Brennan shook his head and laced their fingers.  “I’ll believe that when you can walk unaided.”

“Fine.  Your loss.”

“I’m not losing anything.”

She smiled.  “That’s true.”

“Your mom called while you were in the hospital.”

“She did?” she asked, confused.

“On your cell.  I saw it light up.  Are you going to talk to her?”

Devon sighed and nodded her head.  “Yeah, I am.  But maybe after I’ve slept.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” he said, squeezing her hand.

BRENNAN DROVE THEM to his apartment and helped Devon up the stairs.  As soon as they walked through the door, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.  Sleep was pulling her under by then, and she let him help her into more comfortable clothes.  They both crawled into bed, and he held her tight against his chest.

“Brennan,” she whispered, feeling sleep drawing closer.

“Yeah?” he asked, kissing her shoulder.

“You’re going to be here, right?  You know, after this?” she asked.

“Belle, I’m going to be here for everything.”

Brennan held Devon until she fell fast asleep.

Devon dreamed only of Brennan’s face and the way he looked at her the first night they had spent together on the boat.

It was the first night she remembered what happiness felt like.

“I’m so proud of you,” Brennan said.

Leaning down, he kissed Devon on the mouth.  She returned his kiss full-on, wrapping her arms around his neck.  He lifted her off her feet and spun her around until she threw her head back and started laughing.  He buried his head into her shoulder and kissed her there.

When he finally put her back on her feet, Devon said, “I can’t believe I did it.”

“I can.”

“Three months ago, I never would have gone through with this,” she told him.  “Gah!  Three weeks ago, I wasn’t sure I could do this.”

“I knew you could do it.  I’m glad you proved it to yourself though,” he said, pressing his lips to hers again.

She closed her eyes and sighed.  “Me, too.  It feels pretty awesome.”

Devon pulled out the little piece of paper that showed her permanent restraining order against Reid.  They had just finished their hearing in court.  Reid had showed his face.  His daddy had gotten him a good lawyer, but when she brought out all the pictures of the physical damage that had been done to her body, the medical records, and the surveillance video from Jenn’s, it was pretty clear what would happen.

Devon wasn’t looking forward to the trial.  But in the end, she had to think about everything he had done to her.  This could ruin his life, but he had brought this upon himself.  Reid was facing up to a year in prison if convicted of domestic battery.  Devon expected he would get probation if his lawyer got what he wanted.  Though, if Reid ever stepped foot near her again, he might end up in prison anyway.  Devon was just tired of all the negativity.  She wanted to be rid of Reid, and now, she was.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” she said, slinging her arm around Brennan’s waist.

Brennan guided her back to his car.  She felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.  She had won.  She had beat Reid.  It wasn’t even just that.  She had proven to herself that she was strong.  She had proven that she was better than her old life with Reid.  It felt good.  She never knew how strong she was until it was all she had.

“Mind if we take a detour?” Brennan asked.

“I don’t have anything to do today,” she said, leaning her head back against the seat.

Life post-Reid was way better than she had ever thought it could be.  She had to attribute a lot of that to Brennan, but she liked to give herself the credit, too.  She knew though that without his help, it might have taken her longer to get her act together.

When she had spoken with her parents, they were mortified that she had endured so much at the hands of the man she had been dating.  She thought they blamed themselves for pushing her and Mason together and then for not seeing what happened with Reid.  But how could they blame themselves for what the men had done and what she had allowed to occur?

Her parents had tried to make up for it by offering to help her in any way they could.  On their recommendation, she had started seeing a therapist in the city.  Her mom was anxious to see her and take care of her.  Before the conversation was even over, her mom had sent an email to Devon with a plane ticket home, so she could visit soon.  Devon actually planned to use this ticket.  Now that she could be honest, she was looking forward to spending time with her mom.

After everything with Reid, her mother was worried about where Devon would go and what she would do.  Her mother didn’t like the idea of Devon being back at Wash U with Reid, so Devon had finally told her parents that she had decided not to go back to school.  She thought it would be best to at least take off the semester, so she could dedicate herself to recovery.

Her parents had offered to get her an apartment in Chicago since she had decided to stay, but Devon had declined.  Hadley and Garrett had made it clear that she was welcome in their place for as long as she wanted.  She didn’t like being alone, so that worked out for her.  Plus, it gave her the opportunity she needed to spend more time with her friend, like she had wanted to from the beginning, and then she could begin to rebuild that bond with Garrett.

Brennan had also told Devon that she could stay with him, but she had turned him down as well.  As much as she liked Brennan, she couldn’t let her life revolve entirely around a guy again.  He had accepted her response with grace.  It didn’t really matter anyway since she spent so much time with him.  The distance just helped ground her and give her space when she needed it.

“I can’t believe school starts in a couple weeks, and I won’t be going back,” Devon said, staring out the window.

“You could still go back if you wanted,” Brennan said.

He was always encouraging her to go back.  She knew he wanted her to finish her degree, and when the time was right, she wanted to finish it.  But now wasn’t that time.

“I don’t think so.  I can’t go back to that just yet.  I need to get myself right first.”

“I know.  I just don’t want you to think that you shouldn’t go back…”  He trailed off with an awkward pause.

She caught his meaning and turned to face him.  “Do you think I’m staying because of you?”

“I don’t want that to be your reason.”

“I want to be with you.  I want to be in Chicago with you, but I’m not staying for you…if that makes sense.  I know I need to finish college and get a job and all that.  I just feel like I’ll never really do any of that well enough if I’m not well enough mentally.  That’s why I’m staying.  This is what I need,” she tried to explain.

“Okay.  Good,” he said, smirking at her.  “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

Devon relaxed back into the seat, feeling better now that she had explained herself.  Therapy had helped with that.  She found herself explaining everything to people.  It was better than holing up inside of herself and being terrified of what she might say.  At least now, she had a sense of control over what went on in her life.  Brennan seemed to like it.  He was her number one supporter.  He always encouraged her to express her feelings and listened to her opinions.

“So, where are we going anyway?” she asked.

“You’ll see.”  He smiled at her secretively.

Devon narrowed her eyes.  “Is it a secret?”