Never giving up on you - Completed.

17.

Caity

Two weeks had flown by; two weeks of utter relaxation, of family time, early morning breakfasts on the patio and late night barbeques on the beach. Austin was feeling a lot better since that one very bad day, and he was all smiles and fun as usual. That full-of-life-spark was back in his eyes and nothing could take his good mood down, not even when we had to go back to the US.

Perry had convinced him to schedule an appointment at his orthopaedist, since he was experiencing uncomfortable pain in his hip whenever he was walking. When I asked him how long he was already enduring this, he simply said 'A while' without any further explanation but a shrug before returning to his conversation with his father.

After that, he had called his specialists in Stanford to make an appointment, which was only one day after we'd come home. Since then I kept an extra eye on him, making sure he was okay until he told me to stop fussing over him.

His family had thrown us a proper goodbye party with a barbeque and loads of food, and we had been talking and having a good time until the late hours. I regretted it a little when we had to wake up early the next morning to catch our flight, and the more the day dragged on, the more tired I got. I was glad when our plane had finally landed back on L.A.X., we got our luggage and were heading back on our way home. Hailey was asleep in the back of the car, and Austin was humming along with the radio, as usual. His hand was on my thigh, his fingers softly tapping on the beat of the music. I looked at him for a while and smiled without a reason. He was taking me and Hailey home, since unfortunately I had to go back to work again tomorrow.

'Aust?'

'Yeah?' He dragged his eyes from the road and looked at me shortly.

'Why don't you stay with us a little longer? I mean, what's the point in driving up and down from L.A. to Stanford if you have to be back at the hospital tomorrow?' He looked a little contemplative, but nodded.

'Did you really think I was gonna leave you tonight?' He smiled at me and softly squeezed my upper leg, before turning his eyes back on the road. I cheered internally; saying there was no point I driving up and down was just an excuse for covering up I didn't want to be without him yet. By the smirk on his lips I knew he knew, though.

'I don't wanna be alone either,' he muttered. I chuckled and bit my lip. See?

&

I had a hard time waking up and getting out of bed the next morning. For a second I was wondering why the hell my alarm was going off, but soon I realized we weren't in Costa Rica anymore but back in the real life and I had to get up to go work my early shift.

I grunted and hid my face in Austin chest.

'I don't wanna,' I muttered. A soft chuckle escaped from his lips while he yawned and pulled me in his arms. 'Are you going to be fine alone with Hailey today?'

'Why would I not be?,' he whispered, not even opening his eyes. Yeah, why would he not be? They were like two peas in a pod, just as her and my father.

'I'll leave my mother's phone number for you, just in case.' Austin sighed and soon fell back asleep, and I kissed both him and a sleeping Hailey before getting out of bed.

I had to hurry a bit to get in at work on time, and Emma squeeled when she saw me coming in.

'Oh my, Cait! You look amazing!'

'What?,' I wondered, walking straight into the tiny kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee.

'You look so tanned and relaxed!'