To celebrate our two months in Canada, we decided to try our luck with a hike that took two days to complete. It was the definite proof that we were nothing like the people we'd been upon arriving. Especially me.

Per usual, our friendly neighbors lent us what we needed, like a tent, inflatable mats, sleeping bags, and even hiking backpacks. They'd also told us everything we needed to know about the journey we'd have before us.

The starting point was a two-hour drive from here, but Glenn insisted that the way there was gorgeous and made up for it. On the first day, we'd walk fifteen miles, so for about eight hours. We'd done it once before, so I wasn't too worried about it. But the next day, we had another long way to go, with another twelve miles to complete the trail and return to the car. We usually had at least a day of rest between two hikes, so I was slightly concerned I might suffer more on the way back. At the very worst, I'd lie down like a child and wait for Lex to carry me down the mountain like a bag of potatoes.

Since we were doing this during the first week of July, it was warm enough so we wouldn't freeze to death during the night, and not too hot that we'd suffer the entire time we hiked. We were armed and ready to go, with mosquito spray, bear spray, loads of water, and food that was full of proteins and good things. I was truly loving all those hikes, sensing my body grow stronger with each one. My butt was firm, as well as my thighs, and I was feeling myself like never before. Who knew exercising could be fun?

On our way there, we dropped by the Crawfords' first for some parting greetings. They were heading back to Vancouver for a week, ten days max, so we wouldn't see them for a bit.

They, of course, gave us more tips, insisted on going over the checklist with us, and then gave us long hugs once they decided we were good to go. Lex's black eye had almost healed by now, and they both seemed to have bought our very unoriginal door knob excuse. But with Meryl, nothing was for certain.

With my hand poking out of the open window, I waved at them while Lex drove us back to the main road and out of their lane. I'd miss them, especially since time ran slower here. But they'd be back soon, and we'd resume our activities together.

The road was beautiful, and with the classical music I'd put on to accompany us, it really seemed out of this world. We easily found the track's starting point, parked the car next to a few others, and took out our stuff. My bag was lighter than Lex's, but it would still prove a little challenging. I could do it, though. And then, I'd take an entire week to rest if needed.

We were clearly out of spring, and the summer was blooming and gorgeous around us. Nature had awakened from its winter hibernation, and it was a sight to behold. We walked at a steady pace, took a few breaks here and there to rest our feet and stay hydrated, and I often stopped to take pictures. I couldn't show them to anyone, since we were supposed to be visiting Italy at the moment and it would reveal our actual position, but I might get to show it later on, when all this mess would be over.

My phone ended up dying on me, from using it during the entire drive and then for the pictures, and Lex's didn't have much battery left either. Since there was no reception up here, it didn't pose a problem. We hadn't meant to use them, anyway.

We arrived at the campsite ahead of schedule, and I was very proud of that. We set up the tent, or at least Lex did, understanding what had to be done in seconds, where I would have struggled for hours had I done it myself. Another couple arrived after we'd set up camp, and they settled their own tent about a hundred yards from us.

"Oh, that's a good thing," I told Lex as we watched them take out their stuff.

"How so?"

"If a bear decides to attack in the middle of the night, it might go for them first. And their screams of horror will wake us up, allowing us to strategize."

He had a disbelieving smile on his face, wondering how much of my statement was a joke. The answer was most of it. "You are a terrible person," he eventually declared while shaking his head, still grinning.

The sun was setting as we ate our canned beans, which we'd heated with a tiny gas stove. Once the night was fully there, we stargazed for a couple of hours, lying on our mats, covered by a common sleeping bag. We didn't last very long, though, since the way up here had been tiring. Neither of us had enough faith in the inflatable mats to attempt anything frisky, so we held off on the sex and went straight to sleep.

