Elizabeth's POV

"Fuck!!" The man on the line shouted, and the phone clanged to the floor.

"Hello? Anyone, can anyone hear me? Fuck." I said before slamming the receiver of the pay phone down. Shit. Shit. What should I do. Fuck.

Ashton's POV

I was slowly crawling my way through the air vents trying to find a way out. The first opening I saw led into the counterfeiting room. Another led into the office where I could see him. I saw him pick up the phone. "Ahh Mrs. Irwin..." Elizabeth? Did she finally answer? Why did she wait so long? If she was answering did something happen? I crawled away as fast as I could, she might ask to talk to me and even if she didn't the clock in the room read 12:22, he was going to find out soon that I was gone. I pulled the nightstand in front of the hole, but it wouldn't be long before they found it and saw the unlatched air vent, and realized that I was somewhere in the duct system. I had to find a place to hide, at least for now. I scrambled away and continued to look for and opening. "Fuck!!" I heard loudly. He found out. I knew it. I had to move.

Elizabeth's POV

I sat down, exasperated, on the bench outside of the hospital. After what felt like only 30 seconds but must've been at least 20 minutes Luke came out and sat down, silently, next to me.

"Did you hear?"

"What," I asked him.

"There was a motorcycle crash, the person died, but they have the same blood type as me so I am getting all of my tumors out tomorrow."

"So you'll be leaving?"

"Not for about a month after they do the surgery, just to make sure nothing else develops and so I can recover."

"That's great Luke." No it's not. You'll be leaving me. You're all I have here.

"But a person had to die. A person is gone so I can live. And what if they die for nothing. I am taking two kidneys. TWO. That's two separate people that could be saved is they needed a kidney and I am taking them both, and it could be a lost cause, what of the tumors develop again?" He said, his voice rising with each word.

"Luke, calm down. You are going to be fine, they are going to develop again and you are going to be fine. You are going to be tumor free and it is going to be amazing. You'll be able to live again." I smiled and rested my hand against his arm. "Let's go take a nap yeah?"

He ran his hand through his hair and just nodded and followed me inside.

---

"Mum! Hi! David! Calum!" I said stepping inside the quaint house, Ashton following in suit.

"Hello darling! Come give me a hug. Come on." My mum said, arms wide open. "So tell us. How is everything?" She said sitting in an armchair. David in the one next to her, Calum, Ashton and I sat down on the couch opposite them.

"Great everything has been fantastic. We just finalized the payments for our new house. And, Ash do you want to tell them?" I looked at my wonderful husband.

"Alright. WE'RE PREGNANT!" He said with a huge smile plastered on his face. My mum gasped, jumped up and practically tackled Ashton in a huge. I turned to David and hugged him, he shook Ashton's hand

"Congratulations son." He said.

"Have you thought of any names yet?" My mum asked excitedly.

"I like Jackson, if it's a boy. Maybe Sophie if it's a girl." Ashton said.

"Jackson is good. I'm not sure I love Sophie though, " I said looking him in the eyes.

---

Luke shook me awake from the nap. "C'mon, we have to go find a nurse," I said grabbing his hand. "Nurse Kelley! I know what I am going to name him. Jackson." I said smiling.

"That's wonderful, how did you decide?"

"I had a dream about what he would've wanted. I'm thinking I'll call him Jax or something. Jack seems too unoriginal for Jackson." I said, positively giddy.

Ashton's POV

I heard people running about underneath me. I passed another room that had a clock in it and now it said 12:45. I had to get out of here. I came to a fork in the ducts and turned left. After about 30 feet and vent appeared and led to what looked like a laundry room for a college or hotel. It was good as anything. I pushed the vent open with me feet and fell into a basket of dirty laundry. I didn't hear footsteps running around outside of the door so I took my chance and walked into a decorated hallway. It was a red patterned carpet with mustard yellow walls. There weren't too many doors, but there was an elevator at the end of the hallway. I ran towards it and pressed the up button. But which floor. I decided to press the button with the star on it, that usually means main level. The doors opened to reveal marble floor tiles and large potted plants and a spa like feel. "Sir?" I turned my head and saw a man dressed in all white. "Hi, welcome to Hyatt Regency Perth. Would you like a room?" Perth. I was in Perth with no money and no way to get back to Brisbane where Elizabeth was.

"Um, no thank you. If you don't mind me asking, what are the buildings next door?"

