The Good Ones Go

A week has already passed since Colson's gotten arrested. It has been seven days since he dragged Chelsea out of the comfort of her bed to tell her he was in jail. After what she'd done for him, he disappeared. Chelsea hasn't seen him since that night, nor has she heard from him. She spend most of those days feeling so bad for yelling at him, for telling him to get out of her face. No matter what Colson did to her, Chelsea is always the one left feeling like she's messed everything up.

She wriggles around in her bed and turns to her right side; the covers are pulled up to her neck as she stares at the spot where his body should be. There is no warmth to snuggle up to, no breath to tickle her neck, no voice to whisper 'I love you.' Without him she feels so alone. Empty. He's been by her side for ten years. They were rough, but he never left. She sighs and grabs her phone from her bedside table. Her fingers rapidly dial his deleted number from memory as if it would fade if she took her time. Really she is scared she will change her mind and wanted to hear the ringing so she couldn't.

The phone rings, and rings, and rings. It feels like an eternity as she waits for him to pick up, and she is growing scared by the second that he wouldn’t.

"Chelsea," she finally hears him sigh from the other end. When he heard his phone ringing she was the last name he expected to see on his screen, but he happy she called.

"Hey, Cole," she replied unsure of what to even say. She is just relieved he took the call. "Did I wake you?" she asks. Her teeth are anxiously nibbling on her bottom lip as she's summoning the courage to ask him to come back.

He sits on his couch shaking his head as if she could see what he was doing. The anxiety of being away from her is eating at him, and he's struggling to keep his voice composed she she doesn't know how much he's missed her. "No, I've been up. I was hoping you'd call," he tells her, and it's the truth. He stared at he phone for two days straight waiting for her name to flash on the screen.

She smiles a little to herself, but she knows he'll be able to hear it in her voice, "do you wanna come over?" She tries hard to keep the desperation out of her words, but she's not sure that she's succesfull.

He closes his eyes and lets out a little sigh of relief, "yea, I'll be there as soon as I can, baby." The words leave his lips like a promise he intends to keep, and he scrambles to his feet to grab his keys.

"Okay, bye," she says getting ready to hang up. The conversation is short, but she's content.

"Chelsea," he calls out to her, and she hears him just in time.

"Yes?" she asks placing the phone back to her ear.

"I love you," his horse voice manages to say.

As soon as she hears the words come out of his mouth she breaks out into a grin as the butterflies overwhelm her belly. "I love you too, Cole," she reassures him before hanging up. Maybe things would finally get better.

She lies like that in her bed for the next half hour and waits for him patiently. Eventually she hears his keys jingling in the lock and smiles in anticipation as she waits for her front door to swing open. She watches as he walks into the room, pulls his snapback off his head, slides out of his shoes, and gets into bed with her. The butterflies in her tummy are working up a storm as she allows herself to take in his features.

He gives her a huge smile but restrains himself from touching her; the last thing he wants to do is to make her feel uncomfortable now that she's finally talking to him again. He stares at her face unconsciously, the smile on his own growing bigger as he thinks about how beautiful she is.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that," he apologizes to her, and his words are laced with a regret she knows is real. He watches her gulp and nod her head and just anxiously waits for her to say something.

"What's going on, Colson?" she finally asks him when she finds the courage to part her lips.

"Nothing's going on, babe. I just got drunk and drove home, and they pulled me over. It was a stupid mistake. I'll pay you back, babe, just tell me how much it was," he scrambles to say everything all at once. His body is getting animated as he grows desperate for her forgiveness.

"How many times has this happened? Who's taken care of you before?" she doesn't want to bombard him with questions, but she has to know: how long has he been hiding this?

"I don’t know, Chels, a lot. Usually Slim and the guys are there to bail me out, but Slim wasn't picking up his phone, and I didn't know who else to call. I'm sorry I put you in that position," he keeps apologizing as if it'll fix everything.

Chelsea sighs, "I just want you to be able to tell me anything, including this stuff. I love you, Richard, I'm not gonna judge you for anything. If we can't be honest with each other then what the hell is the point?" Her words are harsh, but she knows he needs to hear them.

"Why don't you just call someone to get you when you're that wasted; why would you even risk getting hurt? Never mind that now. You need to get your priorities straight, Colson; you can only be a wild boy for so long," she tells him, and he can hear the disapproval in her voice. Though she's disappointed by the decisions he's made all she wants is the best for him, and if he wants her to help him, then he's going to have to open up to her a little bit.

"I'm sorry, Chelsea. I'm gonna do better for us, baby," he promised her.

She nodded at his response and snuggled up to him: eager to feel his touch. He sighed into the crook of her neck, and she let out a little moan. "I missed you," she told him.

"I missed you too, baby," his words muffled as he kissed her collarbone.

She let her hands wander down his lanky body; she eager to feel his skin against hers. "I need you, Cole," she begged him. Her hand was under his shirt now, rubbing his boney chest.

He didn't need to be asked twice; their clothes came off quickly, and Chelsea wasted no time climbing on top; she was ready to show him just how much she missed him.

They wake up in each others arms later that night. Colson smiles at her. There's a love that twinkles in his eyes as he admires the way she looks in between his arms. He leans over and kisses her gently as she stretches her body out in his grasp. He runs his fingers across her bare belly: tickling all her sensitive spots. She smiles and let herself relax - just enjoying the sensations he's giving her. There is nothing she enjoyed more than his touch, and she wanted to revel in the moment for as long as she could. They stay that way for a long time just cuddling naked and sweating together under the covers. Neither of them mind because they are too in love to notice anything but the presence and beauty of one another. Chelsea falls back to sleep soon after; Cole stays up gently caressing her 'til he falls back asleep himself. Even he's convinced that things could get better for them. It seems that this is when they're at their best: alone and wrapped up in each other.

