Disclaimer: I do not own Gallagher Girls, that would be the amazing Ally Carter.
Liz POV
"Liz? Liz?" Someone was shaking me. "Lizzy?" Uh-oh, sounded like Cam. I tried to force myself to wake up. Cam doesn't need to cry over me, I'm fine. Wake up, Liz! WAKE UP! I slowly opened my eyes.
"Cam?" I asked weakly.
"Lizzy!" Macey sounded overjoyed. "Guys, Liz is awake!" I saw everyone gather around my bed. Well, almost everyone. Jonas and Cam weren't there. Bex read my eyes before I could ask, pointing to my bedside. There lay Jonas, slumped over in a chair. "He didn't leave you for a week and finally passed out." Macey smiled. "He's going to be upset that he missed you waking up."
"How long have I been out, Mace?" I asked. Stay awake, Elizabeth! Macey looked uncomfortable. "Macey?" I asked again. "How long have I been out?" Macey mumbled under her breath, looking at the floor. What was up? She had never been this reluctant before. "What?" She took a deep breath and looked up at me.
"A month." She said. I promptly fainted, still wondering where Cam was.
One month. One month. One month. ONE MONTH! I had been asleep for one month after the incident at the party, which I could barely remember. Jonas kissing me. Us running. Me passing out after calling for help. Suddenly, I realized that Cam wasn't there either when I woke up. "CAM!" I yelled, bolting upright in bed.
"Whoa, Lizzy!" Jonas said. "Hold on, there." I then realized that I was close to ripping out some kinds of tubes that were coming out of various appendages. "Careful, Liz."
"What are these?" I asked Jonas, honestly confused.
"Well, I don't know exactly what they do." He replied. "One's breathing, one's food, one's IV…" He shrugged. "Beyond that, I have no idea." If Jonas didn't know, who did? He smiled. "I can ask the doctor when he comes back in and tell you when you wake up."
"What do you mean?" I asked yawning.
"Goodnight, Lizzy." Jonas replied, obviously amused.
I was out like a light.
"Elizabeth?" A female voice that I couldn't place asked. Was she talking to me? "Elizabeth?"
"Yes?" I replied. Better safe than sorry, I guess.
"Good, you're awake. I'm Doctor Jones." The lady told me. Well, doctor, I guess.
"Jonas?" I asked.
"No, Jones." Dr. Jones repeated like she was talking to a three-year-old. "Jones."
"I know." I replied testily. "Where is he?" I really should have more patience. Dr. Jones smiled.
"Is Jonas your young man?" Dr. Jones asked me. I shrugged. Dr. Jones just smiled again. "Let me clarify. Is he the one that's been at your bedside since the day you got here?" I shrugged again. "How do you not know?" Dr. Jones asked me, obviously confused.
"Well, you see, Dr. Jones, I've kind of been out, like not conscious, the past few weeks, so…" I trailed off. "You see?"
"Yes, I see." Dr. Jones replied, laughing. "You remind me a lot of my other patient here." She smiled fondly. "She's just your age, and I think you even attend the same school…" she trailed off for a moment while she checked her clipboard. "Yes." She looked up to see the terror on my face. "What is it, Elizabeth?"
"What's… what's her name?" I asked, praying that Dr. Jones was wrong.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that," she said, "it's classified."
"Most stuff in my life is." I muttered under my breath. I heard someone laugh lightly and realized Jonas was at my side.
"Oh, I know." Dr. Jones said. Jonas and I both looked at her in shock. "What? Why else do you think he's here?" she pointed to Jonas. "And your friends?" she gestured out the door. "My good friend Abby would be here if she wasn't in the room next door with her niece." I paled instantly.
"Her niece?" I stuttered out. "Abigail Cameron?" Dr. Jones looked at me in surprise.
"Yes, Abigail Cameron. She's a good friend of mine from high school." Dr. Jones looked confused. "Yes, she and Rachel are with her niece." Dr. Jones was looking at me worriedly. Jonas and I exchanged glances.
"Who else is over there?" he asked. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was in the dark about this.
"Just them." Dr. Jones replied.
"Why?" Jonas asked warily.
"She's…" Dr. Jones cut off abruptly, staring at the floor. She took a deep breath and looked at us. "She's in critical condition."
Once again, I passed out. This is starting to get annoying.
When I finally woke up again, Jonas and Zach were conversing in low tones. Since I'm supposed to be a spy and all, I decided to pretend I was still asleep and listen to their conversation.
"I'm worried about her." Jonas said, glancing over at me.
