Dark Paradise

chapter twelve

* first chapter post of 2021! 🥳 *
*** warning: smut ahead 😳 read at your own risk ⛔️ ***

C H A P T E R T W E L V E

NUMB. It was all Celia felt and frankly she didn't care about anything around her. During the days leading up for her to leave to Adriana's funeral, she constantly cried all day. Some nights she was bargaining for her mother's life and others she was angry and in denial. She was angry at everyone and everything because out of everyone in the whole entire world, her mother had to die. Her stages of grief weren't in a consistent order. Because of this, Steve and Connie moved in with Celia temporarily to take care of her so she could grieve however she wanted to.

Connie soon really began to worry when Celia became so depressed she wouldn't move unless it was to eat, go to the bathroom, or feed her dog. Other than that, Celia seemed to tune out her dog's insistent cries to go to the bathroom and the crying of the baby Steve and Connie were taking care of.

Thankfully Celia's coworkers at the embassy and her neighbors were kind enough to stop by and leave dishes or flowers as condolences. They had gotten so many dishes from their neighbors and co-workers that Connie was asking for their names to write it on a note and tape it to the dish. This was so she knew who to return the empty dishes back to once the food was eaten and the dishes were washed.

One person who seemed to check in a lot, almost daily, was Javier. Despite his fight with Celia prior, it still broke Javier watching Celia hurt. The one day that bothered him the most was when Connie had handed her sister the invitation to the funeral. The invitation was almost like a trigger for Celia as she had snapped out of her trance and began to uncontrollably sob. The sobs that Celia let out were ones Javier couldn't believe she was making. Connie tried to comfort her sister and calm her down as she instructed Steve to set the invitation somewhere else. Watching Celia breakdown made Javier feel things that scared him and he had left her apartment promptly.

The day before Celia had to fly out, she had finally snapped out of her trance and began to pack on her own. Connie helped her sister and even lent her one of her black dresses to wear to the funeral. As Celia held the dress in her hands, she carefully ran her thumbs over the fabric of the dress and felt tears begin to brim her eyes once again. The dress seemed to serve as a reminder of how her biological mother really was dead. She quickly packed the dress as she felt a lump in her throat form.

"I can come. If you want, y'know." Connie softly spoke as she watched her sister begin to pack items from her bathroom.

"I'll be okay by myself. Besides, you have that baby girl to take care of. No way is Steve going to last one night with her." Celia said as she made her way over back to her suitcase again. "I'll be fine either way."

Connie nodded in understanding as she rocked the sleeping baby in her arms. As much as Connie wanted to go with her sister, she knew her sister was right. Steve couldn't last one night with the Colic baby and the same baby wouldn't survive a three hour flight either.