Chapter Ten

I was woken up by the loud beeping coming from my right side. I turned my head to see what it was, and then I realized I was completely constrained. I was lying in a hospital bed, with tubes coming out of my nose, and my left leg in a large cast. There were needles and IVs in my arm, along with several large and unattractive bruises and cuts. My hospital room was sterile white, with a big window and several chairs. As I attempted to sit up straight, a little nurse ran straight in.

"Dear, don't do that. You'll hurt yourself." She checked the giant beeping machine, which turned out to be a heart monitor.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked politely. The nurse turned around to face me, waiting for my question. "What exactly... Happened?"

The nurse looked at me like I was crazy. "You were in a terrible car accident. You drove into a giant metal pole and smashed your car. You weren't wearing a seatbelt. You flew through the windshield. You bruised almost every part of your body, lost a lot of blood, broke your leg, and a lot of the nerves in your neck are injured, so you've been out cold for the past couple of days. You're quite lucky you didn't die. You were found pretty quickly after the accident, God knows how, you were basically in the middle of nowhere. My guess is that one of your many visitors was following you when you wrecked the car." The nurse looked away, towards the door. "Speaking of visitors, there are a couple outside who are very anxious to see you. Do you feel well enough?" I nodded my head, and as the nurse went outside to collect the first visitor, my stomach churned in nerves.

Harry's POV

I'd been sitting for three days in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for Lindsay to wake up. After I had chased her from my house and found her broken and practically bleeding to death, unconscious, in the middle of the lane, I hadn't been able to sleep, worrying about her. The feeling I had gotten when I had seen her like that was indescribable. I felt like the bigger part of me had died. I was numb and depressed. I had carried her into my car and drove her as fast as I possibly could to the nearest hospital.

The first night, I cried. I cried harder than I ever had in my life. The doctors told Lindsay's father and I that she was going to be fine, but she would need lots of work. Still, I was worried. So I cried silently in a chair while Lindsay's father sat next to me.

The second night, more people came to see if Lindsay was alright. The whole band, minus Zayn, showed up. I didn't know what Zayn had said to Lindsay to make her bolt like that, but I think he knew that I was pissed beyond belief at him, and shouldn't get himself involved any further. I sat on the floor right outside Lindsay's hospital room. My sleep was broken, and my back felt like it was about to break, but I felt better knowing that's was only a few feet away from her, even if we were separated by a solid soundproof wall. I sang a couple bars of each of her favorite songs as if she could hear me. I thought back on all the conversations we'd ever had. I remembered the first time I'd ever seen her, when I knew she'd mean something to me. I remembered the way she twirled her hair around her finger when she was thinking, the way her eyes shined when she was describing her favorite places, and the way she leaned into me when she was scared, but didn't want to say anything about it. And although this probably should've made me even more depressed, it made me feel better. It made me feel as though she was right with me.

Today, when the nurse walked towards us, my heart lifted. Lindsay was finally okay. I could finally see her.

"One visitor at a time. 15 minutes each."

Lindsay's father looked at me. "I know she means a lot to you, but-"

"Of course you should go first, you're her father."

Lindsay's father looked at me, his expression full of gratitude. "Thank you."

Fifteen minutes has never gone by so slowly. Finally, her father walked out with tears in his eyes. I immediately tensed up. "Is she okay?" I asked nervously.

"She's fine, she's fine, I'm just so happy that she's fine." He wiped his eyes and looked back to me. "Just beware, she's on heavy meds."

With that, I walked into the room, and saw Lindsay lying in bed, looking absolutely weak. But when her eyes locked on mine, I stopped breathing. She was still beautiful, even when she looked broken.

"I've been waiting for you." she said, smiling.

Lindsay's POV

I felt my lips turn up into a smile through the haze of medications, but I forced myself to frown again, this was serious. I had to break things off with Harry after hearing what Zayn had to say a few days ago.

Harry walked slowly to my bedside, kneeling on the ground near my pillow. I reclined into the bed and turned my head ever so slightly in his direction.

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly, taking my hand gently.

"Okay. I'm allowed to leave tomorrow. It'll be nice to go home."

"I can't wait." he murmured, drawing circles on my forearms, around the bruises.

"Harry-" was all I could get out before the tears started rolling.

"What's wrong? What can I do? What hurts?" Harry exclaimed, quietly but nervously.

"I don't know if- I'm not sure- I think we should-" I started blabbering, starting sentences but unable to finish them. I didn't know how to say goodbye.

"Lindsay, what are you trying to say?" he grasped my hand harder.

"Harry, if you're cheating on me, or if you've been planning on leaving me all along, can you just break my heart now instead of delaying the process?" I was sobbing. Harry looked absolutely shocked.

"What are you even talking about?"

"Zayn told me. He told me you were planning in dumping me, and that this was all some dumb kind of experiment, and that you were already having sex with Sophie, and-"

Harry put his hand up in a gesture that told me to stop. "He told you that?" I nodded.

"Lindsay, he's lying, he's lying so much, I swear. Sophie is seeing Louis, they've been on dozens of dates, and I've never even talked to the girl, you can ask her yourself. And I already told you that I never want to say goodbye. I would've never given you that necklace if I felt that way. Zayn is jealous. After I punched him and you left, we got into a huge argument about you, and I really pissed him off. He's trying to get you back. I don't know how to prove it to you but I swear-" Harry took in a long breath, and he had tears in his eyes. "Lindsay, I already almost lost you, and it was the hardest thing. If I lost you again, I don't know what I'd do. I honestly don't." Harry was crying now, and he laid his head on his arms, which were resting on my bed. While he cried, I ran my fingers through his knotted, messy curls.

"Harry, how long have you been waiting?" I asked quietly, still detangling his crazy hair.

"Since you got here. Three days. I haven't left the hospital once." His head was still in his hands. I took a look at him. He was still wearing the outfit he had on at the Christmas party, and there were a few blood stains on the front of his fancy button down shirt. There were bags under his eyes, and the delicate white in his eyes was bloodshot. I touched the stains.

"Is that from me?" I whispered, barely audible.

"Yes. I carried you to my car, then drove you here. I was so worried. I cried the whole first night."

I felt the medication kicking in my system. I started to feel sleepy, and I knew I'd be out in a matter of minutes, so I took his chin in my fingers and tilted his face up to mine.

I looked straight in his eyes with the little energy I had left. "Stay with me?" I took his hand and grabbed it tightly, even though he hadn't answered the question yet. Harry didn't even flinch. With tears still on his face, he nestled it next to mine. Before I fell asleep, I felt his lips touch my cheek, and him whispering "I love you" in my ear.

**I was going to put some more drama in this chapter but I just couldn't bear to- me being a hopeless romantic and all. There will be some in the next chapter. What did you think of this chapter? Review and subscribe and such :)