Two Pieces of a Broken Heart

When I got to the hospital I realized two things, I had no idea what Aspen's last name was. Had Lo given Aspen her last name or mine? And could I even see her? I know I am her dad, but did her birth certificate state that? I didn't want to look like an idiot and to go to the nurse's station and ask for my daughter and say I have no idea what her last name is.

After about ten minutes of wondering around aimlessly I ran into Lo's sister-in-law, Savannah. She ran over to me immediately and hugged me tightly. "Thank god you're finally here." She cried.

I didn't know what to do. I'm not very good with crying women. "How is Aspen?" I asked after I hugged her.

Savannah stepped back and wiped her nose with a tissue that is in her hand. "Right now not so well." She shook her head. "But the doctors are hopeful that with the transfusion and operation that she will be fine. I just pray that you are a match."

Tears welled up in my eyes, my little girl could possibly die before I ever get to know her. I want to hate Lo right now for lying to me for all these years but I can't because she is too in this hospital hurt. And even if she weren't, I don't think I am capable of ever hating her, I am still irrevocably in love with Lo and I always will be. Before I could ask Savannah what room Aspen was in, I heard a familiar voice yell "daddy!" I spun around and saw Faith running to me. "I knew you would come. Uncle Liam said you wouldn't but I knew!" She squealed as she jumped into my arms. I may not have been in contact with Lo, but whenever I was in town she would have Zack or someone bring Faith to me. She got really attached to me in the short period I was with Lo. I would do anything for this little girl.

I picked her up and hugged her tightly. "Of course I would be here." I told her.

"I told Uncle Liam that you would cause you is Aspen's daddy." Faith told me. I was taken back by her words. She knew I was Aspen's dad? Did everyone but me know this?

"Was I the only one kept in the dark." I asked Savannah. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it back.

"Lo didn't want you to know." I heard Liam's voice from behind me. I turned around and looked at him confused.

"Why?"

Liam shrugged, "that's something you'll have to ask her when she wakes up. She refused to talk about it. Zack and Rae are the only ones who know the story. I would guess that Jack and Lena know the truth too since those five are always together."

I put Faith down and told her to go back to her grandma, Olivia, so I could talk to Liam and Savannah. "If she didn't want me to know about me being Aspen's dad then why tell her? And why let me visit Faith?"

"Again I don't know. All she would say when we would ask those same questions was she didn't want to keep Faith from her daddy. We all know you aren't her father but Faith has always been adamant that you are. As for Aspen she said you don't deserve to be her dad but she wouldn't have Aspen grow up not knowing who you are."

"That makes no sense!" I grumbled.

"I never said it did." Liam chuckled. "You know that Lauren's mind never makes sense."

I snorted, "that's an understatement. But then again she could always make something that makes no sense make perfect sense."

"That's my baby girl for you." I heard Olivia say from behind me. I turned around and she smiled at me sadly. I looked past her to see who was with the kids and saw Clara sitting with them.

"Why wasn't Izzy and Faith in the car?" I blurted out. I've been wondering ever since I heard about the accident. I know how inseparable Izzy and Briana are or well were.

"They were at dance classes. They have a big recital coming up." Olivia told me.

I remember Faith saying something about dance class last time I saw her. "So how bad is it?" I asked nervously.

Olivia looked over at Liam, I could tell she didn't want to talk about it. Liam sighed before speaking. "Jason is the luckiest, he only suffered minor cuts and bruises. Briana broke one of her legs, has a lot of bruising on her chest and stomach and had a huge gash on her head that she had to have stitched up. Aspen has whiplash, and some internal injuries. I guess the force of the impact was too hard on her little body which is why she needs an operation but the doctors are scared to do it since she has a rare blood type. Then there's Lo, she has a few broken bones, a concussion and they had to sedate her because she had swelling on the brain. But since she was in and out of consciences they are unsure if she will wake up after they wean her off the drugs or in what state she will be in if she does."

