A/N: Thank you so much to the people who have read and those who have reviewed! I wasn't sure how welcomed this story would be with TBI still in progress, but I'm glad a few people are starting to like it!
Also, just for the sake of not wanting to deal with writing about classes and things like that, I've decided to set this story during summer break. So, the girls are in the summer between their freshman and 2nd years of college.
Disclaimer: I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock
Mitchie awoke with a startle when she felt a slowly increasing grip on her hand. Her head shot up and in an instant, she locked sight with the dark brown eyes she'd been waiting to see for hours.
"Mitchie..." Alex slowly croaked out.
"I'm right here, baby." Mitchie said quietly. She glanced up at the clock, which read 6:18 AM.
"Where are we?" Alex didn't bother looking around. She kept her eyes on her girlfriend.
"We're at the hospital...Do you remember what happened last night?"
Alex paused. Her eyebrows furrowed - only slightly, due to the bit of swelling - and her lips pursed in thought. Once everything came back to her, Alex's whole expression changed. Her right eye widened and her hand that was in Mitchie's gave a tight squeeze as her mouth opened to speak.
"Oh my god! Mitchie, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" She asked, waking up fully from the shock of remembering. Alex tried to sit up, but Mitchie put a gentle pressure on her shoulders to keep her down.
"Don't move Alex. You're really hurt, okay? 2 of your ribs are cracked and they think 2 more are bruised. Just stay down, trust me." Mitchie warned her.
"Of course I trust you, Mitch." Alex's face softened to a look of concern, "...So, are you all right?"
Mitchie debated telling Alex about her bruises. She knew Alex would worry, and she didn't want to cause any unnecessary stress. Although, Alex would find out eventually and she would be less upset if Mitchie didn't keep it from her.
"Um...yeah. I just have a couple bruises from when those two guys grabbed me..." Mitchie mumbled quickly.
"What?" Alex sounded devastated.
"No, please don't worry, all right? It's just sore. Nothing else." Mitchie assured her. She paused as the feeling of tears welling in her eyes came up.
"If it's nothing, then why are you about to cry?" Alex asked curiously.
"...I don't know. It's stupid." Mitchie shrugged.
"It's not stupid... C'mon, you know you can tell me."
"...I...I'm just s-so freaked out by this whole thing. On the way to your room, I felt like someone could pop out at any minute and everything would happen all over again, Alex. I don't want to be alone..."
"Hey, listen. You're not alone. I'm here and I'm never gonna leave, all right? Especially not now. We're gonna get through this, Mitchie."
"...B-but you got hurt...b-because of me..." Mitchie sniffled, "If I hadn't turned to you when he touched me, none of this would have happened."
"Mitchie, that creep put his hands on you. I'm your girlfriend and it's my job to make sure you're safe. I'm happy to be in this hospital bed if it means I've kept you out of it." Alex tried to assure her.
"...O-okay..." Mitchie was in doubt, but she didn't want to worry Alex. It was all fine until Mitchie had forgotten one important detail.
"Oh my god," She whispered, "W-we have to tell our parents."
"What? No - we don't."
"What do you mean, 'we don't'? Alex, we have to tell them!"
"I'm not telling my parents. My mom would just freak out and then ask a bunch of questions I don't want to answer." Alex had always been stubborn.
"Well, I have to tell mine..."
"Why? We're over 18, Mitch. The hospital doesn't have to notify our parents if we don't tell them to."
"It's not that...I...handed over my wallet..." Mitchie shrunk into her seat.
"You what? Mitchie, why would you do that? They're gonna take all of your money now and you'll have to start from scratch! It's going to be a pain in the ass to get new cards, a new driver's license-"
"They were going to KILL you, Alex! What was I supposed to do?" Mitchie blurted out.
Alex ceased all conversation on her end.
"...Well, I don't know if they were gonna go that far, but he definitely wasn't finished after he knocked you out...What was I supposed to do?" Mitchie repeated.
Alex thought hard about her girlfriend's words. Of course, somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew their lives were in actual danger, but she was 19. Every 19-year-old has that feeling of invincibility, like nothing could touch them. Hearing Mitchie say out loud that they could've been killed made it all sound so...real.
