Oh sweetheart, it's alright I'm here, shh", he said wrapping his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest.
For Mark hearing Lyra's sobbs was heartbreaking, he continued to comfort her as best as he could in the hope she would feel better and help calm her down.
After a short while Lyra managed to calm down and her sobbing turned into hiccups and sniffles which made her giggle and smile a little.
Gently lifting her head away from his chest he cupped her face in his hands and smiled, slowly rubbing his thumbs up and down her cheeks, "there it is, there's that beautiful smile I love".
She nuzzled into his touch before she was surprised by more hiccups which made them both burst into laughter.
"What do you want to do now darling?", he asked as he removed his hands from her face to then hold her hands with his.
She shook her head and shrugged, "I'm not sure, what do you think we should do?".
Mark thought for a minute before responding, "I have to record a video shortly.. so if you wanted to, you could join me".
Lyra nodded, "yeah, I'd like that it'll be nice".
"Alright, we'll go straight home then", he said before stepping back and closing the passenger side door.
The journey home was calm and relaxed and before long they had made it back to the apartment.
The couple headed inside were they were instantly greeted by Chica before walking down the hall to his office/recording room.
Lyra stood beside Mark as he turned everything on and made sure it was ready to go.
"So what are we doing in today's video?", she asked.
"Well, many people have noticed that you haven't been in videos with me for a while and they wanted to know why but I didn't want to say anything without your permission. I understand if don't want to do it I won't pressure you", he explained.
Lyra smiled and hugged him, "thank you for waiting love I appreciate that".
She was also thankful that Mark's fans/viewers were being considerate and minding her personal issues and not pressuring Mark into saying anything before they were both ready.
"It's alright though, I think it's time we explain", she said trying to reassure him.
"Are you sure?, we don't have to do it now".
"I'm positive", she said gently grabbing a hold of his hand and kissing him on the cheek.
"Ok", he returned the gesture and started the video.
"Hello everybody my name is Markiplier and welcome to today's video, now I am joined here by my beautiful girlfriend Lyra".
Lyra waved while having a beaming smile on her face, "Hi guys, I'm back".
Mark chucked, "now, you've probably already noticed this isn't a normal video. This is because today we want to explain some thing's. So m'lady you may go first".
She giggled and cleared her throat before speaking.
"Thank you kind sir. So Mark told me that many of you have noticed my absence for a short while in occasional videos, now you may have already noticed the feeding tube that I have, this is my only way of getting nutrients as I can't eat or drink except for small portions of soft foods and smoothies or I use a prepared feed and put it into a feed bag to then connect it all together", she explained taking a breather.
Mark took this as a opportunity to continue for her.
"Now your probably wondering what all this means, it started a few weeks ago around October 14th. She started feeling sick after eating or drinking and it included having abdominal discomfort and after so long it would become worse making her stomach become sore and bloated. She was unable to keep anything down and it became worse, to the point she was losing weight"..
Mark started to feel emotional remembering all that happened. They both comforted each other as Lyra went on to explain she had been recently diagnosed with Gastroparesis which was the cause as to what had been going on.
Mark finished by explaining why he been a little bit inconsistent with videos recently as he was looking after and helping Lyra manage her medication, medical equipment and feed.
They both hoped that this would answer some of his viewers questions and that they would understand.
"Thank you everybody so much for watching and as always I will see you in the next video, bye - bye".
Lyra now exhausted from an emotional day felt her eyes begin to droop, "Mark honey, I'm gonna go take a nap I'm quite tired".
"That's fine sweetheart, do you want me to come with you?"
"If you want to", she replied.
The couple settled down for a nap as they held each other close.
"I Love you Lyra", he said softly resting his forehead against hers.
"I love you too Mark"..
Chapter 9 (Part 2) first published July 14th