You're Not In This Alone

A week later Ryan and I have moved in to the new apartment and Ryan heads out to a meeting while I finish unpacking. I hear a knock on the door and I turn to check on Sophie who is laying on the floor on her blanket, playing with her teddy bear before crossing the room to open the door. "Hey Ruby right?" The man says and I frown for a second before remembering the first day we looked at the apartment. "Oh yeah, Bert right?" "Right" he says, smiling warmly at me. "So I noticed you guys moved in so I just thought I would ask if you needed help with anything? I know how stressful moving can be and I imagine moving with a baby would be harder." I nod and say "Yeah it's pretty stressful and actually yeah my husband had to go out and I could use a hand for a moment if you're not busy." "No problem" he says as he steps through the door and
closes it behind himself. When he sees Sophie he walks over and kneels down beside her, her head turning towards him
and her little eyes widen as her face breaks out into a grin. "Hey cutie" he greets her before turning to look up at me. "Do you mind?" He asks, gesturing to Sophie and I smile and shake my head. "Go right ahead" I tell him and he smiles back before picking her up and gently bouncing her around while she giggles and reaches out for his face. Another knock at the door sounds out and I cross the room to open it again, wondering who it could be this time and when I open the door dad and pa are standing there, dad holding a bunch of roses
and pa holding a gift wrapped box. "Hey baby girl" pa greets
me and I step aside to let them in, both of them freezing when they see Bert standing there with Sophie in his arms. "This is my neighbour B...." "Bert?" Pa cuts me off, crossing the room towards him after sitting the box down. "What the fuck are you doing here?" He asks as he reaches out and roughly takes Sophie from his arms, causing her to start crying. "You better not have done anything, Rubes are you alright?" He asks, turning back towards me. "Yeah I'm fine, what the hell is going on?" I ask as I cross the room and take Sophie into my arms, her little face burying into my neck as I soothingly rub her back. "You wanna tell her or should I?" Pa asks and Bert hangs his head and says "That was a long time ago and I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was actually her until you showed up." "But you suspected?" "Yeah." "Get out" Pa yells at him and Bert leaves after shooting me an apologetic smile and saying "Sorry I didn't get a chance to help." I stand there completely confused after he leaves, glancing back and forth between dad's really pissed off looking face and pa's upset and slightly scared one. "Whats going on?" I demand and Pa crosses the
room to cup my face in his hands. "Rubes are you sure you're alright? He didn't do anything to you did he?" "No you're freaking me out, what the hell is going on?"

After Pa and dad sit me down, dad taking Sophie from me and distracting her pa says "Baby girl do you remember what I told you a while ago about my ex?" "The only who......hurt you?" I ask, unable to bring myself to use the word rape. "Yeah well that's...." My eyes widen as realisation sets in. "That's him?" Pa looks sad as he nods and I slide across the couch and wrap my arms around him. "Oh pa I'm so sorry, I didn't know. That must have been hard for you, I don't think I could ever face Matt again given the chance." "Baby girl that's not all. Have you met anyone he lives with? Like a girlfriend or anything?" I shake my head feeling confused again. "No, I've seen a blonde woman leaving there a few times but I haven't met anyone else." Pa's face continues to look sad and scared as he says "Baby girl I need to tell you something and I need you to stay calm while I tell you. I wish I didn't have to do this but I think you need to know." I stare into his eyes, suddenly feeling nervous. "Baby Bert came back into our lives when you were four. He was dating your biological mother and they tracked us down and stalked us for a while. They tried to kidnap you once and this happened" he trails off, pulling the sleeve of his shirt up to show me a scar on his shoulder. "They stabbed me when I wouldn't tell them where you were. After that she broke in again in the middle of the night trying to get you again. I was hoping to never have to bring this up ever again because you seemed to move past it and everything was fine but I just thought you should know incase that woman is her. She's crazy Ruby and you need to be careful."

Notes

So I need to apologise for the lack of/slowness of updates from me recently. I have been going through a lot and have also recently changed medication and it's making me really unfocused and I find it hard to write and I just want to sleep all the time but I'm starting to feel better so I plan to start updating regularly again. I really hope I didn't lose any readers for any of my stories