All parts are unedited. I will come back and edit them as I have time. Please keep in mind that I wrote this 50 page short story in 3 days so please excuse the errors. It flowed so seamlessly I just had to share it with everyone ASAP!!

Enjoy.

Rory's POV

From the moment I walked in the door I knew things were not going to be like they were when I arrived. Seeing Marissa bundled up in a blanket while laying lifelessly on her bed hurt. This mop of short black hair was all I could see of the back of her head as I walked in her bedroom.

Jacklyn was right. She had chopped off all her hair and dyed it.

As I walked around the bed I saw her eyes open but she didn't look at me. Her focus was steady out the window. I hated seeing her like this. Jacklyn nailed it when she said her eyes were lifeless. Those crystal blue orbs that I'd dreamily look into where hazy and full of sadness.

"Marissa." My voice was louder than intended. She flinched at the volume of my voice. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. Her mouth gaped open. She was in shock to see me standing here. Just as much shock as I was in to see her like this.

"Sit up." I tell her. If Jacklyn was right and she'd been spending a lot of time in bed I wanted to give her a once over to make sure she was alright. I did some simple tests to test her range in moment and I checked her out to make sure he wasn't swollen any place she shouldn't be.

Right now I had to remind my medical portion of my brain to shut down. This was my ex-girlfriend not my patient.

"Can you stand?" I ask her. She nods and starts to stand on her own.

Her beautiful blue eyes are sunken badly into her face. Her body is frail and weak. She's painfully thin. I run my hands through her short black hair. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it. It made her eyes stand out more.

"Come."

She used me to brace herself and I walked with her to the bathroom. She doesn't need much help but she needs enough that I don't leave her side by more than an arm's length.

This strong willed woman has become this lifeless person in front of me. I've never known anyone personally who has suffered from this kind of depression. The kind where they didn't have the will to live yet couldn't pull the trigger. I'd know people who were suicidal. That was normally a cry for help. This was on a completely different level. The rational portion of my brain wanted her to just snap out of it. The realist portion knew it wasn't that simple. She simply wouldn't just come out of it just because I'd showed up. That was a fantasy. I did hope that the bond that we'd had in our prior relationship will still shine through and she still had the ultimate trust in me that I would make the best decision for her.

She sat down on the toilet seat while I started a shower for her. I don't know when the last time she bathed but I wanted her to feel fresh and clean. We had a lot to talk about and I wanted her in the best possible position to talk in.

"Wait here." I excused myself out of the bathroom.

I walked back into the living room where I was greeted with confused faces.

"Can one of you guys pull all her bed sheets and remake her bed?" I asked of them. Jacklyn nodded and quickly went off to do just that.

"Is she okay?" Tom asks.

"I haven't said more than a few words to her. I don't know yet." I grabbed a few of my personal items from my bag. "Can you do me a favor and order us some food?" I ask him. "Something light, like Panera or something?" I dig out my wallet and go to hand him my credit card but he waves it off.

"I got it." He says. "What would you like?"

"Broccoli cheddar soup and a Cesar salad, please." He nods jotting it down quickly. "Grab a veggie broth or some light soup for Marissa."

"I will but she won't eat it." He sounds so negative. He can't think like that. It's not good for Marissa if he predetermines the outcome of a situation before she has had the chance to make up her own mind.

"She will. Maybe not all of it but she will." I'll make sure of that.

I return to the bathroom where Marissa is patiently waiting for me. I usher her to stand and I have her test the water. She smiles and nods at me, letting me know the temperature is okay for her.

"You know you can speak?" I smile at her. I don't want my presence to force her become mute.

"Why are you here?" Her voice is barely about a whisper.

That was not the first thing I expected her to say but at least she's talking now.

She batted those pretty blue eyes at me waiting for my response. My throat thickened. I was here for her to get better. I didn't want her lying in bed withering away.

"I am here because I care." I said matter of factly.

I grabbed the hem of her shirt and started to pull it up. She grabbed my hands and shook her head.

"Don't." Her voice broke. "I can't." A tear streamed down her cheek.

"I am undressing you to shower. I am not going to touch you like that Marissa." I caressed her cheek and she looked up into my eyes. "That is not why I am here."

