Aloha. So back in the day (about February I think) I saw the Vow and of course being me, I wanted to write a Rane story based on it. Well I saw it again not too long ago and thought "why the fuck didn't I write that?" so now I have.

I'm gonna try to finish this as soon as possible seeing as I didn't write down what I planned, I just want to get it out before I forget. But then again, this is me we're talking about.

Nonetheless I hope you enjoy~

Reed loved Shane, he really did. They'd had a solid relationship since the beginning and now nearly eight years later, nothing had changed except the scenery. Ohio and Dalton were in the past and New York and their shared apartment of two years was the present. But it was times like this that made him wonder exactly why he loved this idiot so much.

"Shane," Reed grimaced, fidgeting his hands. "This is a very bad idea."

Shane huffed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "Don't be silly, Reed. You'll do fine. Besides, I really think you should learn, you might need it someday. What happens if you're stranded somewhere?"

Reed shrugged, hoping if he looked confident in what he said Shane might lose interest and drop the subject. "I'll call you."

"And what if I'm out of town, or out of cell range?" He ignored Reed's whisper of "payphone" and kept talking. "Or you're somewhere dangerous? Or it's an emergency and you need to get somewhere?"

"Shane, this is New York. It's full of cabs, I don't need to drive."

Shane ignored that, too. He turned serious, staring Reed down with an unwavering expression. "Look it would really just make me feel a lot better if you could. There could be so many instances where you need it. Besides you don't know what kind of people could be driving those cabs. All it takes is one psychopath and you're dead."

Reed's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "You cannot be serious."

"So I suppose you'll need your own car, too," Shane continued on without acknowledging Reed's remark. "You can always drive mine but that doesn't really help in an emergency situation…"

Reed sighed, shaking his head and wondering how long it would take Shane to notice if he just started to walk away in the opposite direction. He had absolutely no desire to learn how to drive; he never did. He could hardly walk properly, who would be crazy enough to trust him with heavy machinery?

Shane apparently, as he was now tossing Reed the keys and getting into the passenger seat of his car. Reed briefly considered running away again before he caught a glimpse of Shane's adorably hopeful expression through the window. He suppressed a groan as he gave in and climbed into the car. Maybe if Shane was so ready to believe he could do this, he might actually be able to.

But he was still feeling terribly nervous, and he couldn't help but retreat back to his previous thought. This wasn't a very good idea.

Over an hour later Shane couldn't stop smiling. "I told you you could do it!"

Reed on the other hand, couldn't stop shaking. He never wanted to drive through New York again. "If we're going to do this then shouldn't we go somewhere um… deserted? With no one around I could hit and or kill."

Shane laughed a little, earning a glare from Reed who looked completely serious. "It's not funny!"

"Reed, relax. You are not going to kill anyone. You're doing fine, perfectly even."

Now Reed wanted to laugh. He wondered if Shane remembered all five times he slammed on the breaks so hard if nearly sent the dancer through the dashboard. Shane exaggerated far too much for his behalf.

"You're delusion," he muttered, turning his focus back toward the red light they were stopped at. "When can we go back?"

"Not yet." When Reed started grumbling in protest, he spoke up again. "Reed, honey, nothing is going to happen."

Reed huffed silently, but Shane sounded so sure he almost believed him. Almost. A dreaded feeling was knotting up his stomach and it was hard to ignore.

Shane continued easily talking just as the light turned green. "You might be a walking disaster but that doesn't mean you have to be a driving one." He was putting so much faith in Reed learning to drive not only because he truly believed he could, but because he needed him to be able to. Like he said earlier, anything could happen and he needed the peace of mind that Reed would be able to go where he needed on his own, to take care of himself.

Unfortunately, because of that last comment, Reed's head snapped towards him, ready to defend himself, right at the moment he pulled out. And all would have been fine if not for the truck coming from the left side of the intersection, appearing to be running their red light.

Reed's mouth had just opened to object when Shane finally registered what was about to happen. He screamed, cutting off anything Reed was going to say.

"Reed!"

He could barely comprehend Reed's look of confusion before he turned to look towards his window. It all happened in less than five seconds, and before Reed could even see what Shane was still screaming about, the truck collided with the side of their car. Reed's side.

Shane's screaming stopped and the only thing he could hear was the crash of clashing metal and the shattering of glass. He could feel a burning sting in his left arm, the throbbing smack of his head against his own window, the jerk of his body. But in the haze of everything that was happening, in midst of all the pain, the thing that alarmed him the most was that he couldn't hear a thing from Reed. No screams, no yelps, not even a whimper.

The next thing he could hear as he slipped in and out of consciousness was the blaring of sirens and people shouting. He could feel hands on him, pulling him from the car and onto something soft.

The last thing he could recall was the sirens getting louder.

Shane had heard the term 'splitting headache' before, but he never really knew what it meant until now.

"Jesus Christ," he muttered, bringing a heavy hand up to gingerly touch his pounding head.

Suddenly he felt arms nearly crush him before he even had the chance to open his eyes.

"Shane! Thank god! How do you feel?"

