Ainsley woke up to the sound of loud footsteps barreling into her bedroom, followed by sobs and heavy breathing. Jaime was the first one to shoot up in the bed and see what was going on.

“Felicia?” he asked. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Ainsley sat up as soon as she heard Felicia’s name. She looked at the girl standing in her doorway – her hair was pulled back into a slick ponytail and her face had regained its color for the most-part. But Ainsley couldn’t help but notice that as the seconds went on, her eyes lost their sparkle and her skin started to turn white again.

“Hostpial,” she managed to choke out. “Dad,” she barely managed to say before she covered her mouth and began to collapse with a sob.

Jaime made it over to her in record time, catching her just before she could hit the floor. He pulled her into his chest while Ainsley quickly got up and first tried to call Jeric to see what was going on, but the phone rang and rang until it eventually reached voicemail. She tried one more time, and this time the phone was answered on the second ring, but not by Jeric. Anne, his sister, answered the phone sounding weak and panicked.

“Ainsley, is Felicia with you?” she choked out.

“Yes, she is. She slept over last night. She uh…wasn’t feeling well and I didn’t want to burden you guys by calling so late-“

Anne cut off Ainsley’s rambling. “It’s fine, don’t worry. Thank you, but um…don’t bring her to the hospital just yet, okay?”

“What’s going on, Anne?” Ainsley breathed into the phone, turning herself away from Jaime and Felicia so they couldn’t hear. “Anne?” she asked again when there was no response.

“What’s going on? Can I talk to her?” Felicia spoke up quickly.

“No!” Anne said quickly. “Tell her not right now.”

Ainsley was confused and scared for being in the middle of whatever was happening. What was at the hospital? Where was Jeric? Why wouldn’t Anne talk to Felicia? Ainsley turned around and looked to Jaime with pleading eyes before nodding toward the hallway. Jaime picked Felicia up and began to walk her towards the door.

“No! Wait, I want to talk to her!” Felicia cried as she tried to fight to get out of Jaime’s grip.

“Just give us a minute, okay? Jaime will keep you company in the living room,” Ainsley said with her best attempt at a smile. Felicia seemed to relax a bit when she heard Jaime’s name. She looked up to Jaime and for a moment realization hit her and she stared at him with the same amount of excitement she had when she first met Ainsley. Her sadness instantly returned, but she still agreed to go sit with Jaime in the living room.

“Anne,” Ainsley said, this time for forcefully. “Tell me what’s going on right now. I need to know. Felicia is a mess and I’m starting to freak out.”

Anne sighed, but her breath was interrupted by a sob. Ainsley listened on the phone while Anne cried silently into the phone. She let out a few shaky breaths and a few groans of agony, but didn’t speak. Ainsley didn’t say anything; she just waited for Anne to tell her what was happening. Ainsley started to get a horrible feeling about it all – she thought back to what Felicia had been saying the night before.

“Nobody understands.”

“He’s going to leave me just like Mom.”

“He’s going to try again. That’s why he’s trying to spend time with me. But it’s also why he doesn’t want me.”

“That’s why I live with Auntie. That’s why he’s trying to act all friendly with me. It’s our final goodbyes.”

Felicia clearly knew that something was up with her father, and Ainsley felt horrible for not being able to tell if anything was wrong. Ainsley didn’t know Jeric well enough to be able to tell if he was acting out of character – but maybe this was something else. Maybe Jeric took a nasty fall. Or maybe it wasn’t Jeric at all.

“Ainsley,” Anne finally spoke. “He did it.”

“D-Did what?” Ainsley choked on her words. Ainsley blocked out her mind and tried not to assume the worst. She tried to deny the fact that she knew exactly what Anne was saying.

“He left us,” Anne sobbed. “He left us to be with Crystal.”

Anne began to sob uncontrollably. “I’ll call you in a bit. I’m pretty sure Felicia already knows, just…be gentle with her and I’ll call you when you should come to the hospital, okay? I am so sorry for dragging you in the middle of all of this. But thank you so much for caring for Felicia last night. I-I’ve got to go.”

The line went dead and Ainsley took in a shaky breath as her iphone fell from her hands and made a slight thump on the carpet below. Her mouth begin to quiver as she took in what Anne had told her.

