Chapter Text
Raquel was back at home, huddled onto the couch engulfed by two large arms. There was a sense of belonging in those arms and when she turned her head to look at the person whose head was so gently cuddled into her neck, she saw the familiar black hair paired with a scruffy beard and smelt his very distinctive sent.
“Sergio” she sighed, she turned in his arms so she could wrap her arms around him and he stirred at her movements. He slowly opened his eyes, looked at her with a warm expression and breathed her in,“buenos dias mi amor” he said,
“buenos dias” she replied in kind, stunned.
He began to place soft kisses on her forehead, to her eyes, her cheeks, her nose and finally to her lips.
“Sergio...” she pulled back in realization, ‘this can’t be real, he’s in the hospital like he has been for months.’
“what’s wrong?” he frowned, Raquel was on the verge of tears, he looked so healthy, he looked like the normal Sergio, he looked like he did months ago. ‘how is this possible, I must be dreaming.’
All she knew is that she wouldn’t take this fake reality for granted, she ignored his question and brushed her hands in his hair, she was quick to cup his face and bring him back to her lips, she kissed him fervently, it took him by surprise, but he soon started kissing her back with the same passion.
She continued to kiss him even when she felt a few hot tears burning down her face, she kissed him knowing this wasn’t really Sergio, but she wanted live in the false reality of having him again right now. She ignored her tears, but Sergio pulled back as he felt them wetting his face "Raquel, what’s wrong?” She closed her eyes and sobbed at the sound of her name on his lips, “Raquel...” he looked for her again.
“I- it’s nothing” she opened her eyes again and sniffled “I love you”
Sergio pulled back all the way and sat up straight pulling her up with him, “Raquel, are you okay?”
“Yes I’m okay, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but Raquel really, is something happening, why are you crying?” he eyed her suspiciously, but Raquel ignored his question again.
“Tell me you love me” she wiped her face
“what?” his eyebrows furrowed
“tell me you love me Sergio, I want to hear it” she begged.
“I love you,” he whispered confused
“again” she demanded “I love you” he said again, after a few moments Raquel wiped her face and sighed “Sergio, is this a dream? Please tell me this isn’t dream”
“A dream? What would you be dreaming about?”
“this” she gestured at him, “you, being here all good and healthy”
“of course not mi amor, I’m here, but can you tell me what you imagined?”
She sat in a more comfortable position and laid her head on Sergio’s shoulder.
“I had a dream, but it all felt so real. Alberto my ex-husband turned up at the house while I wasn’t there and somehow told you that I was still married to him” she took in a deep breath before continuing.
“y- you ran away to Paris and so much happened, it felt so real, you were missing for so long and it was so painful. We- me, your siblings and that kid Rio found you, you somehow ended up in Canada and you were in a horrible crash”
“in Canada?” he questioned
“yes in Canada, you had so many injuries, but we were eventually able to bring you back here where you continued to recover. I continued to visit you every day as you recovered, but the last thing I remember is that my ex came to visit you, horrible events went down and I remember seeing him in handcuffs before everything went blank.”
“My god Raquel, that sounds like a nightmare, I’m so sorry.” he hugged her as she wiped a few tears remembering how much it hurt. “You know what, I can take a break today from work, let me cook you and Paula breakfast.”
“oh you don’t have to, it was just a silly dream”
“it was not some silly dream, if anything let me cook to celebrate the first time we said ‘I love you’ face to face”
“this was not the first time Sergio, don’t you remember?”
“No, no I don’t” he said genuinely confused “anyways I’m still going to cook breakfast, go wake up Paula” he smiled.
******
Raquel was smiling beyond her belief, she thought she smiled a lot in her dream when Sergio was recovering, but this defiantly took first place. Sergio was here, in her kitchen cooking for her and her daughter, it all felt so domestic and warmed her heart.
Back from waking up Paula, she came from behind, wrapped her arms around him and hugged him so tight that he had to pull her off to catch his breath. “maybe try not to kill your chef before or you’re not getting any food.” he joked, and she smiled even brighter. “I wouldn’t dare”
Paula helped wash some fruits to give to Sergio so he could cut them, he made French toast and a few slices of bacon, with a few special heart cut strawberries for Paula.
They all sat at the table and enjoyed their fresh breakfast; Paula was quick to finish her food saying that it might be one of the best breakfasts she’s ever had and that the heart shaped strawberries taste different from the normal ones.
Sergio was about to explain how the shape of the non-berry wouldn’t change how it taste, but Raquel kicked his leg under the table telling him not to ruin Paula’s funny belief even though it might prompt Paula to ask for heart shaped strawberries every time.
Paula went to her room to fetch Mr. Bunny and left Raquel and Sergio to clean up. Raquel was washing the dishes when Sergio came behind her this time, gave her a secure hug and inhaled her. They stayed in that position for a while before her spoke.
“Raquel?”
“mhm” she hummed
“You know when you were telling me about your dream?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“How do you know about my siblings and Rio?”
“What do you mean, I meet them at the barbeque” she glanced at him with a confused expression, then continued with the dishes.
“What do you mean, what barbeque do you keep talking about?”
“remember the one you took me to? The one at your brothers, in the summer.”
“Raquel are you imagining things or looking into the future?” he released her and looked at her face, “have I told you about them and forgot?”
“No Sergio, july 23 at the barbeque”
“Raquel it’s july the 14th are you telling me you're a time traveler he joked.”
