“Get inside, Donna.” Rhys says, “I have to go and help Elijah to heal.”

We're standing outside my house now and I look at him hesitantly, “But what about Dad?”

“I'm coming back.” Rhys strokes my cheek, “I'll sort it out, I promise. Trust me, just trust me.”

“I do. Rhys, what happened this morning?”

“We'll talk on the plane.” Rhys assures me, smiling weakly and then turning to begin jogging down the driveway. I turn and open the door, running up the stairs and into my room. I take out my extra-large duffel bag, shoving a pile of clothes, shoes and toiletries into it. On auto-drive, my mind remembers to shove in underwear and worn-out clothes for night-time, too. I dash rapidly into the bathroom and snatch up my toothpaste, my toothbrush and my hairbrush, dropping it into the duffel bag.

I zip it closed and then hear a knock on my window. I go over and open it. Rhys leans in through the window, but for some reason, doesn't come into the room, “I'm going to go knock on your door. I want you to open it and then I'll take care of things. Is your dad home?”

“Yeah, he should be.” I nod.

“Okay.” Rhys disappears without so much as a goodbye.

This must be really bad.

I close the window and thud down the stairs with my duffel bag. There's a rat-a-tat-tat at the door. I run over and open it. Rhys walks in, his hair ruffled by the suddenly strong breeze, the colour stinging in his cheeks. I close the door after him.

Hearing the door slam shut, Mom and Dad both come into the hallway. Dad narrows his eyes at Rhys and Mom looks at him apologetically. Rhys looks at the ground docilely as Dad notices the bag on my shoulder. “What's in there?” He nods at the bag.

“My clothes.” I say defiantly, knowing that my dad will catch on.

“We've talked about this. You're not going.” Dad is fighting to stay calm; I can see this by the clenched fists at his sides, the bone-white knuckles, the vein pumping in his forehead and the tightness of his jaw.

“Please, sir.” Rhys looks up at him, “My father is on his deathbed. I got the call this morning. The stitches from his last operation have unravelled and the doctors are preparing for another operation. There's a lot of  bleeding, both internal and external. I'm not sure if he'll last this week.”

“I am sorry, but your family problems have nothing to do with us. You should spend the last few minutes of your father's life with him. Donna has no place there.”

Rhys lets out a sob, “Please, sir. I beg of you! Don't let my father's dying wish go to waste. Please!”

Mom tugs on Dad's sleeve desperately, empathetic tears brimming in her eyes but he ignores it and instead looks at me, the vein in his forehead throbbing more than ever. “Rhys, you should make your ticket and leave immediately. Your father is serious.”

“Take Donna.” Mom says abruptly.

I look up at her, awestruck with wonder. Her eyes are dark, determined. “Lorraine!” Dad sounds choked.

Ignoring Dad completely, Mom continues, “Take Donna with you. I won't let your dad's dying wish go to waste. Both of you leave immediately, there's not a minute to waste with your father's unstable condition. Tell him we send our regards.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Rhys stands straight and wipes his eyes. He puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me out of the house. We walk down the driveway and Rhys opens the door of his car for me, even stooping to do my seatbelt before sitting in himself.

The car skids on the road as we bounce away. I hold on to the edge of my seat, my face drained of colour. We roll through the mist and then the car halts to a stop. Rhys gets out and sprints round to my side, helping me out. He jogs in to the Tower, dragging me with him.

Serena is sitting on the floor beside a pale Elijah, who is spread out on the sofa. She looks up as we come in and tries to smile at me. I nod at her. Rhys takes my bag from me, “Give me that. Refill your pouches. Steel is in the bag.”

I go over to the glass table and take out the three pouches I have with me twenty-four seven due to Rhys' insistence. I refill them until they're ready to burst and then put them back into my pockets. Then I kneel beside Serena in front of Elijah.

He tries to smile at me. I smile back at him, “How are you feeling?”

