Perfectly Mean

Oh, Christmas Tree!

The snoring was seriously annoying.  Hayden was getting tired of trying to tune it out, and he was beginning to realize that he'd have to wake up and make it stop.  He shifted, attempting to find a position that made the noise quieter.  It wasn't working.

He slowly pried his eyes open, and blinked at how bright the room was.  His tired eyes scanned the blue walls, confused by how familiarly strange they were.  The bed was strangely familiar too.  He liked the way he sank into it, and how the thick covers seemed to eat him whole.

The snoring continued, and he gingerly rolled over to see what the source was.  The irritating noise was coming from...Nova?  What was Ava's dog doing in a hospital, and on the bed next to him?

It was then that he realized he wasn't in a hospital, he was in his old room at the Halloway's.  A quiet sigh escaped him.  

Footsteps creaked in the hallway, disturbing the dog just enough to make her stop.  The door to his room eased open, and Ava peaked in.

"Hayden!" A smile lit up her face, and just seeing her was enough to light up his world.  She rushed over to his bed and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him as gently as she could.  "How are you?"

He thought for a moment.  "I've been better," he replied, slowly realizing how sore and weak he was.  "What am I doing here?"

An amused smile tugged at Ava's mouth.  "I knew how much you hated hospitals, so I convinced my mom to let you come here."

Hayden suddenly wished he could kiss her; no one had given him that much thought in years.  But he pushed the ridiculous notion to the back of his mind and smiled his thanks like a normal person, too tired to give a verbal response. 

"Well," Ava went on, pushing a chair up beside the bed and sinking into it.  "I should probably catch you up on everything.  Christmas is only a week away."

"One week?" Hayden managed to speak in his surprise.

"Yeah, you've been out of it for almost a week and a half.  Your dad...do you want to hear about your dad?" Her expression told him she would spare the details, so he nodded.  "He's being held at a Correctional Facility for now, but after he sees a psychologist, he might get transferred to a Behavioral Health Center.  He admitted that he hurt you, and so now you don't have to see him ever again if you don't want to."

A weight was suddenly lifted from his shoulders, and he closed his eyes for a moment.  He was finally safe.  His dad was never going to hurt him again. 

"Anyway, you're going to be staying with us for a while," Ava went on.  "At least until you have somewhere else to go.  But honestly, I like having you here, so don't get any ideas about leaving soon."

He smirked.  Leave it to Ava to make sure things happened her way. 

Ava suddenly jumped out of her chair, making him jump.  "I forgot, I'm supposed to tell the nurses as soon as you're awake!" She rushed out of the room, Nova giving a groan as she stretched lazily.

Ava ran down the staircase to where one of the nurses was sitting in the dining room.  He was working on something on his laptop.

"Chris, he's up," she said, attempting to look like she wasn't ready to spin around with glee. 

"Oh, awesome!" Chris didn't hesitate to stand up and snap the laptop shut, and headed for the staircase.  "Let Angela know too, will you?"

Ava nodded and left to find the no-nonsense woman, whom she had to admit was definitely not as fun as Chris.  When Angela had made her stay out of Hayden's room, Chris had an X-box marathon with her, and despite the fact that he won pretty much every time, Ava had a blast.