She nodded and allowed me to undress her. Under her clothes was worse than I expected. She'd lost so much weight. She was merely skin and bones. She shielded her body as best she could from my gaze. It wasn't out of lust but out of dismay. Marissa always had such a beautiful body. She was an athlete in high school and kept herself in very good shape.

I held her hand as she stepped into the shower and after realizing how unsteady she was I knew that I had to be in there with her or she may fall. I took off my socks and shoes and came in behind her. 

I hadn't decided what I was going to do. I wanted to stay. She was still very much the woman I'd loved, and that love was still lingering between us, but I wasn't sure if that was what I wanted anymore. I didn't want to love her out of pity for her current state. I would have to watch every single thing I did until I made up my mind what I wanted to do and heard from Marissa what she wanted as well. This wasn't just about me. It was more about her.

She looked into my eyes as I washed her hair. It was one of my favorite things to do in the shower when we were dating. Her hair was always so soft. She took good care of it. Now, it felt like straw. I knew it was from a combination of not eating well and her not caring for it like she used to.

"Tilt your head back." I whisper as I rinse her hair. She closes her eyes and I use my hands to brush the soap out of her hair. I heard her moan quietly. She also loved it when I washed her hair.

She gave me this sweet and soft look in her eyes. The cleaner she got the more comfortable she felt. Never under estimate the power of a hot shower and loving hands.

It was hard to keep my hands to myself when in reality they were all over her. My body wanted more but my mind keeps me in focus. I needed for her to heal her mind before I did anything with her. If that was where this was heading at all.

I helped her out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. While I was soaking wet I might as well shower as well. I quickly bathed myself and stepped out to help her to the room. Tom's eye balls bugged out of his head as he sees both her and I in nothing but towels. I shake my head back and forth at him. I hope he knows that I would not take advantage of Marissa like that. I grabbed Marissa a dress from her drawer and some under garments. I left her to get changed while I went back into the living room.

"I hope you know what you're doing man." Tom warns me.

"I don't have to justify myself to you." I scowl at him. "You invited me here, remember that." I remind him.

"You've been here less than an hour and both you and her are naked."

"I bathed her. Nothing more, nothing less." I pierce my lips at his insinuation. "I would not fuck her like this. Her mind needs to heal. That isn't something that can be done with my penis inside of her." He gives me a disgusted face. That ought to shut him up for a hot second.

Tom and I were never close. I mean how would you feel you walked in on your sister and her boyfriend having sex? That wasn't exactly the start of it but it didn't help. He tries to convince me that he's in charge of Marissa's life and I put him in his place about the topic.

I leave and get dressed before going back to check on Marissa. She's just got done getting dressed and she's walking back towards the bathroom.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I need my hair brush." She smiles sadly.

I can see the sadness in her eyes as she brushes her hair. I know she hates it. That much is obvious.

"What made you do it?" I ask her.

"I don't know. I wanted to become someone different. I'd always been the cute young blonde. I thought that I'd look more mature with a darker color."

Her reason was a lot more logical than I thought it would be.

"Do you like it?" I tuck a lock of her wet hair behind her ear.

"No." She shakes her head.

"We'll see if we can't get it lightened up some." I console her. She nods in response.

"Let's go eat." I grab her hand. She gives me a concerned look but accepts my hand. Her thin fingers lace in-between mine and she walks beside to towards the kitchen.

Tom has set out all of our food and Jacklyn and him we waiting on us to start. We all sit down and start to eat. All except Marissa that is. Tom gives me this smug 'I told you so' look that makes me want to slap him.

"Eat." I breathe lowly into her ear.

To everyone's surprise, Marissa picked up her spoon and started to eat. I didn't have expectations that she was going to eat a lot but she needed to eat some. 

After dinner we made our goodnights and Marissa and I headed to bed. I'd had a long day with a long flight and a super stressful afternoon with my mentally unstable ex-girlfriend. I was more than ready for bed.

I pulled back the comforter and both Marissa and I climbed into bed with her on her side and me on mine.

This is awkward. Although I wasn't sure what I wanted from her I knew I wanted her closer than this. And although I knew she wouldn't ask for it, I know she wanted closer to me. I could read it in her eyes form the moment she saw I was here. Those desperate eyes just screamed 'hold me'.

"Come here." I whisper.

She turns towards me with this small child like smile.

"Closer." I pull her onto my chest. Within moment she's snuggled on my chest and we both lay there in a much more comfortable silence.