"You're worried?" Zach laughed bitterly. "Imagine how I feel. My girlfriend's in the hospital, and she's in such bad condition that I can't get in to see her." Zach shook his head, obviously trying not to cry. "You're worried." he mumbled under his breath, staring at the floor.
"I'm worried about her, too!" Jonas said indignantly. "I'm also worried about you." Zach looked up at Jonas, confused. "All you've done for a month is sit outside of her door waiting to see her." Zach narrowed his lids, sensing the 'pathetic' or 'crazy' that was implied.
"And all you've done is sit by her bedside, holding her hand." Zach replied angrily. "You care about her that much, and you've only been together for a month."
"Oh, and you and Cam had such a steady relationship." Jonas retorted.
"You two haven't been through half as much as Cam and I." Zach said.
"Liz was in a" Jonas began.
"Cam is in a coma. Cam was tortured. Cam was kidnapped. Cam was trapped. Cam has been in two explosions, and I've been there for both of them." Zach was beginning to cry now. "Now tell me what you've been through." They were both silent, staring at each other.
"Dude, I feel for you, but yelling at me isn't helping anything." Jonas said comfortingly. "Go get something to eat, I'll text you if there's any news."
"Good or bad?" Zach asked.
"Good or bad." Jonas reassured him.
"Thanks, man." Zach said, sighing as he left the room. Jonas turned to my bed.
"I know you're awake, Liz." I sighed.
"How'd you know?" I asked.
"Um…" He said "There's the whole spy thing and then there's the whole boyfriend thing, and there's the whole friend thing."
"That's a lot of things." I said. He laughed.
"Yeah, it is." he sighed. "I'm guessing you heard everything with Zach?"
"Yep." I said. "She's really that bad?"
"Unfortunately." Jonas replied. "Her mom and Abby haven't left her side. Zach, Bex, and Macey are about ready to break down the door to see her." he looked off into space.
"Dr. Jones is taking care of her?" I asked.
"Yeah." he said, his attention coming back to me. "That's partly why I'm in here all the time. To keep an eye on you because she's busy with Cam. While you were out, we all kept shifts. Mostly because we all love you, but partly to keep everyone's minds off of Cam."
"What happened?" I asked.
"To you or to Cam?" He asked me.
"Both." I answered.
"Well, you made it to the van, called for help and collapsed on the seat." he looked at me. "You really scared me, Liz." he cleared his throat. "Anyways, Macey and Preston made it to the car. So did Bex and Grant. We drove away then, getting you to the nearest hospital. Macey called Mrs. Morgan and told her what hospital so she could bring Cam. I have no idea what happened to her." he sighed. "Dr. Jones won't give us any information and Zach won't say anything. I think he feels guilty. He thinks it's his duty to protect her."
"Cam can protect herself." I pointed out the obvious and Jonas laughed.
"I know that. You know that. Macey knows that. Heck, Preston and Grant know that." he paused. "Bex and Zach know it too, but they refuse to acknowledge it. They think that they have to protect Cam or she's gonna break into a million pieces." We didn't want to acknowledge that she almost had this time. Jonas cleared his throat to get rid of the awkwardness. "Kinda like how I feel about you."
"But she actually needs it." Bex spoke from the doorway.
"Hey!" I feigned hurt. "I can take care of myself."
"Sure, Lizzy." Bex said. Jonas just laughed at our antics.
"You tell her, Jonas!" I replied indignantly.
"She agrees." Jonas said to Bex, who burst out laughing.
"Yes." Bex said. "But at least I'll give you the fact that you made it to the car before you collapsed. Cam almost didn't make it to the copter…" Bex suddenly stopped.
"Go on." I prodded. "Were you there?"
"No." Bex said. "I should've been, though." she laughed remorsefully. "Something about Cam and copters and rooftops and political functions."
"Who does know what happened?" I asked angrily. I was starting to get annoyed. I was in the hospital room next to hers, and we were all being kept in the dark.
"I don't." Macey said.
"Were you there?" I asked. Macey just looked at me. Then her face cleared.
"Oh. Like Boston. No, I wasn't." she sighed, looking out the window. "Is Preston bad luck?" she turned to the window. "Or is it me?" she asked quietly.
"Macey!" Bex and I both yelled at her at the same time.
"You can't blame yourself for this." Bex yelled. She walked over to Macey and turned her to face us. "That isn't your fault!" she started shaking Macey. "We need to stay together and be there for Cam."
"Alright." Macey said. You could tell by her voice that she wasn't convinced. Just then, Dr. Jones came in.
"Sorry to interrupt." Dr. Jones looked slightly confused.
"What's up?" Jonas asked, obviously trying to get rid of the awkwardness.
