Lox's POV...

Silence can be comfortable at times, peaceful and calming, especially when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Today, our shared silence is anything but calming. It's loud and unpredictable and nerve wracking.

We're driving to Palm Springs, Cohen behind the wheel, Liam chatting away in the front passenger seat, Chase blankly staring out the back seat window listening to his music. Then there's Greya and I. Her knee touching my thigh, our shoulders rubbing. It's like we can hear each others thoughts yet we haven't said a word for the last hour.

She went missing this morning and when she finally texted me back saying she went out for a few errands, my anxiety was briefly eased until we got into the car and I could tell something was wrong. Of course I've asked her and she claims she's fine, but her continued silence tells me otherwise. I'm not one to talk though... literally. I'm holding back too. I asked the Collins for my grandfathers contact information and I spoke with him for the first time ever this morning. I'm not sure how to tell Greya about it.

All I've been able to think about is how I'm going to protect everyone I care about from my father without having to change our identities and go into hiding again. Hiding isn't an option. I won't let Liam or Greya go through that again, nor will I put them in harms way because of me. If he knows I exist, I'm the one he's looking for and I have no idea what I'm going to do about it.

My grandfather isn't one hundred percent sure about what my father knows, but says my father's been recently moved to a maximum security prison hospital and doesn't believe he has anyone looking for me. I wish I could believe he isn't. I need to know for certain so everyone is safe and I can move on with my life without his constant threat.

I reach for her hand and link our fingers together. She finally looks up at me. Her green eyes shining brightly with the sun beaming through the window.

"I love y...you," I whisper in her ear and kiss her cheek.

Her return smile is all that's needed to ease my mind and heart.

"Come h...here," I pull her close and wrap my arm around her as she rests her head against me. I softly run my fingers up and down her arm and within minutes, she's fallen asleep on me.

Liam looks back at us and then I catch Cohen's eyes in the rear view mirror and suddenly the whole car's quiet the remainder of the ride. This time I don't mind the silence as Greya sleeps in my arm.

We pull into the driveway right as we hit the three hour mark and Chase springs to life knowing we've arrived.

"Are we here? Can I get out of the car?"

"Yeah, we're here. I'll help you find your way around but after you help me get the bags from the trunk," Liam tells him.

Greya sits up and rubs her eyes then smiles at me again.

"I guess I needed a nap."

"I g...guess you d...did," I smile back.

Chase opens my door for me, "Here's your crutch Lox." He practically shoves it through the door and rushes back to grab his suitcase.

Greya and I both laugh. "Someone's excited."

I've been sitting in the same position for three hours so my left leg has stiffened up. My arm is bent against my ribs, though that's not a surprise as I haven't used my new bionic arm brace yet today.

Greya watches me use my right hand to pick up my leg and push it out of the car. She then gets out on the other side and walks over to me. I'm not wearing my AFO in order to give my foot and ankle a rest during the long ride so it's normal that I'm struggling a bit. I have no control over this leg, my hip movement is the only control I have when it comes to walking.

"What do you need me to do? Do you want your brace on or keep it off?"

I grab onto the top of the door with my right hand and pull myself up to stand on my right leg. My left knee won't straighten enough for me to plant my foot down.

"Keep it o...off. A l...long ride. My l...leg might take a m...minute to c...cooperate," I chuckle at myself because what else is there to do. "Could y...you grab m...my crutch for m..me please?"

She reaches in back of me and slides it out of the car. Gravity has pulled my foot towards the ground but it isn't quite enough. Greya goes to my side and lifts my left arm up around her shoulders and her other hand grips my waist. I'm supposed to be practicing walking around more without the brace anyway and nows a good time to do it. I place my forearm into my crutch and allow Greya to help me walk into the house.

"Hey man, you alright? Need any more help?" Cohen asks as he heads back to the trunk for the rest of the bags.

"I'll b...be fine. Just n...need to stretch," I tell him, while trying not to put so much of my weight onto Greya. My girl is impressively strong enough to pick me up and carry me If I needed her to, though I'll avoid that as much as possible.

At least my foot's not dragging while my leg isn't fully extended. One positive note in this silly looking situation. That and knowing my strong beautiful girlfriend doesn't think twice about helping me and would never let me fall, makes me feel a little better about myself in these moments.

The house is massive like their other home. "You two can have the master suite here on the first level," Mrs. Collin's must've read my thoughts as I was eying the staircase to the second level.

