AJ groaned when he heard the door bell. He laid there and figured that Jen would get it, but quickly realized that she wasn't home. He quickly got out of bed and ran down the stairs. When he opened the door he saw Brian standing on the other side with a sad look on his face.
"Bri, what happened?" AJ asked with sleep in his voice.
"It's Nick, he's getting worse. The doctors don't think he's gonna make it," Brian explained.
"What am I supposed to do?" AJ asked somewhat confussed.
"I don't know, just care maybe."
"Damn it, I do care, but you can't expect me to be a god damn miricle worker and make Nick get better. I'm in the same position as you, I can't do anything."
"Would you want to?"
"I don't know at this point. Nick put us through so much, and part of me wants him to die, but there is another part that wants him to live. All of this happened because of a misunderstanding."
"We were only trying to help. You kept telling us, well me, how bad things were, we just figured that having him move out would help make things better, we didn't know that he was going to react like he did."
"Yeah, I know, come in," AJ said inviting Brian inside.
"Where's Jen? Still sleeping?" Brian asked stepping inside the house.
"No, I uh think she went to get Anthony."
"Oh okay. So, you're getting married huh?" Brian asked seriously looking at AJ.
"Yeah."
"You still wanna get married after sleeping on it?"
"Yes I do."
"Can I just ask you why?"
"Why what?"
"Do you want to marry her? I mean she's a great girl, but you're just adding to her confussion."
"How am I adding to her confussion? She loves me and I love her."
"Maybe you guys only think that because of what happened."
"Come on, I wouldn't do that and you know that Brian," AJ yelled.
"Calm down man. I just want to make sure that you're doing the right thing. I don't want to see you get into a marrage that will fall apart on you."
"This won't fall apart.I really love her and I think she's the best thing that ever happened to me."
"But AJ, look, you and Jen are going through a rough time. I know you wanted that baby, even if I didn't, I could tell that it really hurt you to lose it, so I understand that. But you can't ask her to marry you just because you feel that you have to replace that void."
"What void? I'm happy, nothing's missing. I just want Jen to be with me."
"Then take it slow. You don't have to rush into any kind of big commentment. Take your time with her, show her that you want to be there. Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad that you care about her, love is a great thing, but it's not supposed to be rushed," Brian tired to explain.
"We're not rushing, trust me. Last night we and Jen went to get married, but we came back."
"You did what?"
"Don't worry, we decided that wasn't the way to go."
"See AJ, that's the thing, you would have done it if something didn't change your mind. I'm not saying all of this to be mean, I'm just looking out for you that's all."
"Brian look, this is the right thing to do. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't love her."
"Listen to me AJ," Brian said calmly, "I know you love her, you don't have to try and prove that to me or anyone else for that matter. Love is there, I can see it, but everything that's going on is a lot and the reason I don't want you to rush is because with everything going on, it might impact your better judgement."
"Look, we're not going to get married anytime soon, I promise."
"I'm not telling you what to do, I just want to make sure that you're thinking everything out and that you aren't making bad decisions that might hurt you."
"Yeah, alright."
"Remember, I'm just looking out for you."
"I know."
"I'm gonna go home and get some sleep, I was at the hospital all night."
"Okay, I'll talk to you later," AJ said.
"Yeah, bye," Brian said leaving the house.
Chapter 22