“I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out,” I apologized. “Maybe if I would have figured it out sooner, I could have been there for you before any of this happened…” eyes brimmed with tears that tried spill, but instead I clung tighter to the girl in my arms, begging to never have to let go.

“But I’m always going to be here for you Spencer. No matter what.”

“What if, what if I can’t beat this?” she whispered softly the pain evident in her voice. I just wish I knew how to take it away.

“You will,” I assured her.

“It’s hard sometimes Ash,” she stumbled over her words trying to pick them right. “I feel like I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

“You’re my girl, my oxygen, my reason to live Spence.”

“I’m your red bull, I give you wings?” she smiled. I love it when she smiles.

“You’re my red bull, my full throttle, my Nos, my amp, and my rockstar,” I laughed at the memory. I wish I could just go back in time and fix this all…

“So where do we go from here then?”

“Up is a pretty good direction.”

“Yeah, downs overrated,” she sighed trying to snuggle closer into me.

After awhile her breathing even out, and matched with the constant rhythms of the hospital and its machines. Glancing at the clock, it and it was four am, and she was in my arms where she belonged.

Light entered the room, as the door slid open, a figure stepping out of the hallway and into the stillness of the room.

“Aiden called,” Glen sighed. “She’s, she’s alright isn’t she?” Surprised and taken back by the worried expression on his face, I was only able to let out a stuttered reply.

“Ye, yeah.”

“Mom doesn’t know she’s here,” he stated his line of vision focused solely on Spencer and the bandages on her wrist. “Ben and I agreed that it’s I think it’s better that way.”

“Does he kn…” I started but was cut off.

“Dad has his secretary. Mom has Ben. I think Ben knows more than he lets on about what’s going on with our family.”

“So then you talked to him about everything?”

“Yeah, what do you think?” Glen asked bewildered by the entire situation. I could tell, he never saw this coming. But in all reality, neither did I.

“She’s suppose to see someone in a few days anyway,” I sighed looking down at the sleeping girl in my arms. Her shallow breaths tickled my skin. Her blond hair was scattered across her face, but she never looked more beautiful.

“Ok.” It was all he said, but it was enough.

The expression on his face never changed once during the moment of silence. Shifting, he took one last look at her, before he started backing towards the door, back into a world, a family that pretended to be something on the surface, but in all reality, was broken underneath it‘s artificial exterior.

“Glen,” I whispered as his hand gripped the cold lifeless handle.

“Yeah?” he murmured.

“Thank you.”

“No problem,” he stated before he disappeared into the frantic walls of the hospital. Shaking my head, I tried to grasp everything that had just happened, but everything was moving so quickly. But even though the weight of the world seemed to be crashing down, I knew we’d get through this. We’d get through it together. So I held desperately onto the only thing that seemed to make sense anymore. I held onto Spencer…