two; two turtle doves

"You look terrified." She commented, slightly amused as well as slightly confused with her boyfriend's behavior. It was rare when she would make him breakfast in bed, if she ever did it at all, but over the last month they'd been having several arguments, much more than the usual, and she wanted to make an effort to show him that she was sorry for being stubborn sometimes. Perhaps he was just so surprised that she would do something like this for him.

Mats quickly shook his head, his eyes still widened in shock to see her well, and alive. "Pia, you were dead. We had a huge argument at the Christmas party and you took off. Then the cops came and gave us the news. But now you're here..." He trailed off when his voice broke, and his brown eyes burned with tears.

"Oh, Matsy," She cooed lovingly from the doorway. She then cut the distance between herself and their bed where Mats was lying. She placed the tray of food on his lap and told him reassuringly, "You had a bad dream. You're afraid of losing me because of all the fights we've been having. You're precious, liebling." It didn't feel like a bad dream to him, it felt far from that. He remembered the previous night happening, he remembered crying over her. Jude and Marco cried for her as well. Perhaps this was just a cruel joked they were playing on him. Or maybe the police had been wrong and Pia hadn't died in the accident. Or maybe this was just an angel that was trying to lessen his pain. Or perhaps the current situation was a dream and he would soon wake up to his cruel reality. Whatever was happening, Mats was certain of one thing...that he was going completely insane.

He reached for her, tipping over the tray of food and making a mess on their white sheets, but he didn't care. Mats pulled her close and buried his face into her cinnamon red hair as the silent tears continued to stream down his face. "This was real, I swear. But I'm so glad you're okay."

She hugged him back whilst playfully groaning. "Now you've ruined the sheets, Mats." She giggled.

Pia had no clue how concerned for her Mats was feeling. Just the thought of being without her, and remembering the previous night, brought him to tears. She wasn't taking any of it seriously because as far as she was concerned, it had all been just a nightmare. 

Still, her words managed to pull a small smile onto his face. "Believe me, the sheets are the least of my worries right now."

She pulled away from his embrace, patting him gently on the back. "Now I have to put these in the wash." She gestured to the white sheets covered in a combination of food and orange juice. "So get up, shower, and join me for breakfast down stairs. We're going to have to move this apology breakfast party to the kitchen because we have a busy day ahead of us."

Pia picked up the empty tray of food she had brought up for him and gave him a quick peck on the lips before heading out the door and down the stairs to the kitchen. She would have to wait for Mats to get in the shower before taking the sheets and that would probably be after leaving the tray in the kitchen sink to clean later.

-

A half hour later, Mats was freshly showered, the sheets were in the washer, and Pia had made more breakfast for them to eat together. Since it was Christmas Eve, the players had been given two days off and would be returning to training on the twenty sixth of December. Mats wasn't all that thrilled about only getting two days to enjoy with his family and friends, but it was the sacrifices he had to make as a professional footballer. 

His current worry at the moment was Pia.

While he was in the shower, he decided that the most logical explanation to her being still alive was that maybe a higher power had granted him another chance. This was a chance he could not waste, and he would have to break it to his girlfriend that for the sake of her safety, they would need to cancel their Christmas party that night.

Mats walked into the kitchen, where Pia was already sat with her phone in hand, clicking away on the keyboard. He figured she was on twitter, chatting with either Jude or Bella. The three of them got on really well and Mats was glad they did. He often spent time with Marco and Erik, and they sometimes went to each other's house. He would have not been able to do that as often as he did if Pia, Jude, and Bella didn't get along.

He sat down at the small round table in the kitchen and she set her phone down, faced down, on the table. The smile on her face was unmistakable as she told him with excitement, "Jude just told me she and Marco are bringing your favorite pastries from the bakery to serve at the party. Isn't that great, Mats?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the party..." He began, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

He knew she was not going to take it well.

"What's wrong?" Her smiled dropped.

"Can we cancel the party?" He wondered, quickly adding, "Or move it to another date?"

Pia instantly shook her head, refusing. "Its a Christmas party, Mats. We can't change the date. Then it would no longer be a Christmas party. You were just as excited as I was and now you're all sad and afraid. It was just a nightmare, everything will be fine."

"I don't want to run this unnecessary risk." He bit down on his lip. With all their fighting of the last few days and the stress of the party, he knew it was a matter of moments before she would snap.

"You're crazy." She said after a long pause and several deep breaths. "We already invited people. We bought a ton of food. I already paid the guy in charge of music, and the extra cleaning staff. This party is going to happen tonight."

"No problem." He assured her with a shake of his head. "Give me everyone's phone numbers. I'll call them all personally and tell them the party is off. The music and the cleaning staff people can keep the money we already paid. And we'll just buy more food whenever we decide to move the party to." 

She crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance, refusing to budge. "No. I do not agree to this."

