Today was meant to be like any normal day. Instead, this morning, December 19, 2018, my life nearly ended. My heart almost stopped, my world stopped spinning and I saw a world with no one.

I was in class when I got the news. Three victims, a bloody attack, one cop down, two others injured.

I was taken out of class, hands shaking, body frozen, mind spiraling.

It wasn't until I faced Jax and Hunter that reality hit. I lost it when Hunter explained to me dad was one of the victims who got hurt.

Jax ran two red lights trying to get us to the hospital and now here we were, waiting for any doctor to give us news about our dad.

By tomorrow the news would have traveled around school. Emma Delgado, orphan, down two parents.

"I'm sure he's fine, Emma," Jax squeezed my hand but I couldn't feel a thing. "He's stronger than he looks."

"W-What if he's the o-one who didn't make it?" My voice cracks. "What if the doctors are stalling because they don't know what to tell us?"

"He's not dead." Hunter says, anger in his voice. "They would have told us at the school, just stop talking."

I stopped talking. I sat there with Jax as he rubbed my back and tried to keep me from shaking too much. Hunter sat next to Jax, arms crossed, leg shaking up and down as he stared off into the distance.

"What's taking them so long?" Jax begins to get impatient. "I'm going to go ask one of the nurses, I'll be back."

"No," I grab him before he could get up. "Don't leave me, stay here, please."

"Okay, okay I'm right here." He runs his fingers through my hair as my head lays on his shoulder.

"P-Please, don't leave me, Jax." I cried.

"Shh, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

Two hours later and a doctor had finally told us the news. I let out tears of joy, hugging Jax and Hunter.

Dad was well and alive. He was in surgery while we had been waiting. A shot through his shoulder, the bullet went in and out. The bad news was, the officer that didn't make it was one of dad's friends; Gale.

Jax waited in the waiting room meanwhile Hunter and I stood outside dad's door, waiting for the okay to go in.

Once the doctor allowed us in, I wiped my tears away and frowned as I saw dad lying in bed, cast around his shoulder, down his arm.

"Hey, guys." He smiles. He looks as though he didn't just get shot.

"I thought we lost you." I began crying again. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"You can't get rid of me that easy." He jokes.

Silence filled the room.

Hunter and I looked at each other. We knew we had to tell him about Gale. I just didn't want to be the one to break the news to him.

"So, how's the shoulder?" I ask, sitting on the chair beside his bed.

"Eh, just a little sore. Guy barely touched me." He chuckles.

"What happened?" Hunter speaks next to me. My dad sighs, scratching his head with his other hand. "How did this happen, dad? We almost lost you."

"You didn't lose me, sto-"

"You were shot." Hunter cuts him off. "We almost lost you."

"There was a call last night at a store; a robbery. Gale and I were the first ones to get to the scene but the guy had left. We were at the station all night and then this morning. The owner of the store called in a robbery again, the same guy and we thought when we got there he had already left. He was still there, shot at Gale and I. The other officer, Chris, gets there and he's down too." He stares off into the distance, remembering the horrific details of what happened.

"Gale," he continues, "He didn't make it."

He knew.

"He..he didn't make it." He was more in shock than he seems.

"I know, dad." I sigh, reaching for his hand. "We know, and we're so sorry."

He nods, smiling at me, tears in his eyes. "He was a good man."

"What about his family?" Hunter asks.

"I should call his wife and let her know. Oh, man and his daughter." He moves his hand back and covers his face.

"Dad," I sigh. "It's okay, it's okay."

"I can call her." Hunter offers. "I'll call her later, just..right know I want to be here."

Dad nods, wiping away any tears that had fallen from his eyes.

We spent the rest of the day with him until visiting hours were over and I was forced to leave. Only one of us were allowed to stay the night with him and Hunter volunteered on staying.

When I left, Jax was waiting for me in the waiting room. It was dark by the time I got home. Jax was staying the night with me.

He was taking off his pants when I walked in and leaned against the door frame.

He looks up at me, startled. "How are you doing?"

I shrug. "Fine..I don't really know." I walk over to him and grab his pants and shirt from his grasp. Throwing them on my desk chair, I face him and he brings me into his arms. "I'm still in shock."

"It's normal, the good thing is he's alive and he's doing well." He tells me, kissing my forehead.

"I can't believe this happened. I mean, I always feared of something like this happening but, I never thought it would actually happen."

He moves a strand of hair away from my face. "How'd he take the news about Gale?"

"He already knew," I tell him, kissing his bare chest. "He died at the scene."

