"I'm not leaving," I stammered after summoning up the courage to speak. I felt his eyes cool gaze on me although I was looking at Auden, who was looking at her father.

"You'll damn well do what I say," he growled taking a step towards me. Auden was staring wide eyed the both of us.

"Don't you dare tell me what I will and will not do," I said taking a step towards him as well.

"Eli, please," Auden begged quietly. I couldn't hear here, I could barely even see strait I was so infuriated.

"She's my daughter. If I tell you to do something that affects her you better do it!" He took another angry stomp towards me.

"Well it seems to me that you are one of the worst father's ever. You left her to be with some other woman, who you practically ignore. And you don't even pay attention to your new daughter, let alone take care of her! If anyone should be leaving it's you!" I was screaming and I could tell. To be honest, I was glad. I didn't care what he thought of me anymore, he had no right to tell me half the stuff he was saying.

He didn't speak at all. I had never seen anyone at all in my life look so ravage, like he was about to take a knife out and get me. He took another step towards me and pulled a clenched fist behind his head. I heard Auden scream as I shoved him backwards with strength and speed I didn't even know I didn't even know I possessed.

He fell back onto the ground quickly getting up; looking even angrier if that was possible. He charged toward me as I did the same thing towards me. I could hear Auden screaming my name as we collided, noting that it was me and not him.

I had played football a couple of times with Abe, and this was pretty much it. Him and I pushing against each other trying to knock the other one down, but there was a lot of kicks and punches added to the mix, along with some insults and swears.

I don't know how long we were scrambling over each other but I was suddenly yanked off by a large man wearing some scrubs and Auden's dad was being held back as well by two of them.

"You stay away from Auden," I spat at him, struggling against the nurse holding me back.

He struggled against the pair of nurses holding him away from me spewing out angry slurs of swears and insults. After a few minutes the nurses had left but Doctor Henderson came in and stood in front of Auden's father in the corner, fixing me with a gaze that told me if I tried anything, he wouldn't be the only one I'd be fighting.

Auden was staring at me wide eyed, with mouth gaping open. I looked at her helplessly. She would probably be mad at me for picking a fight with her dad but I did it for her, and I was sick of him telling me that I should stay away from her.

I walked slowly over to her, as Doctor Henderson pushed Auden's dad out of the room to talk with him. Expecting to get chastised I stayed quiet, with a pleading look in my eyes.

"Eli," she whispered quietly. "Maybe you should go." I looked up at her in surprise.

"What do you mean?" I took her hand in mine and she closed her fingers around mine.

"I need to talk to my dad, Eli." When I opened my mouth to say something she cut me off. "I need to know what he has to say. I know you mean best, but maybe you should spend the rest of the day at the apartment?"

"Auden-" I managed to spit out but she was shaking her head at me.

"Please," she whispered quietly, giving my hand a gentle squeeze

"I'll wait outside then," I tried to reason with her. "I'll stay quiet."

"You need sleep, rest, a halfway decent meal and a shower," she stroked my cheek gently.

"I'll be fine. I want to stay with you." I glanced out in the hallway spotting Auden's dad and gave him a cold stare.

"I want you to go. Take a day to yourself, for me?" She tilted her head to the side.

"What about your dad?" I muttered quietly.

"What about him?" she pulled her hand away from mine and glanced toward his direction.

"He wants me gone, you know that." She nodded slowly and I pulled back from her. "You want me to leave too!"

"No, Eli, never. I love you. You know that." She sat up and shifted towards me.

"Then tell me why you don't want me to stay!" I took a step back from her. I couldn't believe that she wanted me gone, after all of the things that just happened.

"I want you to stay! I do! But I just need to talk to my dad. You two don't exactly get along," she said with a slight air of annoyance.

"I told you I'll behave myself, whatever he does." I crossed my arms.

"It's not just him. You did shove him back when he came in here," she tilted her head watching me carefully.

"He told me to leave you! That I don't care about you and I don't deserve to have you with me," I tried not to sound angry with her but I ended up doing a terrible job.

"I know, and it was wrong. That's why I need to talk to him. Don't you understand that?" She stood up. This had gotten a lot easier now that over the past weeks the doctors had begun removing all the cords from her body.

I eyed her up and down. She had lost a lot of weight and looked very fragile even after the couple of weeks. She was getting a lot better at taking care of herself though I had to admit. The doctors began talking to me about the things I would have to do to help her if she were to come home with me. I was willing to do it of course since I knew she wanted to be home more than any of us.

"I can't leave you Auden, I can't. Not alone with him at least. He hates me and you know it" I walked up to her putting both hands firmly on her shoulders, steadying her a bit.

"He doesn't hate you," she whispered looking down.

"Yes he does. He has done everything to show it except for say the words out loud."

"That's why I need to talk to him." She looked up taking my face in bother of her hands which were very cold and shaky. "I can fix it."

"You can't fix him. He's not fixable." My tone raised and she winced a bit. "I'm sorry," I whispered quietly. She pulled back from me.

"I know you don't like him but he's still my dad no matter what you do." I nodded slowly.

"When do you want me back?" I reluctantly gave up.

"In the morning?" She visibly brightened up once she had seen that I finally agreed to this.

"First thing," I kissed the top of her head turning to leave. I passed Auden's dad sitting there keeping my head high just to annoy him. I saw him clench his fist so it worked.

Riding on! Riding On!

I spent the rest of the day pacing around the apartment distracting myself with various chores to do. The place was spotless by the time I was done and it was only 7 p.m. I headed out to the Last Chance Grill and ordered the usual thing I got.

I was glad that I didn't see anyone I could recognize and they didn't seem to recognize me.

When I got back to the apartment I quickly showered and flopped onto the bed, falling asleep instantly.

In the morning when I woke up it was incredibly bright outside. I jumped up looking at the clock and seeing that it was already noon, sprinted outside, getting dressed on the way to the car. I stuffed some spare shoes from the back seat on my feet before speeding on the way to the hospital, only stopping to pick up Auden's favorite coffee. \

I ran up to her room and practically dropped the coffee in my hand at the sight that I saw.

Auden was crying, well sobbing into Eric's chest. He had his arms wrapped around her and was whispering something into her ear that she was nodding to. I couldn't believe it. He had the nerve to come back her and she just let him.

I had never seen Auden that upset before. Why hadn't she called me? I was about to get my phone to see if she had but I realized that I had left it at my house. I took a step forward to go towards her but ended up slipping in the coffee I had dropped.

A couple of the nurses turned to look at me and I felt a hand wrap around my arm to help me up. It was Doctor Henderson, who was looking at Auden not me.

"You should go, Eli." She whispered this pushing me towards the door.

"I can't just leave her," I protested. "Not like that.

"Come back tomorrow, okay? Just go home, now. Please." She turned ordering someone to clean up the coffee I had spilled.

I turned back but she gave me a sharp look. I looked at Auden, who was still sobbing into Eric's chest. Ignoring the looks from Doctor Henderson I started towards Auden's room.

Authors Note:

Okay, so I usually don't update this much in this short of a time period. I've just been feeling really bad lately so I figured I'd dump that into this.

I'll tell you what. Since I already have the next 3 chapters written, I will type them out and update if I get comments. It doesn't have to be long and extravagant (but if you want to go ahead) but I want to hear you're guys opinion.

So..I guess I'll hear from you guys in comments. PM if you want.