"Thanks Mrs. C," Greya responds first.

"Yes, th...thank y...you."

"Greya! There's a pool and the water is so warm like a giant hot tub! Can I go swimming?"

Chase is running down the stairs towards us. It's a wonder how he doesn't trip or run into anything.

"Yeah, sure as long as someone is with you."

"I've got him," Liam jogs down the stairs behind him already in his swim trunks.

Things used to be simple like that for me. We've barely made it into the house and they've already brought their luggage upstairs and changed their clothes.

"Hey."

I snap out of my thoughts and realize Greya's waiting for me to resume walking towards our bedroom.

"Let's try to stretch out your leg a bit and then we can join everyone in the pool."

"Yeah, s...sorry." I push my left leg forward and put some of my weight onto the ball of my foot since my knee remains slightly bent.

"What are you apologizing for?"

I take a deep breath and then sigh to try and calm myself. My thoughts are everywhere, chaotic, like heavy metal playing in my head. I need to talk more instead of keeping it all in. This is Greya and I'm slowly learning she's not easily scared away by my problems.

"I want t...to be able t...to hop out of th..the car and carry our b...bags, run d...down the st...stairs and j...jump into the pool like th...that. And n...not stutter when I t...talk to you." I sound agitated and angry and instantly regret the tone she hears.

We get into the bedroom and stand next to the edge of the bed. She moves so her body's facing mine, guiding my arm to the back of her neck so I'm still holding onto her. Both her hands rest on my hips to keep me steady. This damn leg. This is what I hate. The fact that without holding my crutch and her holding my hips, I can't stand on two feet and pull her into a hug and kiss her. I can't take off my clothes and throw on my swim trunks without sitting down first and using one arm to do all that. I pity myself because I'm angry this happened to me and now the love of my life has to deal with it too. This is all my father's fault.

"B? Look at me." I do. I can't breathe at the moment but I can look at her.

She gently pushes my hips back so I sit down onto the mattress. She takes the crutch from my hand and leans it against the bed then she climbs up onto my lap, her thighs on either side of mine. Her hand takes my left one and moves my arm to rest on her lower back and I instinctively move my other arm there too. I watch and feel her warm body press against mine as her arms go around my neck and she pulls me flush to her. Her breath fans my neck as she nuzzles into me.

"Can you feel when I'm breathing?"

I nod my face up and down against her shoulder.

"Copy my rhythm."

I try and block everything out and focus on the way her chest rises and falls with each breath. After a few more minutes of silence I've matched her rhythm and start to feel better. I think I was about to have a panic attack and Greya sensed it and squeezes me tight.

"I know you wish you could do all those things. Some days you will be able to do them, just at a different pace. And some days will be harder to do the things you want to do, but you can do them. Either way, it doesn't matter to me how slow or fast you do something or that you need a little extra help when your leg isn't cooperating. You're still my B no matter what. You're not holding me back or keeping me from things I enjoy doing because being with you no matter what the situation, is what I want."

She pulls back slightly so we can see each other and then combs her fingers through my hair. I'm dumbstruck by what she said.

"I know there's more going on in this brilliant mind of yours. You're not normally this aggravated with your limitations so I know there's more."

She's the brilliant one. Her intuition blows my mind.

"I went to see my therapist this morning."

I stare at her, surprised and worried.

"Why? Are...are y...you ok?"

She smiles.

"I haven't been, but I will be. She reminded me that there are a lot of things that are out of my control and to try and focus on the things that I can control. It will work if I'm open with you and I want you to be open with me."

Shit! What does that mean? I didn't realize she wasn't ok.

"Were y...you having s...second thoughts about u...us? Is there s...something I c...can do better to h...help you?"

She smiles again.

"I'll never have second thoughts about us. You're it for me. I needed her professional help because I worry about you all the time. I worry when you're body's having a bad day, I worry about you having another seizure and no one being around, you could get hurt. My therapist says those are all things I can't control and things you don't have control over either."

Hearing this doesn't make me feel good. I feel worse for making her sick with worry for me.

"I'm s...sorry you've been f...feeling this way. Y...you should've told me, I c...could've ..."

"That's the thing Lox, there's nothing you could've done. I worry about you because I love you. I love you so much that I want to take all your pain away and never let anything bad happen to you again."

I can relate to that. Because of how much I love her, I'll do anything to keep her safe from my father and avoid going into hiding again.