In the end, the night went on without a single issue, and we both woke up alive, spared by the bears. Lex's phone was officially dead, but he thankfully had his watch, allowing us to know the time. After we'd lingered in our tent for about an hour, not ready to go back out there in the world again, we finally found the courage to step out in the crisp morning air. We had breakfast, which wasn't very appetizing, but at least we had the coffee we'd brought in the thermos. After that, we started packing our things, which strangely enough took more time than unpacking them. Before long, we were on our merry way again, with our twelve miles left.

While I made it all the way to the car without having to throw a tantrum and demand to be carried, I still suffered like hell. The soles of my feet were tender and heated, and I might try to negotiate a foot massage once we'd get back home, after I'd taken a nice and long bath. Also, I couldn't wait to enjoy the comfort of a civilized toilet. To the question 'Does Andrea shit in the woods?' the answer was now 'Yes, and she hates it.'

We threw our stuff in the trunk, stretched our sore everything, and then climbed into the car. As much as I complained, I'd actually had a splendid time. The stunning views we'd been privy to were worth it, as well as the satisfaction of knowing I'd accomplished what was a great challenge for poor old me. We would definitely reiterate the experience.

"Do you want me to drive?" I offered a bit late, realizing he'd driven on the way here.

"No, I'm good. You can take care of the music, if you want." He fumbled in the glove compartment in front of me to take out a cord, which he then handed me.

He started the car as I plugged it into the cigarette lighter, and into my phone. As it started, we spoke of those two days, sharing what we'd enjoyed the most about the experience. He was most definitely okay with the idea of doing it again, and it pleased me greatly.

My phone let me know it had started by buzzing a bunch of times, various messages coming in at once. Well, it hadn't been out that long... What the hell was going on?

As soon as I saw the twenty-three calls I'd missed from my mother, and the others from my father, Ty, and Kate, an awful feeling twisted my guts into tight knots. Shit, what was this about?

The awareness that something terrible must have happened struck me hard, robbing me of my breath.

"Are you okay?" Lex asked, noticing my anguish.

"I don't know... My entire family has been relentlessly trying to reach me."

I forced myself to dial the voice message inbox, despite how scared I was to hear what this was about. My phone had automatically paired itself with the car's Bluetooth, so the electronic voice resonated in the confined space. The feminine voice said the first message was from the day before, a little before noon. The phone still had some battery left back then, but the lack of reception had prevented me from getting it.

When my mom's voice took over, my heart tightened painfully in my chest. "Pollito, I don't know where you are or when you'll get this, but call me back as soon as you can. Mamá had an accident. We're in the ICU with her, and... things aren't looking very good. Please call me back."

Oh, God... MC...

Tears gathered in my eyes within seconds, but I didn't allow them to fall down my cheeks. The ache in my heart grew even more painful, making it hard to breathe. The message was from nearly thirty hours ago. Had things evolved for the worst? Was my abuela still alive, or had her condition worsened?

Lex stopped the car on the side of the road as another message followed. This one was from my father, and he didn't give more details, except that MC was asking for me. I held my breath during the entirety of the third message, as my mother explained they were considering putting her in an induced coma, until she was stable enough. By the fourth message, which held no information on what had happened either, I hung up to call my mother directly.

"Dee, finally!" she said as soon as she picked up, so clearly relieved to hear back from me.

"How is she?!"

"She is stable. They sedated her so she could get some rest."

"What happened to her?"

"We were at the mall together. I was having my hair cut, and she wanted to shop around. I wasn't there when it happened, but apparently she fell down an escalator. She knocked her head hard, but she still managed to get someone to get me. EMTs arrived soon after me, and I rode with her to the hospital."

"Did she lose her balance or something? I didn't know she had this kind of issue."

"She doesn't. Not that I know of, at least. She claimed someone pushed her down the stairs, but no one else saw it."

"Wait, really?"

"Hija, she wasn't making any sense, talking about a bald guy with a face tattoo. They told me she really hurt herself, and..."

