Shiva had come up to the terrace to simply take in the fresh air that was abundant during the evening time, well he didn't go up there just to take in the fresh air, he also wanted to stay there for a while and analyse his thoughts, the past 2 weeks were an absolute mess and he had barely gotten the time to be able to sit down and think with a mind that was free of anger or stress.

As he stretched leisurely he saw Raavi, standing against the railing, one of her dainty little palms resting on the pillar, she was looking out to the vast lake, taking in the magnificent sight, he presumed; but his mind went to places he dreaded thinking of, his mind immediately conjured up an image of her with the duppatta around her neck like a noose, her body lax due to the lack of oxygen, he shuddered thinking of how if he was a couple of minutes late then Raavi would have successfully taken her life, as he shook his head to get rid of his disturbing thoughts he saw her duppatta fly across her face due to heavy winds and she stumbled slightly, a bit more and her unsteady feet would have had her tumbling down the low railing, and so he ran to save her and soon enough, Shiva had Raavi pressed up against the opposite pillar on the terrace, her hair flying around the both of their heads, she had one of her hands resting on his shoulder and the other was pressed against her heart as she was trying to calm herself down.

Shiva on the other hand was taking in deep breathes, trying to calm down his racing heart and he had his arms wound around her waist tightly, anchoring her to his chest. She breathed equally as heavy as him, their chests meshing together due to their physical proximity, he held her tighter to himself, his mind readily supplying to him the image of her almost lifeless body, he shivered involuntarily due to the fear of loosing her. Slowly but steadily Raavi calmed down, her heavy and fast paced pants replaced with soft and slow breaths that blew into the crook of his neck, Shiva knew he had to let go of her, but he simply could not, not after what could've happened with her.

Gathering himself he hugged her to his body, one of his arms travelling up from her waist to the top of her back, the tips of his fingers brushing against the base of her nape, he let that hand run up and down her back in a soothing motion, a hesitant attempt to provide some comfort to her and she accepted the comfort he tried giving her for the first time in 2 weeks, her arms wrapping around his waist and her head coming to rest against his shoulder.

Raavi could clearly hear the loud thumping of his heart as she rested her head against his chest, she felt herself calm down in tandem with his frantic heartbeats that reduced to a steady tha-thump. As his being engulfed her and clouded her senses with his warm scent; a rich cinnamon with hints of cardamom, Raavi tightened her arms sound his waist finally feeling safe. Safe in his embrace with his arms holding her tight. Even if Raavi had been in Shiva's arms countless times previously the tenderness that he held her with had been missing, his arms had always had a steady and strong grip but he was usually always harsh with her, and she was no less, they were used to pushing, pulling, scratching and grabbing at each other, and now when they were so tender and soft, Raavi couldn't help but burst into tears, the dam finally breaking open.

Shiva said nothing as she cried in his embrace, although it pained him to see her like that, so devastated and heartbroken, he knew she needed to let it all out, Raavi was not someone who hid her feelings, she was a very transparent and honest girl, but the Raavi he had spent the past 2 weeks with was not like that, she had bottled up her feelings and constantly hid them, her happy, toothy smiles transitioned into small fake ones that she had to showcase to everyone around her to let them believe that she was fine but he noticed how that killed her slowly bit by bit, he even noticed how nobody else seemed to notice that, he was the only one who did.

Even if he had claimed to hate her since his childhood he really couldn't hate the one person in his life who was always trying to make other people laugh and have fun, including him, despite the venom he spewed at her when they fought she was still civil with him to a degree, and as much as he hated to admit it, he knew his Dhara Bhabhi and the entire family were partially at fault for the mishap that occurred at their wedding. He was shaken out of his musings as Raavi tightened her hold around his waist, her fingers clutching the fabric of his shirt tighter, her incessant sobs slowing down to barley audible whimpers and the occasional sniffles. He let his hand leave her back and come up to her face, his fingers gently wiping away the few tears that remained on her visage, she leaned to his touch, welcoming the warmth and comfort he emitted.

