"I don't know if I can do this," Ada said in a trembling voice as soon as they stepped off the elevator. "I don't know if I can look at her mom and not break."

It took them longer than Tom had planned to get there. Though he'd driven in this city plenty of times, the most recent going furniture shopping with Ada, he'd never gone to the hospital there before and the GPS seized to be helpful after all the construction they'd completed the year before around the area. After finding the place, finding a parking spot was the next challenge and took another twenty minutes all by itself.

Ada remained quiet, almost catatonic, for the rest of the drive, not seeming to notice all the times they'd gotten lost along the way.

This was the first time she'd spoken since they'd gotten out of the vehicle, maybe even since they'd pulled over on the side of the road.

There was nothing Tom could say or do to bring Ada any real comfort, and it killed him. As he'd told her once in the cafe, right before he admitted his feelings to her the first time, being a man and not being able to help the one he loved made him feel fucking useless. Like what she was going through with her mother and the uncertainty of her own fate, all he could do was give her space when she needed it and hold her when she needed comfort.

So that's what Tom did. He pulled her against his chest and held her. His fingers drawing invisible lines up and down her back with the most gentle touch he could muster. When her words repeated in his head, it brought him back to another memory. "So break. You don't have to be strong, Ada. You can fall to pieces and I'll be right there to remind you it's okay for that to happen."

Ada snorted against his chest and he couldn't tell if it was an amused one or if snot had just filled her nose from crying so much. Even as a hot mess, she was still beautiful, maybe even more so. As much as it broke his heart to know that hers was breaking, she also seemed more... he wasn't sure. Real, maybe? Vulnerable? He wasn't sure what the word for it was, but her lack of perfection and her not feeling like she needed to be strong around him at all times tugged at his breaking heart.

She was honest, raw and imperfectly perfect for him. And while Tom could not fix the problems she was facing, he was proud to be the man to help her pick up the pieces when she fell apart.

Tom separated their bodies and placed his hands on her shoulders, giving just enough space between them so she could look into his eyes through the tears in her own. "If you need to cry, do it. If you need to scream, go for it. But you will get through this, Ada, and so will Brittney."

It would take Brittney much longer than Ada to deal with all of this once she woke up after surgery. She wouldn't be there tomorrow to receive her diploma. Even with a wheel chair, she wouldn't be ready to go to college in the fall, if she went at all. Unlike Ada, who made the choice to change the plans she had for her future, Brittney didn't have a choice. Everything just changed for her in a blink of an eye, and she would likely feel resentment for that for a long time.

That age old saying of 'life is what happens when you're busy making other plans' took its meaning to a whole new level today.

Tom saw from the corner of his eye Jeff's gigantic frame walking toward them. He didn't bother to let Ada go as this wasn't a romantic embrace, not that he felt Jeff's rules applied at a time like this. Or applied at all, it seemed, as proof of last night.

When Ada's eyes followed where his own were focusing on, her left hand came up and collected his from her shoulder. Rather than drop it, however, she linked their fingers together and met his gaze. "Don't let go."

A small, tired smile tugged at the corner of Tom's lips. He didn't have energy for much else. After a moment of silence between the two of them, Tom shook his head. "I won't. Not until you ask me to." Seeing as Brittney's mom knew damn well who he was, he didn't how they would handle things once they got closer to the waiting room. He supposed he'd just have to follow her lead once the time came.

Jeff looked down at his daughter as he stood in front of her and looked like a giant next to her much smaller frame. Still, it surprised Tom how Jeff did not appear as large as he normally did. Like Ada, he looked vulnerable, like he would break out in tears at any moment. Or maybe it wasn't so surprising. Brittney was like a daughter to him for years.

When they walked, Jeff didn't walk beside Ada like Tom expected, but next to him. "She looks like she's gonna to be sick," Jeff muttered.

"She already was on the way here," Tom informed him. "Had to pull over so she didn't puke in the car." As they neared the waiting room at the end of the hall, Tom knew he had to ask, "Does her mom know about me-."

"I told Sarah that I asked you to bring Ada to the hospital 'cause I didn't want her driving herself." Jeff glanced over at Tom just before they reached the entrance of the waiting room. "I reckon that's about as much truth as she needs, but you're gunna wanna let go of her hand unless you want her to know the rest of it."

They were so damn close to the end game, so close to graduation that it would be stupid to fuck it all up now, despite Tom never wanting to let her go. But as his eyes looked at their entangled fingers before rising to meet her gaze, he knew there was no choice. And by the look on Ada's face, she knew it too.

"Like I said before, you're going to have to ask me," Tom whispered. Even though it could lead to jail time if Brittney's mother turned him in, he wouldn't let her hand go if she still needed him.

"You can let go."

Tom nodded and allowed his eyes to fall back to their hands before he forced himself to separate. He mouthed 'I love you', though he didn't dare say it out loud in front of Jeff. He was sure Jeff knew. Hell, he'd even brought it up when he came over to kick Tom's ass. But he knew well enough to know that her parents needed more easing into their relationship, and he had to respect that. They'd more than earned that by not killing him.