“Better than I was feeling before,  that's for sure.” He replies, his eyes drooping. Serena and I watch him until he begins to snore.

Then we stand and I look at Serena with doubt painted on my face, “I thought angels don't sleep?”

“They don't, not usually but sleeping is a big part of recovery for angels. He'll be back to normal when he wakes up in a couple of hours.”

“And I'm sure you will take good care of him in those crucial few hours. I won't be here to witness that, Donna and I will be on our flight. Your tickets are upstairs. Once Elijah is capable of moving, you have to get going. Here is your bag, Donna. Let's go.”

I take my bag from Rhys and he steers me out of the house. In Rhys' car, wearing a chauffeur's hat, is Ruby, the girl who protected me last summer. She was the one who had my back during the battle, after we got off to a rocky start.

Ruby's here. Again.

I grin at her and she winks. Rhys lowers me into the back of the car and takes shotgun for himself.

We emerge from the mist at around seventy mph and I look out the window as we bump down the road, swerving to avoid potholes.

                                                                     ***

We reach the airport just as the sun disappears below the horizon. Ruby gives me a quick, brief squeeze before sitting back in the car and driving away. I then look up at Rhys, looking for the next instructions. Rhys glances around anxiously and then down at me. “I'm sorry.” He shrugs at me, “I haven't brought you anything but trouble since the first time I saw you.”

“Don't say that, Rhys. Please don't. We should go before my dad gets here.” I turn in the direction of the airport doors. We walk in together and soon enough, we're on the plane. Suddenly overcome with the need to slumber, I snuggle against Rhys and close my drooping eyes...

“Hey. Hey!” I feel Rhys' warm breath flush against my cheek. I curl my arm around him, pressing my face into the hollow between his neck and his shoulder. I hear someone chuckle.

He shakes me and I groan in response, clutching him tighter. Again, there's a low chuckle. “Donna, we're here. At Arizona.” He tells me, trying to unlatch my arms from around him.

I look up at him sleepily, “Are you going to carry me out?”

For the first time in these past days, I see a smile flash on Rhys' face, “I could, but I don't think I will. Come on, we're landing.”

There's an old woman, who's sitting on the seat in the next aisle. She'd been watching us. I realise she was the one chuckling at us. As I look at her, she smiles warmly, clutching the hand of her snoring husband. I smile back weakly at her, still half-blinded by sleep.

I sit up straight, closing my eyes as I feel my stomach turn when the plane begins to go down. When the plane rolls to a stop, Rhys already has our duffel bags in hand and we are the first to get out of the plane and into the airport.

Rhys gently entwines his soft hand with mine and I hold on it, grateful for his comforting presence. We are near the entrance when someone cries out and a blur rushes over and throws their arms around Rhys. Rhys stumbles a step backwards and never leaving my hand, he puts his free arm around the person.

When the person finally pulls away, she looks at me and shakes my hand politely. “I'm Carmen.”

Carmen has long black hair and cat-green eyes. Her amazingly curvy figure is accentuated by her skin-tight clothes.

“Donna.” I say, smiling.

“I know. Rhys has told us a lot about you. In fact, he never stops talking about you. Ow! What did you do that for, Rhys?”

Rhys rolls his eyes fondly, “Come on, where are the rest of them hiding out?”

“They're over there.” Carmen leads us over to a pretty standard looking family. The tall and lean father, the rosy cheeked overly-concerned mother and the small child running purely on sugar.

The little one – Chloe, I presume – runs over and launches herself at Rhys.

“Hello, Chloe.” Rhys chuckles, “How are you?”

“I'm good. I have so much to tell you, Rhys! Is this your girlfriend?” She looks up at me, seemingly awe-struck. Rhys nods. “She's so pretty.” Chloe says with wide eyes.

“Not as pretty as you.” I counter, making Chloe giggle with glee.

“See, Carmen? I am pretty, Rhys' girlfriend said so!”