Raavi honestly didn't understand why she was so vulnerable in front of him, it was not the first time, but it felt weird to her, almost as if she shouldn't have broken down in front of him, especially not after the way she had been constantly expressing her anger and hatred to him, in a way she felt as if she had no right seeking comfort and assurance from him, especially not after the way she had constantly hurled curses and abuses at him, but she knew she couldn't trust anyone else with her emotions as of now. As much as they fought with each other she knew that when she needed him he would be there without question, silently offering his support to her. The moment when he held her was when she knew that simply could not keep the agony she had been going through to herself, like always he had managed to breakdown her walls and get to know her innermost thoughts, and so she gave up and gave herself to him, letting him hold her and handle her when she couldn't do it herself. As she let him stand for her and care for her, she hoped she had made the right choice in trusting him with her entire being.

Shiva felt her body go lax against his and realised that she was tired and was letting him hold her, happy that she had let him comfort her and trusted him enough to let him through he took a deep breath and brushed his lips against her hair softly, almost hoping she didn't feel his lips press against her hair, he stood still with bated breath hoping she wouldn't push him away.

Raavi felt his kiss and the way his body had tensed immediately after, she knew that he was only trying to offer some support to her and accepted it, her arms moving up from his waist and up his back and finally entwining themselves around his neck, she hung off his body and let herself go as the exhaustion from whatever had been happening in her life finally hit her, she felt extremely drowsy and tired, the last thing she knew was that Shiva was picking her in a bridal carry and leading her out the terrace before she let sleep consume her being.

Shiva felt her silent acceptance and the way her body sagged against his, he noticed the way her eyes shut drowsily and they way her arms slightly loosened their grip on his neck, he picked her up in his arms and walked to their room, knowing that she would be asleep soon enough, he knew she needed the rest and he knew that he needed the time to sort his head out.

As he walked to their room, he hoped that no one saw them, he figured it would make things much more complicated if anybody from his family had caught them in such a situation, he knew that all of them would immediately assume that everything was hunky-dory between Raavi and him, whereas the situation at this point was anything but so. He walked as fast as he could, taking care not to disturb Raavi's slumber.

Soon enough he got to his room and laid her down on the bed, covering her up with the duvet and turning the AC up, this Chipkali was one weird human, she liked the AC to be at freezing temperatures and would always wrap herself up in the thickest of duvets possible; a complete paradox she was, Shiva shook his head at her unusual but adorable mannerisms, quickly making sure she was comfortable before he went ahead and latched the door of their bedroom shut, just in case someone from his family decided to barge in on them. He leant against the door for a couple of seconds, taking in the sight of Raavi sleeping, swaddled like a baby in the huge comforter, her face finally relaxed, her lips parted slightly and she let out a little snore that made him smile happily for the first time in the past 2 weeks. He kept staring at her for a long time, noticing even the most minuscule changes around her being, the way her lips parted slightly and the way her snores slowly died down, her mouth forming an adorable little pout, her chest expanding and collapsing as she breathed peacefully and finally when it got too cold for her the way she curled up into a little ball in her sleep, he moved ahead and wrapped her up tighter into the duvet, hoping she wouldn't feel as cold anymore.

Deciding that he might as well use this time to reflect, Shiva settled by the window, the seating area was well supplied with loads of pillows, he grabbed onto one of them and began playing with the tassels on the side, his back resting against the wall and his legs stretched out in front of him, he finally let himself think.

The first thought that came to his mind terrified him out of his wits, or whatever was remaining of it, no matter how much he had tried, his mind refused to let him forget the way Raavi had been hanging onto the ceiling fan, the noose tight around her neck, it still shook his very being when his mind flashed him back to that day, one minute and Raavi might as well have been dead, he flinched as his mind took him back, revisiting the moment, her hands cold and shaking, face drenched with tears and her ever sparkling eyes devoid of the spark that she always had.

