5:00 am, Tuesday, January 19, 2011

Piper woke up the next morning around 5 am, in order to be able to get to the airport on time. After some final last-minute packing, Jason and her, along with Mellie drove down to a small, private airport.

After a surprisingly short drive, the group of three arrived and boarded the private plane that Mellie had hired. The captain and co-captain introduced themselves, and at 6:30 am, they took off.

Piper dozed off, falling asleep with Jason's arm around her.

10:45 am, Tuesday, January 19, 2011

Jason gently shook Piper awake as they started their descent, telling her it was time to get up. He himself had tried to fall asleep but ultimately failed, too energised by being in his father's realm to properly sleep.

Piper blearily opened her eyes at him, and he couldn't help but smile at her. Groaning, she shifted in her seat and stretched.

An announcement came over the speakers, "We will be landing in one minute. Please make sure that your seatbelts are fastened." Jason took Piper's hand, and she squeezed it tight.

"You okay?" He asked her quietly.

Piper sighed, glancing out her window. "I don't know," she whispered back. "I think I'm so emotionally drawn out to cry now, but I just feel numb. Like I'm so desensitised by this point that I have no emotions." she gave a weak laugh.

"And I feel like I should care and should be in shock, but I think my minds just blocking all those emotions out." The plane landed, and she put her head in her hands a few seconds later.

She huffed, blowing a hair off her face. She took a shaky breath, "And I guess worried he won't be okay. But I'm trying to stay positive, focus on the good things, but I'm scared Jason. I'm really fucking scared he won't survive this."

Jason rubbed her back slowly, "It's okay to be worried Pipes. It's normal to feel how you are. That numbness?" Piper nodded, "It's completely normal. Absolutely normal."

Piper nodded along, glancing up when the seatbelt sign turned off. She unbuckled her seatbelt, sat up and stretched again. Jason followed suit, grabbing their duffle bags and backpacks from the overhead compartment. Piper moved to grab hers, but he stopped her, saying he had it, smiling at her.

Piper smiled back, albeit halfheartedly.

Mellie was standing at the door when they walked over, on the phone. They looked at her, and she held up a finger, telling them to wait.

The captain came over and opened the door for the three of them. Bidding him a good day, Jason and Piper walked out, heading to the parked car that was waiting for them. Mellie followed behind, still on the phone.

Once they got in the car, Mellie ended the call, giving a huff of frustration.

Piper and Jason turned to her, and it was Piper who asked what was wrong. Mellie sighed and looked out the window, silent.

"Mellie?" Piper asked the cloud nymph.

"The paparazzi have figured out what hospital Tristan's at. And they've also managed to figure out that you're on their way, so those bastards are there, waiting.

Piper froze. Jason gave Mellie a panicked glance, before turning to his girlfriend. "Pipes, you okay?" He said with a furrow of his brow.

Piper nodded, then paused and shook her head as tears started to fall. She let loose a sob, before putting her face into her hands and starting to cry more.

"Hey, hey, Pipes. It's okay, It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay." He was rubbing her back, and Mellie was looking out the window, her fists balling into fists then relaxing over and over again.

"Fuck every single one of those news starved, life-ruining, vultures." she hissed. Jason reeled back in surprise when he saw her eyes, which were red and alight with fury. That was new.

"Piper…" he tried, but Piper held her hand up, shutting him up.

"Don't tell me to calm down, or tell me it's going to be okay because it's not. Those pieces of shit are the worst fucking things to ever come into my life, and I am going to rip their throats ou-"

Jason had put his hand over her mouth, and stared at her. Her eyes went from red to brown, her anger dissipating. "Piper." He said his voice firm. "I want you to listen to me. I get you're pissed off, I honestly do. But I need you to calm down, just for a few minutes. We're almost there, and I really need you to stay calm until we get into the hospital."

Piper was breathing heavily and jerked so his hand was no longer on her mouth. She turned away from him, not speaking and giving him the cold shoulder, "Piper…" he said.

"Can you not right now Jason? Please?" she hissed, still not facing him.

Jason bit his lip, running a hand through his hair. Mellie was looking between the two, her face one of surprise.

They pulled up to the hospital, and Jason repressed a snarl when he saw the dozens of reporters waiting and watching the car as it pulled up. He glanced at Piper, who was still staring out the window.

Jason opened his door a second later and winced the second he heard people yelling. Take a breath, Grace, he reminded himself. He held a hand out to Piper, who took it, still not meeting his eyes.