Mitchie was looking at the floor. She knew she did the right thing. The whole ordeal could have gone much further if she hadn't stepped in. But Mitchie still felt immense guilt for not doing it sooner. As far as she felt, she could have jumped in before the man smacked Alex the first time. Then Alex wouldn't be in a hospital bed, looking so broken.
"...I kn-know it was a dumb move...But I c-couldn't just stand there and watch him hurt you...It literally broke my heart, Alex." Just when Mitchie thought she had cried out all of her tears since the previous night, new ones began to well up.
Alex took in as deep a breath as she could, slightly wincing when the pain in her ribs caught up to her, and then sighed. With some effort, she brought Mitchie's hand to her lips and kissed it. Mitchie, using the most gentle pressure she could, ran her fingers along the right side of Alex's face. She started at her temple, and stopped as she reached the girl's strong jaw.
Slowly tracing Alex's bottom lip with her thumb, Mitchie's facial expression turned into one of curiosity. Alex picked up on it and unlaced both hands and brought hers up to lift the cleft chin so that Mitchie was looking at her. With a nod from the prone girl, Mitchie leaned down, hands on the side of the bed, and brushed her lips against Alex's. Alex responded by leaning her neck up and capturing Mitchie's top lip in hers and moving her hand to Mitchie's shoulder. Mitchie felt different kissing Alex this time because the left side of her lips were a little puffier than usual, but she loved the contact nonetheless.
Alex slowly pulled back and rested back on the pillow beneath her and Mitchie's eyes were still closed, but she began to open them as Alex spoke.
"I'm sorry I freaked out. I didn't realize what was going on. But, thank you, Mitchie. You probably saved both of our lives...If you want, I'll go with you to tell your parents."
"I wouldn't want it any other way." Mitchie smiled sadly, "So, are you going to tell yours?"
"Probably not...They'll find out eventually and if they don't, then that's fine too."
"Whatever you say, babe." Mitchie patted Alex's thigh as a yawn escaped her.
"How about you get in this bed and we can get back to sleep, huh?" Alex tried to lighten the mood a little.
"No way. I don't wanna hurt you, that bed is so not big enough for the both of us." Mitchie shook her head.
"Come on. If you lay on your side and we cuddle, then it'll be fine. My left side doesn't hurt at all below the head..." Alex begged. She stuck out her lower lip and raised her eyebrows.
Damn, she really knows how to use those eyes...Mitchie thought.
"...Fine, but the second you even show a little pain, I'm out of the bed, okay?" Mitchie wagged her right index finger, trying to show authority.
"Sounds like a plan." Alex smirked.
Mitchie walked over to the left side of the bed and awkwardly climbed in. After a great deal of shuffling around, the girls got into a comfortable sleeping position. Mitchie's head was resting on Alex's shoulder and she was lying on top of her right arm, which was already falling asleep. She didn't want to even go near Alex's ribs, so Mitchie rested her left hand in the middle of Alex's stomach, far down enough so that no accidental brushing of the injuries would occur. Alex slung her left arm around Mitchie's shoulders and the two girls finally were able to settle down.
Mitchie's breathing evened out quickly, as she was still tired from everything, but Alex stayed awake. She had been sleeping for a while after being unconscious, so it was harder to drift off. She lay there, looking at the ceiling, thoughts in her head running a mile a minute. Alex's attention was suddenly brought to Mitchie when she heard the girl whimper and then looked down to see her hospital gown being bunched up into her girlfriend's tight fist.
"...Mitchie?" Alex whispered. She craned her neck to get a better view.
Mitchie's eyes were shut tightly and Alex could see rapid movement behind her lids, but she was completely asleep.
Poor girl...
Alex kissed the top of Mitchie's head and returned her vision to the ceiling above as she rubbed big circles on her girlfriend's back.
Mitchie didn't relax the entire few hours following.
After finally falling into a light sleep, Alex jolted awake when she heard the sound of curtains being pushed open and harsh sunlight penetrating the room. She blinked her eyes open, and saw an elderly woman smiling back at her.
"Didn't mean to wake you, sweetie. I'm just getting your room ready for the day." She smiled. The woman walked over and fluffed Alex's pillow, surprisingly not waking Mitchie.