Growing up and especially after his fathers demise Shiva had always preferred to keep to himself, his priorities were always sorted, his family and the store that's all his life was, until Raavi, she was that storm that managed to upend his life, he claimed to hate her to the depths of hell, but the minute he saw her tears he used to loose his sanity, her hurt used to hurt him beyond measure, every emotion that he had felt in regards to her had only confused him immensely, on one hand he had hated her, simply for being Maami Ki Behen Ki Beti but on the other hand he couldn't bear to see her hurt, especially due to someone else's doing, he had often been the reason that there were tears in those beautiful eyes of hers but he had always done something to make it right between them once again, it was during his teenage years that he realised that he was inexplicably drawn to her, she brought out the best and the worst in him, but he knew where his priorities lay, he couldn't love the girl who belonged to the family that had hurt his beyond repair, he had felt beyond conflicted at that stage in his life, he had gotten around to being extra rude with Raavi and had successfully pushed her away from him, he hated that he did what he did, because somewhere down the line his actions had also caused her to gravitate towards Dev, the brother who was always nice to her.

As they both grew, their fights did too and on most days they fought simply for the sake of fighting with each other, it was a habit, even if it was through the means of fighting, the both of then couldn't go a day without seeing each other, he knew that he couldn't, he wasn't that sure of Raavi's feelings towards him and he needed to know, they couldn't be in a marriage full of anger, helplessness and agony any longer, he was sure it would destroy the both of them. He did care for her, deeply no matter how much they quarrelled, he figured that it was high time she knew that, because even if he didn't need to say those words to her yet she needed to hear them, she needed to know that there was someone out there for her who would care for her and would be with her through the high and lows.

Steeling his resolve, Shiva decided to have the conversation with her as soon as she woke up, but he also knew that she would be hungry as she woke, it was already 5 P.M and he knew that Dhara Bhabhi would get to the kitchen soon to prepare for dinner, he wanted to get something for him and Raavi so that they didn't have to go out and join the entire family for dinner, he considered simply to get some take out for the both of them, Raavi for some reason had always loved eating cold pizza and luckily there was a Dominoes close by he figured it would take him around 30 minutes to get back he hastened to leave and come back quickly, hoping that she wouldn't wake up in the half an hour that he would be gone.

He stood up from his seat near the windows, quickly finding a stray piece of paper and scribbling on it, asking her to stay put in the room and to call him as soon as she wakes up, he stood there staring at her face before hesitantly bending down and pressing a quick peck on her forehead, not letting his lips linger on her forehead for more than a few seconds. He walked out quickly and stealthily, careful not get noticed by anyone of his family members.

It took him a total of 35 minutes to go get them both pizzas and a few other treats from a store close by, and by the time he had gotten back Raavi was still in deep slumber, her little fists holding the duvet tight and an adorable pout on her face, he smiled at the picture of innocence she painted, especially when he knew that she could be anything but, sure to everybody she was innocent and cute, but only he knew how devilishly her mind could work, she was very unique human being, his Maami had always called her a phool-si bacchi, only he and maybe to an extent Krish knew what a Phoolan Devi she could be at times.

He considered waking her up, but didn't want to disturb her peaceful slumber and she was so cute and non-irritating when she was asleep, he was dreading the conversation he wanted to have with her when she woke up and he knew that she wouldn't be looking forward for that as well, but it was needed. He also figured that in about an hour Dhara Bhabhi would come up to their room, to get them for dinner, but he didn't want to sit with the entire family and knew that Raavi wouldn't mind as well, so he hid the pizza's in the cupboard and spritzed some of Raavi's perfume around the room to mask its smell, opened the bedroom door lock and settled down in the bed alongside Raavi, although he had maintained a good enough distance from her, she twisted and turned around, her body seeking the heat his was emitting her arm draped itself across its torso and Shiva felt his heart skip a beat, What was this Chipkali even doing to him, he groaned softly and let her invade his personal space like she always did. Deciding to busy himself he scrolled aimlessly through his phone, looking at some of the recent account receipts that Kaka had Whatsapped to him earlier during the day, he didn't realise when he fell asleep himself.

