was," I bite my lip.

"Maybe this will be harder than I thought," Shawn mumbles under his breath.

"I need to go see a therapist," I suggest.

"I think that's a good idea, it's good of you to admit that," he says with a warm smile. "I think we should try that out, I think it could help you," he pulls me into his chest and holds me tight. "You will get through this, baby, I promise."

✦

Shawn has talked to Andrew, his manager, and we have arranged for a therapist to stay with us, since we are back on tour now. The therapist will stay on her own most of the time, but will always be in the same general area as us so we can do regular appointments.

"Emma Hall?" The therapist asks.

"Y-yeah, that's me." I smile weakly. No words can describe how nervous I am for this. I know this is the right decision, but I also know I'm gonna hate it. But I will do it for myself and for Shawn.

"Awesome, you can come with me," she smiles. She seems really nice, and looks to be in her mid-thirties. "You two can take a seat if you'd like," she says to Shawn and I. We're in a conference-type room in the hotel, and there are a few paintings hanging up on the walls. The walls are painted an olive-green colour. "So my name is Alessia, and I will be your therapist. Is Shawn here your boyfriend?" I nod. "Okay, Emma, would you mind telling me a few things about yourself?"

"Well, I love to sing, hence the reason I'm on this tour, and singing always helps to get my mind off of things." Alessia is taking notes as I speak. "Anyways, I'm a senior in high school, and my academics have always been my top priority. Is that good?" I'm tapping my foot on the ground nervously. Shawn intertwines our fingers under the table were sitting at, and it calms me down a little.

"Yes, that's perfect. So do you have any idea what the reason behind these trust issues is?"

"Well, I had a boyfriend in the past, and he broke my trust really badly, so I'm pretty sure that's the reason..."

"Okay, I see. So would you mind telling me what happened with him?" She asks. I freeze. You would think that I've told this story enough times that I'd be able to get through it without bursting into tears, but I can't. And I don't understand why. "Emma?" She asks. "I asked you if you could tell me what happened?"

"Here, I'll tell her," Shawn offers.

"No, I'm okay. I can do it." I smile. I need to stay strong, and making everyone else do the dirty work for me isn't going to help me to be stronger.

"Okay, just take your time," He smiles back.

 
I tell the whole story slowly, trying not to skip over any details, and I let a few tears fall, but Shawn was holding my hand the whole time. I even explain the part about him coming onto the tour not too long ago.

"So, your trust was broken badly, and now it's hard for you to find it in your heart to trust people?" Alessia nods, "I see."

"And it's like I want to trust, and way deep down I know I can, but I just don't want to get completely broken again."

"That's what it's like for most people who have had some of the same experiences as you," she smiles. She writes some things down on her notepad and then looks up at us. "So I'm just going to ask you a few questions, is that okay?" I nod. "So when did you first stop trusting people?"

I pause for a minute, then reply with, "It wasn't right after it happened, but soon after, mostly once I met Shawn, I started to become hesitant."

"Okay, and how did having your trust broken make you feel?"

"Worthless. It made me feel like I meant nothing to the world, and it drove me mad. Like I guess I should've expected it, after all the times he hurt me physically, but I was so naive. I was depressed for a long time after it happened." I explain.

"Okay, thank you," she smiles warmly, writing down some more notes. "I will study these notes and come up with some possible solutions for your problem. I will let you know," she smiles as she leads us to the door.

"Thank you," I grin as we start to walk away.

"Oh, and Emma?" she calls and I look back. "Being strong and fearless is a huge part of this. And the fact that you chose to tell your story instead of letting Shawn do it for you, that showed me that you want to get better. I don't see that very often on the first day,"

I blush. "Thanks, that's really good to hear."

a/n
 
BUT GUYS I SAW SHAWN AND HE WAS ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL, SHAWN PETER RAUL MENDES IS THE MOST WONDERFUL, AMAZING, KIND, TALENTED, BEAUTIFUL PERSON ON EARTH OK? 😍😭❤️
 
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~em 💗