"Of course not. One is a rent by the month building. I think some men have been renting it for a few years now. The other is the spa portion of this hotel."

"Thank you," I said and began to exit.

"Have a nice day sir!" The man called after me.

"You too!" I turned and waved, trying to seem completely normal walking out of the hotel. Once I had walked through the doors I broke off at a sprint until I felt like I was about to faint and saw that I was at a bus station and a gas station. I walked into the gas station and noticed the cashier helping someone out. I walked up to him and waited until the person in front of him was done and had left. "Hi, if you don't mind me asking could you look up a few things for me." He nodded. "First thing. How much will a flight ticket from here to Brisbane cost right now. " He typed a few things into a computer and waited a moment.

"$250." Fuck.

"Alright. How far away are we from the Hyatt Regency Perth." He typed a few more things in.

"3.6 miles away." Fuck that was not far at all. I had to find a place to hide or to work or something.

"Thank you," I said quickly before running out of the doors. I ran around some more before deciding to go back to the gas station and asking if I could get a bus pass or something. I had to get out of Perth. "I'm back," I said as soon as I walked through the doors only to find a teenage girl at the register instead. "Oh, sorry. You aren't the same person. Apologies."

She giggled a bit. "It's totally fine. It was like so boring anyway." I sighed internally, teenagers.

"Anyway. I was wondering. I need to get back to my wife. She just had our baby and I got stuck here and I have no money. I need a bus pass but I can't afford it. I just love her so much I need to get back to her. And my son, or daughter, I love them all so much." She looked at me.

"Uh-huh. Of course, you love them. It's like a romantic movie. I'll pay for you, come look," She gestured around the counter. "This is the bus schedule. One will be here in about 20 minutes and it will take you to Esperance. About 9 hours. Hop off that bus and then after about an hour another bus will come and take you to Adelaide. Which is about 24 hours. There's a stop at Flinder's Ranges, not that there is much you can do there, but it's a break to stretch your legs and such. After that, I can't help you. But here, take $40 for the ride and help yourself to $20 worth of food and drinks here." She said, printing off my bus pass.

"Thank you. Could yo udo one last thing for me please though?" She nodded enthusiastically. "Can you tell me how much a flight from Adelaide to Brisbane is please?"

"Of course. One sec." She said typing. "About $150," She spoke up again.

"Okay thank you so much."

"No problem. Anything to help. Your wife is going to be so happy to see you!" She said as I walked to the back to the store. I only had $20 of merchandise that I could buy here so I had to choose carefully. I grabbed a pack of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and carton of lemonade. $10 left. I grabbed some plastic utensils for free and a sack of apples. $6 left. I grabbed 6 slim jims, gotta have some type of meat in there. She handed me a bag along with the
$40 and my bus pass and smiled. "Good luck!" She said as I went to go stand at the bus station. The bus came after a few minutes and I showed him my pass, he punched a hole in it and smiled. I glanced down at my food once I took a seat. 1 loaf of bread, 24 slices. 1 jar of peanut butter. 12 apples. I half gallon lemonade and 6 slim jims. I decided then that I would only eat when I absolutely had to, I had to save up for a flight.

~~1 day later~~

I arrived in Adelaide tired, simply wanting to fall down and sleep on a bed. I saw a cheap, rundown looking motel and walked inside. "How much to stay for one day?" I asked the old lady at the from desk.

"$15 darling." I handed her a 20 and received a 5 in return. "Room 12 honey. One floor up and it should be on your left." I nodded and said thank you quietly. Once I got to my room I sat down on the bed and watched as a cockroach scurried across the floor. Awesome. I looked at my bag of food again and my money. $25 left. I put away $10 and vowed to let that be the start of my savings for the plane ticket. I still had a lot of my lemonade left. 11 apples, I had used two pieces of bread and some peanut butter, but still had all six slim jims. I unwrapped one and ate slowly before stripping down to nothing and walking into the small bathroom. There was mold in the corners and rotting wood, but it was better than nothing. I grabbed the bar of soap and turned on the tap and scrubbed my filthy clothes until they began to smell normal again. I wrung them out to the best of my ability and lay them out to dry on the shower curtain rod. Then I walked back into the room and collapsed on the bed, pulling the covers up to my chin.

"Elizabeth. I'll be home soon." I whispered to no one before falling asleep immediately.

Notes