Just For Tonight

Media Cycle.

"Good news, good news, good news, thats all they wanna hear. No, they don't like it when I'm down. . . There's a whole lot more for me waiting on the other side. I'm always wondering if it feel like summer. I finally discovered that there's a whole lot for me waiting."

Christian~

My heart sinks as I read the text.

"Alex: Get here ASAP."

There's nothing else to go off of beyond that, nothing to let me hold onto whatever hope there is that she's okay. My heart pounds, and I can feel myself getting physically hot. Ashtyn's okay. She has to be. Finding the closest pair of shoes, I slip them on before all but sprinting out of our house to my car. How would I even begin to handle anything but good news right now? My throat closes in on itself, making it hard to breathe while my hands get clammy. Clenching my steering wheel, I pull out of our garage, then the driveway, before speeding down the road to the hospital. Ash has to be okay.

Not bothering to check in, I sprint through the halls to get to the room Ashtyn is in. Alex is waiting outside of it. I can't read his face, only that he's got tears streaming. My breath catches as the worst-case scenarios fly through my mind.

"Alex?" I ask, my voice shaky and broken as I speak his name. He looks up and sees me before nodding as he comes over and hugs me. Holy shit, she's gone, right? She has to be with how tightly he's hugging me. She can't be gone. The sheer panic of the thought sets in, and I seemingly forget how to breathe.

"She's gonna be okay," Alex sobs out. What? "She's gonna be okay." The euphoria that sets in is overwhelming as I feel my whole body relax, and I'm able to breathe again. Oh my god. Hugging Alex as tightly as he clings to me, both of us just letting out every emotion we have right now. She's gonna be okay.

Once Alex lets go, he shakes his head before finally letting me know more. "They're not entirely sure what's happened, just that her heart rate and blood pressure finally reached a normal level again. They also told me that her brain activity looked normal too, it's just a waiting game now for her to wake up. It could be hours, it could be days, maybe longer, but they seemed pretty optimistic now."

"Oh my god," I say, not knowing what else there is to say right now. "She's gonna be okay?"

Alex chuckles a little, nodding. "Yeah, she is."

Nat and Charlette arrive only moments after Alex and I settle. Following the news, each of them is all but sobbing, knowing that Ashtyn should be okay. After six days, we finally know that she's going to be okay.

After the four of us get over the initial elation of it, all we file into Ashtyn's room. There's no guarantee of when, but just the knowledge of soon is enough right now.

We all chat a little as the TV plays in the background before Charlette gets up, "Anyone wants anything from Starbucks?"

Alex and Nat both tell her what they want before she looks at me. Shaking my head, I reply, "I'm good, thank you." Before reaching into my pocket and pulling out my wallet. "Here, I've got it," I add, pulling out a fifty for her.

"Stop," Charolette says, shaking her head. "You're not even getting anything. Even if you were, I'm still not taking it."

"I'll take it," Alex pipes up, making me laugh as Charolette shakes her head. "Just take it, mom, he makes more money than anyone needs to."

Charlette scoffs and shakes her head, "Regardless, I'm not taking his money. Just like I don't take your money, or Nats, or Ashtyns, regardless of how much you any of you guys make."

Knowing there's no chance I win this, I put the bill back and shake my head. It'd have been the least I could do given everything they've done for Ashtyn.

Charlette heads out, and a few moments later, Alex nods to the TV. "Hey Yeli, they're talking about you."

Glancing up, I see the headline and shake my head, "I talked to Counsell earlier about an extended leave. He's working on getting me on the restricted list. Basically, that just means I can take as much time off as I need to, with the catch of me not making any money. Given my contract, I'm not sure that I can get it because of the no opt-out clause that's written in. However, given the circumstances, I think they might make an exception. Couns said he'd talk to the people he needed to to get it for me. Which would be Stearns and then Mark. If they approve, then it'll go to the big wigs at MLB for them to allow it. Given I do plan on going back. I don't think they're going to have an issue with it. It's all just getting everything official."

"Seems complicated," Nat pipes in.

"Yeah," I reply, nodding, "Way more than it should be, it feels like."

"People don't really know about Kacey yet, do they?" Alex asks.

Shaking my head, I glance at Ashtyn, "Not really. I know she told her staff. I just told Counsell when I left. Beyond that, I don't know that either of us said anything publicly. Neither of us really wanted to have that attention on us trying to get through everything. This morning I did say he could hold a press conference if needed regarding everything. Once news really breaks about Ash, it's not really something we can keep hiding."

"I'm surprised nothings broken yet," Alex says, "When you were being a dick, the story seemed to get out pretty quick."

It's hard to stifle my laugh as I shake my head, "If I remember correctly, that story broke because you told your big-mouth girlfriend at the time."

"Shit, you're right," Alex replies, laughing a little, "My bad." Scoffing, I just nod, looking down, a small smile on my face. "But still, she'd mentioned new staff to me not too long ago. I'd have figured at least one person in her company would spill."

"Do they even know yet, though?" I ask.

"Not about the OD, but about Kacey," Nat answers. "She obviously told everyone when she went back to work. I figured that I should at least let someone know that Ash wouldn't be in for a while. Given how little we actually knew, I decided it'd be best if I didn't say that she OD'd and just said she wasn't doing well and needed help dealing with losing Kacey. Buys her a little time and kinda helps with the media cycle side of things."

Nodding, I purse my lips to the side. I should probably tell Counsell not to mention the OD specifically if he does a press conference. That should be on her own terms if possible. If the news cycle hasn't broken it, me needing to be here isn't about to do it instead. That'd fuck with her company, and I can't do that. Especially since the public doesn't know about us losing Kacey. God, that headline would be horrible. I can only imagine something along the lines of, "Christian Yelich's fiance and baby momma, Ashtyn Kingston, overdoses in Milwaukee club." They'd go in on her about being a new mom while addicted to god knows what, all while seeming to have this charitable well-liked public persona. How irresponsible she is and what a terrible mother she is for doing that. In turn, the story would spin on me. How could I let that happen? Let my fiance and the mother to my child overdose to the point she was hospitalized for it. There'd obviously be the assumption that I was using as well, I'm sure. Not only would it be a publicity nightmare for her and her company, but it'd also be one for me as well.

Grabbing my phone, I pull up Counsell's contact and open our messages. "Hey, they think Ashtyn is going to be okay. There's no telling, though, on when she's going to wake up now. Somehow the media cycle hasn't picked up on Ashtyn's OD, and I'd like to keep it that way. Saves a publicity nightmare for not only her but for me too. If you have to do a press conference, just say that we lost Kacey and that Ashtyn had complications after that. That's all that needs to be public for now." I hit send and just hope for the best of the inevitable shit storm that has to be brewing.