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

Brittney's mother, Sarah, barely noticed Tom's presence, or anyone else's. After sobbing in Ada's arms for a few minutes, the tears dried. Once they did, Sarah seemed to drift off into her own world, one he hoped was better than the real one.

Tom did the only thing he could do during that time. He grabbed coffee from the coffee shop on the first floor. Once he delivered it, he went back down to the same floor to the gift shop to get Ada a toothbrush and toothpaste. She excused herself to go to the bathroom to freshen up and based on her bloodshot eyes when she returned a good forty minutes later, he figured she'd either gotten sick again or had another breakdown.

"I'm so damn tired," she muttered under her breath as she plopped herself next to him on one of the many waiting room sofas.

"I could get us a hotel room." Tom felt Jeff's eyes on him. "For everyone," he clarified.

He shouldn't have been spending money when he only had a job for another week, but everyone looked like they needed to rest. "We can leave in the morning and be back for graduation."

Tom hoped to God that Sarah didn't overhear any of it and looked over at her to check, but she was still in her alternate world. He didn't care about the hotel room part, though he should have, but the mention of graduation.

Because she would not be watching her daughter walk onto the stage to receive her diploma, and there was the chance she'd never see her walk again.

"I don't want to leave," Ada said as she wiped at her pale face. "At least not until she's out of surgery."

Tom nodded at Ada before risking a glance over in Jeff's direction.

"A hotel room wouldn't be a bad idea, I reckon," Jeff agreed before lowering his voice for the next part. "Truth is I can barely keep my eyes open as it is, and ain't none of us should be drivin' like that."

When they checked Brittney's alcohol levels, it'd turned out she had very little in her system. Jeff told him that that Rayna had been in the vehicle with her and Rayna admitted to them having been in an argument. Tom wasn't sure what the hell Rayna was doing in that car, or why she came out on the other end with only a broken arm while Brittney had life altering injuries, but he'd fill Ada in on all of that once the time came. For some unknown reason, he felt an ounce of relief that Brittney hadn't gotten shit faced and drove. That relief, however, drained from him when he realized that they were likely arguing about Rayna's treatment of Ada.

Ada did not need to feel responsible for this, but he didn't doubt for a second that she would.

It was another few hours before they came into the waiting room of the hospital to let Brittney's mother know that the surgery was complete, spouting out various medical terms that Tom was too tired to comprehend.

He knew a bit about medicine. His mother was had been a trauma surgeon until her recent retirement and Tom himself had entertained following in her footsteps before deciding on a different path that was all his own.

But he'd only slept a few hours before being forced out of bed by his phone, going off in the wee hours of the morning, then having to drive two-and-a-half hours. He was dead on his feet and his mind had checked out hours ago. Truth was, he barely heard a damn word that was being said.

It wasn't that he didn't understand medical terms. He was just too fucking tired to understand words in general.

Once the doctor's walked away, Sarah turned to face their group, her eyes focusing on Rebecca. "You should go. Get some sleep. I'll call once I find out more."

Rebecca approached her and took her hand in her own. "We'll be in town until the morning. If you need anything, you call us, okay? Anything at all."

Sarah looked down before nodding, looking halfway to dead by her pale complexion and bloodshot eyes. How the woman could even stand upright at this point impressed Tom. He'd nearly passed the fuck out after Ada revealed her news to him a month prior, and that situation was far less chaotic than this.

Either the woman had super powers or, like Ada, she hadn't yet fully comprehended or accepted what was happening.

The group all looked at one another before Rebecca released Sarah from her grasp and followed them out of the generic room filled with beige and uncomfortable seating that put his original apartment couch to shame.

"I guess they did what they could," Jeff said once they all entered the chaotic hallway. "The rest is up to God and Brittney."

"Do you believe in him?" Tom asked, having no comprehension of why he felt compelled to do so. "In God?"

Jeff wiped his hands across his face before rubbing his eyes. "I was raised to. Back where I'm from, you're expected to go to church every Sunday, say your blessins' and prayers and thank God for all the good you got in your life. I've had me some relapses of faith over the years, but I reckon that it's better to believe in somethin' than to lose hope."

Tom shook his head. "Even with everything you're going through?"

"I don't look at the pain I suffered in my life or the pain I will suffer," Jeff said. "I have a beautiful woman in my life who's blessed me with three of my greatest joys. I do what I love for a living, then go home to the people I love. You focus on the bad in life, Tom, and you stop enjoying the good."

Jeff's words cut through him all the way to his very core, reminding him of his lesson of respect the other day. It was something so obvious and so easy to learn, but also so easy to forget during the bad times. All those nights where he laid in his bed, breaking down about Ada's future, were lost. He could have been thinking about the good and rested peacefully. He could have thought about her smile and warmth and tenacity and gone to sleep with a smile on his face.

Instead he'd been torturing himself the last month, falling into randomly placed despair as he questioned how long he had with her rather than placing his focus on the fact that any time he had with her, no matter how long or short, was a gift.