Broken but Living

“Fuck.”

Sky had been trying on a number of outfits to wear this evening to Zacky's and Zoe's house. Today was little Bonnie's first birthday, and they were celebrating with a BBQ and some drinks. Zoe had told her a number of times just to wear a shirt and some shorts but that didn't seem right, not to a family get together anyway and not when she was seeing Matt for the first time since that horrid day.

She pulled on the dress and analysed herself in the mirror. She had little make-up on and her hair – for once, looked kind of nice. It didn't look like a massive mess of curls, it was actually straight. The dress she now wore was tight but a reasonable length, it just looked classy. She had put on weight, which was one thing she actually liked because she didn't look like she wasn't being fed and her ribs were no longer poking through her skin. The tattoo on her wrist sat on her wrist, worn out. Brian had begged her to have hers removed, but the whole process of it wouldn't be worth the hassle, plus it didn't look that bad anyway not when she had her sleeves down.

“Baby can you fix my hair?”

Sky turned to see Brian standing before her, his hands tangled in his dark brown spikes and his shirt slung over his shoulder. His belt on his jeans was left open and he only had one sock on. She had told him to get ready about an hour ago, but he was to fixed on the TV to listen to her. Now he was obviously running late.

A small smirk came onto her lips as she walked over to him and began to flick little pieces of his hair into place. He rested his hands on her hips and leant down to kiss her forehead, but she quickly moved away.

“We don't have time,” She sighed flicking his nose with her index finger, “Now shoo.”

He rolled his eyes and began doing up his pants while Sky finished her make-up off in the mirror. Her hand was being weigh down due to the large diamond that now sat on her ring finger. He proposed to her five months ago and she had no trouble saying yes. For some reason it felt to her like the most natural thing in the world, even if he did kidnap her. But she often thought about how her family would never see her again, she wouldn't have them there at her wedding, they wouldn't be there to see her children. But then again, time does heal everything.

Brian had changed completely. He made himself go to counselling every Tuesday and Thursday, even though Sky had told him not too. He had moved up on his medication and, even though Sky wouldn't tell him, she was pleased that he did. He wasn't violent, aggressive or angry any more. He was nice Brian all the time. Synyster Gates was finally a softy. He would often get slightly funny with Sky whenever the subject of children came up. He would always say 'Look at Zacky and Zoe, I want to be a daddy too, I want a family' and as much as she found it adorable, there was still something that always made her say, 'Soon' and nothing more. She sometimes thought it was because she was scared, and that was just it.

“We're going to be late Bri.” She mumbled placing her new cell phone into her handbag, “It's six thirty.”

He looked up at her with a shocked expression pressed against his face, “Six thirty? Oh fuck.” He mumbled turning away and pulling on another one of his socks, hoping around their bedroom.

She watched him dance around the bedroom in a panic, trying to find his car keys and his wallet. That day that Matt had destroyed the papers, was the day that Syn demanded they put the place up for sale. Shadows had said he would live there, but Brian was having none of it. He wanted everything about it destroyed, and that's what he got.

Little Bonnie was born and Jimmy seemed to change, he wasn't depressed any more. The kid was Jimmy's life, he babysat for her all the time. He took her out, showered her in gifts and treated her as his own child. Zacky didn't mind, nor Zoe, in-fact they quite liked having someone that would look after her when they needed to pop out or quickly run a few errands. Bonnie loved Jimmy just as much as he loved her though, her first word a couple of days ago was a mumbled 'Jim'. He would never let Zacky live down the fact that Zacky had spent hours saying 'Daddy' and Jimmy had only said 'Jim' a couple of times and she spluttered it out – along with a number of spaghetti O's.

“You know, it's not that scary.” Brian whispered as he sped down the street and almost jumping a street light. Sky looked at him with a weak smile and then turned her head to looked out from her window. She hadn't seen Matt since he had practically broken Brian into two pieces, for some reason she was very nervous. Apart from the fact that he had told her he loved her, she was worried how he was going to re-act. Brian had promised that he had changed, he got himself a new girlfriend and she seemed to change him into a new fun, loving and caring guy. But for some reason she could never imagine Shadows not being angry or aggressive, not after what she's seen come from him. Not after the way he treated her, raped her and beat her.

Zoe was stood on the porch with Bonnie in her arms. Her little face lit up when Sky stepped out from the car and skipped over to them both, taking Bonnie from Zoe and hugging her close. Brian was soon to follow, he gave Zoe a quick kiss on the cheek and patted Bonnie's head giving her a small wink. The little girl bounced in Sky's arms with excitement, flapping around her chubby arms and giggling an adorable laugh. It was obvious she looked like her father, she had his plump lips and his big green eyes, she even had his laugh.

“Someone's excited.” Sky cooed as she carried Bonnie into the house. She walked into the living area and waved at Zacky, Jimmy and Johnny who were watching a game of baseball. Zacky gestured for Sky to bring Bonnie to him, so she carefully placed her into his arms. He held her under her arm pits and placed her standing on his knees, bouncing her up and down slowly, causing loud laughs to come from her. Sky saw the smile on his face, he stared at her with nothing but proud love, he really was a great father.

“Good to see you looking well Jim.” Sky smiled sitting down next to him on the double seated sofa. He took a sip of his beer and shot her a cute smile.

“I'm really well.”

Sky opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again when she saw Brian talking to Matt in the doorway of the living area. She looked at him in shock. He had grown his hair, he wasn't bald any more. His muscle had gotten surprisingly bigger and he had slight stubble. He looked good. She squinted her eyes and saw a female standing next to him, she was completely beautiful. His head turned, and he double took a look at her. His eyes burned into hers, and she had too look away. She didn't realise quite how painful this whole ordeal could have been.