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, 2023 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, 2023 by LD43

[LD43]

Chapter 3

The AVO had run Matthew out of town. They hadn't heard a peep from him since he had shown up at their house. And although they still worried about him returning, life went on and things were getting back to normal.

Ari and Mia are sat together on the couch watching a movie when Tane returns home from the gym.

"Alright for some then" he says as he walks through the door.

"Evening" Ari responds.

"Everything go ok locking up?" Mia asks.

"Yep." Tane replies, placing his bag on the table.

Mia turns to Ari.

"I'm gonna head to bed" Mia says, getting up.

"Alright, be in soon." Ari replies, placing a kiss on her hand.

As Mia stood up, Ari grabs his side, wincing.

"Are you ok?" Mia asks, a little worried.

"Yeah, just went a bit hard at the gym I think." Ari responds. "I'll be fine."

 

Mia walks towards the bedroom as Tane grabs a beer and sits down beside Ari.

"How's the wedding planning going?" Tane asks.

"Good." Ari replies, shifting his weight. "We're thinking about having the ceremony at the beach."

"Near the water, I like it." Tane says. "Any thoughts on a date?"

"No, not yet. We want to speak to everyone back home, see when they can fly over." Ari responds. "We'll decide then."

"Gemma will be pleased." Tane says.

"I bet." Ari says quietly, shifting his weight once again a grimace on his face. The pain had only been getting worse. "I'm going to bed."

 

Later that night, Ari and Mia are asleep in bed. Ari is woken by a sharp, radiating pain in his lower right abdomen. He grunts in pain, awaking Mia.

"Ari! What's wrong?" Mia asked, worried.

"Nothing, nothing. Go back to sleep." Ari answered.

Ari grunts again.

"Ari, you're not ok." Mia says, her worry increasing.

Mia turns on the light and reaches for Ari's forehead.

"You're burning up." she tells Ari.

"I'll be fine." Ari insists before doubling over in pain.

"That's it, I'm taking you to the hospital." Mia says, starting to get dressed.

 

Mia quickly changes, then knocks on Tane's bedroom door. She opens the door after getting no answer.

"Tane?" she asks into the darkness.

"What is it?" Tane asks, half asleep.

"It's Ari, I need to take him to the hospital" Mia tells him.

"What? Why?" Tane asks, now fully awake.

"He's in a lot of pain and is burning up. Can you help me get him into the car?" Mia requests.

"Of course. I'll come too" Tane asks.

"Thank you" Mia answers.

 

At the hospital, Ari is taken to an exam room where Logan examines him. He takes some bloodwork and returns with the results not too long later.

"Ari, you have appendicitis, we need to operate." Logan tells him.

"Ok, go for it." he answers.

"Alright, let's go" Logan says.

"Where will you take him after?" Mia asks quickly.

"We'll come get you from the waiting room." Logan replies.

Mia walks over to Ari and kisses him on the forehead, running a hand through his hair.

"See you soon, ok?" she says as he is wheeled away.

"Promise." Ari responds.

Edited August 19, 2023 by LD43

[LD43]

Chapter 4

Tane sits in the waiting room with Mia pacing back and forth in front of him.

 

"Tane?" Mia asks.

Tane looks up.

"It's been too long, what if something's gone wrong?" Mia panics.

Tane stands up and approaches Mia, putting his hands on her arms.

"If something was wrong, a nurse would have come and told us. Ari's tough, he'll be ok." Tane reassures Mia.

Mia takes a deep breath and nods trying to convince herself.

 

A while later, the elevator dings and Logan appears. He approaches Mia and Tane who stand up quickly, visibly worried.

"How is he? Why did it take so long?" Tane asks.

"We ran into a complication and had to open him up." Logan began.

Mia's worst fears were coming true - she knew something was wrong. Her mind was racing a mile a minute. Tane reached for Mia, his touch snapping her back to reality.

"When we removed Ari's appendix, he lost a lot of blood. He is receiving blood now and will be weak for a while." Logan continued.

"But he'll be alright?" Tane asked, impatient.

"Yes, he'll make full recovery." Logan answered.

Mia finally let her breath out, relieved.

"Can we see him?" Tane asked.

"Of course, this way." Logan said, guiding them to Ari's room.

 

When they reach the door of Ari's room, Mia stops. Yes, it had just been appendicitis but what if it had been worse? She couldn't lose Ari - what would she do without him? They still had so much to do, their lives to live together.

Tane turns around.

"Mia, you coming?" he asks.

Mia nods and walks into the room, where Ari is still unconscious. She places a hand on his arm as she sits beside his bed.

"He'll wake up soon" Logan tells them.

 

A few minutes later, Ari starts to stir. He takes a few deep breaths as he fights to open his eyes, still groggy from the anaesthesia.

"Hey" Mia says, taking his hand.

"Welcome back brother" Tane adds.

"Hey, told you I'd be alright." Ari responds, turning his head to look at Mia. He knew she'd been worried. He pulled her hand to his lips and gave it a kiss, Mia smiling in return - finally relaxing.

Edited March 30 by LD43