Crystal was Jeric’s wife, she remembered that much from when Jeric had told her about his life. She took her life four years ago and after what Felicia had said, it was apparent that Jeric had been trying to follow her out. And now he had succeeded.

Ainsley clasped her hands into tight fists, her fingernails digging into her palms and causing her to hiss at the pain, but she was so frustrated that she didn’t know what else to do. How would Felicia take this? She was such a happy, young girl. She had survived the loss of her mother to suicide…but now her father? Ainsley felt a tiny bit relieved when she told herself that Felicia and Jeric didn’t seem to be that close since Felicia lived with Anne, but that’s still no excuse.

All of this suicide and death and sadness that was suddenly being tossed into her life was bringing back the memories of her mother’s suicide and she didn’t know if she was the right person to be breaking this news to Felicia. She could still barely think about her mother’s death even two and a half years later.

How do you tell someone that their father had just killed themselves? How do you tell someone “they loved you, but they left you” without destroying their hearts?

There was two small knocks on the bedroom door before Jaime slowly pushed it open. “Ains?” he said softly. Ainsley sniffled a bit and reached up to wipe the fallen tears from her eyes. She didn’t respond and instead went straight into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She felt disgusting and she felt like she looked disgusting, and if she was going to be breaking this news to Felicia, she didn’t want to ruin the moment even more by having morning breath and crazy hair. This moment would stick in her mind forever. The moment she finds out her father had killed himself and Ainsley just wanted to be a pleasant face to remember instead of making it too harsh on the poor girl.

“Ainsley…” Jaime said softly as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom. “Felicia fell asleep on the couch… Will you tell me what’s going on?”

Ainsley finished brushing her teeth and rinsed her mouth as calmly as possible. She rinsed off the bristles of her toothbrush and tried to act normal. She tried to remain strong. She tried to keep the thoughts out of her head.

“Babe?” Jaime spoke again and Ainsley couldn’t take it anymore.

She angrily threw the toothbrush at the mirror and slid down the side of the wall before pulling her knees up to her chest and then tugging on her hair. The tears began to pour from her eyes and she couldn’t stop the whimpers from escaping her lips. Jaime immediately knelt down beside her.

“He killed himself,” she whispered. “Jeric’s dead and now it’s on me to tell that poor, fifteen-year-old girl that her father just left her behind like she was nothing.”

“Well, I think you could probably word it a bit differently,” Jaime said with a slight smile. Ainsley didn’t respond to his attempt to lighten the mood a bit and just continued to stare down at her hands that were now sitting on top of her knees.

“You know how I told you that my mom killed herself?” Ainsley spoke softly. She noticed Jaime’s nod from the corner of her eye. “I was the one who found her dead, so nobody had to tell me that she was gone. I just…I can’t imagine handling her death any other way. I tried to think about how I would have wanted to be told if someone else found her…but I just don’t know what to say without crushing her emotions.”

Jaime sighed. “No matter what you say, she’s going to be upset. No matter who says it or how she finds out – she’s going to be crushed. I know this a lot of pressure on you, but just know that Felicia really looks up to you even though she hardly knows you. I can see it in the way she looks at you. I think that coming from you is going to be easier than hearing it from the hospital or from a family member, though.”

Jaime began to gently rub her back in small circles while Ainsley finally calmed her tears. He pulled her into his arms and she allowed him to hold her and take away the feeling of loneliness that was slowly beginning to engulf her heart. She immediately felt whole once again.

Jaime kissed her forehead, allowing his lips to linger for a bit, but he quickly pulled them away when there was a firm knock on Ainsley’s front door. They hesitated for a moment before standing up and going to check who was there.

Ainsley went first down the hallway and saw that the front door was already open and Felicia was no longer on the couch.

“Felicia?” Ainsley asked as she grew closer to the door. She expected Anne to be standing on the other side, but instead two police officers stood on her door-step, staring down at a trembling Felicia. “What’s going on, here?”

“Are you Ainsley Kane?” the first officer said.

“Yes, and you are…?”

“I’m Deputy Hills and this is my partner, Officer Lin,” he said. “We were told to come here by a Miss Fletcher?”