"I would feel a lot better if you weren't squishing me," Shane snapped, opening one eye slowly to see his brother's frantic face hovering over him.

Blaine's exhale of relief was mixed with a light laugh. "I'm just happy you're awake. It's been hours."

Shane found the brightness of the room didn't really help the headache issue. His eyes were closed again, and he was pondering going back to sleep when he mumbled, "Since what?"

Blaine frowned. "Don't you remember?" Shane made a noncommittal hum so Blaine caught his lip between his teeth, not sure how to explain. "You were in a crash. Thankfully you weren't hurt too badly, you'll probably be sore and have a killer headache, but other than that the only thing you've got is stiches. So all considering you're pretty lucky."

Shane's eyes were now wide open. He was barely listening to what Blaine was saying after the word crash. He could hear the glass breaking all over again as everything flooded back. Reed driving and –Reed driving.

"Reed!" Shane shot up, ignoring his body's flash of painful protest. He stared at Blaine, noticing he suddenly looked regretful. "Whereishe? Isheokay? Whathappened?"

Blaine was watching him with pity now, which Shane didn't like whatsoever. "Shane, listen –"

Shane was shouting now, "What happened to him!" Panic was pulsing through his veins. He willed Blaine to say something good, something that would give him a shred of hope to compete with overwhelming terror.

"He's alive…" Blaine was speaking quietly and Shane could hear the "but" without him saying it.

"I want to see him!" Shane jumped up, vaguely noticing that no wires confined him to the bed. "Where is he!"

Blaine shuffled uncomfortably. "Shane, you can't –"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do! Where. Is. He."

Sighing in defeat, Blaine finally whispered, "In surgery."

Confusion crossed Shane's face. "Surgery? But didn't you just say it's been hours?"

Blaine was avoiding his gaze and that wasn't a good sign. "It has." And neither was that. Hours of surgery? Just what did that mean? Whatever it was Shane knew it wasn't good. He collapsed back onto the bed, staring ahead blankly and trying to process the thought of Reed being hurt badly enough to require that much surgery.

The vision of the truck colliding with Reed's door flashed in his mind making his stomach twist. Of course Reed would be hurt the worst, the truck hit him.

A terrible realization came over him then. It should have been him. He's the one that made Reed drive, it was all his fault.

Blaine watched with a deep frown as his brother buried his head in his hands. Tremors of his body showed he was crying and Blaine could hear it in his voice when he spoke.

"It's my fault. I practically forced him to drive, even though he didn't want to. It should have been me in that seat, not him."

Not sure what to say, Blaine sat next to him, draping an arm carefully over his shoulders. He luckily didn't have to speak since the door now opened and a man in white entered. Blaine immediately recognized him as the doctor that calmed him down when he first arrived, telling him Shane would be fine. Clearly, Blaine realized with a sinking gut, he wouldn't be fine until Reed was too.

Shane looked up at the entrance, choking out a question as soon as he could. "Is Reed alright?"

Blaine held onto the thin hope that the doctor would have a positive answer to that. He knew his brother was going to slowly kill himself with guilt.

Instead the doctor smiled faintly. "I'm not here about Reed, I'm here about you."

Shane wanted to scream. He didn't care about himself. He wasn't the one in surgery for hours. "I'm fine," he said through gritted teeth.

"Good," Dr. Cole continued on smoothly. "I imagine your head is in some pain, along with the stiches your arm."

Shane could barely feel his headache anymore, and honestly he never even noticed there was a bandage covering the majority of his left bicep. "They're fine!"

"Good," the doctor repeated. "We'll of course give you some medicine for the pain and walk you through changing the stiches and explain when you can leave them out for good –"

"Okay I don't care about any of that." His voice was full of frustration. "I want to know about Reed. What happened to him? Will he be okay?"

The doctor frowned now but Shane tried not to think too much on it and just focus on whatever he said. "For now? He's okay."

He felt so relieved he could fall back on the bed. But once again he felt there was something more. "Does that mean he's out of surgery?"

"Not exactly. It just means so far he's been responding to it as expected. There's no sign he'll flatline but we always have to be ready for that possibility."

Shane stopped breathing at the word flatline. Flatline as in no heartbeat. No heartbeat as in dead. Reed couldn't die, not when it should have been Shane.

"He won't though, right?" he asked desperately. When the doctor took too long to answer, his voice became more frantic. "He won't! He can't!"

"Calm down, Shane. There's no way to tell. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with time."

Time, Shane soon found out, fucking sucks. After a torturously slow ten minutes in which the doctor checked him over, making sure he was still okay even though Shane insisted he was about twelve times, he was allowed to leave the room. They followed Dr. Cole down the hall silently, Shane being too crazed with panic to speak. Blaine couldn't think of anything to say.

The first thing that caught his eye was Kurt, alone in a small waiting area, the one closest to the room Reed was presumably in. His eyes were red and there a shaking cup of coffee in his hands. He looked up when Shane and Blaine came into to view but his expression didn't change.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said a voice hoarse from crying once Shane reached him.

Shane couldn't even bring himself to say thank you. "Do you know anything?"