The second Piper stepped out, the yells became louder and louder, until Jason felt overwhelmed by them. The loud sounds were not helping his ADHD at all. Reminding himself to breath, he managed to wrap an arm around Piper and they walked to the door, Mellie close behind.

Piper was looking down, watching her feet. Jason could feel her trembling in anger. They had twenty feet to go.

A paparazzi asked a question. Piper trembled even more. Fifteen feet.

Then at ten feet came the question, "Miss McLean, is it true that this was a hate crime against your father for his race?"

Piper whirled, turning to face the man. Jason couldn't grab her in time, and the next thing he knew, Piper was right up in the face of the man, who was already sweating bullets by this point.

Jason reached her side, grabbed her arm, and tried to pull her towards the door. But it failed, as Piper stood her ground, and hissed curse after curse at the other man.

Jason let out a huff, and wrapped his arms around her, stopping her from going at the man with her knife. "Let go off me!" she hissed, still glaring at the frozen paparazzi.

"You worthless piece of shit!" she yelled at the man. "You think you're getting a nice old story don't you?" she cried looking around at everyone furiously filming and jotting down what was going on. They looked away ashamed.

"You all think it's so correct to ask me these stupid questions when my dads in the FUCKING HOSPITAL? DON'T YOU, YOU PIECES OF ABSOLUTE SHIT?"

"Piper." Jason hissed, still holding her back.

"Don't you dare use that fucking tone with me right now, Jason." came her hiss.

Piper somehow managed to wiggle out of his grasp and was stalking towards the man again, tears of fury streaming down her face when Jason barked out her name.

Startled, she turned, and Jason used her surprise to grab her hand and bring her inside. They got into the lobby, and Jason sat her down.

She tried to get up, but Jason, who was standing in front of her, held her down. He met her eyes, and spoke clearly and slowly, "Piper, sit down." His tone was colder than he meant it to be, and Piper looked at him in surprise. Her eyes stopped looking so red and returned to their normal colour.

She took in some shallow breaths, looking around. Seeing Jason's frazzled face, Mellie standing in the corner, and the look of surprise on the faces of the people around them.

"I-I-" she let out a sob, and clung to Jason, all of her anger flying away in an instant. Jason rubbed her back, biting his lip as his girlfriend clutched the back of his shirt, sobbing.

"Why did I do that?" she babbled, "Oh gods, why did I do that?" she let out a moan, followed by a sob, and Jason held her tight.

Mellie had quietly came up, and Jason pulled away so Mellie could talk to Piper. Mellie put a hand on Piper's cheek, wiping a tear away as she spoke softly to the teenage girl, "Honey, we can go up to you're dads room. He got out of his second surgery about an hour ago, and won't be awake but we can go. Do you want to, honey?"

Piper nodded, and Jason helped her up.

She curled into his side as they walked, leaning on him, and clutching him tightly. In turn, Jason's arm was around her shoulders, pulling her close. When they got into the elevator, and they leaned against the wall, he kissed the crown of her head as she pressed closer to him.

They walked down the hall, and it was Mellie who opened the door. Piper stood in the doorway for a second, staring before rushing to her father's bedside.

Jason followed soon after, and couldn't help the flip of his stomach when he saw Piper's father. He was pale, with a jagged red scar that had been neatly stitched up across his cheek.

Piper was sat on a stool at her father's bedside. One of her hands was intertwined with her fathers, and the other was smoothing back his hair, fixing the sheets around him. Jason could see the tears in her eyes, but she was holding them back.

Jason stood behind her, but soon pulled up a stool of his own. Neither stool had a backing, which allowed Jason to keep his arms wrapped around Piper's waist.

Piper pulled away from her father after a few minutes of fussing, and let her head hang forward. Jason pulled even closer until her back was right against his chest.

He kissed the side of her face, and he saw the small smiled that graced her lips for a split second. Her hands were resting on his, and Jason took that opportunity to grab one of them and rub soothing circles into her palm.

Piper smiled at him and leaned back. Her breathing started to deepen, and realising she was falling asleep, Jason convinced her to move to the couch with him.

He himself didn't mean to fall asleep, but his lack of movement led to him closing his eyes, and the next thing he knew, he was asleep.

5:50 pm, Tuesday, January 19, 2011

Jason blearily opened his eyes, hearing someone call his name. Piper was in front of him, smiling a warm smile.

"Hey sleepyhead," she said, running a hand down the side of his face.

"Wha- how long was I asleep?" he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Most of the day. It's almost six now," she told him.

Jason stretched and looked at her. Her hair was down, and her sweatshirt had been discarded. She looked gorgeous.