“I don’t know a Miss-“

“Auntie Anne,” Felicia explained. “Why?” she asked.

“We need to ask Felicia some questions about last night but since she’s underage she needs to be in the presence of a guardian or adult, and Anne gave us permission for you to be present, if that’s okay.”

Ainsley nodded slowly. “Yeah, come on in,” she said as she pulled the door open just a bit wider. “You can have a seat on the couch, if you’d like.”

Jaime had already gone to the kitchen to grab a couple of dining table chairs to sit by the couch. He sat down in one of them while Felicia took a seat at the far end of the couch and the two officers occupied the spot beside her – leaving a gap enough so they could angle their bodies to see her.

Ainsley took a seat in the chair and waited for the officers to say whatever they needed. For a moment she thought that she should offer them something to drink, but held her tongue when she realized that she only had water or liquor. She decided that they probably wouldn’t be thirsty anyway.

“Felicia, can you tell us what happened yesterday? Starting with the beginning of the day?” Officer Lin asked. His voice was gentle and his slanted features were calming in an odd way.

Felicia sighed and began her explanation. “My dad brought me to his house for the week. He does it every year at the same time. Yesterday was the anniversary of my mother’s dead – she took her own life. For the past three years my dad has tried to commit suicide on the day of her death. He brings me over to his house and says that it’s so we can spend time together and be together on the day that she died – which is also the day of my sibling’s death. But all he ends up doing is pretending to be happy and then he tries to commit and every year I’m there to stop him or save him. But this year we got in a really bad fight about something stupid and so I left to meet up with some people from school.

“I called Ainsley and asked her to pick me up because I didn’t want to go home to my dad. So they came and picked me up and I spent the night here.”

Felicia was silent for a moment as everybody in the room digested what she said. “He did it again, didn’t he?” Felicia asked with worry suddenly taking over her face. “He tried again, I know it.”

“Thank you for your time, Felicia,” one of the officers said. Ainsley wasn’t paying attention to be able to tell which one said it. She was too busy thinking about how she should break the news to Felicia. She knew that Felicia had her suspicions in the back of her head, but to confirm those morbid thoughts would be a wrecking ball to Felicia’s life.

Jaime showed the officers out and allowed them to take down Ainsley’s and his numbers in case they needed to call for anything else.

“Ainsley,” Felicia said firmly as Jaime sat down on the couch beside Felicia.

Jaime looked at Ainsley and when their eyes locked, he gave her a subtle nod, as if to tell her that now was the time. He placed one hand on Felicia’s as Ainsley let out a shaky breath.

“Felicia, there’s really no easy way to say this. But he did try to commit again…but this time you didn’t have to be there to pick him up. Your mother’s taking care of him, now.”

Felicia’s eyes immediately swelled up with tears. “W-What?” she choked out. “You mean…”

Ainsley nodded as her own tears began to fall from her eyes. She wiped them away quickly and tried to look back up at Felicia, but the second she saw her face distort in sadness and crying, she regretted looking at her. Felicia let out a loud wail and for a moment, Ainsley’s hearing seemed to mute over. She watched as Felicia began to flail her body on the couch. Jaime tried to hold her limbs down as Felicia’s mouth was open, letting out wails that Ainsley couldn’t hear. Her eyes were swollen and leaking out a steady stream of tears that were soaking her shirt and the hair that was stuck to her face.

Her body looked like it was having spasms as she wailed on the couch. Jaime nearly had his entire body on top of her to try and get her to calm down. Ainsley was shivering slightly as she watched this fifteen year old girl completely losing her sanity. Ainsley knew how it felt to be forgotten. After her brother’s disappearance and murder, her parents didn’t pay any attention to her and that’s why she was never home anymore. She understood that they were depressed, she was, too. But they should have been working through it together to help each other through the grieving process and depression. Instead her father took his own life by allowing himself to binge drink himself to the grave. And her mother over-medicated herself on purpose – leaving Ainsley alone.

