Now, instead of everyone reaching out to her while she remained sheltered but grateful, she was reaching back.

And it was awesome.

She’d already taken the initial steps even before everything had fallen apart - calling Lexie for help with clothes, for advice when she woke up at Michael’s, even trying a club contract with Michael - but then she’d stalled out. Tried to take just a tiny step and then stop. But life, people, didn’t work that way. She couldn’t just stop until she was comfortable and then take another tiny step. Not everything was about her and how she felt about things, she needed to take other people’s feelings into consideration too.

Considering how surprised and happy her friends had been to get something as simple as an invitation to dinner from her, she hadn’t been doing a very good job of it.

And, even though he’d been careful not to talk about his feelings, she hadn’t been doing a very good job of thinking about Michael’s feelings either. Everything had been about how he’d made her feel or how she’d worried he’d make her feel. She’d always assumed he’d be just fine without her, but according to club gossip - which was frighteningly reliable - he’d been a bit of a mess.

It felt strange and a little scary to have responsibility over someone else’s feelings, but good too. Like she was taking another step into the ‘normal’ relationships she wanted (even if she really shouldn’t be thinking of them that way). And she’d upped her visits with Dr. Amy to once a week while she worked through things. Michael was even going with her to her next visit, just so Dr. Amy could meet him and all three of them could talk about things.

“You are turning into a handful, pretty girl,” Michael said, chuckling. He’d started calling her ‘pretty girl’ lately, almost like a play on Angel calling him ‘pretty boy’, like they belonged together – although, so far, Ellie hadn’t dared to call him pretty boy.

Before, when teasingly chastised, she might have pulled back, feeling the teasing was too intimate, too relationship-y... too much like how their friends in serious relationships treated each other. Now, she just leaned back against him, thrusting her breasts up as she nuzzled her face against his neck. “I have at least two handfuls right here...”

She was still quietly sassy, keeping her remarks low enough only he could hear her, but she didn’t think that would change even with her growing confidence. While Ellie was feeling less insecure lately, she was still a naturally quiet person, poking war with Sharon notwithstanding.

“Temptress,” Michael growled, slapping her bare thigh and making her moan.