WOW!!!! I am so sorry for making you all wait so long. So so sorry! Please still read our story! We made this chapter extra long. Please please forgive us. So sorry about the wait!

Chapter 4

Zack's room was quiet save for the occasional moan or ragged breath from Zack or the horrible slurping sound coming from the tube in Zack's belly button. Cody sat in a chair next to his brother's bed, one hand holding Zack's limp hand and the other rubbing a thumb up and down Zack's cheek. Danni was sitting next to Cody, keeping a watchful eye over her boyfriend. Kelsee sat behind Cody, doing her best to comfort her boyfriend. Carey sat on the other side of Zack's bed, never breaking contact with him for a second.

"I'm hungry," announced Kelsee out of the blue, licking her lips.

"Come to think of it, so am I," added Danni.

"I've got some money. There's a hot dog stand across the street," explained Kelsee. "Want anything, babe?" Kelsee knelt down next to Cody. Cody shook his head. Kelsee gave him a kiss on the cheek, rubbing his back at the same time.

"Mrs. Martin, want a hot dog?" asked Kelsee. Carey shook her head, smiling weakly. Carey and Cody were too preoccupied with Zack to think about food. Kelsee was her usual perky self as the two friends made their way down to the hot dog stand. Kelsee pulled Danni into a bathroom near the front entrance.

"Kelsee, what are you doing?" asked Danni, as Kelsee took a cosmetics bag out of her tiny purse. Kelsee took out her lip gloss.

"Making myself look good," replied Kelsee, smearing the gloss across her lips. She gave herself three coats.

"That's enough, Kelsee," snapped Danni. Kelsee glared at her friend.

"My lips are big. They need extra attention," replied Kelsee, smacking her lips together. She finally finished and was out the door first, grinning at Danni the whole way. The two friends walked out of the stuffy hospital and into the warm early morning sun. Kelsee was a few feet ahead of Danni as they headed for the crosswalk. Kelsee never saw the car or heard Danni's yell of terror. Kelsee stepped off the curb and got about three feet before the car struck her. Danni watched in horror as her friend was knocked to the side of the car. The next ten minutes went by in slow motion. Kelsee being rushed to the ER, her screams of pain echoing in Danni's ears. Danni raced to Zack's room and told Cody what had happened. Cody was rushing down to the ER in a flash. Kelsee had calmed down a little and smiled weakly as Cody comforted her. The news wasn't good. She needed immediate surgery. Her right arm and left leg were badly damaged and something was wrong in her belly. Cody gave Kelsee a light kiss on the lips and watched as she was wheeled off to surgery. Danni ran over and asked to quickly say goodbye to Kelsee. The nurses nodded.

"Be brave, baby," whispered Danni, as she gave Kelsee a hug. Kelsee nodded against her friend's shoulder. The two girls shared a look before Kelsee was taken into surgery. All Danni could do was wait.

………

Danni paced the lobby floor nervously. Kelsee's parents would be there any minute. And Danni, unfortunately for her, was to be the one to explain the situation to them. Danni flopped onto one of the couches. She'd much rather have been with Cody and Carey in Zack's room. She grabbed the remote for the TV and flipped through a couple of channels. There wasn't anything particularly entertaining on.

Fortunately for her at that moment, Kelsee's parents, Bryan and Janet Forrester, ran into the lobby and over to the receptionist's desk.

Danni jumped up and hurried up to them.

"Uhh…Mr. and Mrs. Forrester?"

The anxious couple turned simultaneously to face their daughter's friend.

Danni smiled (or tried), "Uhh Kelsee's still in surgery."

Janet broke down crying into her husband's shoulder, muttering something about her baby. Bryan gently tried to console his wife as Danni shifted from foot to foot nervously.

Bryan led his wife to the couch Danni had previously been sitting on and Danni followed.

"How is she?" Kelsee's father asked, anxiously.

"She's uhhh. Well I'm not r-really sure," Danni admitted half guiltily. Janet shot her a scornful look of distaste. Danni tried to brush it off as she continued,

"But erm, it was a hit and run. And they had to o-operate on her arm and her leg and her belly (fresh stream of waterworks from Mrs. Forrester) and-"

"How long?" Bryan interrupted her.

"Huh?" Danni asked, confused.

"How long's she been in surgery?"

"Ohh. Two hours."

Bryan sighed deeply as he held his wife.

Danni shifted awkwardly on her seat, "I'm uhh…going to go uhh check on Zack," She muttered, "I'm sure the receptionist would probably be able to tell you some more if you uhh wanted."

Bryan nodded and Danni jumped up from her seat and fought running away.

……………..

Dr. Aidan Fields hated hospitals. Ever since that one fateful day. It didn't feel good to be back in one. He swore never to come back. But some young boy needed his help. And from what he had just been told, some young girl too. Jack was waiting for him in the boys room. The family had left to grab something to eat. Jack nodded at Aidan as he walked in.

"Good to see you again, Aidan. I'm glad you decided to come," greeted Jack. Aidan nodded in reply, his eyes on the small boy lying on the bed.

"Zackary Martin. 13. His insides are dying, Aidan. He needs your help," explained Jack. Aidan knelt down next to the bed. The boys breathing was shallow and ragged and he struggled with the support in his lips.

"At least he isn't totally immobile. I'll need to run some tests first," explained Aidan, standing back up. Jack nodded. What's this I hear about a girl?" asked Aidan.

