*James*

"Heyyy." I whisper when Julia starts to wake up. I lay next to her in my bed and stroke her cheek. Maggie lays on the other side of Julia. My little therapy dog. Julia cried herself to exhaustion from this day. She cried so hard in my arms for so long that she eventually fell asleep. I've never seen someone do this before. Cry themselves to exhaustion like that. I carried her up to bed and let her sleep while I watched her every move. Her every breath. And prayed over her for so long.

Then I called Nate. I told him how I bailed. I told him how I brought Julia back to my house instead of admitting her. The sound of relief I heard from him was nothing I've ever heard before. 

"Hey." She whispers back. "Thank you."

"For what?" I rest my forehead on hers and take hold of her face

"You know for what. For driving away. For bringing me here. For letting me cry."

"I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna make sure you get better, ok?"

Julia nods.

"But I'm gonna need your help." I attach my lips to hers in soft pecks as I talk. "You can't shut down on me. I'm not the enemy, ok? I don't want you to go to one of those places."

"I want you to be healthy. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, remember? I want your toothbrush next to mine and your clothes in my dresser. I want the bad karaoke, your favorite song. Sex in the lobby..." I smirk, and for the first time today, I see a curve of a smile on her face.

"Sex in the lobby, right." Julia repeats and rolls her eyes at me. She tries to joke, but her eyes fill with emotion quickly when she realizes what this day could have been like if I dropped her off at the hospital

"I'm so sorry." She bursts into tears and throws her arms around my neck. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen! I never meant to hurt anyone!"

"I know you didn't, sweetie. I know. Julia, I love you. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone. Trust me. You're gonna get through this."

"I'm your best friend, right?" I stop kissing her for a second to talk.

"Yeah...?"

"I always want you to be able to talk to me. To tell me anything..."

"Ok... Where are you going with this?"

I peck her lips a few times before my confession. "And I should be able to tell you anything, right? I told Nate." Julia freezes when she hears this, but I continue to kiss her face and neck while explaining myself.

"You told him?"

"He's gonna help. Ok? We're in this together." I don't let her say another word. I kiss her, and everything from here on out moves fast. I roll on top of her, and Maggie jumps off the bed..

"Shoo, Mags, find somewhere to go." I throw one of her chew toys out in the hall, and she runs out of the room.

"You know I won't be the one to stop this..." I remind Julia in between our mouths clashing. against each other.  

"We're gonna get you back to yourself. Me and Nate."

She closes her eyes, and I can tell so many emotions are running through her head. I open mouth kiss down her chest before lifting her shirt, trying to make her feel something other than emotional pain. 

"We're gonna take care of you together, ok?"

"Ok." She gasps a little when I kiss down her stomach. 

"We're gonna take care of you together." I repeat, "But right now..." I pull down her leggings and underwear at the same time and take them off, throwing them across the room.

"Right now... I'm going to take care of you." I pull her leg up and attach my mouth to her core. She arches her back, finally feeling something, and grabs the back of my head. I harden while going to work on her nerves and watching her react from feeling the sensation. I start grinding into the mattress a little to relieve some of my own pressure while watching Julia come alive again. Her body reacts from my touch, now needing the release, and she rocks her hips, her body wanting more. I replace my tongue with my hand for a second and watch her squirm. God, everything she does is so sexy. Julia drops her head back down when my mouth takes over again, and her thighs quiver, letting me know she's getting close.

"I'm almost there." She gasps. A slight moan escapes her, and her abs tighten as I send her over the edge. I replace my mouth with my hand again, moving it fast while she rides it out and puts my mouth against her neck. I take the rest of my clothes off and study Julia's face for a second.

 "Jesus, you're so beautiful."

I pump myself a few times before lining up and then slam into her hard, taking her breath away. I pull her right leg up and over my hip so I can crash in and out of her fast, making her come again. 

"You feel so good." I say into the crook of her neck. I know I'm hitting her g-spot with every thrust by her reactions, and she starts to lose control like I need her to.

She bites my shoulder lightly and then sucks in a soothing way. Fuck. I close my eyes for a quick second, and I groan loudly from the pain and pleasure combination.  I want to watch her every movement and every facial expression, but she repeats her biting and sucking making me unable to keep my eyes open from the sensation. I let out a moan and pulled her hair. My dick twitches inside her, and I'm getting close. Julia attaches her lips to my neck sucking harder, and she sends me into overdrive. I viscously jerk my hips into hers faster and start to lose my rhythm. I can't hold on any longer tonight. Everything she's doing to me is perfect. Everything she's doing to me is needed so desperately after this rollercoaster of a day. I breathe heavy against her skin and slam into her, reaching my own high and coming inside her. I twitch and groan, and she bites my shoulder, and I rock in and out of her, riding it out before collapsing on top of her. She holds me so tight and rubs my back while I recover.

