AHHH! Thanks for all the reviews guys. I loveee them and youuu for reading!! And uhm, I'm basing this doctor on Chase, from House. If you know who that is. Uh,yeah,I love him. Heehee. Read on!

When Nolan woke up, everything was white. Until she blinked a few times.

Then she realized where she was. In a hospital room. But why? She looked around the room slowly. The flourescent lights that lined the ceiling were buzzing quietly. She saw someone sitting across the room from her, leaning back in the chair. It was Nathan. But Nathan was at the party. Nolan was too, right? What was she doing in the hospital?

Then she remembered. The party. Outside with Lucas. And him figuring it all out. But then nothing. And her head was sore. Really sore.

"Nath?" she said quietly, glancing over at him. Nathan suddenly jumped out of his chair, and rushed over to the side of the bed. His eyes were filled with concern, but they also seemed so alive. She guessed he had been covering up his few drinks with just as many cups of coffee.

"Oh god Nolan, you scared me." He took a seat on the side of the bed and faced her. She quickly closed her eyes, and reached her arm up to feel her head. It was bandaged.

"What happened?" she asked him, a confused look coming to her face. Nathan sighed.

"Apparently when you were outside with Lucas, you like, passed out or fainted or something, and you hit your head on the railing. He carried you into the house, and you were really pale, and we couldn't wake you up. Luckily it was only from that blow to the head. You have a few stitches now too." Nolan didn't say anything for a moment. This did answer the incredible pain in her head question though.

"Where's Lucas? Did he say anything else?" She hoped he didn't. Would he have said something? Would he have told Nathan?

Nathan threw her a confused look, "I don't really know, he's either out in the waiting room or he went home. He didn't really say much." She sighed silently, and looked up at him again.

"Nathan, I'm really sorry about this. I probably like, ruined your whole party and I know this-"

"C'mon Nole, stop. That party was really lame anyway." He replied to her with a smile. "Besides, someone had to stay here. Considering Dad hasn't shown up yet." Nolan hadn't thought about her dad. She hoped this wouldn't get him upset. But who was she kidding? He would probably make something out of this. Sure, his daughter was in the hospital, injured. But there was a reason for it, and part of that reason would make him mad.

"We won't tell Dad about the Lucas part of the story though. I don't want to come home and find out he yelled at you again because of it." Nolan loved her brother a lot sometimes. But he just didn't see things the right way.

Suddenly, there was a doctor at the door. Nolan was pretty surprised. Whoever this doctor was, he looked incredibly young, and not to mention really cute. She watched as he walked into the room, brushing some of his blonde hair out of his face.

"Ahh, Nolan, is it? It's good to see you're actually awake." he said to her, with a small smile on his face, "I'm Doctor Dacey, but you can call me Isaac, if you'd prefer."

She just smiled at him. She didn't care how she felt, his eyes were pretty to look at.

"Uh, Nole, I'm gonna go get a coffee, okay? You want anything?" Nathan got off the bed and started to head towards the door.

She nodded her head yes, and simply said, "Coffee, four sugars." Nathan was a bit surprised. Not once had he seen his sister have a remote interest in coffee. There was probably a lot he didn't know about her. He nodded his head and ducked out of the room.

"So Nolan, good news, you're going to be fine." He paused and headed over to beside her bed, "Let me just check your pulse." He grabbed her wrist softly, and listened for a few moments. He nodded quickly and scribbled something down on his clipboard.

"Was there like, any major reason for the whole fainting thing?" she asked him quietly.

"Well, it could have occured for a few reasons. Lack of nourishment, lack of sleep, high stress levels, things like that. The few tests we did showed nothing serious." He paused, and crossed his arms. "I have a few questions for you though." She suddenly grew worried. There was something about the tone of his voice.

"Okay.. ask me anything." That doesn't mean I'll answer.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Nolan almost choked.

"What?"

"Well, I noticed that bruise on your face, I just wanted to make sure it's not from an abusive partner." No, just an abusive dad, thanks.

Nolan rolled her eyes, "No. I don't have a boyfriend. I cheerlead, okay? I was way tired last night, and I was running up the stairs at my house and like, face planted on the stairs." She pointed to her face. "See? Faceplant."

"Will that explain the sprained ribs too?" Nolan thought for a moment. Sprained ribs? That would explain the pain that wasn't going away.

"Uhm, yes, it must. I didn't know they were sprained though, how do you know?"

"There is a bit of bruising, pain when you walk, plus the x-ray." Nolan just nodded. She didn't really know what to say. She couldn't believe she could tell such a huge lie so easily. She couldn't believe she could cover up so much pain with a simple string of words. She couldn't believe what her life had come to. She suddenly heard someone out in the hallway, a voice she recognized. Her dad. That worry settled in again. She watched as Nathan headed in with two cups of coffee. And following him was their loving father. Nolan forced a weak smile.

"Doctor, how is she?" Was he actually concerned about his daughter? Nolan graciously took the coffee from her brother, and looked into his eyes as he took a seat on her bed. She couldn't read his face for once.

"Mr.Scott, I assume? Nolan will be fine. She may want to start eating more, and trying to lower any kind of high stress levels to avoid another episode like this." He paused. "Were you aware of your daughter's fall on the stairs yesterday?"

Dan glanced over at his daughter. He saw the fear in her eyes. Had he put that there? He looked back to the doctor.

"Actually I wasn't. I guess she didn't tell me about it. I guess that explains the bruise on her face." Dan nodded knowingly along with the doctor.