Carmen scoffs at her little sister and goes over to her parents, who are looking at Rhys with caring tears in their eyes. “Come on, Chloe. Let's go to your mom and dad.”

“Okay!” Chloe skips over without another word, eager to obey Rhys. When we stop in front of the couple, the mother – Eve – is unable to contain herself and throws her arms around Rhys, holding him close. I smile and let go of his hand so he can hug his 'mother' properly. Rhys embraces her tightly, smiling into her hair. When Eve pulls back, her eyes are still glistening. She touches the palm of her hand to Rhys' cheek, “Oh, Rhys. We've missed you so.”

“I missed you lot too. More than I could care to imagine.”

“Is this...” Eve turns to me.

“This is Donna, my girlfriend.” Rhys nods.

Eve hugs me tightly and then pinches my cheeks, “Welcome to Arizona, Donna. Come on everybody, let's go to the car. Rhys and Donna are tired from their long journey.”

“I'll bring the car around.” Darren jogs out through the entrance.

Eve turns to me, “So, darling. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No, ma'am.” I reply, smiling politely at Eve.

“Oh, please! Call me Eve.” Eve smiles down at me, waving her hand around dismissively.

“Right.”

“What do your parents do, honey?” Eve asks. I look at Rhys, who shrugs.

“They're models. They both have been models since they were thirteen or something.”

“Anyone who we might have heard of?” Carmen jumps eagerly into the conversation.

“Lorraine and Rob Morrison. You might have heard of them. They're not really – ”

“Rob Morrison?? He's your dad?” Carmen looks at me with wide eyes. I nod silently, overwhelmed by her reaction. “I love Rob Morrison! I had no idea he was married! Or had a kid!”

“Yeah, well, he did. Sixteen years ago. Me.” I say, itching to turn the topic away from my parents' bizarre idea of earning a living. There's a sharp beep from outside and Carmen sprints out of the entrance. Chloe follows hot on her trail. Eve puts her arm around Rhys' shoulder, wiping at an invisible smear on his cheek, telling him how weak he's gotten, acting like the typical mom. I tag along behind, feeling more than a little out of place.

The car journey isn't bad overall, I get a chance to see green fields and huge oak trees and spacious fields with luscious green grass which is a sight I rarely get to see. When we get to the house, I'm relieved to be out of the stuffy car. The house is a medium-sized terracotta cottage with boxed plants in the window sill and a curved stone path and trimmed hedges, the whole stereotypical lot.

Rhys is hauled inside by Carmen and her mother and I'm left to come inside with little Chloe and her father. Chloe glances up at me and when I smile down at her, she latches on to her father's hand, trying to hide her face with it. The gesture reminds me of something a younger girl should do, one that is at least half Chloe's age.

Maybe she's more shy and reserved than other kids her age are.

The room we enter is painted a neutral beige colour. Dull sofas are jammed up against three of the walls and against the other is a bookcase buckling under the weight of excess paperbacks and hardbacks alike. Chloe stumbles over to Rhys rapidly and plants herself into his lap, whispering something inaudible in his ear. Carmen sits on one side and Eve on the other, all three of them boxing Rhys in. He seems more than a little bit claustrophobic to me, but he still plasters a dazzling smile on, answering all of their questions with patience and detail. They don't even let him take a breath before continuing to interrogate him on every aspect they possibly could. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they asked him what drain cleaner he used. I take an armchair in a corner, thinking this holiday may not be what I thought it would be.

Darren – the father figure – stands behind his wife for a moment, looking down at his family with pride. I suddenly see a hint of my own dad in him. I think of how I came here, how Dad was so against it, how I jumped at the chance when Mom said I could go. I hurt him so much. He deserves at least a call. I stand up abruptly and all of them look up at me inquisitively, wrenched away from their riveting conversation with Rhys.

I explain, “I need to make a call. My dad, he's probably worried.”

“I'll show you!” Carmen stood up, “Can you put it on speaker? I wanna hear his voice...” Her eyes go hazy.