"But Pia-"

"No, Mats." She cut him off.

"Whatever." He scoffed. "You can be mad all you want, but its for your own good."

-

Pia went up to their bedroom and locked the door to keep him out. Mats hated to see her so upset with him, and he hated having to cancel the Christmas party, but he wanted to prevent something terrible from happening. All he wanted was to keep her safe. If that meant he would need to be the bad guy, then he didn't mind being the bad guy. He hoped she would later understand that he was doing it for her own good. But Currently, he knew she thought he was insane and paranoid.

He spent the whole morning calling everyone, letting them know the party was cancelled and that he would let them know if it would be changed to a different date. When he called Jude and Marco, he was surprised that they didn't remember anything about Pia's death happening. He was tempted to ask them about it, but he knew they would think him crazy as well.

His girlfriend spent the entire day in her bedroom. The only reason she emerged from the bedroom was to make some food and then she retreated to the bedroom once more.

Mats was in the living room later in the afternoon, playing FIFA against Thomas when he saw Pia leave their bedroom, headed for the front door. She was all dressed up, in the dress she would have work to the Christmas party. She completely ignored Mats as she walked in front of him to leave the house.

"Where are you going?" He paused the game and quickly shot up from his place on the couch.

Finally paying some attention to him, she stopped in front of the television and shot him a glare that could draw blood if she wanted to. "Since you are too busy ruining my Christmas, Jude said I could third wheel with her and Marco at dinner. Goodbye Mats."

"Pia!" He shouted, his voice fully of worry. He made it to the front door before her and stood in front of it. "You can't leave this house."

She shot him another one of her glares, which had become the norm with all of their arguing. "Excuse me?" She asked in annoyance.

"You can't leave." He told her firmly.

"Says who?" She challenged.

She took a step forward and he spread his arms out across the wooden front door to block her exit. "I'm trying to save your life and you're making it very difficult."

"Mats," She let out a frustrated groan. "I'm a grown woman, and you are being annoying as hell. If I want to go out and have an actual Christmas celebration, then I will."

"If you will go anywhere, it will be with me." He told her.

"Oh," She let out a bitter laugh. "You must be joking."

In the most serious tone he could manage, he said, "If I must tie you to a chair so that you will stay here, I will do that, Pia. Why can't you understand that I only want you to be okay?"

"You're overreacting because of a stupid dream!" Pia yelled.

She took one step to her left, trying to go around him, but he mimicked her movements. Then she moved to the opposite side quickly, but he followed as well. She tried that a few more times, with no such luck, until she just shoved him aside and grabbed the doorknob. This time, he grabbed her around the waist, picked her up, and dragged her back to the couch while she kicked and complained.

"This is kidnapping. You are depriving me of my right to leave this house because you're being insufferable." She huffed angrily. "I can have you arrested."

"Not more insufferable than you, liebling." He countered his response at her through gritted teeth and a clenched jaw, as he sat on the couch after placing her on it. He gripped her wrist like a vice and kept her there. "I'm over here doing you a favor, and you're acting like I'm a terrible person for doing it."

-

He had left her for a minute, just a minute and when he returned she was gone. The next thing he knew, he was hearing her car pull out of the driveway. He grabbed his cellphone to call her and plead her to return, and he saw there was a text message from her.

pia: sorry mats.

pia: i really think we need a few days away from each other.

pia: my brother Luc will pick up a few of my things in the morning so that we can avoid another argument.

pia: call me when you've stopped acting paranoid and ridiculous.

Instead of replying to the text, he hit the call button next to her name and brought the phone to his ear. 

It was a few rings before she answered. Her words from the other line were eerily similar to ones he had heard before. "What do you want, Mats? I'm driving and you're distracting me." Came her voice full of annoyance. Mats was relieved to hear her voice despite the fact that she was mad at him, and was practically leaving him. He thought she wouldn't answer and then he would be worried about her all night, especially after what he thought would happen to her.

Mats ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration. He was pacing back and forth in the living room, speaking urgently into the mouth piece of the phone. "Come back home, Pia."

"For what? So we can argue again? We're always at each other's throats now." She spat, her voice shaking. He immediately caught the hurt in her voice.

"No. Just come home and we'll talk. Please. I'm worried about you. Come home before you have an accident." Mats pleaded once again.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? I bet-" She began an accusation, but she never finished her sentence because Mats heard a horrible sound of metal twisting and colliding, glass shattering, and tires screeching against the road. It was all so fast and before he knew it, the line went dead.

It was the exact same thing that he knew would happen. 

Pia was gone.

-

new chapter y'all finally after one fucking year. i was going to post two updates today, but i only have four pre-written and i want to have them saved in case i hit a writer's block. so for now just one per day. 

thank you all so much for reading. i hope you're liking the story.

i love you all.

-clary xx