"But, aside from that, Nolan, you're free to go. Hope you feel better." And with a small smile, Dr. Dacey left the room. Nolan took a big gulp of her coffee and looked from her brother to her dad. What now?

"Nathan, I assume you have to go and clean up my beach house. So Nolan, I'll take you home." Dan said blankly, looking at his two children. Nathan nodded his head and gave his sister a hug. She held on for a long time too. She enjoyed the feelings of his arms around her. It made her feel safe. "See you later Nole." She watched as her brother left the room, then she drank back the rest of her coffee.

"Should we go then?"

--

"Nolan, I just want to say I'm sorry."

"Dad, just don't."

"No." He stopped as they parked in the driveway to their house. He couldn't stand it anymore. "I've probably been the worst father there is. I don't even know what you still talk to me. I just want you to know, everything I've done in the past, I'm finished. No more yelling, or fighting or drinking or..." Another pause. "Or anything. I just want to focus on being a father."

The scary thing is that she believed him. She truly believed he was going to change. And she wanted him too. She wanted a dad again.

"You just have to trust me, okay?"

She looked up, and met his eyes.

"Okay."

Talk about an awkard car ride. Nolan was still pretty shocked because of it. She was sprawled across the couch on Saturday afternoon. Her dad and brother had gone to the gym together. She was surprised how happy he was being. He seemed genuinely pleased with a lot of things. He hadn't raised his voice at all. Even when she had spilled milk across the table that morning, nothing. He helped her clean up.

Truthfully, this entire new streak of niceness from her dad scared her. A lot. She could imagine how angry he was going to be when he did snap.

She flipped through the channels on the tv and landed on a music station. Music was always helpful. Just as she began to close her eyes while laying on the couch, her cell phone rang. Lucas showed up on the caller i.d.

"Hey Luke," she said, flipping open her phone. She loved how much he cared.

"Nolan! How are you? You got me really worried last night." She really wasn't aware of how much she meant to him. It was more than she thought. And that made her feel a lot better.

"I'll be fine. Apparently that whole fainting thing was from lack of nourishment, and like, no sleep and stress."

"That's good then." He paused. "I was gonna head over to the river court to play with the guys, you wanna come?"

"I'm not really up for walking there, or playing really Luke.." she trailed off, shutting her eyes.

"I'll come pick you up, alright? I want you to come." She could hear him smiling. How could she say no to that?

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit." After she hung up the phone, Nolan pulled herself up off the couch. She headed towards the kitchen, in search for her sweatshirt. It was a new one, too. Not to mention rather smart. It was a gray zip up hoodie with her favourite band, Jimmy Eat World across the front and the name of one of their songs, and her brother's number, 23 on the arm. She found it lying on her usual chair and she slipped it on. She still felt so tired. As she headed back to wait in the living room for her brother, she noticed a message blinking on the answering machine. She quickly pressed the flashing red button.

"Hey guys, it's Mom. Dan, just wanted to let you know I should be flying in Monday night. Nolan, Nathan, miss you guys! See you in a few days!"

It was her second message too apparently. One Dan had already listened to. Meaning, his entire change of heart was because his wife was coming back into town. And he was probably just as scared that she would find out. Nolan's train of thought was broken when she heard a knock at the door. As she walked over, she slipped into a pair of Vans and opened the door. Lucas, of course.

He quickly opened the door and wrapped her into a hug. Another moment she didn't want to let go of. She smiled as they walked out to his truck. She hopped in and watched him get in and turn the vehicle on.

"You know I wanna talk to you, right?" his eyes shifted from the road, to her then back to the road, "Nice sweatshirt, by the way."

She smiled a bit, "Thanks. And I know you do. But remember last time we talked? You made me faint, dude." She joked. Lucas chuckled a bit.

"I'm serious Nolan! And you know what I want to talk to you about. If we don't now, you never will."

She sighed. He was right. She would avoid him and subject for as long as it took before he dropped it. But not this time. It seemed he wouldn't let her.

"How long has it been going on?" he asked simply. Lucas wanted details to fill in the blanks. As usual. Nolan sighed.

"I don't know. Since I was like, nine I guess." she shrugged, and looked out the windows. He was clearing take the long route to the river court.

"How can you be so non-chalont about this Nolan? It's sort of a big deal." Lucas replied to her steadily, gripping the steering wheel. She didn't even know why. She was just used to it.

"I've grown to live with it Lucas."

"Why didn't you tell someone? Your mom, or Nathan even?"

"I just couldn't. I was never the most important member of the Scott family. My priorities always came last. I never wanted to bother my mom about it. And I don't know, Nathan never seemed to care, or notice even. So he probably wouldn't have believed me."

"You're going to tell him though?"

Nolan sort of shut up. She'd always considered telling Nathan, but never did. She couldn't. She didn't know how.

" I don't know.."

"Nolan, if you don't. I will." They were growing closer to the court now. She was a bit relieved. She didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"Luke, you can't, okay? This is my problem. And if you need to know, he's done. He told me last night. He promised me last night. He's finished with all of that." She didn't let Lucas reply to her as they pulled up to the court. Instead she just hopped out of the car as fast as she could. He could tell how scared she was. He just could.

Lucas sighed. He knew if he saw another bruise or ounce of pain on his sister's body, he'd tell Nathan. And they'd get Dan for good.

--

BLAH. What a bad ending. I just wanted it over. Bwahah. And that sweatshirt I described? It's real Jimmy Eat World merch. Heehee. I want it really badly. Thanks for reading!! A review would be delightful!! Oh, and my username will be changed withing the next few.. minutes actually. After I upload this. Incase you're confused. I need a change.