My mom kept talking, telling me about the extensive injuries Maria Carmen had, but I couldn't hear her anymore. I was suddenly filled with dread, a terrible feeling of horror incapacitating my mind. The image of that man, the one who'd tried to kill Lex two months ago, flashed before my eyes. Could it be possible? Could that person have gone to the length of attacking my abuela?

I turned to Lex and saw in his eyes that his thoughts had taken the same path. But maybe we were wrong. Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe MC was confused because of her traumatic head injury. But what were the odds of it matching the description of that man who'd shot me, when I'd never given details to anyone except the cops?

"Was it a snake?" I abruptly asked, interrupting my mother.

"What?"

"The man she said pushed her. Was the tattoo on his face a snake?"

"I... Yes, I think she said that. Why? Pollito, do you know who that is?"

Shit... It really was the same man.

The world crumbled around me as the realization dawned on me.

For the past two months, we had fooled ourselves, lost up here, living idly and ignoring the reality of our situation. But it had caught up with us now, and the wake-up call was brutal. Staying away from everyone we loved wasn't possible, because we still loved them, and they could still be used. In the end, we couldn't escape this. It would forever follow us, unless we fought for our freedom.

We'd thought ourselves safe, and we were. But not my family. Lex's folks had the means to protect themselves, to hire security details to ensure their safety. But mine didn't. Mine clearly wasn't protected from some monster willing to attack a sweet elderly woman to smoke us out of our hiding spot.

"How soon can you get here?" my mother asked.

I glanced at Lex again, and he shook his head, wary. "I don't know, Mamá," I said, feeling completely lost.

"She has been asking after you. She would really like to see you in case... in case she doesn't make it."

I nodded, my throat too clutched to speak. Thirty hours. I'd lost thirty hours I would never get back... If MC didn't make it, I would forever regret not spending those last moments with her. I gestured to Lex to keep driving, and after checking his mirrors, he put us back on the way home.

"Mom, I'll do my best. I... We need to organize ourselves. I can't promise you anything for now."

The next half-hour was spent talking with my mom, asking details and holding back my tears as I understood MC was really not doing well. She had broken her hip, an airline fracture in her wrist, a sprained ankle, and a moderately severe concussion. At her age, it would be a lot to overcome. The brain damage was the most worrying thing for now, and they were closely monitoring the swelling on the left side of her temporal lobe.

After we'd hung up, I spent the rest of the drive being silent and staring at the landscape outside. I had successfully held back my tears so far, and I vowed to myself I wouldn't. MC was still with us, and she might very well be okay. It was too early to say goodbye. I refused to accept that she might pass away. She had to grant her awesomeness to the world for a little longer.

Lex didn't seem to know what to do or say, and I didn't mind it. It allowed me to think back on all the amazing moments I'd had with my abuela. It also gave me the time I needed to decide what I must do, to strategize, and to sort my thoughts.

As soon as Lex parked in the garage, I exited the car and sprinted inside. Time was of the essence, and we needed to get on our way to Portland as fast as possible. There wasn't a second to waste. I reached the bedroom in record time and then entered the dressing room. I took out our two suitcases and threw mine open on the bed.

"What are you doing?" Lex asked, walking in on me shoving an armful of clothes in my case.

"Packing. I took yours out as well. I think we can be ready to go in half an hour. Once we're on the road, I'll send a text to Glenn and tell them we had to go unexpectedly. Do you think it's okay if we just leave their camping gear in the back, so they can pick everything up once they come back home?"

Lex stood there, doing nothing, as I kept throwing stuff into my suitcase, trying to think of what else I might need to take with me. Bathroom stuff. When I came back with my hands full of more things, he still hadn't moved.

"Lex, can you please pack your things? We need to go."

"We're not going," he affirmed.

I let what I was holding fall into my case and sent him a confused look. "What? Of course we are. You heard my mom. MC isn't doing well, and I'm not staying here to send 'thoughts and prayers' from afar."

After I'd unplugged my charger and thrown it on the disorganized mess of my luggage, I judged it good enough, and worked on closing it. The zipper resisted, but I still managed, pressing on it with all my weight.