She dropped her fork, everything went fuzzy, she couldn’t understand what Sergio was saying anymore. ‘was all that a dream, it all felt so real, did I really dream months about our relationship? But there's no way I could dream of people he’s never told me about, meaning that...’
She looked at Sergio, he had a confused expression on his face, “Raquel?”
******
“Raquel are you okay?” she heard in the distance. “Raquel” someone shook her and she bolted awake. “Raquel wake up” she saw her red headed friend Alicia in front of her, and she brought her hands up to rub her eyes. “Alicia where am I?”
“Raquel you're in the hospital, you passed out yesterday afternoon and the doctors gave you a room so they could monitor you and keep you hydrated”
“oh” Raquel said as she glanced around, everything was foggy from sleep, but she saw the bleak walls and the bed and decided yup I’m definitely in the hospital. “Wait, if you're here, where's Paula?”
“Don’t worry she's with Andres and Sergio in the other room, I came over to check on you and now you're awake”
“Sergio, oh my gosh is he okay?”
“he’s fine carino, how about you are you okay? I heard you talking in your sleep”
“oh I'm fine, just a little sleepy” she sighed “but I just had the strangest dream that none of this” she waved her hands around “that none of this actually happened, and I was back home with Sergio, I was transported back by months to when everything was good.” she fell back onto the pillows “god Alicia I wish none of this happened, I wish Alberto never bothered me and him”
Alicia gave her a second to calm down, “about Alberto, I have some news about him”
“what?”
“I saw him in handcuffs with a bloody nose” she smiled before continuing “the police asked me some questions about who he was, and I would like to tell you that he was being pushed into a cop car a few minutes later.”
“he gets what he deserves” Alicia concluded
Raquel stared at her for a few seconds before she burst out laughing “he gets what he deserves” Raquel repeated and Alicia started laughing too, after they both calmed down, they talked about the situation properly.
“I gave them some information, but you're going to have to speak to them later you know, that right?” Alicia said
“I know, I’ll do it as soon as I’m ready”
“good for you, you know this would really help you with your case and full custody. He really fucked up this time”
“It would, and then I would know I could fully keep my family safe from him” Sergio was included, Sergio was now part of her family too.
They continued to chat, and a doctor came into check up on her before they were able to discharge her.
“come let’s go to Sergio’s room” Alicia said
******
Sergio
He watched as Raquel was stumbling towards his bed and reached out his hand as she fell back onto the ground, a nurse was able to catch her before she hit the ground and got her onto the chair as others assisted him. After a while of her not waking up they got her into her own room not too far from his, the nurses had given him for support on the ribs and pain killers. He spent most of his time worrying about Raquel, the nurses always gave him updates on Raquel when they sensed his panic.
He noticed that the security was coming around more, or that he would see them frequently, so he didn’t worry about anyone bad coming and pulling a stunt like Alberto. His worry for her eventually tired him out and he ended up falling asleep, the next thing he knew it was morning and his brother was poking his face.
“Sergio” Andres called and woke Sergio up, Sergio swatted his hands away, “so Sergio, I know what happened, the police told me everything, what a bastard that guy is” he scoffed “but on the other hand, the doctors told me you punched him in the nose! Wow Sergio I thought violence wasn’t you thing!”
Sergio rolled his eyes at Andres and Andres pinched his cheeks “they also told me you were okay and that you could hear, you dumbass, you should have told me!”
They walked to his room and as soon as Raquel was at the door, she had her little Paula running straight towards her and jumping on her “mama, you're okay” she squealed
“of course, sweetie I just took a long... nap” she said as an excuse, Alicia took Paula in her arms and brought her out of the room letting the other adults talk.
Andres came up to hug her, “I just got here, but i came as soon as I could” he said, “and thank god you're both more or less okay”
“I’m so sorry Andres, for everything, A- Alberto wouldn’t have come here if it weren't for me”
“please Raquel it’s okay, Sergio and I both agree, but what I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me he could now hear!”
Raquel and Sergio’s eyes met, and his face was plastered with a smile, “He said he would tell you the week after he got it back, which was supposed to be yesterday.” she answered him.
“unbelievable” Andres turned to Sergio “why would you keep your recovery a secret from you siblings”
Sergio just rolled his eyes in response.
“did Alberto injure him in anyway?” Raquel butted in
“yes actually, he elbowed Sergio right in the ribs again, so the doctors wrapped him in some sort of bandage to stop any type of irregular movement as they heal, but at least he is now in police custody and were going to sue him so hard he’s going to regret ever stepping into your life.” he said serious in a tone that spooked Raquel, but that didn’t last long till...
“but did you know that Sergio punched him in the nose” he laughed “your friend Alicia told me that he got a nose bleed”
She knew it wasn’t the best time to laugh, but goddamn Alberto deserved that. Her and Andres laughed as Sergio covered his face, she came over and gave him a kiss on the forehead saying thank you them Andres informed her “Raquel why don’t you take a break now, I’m here and Silene will be coming soon so you don’t have to visit so much anymore.”
She looked at Sergio and he slowly nodded yes saying that it was fine if she went “are you sure? It’s not that much trouble,”
“Raquel it’s fine, at least take a break for a week or something, I’m not saying to stop coming, but just that you don’t need to worry.”
“Okay, thank you Andres” she smiled “and thank you Sergio, for giving that man what he deserves, I’ll see you a week... or something” she kissed his cheek and headed out.