Northern Lights

The alarm that TJ had set woke him up at 9:30 the next morning. He looked down to see Ava curled up against his chest, her eyes red and swollen leading TJ to believe she had cried while she slept. Although he had seen her get upset (even if it had only been once before), he had never seen her cry before. Well, maybe once when he walked in on her watching The Notebook, but those were just a few tears rolling down her cheeks that didn't mean much.

TJ lay in bed for about ten minutes before getting up and taking a shower. He decided he wouldn't wake Ava up until he had finished getting ready because he could tell she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep. After both showering, getting dressed, and getting Ava a toasted corn muffin with butter from the hotel's little breakfast buffet he woke up the red-head.

He shook her lightly and brushed her hair from her eyes watching as they fluttered open. She glanced around the room, rubbed her eyes and stretched, her back arching against the bed. TJ smiled softly as she pushed herself into a sitting position and pulled her knees in close to her chest, the sheets twirled around her small body.

"I got you breakfast," he said, pointing to the small table that sat in-between the beds. Ava turned around quickly, spotting the muffin and smiling before turning back to her friend.

"Thanks," she grinned.

"But we do have to leave soon if we wanna make it back to Grand Forks before it gets dark."

"Okay, I'll get and shower and we can leave. Is that alright?"

"That's fine," TJ nodded.

TJ and Ava sat in the hotel bed watching The View as Ava ate her muffin. When she was finished she gathered an outfit from her suitcase and scurried into the bathroom to take a quick shower. As she showered TJ texted Ryan Duncan, a good friend from college. He had set things up so they would be stayed back in NoDak for the night, knowing Ava would need something to get her mind off of the shitty circumstances as to why they were up there in the first place.

Ava reappeared in the main part of the hotel room a bit later wearing a pair of very tight black skinny jeans and floral sweater with a bit of grey on the bottom. Her hair was in its natural messy but still gorgeous form and she just looked adorable.

"I'm ready to leave," she informed TJ.

"Okay," he smiled, getting off of the bed and grabbing both of their suitcases before they exited the hotel room. They checked out and were back on the road in no time. "I have a bit of a surprise for you," TJ admitted a little into their drive. Ava turned to look at him, a small smile on her lips.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Where do you think we're staying tonight?"

"Another hotel?" She inquired, unsure as to where TJ was going with this.

"I hope you don't mind sleeping on a couch. Although, I'm sure Duncs will give up his bed for you," he said. Ava furrowed her eyebrows, confused as to what he was saying. "We're staying at NoDak tonight," he grinned. Ava's smiled widened considerably at this statement.

"Are you serious?" She beamed.

"Yeah, I texted a few of the guys when I found out we would be coming up here and they said we could stay with them for the night," he explained.

"Oh my gosh," she said, glancing out the window. "I'm so excited to see everyone."

"Same here," TJ nodded.

For the most part, the rest of their four hour trip to Grand Forks was silent, just as the trip to their hotel room the night before was. The closer the pair got to North Dakota the more Ava's nerves kicked in. She had no idea how to react upon seeing her father. She didn't know much about his condition besides the fact that he only had a short time to live. From what her mother had told her he was suffering from cancer of the colon, which she had heard was a nasty disease. She had heard horror stories of people losing drastic amounts of weight and looking absolutely horrible in their last few months of being alive.

"It's Altru Hospital, right?" TJ asked, jolting Ava out of her thoughts. It was then she realized she was back in her hometown, noticing all the familiar landmarks surrounding them.

"Uh, yeah," she nodded spacily.

The next thing Ava knew she was standing in front of a receptionist in Altru, completely zoning out. She couldn't find the right words to string a sentence together; she was utterly speechless.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked, looking back and forth between Ava and TJ.

"I uh, uhm. I- well I, uh," Ava stuttered.

Surprised as Ava's lack of composure TJ took this as a cue to jump in and prevent her stumbling across her words any further. "We're looking for Martin Lawler's room," he told the woman who looked down at the book in front of her.

"He's in the ICU, room 378," she told them. "Here are your visitor passes," she said handing both Ava and TJ a slip of paper. TJ thanked the woman and led Ava to the elevator, hoping she would get a grip before facing her parents. TJ had never met them and was nervous himself; he wouldn't know to deal with them if Ava couldn't function properly.