Kurt lifted a hand to point towards a door a little ways down the hall. "He's in there." Shane followed the direction of his finger in time to see Dr. Cole disappear inside the room. He strained to see something inside, but it was too far away and too dark. The blinds on the door were closed and no light came from underneath. Kurt fell back in a chair, giving up on the coffee and sitting it down. "There have been so many people coming in and out of that room, all covered in blood." He whispered the next part to himself. "So much blood."

Shane still heard it, but he wished he hadn't. He couldn't think about that right now. He didn't want to hear that. He fell into the chair beside him, his head finding its way into his hands again. "I just want to see him."

"Me too."

Blaine stood before them, feeling just as scared as they did. But he also felt torn. He didn't know who to try to comfort first. Kurt might lose his best friend. Shane might lose his soulmate. Blaine would have to watch both of them be destroyed if that were to happen, and he wasn't sure if he could.

It was another hour before anyone said anything else. Kurt was trying hard not to cry again. Shane was doing just that, stifling his sobs with his hands. Blaine sat in the floor in front of them, ultimately deciding he couldn't chose between them.

"Hey," he whispered. Somehow it felt like he shouldn't speak too loudly. "He'll be okay. The doctor said he was doing fine."

"Yeah," Shane tried to say, his voice thick with tears. "He also said for now. And that was over an hour ago." He wasn't a doctor, and he barely knew anything medical, but he was willing to bet that if someone was in surgery for almost five hours, that wasn't a good thing.

Blaine said nothing else.

After another thirty minutes, Shane was beginning to fidget. His eyes were burning and his headache felt worse, but that wasn't why he couldn't stay still. He just couldn't sit here anymore, waiting for someone to come out the door that hadn't opened since Dr. Cole disappeared through it. He needed something, some scrap of news soon, or he didn't know what he'd do.

It felt like Hell Night all over again, standing outside that burning building, waiting for far too long to see if Reed would make it out alive. At least then it wasn't because of something he did. He was responsible this time.

His head jerked up at the sound of a door opening, relieved to see Dr. Cole walking out. Even if his life was about to change from whatever this man said, at least the waiting was finally over. He didn't know how much longer he could take not knowing.

He could hear each step the doctor took that brought him closer to them vibrating in his ears. Every heartbeat nearly shattered his ribs. Every second seemed like an eternity until he was finally standing in front of them.

They all stood, staring at the doctor expectantly. Shane's legs were shaking so hard he could barely do so. His whole world was depending on one frown and shake of the head that would say no, Reed didn't make it, you killed him with your stupid idea.

The doctor's lips twitched, but instead of moving down like Shane so feared, he smiled.

Shane forced himself not to get his hopes up. He had to hear it for himself. He had to know more than what a smile could tell him.

Dr. Cole's mouth opened and Shane took a deep breath, preparing himself. "He's fine." There were so many sounds of relief he didn't know who made what. "But as is common with head trauma patients, there's some brain swelling that needs to subside. That and the fact that the brain requires time to heal itself is why we keep these patients in a medically induced comatose state."

Shane was a little confused, but he felt so relived he didn't care. The term coma had him feeling worried though. "So when will he wake up?"

The doctor was still smiling. "Whenever he's ready."

Shane wanted to thank whatever god there was in that instant. Reed would be okay, he would wake up. He didn't know when but he would. That's all that mattered.

"Can I see him now?"

"Not just yet. Let's give them a chance to clean the room out first. But while they do that, does anyone have any questions?"

Shane had about six thousand questions, but he couldn't seem to settle on even one. Thankfully Kurt asked one for him.

"What exactly happened to him?"

Shane's head started to swim as the doctor explained things he didn't understand. Traumatic brain injury, intracranial hemorrhage, cerebral contusion, internal bleeding. The only thing he understood was broken ribs and a broken arm. He might not have fully understood what all that meant but he knew enough to feel even worse for putting Reed though all this.

Kurt and Blaine looked just as confused as he did, and equally horrified, but neither of them said anything else.

Shane was the next one to ask a question. "Can I see him now please?"

"Sure." Dr. Cole led them down the hall. He was moving too slowly in Shane's opinion, but he kept up with the pace without complaint. His heart was pounding in his chest from the anticipation and he tried his best to mentally prepare himself for whatever he would see. Although he knew no amount of preparing could make him feel better about seeing Reed in a hospital bed looking broken.

Just as the doctor began to open the door, Shane took a deep breath, trying to calm his erratic heart and swirl of nerves in the pit of his stomach. Dr. Cole walked through the door first and Shane very unceremoniously shoved past Blaine, who scolded at him, to be the next one in the room.

He froze upon entering, first noticing the abnormal amount of machines in the room. He had been with Reed to the hospital plenty of times when his clumsiness had him injured, but this was the first time he had been in the ICU. Reed was never hurt this badly before. Almost all of these machines were either hooked up to or near the form on the bed which Shane had trouble processing at first.

He didn't look like Reed. This person had bandages all over what was exposed of his chest, a cast on his left arm, multiple cuts and bruises on his face, another bandage wrapped around his head, and a breathing tube in his mouth. It made Shane's heart break.

