#0 regrets

— mason & liena one-shot

— @gabbysdawsons mason buckley

It was 3 am when Liena finally decided that enough was enough. She had been lying in bed for at least 2 hours waiting for her husband to join her. He hadn’t. In fact, she was sure that if she went out in the living room he would still be moving around the apartment cleaning or he would still be in the same spot on the couch he always read in.

Things had been a little weird lately. It wasn’t that they were bad, no. Things between them were never bad. It just so happened that they were tense. Ever since the Jonah incident it was like Mason was keeping himself at a distance. Liena hated it. That wasn’t what they did. When one of them got hurt they went to each other to get through it. The fact that he wasn’t was frustrating her to no end.

The worst part was that she couldn’t even mention it. They had kids in the house and there was one thing that Liena had always promised was that her kids would never have to hear fighting. Mason and she had never fought before in the first place. She wasn’t ready to let that go.

However, at this point, the tension didn’t matter. What did matter was that her husband was still up and wouldn’t come to bed. She couldn’t sleep without him, that was common knowledge, so she’d hoped he’d come eventually. Apparently, that wasn’t going to happen.

She tossed the blanket she had on off of her and moved to sit up. Her lips were pressed into a firm thin line while she pulled one of Mason’s shirts on to walk into the living room. It was exactly like she thought. Sitting in his regular position on the couch was Mason with a book in his hand as he focused on it. He didn’t even notice when she entered.

“Mason,” her voice was soft as she spoke quietly. It was late and she didn’t want to wake up the kids. Mason didn’t move. She stepped closer and repeated herself. “Mason,”

The man’s eyes didn’t leave the book, it was like it was the only thing he could focus on. Liena frowned. She walked toward him and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him from behind. He jumped and tilted his head to look back at her.

“Hey,” He narrowed his eyes while shining with confusion. “What are you doing?” Her eyebrows raised.

“It’s time for bed,” Mason shook his head.

“I told you that you could go without me and I’d come soon.”

Liena stared at him. Did he really not realize how long it had been? His eyes shifted back to his book and she sighed.

“Baby that was 2 hours ago,” she didn’t let go of him. She was watching trying to see how she could get the book out of his hand so she could get him to bed. Mason’s frown matched her own.

“What? No, it was-" Liena pointed at the clock and Mason blinked. “Oh.” He smiled a little sheepishly. “Sorry,”

Liena leaned into him a little more. She could feel her exhaustion hitting.

She raised her head a little and smiled softly.

“It’s fine, let’s just go now.” She softly pressed her lips to his cheek. Mason hesitated.

“Just let me finish this chapter okay?”

A bubble of frustration built up in Liena’s stomach. This wasn’t just about her wanting to go to bed. She was worried about him. He hadn’t been sleeping. She’d go to bed and lay there for hours waiting for him to come until her body couldn’t handle it and she fell asleep but he never came. She was tired of it and she missed him.

“Baby please,” she pleaded a little. It wasn’t something she liked to do. “Please just take a break and come to bed. You haven’t been sleeping and I’m worried about you.” She wasn’t going to remind him of the fact that the doctor had told him he needed rest. She felt like that would only make it worse. However, the words were on her tongue ready to come out. Anything to get him to come to bed.

Mason paused and looked back at her. The desperation in her voice was clear and she was looking at him with the same kind of eyes. One’s filled with worry and hope and a slight fear that he wasn’t sure about.

“I just need to finish this chapter,” he said again. Liena leaned back and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes while she did so, trying to keep herself collected. Then she opened them. She leaned forward again, this time plucking the book from his hands. He looked back at her immediately. “Liena-“

“No,” her voice came out bolder than she expected. It was more than he expected too as he looked slightly taken aback. “I know you’re struggling to sleep right now, I get it. But please baby,” She paused. “I need you to come to bed, okay?” The woman could feel a lump forming in her throat as tears threatened to spill. She didn’t know why she was getting so emotional over this, but she couldn’t help it. “Please? Just come to bed?”

Mason didn’t take his eyes off her as his lips parted for a moment, looking like he might say something. Instead, he pressed them together and nodded his head a little. He reached to take the book from Liena who hesitated in giving it back to him, but sighed in relief when he put a bookmark in and put it down. Her shoulders relaxed as he stood up and walked toward her.

“Hey,” he spoke softly and moved to wipe her eyes of the tears that had gathered. “I’m okay,” he reaffirmed her. She shook her head.

“I don’t think you are,” it came out so quiet that Mason almost didn’t hear, but he did and his eyes widened a little. Well, that wasn’t what he was expecting to hear. He looked like he wanted to reply but Liena stopped him. “I don’t want to talk about it tonight, it’s really late and I’m really tired,” she looked up and met his eyes. “Can we just go to bed? Please?”

Her husband looked down at her, and for a second she was worried that by opening her mouth she had ruined her chances of getting him to rest. Instead of disagreeing or returning to the couch, however, he nodded. He cupped his hand around her cheek and pulled her forward, placing a kiss on her forehead. Liena relaxed into his touch immediately. Her arms looped around his waist and he moved, picking her up in his arms. It wasn’t unusual of him to do so, but at this moment Liena certainly hadn’t been expecting it. Still, she let him carry her to the bedroom and put her down on the bed. She watched him strip from his own day clothes and climb next to her lying down.

The minute he was lying in bed, Liena watched as his hand went to his heart. Her stomach turned a little in worry. This was one of those things they didn’t talk about. It was also one of those things that they needed too.

She didn’t want to think about that right now. Right now all she wanted was to lie next to her husband and try her best to sleep. She moved backward and lay next to him, struggling against the urge to curl up in his arms. He was still healing, she didn’t want to hurt him.

As if Mason knew what she was thinking he turned his head toward her. He didn’t speak as he pulled her toward him and held her close. She almost pulled back, afraid that the position might injure him in some way. He didn’t let her. He held her tighter and looked down so their eyes could meet.

“Are you okay?” He asked her gently.

No, she wanted to say. I’m not okay, I’m worried about losing you and I’m terrified that it’ll happen. She didn’t say that. All she did was lean into him just a little closer and close her eyes.

“I will be.” she settled on an answer. He nodded. Then he hesitated for a moment.

“Are we okay?” She opened her eyes once more and looked up at him before leaning to gently kiss his lips.

“Always,” The answer seemed to calm him and so he nodded before kissing her back as he closed his eyes. When they broke apart he took in a deep breath and she moved so her head was just next to him, being careful to not put too much pressure on his chest. She closed her eyes again and let out a shaky breath.