Hey Everyone!
Sorry for the ridiculously long wait, this will be the last installment! I hope everyone enjoys it...this story has taken me much longer than I anticipated. But I've got ideas for other stories in the works, so I'm ready to conclude Aidan and Lili and begin anew J
IrishSmile
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Aidan woke to the sound of someone opening a door, and he was instantly reminded of where he was and why. He couldn't prevent his emotions taking a roller coaster ride if he wanted to, and his body felt numb either from the pain of uncomfortable hospital chairs or the pain in his chest. He decided it was probably both. He looked around the room to see Lili's two best friends, Willow and Alex, sleeping in similar uncomfortable positions. He finally forced himself to look at the hospital bed in the center of the room where the nurse was now checking on a sleeping Lili. His beautiful Lili.
He swallowed hard, willing himself not to be emotional. When she was walking up his driveway and giving him that big smile, he had known that she was his. He had never been so happy in his life. And then it had been ripped away by a psychotic ex-girlfriend that apparently didn't care about throwing her own life away.
Fuck her; I hope she dies in prison.
He thought to himself. At the moment, she was being held in jail with no bail. Thankfully, one of his neighbors had been outside mowing the lawn when Olivia shot the woman he loved. Two witnesses meant a long time in prison for sure. Stupid bitch. Most of the rest of that memory was a blur to him; the shock, the dialing 911 and shouting at the operator. But when he had knelt down beside her, cradled her head in his lap and put pressure on her wounds as best he could...time seemed to have stopped. Nothing else had existed as she had gazed up at him with tears in her eyes, clutching onto him with what little strength she had.
As much as he wanted to, he would never forget that moment. He just hoped that there would be better, happier moments in the future that could replace it. She would make it. The doctors had given him no updates but he wouldn't let himself think of the other possibility becoming a reality.
A hand on his shoulder startled him from his thoughts. Alex had apparently woken up to come sit beside him. She gave him a small smile.
"How are you holding up?" she asked softly. Aidan just shrugged and shook his head, not saying anything at first. "She'll be alright, Aidan. You know Lili, you know how strong she is."
He just stared at Lili's hospital bed feeling as if he were stuck in a bad low budget movie.
"I was going to tell her I loved her." He ignored Alex's sharp intake of breath. "We were going to go to New York together for her internship, and now -- "His voice broke.
"I'm sorry, Aidan," she said through her tears. "You'll still get the chance to tell her, just give her time."
"I called her parents." He felt her stiffen beside him.
"And?" she asked sharply. Alex was well aware of the situation with Lili's parents; she just couldn't see how anyone's parents could so easily turn their back on their own child. It infuriated her. Not that her relationship with her parents was the best, but even they would never do such a thing.
"And nothing! Lili's own
mother
had the nerve to say that it didn't concern her. That Lili was no longer her daughter." He spoke through clenched teeth. "They sicken me. How could her own family treat her like that?!" he asked angrily, voicing her similar thoughts.
"
We
are her family now, Aidan. She's going to need us to get through her recovery. She'll need you. It'll help her when she wakes up and realizes you never left her side."
"I never will."
"I didn't think so."
-----
Lili awoke to an intense pain in her chest. For a moment she had no idea where she was, how she got there, or who was in bed with her. But as her vision came into focus, she realized she was in a hospital...a hospital
bed...
which meant... and then it all came flooding back to her. Wait -- who
was
in bed with her?
She looked over to see a sleeping Aidan lying at her side with an arm draped over her. She found it odd and slightly funny that this was the first time they had been in a bed together. As if he could feel her looking at him, he began stirring in his sleep.
"Aidan, wake up please," she whispered to him. A slight frown crossed his handsome face, as if he were confused. Then he slowly opened his eyes, and then widened when he realized she was looking at him. They just lay there, looking at one another in silence for a moment. Then he reached up and softly touched her face.
"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly.
"Not so good. How long have I been here?"
"You've been out for two days."