He could barely hear the other two gasp from behind him, but he wasn't paying attention. He was focusing on Reed, trying to convince himself that what he was seeing didn't matter. Reed was alive. That was the main thing. Don't think about what he looks like and remember his heart is beating.

"Oh god," he finally whispered once the shock subsided. He was by the bed in an instant, falling numbly into a chair beside it. He reached out tentatively to take Reed's cold hand, careful not to disturb the IV in his arm.

He squeezed the hand in both of his, trying to put warmth back in Reed's icy fingers. "Reed," he choked on the words. "I am so fucking sorry. You shouldn't be here, it should be me. I am so sorry, please get better soon. Please." He was sobbing again, not really noticing or caring that he had an audience. He had to say it, even if Reed couldn't hear him.

"It's not your fault, Shane," he heard Blaine say from behind him. He didn't respond. He knew Blaine was trying to make him feel better but this time he wasn't going to buy it. It was completely his fault and they all knew it, so what was the point in arguing.

"He'll be just fine, Shane." That was Dr. Cole. "It just takes time."

"How much time?" Shane muttered without turning away from the boy on the bed, the boy he put there.

"A couple of weeks, maybe a month. It all depends on his intracranial pressure and brain activity."

Shane had no fucking idea what the hell that was supposed to be, but whatever it was it would take almost a month? A whole fucking month? Great. He could barely get through an hour and a half without Reed, how the hell was he supposed to survive a whole month?

He finally sighed, holding onto Reed's hand tighter. "As long as he wakes up sometime."

Blaine started talking to the doctor then but Shane wasn't paying attention. He was sweeping a few stray curls that peeked out from underneath the bandage off Reed's face. He wanted to kiss him, but the tube in his mouth made that impossible. He settled for kissing his right cheek, the one that wasn't littered with bruises and cuts.

A thought suddenly occurred to him as he played with Reed's fingers and watched his chest rise and fall.

"Has…" he started slowly, interrupting Blaine. "Has anyone called Hilde?"

He kept his eyes on Reed, not turning around to see their reactions. He could tell from the silence that no, no one had. This was confirmed when he heard Kurt curse, "Shit."

Hilde was currently overseas and didn't arrive until the next afternoon, but when she did, everyone knew it.

She bustled through the halls, demanding to see Reed immediately. She made all sorts of other demands for Reed as well, and for once Shane was thankful for her arrogant and oppressive personality. But on the second day when she commanded that Reed be moved into a more expensive, private room, Shane wasn't going to let her get away with it.

"Absolutely not. I won't let you. He's staying right here."

It was only the two of them along with Dr. Cole and the nurse that had to constantly monitor Reed's brain activity in his room. Shane never left.

She sneered at him. She didn't care what he said, she never did. They weren't exactly friends, never having really gotten along. It was only made worse when Reed left her to move in with Shane. "I don't really think you're in the position to make that call, Shane."

"Well neither are you!" He finally snapped. He stormed over to her. "Do you see all the shit that he's connected to? If you make them move all of these machines and something goes wrong and Reed has to pay the price, I will never let you forget it. Understand?" He was in her face and speaking through gritted teeth. He knew he was being harsh but there was no way in hell he was going to let her do something so dangerous. This was Reed's life.

She seemed honestly surprised by Shane's ferocity, and just a little offended. The doctor took that opportunity to speak up. "He's right. We can't risk moving him when he's in this state. Maybe after he wakes."

Hilde looked between the doctor's reassuring expression and Shane's cold one. She finally sighed in defeat. "Fine. But we could at least get him better bedding. Maybe something to make the room look better." She now scoffed at Shane. "Why don't you go get some flowers or something. I don't understand why you have yet to do that, you are his boyfriend."

Shane took a calming breath. This whole situation had him so stressed and worried, and this woman was not making it better. Instead of arguing and biting out a retort, Shane looked at Reed briefly before turning and leaving to the gift shop. He didn't bother to explain to her that he wasn't going to leave the room unless necessary until Reed's eyes opened, and maybe that's why he didn't think of getting any damn flowers. And that did not make him a bad boyfriend as he was sure she was implying. But now he just needed to get away from her.

Hopefully the shop had sunflowers. Shane knew those were Reed's favorites.

There were sunflowers. Shane got a lot of them, but it was depressing to watch them all keep dying. This room had no windows and therefore was cut off from any and all sunlight. The flowers didn't last long before they started to droop.

Shane would always replace them though. He wanted them to look beautiful whenever Reed woke up. They were now on the fifth batch of flowers.

He sat the new ones down on the only table available, immediately taking Reed's hand, the only one he could take.