"My dad was up for a few hours," she told him, "I wanted to wake you up, but he insisted I let you sleep." she gave a small laugh. "Seem's like you needed it."

Jason gave a laugh, and wrapped an arm around her, "How is he?"

Piper fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "He'll survive," came her answer.

Jason held her tight and Piper leaned into him. They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Jason's stomach rubles rather loudly.

"Oh shit, you haven't eaten in hours!" Piper cried, pulling out her phone. "I'll order something, what do you want?"

Jason leaned back, "Pizza?"

"Sounds good to me. I'll wait till Mellie gets back, see what she wants."

"Where is Mellie?" Jason asked, suddenly noticing her absence.

"She stopped by the house to drop off a couple of things. She'll be back any minute now." Piper said, scrolling through her phone. "What do you want?" she asked, looking at her boyfriend.

"Do they have meat lovers?" he asked.

"I am not ordering that." Piper huffed, giving him a look.

"Fine, I'll have a cheese Pizza," Jason said, glancing at the door.

Piper gave a hum of agreement, tapping on her phone. At that moment, Mellie walked in, looking slightly frazzled.

She glanced at the couch, and upon seeing Jason was awake, gave a wide smile. "You're awake!" she said.

Jason nodded.

"We're ordering Pizza," Piper said, "Do you want anything?"

"Er...Piper?" Mellie ventured.

"Yeah?" Piper said, looking up in confusion at the cloud nymph.

Mellie gave a heavy sigh and looked out the window towards the setting sun. "The paparazzi are back."

Piper tensed next to Jason and he could see her teeth clench and the way her fingers counting up to ten and back down. "Why?"

"Maybe they think they'll catch you going out to dinner, I don't know. But I suggest you either go out now and don't come back, or stay here, and leave later tonight." Mellie said, crossing her arms.

Jason and Piper exchanged a glance. Piper then glanced at her father, who was still asleep. Piper seemed to deflate. "I'll stay here," she whispered, wringing her hands. Glancing back at her father, she spoke again, "I don't want to leave quite yet."

"Piper hun, just go home. Go out, get some dinner. Your dads likely not going to wake up again, so why stay here?" Mellie said softly.

Piper looked away, not meeting anyone's eyes, "I don't want to have a repeat of earlier." she finally whispered after a minute of tense silence.

Jason grabbed her hand, "Hey, I'll be there Pipes. And it's only going to be like one minute with those assholes, and then we'll be in the car. Speaking of which…" he turned to face Mellie, "Do we have a rental car or anything?"

"I brought one of the family cars over. It's parked out front. Here, I have the keys." Mellie tossed the keys to him.

Jason looked at Piper, "Do you want to go, honey?" Piper didn't answer for a moment but gave a short nod.

Jason stood up and Piper followed suit. He tugged on an overcoat and as did Piper, but she was still shuffling through her backpack. Jason glanced at her, "What are you looking for?" he asked.

"I'm seeing if I have a hat or some sunglasses," she told him, still looking.

Mellie spoke up, "I grabbed some hats before I left." she rummaged through her own bag, before pulling out two beanies, one white and one blue.

Piper took the white beanie, and Jason put it on her, laughing and kissing her forehead as he did. Piper gave him a smile, and Jason felt warm.

Piper cancelled their previous order, and they set out.

He pulled on a pair of gloves and his beanie as they got into the elevator, all too aware it would be cold when they got out. Piper leaned against him, and smiled, "It was snowing earlier. I'm sad you missed it, it was so gorgeous."

Jason laughed, "Well I'll be awake next time."

"You better be."

The elevator dinged, and they stepped out. They were walking to the front door when Piper suddenly paused, a sudden panic on her face. "Hey, what's-" Piper grabbed his arm and was trying to walk back to the elevators.

He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to face him, "Hey what's wrong?" he asked, noticing her increasing panic.

"I can't do this, I can't go out there, I-"

"Hey. It's going to be okay Piper. We're literally going to be out there for like one minute, okay? Okay, Pipes?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, okay," Piper said, taking in a steadying breath. "We can do this, let's go."

"That's the spirit," Jason said, giving her a chaste kiss.

Piper smiled at him, and took another deep breath, before she walked to the door, hand in hand with Jason. Jason was the one to open the door, so Piper stepped out first.

Immediately, questions were being thrown at them. Piper tensed, but Jason leaned down slightly and started whispering comforting things to her. She nodded along.

They reached the car quickly and got in. As they pulled into the street, Piper sighed from the passenger seat.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, "Let's just get some dinner."