Love in Opposition

17-Awake

Reid's POV
"Reid!" I woke up to someone shaking me. I opened my eyes and saw that it was Aspen. "What's up, is everything ok?!" I sat up slightly panicked and turned towards her. "Everything's fine. Joy, the receptionist at the hospital, she just called me. You're dad is awake." I practically jumped up from the bed. "When can I go see him?" "It's supposed to be between 8 and 11 in the morning, which we just missed since it's 11 right now, or between 2 and 9 at night. They like to give nurses plenty of time to get patients lunch and stuff. But, anyway, since your girlfriend works at the hospital, I can get you in whenever you want to go. But only you and maybe Vera, if your brothers want to come they have to come during visiting hours or with me and not you." "Let's go, right now." "Ok. Let me put on my shoes and brush my hair. I can't have my coworkers seeing me a mess." I quickly started putting on my shoes and gathering up my phone, wallet, and keys. She put on her shoes and brushed her hair all the way out. I pulled her into a long kiss. "Thank you, for helping me see him. And for making sure they would contact you if he woke up." "Of course, I know you've been worried about him." I kissed her again and then guided her to the garage. We got into my car and I drove to the hospital as fast as I could.

We got to the hospital and I got out of the car, then went and opened Aspen's door for her. "Come on, just walk with me and act like you belong here." I listened closely and followed closely behind her. She stopped to talk to people every once in a while but kept it brief. We arrived at a room and she stopped. "This is it, I'll be right here when you're done." She pointed to a chair right next to the door and started to move toward it. "Wait." She spun back around to face me. "What?" "I want you to meet him, or well him to meet you." "I don't want to intrude, I mean you haven't been able to talk to him in almost a week and he literally got shot." "I know, I just- You're important to me Aspen, and so is he, so I want you to meet each other. If you don't want to then I understand, I know it's soon, I just want you to." "If it's important to you then it's important to me too, so I will." "Thank you." "Thanks for asking." I took her hand in mine and opened the door knocking before actually walking in. "Come in."

I walked in and she followed close behind me. "Hey dad." "Hey Reid. How are all of you? Is Vera ok?" "She's fine dad, confused as to why you're not at home but she's ok. Flynn and Blaze have been running the business for the most part while I was holding everything down at home. How about you?" "Pretty good for getting shot I guess. Who's this?" He pointed at her with his eyes and I felt her grip tighten on my hand. "Dad, this is Aspen. My girlfriend." "Hi, Mr.James. It's nice to meet you." "Ricco, please. It's nice to meet you too. Now, why didn't you tell me you were seeing anybody." "Honestly?" "Always son, you know that." "We didn't start going out til after you got shot. She's a nurse here." "To clarify, I'm not your nurse, just a nurse. I was working when you were brought in so I was around." "How long was I out?" I looked down at my shoes and rubbed the back of my neck. "A week." I expected a visceral reaction but instead he didn't really react at all. "Well, congratulations. Now, where are the rest of my children?" "Vera's in school and the boys can't come until 2. I actually am not supposed to be here right now. Aspen snuck me in." "Well then, tell Flynn and Blaze that they need to be here at 2 on the dot and you get Vera here as soon as you can after she gets out of school." "Ok, I will." "And tell all my friends that I don't want any of them to come here to see me. They can see me when I get out." "Will do." "Alright now get out of here, I want to relax for a little bit before I have to deal with your brothers." "Ok, bye dad." "Bye son, it was nice meeting you Aspen." "You too Mr.James." "Please, just call me Ricco." "Sorry, I'll work on it." With that we left the room. We went down to the parking lot and got in my car.

She let out a heavy sigh next to me and I looked over at her. "What's up?" "That was stressful, I feel nauseous." "You did great, he really liked you. He told you to call him Ricco, not even his best friend is allowed to do that." I leaned over and kissed her gently. "Thank you." "Of course." I started driving down the road, looking over at her and trying to hit as many red lights as I could on the way back to my house.