"Hey," he said quietly, not wanted to disturb the silence that was only interrupted by the beeps of Reed's heart, a comforting sound. It was one of the rare times they were alone, but it wouldn't last long. Shane knew the nurse had to be back soon to monitor Reed. "It's been two weeks you know. That's a really long time to be without you." He brushed some hair out of Reed's eyes. There was no longer a bandage wrapped around his head, but the long scar with stiches that went from his scalp to his temple was hard to miss. Most of the bruising had disappeared and the cuts healed. His face was still a little scratched up though, but Shane was relieved to see Reed looking like himself again. He could feel the prickling in his eyes. "I really miss you, Reed." His voice broke. "I wish you would wake up. I hate being without you. You better be working hard to get better." He leaned down to press a kiss to Reed's forehead, then nose, then the hand he held. "I love you so much."

"Awww." The voice made him jump. He hadn't heard the door open, but there stood Kurt, flowers of his own in his hands.

Shane blushed only slightly, he wasn't embarrassed if someone heard him saying something he meant. He didn't have to say anything else since Kurt starting speaking again.

"I just talked to the doctor." He walked across the room to put the flowers beside Shane's. "Good news. He said something about TBI and GCS and some more stuff that I didn't understand but the conclusion was that Reed should be waking up soon."

Relief and excitement flooded over him so suddenly he wasn't sure if he heard Kurt right. These last two weeks were absolutely miserable. Seeing Reed laying there unconscious and so badly hurt crushed his heart each time he looked at him. He rarely left the hospital and he all but refused to be in their apartment more than was needed to shower and change. He couldn't be there without Reed; he couldn't be away from him. Hilde came and went, and when she was here she was mostly on the phone working. That or annoying the crap out of Shane. Kurt and Blaine were also here frequently, but they couldn't stay away from work for long. Shane decided to take a leave of absence from his job as a backup dancer. Thankfully they were understanding and an understudy took his place. He wasn't going to leave Reed alone like this for anything, certainly not a job.

To hear he was about to get his love back was the best possible thing.

He finally collected himself enough to ask, "Really?"

Kurt smiled and nodded. "Uh huh. Now we just have to see when."

It turned out "soon" was a very vague word. And almost another week later wasn't really Shane's idea of soon.

He was squirming every second he was with Reed, which was almost every second of the week, squeezing Reed's hand and whispering pleas for him to wake up. Nothing changed though, at least nothing Shane could discern.

It was day twenty and Shane was going crazy. Knowing that Reed could wake up anytime had him on the edge of his seat only to be disappointed when another day passed with no change.

Currently, Shane was walking from the cafeteria back to Reed's room. He trusted Kurt and Blaine to keep an eye on him while he went to get coffee. He found himself needing more and more of it as he was losing way too much sleep.

He had his phone out, lazily texting the twins who he'd finally broke down and told. Kurt, Blaine, and himself had agreed to keep it a secret from their friends until Reed woke up so not to unnecessarily worry them. But that was before the twins sent him a message explaining how they'd be back from Paris soon and wanted to know how everyone was doing. Shane couldn't lie to them and had told them everything, right down to the details of how this was entirely his fault.

He was just about to reply to one of their attempts at comforting him when he smacked into another body.

"Ow!" Coffee splashed out of the cup and onto the floor as he looked up at the person who ran into him. "Blaine? What's wrong?"

Blaine's expression was hard to place and Shane could feel butterflies in his stomach. He started grinning, grabbing Shane's wrist and trying to pull him forward. "He's awake, Shane! He's awake!"

Shane could hardly hear him. There was blood pounding in his ears. "What?" He was quiet at first, but as the words slowly sunk into his stunned mind he started shouting. "What? What!"

"He woke up, they're giving him tests now, come on!"

The cup slipped from Shane's numb fingers, splashing coffee all over the ground. Blaine started to pull him again, but there was really no need. Once Shane remembered how to work his legs, he was running ahead of him, leaving the coffee cup and mess behind.

It seemed to take longer than usual to get back to the ICU unit and even longer to get to Reed's room despite the fact they were running.

He opened the door slowly regardless of every part of him that wanted to break the door down as fast as possible. This was what he'd been waiting for. He needed to see Reed.

He stepped into the room, Blaine right on his heels, just as Dr. Cole was walking away from Reed's bed, a clipboard in hand. Kurt was against the opposite wall, watching Reed silently with wide eyes. Shane was doing the same, frozen in the doorway. But Reed wasn't looking at them.

His eyes kept drooping down and he looked incredibly drowsy like he was about to fall back to sleep any second. But Shane couldn't be bothered by that, because even if his eyes were slipping closed, they were open.

"Reed," he breathed, finding the ability to move once Reed finally seemed to notice there were other people in the room at the sound of his name.

Shane saw a flash of surprise in Reed's (open, and Shane would not stop being thankful for that) eyes as he rushed to the chair beside his bed. He fell into it, instantly taking Reed's hand.

"Reed. Oh god, I missed you so much." Reed now looked very awake, watching him with wide eyes. He started tugging his hand back but Shane only held onto it tighter. "Are you mad at me? You should be. I was wrong and of course you were right, as usual." He laughed a little but Reed's expression didn't change. He tried pulling his hand back, harder this time, and Shane let him, thinking he was definitely angry at him. "I am so sorry, Reed. I should have listened to you. But trust me, I've learned my lesson. I'm never letting you drive again. Better yet, I'm not letting you in a vehicle again. I hope you like walking because that's what you'll be doing from now on." He was smiling, clearly joking, but Reed didn't seem to get it.