"I know it isn't possible for me to cure your pain or stop you from having a seizure or to fix your arm and leg, but there are things I can do, like help you walk from the car or hold you when you need me to, and if you tell me when you're feeling strange I can try and get to you before you have a seizure. Things like that I can control and my therapist wants me to focus on those things. She wants me to be honest with you when I feel anxious about something."

Wow! What can I say that would make things better for her. I hate that she feels this way because of me and at the same time I'm grateful of how much she cares about me. I need to be more honest with her no matter how self conscious my disabilities make me feel.

"I wish I c...could control how m...my body is or when I'll h..have a seizure. I usually try t...to keep how difficult  some d...days are for me from y...you because I don't want y...you to see me as a burden. But, now I know y...you need me to tell y...you. It will help b...both of us, so I'll work on it. I'm s...sorry I worry you. I promise w...we can work it out."

"I know we will. I'm glad I told you, though I don't want you to think my worrying is somehow your fault because it isn't."

"And I d...don't want you to k...keep things from me out of f...fear of hurting my f...feelings. I can t...take it. Your silence in the c...car was killing me," I give her a smile.

"Yours was too, handsome. I know you're stressed about something. You can tell me."

"Kiss m...me first," I reach up and cup her cheek and smile again.

I take my time caressing her soft lips and exploring her tongue with mine. Her hand slips up my shirt and her fingers graze my back, teasing me for just a few seconds before removing her hand and pulling her lips away from mine.

I try and kiss her again but she places her finger on my lips and shakes her head. "Not until you talk to me," she smirks. Sneaky girl.

Well here goes nothing. Maybe telling her will relieve some of the stress or maybe she'll be upset with me and I'll feel worse. Either way, I need to be more open with her.

"I spoke t...to my grandfather on the ph...phone this m...morning."

She blinks a few times like she didn't hear me correctly.

"Wow! Are you ok? That must've brought out many mixed emotions, how did it go?"

Now I'm blinking. I didn't expect that reaction but then again, she always surprises me.

"What?"

"I thought y...you'd be up...upset. Y...you were upset when I m...mentioned maybe talking t...to my father."

"That's different. Your grandfather has been secretly supporting you your whole life. He cares about you even if he's never met you. And I wasn't upset with you, I was scared for you when you wanted to visit your father."

She gets up from my lap and moves to sit beside me, grabbing my hand and holding it in hers.

"Tell me about your phone call."

"It was n...nice. He sounded l...like he was crying wh...when he t...talked about what h...happened to me and he w...wishes there was more h...he could've done. He also s...said my father has stage four cancer and d...doesn't believe he's looking for me or knows who I...I am but can't be sure. I t...told him I want to m...meet him and he said h...he'd love to m...meet me too."

"That's a lot to process. I'm glad you were finally able to speak to each other."

"Yeah, m...me too." I rub my thumb across hers while we hold hands.

"I've b...been having a h...hard time too. Worrying. Ever s...since the letters f...from my mother. I can't stop th...thinking about what m...might happen if my father knows about m...me. What c...could happen to y..you or Liam, Chase, anyone I c...care about. I n...need to know what h...he knows and what h...his intentions are. It's driving m...me crazy not knowing. I'm l...like this because of h...him. I already struggle t...trying to live with these d...disabilities and accepting I'll p...probably have them the rest of my life. But always worrying about what h...he could do to m..me next or to y...you is a worse way to live. I want t...to be free of him so I can m...move on and focus on m...making things better, g...getting stronger, for me, f..for us."

She pulls me into her and gives me a side hug.

"There must be something we can do, we can all help you come up with a plan this week and finally get to the bottom of it. You don't need to figure this out on your own. We're all in this together with you, okay?"

"Yeah, o...okay." It's not okay. Putting the people I love in harms way because of my father is not okay, but I'll try and talk to everyone this week and see if there's a good solution.

"Now lay back onto the bed so we can stretch that leg out and meet everyone in the pool."

I drag myself onto the mattress and lay back while Greya  massages my leg muscles and helps me stretch.

"I l...like this p...plan," I jokingly say.

"We're on vacation this week. So you and I are going to put aside our worries the best we can and enjoy a relaxing week eating lots of food."

"Sounds g...good Love."

Come to think of it, this is my first vacation, ever. We're all together and safe here for now and I'd like to experience what a real vacation is like. My father will have to wait.