together we will be unbroken

Ashley pov

"Is she still out there?" Jacky asks.

"I haven't seen her come out yet." Andy replies.

"Didn't he leave like an hour ago?" Ronnie inquires.

"Yeah I think so..." I'm kinda concerned about Lace. "I'll go check on her." I get up from the couch and walk out to the kitchen. A smile creeps to my face. Laci is asleep at the table, and it's adorable. I'll just carry her up to our room then. I love saying that; our room. I pull the chair out a little, stand between her legs, and pick her up. Geez she is out! I walk up the stairs as gently as possible so I don't bounce to much. Oh God how am I going to get this door open? I get awkwardly close to the door, bend my knees a little to much, and turn the knob. I set her down gently on the bed and tuck her in. "Good night my love." I whisper against her forehead, and go back down to the guys.

"She okay?" Ronnie asks when I enter the room.

"Oh yeah she's fine. She just fell asleep at the table." I shrug.

"Was she laying on her laptop?" He asks. I nod. "Ah she does that all the time."

"That's so weird." Jake smiles.

"No not really." Ronnie states. "I mean think about it, she doesn't sleep all that much, so she will just crash after she gets to a certain point. And let's be honest, Darin is exhausting to be around."

"Amen to that!" Ryan laughs, and we all join him.

"She is a trooper for dealing with him for so long." Jinxx says. I nod with wide eyes.

"I think it's just in her nature." Ronnie smiles. "I've never seen her give up on anything, no matter how bad the situation is..." He's hiding something from us. We all kinda give him a go on look. "She's just been there for me for a lot of my relapses and shit." The looks continue. He sighs. "You guys want me to tell you some of the stories don't you?"

"You don't have to..." Jinxx says.

"Screw you I wanna hear about Tummy!" CC exclaims, and we laugh.

"Alright alright, well she wasn't there for any of my escape the fate days, but she was there for everything after that. I remember one night I got so wasted, and I somehow managed to show up on her doorstep. She let me in, and listened to me rant on and on, and she never once interrupted or gave me a pitying look. Then I remember the night that I found out that Anthony died." He takes a shaky breath, and Andy pats his shoulder. "I got a phone call from my dad, and I just snapped the second he hung up the phone. I was just crying, and I picked up a bottle of whiskey, and I started just slicing the hell out of my wrists." He pauses to compose himself. "She came into my apartment, and pretty much wrestled the blade out of my hand. Then she never left my side for a week. That's the thing that stands out the most to me, she always puts others before herself, even when she isn't happy with herself." We all nod. "I can never repay her for the things that she has done for me." We sit there in silence for a bit.

I hate what she does to herself. I know she doesn't think to highly of herself, and it kills me. She is such a beautiful person, inside and out. I wish there was a way for me to take away all of her pain, I know there's a lot there. Someone doesn't act the way she does without reason. "You better take good care of her Ash." Ronnie says. "I don't know how much more shit she can take."

"I know man. I won't hurt her. I couldn't stand to see her in more pain than she's already in." I reply.

"I don't understand why all of these bad things happen to the best people." Ryan says. "I remember one night when we spent the night at her house she was screaming and crying in her sleep. It was terrifying." My mind flicks back to the other night, and a sadness fills my body and mind.

"Is that why she doesn't sleep?" Andy asks.

"She told me that when she first woke up from her coma, that she would have nightmares every time she closed her eyes. So she decided that she didn't want to sleep anymore if that's what she had to face." Ronnie's voice cracks.

"Wait why was she in a coma?" Jake asks. I feel like we shouldn't be talking about this behind her back, but something tells me that she would want them to know.

"Her house got caught on fire when she was younger, and she got trapped under the stairs. She said that she woke up a few months later in a hospital." I say sadly.

"Oh my God." Jake and Jinxx say in unison.

"I couldn't imagine having to go through something like that, and she was so young too." Andy shakes his head. This whole thing make me want to go upstairs and pull her close to me, so maybe I can protect her from her demons.

Laci pov

"Mommy mommy I love this song!" Riley exclaims from her car seat.

"Me too turn it up!" Camron yells.

"Mommy listens to good music huh?" I smile, and turn up St. Jimmy by green day. "It's much better than daddy's music?" I ask and smile at Ashley.

"Yeah!!!" They exclaim. Ashley smiles and rolls his eyes.

Within a few minutes we pull into the park. "Now Riley make sure your little brother doesn't get hurt okay?" I tell my daughter as I unbuckle her car seat.

"I promise!" She jumps down and runs over to Camron. "Come on Cam let's go play!" She takes his hand, and runs onto the playground. I stand there smiling at my beautiful children.

"Hey there pretty lady." Ashley wraps his arms around my waist, and places his chin on my forehead. I sigh and smile. "They're so cute aren't they."

"They are. I love them so much." I smile. Riley just went down a big, green slide, and now she is waiting to catch her brother at the bottom. This isn't going to end well. Camron goes down the slide, and when he gets to the bottom, he kicks Riley right in the chest. She falls and starts crying.

"Should we go over and help her?" Ashley asks.

"Nah, if she really wants us she'll come over." I say. Just as I predicted she gets up and runs over to us.

"Mommy!" She cries, adn I pick her up in my arms.

"What's wrong little girl?" I ask.

"I." sniff." Tried." sniff."to."sniff."catch."sniff sniff "to"sniff "catch cam!" She puts her head in the crook of my neck and sobs. "He kicked me!"

"Oh shh.. He didn't do it on purpose." I pat her back. Camron is now crying in Ashley's arms. It's so cute! "I know you were trying to be a good sister, but you need to let him do things on his own sometimes okay?" She pulls her head off of me, wipes a few tears, and nods.

"Hey mommy. You're it!" She jumps out of my arms and starts running. Cam wiggles out of Ashley's arms, and grabs his hand.

"Run daddy! We can't let her get us!"

"Okay!" Ashley laughs, and lets Camron pull him away. I laugh and "chase" after them.

"I'm going to get you Cam." I tease. He screams, and runs faster. I touch his back. "Gotchya!" I exclaim and run the other way.

"I'm going to get you mommy!" He runs after me. I hang upside down from the monkey bars and wait. He reaches me, and starts to jump for me. It's so cute. "Mommy that's not fair!" He pouts.

"I know I know." I smile, pick him up, and start tickling him.

"Mommy stop!" He laughs.

"Okay okay. So that means I'm it right?" He nods. I look at Ashley and smirk.

"Oh no. Riley run for your life!" He yells. I place our son back on the ground, flip over, and take off after Ashley.

"Run daddy run!" Riley screams. I catch him and jump onto his back.

"Got you cowboy." I say into his ear.

"Oh yes you do." He turns so I'm now hugging him, and kisses me.

"Family hug!" Ri and Cam yell, and jump into our arms. I love my family.

I jerk awake. You mean that was just a dream? I put my hand to my head, and tears roll down my face. i borough my head into Ashley's and he rubs my back. "Shh.. you're okay, I've got you." He coos. I look up at him, and all I can think of is the family that I can never have. "Do you want to tell me what happened this time?" I nod.

"We were at a playground with our kids." I breathe.

"That's a happy dream though. Why are you crying?" He asks.

"Ash I can't have kids." I cry.

"You can't?" I shake my head and cry harder.

"I'm sorry." I sob.

"Hey, don't worry about it." He rolls so we're on our sides and he rubs my back. "If we wver decide to have children we can adopt okay?"

"Really? You mean you won't leave me because of it?" I ask.

"Rose I'm never going to leave you okay?" He looks straight into my eyes. I nod. "I could never leave you."

Notes