"What are you talking about?" he asked in a squeak, his voice sounding small.

"I'm sorry. So sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt. Are you mad at me?" He was desperate now, all joking gone.

Reed's eyes only got bigger, and he attempted to scoot away from Shane. "No!" Shane didn't feel very relieved by that considering he could tell Reed was trying to get away from him and he all but shouted his answer. "I don't know what you're talking about! I don't even know who you are!"

Shane stared at Reed's incredulous expression blankly, trying to understand what he just said. He sank back in the chair in a daze.

Reed was huffing, seemingly upset and trying to get as far away from Shane as the bed would allow.

It was silent until Kurt spoke up from where he was still against the wall. "What did he just say?"

Shane was finally able to snap out of, jumping out of the chair and rounding up on Dr. Cole who stood in the back corner of the room. Blaine and Kurt joined him, looking just as confused.

"What is he talking about? You told me he would fine, why doesn't he remember me?" he was speaking quietly but the grief could still be heard in his voice.

The doctor didn't seem too worried. "Memory loss is very common with head injuries, normal really."

Before he could continue on, Shane interrupted with another question. "Why didn't you mention this before?"

"Well there's no way to tell until the patient has awoken. Post traumatic amnesia is common after a head injury of this caliber. But," he cut Shane's question off before he could ask. "There is no determining how long it lasts. PTA can last anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of months."

Shane gulped at that. Months. What would happen if Reed didn't know who he was for months?

"But he's okay right?" He guessed that whatever it was would be fine as long as Reed was alive and well.

Dr. Cole smiled. "I would imagine so." He walked past them and back to where Reed was on the bed looking over his body and cast on his arm with wide eyes. "Reed?"

Reed's head snapped up. "What's going on?" He sounded scared and Shane wanted nothing more than to make him feel better. "Where am I and who is he?" He directed this to Shane, but only looked at him briefly before tearing his gaze away.

"You're in the hospital." The doctor chose to leave the last part unanswered.

"What happened to me?" He was whispering now, shaking slightly. Shane had to force himself to stay with Kurt and Blaine and to keep his mouth shut.

"You were in a car crash." Reed gasped but Dr. Cole kept his reassuring tone. "We can talk more about that later, but first can you answer a few questions?" Reed nodded slowly, looking shocked quiet. "What's your full name?"

Reed swallowed before answering. "Reed James Van Kamp." He winced a little at having to say his middle name and it made Shane chuckle. Reed's head jerked towards him at the sound and his eyes narrowed.

"Good. And your birthday?"

Shane silently listened as Reed answered more mundane questions about himself that Shane knew the answers to already. It wasn't until the fifth question that he was surprised.

"How old are you?"

Reed didn't have to think about it, he answered easily. "Sixteen."

Shane started ungracefully choking on his spit. Sixteen? As in one six? Reed was staring at him again, eyes narrowed like before. Shane could tell he was making a bad first (…second?) impression. But he really wasn't bothered by that because Reed, twenty four year old Reed, just said he was sixteen.

Dr. Cole didn't seem fazed. "And what year is it?"

"2010."

"What month?"

Reed's face scrunched together. This was the first question he seemed to have to think about. "Um… October?"

Shane stared at Reed quietly, feeling helpless. It was April.

After the doctor wrote everything down, he excused himself, saying he would be right back.

Once he left, Reed looked over at the three left, this time ignoring Shane and speaking to the others. "Blaine? Kurt? What's going on?"

Kurt looked genuinely surprised he knew who he was. "You… you recognize me?"

Reed's eyebrows pulled together. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

Kurt shared an awkward glance with the other two. He was at a loss for words. What would be the appropriate thing to say to that?

"Uh…"

Reed didn't seem to think anything on his hesitance. "What happened?" his eyes flickered to Shane for only a second. "Is this a joke?"

Kurt stepped forward, frowning. "No Reed, it isn't."

After another fleeting glance towards the only person he didn't seem to know, Reed spoke in a hushed tone. "Then who is he?"

Even through all the intense worry and confusion, Shane felt like laughing at the way Reed's wide eyes kept drifting to him only to fly away. If he didn't look scared stiff of him, Shane probably would have.

Kurt's lips twitched too, but he didn't try to answer.

He didn't have to since the door opened and Dr. Cole walked back into the room. "Well Reed, I'm willing to bet that you're pretty confused."

"That might be an understatement," Reed mumbled in response. Shane had to swallow another laugh. He was still Reed.

"First off you should know that this is very common and nothing to be too alarmed by." Reed was feeling alarmed already. "But apparently you're suffering from some memory loss."

Reed blinked, only feeling more confused. "…how much memory loss?"

The doctor pursed his lips. "About eight years."

Reed's mouth fell open. "Eight years?" He started yelling skeptically. "Eight whole years!" He looked to Kurt and Blaine, noticing for the first time they both looked much more mature and refined. His eyes started stinging. He missed so much and he had no idea what. His bottom lip started quivering. "Where's my mom?"

