Disclaimer: Here we go again… I don't own Codename: Kids Next Door. [Status: Stage 5: Acceptance Lol.

Chapter 7: Never Good Enough

When Titania and Hoagie returned to the fourth floor, they learned that Reira's surgery went smoothly, that she was stable and that she was already moved up to her hospital room. As soon as this information was disclosed to them, they made their way to the seventh floor, where Reira's room was located. There, they found Gordon, Mrs. Gilligan and Tommy outside one of the room doors. Tommy was fast asleep, and resting his head on his mom's shoulder. She gestured them into the room next to her. Inside, Reira was sleeping in her hospital bed. Her leg was in a leg brace, a cooling system hooked up to it, and her arms and part of her head was bandaged up. Hoagie looked at the wall clock inside the room. It was almost half past ten. The others were in the room too, sitting on a long bench, sleeping. What was left was one more open spot between Wally(his arm around Kuki) and Abby, who was leaning on the arm of the bench. Hoagie looked at Titania, who gave him a nod then left the room.

The opportunity had presented itself, and Hoagie knew what to do. "Abby, are you sleeping?" he whispered. There was no reply. He continued, "You know, I have tried really hard to let you go before, but I still couldn't do it." He stopped for a moment, feeling really silly talking to someone who wasn't really listening, but he owed it to Reira; he knew that he did. If she wasn't so worried about him, she wouldn't have stayed at his house any longer, and she would have gone home, without any injuries. She had already helped him so much; it was his turn to do something.

"It really sucks you know," he continues, "Watching you go out with a bunch of other guys. It really sucked! It sucked having to go to sleep every night, knowing that it wasn't me that you were thinking of – knowing that no one loved me in return – knowing that know no one would ever love me in return." He felt tears welling up inside of him, but he kept on talking, "I wished every night for you to notice me, even though in the back of my mind, I knew it was no use. The only thing I could do was stand by and watch you date guys that didn't give a damn about you. If it made you happy, I tried my best not to interfere, but to support you. As much as it hurt me on the inside, I would always try my best not to cry!" Hoagie put his hand over his eyes and took a couple of deep breathes.

"But I was right, wasn't I? All of those guys ended being jerks to you! You still kept going out with them, though. Why, Abby?" he asked her. "What's so wrong with me? I would take you around the world with me; we would discover new places together. We would do more, experience more, and feel more, together. But in this dream of mine, you go with me, because you wanted to." Hoagie paused for a while. Wally had stirred in his sleep. Hoagie would never come to realize that he wasn't sleeping during any of his conversation.

"I would give you everything, Abby." Hoagie looked at her. She was wearing the moon necklace that he had gotten her years ago. "You know I would give you everything. I gave you the moon, didn't I?" Hoagie could hold his tears no longer. Even so, he continued to talk, "I gave you the moon: made of only the most beautiful stars and had it held together by my love for you that would last for an eternity of only happiness. Every night, desperately I hoped, that you would share that eternity, with me."

Wally could feel Kuki's tears falling onto his hand. He didn't open his eyes, but figured that she had been awake the entire time too. "I'm glad that you like the necklace enough to still wear it after all these years, but," Hoagie went on, "I guess it just wasn't good enough. It'll never be good enough. I'll never be good enough, for you. We'll stay friends forever, I guess, but it's better than nothing. Right?" Hoagie laughed sadly, "Best friends…" Hoagie wiped the rest of his tears away. He felt better. Getting all of his bottled up feelings out, saying it out loud for the first time comforted him a bit.

Hoagie's mother walked into the room. "Hoagie?" she called to him, "It's getting a little late. We should be going."

"Okay, Mom." He replied. He shook Wally and Kuki a bit. "Hey, I'm leaving now."

"Oh," Wally said. He and Kuki yawned, trying their best to look convincing. "We'd better get going too, Kuki. Hey, Abby?"

"Wah?" she said as she woke from her sleep.

"We're all going now. I can take you back home if you'd like," Wally offered.

"Nah," she told him, "My dad's shift is going to end soon, so I'll just go home with him."

They said their goodbyes to Reira's mom and Gordon. As they walked through the parking garage, Wally went up to Hoagie and patted him on the back. Hoagie stared at him, not knowing what it was for. Quickly, Wally told him, "She'll be okay."

"We'll figure out everything together. Okay?" Kuki added.

Hoagie looked at both of them and smiled. He laughed a tired laugh and told them, "Just like old times."

-oOo-

Abby sat alone in Reira's room. Gordon and Titania were just outside the door talking to each other. That fool. Abby was thinking to herself. Why did he go saying all those things for!? Abby looked up and yelped at the sight of Reira sitting upright and smiling at her. "How long have you been awake!?" Abby asked her.

"Long enough to notice that you weren't sleeping while Hoagie was talking to you," she replied.

"How did you –," Abby gapped at her.

"I know what it looks like when someone is pretending to be asleep," she told her.

Abby's father's shift ended, and she left Reira's room, not saying another word.

-oOo-

Ch7 Notes: Working chapter title: "Abby, are you sleeping?" Oh, Hoagie is such an emo looser. Poor thing. I love you, Hoagie! Anyway, for any of you readers that have gotten this far into the story, congratulations!!! For me, this means that everything is going pretty well, and that makes me happy! Have you been writing down those parodies/allusions? If you have, if you have noticed all of them, so far (and I kept track as I wrote this) there are ten parodies/allusions in this story as of the end of this chapter. Now, unless I wrote one without realizing, and I'm pretty sure that I didn't, there shouldn't be any more than ten. - Keep it up, everybody!