The most incredible night of Ada's life was short lived. She'd gone to sleep, naked in his arms, imagining as he had all the different ways they'd wake up together. They'd have morning sex in the bed or in the shower. She would slide on one of his shirts like women often did in the movies, her hair looking flawless despite not doing a thing with it. She imagined having coffee with him outside on the porch before it became too warm that the bugs began coming out. Breakfast would make itself and he'd feed her some fruit they never bought.

Reality mixed with fantasy in a delicious dream.

But none of it ended up being reality. Instead, she was shaken awake and even through squinted eyes, she could tell the sun hadn't come up yet. Her body felt like it'd only been asleep for a few hours at most.

"Ada, you gotta wake up."

Despite the overwhelming desire to keep sleeping, Ada's green eyes opened to look up at Tom. A light was on in the hallway, allowing enough visibility to see how pale Tom appeared. He was only wearing boxers, but that was still more than what he'd been wearing when they fell asleep. When she looked downward, Ada noticed the phone in his over-clenched fist.

"What time is it?" Ada asked as she sat up before running her fingers through the hair that did not feel as flawless as in her dream.

"About four in the morning." Tom's voice came out shaky as he looked down at the phone in his hand. "There's-"

When Tom failed to push the words out, Ada's body and mind woke up. "What the hell happened?"

A heavy breath escaped his lips before his hand reached out to turn on the light on the bedside table. "Your dad called my cell. There's been an accident."

Everyone she loved flashed through her brain in her most perfect memory of them and a panic rushed through her brain, not knowing which memory to concentrate on.

"Britt was driving home from a graduation party and she was drunk and... I don't know all the details, but your mom and dad are at the hospital right now with her mom."

Ada's most perfect memory of Britt came when they were about twelve and a boy had been making fun of her at lunch for being so fat. It was right around the time where the opposite sex was more desirable and people were dating for a few days before breaking up and moving to the next person. People rarely went on actual dates, just said they were dating and held hands between classes.

Britt, being the most sought after girl in their class, went over to him flirtatiously, then smashed his face in his food. She was Ada's hero that day.

"Ada, did you hear me?"

She shook her head, causing the memory to shatter into a million pieces and scatter into the air above her. When the pieces fell, she felt the sharp edges of them stab at her skin.

"Ada?"

She wasn't sure how long she'd been in a daze for, but by the time she came to, there were clothes on her lap and Tom was fully dressed.

This didn't make sense.

Britt never drove drunk.

Because Ada was always the one who cut herself off early to drive them home. And Ada was here, and Britt was-. "Tell me she's okay." It wasn't a question, but a demand for reassurance.

A reassurance, by the look on Tom's face as he paused from shoving their things back in their shopping bags, that he couldn't give. "She's in surgery right now. That's all your dad would tell me over the phone. Please, Ada, get dressed."

******************

The drive was quiet. Tom kept the radio on low, not appearing at all tired as he drove. It was still dark out and in the early morning hours, they rarely passed a car and had the lane to themselves.

With each mile they drove, the panic in Ada built.

Britt had been in her life since before kindergarten. Their mother's had been close once, almost like sisters. Despite their mothers' friendship fading over the years, Britt and Ada had remained close for most of their lives. It wasn't until high school that, like their parents, they seemed to drift apart, remaining in each other's lives but not in the way it'd been before.

But they found their way back to each other and now felt more bonded than ever.

Ada should have known. Like a mother who instinctively knows when her child was hurt, Ada should have woken up from a dead sleep and known something was wrong with Britt. Maybe it was stupid to put that sort of assumption on herself, but there was no stupidity in the other.

That if she'd been home and gone to the party with Britt, Ada would have been the one driving if she was sober by then. If she wasn't sober, she would have called her dad to pick them up as she'd done in the past.

"You can't blame yourself, Ada." Tom's voice cut through the quiet, soft yet firm.

Before Ada could respond, not that she had much of a response, Tom's phone lit up and began to make noise from the cup holder between them. She could see her father's name on the screen, calling Tom despite her phone being turned back on and on the charger next to Tom's.

Rather than answering through Bluetooth, Tom glanced at Ada before picking up the phone and answering.

"Tell me something."

Ada's body straightened, having no clue how her dad responded on the other end. Her breaths came faster, though she felt like she was barely taking in any air at all. She clasped and unclasped her hands, pinching her fists as tightly as she could in the hopes that the tremors would calm even just a little. Ada hadn't realized how badly she was shaking until she looked down at hands in her lap.