Shane had to visibly restrain himself from jumping forward to comfort him. Seeing Reed cry was still one of the worse feelings to him.

Kurt was the one who ran to do what Shane so wanted to. "She'll be here, don't worry. When she was informed she insisted on getting you proper clothing so you don't have to stay in the hospital gown forever."

The promise of new clothes and seeing his mother made Reed feel a little better, a little but not much. He was soon fully crying, trying to hide behind his arm. How could he forget so much?

Shane couldn't take it anymore. He rushed forward, past Kurt and to the side of Reed's bed. "Please don't cry." Reed peeked out from behind his arm, looking shocked. Shane tried to take his hand. "It'll be okay, just please don't cry."

He was squeezing his hand now and it took Reed a second to register this. Once he did, he was fighting to get his hand back. "Don't touch me!"

Shane's face fell, but he did what Reed said, letting go and stepping back with a deep frown. It hurt that Reed obviously didn't want to be near him or have anything to do with him though Shane could sort of understand why. He was probably scared of him.

Once Shane was at a respectable distance, Reed continued to cry, once again hiding behind his good arm.

Shane watched, feeling terrible and wishing there was something he could do. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Blaine was standing beside him, watching him with a sympathetic look.

"Come on, let's go wait outside."

Shane was about to object, but when he saw Kurt moving into the chair beside Reed's bed and Reed allowing himself to be comforted by him, the protest died in his throat.

"We'll be outside if you need us," Blaine announced, taking Shane by the wrist and leading him out.

Out in the hall, in the same small waiting area Shane had endured and hour and a half of torture, he collapsed into a chair, staring ahead at nothing.

Blaine sat beside him, jarring his arm and trying to smile. "It'll be okay, Shane." Shane ran a hand through his curls, pulling and looking desperate and Blaine realized it would take more than that. "It could be worse you know."

Shane sighed, staring at his shoes. "I know. But it still hurts."

Blaine shrugged a little. "I know it does. But he eventually came around to liking you the first time, though I have no idea why. Who's to say he won't do it again? Just give him time."

Half of Shane's mouth was turning up into a smile but he still felt uneasy. "Easy for you to say. He knows who you are."

"He'll remember you soon enough. Just wait."

Back in the room, Kurt waited patiently for Reed's tears to stop. After ten minutes had lapsed, they seemed to slow down. Kurt rubbed his arm soothingly until they did.

Reed's eyes were still swimming when he started whispering. "How could I miss such a big chunk of my life?"

Kurt's voice was soft. "But you didn't. You were there and experienced it all, you just don't remember it right now."

Reed wiped at his damp cheeks. "But isn't that the same thing? It's like it never happened."

Kurt took his hand once he was done. "It's not though. You'll get your memory back soon. In the meantime you can ask me anything you want, and I'll answer you honestly."

Reed studied Kurt's older face closely. He looked better than ever and fairly handsome. Reed's cheeks flooded with blood with that thought. Oddly enough his first question had nothing to do with himself. "Well… the last I remember you were pawning after Blaine. Did you two get together?"

Kurt smiled and nodded. "Yeah. We first kissed on New Year's, been together ever since."

"New Year's as in 2011?"

"Yep."

To Reed that had yet to happen. He couldn't imagine it being so long ago to Kurt. "Do you live together?"

Kurt nodded again. "We do. Not ten minutes away from you and Sh –" He cut himself off. It wasn't time for that yet. He coughed awkwardly. "And yes before you ask, we live in New York."

That made Reed grin and it eased some of Kurt's tension. "So does that mean Logan gave up on you or what happened with that?"

Kurt had to pause and think about what that meant. "Oh! Yeah, he pretty much got over that after the whole situation with Julian."

Reed's eyebrows furrowed. "What thing with Julian?"

"Well," Kurt knew he would have to leave some pieces of this long story out, so he kept it simple. "He found out Julian had been in love with him for years."

Now Reed's eyebrows shot up. "Julian Larson?"

"Uh huh. They've been together ever since, too."

Reed fell back onto his pillow. "Wow. I would have never guessed."

Kurt waited for him to ask another question. "Anything else?"

Reed glanced at him bashfully, looking oddly nervous all of the sudden. "That guy, the one with the hair." Kurt almost laughed at Reed's description of Shane. "Who is he?"

Kurt was grinning now. Finally. "That's Shane. He's Blaine's younger brother."

That information seemed calm Reed down, but he still looked confused. "If he's Blaine's brother, why was he all over me?"

"Can you really not think of a reason?" His expression didn't change as he watched Reed to try to figure it out.

Reed chewed on his lip. "Did we become friends after Blaine introduced us?"

"Well, yeah. But…" He trailed off leaving Reed looking confused.

"But what?"

"Reed, come on. Think about the way he treated you. He really cares about you."

Reed still looked just as puzzled. "Friends care for each other."

"No, I mean he really cares about you." Kurt watched Reed's face in amusement, waiting for the look of realization to cross his features. When it finally did he wanted to laugh again.

Reed gulped. "He… likes me?"

