You Are Loved, Baby.

I felt let down, broken, and torn to pieces. I felt like I couldn't get enough air, the oxygen wasn't helping and the room was too stuffy. Brian watched me as I stumbled, my knees weak and my legs collapsing from beneath me after a moment. Brian hurried forward and clasped his arms around my waist, holding me up. I pushed myself away from him, feeling the burning where he touched me.

"I need to go home," I murmured, as I stood on my own and walked towards the front door again.

"Nissa," Brian sighed as he pushed his hair from his eyes, "You need to calm down. You're acting unstable." He took a step to me and stopped, his fingers brushing my forearm.

"I'm fine," I growled and then bit my lip, trying to keep reality from slipping through my lips.

Brian sighed again and stepped away so that he wasn't touching me at all. I nodded curtly and took another step forward, and then stopped as the thoughts took over my mind. I didn't understand how Brian could go from thinking that love was enough to believing that I wasn't ready to let myself fall in love with him. Where had his state of mind gone? Or, I mean, where had it come from?

Brian called my name softly and I felt his presence behind me. His bare chest was warm as he pushed against my back, his arms coming to wrap around my waist and break me from my thoughts. On instinct I grabbed onto his arms, holding him to me and then I realized what was happening and I stiffened, trying to step out of his grasp. He, however; didn't want to release me.

"I didn't mean to confuse you, baby," He murmured with his lips against my cheek, "I'm only trying to find the truth in your words. I'm not even sure if you believe them. How come love wasn't enough two days ago but now it is? I don't understand you, Nissa."

I shivered and tried to pull away. I tried to disentangle my thoughts and my body from Brian's. When he wouldn't let me I turned in his arms so that I was facing him. I lifted my fingers to feel the stubble on his chin and then let them drop to trace the tattoo on his chest.
"I don't know," I said honestly as I gazed up into his brown orbs, "I guess I realized that love is all anyone has. That I'd be devastated if you ended up with someone else. I'd be broken if you ever brought another woman to our sons' birthday parties, or school functions, or family get-togethers. I realized that I'd be jealous and hurt if I ever saw you with anyone else. I'd be mad and angry, and I'd feel like I'd want to rip you to pieces for hurting me," I told him as I recalled my feelings from earlier when I first arrived, "I realized," I continued, "That love is everything that I have in this world. I love my sons, I love my parents, I love my brothers, and I love you."

Brian looked down at me with a slight smirk on his lips. It wasn't cocky or arrogant, just a "I knew it" kind of smirk. Brian leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. It was a feeling that I had missed since we'd been apart. The feel of Brian's lips on mine, his fingers rubbing over the piercings on my hips. I'd missed this. I'd missed the smell of him, his cigarette and cologne mixture. I'd missed the scruff on his face, the feel of his chest. I'd missed his body heat warming up my cold body. I'd missed everything about Brian.

Brian's lips detached from mine and words flew out of them that made me pull him back to me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his head down to mine. His forehead rested against my own as our breath mingled and he murmured,

"I love you."