"How does she have internal injuries if she was in a car seat? They are supposed to protect the kids." I ranted as I tried to hold back the tears. I felt so helpless.

"Malfunction with the carseat apparently. She was ejected from the car." Liam explained and a sob escaped Olivia's mouth. Savannah put her arms around Olivia to comfort her. There were tears in Savannah’s eyes too, but she was trying hard to stay strong for Liam and Olivia.

I knew I could no longer handle hearing about the accident without breaking down. Right now I had to be strong for Aspen, she doesn't have her mom right now so I had to be the strong one. "Can I see my daughter now?"

"Of course. Down the hall, room 427." Olivia told me. I nodded and walked away.

I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see though. When I walked into Aspen's room I nearly threw up. She looked so fragile and helpless. She has bruises and cuts all over. She is hooked up to monitors and has ives in her arms. It's so scary. She shouldn't be in this situation, she's far too young. I walked over to her and rubbed the top of her head gently. She didn't even move because the doctors have her sedated. I wanted to cry but wouldn't let myself to.

I heard the door open behind me so I turned to see the doctor coming in. "Are you Aspen's father?" She asked and I nodded. "I'm Doctor Miller, I know you haven't been here long and want to stay with your daughter but I really need to get your blood and make sure you're a match. Aspen needs surgery as soon as possible."

"I'm ready." I told her. I bent down and kissed Aspen on the forehead before following the doctor out of the room. She took me into another room and said a nurse would be in shortly. Once the nurse took my blood she said she would send it to the lab to make sure I was a match before taking anymore.

I walked back to the waiting area and saw my parents sitting there with the rest of Lo's family and friends. My mom stood up instantly and walked to me. I felt like I was a five year old who needed his mommy. I didn't care that I am a twenty five year old man I fell into my mom's arms and cried. I haven't cried in my mom's arms since I was a kid but right now this is exactly what I needed. I didn't even care that she and my dad knew that Aspen was my daughter and didn't tell me. "She could die." I sobbed.

"Shhh, don't think bad thoughts. She will be okay, she's a strong girl." My mom said in a soothing tone as she rubbed my back.

At first I thought she was talking about Lo but I quickly remembered she knows Aspen, or I think she does. She would have to know Aspen to know she's my daughter right? I sat up and looked at my mom. "How long?" I sniffed. "How long have you known?"

"Oh honey, I've known since the day I first laid eyes on her. She has always been the spitting image of you. But I've only officially known about a month." She told me. "That's why she was on her way to the church when this all happened."

"What?" I gasped in shock.

"I'm so sorry, I thought you knew by now." My mom apologized. "She said that she wanted to finally make things right."

"But why wait until my wedding day? She's had three years to make it right! Why today of all days?" I cried. This made no sense to me. My mom has known for a month so why didn't Lo come clean the second my family knew about Aspen?

"She was scared, so scared. There's so much you don't know and don't understand." She sighed.

"What don't I know? I deserve to know!" I asked in frustration. I am so fucking sick of all the secrets and lies.

"I can't be the one to tell you, you have to hear it from her." My mom shook her head.

"If she wakes up that is." I heard a voice say from behind me. I turned around and saw Rae, Jack, Zack and Lena standing there. All of them had red, swollen eyes.

"Don't say that." I snapped at Rae. "She will wake up. She has to." A few stray tears slid down my cheeks.

"Lo is a fighter, but there is only so much fight in a person." She retorted leaving me very confused. Had something happened that I don't know about? Oh right, I know nothing about anything anymore.

"What fighting has she gone through? She left me! I didn't do anything! I would have been there for her. Hell we were supposed to move in together and she just didn't. She kept my daughter from me! Which I still don't get, why keep Aspen from me but not Faith? And don't give me the crap answer that Liam did." I was growing more and more frustrated.

