Darling, I Just Can't Go On

A few streets away from where his daughter was curled in bed with the Gakarth boy listening to the radio, Andrew Tollson was back at home sitting in his office as he palmed his tired face.

The sound of the phone ringing startled him away from his worried thoughts about his daughter and her condition. He knew nothing about if she was still harming herself or if she had stopped or why the brown haired boy named Alex had befriended her.

"Hello?" He spoke into the receiver, leaning back in his chair as he propped his bare feet up on the desk in a way to try and relax, even just a bit.

"Good evening Mr.. Tollson," Dr. Agarwal answered back making a small amount of the weight on his shoulders lift.

"It's good to hear from you," He replied. "How did the session go with the boy?"

"Well once more Andi replied very little and made no attempt at conversation with me. I spoke mostly with Mr.. Gaskarth during our time, but one thing was made very clear to me."

"And what would that be?" Andrew asked before she could continue on.

"It was made clear that Andi and Alex have a very close bond over something, it would have been a big and emotional event that brought the two together in such a short period of being friends. It was mentioned that they had never talked before this school year, and yet they acted as if they were the closest of friends."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, when I brought up the subject of what had brought them close to one another, your daughter seemed distressed and Alex instantly comforted her by holding her hand. Upon noticing that she wasn't comfortable with the conversation he too stopped replying."

"Do you think it had anything to do with her cutting herself?" Andrew questioned as his feet dropped back to the ground, any notion of relaxing having dropped about half way through the conversation.

"I honestly believe that it does. You've said before that you saw Alex touching the area where her cuts were in an intimate way." Agarwal pointed out making him nod, more to himself than as a response.

"When he was over the day after Halloween and also on Christmas Eve when we went to a party her...friend Jack's family threw. Both times I noticed that he made a point to touch her hip." He sighed, a hand running through his short brown hair. "But what do you think that means?"

"I truthfully think that it would be a very bad idea to try and separate the two of them. In all of the time that Andi has been coming to see me, never once have I seen her truly smile the way that she did when her and Alex were together in the waiting room before they saw that I had walked in. She seemed genuinely happy and she wasn't trying to hide it.

"Also, the times when I bring up Alex, she always tries to hide her smile."

"So basically, you think I should let them continue doing what they have been?" Andrew tried to clarify, the thought of the boy who he saw as nothing but loud bringing his only daughter such glee made his stomach turn uncomfortably.

"Yes, it would be very hard on Andi to try and separate them in any way."

"Thank you Dr. Agarwal," Andrew sighed. "This has been enlightening."

"I'm glad to have helped." She replied and the conversation was over.

Hanging up the phone a large sigh left the tired man. He knew that he had been skeptical of his daughter being friends with such an odd group, so unlike her, but if Agarwal thought that it was doing her more good than harm, he should try and accept it.

He had never seen the signs that Andi had been harming herself. She seemed happy enough when he did actually see her, and he had no real reason to believe that she was depressed. He only saw her as being strong after Bethany had left.

Of course she was going to change after such a drastic event, and yes she did become more quiet after that weekend when she had discovered her mother gone, but Andrew had simply thought that it was her maturing.

But he had been wrong and now he was paying the price for being so naive. He had paid the price of the only thing left of the love of his life wanting to hurt herself for reasons he could only guess.

Reasons that only Alex and Andi herself knew.

Only a mile away from the worn out father, Andi and Alex were both slowly drifting to sleep as Isobel and Peter peaked through the cracked door at the pair who had woven together as they talked of anything and everything that came to their minds.

Cooing softly Isobel closed the door silently, turning and sending a smile to her husband.

"He seems so happy with her," She sighed happily as they moved back down into the kitchen, where they had originally been before it quieted down and they went to investigate the lack of noise from their son's room.

"I've seen a big change in him these past months and it all has to do with that girl," Peter said after nodding to agree with his wife. "I like her; she had such a kind soul."

"She's doing him a world of good and I'm just glad that he found someone who can make him this happy."

A moment passed between the two, each of them thinking about pair of teenagers asleep upstairs, before Isobel spoke a thought that had suddenly come to mind.

"I wonder what her father thinks of all of this."

"I talked with him and Bassam at the Christmas party, but he didn't have that much to say." Peter said giving a small shrug of the shoulders.

"I never did get a chance to actually meet him." Isobel sighed. "Maybe we should invite him and Andi over one night to have dinner since her and Alex have gotten so close recently. It'll be a great way to get to know him."

"We might want to ask Alex what he thinks about it," Peter commented. "He's met the man more than either of us."

~~

"Alex," I muttered softly as I was pulled away from the light sleep that I had managed to slip into.

Blinking the sleep out of my eyes I noticed that he was fast asleep beside me, his arms still wrapped tightly around my waist in the same way they had been when we fell asleep. I looked over at the clock on his bedside table I saw that it was just past midnight and I groaned mentally before settling back into my spot.

Leaning my forehead against the side of Alex's neck I placed a small kiss against his collar bone as I closed my eyes.

He stirred only slightly, tightening his arms around me and pulling me closer to him, but did not wake up.

With a smile on my face I tried to fall back asleep, knowing that I wouldn't be moving from the spot I was in until Alex decided to wake up.