Felicia’s life was a mirrored image of Ainsley’s. She lost her sibling and both of her parents took their lives. As she watched Felicia’s heart break and her body break down, she vowed that she would not let this girl feel alone no matter what happened. Ainsley grew up without any family. Her closest family was Malorie, but even then she felt so alone. Malorie grew up with loving parents and a large family – it was the only thing they didn’t have common in their lives. It was something that Malorie couldn’t really help Ainsley with. Ainsley hardly knew Felicia; she didn’t know if she had close, reliable friends like how Ains had Mal, but Ainsley knew that she needed to be there for her. Ainsley wanted to make sure Felicia felt loved and appreciated and never forgotten.

Ainsley stood up suddenly and walked over to Felicia. Jaime let go of her so Ainsley could take control of the situation. Felicia was still wailing and flailing her limbs, but when Ainsley wrapped her arms strongly around Felicia’s body, she froze. Her sobs continued, but her wailing stopped and her body stopped moving. She slowly leaned into Ainsley’s embrace.

“Felicia…listen to me, okay?” Ainsley said softly as she soothed out her hair and continued to hold her. Ainsley briefly explained how she lost her family as Felicia cried. “I understand how you might feel right now. This feeling of loneliness and abandonment that you feel never left me. But that’s because I didn’t have anybody there to help me. I didn’t have someone who I could talk to about this and so I bottled it up inside and I locked it away, and I still keep it locked away. I have a hard time accepting affection from others because I am afraid of getting used to accepting their love and then being alone in the end. But listen to me. I am here for you and I understand. And if you talk to me, you can grow up and get through this grief in a healthy way. You’re not alone like I was, okay? You have me who understands.”

Felicia nodded over and over again against Ainsley’s shoulder as she continued to sob. Felicia’s body slowly began to go limp as she began to fall asleep in Ainsley’s arms. The sobbing finally got the best of her and her eyes fluttered shut. Jaime carried her back into the guest bedroom and tucked her into the bed.

-

Ainsley cooked some lunch for her and Jaime after they had dropped Felicia off at the hospital to meet up with her Aunt to spend time with her. Anne was hurting, too, and Ainsley knew that it was important for Felicia to be there with her, but Ainsley almost didn’t want to say goodbye to her. She was worried for her and felt a connection to her.

“Babe…please stop thinking about it so much.” Jaime said as he slowly rubbed over her knuckles. With his free hand he picked up a shredded piece of chicken and popped it into his mouth.

“I know,” Ainsley sighed. “And I’m sorry this had to happen as soon as you come back from tour.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m glad I was here to help you. And Felicia,” Jaime shrugged. “It’s just going to be hard when I have to go back to my house.”

Ainsley felt a pain in her chest when she thought about Jaime leaving her house when she just barely got him back. She wished that she at least lived in the same town as him and not forty-five minutes away. “When do you have to go home?”

“Well, probably later tonight or tomorrow morning. I need to help Vic when the equipment is shipped back to his house from South America. And we need to go over plans for the next tour.”

“I don’t want to talk about that anymore,” Ainsley sighed. “I just got you back here and I don’t want to think about you leaving again.”

Jaime nodded and the two of them sat through a horrible awkward and tense lunch. Ainsley didn’t know what to say to Jaime. Should she pretend like everything was fine? Should they talk about what had happened with Felicia?

Jaime ended up breaking the silence just after he finished his lunch. He stood up, rinsed their plates and walked over to Ainsley with a hungry look in his eyes. He lifted her off of the chair and carried her over to the couch, plopping them down against the cushion with Jaime’s body on top of Ainsley’s. She let out a giggle as Jaime began to leave playful kissed along her neck. She tangled her hands into his hair and got lost in the feeling of Jaime’s body against hers.

She let out a couple of soft, encouraging moans as Jaime’s hands began to gently rub up and down her sides. Their lips connected and moved together roughly. Just as Ainsley gently rolled her tongue against his bottom lip, Jaime pulled away quickly.

“What’s wrong?” Ainsley breathed.

“We didn’t use protection earlier,” Jaime frowned.

“I know,” Ainsley frowned. “I took a Plan B pill, though.”

“I know,” Jaime sighed. “I think…maybe you should look into getting on birth control.”

Ainsley smiled at how awkward Jaime felt when talking about this. She thought back to when Jaime made her talk about things that made her feel awkward and couldn’t help but feel relieved that Jaime did actually feel awkward about some things about sex. “I know, I was thinking about that, too,” Ainsley finally answered.