"Think about this for a minute, will you?" Lex insisted, which angered me. I'd been thinking about it since my mother had called. I knew what I was doing.

My suitcase met the floor with a loud thump, and I rolled it behind me, heading for the door. I'd wasted over thirty hours as it was. No way I'd delay it by another minute. I wasn't even changing out of my dirty hiking clothes. I'd do that once we'd be in Portland; after I'd seen her.

"Andrea, going there is reckless. It'll put you in danger."

"This is my grandmother, Lex. She has raised me and has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. This isn't negotiable."

"I'm not letting you go there," he countered, coming between me and the door. "This is an obvious trap, and there's no way in hell I'll let you walk right into it."

"I don't care if that's exactly what that skinhead asshole wants. I'm going. Either you come with me, in which case I will abide by whatever security measures you want to take, or you can stay here and do whatever the fuck you want, Alexander."

"I don't think he just meant to hurt her." I didn't understand his meaning, so I stared at him blankly for a moment, until he decided to elaborate. "You were also likely to come home for a funeral."

It felt like a punch in my guts, and the air left my lungs at once. Fuck, he was right. The man had probably not meant for Maria Carmen to survive. But thanks to whatever higher entity was watching over her, she had. And I wasn't wasting the chance we'd been given to see her.

"Then I'm going even more. What if he tries to finish the job? I have to see her." I attempted to walk around him, but he didn't allow me to, using his broad body to prevent my exit. "Get out of my way, Alexander."

"I'm not letting you leave this house, Andrea. I'm not letting you risk your life like this."

He was being a stubborn ass, and now wasn't the time to test my limits. I'd wasted almost a day and a half as it was.

"Maybe you wouldn't give a shit if it was someone from your fucked up family, but I care about mine," I told him. The words came out so much harsher than I'd meant them, but by the time I realized that, it was too late to take them back. Lex looked down at me with something pained in his eyes, and I wished I had time to cater to his hurt feelings.

But my abuela might be dying. The woman I'd looked up to my whole life, the one I wanted to become when I grew old, was battling for her life. I'd be damned if I wasn't by her side as soon as humanly possible. Only God knew if she'd make it or not, and I wasn't willing to try the odds.

For the third time, I tried to get to the door, but once more, Lex stopped me. I tried to shove him out of the way, but it did nothing, except that he grabbed a hold of me, to fight my stubbornness. "Get your hands off me!" I shouted.

"Andrea, calm down." I tried to fight him off, hating how puny and helpless I was against his strength. I writhed and kicked, and it resulted in him lifting me from the floor.

Why wouldn't he fucking let me go?

"I need to go! I need to see her!"

"You're going to hurt yourself, stop this!"

"It's all my fault," I sobbed, breaking down into shreds.

The truth that I'd been trying to ignore, the painful and agonizing reality of all this, had blurted out of me before I could prevent it. I was responsible for this. I had done this to MC by not thinking of protecting her, and only thinking of myself. I'd known the dangers I'd been in, and my consideration of it hadn't extended to my own family.

My body gave up as sobs shook me, desperate tears flowing down my cheeks. Lex prevented my fall as I turned limp, gently accompanying me down and sitting on the floor by my side. His restraining hold became comforting, and I shoved my face into his chest in an attempt to muffle my cries.

"I did this to her. She's there because of me. We should have known. We should have protected them..."

"I know. We will, from now on, I promise. But we can't go now. It's too dangerous."

"I need to, Lex. I have to see her before it's too late. If she dies and I never went, I'll never forgive myself."

I was still crying, completely submerged by an agonizing guilt and ache. I had done this. She was on the verge of dying because I hadn't protected her. I should have told them the truth about the attack. I should have told them it wasn't some random mugging gone wrong. Had they known Lex was actually targeted by people, they might have been more careful, more attentive to everything. It didn't matter if they would have worried about me. At least MC would still be fine.

I had barely