"Well, we wanted you to know that you can go in to see Cameron now if you want." Dr. Jones sighed. "Abby and Rachel haven't eaten in days. I kicked them out and told them you guys would go sit with her. I think Abby's actually on a date with Joe."
"Of course." Bex and Macey replied, racing each other to the door, whispering about Abby's date with Mr. Solomon. They'd be a cute couple. I tried to get up and then realized where I was.
"Um, Dr. Jones?" I asked.
"Don't worry, Elizabeth, we'll get you out of there." Dr. Jones smiled. "Jonas, are you staying?" he snorted.
"You're kidding, right?" Dr. Jones looked worried. "Heck, yeah." she smiled again, then sobered.
"This may hurt a little bit." Dr. Jones poked a needle into my arms and my vision started to go fuzzy. I heard Jonas' voice.
"Read: This is gonna hurt like…" I never heard the end of his sentence.
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the lack of tubes coming out of my arms. Granted, I was covered in Band-Aids, but I was still free now. Dr. Jones and Jonas were standing at the end of the bed. "Hi there!" Jonas said, laughing.
"What's so funny?" I asked warily. Anything that had Jonas cracking up like that couldn't be good. That makes me sound like a bad girlfriend, but it's true.
"He finds your…" Dr. Jones paused, apparently searching for the right word, "foul language as you were put under anesthesia amusing."
"How long was I out?" I asked.
"About an hour." Dr. Jones replied. I nodded.
"Can I go see Cam now?" I asked. Dr. Jones nodded, laughing, while Jonas helped me into the wheelchair that had been prepped for me.
"Hey, Liz." Zach said as soon as I entered. "You're looking much better."
"Isn't she?" Jonas sounded proud of me. "She's come along well."
"She's right here." I pointed out, mildly annoyed at their behavior.
"We know, Lizzy." Jonas stepped out from behind my wheelchair. Dr. Jones was going to push me, but Jonas insisted. Zach stepped aside so I had a better view of Cam's hospital bed. I was shocked. If I thought I had a lot of tubes, Cam had many more. She lay peacefully on the bed. Macey was playing with Cam's hair and Bex was squeezing her hand, willing her to wake up. Just then, before I could talk to them, Dr. Jones entered.
"Zachary?" she asked.
"Right here." Zach replied.
"May I speak with you, please?" Zach nodded. "In the hall." he nodded again, this time in understanding. They stepped out into the hall. Unfortunately, I could hear every word.
"What's up?" Zach asked.
"Well," I could just picture Dr. Jones' way of avoiding looking at you when she has bad news. "Cameron's life is dependent on the next few hours. These next procedures will decide her fate."
"Why are you telling me this?" Zach asked.
"Frankly, Abby and Rachel can't handle it right now. Not after spending a month at her bedside." Dr. Jones replied.
"And I can?" Zach asked incredulously.
"Don't go ranting on me." Dr. Jones said warningly. "I know you can handle it. So handle it. You're a big boy."
"I guess." Zach replied doubtfully. "Thanks, I guess."
"The odds are in her favor for getting through this." Dr. Jones sounded like she was trying to comfort him.
"The odds are never in Cam's favor." Zach replied darkly before reentering the room.
I'm so incredibly sorry that it's not even funny. I'll start with that. So here's my excuse: My laptop is for school, and I don't get it back for another two weeks, which means I'm on my home computer with my OneNote files on a disk that I take in and out of the computer. Plus, I'm taking driver's ed.(3 hours a day for 2 weeks in a classroom during summer) and my brother's baseball is literally my life. Since I can't bring the desktop with me, my updates are slower. Wow, that's a lot. Now good news: I FIGURED OUT HOW TO PUT IN LINES FOR LINE BREAKS! YEAH! I'm going to try to work on a cover/image for this story. I'll see what I can create. Shoutouts:
LJB: I'm sooooooooooooo sorry.
anon: I tried to clarify here. I think this one's longer!
Lovetolive: love your username. I'm actually not sure on Preston, he just kinda came. Plus, this is after they graduate, so I really didn't consider that. I imagine them about 20.
Lalalala: your username is hard to type. So, basically they're at a diplomatic party or something. I'll do a flashback to the threat from this new group (hence the name). This story is after they graduate, I think they're about 20. That's me.
Thatsclassified: I like your username. Sorry about the update. I thought I was doing well with the grammar and punctuation. Could you please help me? Like, really? I though I was doing everything correctly.
stephaniek: Aw, you came back! Yeah, I like how they got together. Well, Liz isn't the one you have to worry about now, is she?
Thank you so much for reading and I'll try to be quick. No promises, though.
HAPPY SUMMER!
P.S. Who caught the Hunger Games quote?