Then...while I'm still inside her...

She cries.

I quickly jolt up and lean on my forearms, tucking her hair behind both her ears.

"Did I hurt you? Are you ok??"

"I'm ok. Sorry. It's not that. That felt good. I'm just... my emotions are all over the place. I don't know what's happening to me." She explains, and I wipe her tears and nod, understanding what she's trying to say.

"Baby, I'm gonna make sure you get better. Ok? I love you." I kiss her mouth. "And Nate loves you. We'll do this together. You're gonna be alright."

After a few minutes, Julia calms down, and I lay flat on my back while she rests her head on my chest like she always does. I play with her hair while going over everything. We lay like this for a half hour while talking.

"Don't worry about anything, ok? Just go in and eat, take the meds, and sleep. Help Hollan with whatever he needs during his detox."

"But don't go stealing pills. I mean it, Julia. This is our last chance."

"I won't go stealing pills. I can't do that to Nate again." 

"How about you can't do that to YOURSELF again, babe. Take care of yourself for yourself. That's the only way this is gonna work." I pull her up, so she's lying on top of me now. She pushes herself up to lean on her hands and looks down at me. "I mean it. I know what I'm talking about."

She nods, but I don't think she really believes I can help her.

"You don't think I've been through shit Julia? C'mon, you know me better than that."

"I know you have..." 

Julia moves her head off my chest and looks up at me. I close my eyes and feel her lean up and kiss the corner of my mouth.

"Did I ever tell you Carter was from a one night stand?"  I open my eyes slightly and look down when Julia shakes her head no. I sigh. "It was awful. I hate saying that because what came from that was the best damn thing in my life. If it didn't happen, I wouldn't have Carter. Had Carter..."I correct myself and try to swallow the hard lump of sadness.

"Yep. I'm not proud of the act itself. Believe it or not, I was drunk and not in a good place, and SHE was the one who took advantage of me." I huff and shake my head a little with a laugh.

"Yep. Can you believe that one?" I joke, but Julia's not laughing, and my smile fades as I become serious. "It was awful. To be honest, I barely remember it. I didn't want it, but let it happen anyway just to punish myself."

"Gwen was having a hard time and going through stuff. Even though Kendall is technically the youngest, Gwenie is. She was the youngest to have to deal with Joe. She was so little, so she doesn't remember much, but even though ma got us out of that house while still pregnant with Kendall, Joe didn't just disappear. He never did. Still around to make it known he's in control."

"He's not in control anymore, James." Julia sits up and leans on her forearm by turn away so she can't see my emotion. She grabs my jaw and makes me look at her. "He's NOT in control anymore."

I huff. My father will always have a hold over me and make it known.

"Anyway, he decided to follow her and her friends through the mall just to freak her out. I was supposed to pick her up, and I forgot, so they were just killing time. Had I remembered, I would have been there for her. Nothing happened, but that's the kind of shit Joe does. And he does it knowing Gwen can't handle it. It messed her up. She still has a hard time stepping foot into that mall. Can you believe that? Even to this day."

"You know that's not your fault, right? Do you know how many times Luke has forgotten to pick up Danny from soccer practice?" Julia laughs a little remembering something and then immediately sits up and freezes when a specific memory comes to mind. Her heart starts racing. 

"You ok? You look a little......green?" I quickly sit up now, too.

"Ye-yeah. Sorry. Go on." She swallows hard and dismisses it.

"Anyways... So I got shitfaced that night. Bad. I wanted to punish myself and get so wasted I'd pay for it the next day. God, did I pay for it. It was a stupid move in a stupid car, and I didn't even hear from her until she was almost nine months pregnant."

Julia's eyes widen. 

"I don't think she was ever going to tell me. We bumped into each other again at that same pub. Neither of us were drinking this time. She was with her friends having a bite to eat, and I was, believe it or not, with Paul. He had noticed me at the hotel a few times and had a bright idea. The 4th floor was Paul's idea... but that's a story for another day..."

"Okay..." I understand.

"It was weird. She just came up to me and pointed at her pregnant belly and said... 'it's yours, you know that?' and walked away. It was so fucking dysfunctional. I thought Paul was gonna pass out before myself. Long story short. She left the hospital two days after giving birth. She just... left and never came back."

"WHAT?!"

"Crazy, right? Never to be found again. I stayed with her through 23 hours of labor to leave me with this newborn and I had no clue what to do. But that baby saved me. He saved me from myself." I nod to myself this time. "And thank GOD for my mom and sisters. They all helped me. Christ, Carter had more moms and more attention than any kid in the world."

