This was supposed to be a one-shot, but I Love Field Hockey begged for more, so I had no choice but to oblige.

This will be a very dark fic. I promise that. I will be working on this and Foolish Games at the same time, and hopefully I'll be able to evenly distribute my attention and updates for them both.

I hope you enjoy. Oh, and please review because I'm a review whore. They are my drug of choice.

Vann

The constant beeping of the machine next to him was a warm lullaby to Eli's ears. It held him firmly in his chair, anchoring him to his place of watch over Clare's small, almost lifeless form.

Her family was at the police station with Jake. He was being questioned about the rape. Her rape.

Eli gritted his teeth angrily and shook away the thoughts of his poor Clare being raped. He couldn't get worked up. Not there. Not when she could wake up at any second.

She will wake up, he repeated to himself. She has to.

Eli counted dirty tiles on the hospital ceiling as the time seemed to drag on hopelessly. Nurses came and went, a male doctor occasionally graced the room with his holier-than-thou attitude, and fellow Degrassi students dropped off flowers and tears and whispered words of encouragement into Clare's ears while Eli sat, unmoving, in his rock hard chair.

He noted the off-white walls, littered with specks of substance with origins unknown to him. He studied for hours the stiff, starchy white blanket that covered Clare and complimented her similarly pasty skin. He ingrained every last detail of the hospital room into his mind. What better way to pass the time than to obsess over the smallest, most insignificant details of his surroundings? It was better than dwelling on the fact that the girl he loved was unconscious in a dingy hospital room.

He stared at her, willing her to open her deep blue eyes, flash him an uncharacteristically happy smile and tell him that she was going to be fine.

He hadn't spoken to anyone in hours. After telling the police about Clare's admissions, pointing them in the direction of Jake and claiming his spot next to her in the ambulance, Eli shut down. He didn't want to speak, or breathe, or think until Clare was awake.

The steady beeping of the monitor was his only friend.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Freezing cold water assaulted his skin on impact. The pressure was so intense that he felt himself embracing unconsciousness.

But no, Clare needed him. He flailed his arms in the water and struggled to the surface, looking around frantically for her in the murky brown lake. He ducked his head back under and opened his eyes, an uncomfortable burn clouding his vision as he desperately searched for her. A faint black cloth floated in front of him and he swam toward it with all of his might. He yanked on the material and felt it weighted down with a heaviness that could not have been caused by water and cloth.

Clare.

With all of the strength that he possessed, Eli dragged the black cloth up to the surface and finally saw her skin, her face, her closed eyes.

"No!" He screamed. "Don't you die on me, Clare!"

He swam her to surface as quickly and frantically as his rushing adrenaline would allow. When he reached the muddy shore, several people helped him pull her out of the water.

They laid her out on the muddy incline and Eli felt her wrist for a pulse.

None.

His heart stopped and he began CPR with an intensity that he couldn't control.

1…2…3…

1…2…3…

1…2…3…

He breathed desperately into her mouth and prayed to no one in particular, begging for Clare to be okay.

After several minutes, a cough erupted from her chest. Water spewed out from her mouth and onto Eli's face. The murky water mixed with his relived tears and he felt a sigh of unadulterated joy rush from his throat. He tipped her onto her side and her entire body racked with coughs, water spraying from her lungs and all over the ground. Her eyes were closed, but her pulse was steady underneath Eli's thumb.

Finally, he heard sirens quickly approaching them.

The rest was a blur to him. Police questions, Clare's family arriving at the scene, her mother screaming, her step-father trying to calm her, Jake being handcuffed and shoved into the back of a patrol car, eyes all over him as he climbed into the back of the ambulance and held Clare's limp hand in his own, exhaustion clouding over him heavily.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Eli? Eli?"

He heard a voice gently prodding him from his fitful daydream. Clare's step-father stood in front of him, baggy eyelids and stress lines marking his exhausted face. Eli offered up a half-nod at the man and turned his attention back to Clare.

Glen sat gingerly at the edge of Clare's bed, careful not to disturb her frail body. He rubbed his scruff roughly and breathed deeply, as if he hadn't taken a breath in years. The two men sat awkwardly together as Clare's monitors droned on endlessly.

"I don't blame you for talking to the police." Glen finally choked out, his voice crackling with emotion. "We knew something was wrong with Clare. But I… I never suspected my-my son."

Eli shook his head angrily and fiercely avoided eye contact with the older man.

"The police searched the house. They found Clare's journal and-and some bed sheets that they are testing for DNA. They said her journal detailed the attack. They said it was enough to charge Jake." Glen stuttered, his voice shaking almost as intensely as his hands. "They said she'd been writing about suicide ever since." Glen's voice completely broke. "If it weren't for you-"

"Stop." Eli demanded, rage building up inside of him so intensely that he knew he was about to lose it. "I don't want to hear it. I just want to sit here and wait for Clare to wake up. That's all I care about."

Glen obliged and left soundlessly.

Once again, just Eli, Clare and her steadily beeping heart rate occupied the room.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Bright lights blinded Clare as she slowly ascended from unconsciousness. All she could make out in the room were subtle shapes. Silhouettes of chairs and machines greeted her roughly as she tried to get her bearings.

She blinked. The room was silent, other than a steady beeping sound that Clare couldn't quite place.

Her sight finally fixed and she realized where she was.

A hospital?

She looked around, frantically, for any sign of normalcy. Her eyes fell on shaggy black hair.

"Eli?" She yelped, her confusion growing with every passing moment.

He jumped.

See what I did there? I incorporated the title again.

Points for me.

I promise this story will pick up soon.

Stick with me, okay? Please?

And review too. Hee hee.

Vann