I kiss her temple and I can feel her smile as her cheek contracts into my chest.

"Goodnight Rory." She looks up at me.

I swallowed hard wondering if I should. Every night we were together this was our good night ritual. Marissa would snuggle up with her head on my chest. She'd tell me good night and I would kiss her wishing her sweet dreams.

I shouldn't. But I know she wants it.

"Sweet dreams baby girl." I whisper. My lips cover hers and she softly kisses me in return. A strange but familiar warmth fills me. It would have been very easy to let this get out of control. I am surprised when it's her that breaks the kiss and settles back down for the night.

Good girl.

I wake before her. I slip out from under her so she sleeps as long as she needs to. I don't know how well she's slept but I suspect that it's been poorly. I hope with me here she atleast slept well last night. I was pretty sure that Tom and Jacklyn were up and I needed to talk to them about what to do next. We needed to make this choice as a team. Getting Marissa to comply was no issue for me.

Both Jacklyn and Tom stop talking the moment they see me. I can sense the questions burning in their mind.

"There's coffee if you'd like some." Jacklyn offers me.

"Thanks." I escape their looks for a few more moments.

"How's school coming?" Jacklyn joins me in the kitchen.

"Good. I've got about a year left." She nods as the conversation runs cold.

"How was she last night?" Tom joins us.

"She slept through the night. I plan on letting her sleep as long as she needs."

"What do you think?" Jacklyn asks. Her eyes widen in anticipation to my views on the situation.

"She needs counseling. I can convince her to go but you guys will have to keep up with her on it."

"And how to you plan on doing that?" Tom eyes me.

"By telling her she's going." My tone challenges him.

"She's not going to do something simply because you tell her too."

"She will." I take a sip of my coffee.

"She won't." He takes a step closer to me like he wants a confrontation but Jacklyn pushes him back. "We've tried." He relaxes a little bit. He has to remember we are all on the same side here.

"She'll go because she trust me. If I tell her she needs it she'll go. Just like she was out of bed in the first five minutes I was in the door. Just like I got her to eat last night."

"She trusts us too. Why won't she listen to us?" Jacklyn looks wounded.

"You don't have the history that I do with her."

"I am her fucking brother." Tom growls.

"But I have her ultimate trust. She trusts that I won't steer her wrong in all aspects of life. If I tell her to do something, she complies because she knows I have her best interest in mind. It's how our relationship worked for many years."

"That is some fucked up BDSM dom/sub shit." Tom throws his hands up in the air.

"It's not like that. Your sister and I aren't part of the BDSM community." I clarify.

"I heard a rumor once that you guys had this daddy/little like relationship." Jacklyn asks. This was the most anyone had ever asked about Marissa and mines relationship. No one cared years ago for a clarification.

"It's not really like that either. Marissa is obviously not a child nor do I encourage her to behave as one for my benefit. I have always loved the fact that she is a smart girl who can care for herself. On the other side of that I do suppose I take the father like role although she doesn't call me daddy. That would be weird." I shudder thinking about it. "I'll skip a lot of the details but the whole thing did start from an isolated dom/sub role play that Marissa and I had played out. She later told me that she loved how me being in total control made her feel safe. That she just knew that what I was doing was right for her and she wanted to feel like that outside of the bedroom as well. We talked about it a lot before she gave up that control to me."

"I can't believe you still have that control over her." Jacklyn shook her head.

"Let me clarify. I don't have control over her. She is of her own free will. I can't make her do something that I want to her to do. It doesn't exactly work that way. You'll notice that when it comes to the things I say I don't say it as an option. I am in fact telling her to do something, not asking her. It's in my voice as well. She knows when I am not playing around and when I am. But to answer your question I think she's letting me because of our bond. Even now she knows I will do what's best for her."

"She must still love you." She says sadly.

"I suspect that as well." I sigh.

"Do you still love her?" She asks nervously.

"I will always love her but that doesn't mean I want to be with her." Tom and Jacklyn look nervously between each other. I know what they are thinking. "Look guys, I am not going to just jump back into a relationship with Marissa because she's ill and I, in some sort of fucked up way, have triggered it. That won't serve either one of us well. On top of that, Marissa is in no shape to be making any kind of relationship choices at the moment. And truthfully it would be unfair if me to take advantage of her when she's like this. I become a crutch because she sees me as the reason why she's better. She takes no credit in her own capabilities."

