Jaime’s POV

The second I had gotten Alex’s call I booked a flight back to San Diego. I didn’t even say anything to the guys; I just grabbed a laptop and booked a flight home. Milly needed me and I’ll be damned if I’m not there. The wait is killing me though. Right now I’m flying back and there’s still another three hours until I arrive. I hope she’s okay when I get there, that I’m not too late. Honestly I don’t even have a clue as to what happened or what's wrong. I just know that Alex said I needed to come back, and he would not say that unless it was a necessity. He knows how important the first tours after an album drop can be and if it was something he could have handled he would have told me to stay on tour.

It’s been two days since I got that phone call, two long and painful days of constant worrying, and anger over the fact that I couldn’t get there straight away. I had to wait until we got to a town that had an airport that could get me home as fast as possible and it took a little longer to find than we expected…

*** FLASH BACK ***

“Jaime! What's going on?” Tony asked the second I threw my phone and ran to the laptop. I ignored him until he grabbed my shoulder and forced me to place my focus on him. “Jaime! Is. She. Okay?”

“Alex said I need to get back now”

“What’s wrong?”

“I have no idea but he wouldn’t say that unless it was major” I pushed him out of the way and proceed to find any flights nearby. “When can we get to an airport?”

“We get to Seattle at lunch tomorrow.”

“There’s nowhere closer?”

“No…”

“Shit… I need to be there”

“Jaime you need to calm down. I know you’re worried but if she sees you having a breakdown you’ll probably just make her worse”

“FOR ALL I KNOW SHE COULD BE DYING! HOW THE HELL CAN I STAY CALM?”

“What the hell is happening out here?” Vic asked looked both pissed off and worried.

“Milly” Tony said simply.

“What happened?” all the anger in Vic’s voice was gone and now he sounded scared.

“We don’t know, Gaskarth just said to get back right now”

“Fuck, when will we get to an airport?”

“Not until Seattle”

“HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS SO FUCKING CALM RIGHT NOW?”

“Do I look fucking calm Jaime?” Tony yelled finally snapping at me. “We all care about her, but I know that she would kill us for freaking out. She hates upsetting people so right now we all need to try and relax. We don’t even know what's happened yet, until we do you don’t need to freak out okay?”

I sigh heavily and collapse into the lounge and bury my face into my hands. Vic comes and sits next to me and pats my back reassuringly. “I’m sure she’s fine Himes… Alex would have said if it was that bad”

“But he wouldn’t have said to come back if it wasn’t…” my voice wavers slightly as I speak “What if she’s gone Vic?”

“No, you’re not allowed to think like that. He would have said if she was. We’ll all be back there soon enough okay? Tomorrow we’ll get to the airport and we can go home.”

I shake my head as he speaks immediately disagreeing with what he said. “Vic you guys can’t come. Mil will be pissed enough with me coming home; you guys need to keep the tour going.”

“But the fans won’t be happy anyway, they’ll want to see you there, we can just reschedule it, for when we find out if everything’s okay.”

“We can’t do that. This is the most important time of our album release. You’ll have to get one of the tech guys to fill in or maybe Aaron can… but you guys have to stay on this tour. Plus, Bring Me and Mice would be pissed if we cancelled.”

“You know they’d understand”

“No Vic…”

He sighs and nods. “I’ll talk it over with everyone in the morning. Well a reasonable time in the morning. You should get some sleep; it’s like 4 am, we’re all exhausted from touring and no one has slept because we’ve been waiting for news. Get some sleep and tomorrow you’ll be on your way back to her okay? You can’t be looking like a zombie when you finally get to see her again can you?” he gave me a small smile and headed back to the bunks. I heard him fill in Mike on everything and from what I could tell; Mike was just as worried as I am. I sigh heavily and trudge back to my bunk and slide in without another word to the guys.

*** END FLASH BACK ***

“We are now beginning our descent into San Diego, the weather is fine and the local time is 11:38pm. We hoped you enjoyed your flight and will fly with us again” said the voice over the intercom. Finally, almost there…

The descent seemed to take forever but in less than 10 minutes we were on the ground and off the plane. I bounced at the baggage claim, impatiently waiting for my bag to come past. Come on, how long does it take? I glance around and see a girl watching me very carefully. Oh God, please not a fan, I don’t have time, and I need to get back. She walks over cautiously and stops in front of me.

“Umm, are you Jaime Preciado?” she asked shyly

“Yea” I force a smile at her and notice that the baggage carousel begins to bring around our bags.

“Aren’t you meant to be on tour?”

