love you goodbye. (slh)

i really can't stay...

author's note: hello guys!! sorry i haven't updated in such a long time - my life has been very hectic and i've been so busy working and studying that i haven't been writing much at all. i've received so many amazing, kind messages and comments about this story so i decided to take a little out of my morning today to write this next part! this is kind of sam's point of view, part one so there will be a continued part two soon!

also, i know this isn't my best writing ever, but i was trying to knock out 3 to 4 pages of this while also trying to study for a test so i apologize. the next part will be better, i promise!

please enjoy and don't forget to comment and like!

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Sam Hunt's POV:

I climbed the stairs one at a time, slowly, savoring every moment and last second of this family morning – a thing I often missed out on and would be forced to again. One break was all I'd wanted – it had been that simple and, yet, it wasn't. I knew my wife wanted the best for me and certainly the best for my career, but that couldn't mean she'd agreed to this heartbreaking cycle. My thoughts raced too quickly and, soon, my climb up the stairs had been completed. Ella and I arrived at the landing and I gently shifted her in my arms before her weariness lulled her back into the sleep she'd missed this morning. Her eyes bounced open and she glanced quickly up at me, the shine returning to her sleepy eyes before she regained her smile. I grinned back at her before setting her down. She giggled, the sound even better than the best music in the world, and ran into her bedroom. I straightened up, stretching my back, and followed her trail of wonder-filled joy. She didn't have any idea the blow her mother and I would deliver later this morning or of the knock on the door that would take me away. It wasn't like I didn't ask for this when I'd started my career, but a family didn't ask for it. My family didn't ask for it. I wanted nothing more than to dress Ella and go downstairs and enjoy a pancake breakfast with my family, the ones who stood by me while all of this craziness swirled around our lives, the ones who didn't deserve any of this.

I nudged Ella's bedroom door open a smidge more and found her digging through her bottom drawer for clothes. I remembered my wife's warning and the smile returned to my face as I crossed the room.

"Elly, let me pick something for you."

She laughed now, beyond a giggle, and looked at me, her blue eyes meeting mine in a striking gaze. "Okay, daddy!"

I sat down on my knees and pulled Ella closer to me in a hug. I squeezed her and she squirmed, but not in pain, I knew, because she was giggling crazily. Her curls bounced as she twisted her head and I released her, a grin on my face from the love that filled my body for this little girl and the other woman downstairs. Speaking of my wife, I could faintly hear the music she'd begun to play out of the speakers in the kitchen. I recognized the melody – one of the songs we'd danced to at our wedding. Years before Ella, before this house. I'd gotten taken away then, too – just two days after our wedding. We'd never gotten to have our honeymoon – I'd left for a month and then she'd been pregnant with Ella when I'd gotten home. We'd rushed to prepare ourselves for the new life – bought a bigger house and sold our apartment, thrown baby showers and accepted gifts aplenty, gone to numerous doctor's appointments, read books on parenting, listened to the often given, rarely asked for advice from friends. We'd done it all, but none of it had prepared us for the joy and warmth we'd felt the first time we'd held Ella. We'd named her after my wife's grandmother, who had been the most elated we were going to have a child, but had sadly passed just before the birth. Reminiscing made me lose my place in the world for a few moments, but I returned when I felt Ella tugging on the bottom of my t-shirt.