Rae sighed and looked up at Zack who shrugged. "Liam told you the truth even though it made no sense to anyone. But there was more to the story. Faith grew so close to you and she adores you. She may have only been two but we all know how smart she is. She knew that if Uncle Zack is home then daddy is home. She would ask to see you or ask when daddy is coming to visit or why isn't daddy here. It broke Lo in half but she stood her ground, she didn't want you in any of their lives. But Faith has her mom's stubbornness and she would scream so loud they it would hurt your ears, finally Lo gave in and said that she would have Zack take her to see you. But she was dead set against you ever knowing Aspen was yours."

"She actually wanted to tell you the day Aspen was born. She was hyped up on pain meds and overwhelmed with how much Aspen looked like you. She laid in the bed and cried and cried over keeping it a secret and begged me to get you so she could finally tell you but I convinced her not to." Zack confessed.

If I wasn't scared if Zack I would kick his has right now. But I know that he would kill me. Nonetheless I was completely shocked by his confession. He's supposed to be my best friend, why would he want to claim my flesh and blood as his own? My blood started to boil. "How could you do that?" I spat. "If you wanted a damn kid so bad why didn't you just knock up Lena? Or doesn't she want to ruin her perfect model body?" I know I went too far but I'm so pissed and I can't filter my words when I am this enraged.

Zack went to lunge at me but Lena stepped in between us and stopped him. "I am standing right here, you asshole. And for your information, I am the one who initially came up with Zack claiming Aspen. Not because I don't want a kid of my own because I in fact do, but we want to be married first. I did this for Lo, she's a really good friend and she needed a reason to break you in two for what you did."

"I didn't do anything!" I yelled gaining me a few dirty looks from some nurses.

"You cheated on her and are still denying it?" Zack barked. Once again I am confused, what are they talking about? I would never cheat on Lo again. I swore on my life that I wouldn't.

"I didn't!" I shook my head.

"But you did." Jack stated. I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "I wouldn't have believed you would have fucked up after that Vegas trip, but I was there, I saw the evidence."

"What are you talking about? I wouldn't dare do that to Lo again." I said completely dumbfounded. I know I sometimes blackout when drinking but I was never away from Lo, we were practically attached at the hip. I looked back at my mom to see if she would come to my defense, she knew I would never hurt Lo after Vegas. But she just gave me a look of disappointment.

"The day that Lo found out she was pregnant with Aspen, she was with Zack. She came back home immediately figuring you were there getting ready to pack since you guys were planning on moving in together. But you weren't there. You had went to your place for whatever reason. Rae left me with Faith and Zack had to go pick up Lena so I drove Lo to your place since she was in no state to drive. She told me to stay in the car with Faith. When she opened your front door she stopped suddenly and looked back at me. At first I thought it was her nerves but she looked sad not scared so when I heard yelling I rushed to the house."

"You left my daughter in the car alone?" I cut him off.

Jack rolled his eyes, "I'm telling you about you cheating on the best girl you ever were with and that's all you are getting out of it? Clearly Faith is fine!" I glared him but let him continue. "When I got to the house I saw Lisa standing in the foyer in nothing but one of your shirts. Lo was no where to be found. But then I heard her screaming upstairs and you began to shout, when she came back downstairs she was so upset and I asked her if there was an explanation to why Lisa was half naked and she said no. That’s when you came down in only your boxers and tried to talk and I told you to let it go. Before I left though I looked at Lisa who had that look when she just had sex, which I hate that I know." He shuttered. "And she just smiled at me and said that you finally chose. When I got back to the car, Lo was sitting in the passenger seat in tears and said that she was done with you. The rest is history."

"I swear I didn't have sex with Lisa! I would never!" I stressed.

"Then why were you naked and her in nothing but a shirt?" Rae snapped.

"I don't know!" I pulled at my hair.

"Because you and I had sex, stop denying it, babe." I heard Lisa's voice behind me. I turned around and there she stood, still in her wedding dress and a smirk on her face.