Come Back To Me

When Hollis woke up the next day, clinging to Zacky's side, her eyes stuck shut with tears and eye gook. His arm was wrapped around her and he was still asleep, sitting up beside her. She managed to untangle herself from his side and sat up, stretching and rubbing her eyes in an attempt to restore her vision. She glanced at the clock on the TV, seeing that she had just over an hour to get ready for work and knew that she had to hurry and shower, deciding to wake Zacky after she was dressed, so she could drive him home before work.

She took a quick shower, toweling off her hair as she picked out her clothing for the day. She knew that today after her first appointment she would be going to Norelle's office for an observation with her and Brian and as much as Hollis wanted to just call off the paper altogether, she knew that Norelle had gone through a lot to help her write it.

After she finished her hair, she quickly got dressed, knowing she was going to see Brian and after her breakdown and confession, she knew that she wanted to look her best despite the circumstances in her life. She walked from the bedroom into the living room, her heels clacking on the tile as she set up the coffee maker before walking into the living room to wake Zacky up.

"Zacky" She said softly, not wanting to wake him abruptly. He stirred slightly, only to rearrange himself and fall back to sleep. "Zacky" She repeated again, only a little louder, hoping he would wake up, but to no avail.

She sighed and walked into the kitchen, pouring herself coffee, leaving enough for Zacky to have some if he wished to before walking back into the living room, walking past Zacky on the couch to the window where the blinds were drawn, keeping the morning sunlight out of the room. She smirked evily as she took a sip of her coffee before forcefully pulling the blinds open, filling the room with light and instantly waking Zacky up.

"I'm awake!" He shouted, jumping nearly a foot off of the couch, causing Hollis to erupt into laughter as she walked into the kitchen, pulling another mug from the cabinet.

"Good morning sunshine. How do you want your coffee?"

"Still asleep" He replied in a grumbling voice as Hollis heard him plop back down on the couch.

"Sorry, that's not an option. I have to be at work in twenty minutes and I need to bring you home before I do that. So how do you like your coffee?"

"Cream and a little bit of sugar" He mumbled in a clearly unhappy voice as he pulled himself from the couch and trudged into the kitchen as Hollis placed the mug in his hand.

The first sip seemed to wake him up a significant amount as he rubbed his eyes to make his vision a little more clear. He looked at Hollis, who was now cleaning the coffee pot and her empty mug out.

"You look nice" He said and she blushed slightly.

"Thanks. I have a patient and then I'm observing Brian and Norelle and I wanted to look professional."

"Well you accomplished it."

"Thanks" She said again with a smile before getting her briefcase and car keys in hand as Zacky placed his empty mug in the sink and slipped his shoes on.

"Let's get you home. I'm sure Brian was wondering where you went, and your girlfriend too."

"Yeah" He said, somewhat reluctant to go back into "the real world" after spending such a nice night alone with Hollis.

**

Hollis left her office, telling Veronica goodbye and to hold all of her calls until she returned from observation and lunch with Norelle and Brian before climbing into her car and hurrying towards Norelle's clinic.

It only took a few minutes for Hollis to reach Norelle's clinic and as she parked and walked up the sidewalk, she noticed the Brian's car was parked outside which meant that they were more than likely waiting for her, which made her hurry up the short flight of steps into the office.

As she walked into the office she was directed by the receptionist to go right back to Norelle's office, where she found Brian and Norelle sitting together cosily in Norelle's large desk chair.

"Good morning" She greeted them both cheerily, sitting down across from them.

"Morning" Norelle replied very cheerily, smiling ear-to-ear.

"You guys certainly seem happy this morning. Suddenly turned into morning people?" She asked with a somewhat awkward laugh, feeling weird being surrounded such happiness when her life seemed so dreadful.

Norelle laughed, and Brian met Hollis' eyes with a weird smirk. "No that's not it at all." Norelle said before holding out her hand, "Brian proposed to me last night!" She half said, half squealed, showing Hollis the beautiful ring that now sat on her left ring finger.

At that moment, Hollis did the only thing she knew what to do, she started to cry.