Alright, here's the next chapter! It took a lot of thinking, but I think it'll be okay...

Don't forget to review!

I don't own N2N. If I did, the cast would be living in my basement...which they're not...hahaha psshh no way...*cough* *cough*

Enjoy!

A week later Natalie was released from the hospital. She would still have to wear her broken arm in a sling and had to wear on a walking boot on her ankle, but other than that she was feeling pretty good. Henry, even though he was acting alright, still had to stay in the hospital. Natalie assumed it was all the extra injuries he had. Natalie hadn't seen or heard from Gabe ever since they had made their deal. And she was still trying to figure out if that had been real or not. As the days went on she assumed it was all a crazy hallucination. She continued on with her life, going to school, visiting Henry all the time, and pushing Gabe out of her mind.

But then one day when she was visiting Henry in the hospital, things took a turn for the worse.

"Nat," he said, "can you get a nurse?"

"Why?" she asked, suddenly panicking. "Are you okay?"

"My side feels funny, that's all."

"Hang on." She hurried into the hallway and frantically called for a nurse. The usual one came in and checked his vital signs. Finally, she checked out the gash on his side.

"Impossible," she whispered. "I'll be right back, I just have to get a doctor."

"Wait, what's wrong?" Natalie asked, following the nurse of the room and grabbing her arm.

"His cut started bleeding again."

"What? How is that possible? It's been over a week since you guys said it was healed. He should be fine by now. He should be home."

"We planned on releasing him tomorrow," the nurse told her. "But now we won't know until he's seen by a doctor. Please excuse me."

Natalie went back to Henry's room. He looked at her nervously. "Am I okay?" he asked.

"Um, yeah," Natalie said, sitting next to him on the bed (the side of him with no cut, just in case). "You'll be fine."

"Natalie, don't lie to me."

"So you're bleeding again. The doctor will check you out, then I'm sure they'll stitch you up and you can go home."

"Stitches again?"

"Maybe they took the stitches out too early," Natalie said with a shrug. Her lie could have actually been true though.

The nurse joined them again, but with the doctor this time. He spent a good ten minutes examining Henry's side. Finally, he straightened up and sighed.

"I'm afraid you're loosing a lot of blood, son," the doctor said to Henry.

"What are you going to do about it?" Natalie asked, getting frustrated.

"We'll call his parents of course."

"I meant about his cut. How are you going to stop the blood?"

"I think staples could more efficient in this situation. Once his parents get here to sign some forms, we'll patch him up." He put a hand on Henry's shoulder. "You'll be fine, son." He looked at Natalie. "Why don't you go home and get some rest? Tomorrow's Saturday, you can spend the whole day here."

"Dr. Anderson is right," Henry said. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay." She leaned down and kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you."

Natalie left the room and headed out of the building. But Dr. Anderson stopped her.

"Natalie, was it?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah," she said. "Why?"

"Well, I just thought I'd let you know it's not looking so good with your boyfriend. Staples probably won't do the trick. Judging by the amount of blood he lost in those few minutes I was checking him, his condition can worsen at any given moment. The gash might have gone deeper than we originally judged. It could have even punctured some organs. We'll have to run a new procedure called a woundoscopy. It's just a term, basically we run them when wounds just don't seem to heal. Anyway, with results from that, we can see where to go to next."

Natalie was in shock. "Th-thanks for keep me informed, doctor." She didn't know how this could be happening. Henry was fine just the day before. When she got home that night, her mind couldn't help but wander back to Gabe. Feeling suddenly guilty, she figured she had to do something quick. She found her dad in the kitchen.

"Why don't you ever visit Gabe's grave?" she asked.

"What?" Dan seemed shocked.

"Well, it's just that he doesn't really seem like he's part of the family."

"Natalie, he's dead," her father said slowly. "There's not much we can do."

"I know that," she said. "I just think you should visit it. Or maybe we could, like you and me. Tomorrow maybe. I don't know, just to, like, notice him a little bit."

"Why are you doing this?"

"No reason. Just please say yes."

"Um...I guess we can."

"Great." She ran upstairs, happy that she had down something productive, but also worried she hadn't done enough. She found herself calling her mom moments later.

"Honey, what's up?" Diana asked.

"Why don't you call Gabe over to your place tonight?" she suggested.

"Excuse me?"

"Look, maybe you'll understand or maybe you won't, but Henry's life depends on this. Gabe told me so himself, that day in the hospital. Just try to contact him, tell him you miss him or love him or something. Oh, and tell him to stop messing with Henry. Tell him it isn't funny."

"I'm on new medicines, Natalie. I barely can see straight ahead of me. I doubt I'll be able to conjure a Gabe."

"Don't think of it that way then," Natalie said quickly. "Just think about him as your son again. Call his name a few times and I'm sure he'll come to you."

"I'm pretty sure that would be against my treatment," Diana said. God, Natalie thought, since when was her mother so rational.

"Please, do it for me!"

Diana sighed. "Alright, I'll try." They said their goodbyes. Natalie sat back in her bed, relieved. She was sure what she had done would be enough. If Gabe was anything like the rest of her family, the half-ass attempt would have done just fine. But then she heard laughter. Her eyes snapped open.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," Gabe said. And then he disappeared.

I'm sensing a freak-out in the next chapter! Haha

I hope you like this one. PLEASE REVIEW!