Now Kurt was laughing. "Reed, he more than likes you. He's been in love with you since the second he laid eyes on you."

The air left Reed's lungs, and he forgot how to breathe. Finding out someone liked him was unbelievable enough, but love? No one liked him like that. He was small and awkward and clumsy. There wasn't anyone who would be attracted to that.

"W-what? You're lying."

"Oh I am far from lying. I think you know that, too. You saw the way he acted when you woke up. Next time he's in here take note of the way he looks at you." Kurt enjoyed the way Reed's face was turning beat red.

"But…" It still didn't make sense to him. The last thing he knew he was a confused teenager who didn't know who he liked or what he wanted and thought he would surely be alone forever. He couldn't believe something like this. "I don't get it…"

Kurt was still smiling. "Just wait. You will."

It wasn't until Hilde came tearing into the room did Reed see Shane again, although with his mother making such a fuss he was hardly paying attention to the quiet guy in the corner. He couldn't even get a breath in until Hilde stopped asking him questions and turned on the doctor. After Dr. Cole explained everything (what happened to Reed during the crash, how long it would take to recover, when he could be released, what to do when his memory returned, ect.) he felt a little better about the whole thing, like he could now breathe properly. At least things kind of made sense now. Kind of.

Now that his mother was reassured he'd be fine, she was fussing about his hair instead of his wellbeing, which was maybe a little more annoying. She was sitting on the edge of his bed, and due to the proximity he now noticed something different about her.

"You look older."

Her hand froze in the middle of patting down Reed's hair. The next thing that was heard was Shane's very loud laughing from the opposite corner.

Reed watched with fascination as his mother narrowed her eyes very slowly before jerking her head to face him so she could say with a growl, "Watch it, Shane."

Reed didn't know why he felt so stunned by seeing this exchange. Maybe it was seeing his own mother interact with him like that, proving that if he was in her life then he had to be a large part of Reed's life, too.

Shane didn't even bother to apologize, only lifted his hands up in surrender, his eyes locking with Reed's.

Reed realized he had been staring and quickly looked away, suddenly finding the blanket much more interesting as he felt his face heat up. He could feel his mother tugging at his hair again and wished she would stop.

"Um," he mumbled quietly. "I'm tired. Can I please go to sleep now?"

Hilde dropped her hands. "Of course. You're probably exhausted." She stood up and kissed his hair and then cheek. "Call me if you need anything. I'll be back tomorrow." When she turned, her eyes met Shane's, but instead of saying anything she promptly left without a word. Even though Reed couldn't see it happen, he could feel the tension between them and he wondered why it existed.

Next it was Kurt hugging him and saying the same, then it was Blaine. He felt nerves flutter in his stomach when Shane got off the wall to walk towards him. What if he tried to hug him, or kiss his cheek, or even worse his lips. Shane stopped in front of the bed and Reed's eyes widened, heart pounding in anticipation. He was startled when all Shane did was hold out his hand, something white inside his palm.

"You might need this," he smiled shyly, handing Reed the object.

It took Reed a minute to realize this was supposed to be his phone. The phone he remember having didn't look like this, but then he guessed it wouldn't considering that was eight years ago.

When all Shane did was smile at him and say goodnight before heading to the door, Reed realized he shouldn't have worried.

He waited until the door closed completely, leaving him alone before he started to inspect the touch screen phone. It took a second for him to figure out how to turn it on, but once it was he had no idea what to look for. Messages, he decided. He didn't read through very much, Kurt's texts about fashion and shopping, the twins being annoying, but mostly they were from Shane. His curiosity got the better of him as he finally clicked one, bringing up all their conversations. He was surprised to see how normal they were, like actual good friends. He was feeling pretty okay with everything until he saw a reply from himself.

I love you.

He stared at the three words, eyes wide and mouth open. He managed to catch Shane's response of "I love you too" but it only made him feel even more dumbfounded. He knew Kurt had told him Shane loved him, but he said nothing about Reed loving Shane back. Did that mean they were actually together? And if so then for how long? Reed swallowed nervously. Maybe he meant it in a platonic way?

His hands were shaking as he closed out of the messages instead bringing up his saved pictures. He knew he shouldn't, but he was too curious now. And just like that he was everywhere, sometimes by himself sometimes with Reed. The pictures of Shane were endless, only interrupted by ones of other friends or Reed alone. It took seeing a picture of Shane kissing his cheek, and then directly beside it one of them in a lip lock to make him throw the phone to the foot of the bed.

He was frozen, staring at the white wall without seeing it. He could hardly believe what he'd just seen. Sometime in the life he had no recollection of, he had actually kissed someone. And it was that weird guy he was still uncertain about. He would never have done that at sixteen. At least he didn't think he would. It made him wonder what else had changed in these eight years.

It also made him terribly nervous. He didn't know who he was supposed to be anymore.

He also didn't know how he was going to act around this guy tomorrow. He was sure it would be even more awkward than today now that he knew they were supposed to be in love.

It was so hard to believe though, because Reed couldn't picture himself loving anybody. And even more than that, there was no way he could picture someone loving him.