Rylee woke up wrapped around Sebastian's pillow. She could still smell his faint woodsy cologne as if he was there. She looked at the clock on the table and was surprised to see that it was 4:00pm.

After the events of the morning, she knew she definitely needed the sleep, but she didn't expect to actually get it. That was the best sleep she's had in a while. She laid in bed for another few minutes, taking in the late afternoon sunlight beaming through the window. She could faintly hear Sebastian talking on the phone, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. It sounded like he was down in the living room.

She decided to get up, and snagged one of Sebastian's hoodies and slid into it before she slowly meandered down the hall, walking delicately on her sore ankle. As she got closer to the stairs she could hear Sebastian speaking far more clearly.

"Yeah...I know...no she's doing okay...somehow she only got a sprained ankle out of it...yeah thank god...the way the cops were talking made it sound like he was really going to...god I don't even want to think about it...I know..."

Rylee limped around the corner of the loft and not so gracefully plopped down onto the top step, causing Sebastian to turn around and send her a small wave and a "hold on a second" finger.

"Yeah...well I'm glad...thanks man...listen Rylee just got up so I'm gonna get going...uh huh...I will...we love you guys too...alright...mhm bye."

Sebastian stood up from the couch and jogged up the steps to the loft two at a time and sat down next to Rylee, "Hey you. How'd you sleep?" He asked as he gave her a kiss.

"Surprisingly well," She commented, "how long have you been up?"

"Ummm...a while."

"Did you sleep at all when we got back?" Rylee questioned, tilting her head in confusion.

Sebastian ducked down and shook his head. "Not so much, no... I've been making a lot of calls." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." He sat back leaning on his hands, letting his legs hang down the steps, "I got a lot of texts and calls after I just kind of dropped everything at work and ran out...had to clear up a few things...Kevin sort of knew about the situation, but didn't know it was as bad as it was...so I talked to him and a few other people at corporate about it...I've got another call with them later today too..."

Rylee nodded in understanding, urging him to continue.

"I also called Johnny. Updated him. He said to take as much time as you need, but definitely don't come in tonight... take the night for yourself. I hope you don't mind that I called him."

Rylee shook her head no, light smile on her face. She appreciated that he took the time and initiative to do all this so she didn't have to.

"Then Chris and Alexa called. That's who I just got off the phone with... I filled them in...they're hoping to come by and see you later but I wanted to wait and see how you felt."

"I'd be happy to have them over honestly. I'm just kinda stuck to one stationary place." She stated pointing dramatically down at her leg.

"Come 'ere," Sebastian said standing up ushering her to stand up too. She accepted his help in getting up, but was confused when he turned his back to her, and stuck his arms to the side, waiting.

"Hop on." Sebastian said. It finally clicked for Rylee that he wanted her to get on his back, like a piggyback ride. She laughed, but obliged as she scooted closer and he lifted her easily, adjusting her on his back, sliding his arms under her legs.

He carried her down the stairs and gently lowered her onto the couch. He fluffed up a few pillows behind her, and had her lay down.

"What a great doctor you are, kind sir," Rylee joked as he fluffed a pillow and put it under her bad ankle.

Sebastian winked at her and disappeared into the kitchen, returning a minute later with a bag of frozen peas and a bottle of water.

"I apparently don't have any ice packs? But tada?" Sebastian laughed, gently placing the the bag of peas on Rylee's ankle. She smiled at him brightly. He sat on the floor beside the couch, looking up at Rylee. She's been through so much, how can she always turn around with a smile on her face as bright as the sun.

"So. Do you want to talk about this morning?" Sebastian poked gently.

"I'm not sure what to really say about it," Rylee whispered, picking at her cuticles.

"Well, I can start off by asking 'how are you?'"

"I am...surprisingly okay," Rylee stated thoughtfully, "I think it's been a lot easier knowing that Michael's in custody. If he had gotten away I think I would be a complete mess...and the officers were reassuring when they talked about how much time he would do for violating the EPO, let alone all the other charges."

Sebastian nodded.

"How are you?" Rylee asked curiously, taking his hand in hers.

"I...am okay now. I'm not gonna lie. I was completely and utterly terrified when I got your text..." he ran his unclaimed hand through his hair, ruffling it, "I don't think I've ever run so fast in my life, Rylee. And I some how miraculously got all green lights on the drive there because I absolutely planned to run every damn red light I came across."

"I can't even explain...I was ready to run in there...which in hindsight is absolutely insane but I didn't care. I just needed you safe."

Rylee leaned over and planted a deep kiss on Sebastian's lips. He was surprised by the action but immediately melted into it, kissing her back deeply in return.

"I love you, Sebastian."

"And I love you, Rylee Ann. You honestly amaze me every day."

Rylee scrunched her nose in confusion.

"There have been so many people who have gone through what you've gone through and have never recovered, but you... You could have caved into yourself and let your past control you but you didn't. You made a whole new beautiful life for yourself. You still look at everything so positively, even when the past came back to haunt you. You're just...amazing Rylee."

"Well you make my life far more beautiful," Rylee tacked on.

Sebastian leaned back in to kiss Rylee again and they both just soaked each other and the silence of Sebastian's apartment in. Even through all of the chaos, madness, and the uncontrollable, they had each other. And that was enough.