The sight that had greeted Dhara when she walked into their room was an adorable sight, she could help herself from awwing at the both of them, Raavi in her sleep had latched onto Shiva, the side of her body cuddled against his and her hands resting against his torso, Shiva's own arms were around her body, holding her close to him, deciding that she could come back later and just keep both of their food in the fridge she left, and instructed the rest of the family not to disturb the both of them as they slept on peacefully.

Shiva woke up to find Raavi tangled all around his body, her legs thrown carelessly above his own and her arms held onto his, her face close to his neck, amused at her Chipkali like ways he decided to lay there pretending to be asleep to see what her reaction would be when she woke up herself. He assumed she would get all flustered like she usually would when they had gotten too close to each other before, rather she just shuffled around him a bit more, essentially burrowing deeper into his side her arms moved from his and flung themselves onto his torso, he gulped the feeling of her body stretching and cuddling against his too strong not to react to, he prayed she woke up soon because he didn't know how much longer he could hold out.

His prayers were rewarded mere moments later when she moved once again, sleepily raising her head from his shoulder looking around with sleep laden eyes and trying to make sense of her surroundings, she looked beyond adorable to him her face all swollen due to sleep and scrunched up in distaste due to waking up, soon enough she slammed her head back onto his shoulder, clearly unable to make sense of her surroundings yet, Shiva smiled at her sleepy self and his arm instinctively went around her waist and to her back, gently caressing her, trying to lull her back to sleep, but that didn't work as she woke right back up looking alarmed.

Ahhh there's the panic!

Shiva thought, amused at her deer-caught-in-the-headlights look, feeling his amused stare she looked right back at him, her eyes now wide open and alarmed at the fact that she was basically snuggling and sleeping with the man she had claimed to hate the most on the face of the earth, ironically enough with the way she was wrapped around him all the hate and anger she had seemed to feel for him evaporated, and she was left confused. A part of her wanted to run away from him, she was embarrassed beyond belief, but the other part of her? She wanted to stay this close to him and closer if possible, his arms a warm protective haven around her.

Shiva saw the hesitation and embarrassment flicker across her face and before she could get up and away from him he hugged her, his arms came around her like steel bands successfully trapping her in his warm embrace, her body tensed for a couple of seconds but she relaxed as he ran his hands up and down her back and snuggled back into his body, her neck resting in the crevice of his neck and shoulder.

A few minutes of silence and warmth he spoke softly, hesitant at her first, it took him 2 weeks to get her to soften up and think of opening up to him, he didn't want her to retreat back into her shell, knowing that it would be dangerous for the both of them if she chose to do so.

"Raavi"

"Hmmmm"

"Baat karni hai"

"Pata hai, aise hi bolo, tujhe dekhne ki himmat nahi hai mujhme"

"Pann aisa kab tak Raavi, kabhi toh dekhna hoga mujhe"

"Darr lag raha hai Shiva"

"Mujhse?"

"Haan bhi aur na bhi"

"Kyun"

"Kitni badi gadhi thi main Shiva, apni hi duniya mai mast magan, kaise nahi samaj paayi mere aas paas kya ho raha tha? Itna kuch ho gaya Shiva, maine teri poori zindagi barbad kardi, tu toh mujhse nafrat kartha hai Shiva, Yeh kya ho raha hai kuch samaj nahi aa raha hai"

"Shhhh Shant hoja pehle, kuch barbad nahi hua, na teri Zindagi na meri Zindagi, haa manta hoon ki hamare haalat kuch khaas acche nahi hai, pann inhe hum badal sakthe hai Raavi, ekk baar thade dimaag se meri baat sunle"

"Bol"

"Main baath nahi ghumaonga Raavi, humare paas doh option hai, ekk yeh shaadi to ekk mauka deh ya phir yeh ki jaise taise todhe mahine saath reh kar, divorce ke liye apply karein, main tumhe force nahi karna chahta, yeh tumhari life hai, aur abhi tak tere sivaye sab ne teri Zindagi ke saare important decisions le liye, jo bhi hoga hum dono ke saath, main vaada kartha hoon teri marzi se hi hoga, it will be your decision Raavi, whatever you want"

"Issi se toh darr lagtha hai Shiva, waapas naadani mein galat decision le liya maine toh kya karoongi main? Aur thokar khaa ke sehne himmat nahi rahi mujhme"

"Main hoon yahan, sambhal loonga, tu bas bol Raavi tujhe kya chahiye iss rishte se?"