I look at Rhys urgently and he slides Chloe off his lap. “I'll take her, Carmen. That's alright.”

“But - ” Carmen is about to protest but a disapproving glare from her Rhys-doting mother is all it takes, “Fine. Take her.”

I walk over to Rhys and we leave to a small hallway. A phone is attached to the wall. I stand shakily in front of it, looking at the phone ominously. I feel Rhys' warm hands rubbing the tense space between my neck and shoulder blades tenderly, “Relax. Relax and you can do this.” His breath ruffles my hair slightly. I sigh and lean back into his comforting vibe. He tilts his head gingerly against mine, “Since when did talking to your dad become so hard?”

“Since he decided he doesn't like my boyfriend.” I reply.

Rhys chuckles, “Why would he like your boyfriend? No one's good enough for you in his eyes. You deserve nothing less than perfection. I'm far from perfection and anyway, you're his little baby.”

“Yeah but this baby is growing up now.” I say, smiling as Rhys winds his arms around my waist, rocking us from side to side slightly. “That's exactly what he doesn't want.” Rhys mumbles in my ear, his warm breath tingling against my cheek.

“Should I do this?”

“You are going to do this – and you are going to do it well.” Rhys takes the phone off the hook and hands it to me. After hesitating for a moment, I take the phone from him and press in the numbers.

The dialling tone starts up and repeats five times before there's the click that signals someone has picked the phone up.

“Hello?” Dad sounds gruff, his voice hoarse.

I take a deep  breath, “Daddy?”

“Donna?”

“Daddy, it's me.” I say, fighting the tears, “I'm sorry I left like I did. I know I hurt you. I'm sorry, Daddy.”

“Honey, I...” Dad sighs and I hear a breath catch in his throat, “I shouldn't have my anger control me like I did after the dinner and before you left.  I don't want you to go, Donna. I'm not ready for it. I don't want you to leave us.”

“Daddy, I will come back. I'm not leaving you.” I say, so thankful at that moment for Rhys whispering 'you can do it' in my ear.

“Daddy, I love you. I am always going to be your little girl, right? That's what you told me on my sixteenth birthday just before we had the most amazing pillow fight, remember?”

“I remember.” Dad's voice comes across choked, “I am so sorry, Donna. I talked about Rhys not treating you as you should be treated, but what I did was no better.”

“Daddy, please don't feel bad about it. I understand you. I get it. I really do. Is Mommy there?”

“No, she's gone on a shoot. Honey, take care of yourself.” Dad says softly.

“I will, Daddy. Bye.” I click the phone back on the hook and turn, folding my arms around Rhys and burying my face in his shirt.

He holds me tightly, “Was that so hard?”

I nod as much as I can and I feel Rhys shaking with the vibration of suppressed laughter and then he sighs, “Oh well, you got it over with now. Nothing to eat away at your consciousness.”

“Yeah. I feel better.” I mumble.

Rhys kisses my forehead, “Of course you do. You just needed a father-daughter heart to heart.”

“Thank you, Mr Know-It-All.” I say, clutching the back of his shirt, enjoying the warmth radiating off of him.

A door opens and I hear a voice that sounds just like Carmen, “Rhys – ”

I feel Rhys gesture something and then the door closes. I ignore it, “Your family is... very, very, extremely keen on you.”

“I know.” Rhys sighs, “They're a bit overwhelming sometimes so just be on your guard.”

I chuckle softly and then look up at him, “You never did tell me why you were so angry last night.”

Rhys looks at me and then looks around cautiously, “Not here. Tonight when I show you my room. Come on, Eve's probably waiting for us.”

He takes my hand and then leads me back into the room. Darren has left the room and now it's just the three girls of the family in there. Rhys takes his seat, but this time, pulls me down between him and Eve. Eve looks a bit put off by this but continues the conversation by leaning forward in front of me.

Their rambling chatter becomes background music for me and soon, I'm drifting away, falling asleep on Rhys' shoulder...