Chelsea's alarm wakes her up the following day. It's Thursday morning, and she has her History of Medicine class in hour and a half. She sits up and yawns sleepily into the air. While stretching her arms out she looks over her shoulder to see Colson's sleeping figure, and she can't help but to smile at how innocent he looks.

She gathers what she needs from her room, kisses his lips gently, and closes the door behind her to let him sleep.

When she gets home that evening, she is surprised to find Cole is cleaning up the apartment. His phone is on the table blasting music as he sweeps the mop back and forth across the hardwood floors.

"Hey, babe, what are you doing?" she asks him with a smile on her face. She takes off her shoes and coat before stepping further into the apartment.

"I just thought I'd help you out a little bit. I'm the one that makes all the messes in the first place," he tells her as he comes over to give her a long loving kiss.

She smiles at him and says, "thanks, baby." Placing her bag by her desk she jumps from the sudden vibration of her phone as it catches her off guard. Colson watches her as she pulls it out of her pocket and checks the message from Adam.

"Shoot!" she says scratching the back of her head in anticipation.

"What's wrong, baby?" her boyfriend asks. There is a moment of concern that washes over him as he looks at her desperate features.

"There's this banquet I've gotta go to tonight, babe. I'm supposed to represent Zupar's new research from my last rotation, and I totally forgot. Be my plus one?" she begs him even though she knows he hates these formal events. She could show up by herself, but they are doing too well for her to offend him by not asking him to come.

Colson nods without hesitation and says, "go get ready while I finish this up, then we'll go hit my place up, and you can pick something for me to wear." He gives her a quick wink before he goes back to cleaning. He knows he needs to start coming through for her if he wants this to work, and what better to start with than some boring science event.

Two hours later they are on campus. Chelsea in a little black and white dress, and Colson's wearing slacks and a light blue button down. He looks amazing, and she had the urge to play hookey with him so she could take her time undressing him, but she decided the conflict that would cause wouldn't be worth it. The couple walks into the ballroom hand-in-hand, and a hole starts to form in Chelsea's belly when she notices how Cole's eyes fly immediately to the bar.

She squeezes his hand before saying, "keep the drinks to a minimum tonight, please." It's really a warning because she doesn't know how she'll come back to face everyone if he embarrasses her.

He rolls his eyes playfully and is about to give her his two cents when Adam approaches them. She thinks he has saved her from an argument already when he opens his mouth to speak. "Hey Chels, so glad you made it. These guys had me sweating so bad. I could barely answer half of their questions," he says placing his hand gratefully on her shoulder.

Colson is irritated by Adam's presence and instinctively tells his girlfriend that he's getting a drink. Chelsea refrains from reacting; she doesn't want anyone to know that Cole could be a child sometimes so she just prays the night will turn out well.

"Let's go mingle. Zupar will kill us if come tomorrow there's no buzz about his research," Chelsea says as she completely ignores the look Adam is giving her. "From what you're telling me, it sounds like we need to work fast to fix whatever you did," she jokes. It's the only way she knows how to avoid the heavy stuff that Adam seems to want to address. The pair makes their way around the room and greets anyone relevant in their field of study. Eventually Colson finds them in the crowd and walks up behind Chelsea; he says nothing as he places his arm around her waist protectively.

Chelsea smiles at him proudly when she sees he isn't tipsy and introduces him as her boyfriend with a grin on her face. She sees Adam fix his suit awkwardly from the corner of her eye and feels bad for making him feel like the third wheel. Colson follows them to their next group of urologists and just stands there looking pretty, though Chelsea knew he had his own opinions brewing in that brilliant mind of his. An hour or so later, Chelsea and Adam felt they've covered enough ground and sit down at their tables for the dinner.

Approaching table number nine, Chelsea's huge grin quickly turns into a frown upon seeing Jessica there. She was Zeke's plus one - a young man who already had his master's and had been working in a lab affiliated with their university for the past two years.

"Hello, enjoying your evening?" Chelsea asks politely as she allows Adam to take the seat directly next to Jess.

Jessica grins at her and eyes Colson up and down before saying, "it just got better now that we have your company, right Zeke?"

"Of course. Please, join us," her date says politely getting up until the three sit down.

Chelsea tries to enjoy herself despite Jessica's presence. The night has been going well, and she doesn't want to let her being there ruin the rekindling of her relationship and the success of their research. She notices the woman's sneaky glances at Colson through out the whole night and is admittedly upset when she sees her boyfriend return a few. She attempts to reassure herself by mentally repeating that he has been faithful for a long time now, and she has nothing to worry about, but she's not too confident in her own words.

Once the dinner is over Chelsea is more than happy to leave her table, and it seems that Colson is even happier. The couple chat between themselves for a bit, taking some time away from all the guests. It surprised everyone that Cole was always philosophical, but it made Chelsea love conversations with him. Though he was a party boy on the outside, Chelsea has known him long enough to see his true colors.

When they are worn out from all the talk, the couple looks for Adam together. Conveniently, he's with Jessica whom Chelsea chose to ignore. Instead, she focuses her attention on Adam as she lets him know that she's leaving and that she would see him in Ethics the following day. She leaves the ballroom with a good feeling, not noticing the flirtatious look and exchange of words between her boyfriend and her ex-best friend. Had she heard them, she may not have been as optimistic, but ignorance was bliss so she reveled in it all the way home and paid no attention to the fact that Colson had dropped her off without staying the night again.