Rory sat beside her husband, her wrinkled hand holding his frail one as he smiled weakly at her.
"You don't have to sit here and watch me," Michael yawned as Rory shook her head as if what her husband said was the most obscure sentence she had ever heard.
"You sat with me and held my hand while I gave birth to all four of our children, I owe you one." Rory teased as Michael laughed but his laughter soon turning into a deathly cough.
"Gordon, take it easy, don't strain yourself." Rory frowned as Michael ran his free hand over his chest.
Michael had been hospitalized four months ago. It was a normal day for him; wake up, get something to drink, get the mail, call Luke then make breakfast for himself and Rory.
Michael was half way through his morning routine when a panicked Violet burst through the door with a bag of groceries and tears in her eyes. Michael watched as his daughter ran around his kitchen frantically before grasping her shoulders to stop her moving.
"Vi, what's happened?" Violet's bottom lip trembled as she looked at her father. "Benji's tour bus crashed, they don't know who survived and who hasn't." Violet cried as she fell into her fathers chest.
Michael was speechless, he felt his heart shatter in his chest and watched his world crumble around him as he held his daughter and thought about his youngest son.
Benji, being the youngest Clifford child, was the hardest child to let go of for Michael and Rory, their little boy flew the nest at sixteen to become a bassist in a band and live the dream his father dreamed of as a sixteen year old.
The youngest Clifford was hardly ever home, but when he was, he spent every moment with his family, being the baby of the family was something he was proud of and that broke Michael's heart even more.
Violet pulled away from her father's embrace and wiped her nose on the back of her hand, "I'll go wake Mum up," Violet whispered.
Michael nodded weakly and sat down on the stool in the kitchen. His brain could not comprehend the possibility that one of his children, one of the most important people in his life, could possibly be dead.
Tears slipped down Michael's cheeks as he thought of his baby boy broken and alone on the side of a road, he thought of how much pain Benji must be in; that is when it happened.
Michael gently rubbed his chest with his right hand as sharp pains shot through his left arm, he struggled for words as he struggled for breath, his vision began to blur as his head began to spin.
He didn't know that his body hit the floor or that his wife was holding him and pleading for him to stay awake.
He didn't know Violet was sobbing down the phone to Jax and Josie or that Benji was alive; Michael felt nothing except pain in his chest but he couldn't decide whether it was from his sudden heart attack or the news of his youngest son.
That is how Rory ended up clutching her husbands frail hand as he laid in a hospital bed, the same hospital which Jax, Josie, Violet and Benji were all born in.
Everyday was always treated as if it could be Michael's last, all four of the Clifford children and Rory sitting with Michael, making jokes and sharing memories with their father as he watched them all with a smile upon his face.
Calum always came to visit Michael, bringing Bella and a now very grown up Hailey with him.
Calum, Ashton and Luke would all bring their wives and their children to visit Michael, while the children and wives went for lunch, the four best friends would play cards and share stories of their teenage years. It hurt the three men to see their friend in so much pain, especially Luke.