——————————

Around 6:00, there was a knock on Sebastian's door, and quickly after was Chris walking in and Alexa trailing behind him. Chris knew he could always just come in any time without knocking, but still felt like he should anyway.

Before Chris could even say hi, Alexa weaved past him and made a beeline for Rylee on the couch, basically diving over Sebastian, who was now sitting on the couch with Rylee legs on top of his lap, his feet propped on the coffee table.

Rylee whole-heartedly accepted Alexa's extremely long hug. Alexa whispered in her ear, "how are you hun?"

Rylee whispered back "Surprisingly, I'm okay. Honest. I'm good."

Alexa straightened up and nodded, sitting on the floor near her. Chris walked up, holding up a beautiful bouquet of purple, pink, and yellow flowers.

"Aw, thanks Chris." Rylee said as Chris leaned in to give her a hug as well.

"Set 'em there Chris, I'll go get a vase." Sebastian said as he gently stood up, placing Rylee's legs back down onto the couch as he disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a beautiful glass vase half full of water that he placed the flowers in for Rylee.

When he had come back, Rylee, Chris, and Alexa were starting into a deep conversation about the last 12 hours, what happened, and what will happen. He took his spot back on the couch, lifting Rylee's legs back up to place them back in his lap.

After an hour or so, they all agreed to order in chinese. Sebastian was surprised Rylee had suggested it but she said she couldn't drop her love for the food just because of one bad batch a month ago. Finishing her thought by saying "I'll take my chances," smiling and scrunching her nose.

Soon enough, the food came, and they spread all of it out on the coffee table, enjoying each others company and the delicious food in front of them. They talked and laughed away the next few hours, trying to stray as far away from the negatives of the morning as possible now.

"Thank you guys for coming over." Rylee said sincerely, "I...we definitely needed this." She continued as she motioned towards a now dozing Sebastian. His head would occasionally dip, waking him up quickly, only to slowly drift again. But no one minded. Everyone knew he hadn't slept.

"Girl, we're here for you, always. You stub a toe, I better be the first one you call..." Alexa joked.

Sebastian startled awake when his phone in his pocket vibrated strongly against his leg. His abrupt movement jolted Rylee's legs, which had still been laying on top of his own, causing her to suck in a breath and retract her feet from the small spike of pain.

"Shit. I'm sorry Rylee, are you okay?" Sebastian doted at her, hovering his hand over her ankle, feeling awful for doing any kind of harm to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rylee reassured him as the pain quickly dulled. He gently moved her legs off of his own and reached into his pocket as he stood up, fishing for his phone. "Mr. Boss man, Kevin." He said, shaking his phone in everyone's direction.

"Good luck!" Chris yelled as Sebastian walked out of the room waving his hand behind him at Chris as he answered the phone.

"Why does he need luck?" Rylee asked curiously.

"He went off set in a Marvel costume. That's usually a big ol' no-no from up top." Chris stated, "I'm guessing it'll be fine, cause of the circumstances. It's not like he just left for shits and gigs yah know?"

Rylee nodded. She didn't realize Sebastian was possibly in trouble. She frowned at the thought.

"It'll be fine babe." Alexa said to Rylee, patting her hand in reassurance.

Rylee nodded and the three of them left in the living room dove into other conversation, mainly to distract Rylee from thinking of Sebastian's call, but she just kept watching the clock.

At this point, Sebastian was now on the phone for 20 minutes. "What could they be talking about for so long?" Rylee worried her lip.

"It's probably a room of people talking. That's how all Marvel calls go. It's always five people trying to get a point across at once talking over each other." Chris stated nonchalantly.

Right as Chris finished his sentence, Sebastian walked back into the room, his face sort of unreadable.

"Well, what did Mr. Boss man have to say? How much trouble you in?" Chris tried to joke.

"Actually...it was almost the exact opposite of getting in trouble. They uh...they offered to pay all the legal fees and court costs for any upcoming trials against Michael...and gave me contact information for a handful of different lawyers they use. I told them I'd have to talk to Rylee about it...but yeah...that was out of the blue."

"Oh my God, wow. That is...that's too much." Rylee hesitated.

"I told them we'd get back to them tomorrow...but I'm honestly blown away that they'd do that...oh and I did get a slap on the wrist for wearing the costume off the property." Sebastian laughed in Chris' direction as he said "I knew it!"

"They decided that the outfit looked like a normal everyday outfit and didn't reveal anything plot or character wise." Sebastian tacked on.

"Well ain't that lucky." Chris laughed.

Rylee was still in shock from Marvel's offer. They barely knew her...why would they put out an offer like that?

The atmosphere of the room immediately relaxed and Sebastian was feeling much more awake now after standing up and pacing around for the last 20 minutes. They all continued to chat while they cleaned up their plates and leftovers.

Rylee realized as the others got up to throw things away that she hadn't eaten her fortune cookie yet and decided to crack it open.

She pulled the small fortune out and read it:

Look around: Happiness is trying to find you.

She looked around the room, taking in the laughter and love that flowed throughout. She was lucky beyond words to not only know the people surrounding her in this room, but to love them all and have them love her in return. Happiness wasn't trying to find her, it was already here.