Ezra woke up to the sound of someone coughing. He snuck out of the hold he had around Aria without waking her up and walked downstairs. He followed the sound of coughing to find John sitting on the couch with a bowl in his hand. Ezra gasped as he realized his father was coughing up blood.
"Dad…" Ezra whispered. At that moment, Julie walked into the house. She went over to John and helped him stand up to walk him to the car.
"Ezra, go wake Aria, your sister, and Ben up and meet us at the hospital." Julie said.
Ezra didn't say a word but walked up the stairs with tears in his eyes. He entered his sisters' room and woke her up before heading towards Ben's room. He woke him up as well before walking into the room where Aria was sleeping.
"Aria?" He gently shook her awake.
"Yeah?" Aria asked sleepily.
"You need to get up, we have to go to the hospital." Ezra told her.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I'll tell you on the way there." Ezra said as he put his jacket on and they got into the car.
About 15 minutes later they were at the hospital sitting in the waiting room. As Aria sat in her seat she shivered, her body still reacting to last night.
"Ezra?" Aria asked. Ezra looked over at her questioningly.
"Will you put your arms around me? I'm really cold." She said as her teeth chattered.
"Aria, I just want to think right now." Ezra said softly
"Can I at least wear your jacket?" Aria asked.
Ezra took off his jacket and handed it to her before he stood up.
"I'm going for a walk." He announced before leaving the room.
Aria put the jacket on her seat and closed her eyes. She quickly fell asleep and didn't even notice that Ezra had come back.
"Aria?" Ezra said, but Aria didn't say anything. She was awake but she didn't want Ezra to know.
When Ezra said her name again, she mumbled a yes to let him know she was up.
"Aria, please get up so we can go see my dad." Ezra said.
With that, Aria stood up and followed Ezra. As they walked, Ezra reached for Aria's hand but she pulled away. Ezra didn't have time to say anything because they were standing in front of John's room.
"Go. I'll wait out here. Get me when you're ready." Aria said.
Ezra walked into the room to find Julie sitting on a chair beside John's bed, holding his hand while he slept.
"How is he?" Ezra asked.
"I don't know"
Ezra walked over to his father's side and pulled up a chair. He sat down and put his head on John's before he began crying.
"Please Dad get better." Ezra begged.
It had been about 45 minutes since he had entered the room and he had completely forgotten about Aria in the hall.
Hall:
A tall blond nurse walked by Aria and noticed her fragile state.
"Sweetheart, are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, I think I am, I'm just waiting for my boyfriend to come out of the room. Do you have a Motrin, my head is pounding."
"Sure, follow me." The nurse said as she helped Aria to her feet.
As they began to walk away, Ezra stepped out of the room.
"Aria, where are you going?" Ezra asked.
"I'll be right back, I promise."
After Aria got the pill, she walked back to John's room. She knocked softly on the door before entering the room.
"Where did you go?" Ezra asked.
"The nurse got me some medicine for my headache."
"Are you okay?" Ezra asked.
"I'm fine." She said.
"Aria, come here." Ezra said.
Aria walked over to Ezra and sat down on his lap.
"I'm sorry about earlier." Aria said, looking down.
"No, Aria, if I would have just held you then none of this would be happening."
"It's okay, Ezra." Aria said as she put a hand to his cheek. She rested her head on his shoulder as the doctor walked into the room.
"So I just wanted to discuss with you what's happening right now." He began. "We don't know if he'll make it to the end of the month, we need to know what you guys want to do. There are two decisions but you don't have to give me an answer until the end of the week, do you want to discuss things now?" He asked.
"Sure." Julie said.
"The first option is just to put him out of his pain and you could say your goodbyes, in a week and a half or you could wait it out, but I guarantee you that, that will be really painful for him. It's not just your decision, but it's his too, talk to him and see what you want to do and let me know. I'll let you discuss things." He said then walked out, Ezra put his head on Arias shoulder and put his arms around her waist, as she put her arms around his neck and pulled her close to him.
"Ezra its ok, you can cry I'm here and I'm not leaving." At that moment Ezra gripped Aria tighter and let out a sob as he cried. After Ezra stopped crying Kayla and Ben went to see John and then they drove home.
Ezra was forced to leave by his parents because they wanted him to sleep. They assured him that he could come back in the morning.
When they got into the house Ezra changed into sweats and he and Aria hopped into bed. Aria put her arms around his neck, his around her back. He pulled her against him and they both feel asleep after a while of Ezra crying and Aria comforting him.