Jaime seemed to feel much better about the topic, but he still didn’t continue to kiss her. “Do…do you want kids someday?”

Talking about the future with Jaime made Ainsley incredibly nervous. She knew that he didn’t necessarily mean with him, but it still put the thought in her mind. What was the future going to be like for the two of them? Ainsley couldn’t tell – it was still far too early in their relationship to be thinking about things. Of course Ainsley had feelings that continued to grow with each day, but those feelings hadn’t quite developed into love yet, and Ainsley didn’t want to rush anything but making herself feel like she had to have a future with Jaime.

“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it,” Ainsley admitted. “What about you?”

“I could see myself being a dad,” Jaime said proudly. “I think I’d be a cool Dad. I’d teach my kids to be bad-ass soccer players and teach them to play every instrument there is…I’d basically give them all of my talents.”

Ainsley laughed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t get cocky now, Himes.”

Jaime laughed and adjusted himself so he was hovering over Ainsley. His shifted around her face as he memorized her features. “How come we were never friends before?”

“Well, we kind of were,” Ainsley shrugged.

Jaime shook his head. “We weren’t even acquaintances. The only reason I had your number was because of when Vic used my phone to call you for a ride one night.”

Ainsley laughed at the memory of a drunk Vic calling her from an unknown number. She answered it and ended up giving a drunk Vic and Jaime a ride over to Vic’s house after a late night at the bar. She saved Jaime’s number after that, and apparently Jaime had saved hers. They never called each other or texted each other after that moment years ago – well, not until Jaime randomly decided to text Ainsley.

“Why did you text me that one night?” Ainsley asked. “I mean, if we weren’t even acquaintances…then why me?”

“Because we hardly knew each other. And I had always been attracted to you. I was just so lonely and well…horny. So I figured that if I called someone I hardly knew, I didn’t have to worry about feelings getting involved because I thought that I wasn’t ready to let anybody else in. But I’m so glad I picked you to call. The sex was fantastic,” Jaime joked a bit and Ainsley gently slapped his chest. “I’m joking, you’re fantastic, too. And not just because you give good head.”

Ainsley blushed and reached up to cover her cheeks. “Oh my god, Jaime,” she said softly. “I only did that like…once.”

“Yeah,” Jaime sighed. “Wait, hey, what’s up with that? Once, really?” Jaime pulled his face back in disbelief, causing a slight double chin to form as he looked down at her with a silly face.

“Oh be quiet,” Ainsley laughed. “It’s not like I don’t satisfy you in other ways.”

Jaime laughed a bit. “True, true.” He bent down and connected their lips again, picking up right where they left off. Jaime reached under Ainsley’s shirt and began to trace small circles with his calloused fingers right above her pant-line. He pushed one finger beneath her pant-line and Ainsley responded by spreading her legs a part just a bit.

Jaime pulled away again when his cell phone began to ring from his pocket. “Damn,” he cursed as he pulled it out to check who was calling. “It’s just Vic. I can call him later,” Jaime said.

“No, you should probably answer it. He might need your help with the equipment.”

“But then that means I’ll have to leave,” Jaime pouted.

Ainsley sighed. “Just answer it and see what he needs.”

Jaime answered the phone and was giving Vic very short answers to everything. Ainsley listened intently to try and see what they were talking about. When she heard Jaime tell him that he’d be by later tonight, she knew that meant he did had to leave. Jaime ended the call and set his phone down on the table beside the edge of the couch.

“I have to leave in an hour,” Jaime said before he quickly connected his lips to her neck. Ainsley reached down and began to unzip her jeans and pull them down. She reached for Jaime’s shirt and then there was a knock at the door.
“You have to be fucking kidding me,” Jaime groaned as he rolled off of Ainsley to go answer the door.

Ainsley sat on the couch, waiting patiently for Jaime to get rid of whoever was at the door.

“Ainsley! It’s Anne,” Jaime called over to her.

Ainsley sighed and quickly composed herself before heading over to the front door. Anne stood there holding a few duffel bags. Ainsley looked at her, confused, but things soon made sense was Felicia came walking up the steps with a backpack on, a few bags of groceries hanging from her wrists and a stereo in her arms.

