The Holiday That Changed My Life

Part One Hundred and Seventeen

Astons P.O.V.

We stayed at the hospital for the best part of an hour whilst the doctors spoke to the family, offering the support available and whatnot before all four of them had a moment in a separate room. I stayed outside, I didn't feel it was my place to go with them, it was more of a family matter. Once they were all done in there, they all set off to their own homes, Lucys mum staying with Rachel as she didn't really want to be on her own tonight.

And I didn't even know what to say to Luce. She's been in some sort of daze since we left her dads room, she's not spoken a word to me at all. My heart was breaking for her, I couldn't even imagine if that was my dad. But at least Luce knows now that her dad was proud of her.

"Let's get you warmed up babe." I said as I switched off the car, climbing out as Luce took a few minutes to follow suit. "I'll go switch the heating on-"

"How'd the Brits go?" Luce asked as she pushed past me once I'd opened the front door.

"Luce that's not important-"

"Did you win? Because you were there for quite a long time."

"Babe the awards don't matter right now, let's just get you ready for-"

"Just tell me how the damn awards went! It's not hard Ast!" Luce shouted, turning on the spot to face me with her red puffy eyes.

"We got all four." I sighed, running my hand through my hair. I knew what she was doing, she's trying to distract herself from what's happened.

"That's great!" She gasped before throwing her arms around my neck. "I'm so happy for you."

"Cheers babe." I frowned, wrapping my arms around her waist tightly.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there, I should've stayed with you and-"

"I know what you're doing Luce, but you're gonna have to come to terms with this sooner or later."

"Come to terms with what?" She asked, pulling back with a frown on her face.

"Y-You're dad died babe."

"What?" She laughed, stepping back so we were no longer touching. "My dad's fine, I just saw him a few hours ago."

"Yeah you did, but he died about an hour ago." I frowned as Luce looked at me confused.

"Whatever Ast." She tutted, rolling her eyes before heading up the stairs.

What the hell just happened? She's pretending right? She was there when he died, she's got to know, doesn't she?

I locked the front door and turned the lights off before going upstairs myself, seeing Luce by the bed as she shrugged herself out of her dress. I left her to it as I went into the wardrobe and stripped myself of my suit before sticking on an old pair of joggers and a plain white t shirt for lounging about in before we went to bed.

"Ast?!" Luce called just as I walked out of the wardrobe.

"Yeah?"

"Do we have any wrapping paper?" She asked, sat on the carpet by the drawers, rooting through the bottom one.

"Wrapping paper? What for? It's past Christmas." I frowned, sitting on the edge of the bed to put some socks on.

"Yeah but it's dads birthday next month and I wanna make sure his present's finished so I don't have to worry about it." She smiled, digging out her dads presents from the drawer and setting them on the floor.

"Okay, we'll sort that out in a minute," I said, getting up off the bed and going over to her. "But first I need to talk to you."

"Sure, but make it quick, I need to find some wrapping paper." Luce said as I took her hands and led her over to the bed, both of us sitting down.

"I will..Babe I need you to listen to me okay?" I asked her as I squeezed both of her hands and she nodded at me. "I'm really really sorry, but your dad's gone Luce."

"Ast we went over this downstairs-"

"Alright let's try this another way," I muttered under my breath. "You know when I'm lying, right?"

"Yeah, your left eye twitches a little, but what's that got to do with anything?" She frowned as I sighed.

"I want you to look into my eyes when I tell you this, and my eye's not gonna twitch because I'm not lying."

"Okay."

"Me and you were at the hospital yeah? And we went in to see your dad, he told you he was proud of you and you told him about us trying for a baby..Did my eye twitch?" I asked as she shook her head with a frown.

"No, but I was there Ast."

"I'm not finished. After you told your dad about us trying for a baby you turned to me and said that you knew we weren't supposed to tell anyone but you thought it might, and then you got cut off by your dads machine-"

"La la la la la!" Luce cut across, pulling her hands away from mine and sticking her fingers in her ears whilst scrunching her eyes up tight.

I took Luce by her wrists and pulled her hands away from her head before saying, "Baby I'm so so sorry."

"He's really gone? A-And he's never coming back?" She asked as her eyes started to fill up with tears again.

"I'm afraid not." I sighed just before Luce burst into tears again and practically fell into my arms.