Dean walked back down to the waiting room where all of her family was sitting; waiting patiently to be the next person to see her. As he walked through the door every head looked up, Vince was the first person to speak up. "How is Aurora?"
"She looks pretty pale, they have her hooked up to all sorts of things; God only knows what they are all for. They have her arms all bandaged up." He responded as Vince nodded. "Oh; before I forget I told Aurora that I loved her and that after they release her from here she's going to travel with me." The expressions on the face of Triple H and Stephanie weren't lost on the younger man. "Look, I know I'm not your favorite person; somehow the storyline transferred into real life. My only issue with the two of you is how you treat Aurora; she's your daughter, your child. You two treat her like she's a piece of furniture; you know she's around but forgotten about or ignored. I'm in love with her; I'm going to keep seeing her for as long as she'll want me. She needs people to talk to when she's upset and not be dismissed. She needs people who will really LISTEN to her and support her. I've already told her the cutting stops now; she needs to deal with stuff, she needs her parents to step up and be her parents. What she definitely needs is for us to not be at each other's throats. I'm not going anywhere; so well just have to learn to be civil to each other, cause the last thing she needs is the added drama." He said to the pair. "You know; it's not too late, this is your second chance. Aurora is still alive and you two can fix the relationship; that is if you want to."
"Dean is right, now is the time to come together as a family, fix the things that are broken and support our girl." Vince stated to the group. The doctor said she hadn't cut herself in a while; I can only assume that Dean was a piece of that. Maybe traveling with Dean and the two of them being a couple is what Aurora needs when she leaves here. Dean is also right about the two of you having a second chance; if your father hadn't been there to knock down that door and hold pressure on those cuts, we wouldn't be here. We'd be planning her funeral." Vince said. The entire group in the waiting room knew what Vince had just said was true; they could be planning a funeral, Vince happened to be the first person to say the words out loud. They sat quietly for a moment; until Paul stood up and walked over to his parents.
"I've been a horrible son for a few years now and for no good reason. I'm sorry. I'm not sure how; but I'd like to try and make up for that. Mom, you and Dad always were there for me; you supported everything I ever wanted to do. Now, you've been there for my daughter; when I wasn't even there for her. Please forgive me?" Paul said to his parents.
"Of course we forgive you; we did that long ago, you just needed to come back and want to fix things. Aurora is our grand-daughter; there is nothing we wouldn't do for her, in the same way we'd do anything for you. As for you not being there for her; it's true you weren't, but now you need to fix that to. We love you Paul; son." Marie said before hugging her son; Jeff was the next to hug him.
"Go see your daughter; she needs you." Jeff whispered to Paul. Paul nodded and walked down the hallway. He found the room easily enough; but found himself pausing at the doorway, trying to work up the courage to go inside. His parents had been quick to forgive him; in fact, in his mind they let him off far too easily. He knocked lightly on the inside of the door jam. He heard his daughter say 'come in' and found himself pausing again. He took a deep breath and went into the room.
Aurora opened her eyes when she heard the faint knock and told the person to come in. When the person came around the curtain; she was shocked to see her father standing there, even more surprised when he sat in the chair next to the bed. There was an awkward silence between them. Finally; Paul broke the silence, "The night in the hotel; Randy really did hear Dean's voice in your room, right?"
"Yes; yes he did, is that what you wanted to hear Dad? That I lied to you and mom and that you're precious Randy was right all along?" I couldn't believe he wanted to choose right now to pick a fight with me.
Instead of long lecture and fight; I was thrown off balance when he just started chuckling. I waited and waited to see and hear the happiness turn into anger; but it never happened; he just shook his head and smiled. "Well; you are definitely our child, that's for sure. How did Dean get out of there before I came in?" He inquired.
"He knocked on the adjoining door and left through that room so he wouldn't be spotted. Seth and Roman happened to be coming back from a club and he met them in the lobby before showing up at my door." I explained.
"Adjoining room. Damn! Wish I had thought of that when your mom and I were secretly seeing each other. I hid under the bed and prayed your Grandpa Vince wouldn't think to look under there." He chuckled again. "You love him?" He asked me.
"Other than the original reason he started seeing me; he really has looked out for me and was a gentleman when he could have taken advantage of me. I do love him." I replied. He seemed to take this into consideration for a moment; then looked at me.
