Saving Grace

Aubrey's cell phone went off the night morning bright and early. She groaned hearing the loud sonunds of CKY in her ear. She tried to move to turn it off, but couldn't. She opened her eyes and looked down to see colorful tattooed arms wrapped around her. She giggled softly, and then allowed the music to continue. Brian groaned, and eventually moved so she could stop the annoying sounds. From there, she decided to go ahead and phone into Steve.

She didn't stay on the phone with him long at all. He told her Sydney had called in as well for some reason, Aubrey didn't know why. She didn't even give him an excuse. She didn't think it was necessary. This had been the first day she called in after working with him for over a year. Once that was taking care of, she tossed the phone back on Brian's night stand, and snuggled close to him yet again.

"You get up. . . way too early." He groaned.

"I work."

"I work too." He mumbled.

She didn't say anything. She just smiled as she shoved her face into his side, and closed her eyes. It would be nice to sleep in. She tried to fall back asleep, but before long another phone began going off. Brian grumbled, as he reach over and picked up his phone. He raised up off the bed.

"It's Matt," He said flipping it open. He looked back at her confused, "Sydney?" He sounded worried, "What happened?" He covered in his mouth. "Shit that's fucked up."

"What's going on?" Bre whispered.

"Hold on." He looked at her frowning. "Do you want us to come?" He sighed, shaking his head. "Yeah, we'll be there soon."

By this time Aubrey had raised up on the bed with fear and shock stretched across her face, "What's going on?"

"Matt clearly had too much to drink, Syd's been with him at the hospital all night." Brian explained.

"Is he okay?"

"I'm not sure." Brian admitted honestly, "We need to go to the hospital."

Aubrey nodded her head, and the two of them left Brian's house quickly and began heading towards the hospital. Aubrey could tell Brian was very worried about his friend. He didn't say a word on the entire ride to the hospital. She was scared as well. She didn't want anything bad happening to Matt. She had grown to care about him as a friend.

As she walked inside the hospital room where Matt was staying, she wanted to gasp out. She hated seeing him there hooked to all those machines. That was not the place he should be. She hugged her friend, knowing Sydney must have been through hell during the night.

She could tell by the way both Matt and Sydney were looking at her that they knew she and Brian had made it official. They had walked in holding hands, so it's not like they could deny it. Aubrey watched as Brian talked to Matt briefly. She could tell her new boyfriend was having a difficult time seeing his friend like this. It was hard for anyone to see their friend like this.

They spent a little while longer at the hospital making sure Matt was okay. They offered to stay even longer, and allow Sydney to go home and rest, but Sydney refused.

Brian and Aubrey soon left the hospital, giving plenty of time for others to visit. They headed back to his place, even though both of them were sort of shook up from what happened. Brian planned on trying to make the most of his day with Aubrey. As soon as he walked through the door, his phone was ringing. He groaned as he rushed to pick it up.

As Aubrey entered the room where he was on the phone, she heard him having a conversation.

"Dad--- I have my girlfriend over today."

"No, not Michelle, I told you I got rid of her ass."

"Her name is Aubrey. . . What, No! You can't come over right now."

"No, she's not naked, I just. . ."

"Sure. . Whatever." Brian mumbled hanging up the phone.

He turned around and sighed loudly and annoyed as he looked at Aubrey. She burrowed her brows together as she looked towards him.

"What?" She asked.

"Papa Gates is coming by. . . in like ten minutes."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah, he wants to meet you."

"Oh okay." She said, not even flinching.

Brian watched as she ran her fingers through her hair to straighten out some of the tangles. She then rubbed her hands under her eyes to remove some of the eyeliner which may have smeared during sleep. She didn't even worry about her looks when they rushed off to the hospital, neither of them did. Since she had slept in the clothes she wore yesterday, she really didn't need to worry about changing clothes. He couldn't believe she wasn't freaking out about meeting someone. He'd never been with a girl who could just rush off in whatever condition she was in.

By the time they walked down into the living room, the door bell rang. Brian walked over and answered it. He spoke briefly to the man before allowing him into the home. Aubrey greeted him with a smile, and the first thing she noticed was he shared the same brown eyes as his son.

"Wow, Syn." His dad said, observing the new girl.

Aubrey smiled, and introduced herself to his father, and stuck out her hand. He seemed to be blown away by her introduction. Aubrey noticed he gave Brian a weird look as they all sat down on the couch. His dad drilled her about some things, and she answered each question honestly.

"So, you two met on the photo shoot?"

"Yeah, I was a dick head to her though." Brian laughed.

"Oh, wait! She's the girl that saved your ass, right?"

Aubrey found out where Brian got his crazy personality from. He was much like his father.

"Get this. She's more of a fan of you, than she is me." Brian stated.

"Is that so?" His father smirked.

Aubrey laughed, "I saw one of your shows with Jeff Dunham. You were extremely funny."

"Thank you very much." His dad stated, "You see Syn, when you get my age, and of course this good, you may have fans that look like her." He stated.

Brian laughed and was thankful Aubrey got along with is father so well. His father didn't stay very long. He just stayed long enough to see that Brian had finally got a woman worth bringing home. He left them so they could spend the remainder of their day together.

"I need to go home and get a shower." She said, stretching her arms above her head.

"Yeah, you stink."

"Oh geez, thanks."

He chuckled, and walked over to where she was now standing, and pulled her into a hug. She didn't smell bad at all. He thought she smelled absolutely delicious.

"What's on the agenda for today?" He asked.

"Well, I have to pick up Chance from school at three."

"I can go with you to do that."

"And cause a riot."

"That's what I do." He smirked.

She rolled her eyes playfully, "Mal's working night shift tonight, so I need to stay at home." She frowned.

"That's fine. I'll come over. We should probably tell Chance the big news." He winked.

"Oh no. Do not tell that loud mouth anything! He already told his little friends you were teaching him stuff on the guitar. The last thing I need. . ." He silenced her with a kiss.

When he pulled away he laughed, "You know sooner or later, people are going to figure out we're dating. Right?"

"People already assume, isn't that bad enough?"

He frowned, "You don't want people to know?"

"I just don't want the attention."

He sighed, "You know, you're going to get some attention because of it. No matter if you want it or not. Some might be negative, while some might be positive. Can you deal with it?"

"I guess I can." She said, leaning up and pressing her mouth again his.

The truth was, she didn't know if she could deal with attention or not. But she was willing to do anything to be with Brian, even if that meant getting attention that she didn't want.