"We're about forty minutes out yet."

Ada looked at the GPS that had the hospital address in it confirming the time, then looked out the window, noticing the sun was just now beginning to rise. The last time she'd paid attention, it was still complete darkness, minus the street lights along the empty highway. Though time felt like it was moving too slowly, daylight managed to creep up on her without her realizing.

Tom let out a small sigh before moving the cell phone from his right hand to his left. "Okay. Call me if you hear anything else."

He ended the call, then dropped the phone to his lap. "She's about halfway through surgery," Tom spoke after about thirty seconds of silence.

"How bad is it?" Ada asked, having no idea if she was ready for the answer.

Tom wasn't looking at her. That's all Ada could see right then. Not the passing street lights. Not the empty highway. Not the light coming from the radio. Not the sun rising on the horizon. All she could see was his gaze move from the road in front of him to the side, away from her.

"I think we should wait until-"

"Say it," Ada demanded. Maybe she wasn't ready for the answer, but she needed to hear it all the same.

Finally Tom looked at her, and it was then she almost wished he hadn't. His expression was empty, showing no signs of hope or relief. His gray eyes that were on fire for her the night before now appeared dull, almost vacant. "It's a spinal cord injury." His voice was shaky, barely seeming to get out the words that caused Ada's world to crash down on her once again. "It was lower in the lumbar area, which I guess is better than the alternative, but... They don't know if it will be complete or incomplete."

Ada had no idea what the hell that meant. While she may have been a good student, science was not her strongest subject and medicine wasn't exactly a subject available. Whatever he was talking about was something she couldn't comprehend. "I'm not a fucking doctor, Tom, so how about you complete that incomplete sentence for me?"

Tom pushed out a breath and his hands appeared to tighten on the wheel. "They don't know if she'll have any function from the waist down or not."

Whether she would be completely paralyzed or only mostly paralyzed. That's what he meant. Ada tried her best to control her breathing, trying to gain some measure of control where there was none to be had. But dizziness was taking over her and her stomach felt like it was falling down a steep cliff. "Pull over."

"What?"

She didn't know if he hadn't heard her or didn't understand why, so Ada repeated herself. "Pull over!"

Ada's eyes were closed now, but she could feel the speed of the vehicle slow, further churning her stomach. As soon as she felt it stop, she opened the car door and practically fell out as dinner from the night before built up in her throat. She'd barely gotten herself upright before she coughed and choked out the contents of her stomach. Tears from her eyes fell and mixed with the sweat glistening her skin as she sunk to her knees, the gravel cutting into her skin.

A warm hand moved her hair to the side, not seeming to care that the strand was already covered in her vomit. Ada lurched forward one more time as the last of it escaped her. Her stomach contracted again, but nothing more came out. She spat a few times, trying to relieve her mouth of the acidic taste. Ada attempted to take in a long breath to calm her nerves, but it only burned her sensitive throat.

There was no sleeve on her tee shirt to wipe away the drool and whatever the hell else that was that dangled like a string out of her mouth or the snot dripping onto her bottom lip. As if he were a mind reader, she watched as Tom wiped off her face with wadded up black fabric. She turned to look at him, noticing then that it was his shirt and Tom was standing there in the early morning cold bare chested.

"I'm sorry," Ada spoke, the snot making its way into her throat. She wasn't sure what she was apologizing for exactly; her tone she used in the car or messing up his shirt.

He smiled at her calmly, tossing his vomit and snot covered shirt on the ground. Tom stood upright and extended his hand to her, then lifted her limp body from the gravel.

Ada walked more slowly back to the vehicle than he did, and watched as Tom reached into the vehicle and popped the trunk, then went around to the back to retrieve a new shirt. After he slid it on, he shuffled through all their belongings, pulling out a bottle of water just as Ada approached him.

She sloshed the liquid around in her mouth and spit it on the ground before swallowing one small sip at a time, trying not to upset her stomach further.

"You will get through this, Ada, and so will she."

For the first time since she'd known him, his words of encouragement brought her no comfort. Unlike her mother's news, this hit her like a freight train with her incapable of moving out of the way of impact.

"I'm not strong enough," Ada admitted with a shake of her head.

"Then you'll borrow mine," Tom replied, as if that were an option. "I'm here for you, Ada. All the way."

And that she knew was true. He'd been there for her through every crisis and every breakdown for the last four years and would be by her side through this. If he was able to give her more strength, she'd need every ounce of it.