"Pata nahi, par tumhe nahi chodna mujhe"

"Kyun nahi?"

"Pata nahi, par abhi tujhe chod nahi paungi, himmat hi nahi horahi hai"

"Iss shaadi ko ekk mauka dena chahti hai tu?"

"Haan"

Her reply was almost instant, which uplifted his mood a bit, at least she wanted to do something of this marriage of theirs, Shiva sighed, he knew he liked Raavi perhaps a bit more than he should, but she was beyond confused at this point and it wasn't even the poor girls fault her life had been uprooted barely even a month ago, her dreams and aspirations had been toyed with and broken brutally by his brother and the rest of his family, a part of him acknowledged that his Bhabhi was also at fault, even if he hadn't admitted it for a split second all he felt towards the mother-like woman in his life was resentment, for hurting a girl like Raavi like that. He had hated himself for feeling like that as well, he knew of the sacrifices she had given for the sake of his family and their wellbeing, but then again whatever happened at the wedding got him to begrudgingly admit that Dhara Bhabhi couldn't always be right about everything.

He didn't know how he was going to make this marriage work, all he knew what that he deeply cared for the girl who had been sleeping away so peacefully in his arms, having her close to him kept the hysteria away, and as strong as he was he still had his moments of insanity, and for some wild reason she had always managed to ground him during the moments when he would be hanging onto a thin string of control, he didn't want to go deeper into this, but it was like quicksand, he had no respite, he kept going deeper and no matter how hard he tried he was unable to get himself out. For now he decided to let things be as is, at least Raavi and him were able to talk and get their priorities set straight. He knew that they had a long way to go, their journey like a road less travelled but he knew that Raavi was sincere and that she would put in her 100% to accepting their marriage, and he knew that he would too. It was time to take control once again.

That night Shiva and Raavi didn't fight, for once they simply spoke to each other of anything and everything that they could think of, cold pizza and the now lukewarm bottles of Pepsi going hand in hand adding to the conversation, Raavi as usual couldn't finish her pizza and Shiva was still hungry after finishing his so he ate hers, well after picking at each olive on the pizza. As they cleaned up and got ready to get to bed, Shiva couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive about the night, they had slept cuddling in the evening but that was completely unintentional on both their parts, he wasn't sure what Raavi's reaction would be to sharing the bed, she wasn't really opposed to waking up so close to him he noted, knowing the same could happen this time around as well, maybe by a long shot but it could happen now too, before he could ponder further Raavi put his apprehensions to rest when she climbed into bed, and patted the space next to her, asking him to join her. He failed miserably in hiding the smile that blossomed onto his face and in return he got a bright smile from his wife. He joined her on the bed and tried keeping to his side, even if the both of them were very physically comfortable with each other, he did not want to overstep his boundaries with her and he didn't trust himself around her that much, she always did something to his sanity. Closing his eyes he waited for sleep to over take him.

Just as he was on the brink of dozing off, he felt her hand come to rest on his, clasping his hand in a loose grip, giving him the will to let go if he wanted to free his hand from hers, but he did no such thing, he held onto her hand tighter, their fingers entwining. A while later when their hands had gotten clammy and they possibly couldn't hold on any longer, Shiva let her hand go and twisted so he was laying down sideways, he looked at her eyes, those dazzling eyes of her, finally reflecting the hope he knew he yearned to see and she deserved to have. Her arms raised of their own accord and rested on his side, her head burrowing itself in the middle of his chest, he wrapped his arms around her, cuddling her close to himself, finally letting himself sleep.

It was a gloomy day, but the sun would shine brighter tomorrow, he knew it and now she did too.

A.N: Okay so this a AU version of the Gerua scene in the Haveli, I know its not essentially Shivi like, but I really hope you guys like this!