“I need to talk to you,” Anne said with a lop-sided smile.

Jaime sighed and kissed the side of Ainsley’s head before disappearing into her bedroom to give them a chance to talk.

-

“I’ll try my best to contribute money, I swear,” Anne sobbed. “Ainsley, please. The baby is due in a few months and this is just all so stressful for us. I can’t fight Felicia anymore.”

“What do you mean fight her? She listened to everything you said,” Ainsley said. Anne was trying to talk Ainsley into letting Felicia stay with her for a while, but Ainsley had refused several times already. She wanted to be there for Felicia, but she didn’t know if she could have someone move in with her like that. She hardly knew Felicia and she didn’t know how to live with another person. Ainsley was so used to living on her own and providing for only one person, having another person move in would disrupt her schedule entirely. Plus, Ainsley worked a lot and how would Felicia get to school and get home? It wouldn’t be good for her to be home alone for most of the day.

“She doesn’t want to live with me anymore. She hasn’t wanted to for quite some time. She wants to stay here with you. She says that you understand her and that she feels happy with you. I think it will be really good for her to be around someone who can make her feel happy and have fun with her. Especially now. Just…please let her live here for a while. At least until we can make other arrangements for her. Please.”

Ainsley could see the desperation in her eyes. She knew that Anne wanted only what was best for Felicia, and for some reason, Ainsley did, too. This girl had once been a persistent fan, but she somehow forced herself into Ainsley’s life and now Ainsley didn’t want to push her out just yet. Ainsley knew though, that deep down this was what was best for Felicia, but she just didn’t know if she was ready for the hardships it would bring. She was about to open her mouth and turn Anne down yet again, but before she could speak she heard the most gorgeous laugh echoing down the hallway, followed by Jaime’s playful words and laughs.

Jaime was telling Felicia about an incident that had happened on tour, Ainsley couldn’t hear the story entirely, but she knew that it had something to do with Tony. Felicia was laughing so hard and the sound was so beautiful that Ainsley’s heart broke when the word “no” came into her mind.

“Okay,” Ainsley said through a sigh. She closed her eyes tightly and let out a few breaths. Was she ready to take care of a teenager? “I’ll look after her for a while.”

Anne smiled happily and more tears poured from her eyes. Anne had been crying for the past hour that she had been sitting in Ainsley’s house. Even when Anne was smiling and laughing, the tears were still falling from her eyes because deep down, Anne knew that her brother was gone, and this saddened her to no end.

Anne stood up and pulled Ainsley into a tight hug, thanking her over and over again as they embraced. Ainsley gently pulled away, but kept her hands on Anne’s shoulders as she looked into her eyes. “Listen…I know how it feels to lose family. And if you need to just come over and talk to me and cry…I’ll listen and I’ll even cry with you if you want,” Ainsley chuckled and offered her a small smile while Anne imitated. It didn’t reach her eyes, though, but Ainsley didn’t expect it to. She just wanted the effort at this point.

“Thank you, Ainsley,” Anne sniffled. “I don’t know why or how you ended up waltzing right into our lives with such impeccable timing,” Anne said sarcastically and then paused to roll her eyes, “but I’m really glad you did. And I think it was for a reason. I don’t know what yet, but I’m pretty sure I have an idea.”

Ainsley nodded and agreed, even though she wasn’t exactly sure what Anne was saying. Ainsley hardly even waltzed into their lives – it was more of the other way around. Unless you count the day that Ainsley had literally waltzed right into Jeric at the boutique, but it wasn’t for a while after that they actually ended up meeting again.

Ainsley didn’t quite believe in fate, but there were three people standing in her house that had come by fate’s will.

Notes

I AM SO SORRY GUYS YOU HAVE NO IDEA OMG. It took me forever to update this and it's partially because I've been so incredibly busy, but also because this chapter was extremely hard for me to write. I just couldn't find the words for some reason, but I think it turned out alright.

Next chapter is going to be a REALLY good one, I promise you that much :)

Comment, rate...you know the drill! LOVE YOU GUYS AND THANK YOU FOR WAITING XOXO