A Little Happiness

[LD43]

Story Title: **A little happiness**
Type of story: Medium Fic 
Main Characters: Parata Family, John
BTTB rating: T
Genre: Drama/General.
Does story include spoilers: No
Any warnings: 
Summary: 5 lines max - What if Ari and Mia got their happy ending?

 

A black car had been dumped in the cul-de -sac outside the Parata house. What was it with people always making it difficult for John to leave his house? But this time something was different, something was wrong. John could hear shouting from behind the trees. He paused and climbed back out of his car, quietly closing the door and hurrying over to the Parata's house. John peered around the trees and saw a man with a tight grip on Mia. Chloe stood back, frozen in fear.

 

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?" John shouts, rushing towards Mia and the unknown man.

Matthew loosens his grip on Mia and she pulls away, running towards Chloe.

"This is none of your business! Go!" Matthew shouts at John.

"I'm not leaving until I know everyone is alright." John replies, standing his ground.

"We're fine, just a disagreement." Matthew says in a calmer tone, but the anger was still evident.

John looks over at Mia and catches her eye. Mia shakes head ever so slightly, but just enough for John to get the message.

"You need to leave. Now!" John tells Matthew.

"This isn't over" Matthew snarls towards Mia as he climbs into his car and speeds away.

John follows Matthew to his car, reaching for his phone on the way. Mia turns to Chloe.

 

"Chloe?" Mia asks.

Chloe turns her attention to Mia. Now that Matthew had left, she could breathe once again.

"I'm fine, mum. Are you?" Chloe replies, placing a hand on Mia's arm.

"I'm ok. Go inside, I'll be there in a moment." Mia tells Chloe.

 

John returns his phone to his pocket and makes his way over to Mia.

"I've called the police, they should be here soon." John tells her.

A wave of fear sweeps over Mia. Going to the police will only make Matthew angrier. He could follow through on his threat and she would lose Ari forever. Mia goes to object, but John stops her before she can even begin.

"No arguments, he was out of line." John says quickly. "Who was he?"

"Chloe's father" Mia replies.

John looks taken aback, there had never been any mention of him. As John thought this through, Mia grew pale and took a few shaky breaths, the adrenaline now leaving her body.

"Here" John says, reaching out for Mia. "Let's go inside and sit down."

Edited February 13 by LD43

[LD43]

Chapter 2

Ari walked down the alley, pizza in hand and a smile plastered across his face. He was engaged to Mia, the love of his life, how could things get better? As he turned the corner, the police cars surrounding his house caused the happiness to fall away, only to be replaced with fear. Fear for his family. Ari ran towards the house, kicking his shoes off and bursting through the front door.

There were a few police officers in the house, John stood with one and Chloe with another, each giving their statements. Mia sat on the couch with her head in her hands, she didn't know what to do anymore. In telling Chloe the truth, Chloe had broken off contact with Matthew, and she thought that would have been the end of the nightmare. Instead, Matthew had turned up at their house.

Ari made his way towards Mia, carefully sitting beside her.

 

"Mia?" he asked gently.

Mia raised her head to look at him, then moved into his open arms. Ari wrapped his arms around her.

"What happened?" he continued.

Mia didn't answer, taking a deep breath instead.

"Mia, please..." Ari said quietly.

Mia sat up to look at him.

"Matthew was here. He was shouting at Chloe, but then I got home..." Mia started, her voice wavering but the words now just falling out. "He started shouting at me instead, saying I was a liar, and as he grabbed me, John showed up and got him to leave. John called the police and..." Mia trailed off.

An anger rose in Ari, Matthew had a lot to answer for. But right now, Mia needed his support not his anger.

"I told the police everything. About Chloe's conception and what's happened since he came to town. They're sorting out an AVO now." Mia continued.

Ari took a deep breath.

"Are you ok?" he asked Mia, a question that got a small nod in response. Not massively convincing, but when your day started in overwhelming happiness and ended like this, would anyone be alright?

"And Chloe?" Ari asked.

"I'm fine, Ari." Chloe called over, now finished giving her statement.

 

John had also finished giving his statement, now turning to face Ari and Mia.

"If you're alright, I'll leave you to it." John said.

"Thank you, John." Ari said. He would be forever grateful to John, things could have been a lot worse if he hadn't been there and they all knew it.

"What are neighbours for, hey?" John responded.

"Really, John, thank you" Ari said.

John nodded and made his way out of the front door.

 

Chloe now made her way to the couch, sitting beside Ari. He reached an arm around her and on his other side, Mia sat close. As the three of them sat in silence, each processing the events of the day, they could only hope that the AVO was enough and Matthew got the message - he wasn't welcome in Summer Bay.

Edited February 24 by LD43