"Thank you." Alex mouthed to her as she left the room. Mitchie stirred when the sound of the door closing echoed "Hey, babe. Wake up." Alex lightly shaking her.
"Mmmm." Mitchie grumbled as she buried her face deeper into Alex's neck. She took a deep breath and shot up, remembering where she was. Both girls looked down and saw that Mitchie's fist was still clutching Alex's garment, "Sorry."
Alex shrugged it off and cuddled closer to her girlfriend.
"Morning." She smiled and leaned up to kiss Mitchie, who returned it with a peck and quickly climbed out of the bed.
"We need to call my parents. I think they should know as soon as possible." Mitchie pulled out her phone and started dialing.
"Hey, Mitchie! Where were you guys last night? You never made it home. Did you stay at Alex's house?" Connie Torres' voice sounded through the speakerphone.
"Ummm, not exactly..." Mitchie hesitated.
"Oh, a hotel? Mitchie, don't tell me you stayed at a cheap motel. You know I don't like those things. They're not safe."
"How ironic that you say that, Connie", Alex said to herself.
"Listen; can you just come see Alex and me? I need to tell you in person...and bring Dad."
"Mitchie, what's going on? Is everything all right?"
"No. Well, yes-but no. It's better than it could have been...I guess." She struggled out.
"Where are you?" Connie pushed.
"...The hospital..."
"...And so now, I need to get a new wallet, ID, and credit cards." Mitchie concluded the story for the 2nd time in less than 24 hours. She hoped that it would be one of the last times.
Both Connie and Steve sighed and buried their faces in their hands. Steve ran his hand through his short hair, a habit he'd picked up in stress, and Connie was wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. They were shocked when they saw Alex, but they could never imagine that someone attackedthem. Things like that happened to other people's daughters. Not theirs and not the Russo's.
"I-I don't even know what to say...We have to go to the police." Steve suggested.
"What? No." Alex disagreed from her place on the bed, "I didn't even get a good look at the guy. There's no way it would happen. Why get our hopes up over nothing?"
"I think we have to at least try. I mean, something could happen." Connie tried to reason with the girls, "Just think about it, please?"
"I'll think about it...but I'm not making any promises."
"What have your parents said?" Steve asked.
"...Ummm...What?" Alex played dumb.
"You haven't told your parents yet?" Steve asked in disbelief.
"Oh, Alex..." Connie said sympathetically.
"They don't need to know. I'm all right. There's nothing to worry about. Seriously, guys."
"...Alex." Mitchie put a hand on Alex's shoulder. Alex knew everyone was right, but deep down, she didn't want to see her mother worry so much, or her father hurt after seeing her in this condition.
Mitchie held out her phone for Alex to take.
"…I'll make you a deal. As soon as I get released from the hospital, I won't even go get my car. If you guys can bring me home, I'll tell them then."
"All right…" Connie knew Alex almost as well as she knew Mitchie and this was the best she would get out of her daughter's girlfriend.
"We should head to the bank and make some arrangements." Steve began to stand, "Mitchie, do you want to come with us?"
"I can't leave Alex."
"It's okay, babe. You can go. I'll be fine." Alex nodded.
"No!" Mitchie began tearing up. Just the thought of being away from Alex for a couple hours terrified her, "I don't think I can handle that yet. Please don't try to understand. Just don't make me leave."
"Okay, okay. You can stay." How could Connie say no? Her daughter was obviously distraught.
Steve and Connie kissed the girls good-bye, reminding Alex of their deal before leaving the room. Once the door closed, Alex turned to Mitchie.
"Hey. What was that all about? Are you okay?" She asked, concerned.
"I-I just don't think I can be separated from you again…N-not yet, at l-least. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I'm actually kind of relieved. I'd thought after all that, you'd be convinced that I'm not a good protector or something…" Alex pulled Mitchie's hand so she was sitting on the side of the bed.
Mitchie leaned down and kissed Alex, then pulled away, hovering over her with both hands on either side of Alex's head.
"Not a chance." Mitchie winked as she went back for more.
Not the best chapter ever, but I got excited to post again. Also, I know I downplayed Steve and Connie's reactions, but just ignore me.
Sorry for any mistakes.
I'm going to go write for TBI, now. Thanks for reading and hope to hear your thoughts!
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