"Must have been terrible for your father." He says.

"He's been around death a lot for years. You'd think he'd be used to it but I know it's always affected him."

"When's the funeral?"

I run my hand up and down his arms, giving them a light squeeze and looking up at him with sad eyes. "Not sure, soon."

I sigh, grabbing a hold of his hand and laying down on the bed with him. "We should go to sleep. It's been a long day."

"Sleep well." He kissed my forehead and gets off my bed, walking to the door.

"Wait," I sit up, "Where are you going?"

"To sleep?" He raises an eyebrow, sounding confused.

"Where? Come here." I pat the spot next to me.

"I was going to sleep in Hunter's room. I wanted to give you some space and besides if Hunter com-"

I smile, rolling my eyes. "Come here, goofball."

"Are you sure? I can sleep in Hunter's room." He says, walking back to the bed.

"Shut up," I chuckle. "Sleep with me."

He gets in bed, under the covers and we cuddle into each other's arms.

We stayed awake for a while, talking and laughing about nonsense. Jax fell asleep first, snoring softly next to me.

My mind wandered all night, awake, loud, unable to shut down. My dad came into mind throughout the night.

The sun had finally started to rise when my eyes became heavy and suddenly, my body relaxed and I fell into a deep sleep.

- -

"Dad, stop the doctor said you have to take it easy." I said, walking into his office.

"I am," he points to his computer. "I'm sitting, I have my coffee and I'm watching sports."

I sigh, rolling my eyes and walking over to his side. "How's the shoulder?"

"A lot better, doesn't hurt so much." He tells me.

"So, Marissa and I are going Christmas shopping this afternoon." I say.

"Oh," he sighs, "I completely forgot Christmas was this month."

I chuckle. "Yeah, well it's been a crazy month and Christmas is a couple of days away, of course I leave everything for the last minute."

"Well, do you need money? I have some in my wa-"

"No," I shake my head. "I'm okay, Hunter actually offered. I'll be back later and we can order take out, watch a movie."

"Just tell me when you're coming back so I can order the food." He says.

I nod, kissing his cheek and moving away from him. "I'll call you and take it easy."

- -

Marissa and I have been shopping for an hour now and I was getting aggravated. I found a present for Marissa, my dad and Hunter.

I had no idea what to get Jax.

"What did you get Nick?" I asked Marissa.

She looked around her bags before finally taking out a small rectangular box. "This necklace. We came a while ago and he was looking at it."

She hands me the necklace and I admire it as she dips her hand back into the bag. "And this." She pulls out a couple of tee shirts all with designs of The Office printed on it.

"He's going to love that." I laugh. "It's so cute."

I give her the stuff back and we continue walking around, window shopping for anything that we saw.

"What did you get Jax?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I didn't get him anything yet. I got Hunter a pair of shoes and my dad a watch. Jax is the only one I have no clue about."

"Well, what does he like?" She asks.

"What doesn't he like?" I chuckle. "He's into food, music, art, anything really."

"Who's his favorite artist?"

"He mentioned Andy Marhol, I think." I say, unsure of myself.

Marissa laughs, face palming herself. "Andy Warhol, dumbass."

We looked around the mall until we came across a music store. There were graphic tee shirts all around, record players and other things involving art.

"Do you think he'll like this?" She holds up a black spray painted bobble head.

I shake my head, scrunching up my nose. I ran my hands through the racks of shirts until my eyes landed on a specific shirt.

Mayday Parade was printed on the t-shirt and I smiled to myself remembering this has been Jax's favorite band since he was in middle school.

I grabbed his size and grabbed another shirt of the band but with a different design.

"Look," I smiled widely. "He's going to love it."

"Mayday Parade?" She furrows her eyebrows. "What's that?"

"Uh, it's a band." I give her a weird look. "You've never heard of them?" She shakes her head, shrugging. "Well, Jax loves them."

We finished off the day shopping and I was glad I had finally found Jax the perfect gift. I got Jax a gift card from his favorite fast food restaurant to go along with the shirts.

When I got home Hunter was sitting in the living room with my dad watching Tv and a bag of food on the coffee table.

"The food just got here, come eat." Dad says.

"I'm going to set these bags down and I'll come out."

I made sure to hide the presents in my closet and shut my door once I left my room. Going out into the living room, I cuddled up on the couch and watched Tv as we all ate.

"How are you feeling?" I asked my dad.

"Eh, not so bad." He tells me. "How was shopping? Did you find what you needed?"

I grin. "Yes, I did."