Busted in Utopia

Persephone had not realized how much she had missed her old bed until this very moment when she peeled back the covers, removed her shoes and climbed into it.

"Hello, old friend," she said aloud as she brought the covers to her chin.

After a moment she reached into the paper bag that was sitting on her old nightstand and began pulling out a plethora of snacks and laying them out like a halo around her body. For the first time in ages, she felt like herself again. She was in her own space, where she could do what she wanted, when she wanted.

In a few moments she was bound to sacrifice her comfort via crumbs that would eventually fall under the covers as she ate chips, donuts and caramel popcorn as she binged on My Lottery Dream Home.

Heavenly crumbs.

This was HER space, and her space alone. Chris and his Type A personality could rule his roost but here- she made the rules, and the rules were, there were no rules.

She wasn't hopeless either, the crumbs would get to her as soon as she felt them but if she wanted to leave them, she could. Heck, just being able to eat in bed was her Utopia.

Yes, at the end of the day, she would clean up and go to Chris's sanitized world happily, but just existing in an abode where she felt no pressure to clean immediately after simply peeling a potato was priceless to her.

Not only was she happy to be surrounded by her own furniture, but she finally had the ability to burrow in her own bed and leave the external world out of these walls.

Especially Maggie Ericson.

Guilt had been a driving-force in Maggie's need to build a relationship with her after the Michelle Sato Christmas fiasco, that she tried to spend a lot of time with Persephone. She had even convinced Paul to buy the neighbor's house so she could be close and that was putting a tight strain on Persephone's much-loved alone time.

Now that the ink was dry on the paperwork, and her home was furnished, Persephone felt she could breathe again.

She sighed happily as she began watching her favorite show.

The lottery winners du jour were being introduced on the show when the doorbell began to ring. Persephone reached over to her right for the cell phone to see who was at the door.

The only person who knew she had moved there was Wyatt. She sat up happily thinking he was bringing her hot latte- or an iced one.

She wasn't too picky where coffee was concerned.

She clicked on the doorbell app with a smile on her face only to have it freeze when she saw two very familiar faces on her phone screen.

Her eyes widened.

Surely Wyatt didn't snitch on her! If he did... oh... snitches got stitches!!!

The doorbell rang again.

Persephone stood and for some reason unknown to her, she pinched her nose and spoke to the two people at her door in a foreign language. "Hola? Si?"

Micaela pursed her lips and looked toward Chris.

"Save it, Persephone," Chris spoke sternly.

"Persephone no aqui," she said refusing to accept that the jig was up.

"Come open the door," Chris demanded.

Reluctantly, she buzzed the door to open from her phone. "I'm upstairs," she said solemnly as she took a seat on the edge of the freshly vacated, now newly unmade bed.

Her stomach began to clench. Nerves began working their way through her system.

She heard hurried steps coming up the stairs immediately recognizing they were Chris's footsteps.

Her breath caught as he appeared in the doorway.

Chris stared at her without smiling. Slowly his eyes looked around the room.

Eventually Micaela caught up with him, her eyes traveled the same path his had taken before both pairs of eyes stopped on her.

"You didn't feel you could tell me you were the one that bought Aunt Micaela's home?" Chris immediately spoke. He sounded hurt - which was exactly what she had wanted to avoid.

"I was going to tell you, eventually," she defended. "I just wanted to have a week to myself where I could enjoy existing in the world where no one knew where I was for a couple of hours a day."

Chris walked toward her, dropping himself on the bed beside her. He leaned forward and grabbed her hand. "Listen, I have accepted that you come with quirks, I even love that about you," he straightened up, "but buying a property behind my back when we're supposed to be together," he shook his head. "That's not okay, Persephone."

Micaela, who had been standing at the doorway this whole time spoke up. "Well, I do recall this topic came up previously, Persephone wanting her own home," she looked at both of them. "Did you ever get a chance to talk about it again?"

Persephone shook her head. She felt Chris stiffen.

"What's that, Chris?" Micaela walked closer to them with her hand over her ear.

Chris cleared his throat and shook his head.

"Well?" Micaela prompted. "Seems like now is a good time to clear the air, don't you think?"

The young couple turned to each other slowly.

"I like being alone sometimes, Chris, but now that your parents are so close, your mom is over at the house all the time." Persephone decided to speak before he did. "I understand that sometimes she feels alone and wants some company, but I am not like that. I don't mind having her come over a few days a weeks but Chris," she grabbed his hands. "She's been there every single day since they moved into the neighbor's house."

When she saw his mouth begin to move, she spoke quicker. "And I don't always feel like I can relax at your house, either. I don't want to feel stressed out every time my ADHD takes over and I leave the house only to remember hours later that I forgot to wash my coffee cup."

"Babe," Chris spoke gently. "You shouldn't feel that way."

"But I do," she whispered as she stared back at him with a shrug. She exhaled. "That's why I need this space."

Micaela's phone chimed.

Chris nodded, himself exhaling. "If we're sharing a life, because that's what we're doing here, you just should have told me."

She nodded slowly. "I know."

"Kids," Micaela interrupted. "Lisa texted. It seems her gran passed away," she put her phone away. "I have to go take care of Danny so she can be with her family."

At the news, Chris immediately pulled his cell phone out and stood as soon as he looked at the screen. "Daniel is going with Lisa, I have to go to the office in case anything comes up." He looked at Persephone. "We're okay? You and me?" He asked.

Persephone nodded. "More than," she replied quietly.

The two interlopers left as quickly as they had come, taking with them the need for her to be alone.

She decided to clean up and go help Micaela with Danny.