"Aubrey, you should get back. You've already missed enough school." My mom tells me as we sit in the hospital room.

"It's fine, mom." I assure her.

Harry's back at the condo while me and my dad bring my mom home from the hospital. It's about time she's getting out of here.

"Honey, I'm going to be okay. I'm going home!" She tries to convince me, but I ignore her. I'm not leaving her again.

"So Harry's still going to leave tonight?" My dad chimes in.

"Yeah he has a flight at ten."

"Aubs, your mom's right; she'll be okay and you need to get back for school."

"I will go back! Just not now." I say with frustration.

I think they pick up on my frustration when they end the conversation, and I am thankful. Id be lying if I said I wasn't conflicted right now. My heart is torn between my family and Harry. I know that it isn't as big of a deal as I am making it out to be, but I'm confused.

I feel obligated to stay with my parents even though they're telling me to go back with Harry. Getting that phone call from my dad last week was the scariest moment of my life... It was worse than Ethan showing up in my house trying to get me back. Ya, that bad. I hate that I'm so far away from them, especially when my mom is sick. But I need to be in England. Harry is there, and school is there. It's my home now.


I leave the room to get some air and decide to call Harry. I left for the hospital after I told him I wanted to stay here, and I feel terrible about it. I didn't mean to scare him, but I don't know what I want anymore. After that conversation with Sophie, my apprehension to go back to England amplified greatly.

"Hey." I say quietly.

"What's wrong, Aubs?" He says just as soft.

"Just a lot on my mind. What are you doing?"

"Nothing really, do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." I admit. I know I should take his offer to talk because he will understand, but I can't bring myself to it. "I just wanted to tell you that we're coming back soon."

"Okay, I'll be here." He laughs.

"I love you, Harry."

"Is everything okay?" He asks. I've been trying my best to disguise my worry in my voice, but he's too good.

"Yeah, everything's good." I lie.

I'm getting that Sunday evening feeling that I hate. I'm dreading Harry leaving tonight, but I'm also dreading the day I eventually have to go back and leave my parents.

"Okay, I'll see you soon. Love you Aubrey." He's not convinced, but he hangs up anyway.


"Aubrey, talk to me." My dad sits next to me in the hospital corridor outside mom's hospital room. I hadn't even noticed he left the room.

"Huh?"

"What's going on? You've been up and down ever since you got here, and honestly I'm starting to worry about you more than your mom." He asks.

"I don't know..." I really don't want to get into it.

"Are you and Harry still okay?"

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing? Should I have moved to England?" I ignore his question.

He takes a minute to ponder my question, and I know he's thinking of one of his famous fatherly talks. "Yeah, I do actually. You're still going to school, a great school, and you're doing what's best for you."

"I just feel like I shouldn't have left everyone here for my boyfriend. It's selfish."

"Aubrey, it's not selfish. You have to worry about yourself sometimes, and that's what you're doing. There was no way you could make it at Stanford with all of the distractions, so you did what you had to do. And you didn't leave us, we're proud that you're going somewhere in your life."

"But now that mom is sick, I should be here to help take care of her."

"That's not your job, Aubrey. I love you for feeling that way, but you've got to worry about yourself here. Your mom is okay, you heard the doctor. You've done more than you know, and frankly, if you don't get on that plane tonight with Harry, mom might end up in the hospital again with all this stress you're causing her!"

He wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me to his side. "She hates that you think you need to stay. She loves having you here, but she worries about you."

"I worry about her! And you!" I object.

"I think you should go back with Harry. Everything here is under control, and you need to get back to school. I think Harry needs you just as much as we do."

"Dad..."

"Alright, as your father I'm making you go back." He smiles. "You can come visit you're next break, okay? Or mom and I can come there."

"I should probably go pack then." I say and he smiles. He can be very convincing.

"Okay, we'll meet you at home in an hour or so. You're making the right decision, Aubs."

"I love you dad." I wrap my arms around his neck and he hugs me tightly.

"I love you too, now get out of here." He smiles.

---

"We should probably leave at 5:30 if I'm going to make my flight." Harry says looking at the clock.

"If we're going to make the flight." I correct him with a grin.

"You're coming with?" He looks confused yet excited at the same time.

I give him a nod before his arms wrap around me and he squeezes me tightly. "I didn't want to go back with out you."

"I didn't want you to leave with out me either." I smile and kiss his cheek.

"Are you sure you're okay to come back though? What about your mum?"

"She's going to be okay. I need to get back home."

"I like when you say that." He smirks and rests his forehead against mine, keeping his hands wrapped around my waist.

"Say what?"

He closes the gap between us and kisses me quickly before murmuring a word against my lips. "Home."


The next few hours are spent packing and saying our goodbyes. It's tough for me every time to part ways with my parents, but this time significantly harder. Because of everything going on with my mom, I still feel that guilt for leaving. That talk with my dad earlier really did help though. I feel much better leaving than I did before knowing they think I'm doing the right thing.

"Aubs, we're here." Harry whispers before kissing my forehead to wake me up. I always fall asleep on planes and I wish I didn't because I know it's impossible for Harry to.

"Welcome to Paris, France, the current temperature is 14 degrees Celsius, a few clouds but a beautiful day here in the city of love." The flight attendant announces over the speaker when the plane lands.

"Paris? Did we have a layover or something?" I look up at Harry and he has the biggest, dimpled grin on his face.

"Nope, I'm taking you to Paris." He smiles. "surprise."

I pull out my ticket from my purse and realize that it says flight to Paris. I had been oblivious I guess getting on the plane earlier. "How did I not figure that out?" I laugh.

"You were pretty tired." He smiles. "But I hope you got your rest because we only have two days to explore Paris."

"You're kidding?"

"I thought it would be nice to have some time to ourselves, take a break from everything before we have to get back to reality." He says, draping an arm around my shoulder.

"I can't believe this Harry." I shake my head. This is really a huge surprise, a good one though. "How did I get so lucky with you?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing." He says and kisses me despite the plane full of onlookers.

Notes

Sorry for taking so long to update :( I've been trying to figure out how I wanted to end this and I've been focusing on my other story Too Much. There will ony be a few more chapters left, but let me know what you think!


Thanks for being patient! xx