“Elli, you have two little ones and two in your belly and you want to take mine? No way, thank you so much, but my baby sitter is fine with him for the week, after that I might have to call you,” Fallon said with a warm loving smile.

Elli smiled, taking Fallon’s hand in hers, “I’m a phone call away, we’ll leave everything out here for y’all and tell Tate he’s fine, game wise, I’ll take care of everything.”

“Thank you so much, Elli-”

“Fallon!”

Fallon and Lucas turned quickly to see William standing outside Audrey’s room. “The doctor is here.”

Fallon didn’t even say bye to Elli, she ran towards the room, hoping for some answers. Not only for her sake and her family’s, but for Tate’s too.

***

Tate didn’t know why, but he found himself standing in the doorway of Audrey’s condo.

William had hired people to clean up the mess from everything that happened and it seemed they had done a nice job. Nothing looked out of place, and no one would be able to tell that Audrey’s lifeless body had laid bloody and beaten right below his feet. Walking past the spot that would haunt him for the rest of his life, he went to the island to see the bags from the grocery store she had gone to the day before. Beside them was her phone. He picked it up, and plugged it in to charge it so that when she woke up, she could have her phone. She would need it. She always did. With a smile, he went through the motions as if Audrey was upstairs changing instead of in the hospital, fighting for her life. He put away the things that hadn’t spoiled and then went around picking up the things that Audrey hadn’t gotten to.

Making his way upstairs, he went to her closet and was enveloped in her smell. He had missed the way she smelled of sugar. With her being in the hospital, it was nice to be around her things that smelled as familiar as she used to before the staff cleaned her up. Moving through the closet, he packed a bag of clothes and heels. She would need them when she came home. He felt like a girl, matching her clothes for her, but she would flip if she wasn’t matching. Going to her bathroom, he gathered all her toiletries and anything else she might need. After having everything packed, he moved back into the bathroom and removed his clothes. Turning the water on hot, he stepped into the shower, leaning his head against the shower wall as the hot water burned his body. He welcomed it, anything to make him feel like he was alive.

He didn’t move as he rethought the last twenty-four hours. It all seemed unreal and at any moment, he thought Audrey would come into the shower and wash him, like she had done so many times before, but he knew it wouldn’t happen. Picking up Audrey’s nailbrush, he brushed her dry blood from underneath his nails. Tears dripped down his cheek, mixing with his shower as he cleaned every bit of Audrey off him. He went numb. He didn’t understand the feeling either. All he knew was that he wanted his Audrey back, he wanted to hold her in his arms, he wanted to kiss her lush mouth and he wanted to live the rest of his life, looking into her bright caramel eyes.

Closing his eyes, Tate went under the spray, washing his hair as he choked back a sob. He needed to get it together, he needed to be strong. But it was so hard. All he wanted to do was fall apart and beg for her to come back to him, but really he hadn’t lost her yet. She was still fighting, so really he had to fight too. He had to be strong for her and for his baby.

He had too.

An hour later, Tate rushed through the hospital, his arms full of things for Audrey. He brought her phone, clothes, shoes, pictures of Aiden, them together, and Fallon and Audrey together. He wanted her to feel at home when she awoke, he didn’t want her to be scared. He wasn’t going to leave her anymore, not until the day she went home, so he brought stuff for himself also. He hoped the hospital staff didn’t mind him playing his guitar, because he had brought it with him too.

Riding the elevator up to the ICU, he got off and found the waiting room empty. Where was everyone? Making his way down the hall, his pace picked up speed. Reaching Audrey’s room, he found everyone surrounding her bed. Fallon looked up and said, “Tate, I’ve been calling you for an hour!”

Tate’s heart sped up as dread filled his stomach. He missed something? Fallon’s eyes were red with tears, Nora was crying and William wouldn’t take his eyes off of Audrey, while Lucas held Fallon, not looking at Tate. Dropping everything he had in his arms, he made his way towards her bed and said, “What is going on?”

With a bright grin, Fallon yelled out, “Her swelling has gone down! They are going to slowly wake her up!”

Pressing his hand to his heart, his body slumped forward as he bowed his head. A relieved sob broke from him because he knew she was coming back to him.

He just knew.

Chapter 29

Tate had become a permanent fixture on the south wall of Audrey’s room.

It had been three days since the doctors had taken her out of her medically induced coma and she still wasn’t awake. Fallon sat in a chair to her left, tearing her nails apart with her teeth while her mom sat in a chair to Audrey’s right, trying to read her Kindle. Lucas stood along the other wall, playing on his phone while keeping a close eye on Fallon and Audrey. William came in and out, and Tate didn’t know how much more William could take. When Audrey didn’t wake up the first day, William freaked, and went nuts saying he couldn’t handle this anymore. He was gone for hours before anyone could get a hold of him. It wasn’t good, but thankfully, he had come back, and tried to support everyone while keeping it together.