“I was, sorry but I really need to go”

“Umm, could I maybe get an autograph and a photo?”

“I can get a quick photo but I really do have to go” she nods and quickly pulls out her phone and we take a selfie before I rush to grab my bag. I’m out of the airport in minutes and grab a taxi and give him the address. I really wanted him to drive faster but I knew I was impossible. There was traffic and I didn’t want to make someone lose their license so I refrained from making comment. The second we pulled up to the house I grab my bag and chuck some notes at the driver without even checking if it was enough or maybe even too much and just ran out of the car with my bag and straight up to the door. I knock impatiently until the door swings open to reveal Alex.

“What happened?” I rushed, pushing past him to look for Milly.

“I don’t know, she won’t talk to me, I don’t think she even realises I’m here. I barely got in because of that bloody guard dog.”

“Where is she?”

“Kitchen floor, I can’t get her to move” I immediately change my course and head to the kitchen. The second I enter the room Simba begins to growl at me but after a moment I think he recognises me because he stopped growling and came over with his tail wagging. I pat his head quickly, silently thanking him for looking after her before I walk around the counter to find Milly.

When I see her I stop in my tracks. She looks almost deathly sick. Her skin is drawn taught on her bones and she looks about half the weight I left her, if even that. She looks exhausted as though she hasn’t slept all week and she doesn’t look up when I enter just like Alex said, it’s like she doesn’t even realise I’m here. She seems unhuman; completely emotionless... I move more cautiously until I’m beside her.

“Milly?” I ask carefully but she doesn’t respond. I place my hand on her arm and try again. “Milly, it’s me. It’s Jaime…”

She doesn’t look up at me but I hear her whisper something but it was too quiet for me to hear.

“Mil, you need to speak up Hun”

“He’s gone… I’ll never see him again…” he voice is coarse as though she hasn’t spoken in days, which she probably hasn’t.

“Who Mil?” I whisper

“He’s gone” she said again. I look up at Alex and he just shrugged.

“That’s more than I’ve gotten out of her”

“Where’s her phone?”

“Upstairs, I put it on charge”

“Stay with her” he nods and I go upstairs to our room at almost running pace. I find her phone and unlock it. It’s over loaded with calls and texts, mostly from the guys and me but she also has a heap from Eliza. Maybe she’ll know what's up. I call the number and wait anxiously.

“Mil? Are you okay?” Eliza’s voice asks frantically.

“No, it’s Jaime”

“Is she okay? Please tell me she’s okay. I can’t lose her too”

“Too? Who else?”

“She didn’t say?”

“She hasn’t spoken at all…”

“Oh… umm, it’s our dad. He was K.I.A” Eliza’s voice shook and I could tell she was crying.

“Oh god… Eliza, I am so sorry…”

“Just tell me she’s okay”

“Not quite… but I’ll take care of her”

“Thanks Jaime…”

I hang up and look around our bed room. Right there, as always, perched on his chair in the corner was the bear that her dad got her. When she hugged that bear she hugged her dad. That’s what she needs right now. Not Alex, not me. She needs her dad. I grab the bear and head back downstairs to Amelia. Alex looks at me and the bear curiously but doesn’t make comment. I sit beside her and carefully wrap her arms around the bear.

“He’s always with you Milly, he always has been and he always will be” she looked down at the bear and her emotionless shell cracked. Her bottom lip began to waver and tears began to overflow from her eyes. She pulls the bear tightly to her chest and breaks down her body wracking with sobs and it’s all that I can do to rub her back softly and let her cry out all the emotion that she had been holding in. I can’t even imagine how she must feel right now. I haven’t been through this and I really don’t want to.

“Alex can you call the guys and tell them she’ll be okay?” he just nods but I can see how relieved he looks to see Amelia acting like a human. I only saw her like that for a short time and he was with her like this for days. I don’t think I would have been able to handle that. Anything is better than that. I carefully pull her to my chest and continue to rub her back as she cries.

We sit like that for hours. My legs went numb a while ago but I wasn’t willing to disturb her. Not now, not when she’s like this. Eventually she cries herself to sleep; the exhaustion of her ordeal finally taking over her mind and allowing her to fall into a deep sleep. I gently lift her off the cold floor, carry her to our bed and tuck her under the covers. I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to get over this. Honestly I doubt it, but I’ll be there for her through it all. I love her and I will never let her suffer alone.

Notes

SO you guys finally know what happened to Milly. It took this long because wanted you guys to be stuck and be able to understand Jaimes worry and anxiouxness more which i don't think i could have done if I had let you in any earlier :)

xox