"Then I guess your mom and I will have to work on a new storyline for The Shield; we can't make it happen tomorrow, but we could get it over a little time. I can't have the man taking care of my daughter end up with some kind of injury." My father glanced very quickly down at my bandaged arms and his smile disappeared. "Did your mom or I ever tell you tricycle story?" He asked. I shook my head. "When you were 5; for your birthday, your mom and I bought you a tricycle. I'm not sure who was more excited about it, you or me. I remembered my dad teaching me to ride a tricycle and then a regular bike when I was a kid; it was time that he and I really bonded and spent time together. I was excited to teach you to ride it and spend that time with you. One day I took you out in the driveway so I could teach you. You picked it up really quickly; I would say within fifteen minutes you were just peddling away all around that driveway. I put my hand on the back of the seat; like my dad had done, you looked right at me and said 'Daddy I can do it alone!' You were always independent like that. Your mom and I are proud of that; but I think we screwed up along the way. We just assumed you didn't need us looking over you all the time; we wanted you to have your freedom and not be overly protective of you. Only I think we gave you too much freedom; and I think because we didn't check in on you very much, that you thought it meant we didn't care about you. That's our mistake not yours; instead of assuming you knew you could come to us with anything, we should have told you that. We should have told you we loved you and that we were proud of you, instead of assuming you knew that to. It didn't help things when we were unsupportive about you wanting to be a physical therapist. We reacted badly and I apologize. Your mom and I again got in trouble for assuming; we watched you grow up around wrestling, you always seemed interested. I guess we thought that you would tell us you wanted to join the family business. I would be lying if I said we didn't hope you would; but we should have supported your choice, like my parents did with me. Your mom and I went mental when we got the call that you were in here and it looked bad. It would have killed both of us if you had died. Your mom and I have been screwing up for years, and that's a lot of time to make up for. So maybe instead of trying to do that, we start fresh today and your mom and I will be around when you need to talk or just need us; and give you space when you need that. Would that be ok?" He asked me, only I couldn't answer him through the tears that had just started flowing on their own. I just nodded 'Yes' and accepted the hug being offered to me. My father hugged me tightly for the first time in so long and the tears just kept coming. "Hey you know what? I don't think Randy needs to know he was right that night; he's always walking around like he's right all the time anyway, let him think for once he wasn't. It will be our secret!" He whispered to me, making me chuckle a little bit.
A nurse poked her head around the curtain. "Sorry to interrupt but the doctor said I could bring your mother back to visit." She held the curtain aside and my mom came around it. I couldn't help but cry again as soon as I saw her. She came to the other side of the bed and hugged me. My dad filled her in on what we had talked about.
"Aurora, your dad is right; we thought you'd hate us if we hovered over you. You were more independent than I was growing up. When you started partying and using the drugs we weren't sure what to do. We had left you to handle things by yourself for so long that we didn't know how we could just suddenly come in and crack down on you. Your grandfather told both of us to do it; but then your friend died and you seemed to slow down all of that. So we didn't step in; I'm so sorry about your friend, I know your dad and I should have come to you and talked to you about it. I suppose we didn't because it would have meant that we were admitting to be awful parents. We were though; we can never make up for that. Trust me; I understand why you didn't tell us about Dean, I know what it's like to love someone that you know your parents might not approve of. I should have seen the signs a mile away, but clearly you are better at it than I was." She chuckled. "Dean obviously loves you and you him; he is a hard worker, your dad and I can't deny that. Your grandpa Vince likes him a lot; which I never understood, until a few minutes ago out in the waiting area. He told Dean that he reminded him of your dad when he started out." She said with a grin, which made me chuckle again. "Promise me that if you ever need help or someone to talk to, that you will talk to Dean or any of us; none of us want to see you hurting yourself anymore. Ok? Can you promise me and your dad that? In return; we'll work harder at being parents." I managed to agree. "Speaking of parents; your dad and I want your grandparents Levesque to spend more time with us, start coming to family holidays and visit them more often. We should have included them long before now. I think I was a little jealous of your relationship with them; which was silly." She said. It was weird; both my parents had said everything I had wished they had said to me all along. I had been independent for a long time; while I didn't think that excused everything my parents had done; I couldn't blame them for all of it either. I think we all knew that there would be some growing pains; it would be hard getting used to them acting like parents. I was so tired; my parents both kissed me and headed to the waiting room. After explaining that I was exhausted, everyone agreed to come back the next morning and let me sleep; everyone except Dean who refused to leave. He also refused to stay in the waiting room; heading back into my hospital room and settling in the chair beside my bed and falling asleep.