"Are you okay?" TJ asked, wrapping his strong arm around Ava's shoulders and pulling her close to his side.

"I don't think I can do this," Ava said, her voice quivered and her voice was small. TJ frowned, not knowing what he could do to make her feel better.

"Yes you can," he told her confidently, though he had other thoughts about how things would pan out.

"TJ," she said slowly, craning her neck so she could look up at the boy with the fading blonde hair. "I haven't seen my parents in almost four years," she explained. "And now my father's dying. What am I supposed to do?" She asked frantically.

"Be the strong person I know you are," he tried telling her, rubbing her arm softly.

"I'm not as strong as you think I am," she shook her head. "I'm just better at hiding things."

To this, TJ wasn't sure what to say. He always thought of Ava as one of the strongest people he knew and to now hear her rebut his thoughts startled him. The elevator dinged and stopped at the third floor, opening its doors to a nurse waiting with a patient in a wheelchair. TJ ushered Ava out of the elevator and onto the floor; they were standing right in front of the ICU.

"I know this isn't the easiest thing in the world to do, and I know you don't want to do it either, but you have to. And I'll be there for you; I won't leave unless you want me to. You can do this Ava," he told her, brushing her bangs out of her eyes and tucking them behind her ear. Ava smiled weakly and nodded meekly, indicating she was as ready as she'd ever be to face her now dying father.

Walking into room 378 was like a slap in the face to Ava. The room was silent save for the beeping machines and her father looked decrepit as he lay in the hospital bed. He was a shell of what he used to be. This was the same man that once broke her wrist, he didn't even look like he could kill a fly in the state me was currently in.

Ava's mother sat in the chair next to his bed, flipping through a magazine and only looking up when TJ's shoe squeaked against the tile floor.

"Ava," the woman said, surprise lacing her words. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Yeah," was Ava's response. Her mom quickly walked over to her only daughter and stood in front of her, reaching out to touch her arm like to confirm that she was real.

"I haven't seen you in ages," she said.

"I know," Ava responded flatly. TJ nudged the girl, earning her attention. He motioned with his head towards the man lying in the hospital bed and Ava turned back around to look at him.

"Who's this?" Mrs. Lawler asked.

"This is TJ," Ava said.

"Hello," she nodded towards the tall boy standing behind her daughter. Mrs. Lawler was a small woman, much like Ava. Her red hair that matched the color of her daughter's was pinned up behind her head, pulled back into a tight bun. She was wearing black rimmed glasses that were perched on her nose and she wore an old plain black sweatshirt. TJ concluded she probably looked a lot like Ava when she was younger, but now her age seemed to be catching up with her.

"Hi," TJ smiled.

Ava was gradually wandering over to where her father lay completely motionless. She watched him carefully, like even staring at him too hard would hurt him.

"He's going quickly Ava," her mother said calmly, placing her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"I'm sorry dad," she whispered. "Sorry you weren't a better father, and sorry that we didn't have a better relationship."

"Ava!" Mrs. Lawler scolded her.

"What?"

"How could you say that at a time like this?"

"Say what? The truth?" She snapped, her voice rising slightly. "He beat the shit out of us every day, mom. I can't even remember if he ever even told me he loved me. He was never there for us."

'He's still your father!"

"And I feel horrible that he's dying. It's awful that he has cancer, but he was never a father to me," she stated boldly.

TJ watched intently from the doorway, feeling his heart ache as he watched Ava struggle with her words as well as her emotions. She was trying so hard to tell the truth without trying to sound heartless, something TJ knew she had been struggling with ever since she got the news.

"Bye dad," she said, placing her hand on the older man's chest briefly before turning and walking towards the door. TJ was surprised that she wanted to leave already, but he didn't object to her wishes. He understood that she was going through more than she could handle and she just needed to leave.

"It was nice meeting you," TJ smiled briefly at Mrs. Lawler before he followed Ava to the elevator. He caught up to her just as she was walking into the moving metal box. Grabbing her small hand in his large one he smiled down at Ava, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You did good."

And even though Ava had just gone through the worst roller coaster of emotions she had ever experienced, she felt safe there holding hands with TJ in that elevator.