He was so loved by the Gallo girls. God it broke  all of us when he passed away.

"He was spoiled. They helped me through EVERYTHING. I still had to work. And then, with all his treatments and surgeries... it was a lot. I don't even know where I'm going with this story now.."

"You don't have to be going anywhere with it. I'm sorry his real mom was a shitty mom. It sounds like Carter was blessed to be born into your family though. I can only imagine how your sisters were with him."

"They were amazing. I swear they are like me. Carter was the only baby. Just like I couldn't imagine having another child after losing him, I don't think any of my sisters wanted to either. I think that's why no one married or started a family of their own. Carter was everyone's baby. They hurt just as much as I did...do." I correct myself again and Julia wraps her arms around me. I hold her so tight and stay quiet after telling her all this.

We stay quiet for a good amount of time while I stroke her head. A good half hour goes by of us being silent and holding each other. Like always, we can go forever without saying anything more, being content just being together.

"Hey. We are alone. This is the last time we will be alone for awhile." I break the silence and smirk, pulling her on top of my body.

"It's been like...an hour!" Julia's eyes widen. I cup my face and curl my back to reach up and kiss her but she backs away, teasing me but sitting up. Little does she forget my workout routine and I use my abs to sit up completely while resting my hands on her face. She bites my bottom lip but still doesn't kiss me, just to tease me even more.

"Oh yeah? Are we playing hard to get now, Miss Moretti? After I just bared my soul to you?" I raise an eyebrow at her and one hand grabs the back of her head while the other lands on the small of her back so I can pull her up against me with no room to spare between us.

"Maybe I am... You already got what you wanted out of me, anyway."

"I want more." I start to harden against her and tick my hips up to show her I want her while kissing her ear and holding her tight against me.

"You always want more."

"We won't be alone again once we go to Nate's." I try to kiss her again but again she backs away and smirks at me.

"Like that's ever stopped you..."Julia gives in and slowly rolls her hips against me making my breath hitch.

I grab on to her jaw so she can't back away and kiss her hard. With both of us sitting up, and her straddling my body the way she is, she doesn't even have to line me up to her. One slight curve of her hips and I'm inside her. I gasp loudly.

"Jesus..." I hold on to her body tight and she starts moving at a painfully slow pace while looking right at me. God she's killing me right now.

"Is this what you wanted?" She can barely get the words out from already being oversensitive from what we did not long ago, and in this position, with both of us sitting up, rocking into me is hitting all the places she needs it to.

"You know it is..."I rock my hips to match her pace. "You're still gonna do this with him too, aren't you?" I keep my gaze on her while I say it and notice she's not caught off guard by my question. Instead she picks up the pace slightly and continues to challenge me by staring at me with lust filled eyes.

"Probably." She shrugs her shoulders.

"When will I get you all to myself?" My movements get harsher making her give in, close her eyes and bite her bottom lip.

"When I'm better..."

I pick up the pace and Julia holds me tighter for balance while I use all my muscles to thrust up into her, needing to feel everything.

"Guess I need to get you better real fast." I push her down on to the mattress and hover over her, now pounding into her. She wraps her arm around my neck, closes her eyes and tucks her face in to my neck as I thrust in and out of her.

"Shit." She gasps. 

I'm making sure she never forgets how good I make her feel. I'm also gonna make sure she's too sore to even want to think about having sex with Nate anytime in the near future.

*****

"Aside from what Paul may need, I'm gonna take short leave out of work." I announce before we head up to Nate's flat. We stand in the entrance of the luxury apartment building in front of the elevator.

"What? Why?"

"So I can stay with you until you're back on feet.. Hollan will pay. We already discussed it."

"You did??"

"The rest we'll figure out as we go. You just focus on his detox first and then yours. He's going to need you." I kiss her one more time. "You owe him that much. Help him out, ok?"

She nods.

"Oh, Thank God!" Nate pushes the weighted blanket off of him and stands up, rushing to get to Julia

Even with me right in the room, Nate wraps his arms around Julia and kisses the top of her head.

This is gonna be hard to handle.

Jules obviously freezes, like any normal person would in a room full of people like this, but Nate doesn't care. He pulls her in and press her head into his chest, holding her tightly. He jumped up too fast though and all the color drains from his face. He beings to sway off to the side.

"Christ. "He lets go of Julia and holds on to the kitchen counter.

"Nate, lets get you back to the couch." Jonah walks over and throws Nate's arm over his shoulder, walking him back to the couch.

"I'm sorry for all this." Julia says but Jonah doesn't make eye contact and just walks away. Nate holds her tighter and kisses the top of her head again, feeling her crying and hiding her face.

It's the only thing she says for the rest of the night.

*****