"A young girl was hit by a car right outside the hospital. She just got out of surgery a little while ago. They had to remove her spleen and an arm and a leg are badly damaged. She'll need more surgery on her arm tonight," answered Jack. Aidan sighed. He had his work cut out for him.

…………….

Janet Forrester sat next to her daughter's bed, her fingers gently caressing her daughter's cheek. Her husband, Bryan sat in the chair next to her, his arm around her. Kelsee's right arm was enclosed in a cast and her right leg in a brace. A surgical scar ran from the bottom of her chest to the top of her belly button. Her lips were swollen and a few scars crossed her face.

A few tears fell from Janet's eyes onto the bed. Bryan hugged her gently. And then a small, meek, whimpering sound was heard. The Forresters looked up in surprise.

Kelsee whimpered softly as she opened her eyes. Janet smiled through her tears,

"Oh, baby," Janet murmured, taking her left hand in hers.

"Mommy?" Kelsee cried hoarsely.

"I'm right here, baby."

"D-daddy?"

"Daddy's right here, Kels," Bryan broke in, smiling sympathetically at his daughter.

Janet gently stroked her daughter's cheek. Kelsee sniffed miserably, "Hurts," she mumbled.

"I know, baby," Janet consoled.

Kelsee reached her hand up to grasp her mother's wrist, sniffling. Janet smiled as a few more tears made their way down her face. Kelsee was asleep before the tears hit the bed.

…………………..

Danni sat alone in Zack's hospital room, hands clasped together in her lap, just sort of watching. He looked so helpless and weak and all she really wanted to do was help him. Help him and help Kelsee.

"Oh man, Kelsee."

Kelsee had looked so…so…Danni couldn't even put it into words. And she had another surgery that night. Danni imagined, for a brief moment, how scared Kelsee would be when she woke up. And then she shook her head. Kelsee didn't get scared. And if she did get scared, she wouldn't be scared for herself.

Danni found herself feeling slightly angry. Her best friend and her boyfriend were both hospitalized with the worst kind of damage. And neither of them had deserved it. Sure, Zack had done a few rotten things in his life, but nothing that deserved this serious of punishment. And Kelsee hadn't ever done anything wrong or mean to anyone. And, thanks to the idiotic who'd hit her, she'd most probably never be able to dance again – something she loved more than anything – because of the damage to her leg. She sighed, with a deep feeling of hatred. What kind of idiot runs someone over and doesn't stop to apologize? Danni was about to continue her thoughts of hatred when a small flicker of movement to her left caught her eye.

"Zack?" Danni whispered, her voice catching slightly in her throat. Her face broke into a wide smile as she watched Zack slowly open his eyes. Danni squealed excitedly and jumped out of her chair, nearly tipping it over, as she ran to hug him tightly. Zack weakly fought to push her off gently. Danni, realizing this, lowered herself back into her chair (which had not fallen, but had crash landed loudly about a second earlier), shaking her head.

"S-sorry," She apologized breathlessly, "You okay?"

Zack nodded lightly.

Danni smiled again, nodding until she realized she needed to get a hold of Carey and Cody.

Fishing her phone out of her pocket, she quickly flipped it open, glancing up at Zack and smiling every so often as she quickly typed a message to send to Cody's phone:

Zack's awake. :D

Danni snapped her phone shut and returned her attention to Zack, who had a gargantuan amount of drool running down the side of his face.

Danni wrinkled her nose, "Ew that's gross, you know that right?" She asked him as she stood up and grabbed a handful of napkins off a table in the room.

She cringed as she wiped the disgusting drool off of his face and then, figuring she might as well, gently wiped off the small amount of blood dotting his swollen lips.

"Better?" She asked, tossing the used napkins into the garbage.

Zack nodded a little, moving his lips around the support, as though trying to lick them.

Danni watched him for a few minutes, finally getting past all the excitement of him waking up. There were a couple serious things that had to be told. And, she realized, she was going to have to tell them.

"Zack," She began, nervously turning her phone around in her hands, wondering vaguely if Cody would text her back. Danni glanced up and immediately grabbed Zack's hand, which was reaching for the, disgusting, tube in his belly button.

"Zack, no," She told him firmly, releasing his hand and feeling like she was talking to her two-year-old brother. Zack gave her a completely piteous look and she returned it with a firm no-nonsense look of her own, still feeling like she was talking to her two-year-old brother and not her thirteen-year-old boyfriend. Zack reached out again, and she caught him.

"Seriously, Zack."

Zack stopped messing around, with another piteous look.

"I have to tell you some stuff, okay?"

Zack nodded.

"You're not going to like it," She warned him.

Zack nodded and waited patiently.

Danni took a deep breath, "Kay. Well. First off, you go back into surgery tomorrow. They're just going to take that thing (she pointed at the tube) out and just fix some minor stuff. 'Bout three hours."

He lay still for a few minutes, appearing to let this sink in, and then nodded.

She nodded her head, more to herself, and continued, "And…I- this is harder. But uhhh Kelsee she – Zack, Kelsee was hit by a car earlier. S-she just got out of surgery a little while. A-and she's doing okay but she-she has another surgery tonight."

Zack nodded, wide-eyed, inclining for her to continue.

"Well she uh she broke her arm and her leg and they have to rebuild her arm or something tonight (Zack's eyes got wider at this) and they removed her spleen."

Zack nodded eyes still wide. Danni smiled gently and reached over to hug him again,

"Important thing," She reminded him softly, "Is that you're awake. And everything's gunna get better now right?"

She could feel him nodding against her shoulder.