Somewhere Only We Know

Sighing a little, Iker ran a hand back through his hair, his dark eyes fixed on the envelope that sat ahead of him, taunting him with the notion of his fractured marriage. He knew that he had hurt Ariana, even if he wasn’t 100% sure how, and he knew that he had to make it right. The notion of quitting on his marriage made him feel slightly sick and he knew he couldn’t just accept it. Ariana was what he wanted and he doubted he could just let her go like she was suggesting. She was his wife, the love of his life, and he was going to fight for her, even if she didn’t want it. He was going to make things right.

Peeking down at his watch, he paused for a second before he pushed himself to his feet. It was late, too late to consider paying a visit to Sergio and Pilar’s home, but Iker didn’t care for a second.

He had had enough of Ariana ignoring him and needed to make it clear that there were not finished for a second.

~#~
Tossing onto her side, Ariana huffed, annoyed by her inability to fall asleep. She had been trying for hours, ever since she had settled Violeta down for the night, and she was annoyed that it wasn’t forthcoming. Every time she closed her eyes, she was greeted with the image of Lucia and Iker and it woke her once more, something which had left her beyond tired. She felt terrible, presenting Iker with the divorce papers in the way she had was underhanded, but she knew that she would melt if she saw him face to face. Iker had a way with words and knew precisely how to win Ariana around.

Yawning slightly, she tried to close her eyes again, only to pause as a small tapping at her window filled the still air. Lifting her eyebrow, she kicked the comforter off of her and padded towards the window, pulling back to the curtains to be greeted by Iker’s face. He was stood on the lawn, a selection of small stones in his hands, and it made Ariana’s heart skip slightly. Even in just the moonlight she could see that he was pale and it made her stomach flip.

Sergio hadn’t been lying when he had said that Iker was a mess.

Blinking a little, she pulled the window open. “Iker, what are you doing here?” she mused.

“I had to come” Iker replied, his eyes staring up at his wife. She was certainly a sight that he had missed in the week since he had last seen her. “You won’t speak to me under any other circumstances. I wanted to talk about this” he mused as he pulled the brown envelope out of his pocket.

Ariana sighed. “What is there to talk about Iker? I think that makes it pretty clear where I am” she sighed.

“Well I am not there. I don’t want to divorce you Ari, I love you far too much to give up on us” he replied.

Ariana sighed gently. “What makes you think that I am doing this because I don’t love you?” she posed.

“You’re asking me for a divorce” Iker exclaimed “That isn’t the action of someone who is in love Ari” he added.

“Iker, you know how I feel about you” Ariana sighed.

“Yes, I do, which is why I won’t let you do this. This is another bump Ari, another little problem, but we can fix it. We’ve done it before and I don’t see why this time has to be any different. I just want to be with you” he explained. He knew that she was hurt, she had every right to be, but he didn’t see why this time had to be so different. He and Ariana had gotten through a lot and he was sure that they could get through it this time around.

Ariana shook her head. “Iker, this is a never ending cycle. Lucia will always be around and she will always be trying to get us apart, and I for one am sick of piecing it back together again and again. I’ve hurt you, you’ve hurt me, and it can’t continue like that. We have a baby to think about…”

“You’re using Violeta as an excuse to leave me?” Iker interjected incredulously “Do you not think our daughter would be better served by having her mother and father together?” he questioned.

“She would be if this didn’t keep happening. We get together, we become happy, and then in the blink of an eye, we’re at each other’s throats. She doesn’t deserve to be brought up in a house where her parents don’t know if they will still be speaking the next week or not” Ariana explained softly.

“Ari, our relationship isn’t like that at all” he sighed, his dark eyes staring up at her. He could see that she was trying her hardest not to cry, and it hurt him. He wanted nothing more than to wrap her up in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be ok.

“It is” Ariana announced feebly “I don’t know whether or not Lucia is going to get to us and I can’t have it hang around us anymore. I love you Iker, but this is better. Violeta gets her mother and father and we don’t have to deal with the notion of fighting at every turn. I can stop worrying about you every time you leave the house and you can stop being so protective” she rambled tearfully.

Iker swallowed. “We’d be miserable apart” he mused, wanting nothing more than to be in her room with her.

“We’re not exactly happy together” she sighed.

“Ariana please, you must see how unreasonable this is” Iker mused as he looked up at her. It was taking all of his restraint not to break down the door and storm up to her. “We’re happy, we have been for the last 15 months bar a few bumps in the road, and the idea that we are about to throw that away because of Lucia is absurd. I love you Ariana, you love me, and that should be it. Anything else doesn’t matter, it is supposed to be me and you” he pleaded.

“How can I be with a man I think may have slept with my sister?” she squeaked.

Iker stiffened.

“How can I be with you Iker when all I think of when I look at you is Lucia’s hands on you? Did she make you feel the way I do?” she pressed.

Iker opened and closed his mouth a few times before he sighed. “I didn’t sleep with her Ari” he murmured, his head turned down to his feet.

“Do you know that or are you just saying it?” Ariana pressed.

“I…uh…I” Iker stammered.

Ariana shook her head. “That is why Iker, that is why I have given you that envelope. You don’t know if you slept with her, I can tell by the look on your face, and the only one that does know what happened that night is Lucia who I can’t trust for a second. How can I be with a man who may well have fucked my sister?” she murmured, resting her head against the frame of the window.

“You have to trust me Ari” Iker announced.

“How can I?” Ariana shrugged.

Iker fell silent. How could she trust a man who didn’t even know what had happened that night?

“Iker, just sign the papers” she murmured.

“No” he replied stubbornly.

“It is for the best” she mused.

“For who?” he squeaked indignantly “I love you, you love me, and our baby would love to have both mama and papa around. So who is it best for? Because as far as I can see, this just serves to make us both more miserable” he exclaimed. He was getting desperate, Ariana seemed unlikely to change her mind and Iker was running out of things to say to her. He just wanted things to be back the way they were before Lucia and the picture.

Ariana sighed. “Please, Iker” she whispered.

“No” he replied “I won’t give up on us Ari, not when we have something so worth fighting for” he mused defiantly.

Ariana shook her head. “Goodnight Iker” she murmured. She could tell there was no getting through to him and she was sick of trying. Iker was just as stubborn as her, if not more so.

“You’re walking away from me?” he yelled “Don’t you want to fix this?”

Ariana closed her eyes before she turned back to him. “Of course I do, but I am not naïve enough to think that this fix will hold. The last two didn’t and we both know that there will only be another one in the future. I am sorry Iker, but I am tired. We fight, we make up, and then we fight again. It’s never-ending and unless you come up with a way to get rid of Lucia, we are stuck like this and I can’t do it. I am sorry, but I can’t” she explained tearfully before she moved to close the window.

Iker stared at the house for a moment before he shook his head defiantly.

There was no way that he was going to let Lucia spell the end of his marriage.