You're Not In This Alone

Bert ushers me in and I step into his apartment, taking a seat on the couch as the blonde woman I've passed in the hall comes into the room. "Oh hello" she says, looking slightly shocked by my presence. I stand back up again as she says "I'm Jamie" holding her hand out towards me and I take it, my
hand trembling slightly as I say "I'm Ruby." Her hand stills, my
hand still clasped in it as her eyes widen slightly and her mouth slowly drops open. "Ruby?" She breathes out and I nod slowly, our eyes locked on each other's. I gently pull my hand from hers as she continues to stand infront of me in absolute shock before she rushes forward and crushes me to her chest, her arms wrapped so tightly around me I can't breathe properly. Bert sees my distress, the restriction on my breathing along with all the emotions suddenly rushing through me making me start to panic and I can feel an anxiety attack coming on. "Babe, step back and give her some air" I hear Bert say and suddenly her arms are gone from me and I wobble on my feet before sinking to my knees in their living room, my breathing going choppy. "Ruby are you alright?" I hear Bert ask softly and I let out a soft whimper as the walls close in on me and I feel like I can't breathe at all, my heart racing so fast it hurts, my chest feeling so tight. "Oh god" I hear him say before I'm being scooped up into his arms and he carries me out into their balcony in the fresh air and he sits holding me up in his lap as Jamie kneels infront of me and soothingly strokes my hair back from my face. "Hey it's alright just breathe honey" she says softly and I clench my eyes closed tightly, feeling overwhelmed and on the verge of a major breakdown as well as extremely embarrassed that this happened. My breathing starts to return to a normal rate but my whole body is shaking when my cell starts to ring in my pocket and I pull it out with a shaky hand, dropping it before I even see who's calling me with how much I'm shaking. Jamie picks it up and says "Who's Ryan honey?" "My...hhhusband" I choke out and she nods and answers it for me, telling him where I am and a few seconds later there's a knock at the door. Jamie goes back through the apartment to answer it, coming back followed by Ryan who has Sophie in his arms
and when she spots Bert she lets out a little shriek and points to him, clearly remembering him from yesterday. "Rubes, baby are you ok?" Ryan asks when he sees the state I'm in and I stand from Bert's lap and stumble into his side, his free arm
wrapping around me. "Baby Shh it's alright, you're ok" he whispers in my ear and I start to calm down, burying my face in his neck and inhaling his familiar comforting scent as Sophie reaches out and gently pats the side of my head. "Ba ba ba" she babbles out at me and I take a deep breath before pulling away from Ryan's neck and looking up at her. "Ba" she shrieks delightedly, her face breaking out into a grin as she reaches out for me, her little hands grabbing at me and I take her, cuddling her to my chest and burying my face in her hair.

After I've fully calmed down we go back into their living room and Ryan wraps his arm around my waist and says "I should get you home." I nod before turning to Bert and Jamie and saying "I'm sorry about that, I just wanted to meet you." Jamie looks disappointed as she says "So you know who I am?" "Yeah, I do." "I'd really like to talk to you again some time." I hesitate before saying "Uh sure I'll stop by some other time." She nods and Ryan ushers me out the door, his arm still wrapped around my waist and when we make it back into our apartment he takes Sophie and settles her on the floor with her teddy and comes to sit beside me on the couch. "Babe are you alright? You haven't had an anxiety attack in a while, what happened?" "She hugged me and I just....everything came crashing down on me at once and I freaked out." "Oh baby I'm sorry, I should have been there with you." "It's ok, it's not your fault. I think I'm gonna go take a bath, soak and clear my head a bit." "Are you sure you're alright?" He asks and I nod before getting up and going into the bathroom, closing the door behind me and starting the water and once it's running and the sound muffles me out I sink to the floor and break down in tears, completely and totally overwhelmed but not wanting to worry Ryan when he already has enough stress to deal with.

Notes

Is anyone still reading this?