"You sound like a psychologist." Tom rolls his eyes.

"You do know that is my major right?" I scowl at him.

"Then why don't you counsel her?" He snaps.

"I can't for multiple reasons. One, I am too affected. I am biased. Two, I am not state certified. Although a year doesn't sound that long it us when it comes to medical studying and practical use. Plus I have a year of interning to complete as well. It's unethical for me to treat her."

"But you'll be here for her right?" Jacklyn looks at me with these big brown sad doe eyes.

"I have to return home but I will do what I can to try to be more available for her." Jacklyn throws her hands up and sighs in frustration. "Look guys, I can't just walk away from my responsibilities here. I've worked too hard. I want her healthy as much as you do but I am not willing to make those sacrifices."

"Would you consider transferring to a school closer to here?" Tom offers a possible solution.

"I can look into it but it wouldn't start until next semester. You're looking at another two and a half months without me."

"Do you think you'd be able to visit in that time frame?" Tears pour out of Jacklyn's eyes. "It would make it seem like less time to her."

"I can try. But you guys are going to have to stay on board with whatever motions I put into play." Tom starts to say something, and I stop him. "No matter whether or not you like it. If you guys want my help, you're going to have to trust me like she does."

"Okay." Jacklyn nods her head.

"Fine." Tom walks back into the living room having had enough of this conversation for the morning.

3 Days Later

I had to return home. I'd already missed one class. Marissa did agree to go to counseling. I had her in a much healthier state of mind that she was before I had arrived. She was far from being okay. Eating was still an issue. So was wanting to be up and out of bed. Those were things I couldn't rush. As long as she was doing a little bit of both, I considered that a victory.

She sat on the end of the bed watching me pack. A solemn expression on her face.

"You okay baby girl?" I ask her.

"I just don't want you to leave is all."

I smiled at her. I stood up and leaned over her, my head hovering right above hers.

"I'll be back in five weeks. Just do as we've talked about. Take..."

"... each day one at a time." She finishes my sentence.

"Exactly." I whisper giving her a brief kiss on the lips.

I'd struggled with not giving her physical attention. It felt wrong. I didn't want to give her false hope that we were in a road to recovery. Getting her better was my chief concern.

When I arrived I had no intention of getting back together with Marissa but here on day three I can't lie and tell you that my heart isn't somewhat invested. I was still very much in love with her. But being in love with someone doesn't mean you have to be with them.

Yesterday I'd taken her to have her hair color corrected. It was her first trip out of the house in weeks, so I was told. We weren't able to get it blonde again but we were able to get it to a caramel brown color. She said she loved it and it did look good on her. This was a much better suited change for her. She looked a lot more like herself with this color. I'd be a liar to say I didn't find the black hot on her but it wasn't her.

"Don't give me that face." She pouted at me. I put my bags down at the door. My cab was due any minute. "Five weeks baby girl. It will pass before you know it."

"I just don't know how I am going to get through this without you." A tear slides down her cheek.

"You need to have a little more faith in yourself. I know you'll go to your weekly counseling sessions that I've set up for you and you'll take your medication you've been given. Between having someone to talk to and the medication assisting you, you'll regain some normalcy."

"But what if I want to talk to you?" She chews her lip.

I smile at her. She's so cute sometimes. I lower my head so our foreheads touch and her big blue eyes look into mine. They are no longer the lifeless souls that I came home to. She was starting to be Marissa again.

"I am always a phone call, skype date, snapchat or facetime away. I may not be able to answer right that moment but knowing that you may need me I will make sure to keep good tabs on my phone. I will responds as soon as I can. Just don't wait for things to get out of control before you get ahold of me."

She nods feverishly.

"Promise me you'll take care of yourself Marissa." I whisper so only her, and I can hear. "I need you to work on you so we can work on us." This makes her smile from ear to ear. I knew that if she worked on herself and she made the conscience choice to try to work things out between us, I'd feel much more confident with moving in that direction.

"I promise." She whispers.

The horn from my cab driver blares just as my lips touch hers. It doesn't stop me from kissing her. I was going to miss her just like I had for the past several years. But now I knew that I was leaving someone who needed me behind.

I hated that.

=YQq