Hey guys! So last chapter, eh, was a bit of a shocker. So this is the penultimate episode but I'm gonna leave it at that though, I don't want to give anything away. As you know your reviews are really, really appreciated, love to know what you guys like or don't like about it.

Fate

Chapter 14 – She Is Family

Naomi's POV

I shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have said any of it. The words were like fire, leaping in my throat swirling and burning to get out. I had seen the look on Emily's face as I had spat them out. I hoped to God I would never see that look on her face again. But I had been angry. Pent up. I was like a coil wrapped so tightly that there was only one outcome…to do spring, to ping, to fire off.

I held her now in my arms. She was limp, like a doll. But dolls didn't bleed. Not like this. She was breathing. But it was shallow and raspy; the sound that even without any medical knowledge you knew it wasn't right.

My mind swirled with thoughts, too many to pluck out one and concentrate on it for long enough to think properly. At the back of my mind however a thought did run constant. She couldn't die; she just couldn't die, could she... Could she?

That was the last thought, the final thought before, as if this were a play and these were the closing scenes, the final curtain came down smothering my mind in a wash of black.

***

I can't say what caused me to wake; from seemed like an eternity of sleep. It may have been the rushing to and fro of someone's hurried steps or maybe the hand which squeezed my own so tightly.

My eyes fluttered open. I knew where I was instantly. The hard bed, the rhythmic bleepings of some far of machine, the smell of disinfectant which always made me feel queasy. Hospital. I hated hospitals. My eyes lazily glanced around the around the room till I saw the person who's hand held mine so firmly.

"Mum" My voice croaked.

"Back with us, eh" She said, she forced her voice to sound cheery almost light, as if I had only been merely sleeping. I could see from her eyes, that were red and puffy, she had been crying. Had the accident been that bad?

"Emily" I cried, as my thoughts began to flood back from the accident. She had been injured more badly, surely, especially because of the amount of blood. I shuddered when I thought of that. The blood.

"It's ok, love. She's just in the room next door" Mum explained, shushing me from the panic I had exerted, gently sweeping the hair from my eye as a sad smile played across her lips.

"Emily. She's ok…" I wondered aloud.

"Well…she, she hit her head quite badly dear" Mum choked.

"No…" I cried, the tears began to fall down my cheeks.

"Hush, hush, dear, she's going to be ok though" Mum explained, trying to calm me. "You've cracked some ribs the doctors say and your right hip took a nasty knock as well, you were very lucky though, the car was already slowing down when it hit you, it could have…it could have been a lot worse, they say" She added, her voice high, faltering.

"I want to see her though, I need to see her, to make sure she's ok" I cried, but I saw the look on Mum's face, her eyes shifted nervously to her hand as it was clenching my own.

"What?" I whispered, as my heart began to beat quicker.

"Well…they are letting any one in to see her. Don't least till her parents get here, so that they're…here …when she wakes up" Mum said.

"Wake up?" I asked, my heart clenching in my chest.

"Yes, like I said she hit her head, well, quite badly" Mum uttered.

"No, no. I can't stay here, I have to see her, I have!" I cried as I lifting myself up.

"Naomi, what are you doing you can't get out off bed" Mum shrieked.

"I need to see her, so you can stay here or you can come with me" I reasoned.

"You're going to end up killing yourself you know that" Mum cried, shaking her head.

Nevertheless, she took my arm as I slowly twisted my legs around so that they hung off the side off the bed. Mum wrapped her other arm around my waist as she gently helped me off the bed. The floor was cold as she helped me to pad across the room to the door. She opened it quietly and checked out into the hall. I suppose under different circumstances, it might have been rather comical to see us two tip-toeing our way to Emily's room like a pair of burglars. I froze as I peered through her door window. I couldn't move. She lay still in her bed. Too still. She lay with her head bandaged, which between us must have taken the worst of blows. I saw her hand had one of those tubes leading from it. Those always made me feel queasy when I saw those, but with Emily I just felt…scared.

"Miss. Campbell? What on earth do you think you are doing out of bed" A voice demanded from behind me and Mum.

"Oh dear" I heard Mum utter under her breath.

"I was, I was just seeing if she was ok" I replied quietly.

"Well, you're not going to be doing yourself any good, are you?" She stated, but her words were more of concern then malice. "Well, I'm very sorry but you won't be able to see her now, not least till the family come in"

"But I need to see her, I'm …I'm her girlfriend" The words sounded strange as I said them. I saw as the nurse shifted uneasily.

"Yes, well unless you are a blood relative I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave and take rest back in you're room"

"But you don't understand I need to see her, I need to…" I started.

"Miss. Campbell, I'm sorry but at this moment it is family only" She stated defiantly.

"But she is family" A voice announced. A voice I knew only too well.

I snapped my head to the side to look at her, to see if she had really just said that.

"Naomi is family and she and her mother are more than welcome to see my daughter" Mrs. Fitch declared. "That's if she is up to it" She added gazing at me, a sad smile across her lips.

"If it wasn't for you Naomi, Emily...well, I can't say that she would be here with us now..." She cried, breaking down.

"Ah, come on Jenna love she's going to be ok, she will" Emily's Dad reasoned.

I sighed heavily as I took it all in. The Fitch's, Emily's Mum and Dad, Katie and James, stood there, all with the same sombre look on their faces. Katie looked the worst; her eyes were red and swollen from crying as she stood sniffing as I looked at her. Realising that Emily's Mum was waiting for some sort of an answer I nodded my head slowly. Smiling, thankfully at her, as they began to walk closer to the door. The nurse had decided to give up on her argument and just shook her head and walked off. Emily's mum held the door open, as she gestured for me to go inside.

"I'll wait outside, Naomi" Mum whispered.

"Nonsense, you don't have to do that" Emily's Mum insisted, as she placed a hand on Mum's.

And so we all shuffled into the small room, where Emily lay undisturbed by anything.

"She looks so peaceful" Mr. Fitch announced quietly.

"What on earth was doing? Standing in the middle of the road like that?" Mrs. Fitch wondered aloud.

"Don't think about it Mum, the main thing is she's going to be ok" Katie stated, sniffing.

"I know, but why on earth would she do that? Just stand in the middle of the road like a…an idiot?!" She cried.

I felt the guilt surge through my body. It was all my fault. If I hadn't of caused that argument, if I hadn't let those stupid little things get to me, none of this would have happened. It was all my fault. I suddenly felt dizzy, the nausea crept from my stomach to my throat I had to get out. Naomi, I heard my Mum call or maybe it was Katie, I had turned around and was stumbling awkwardly from the room.

***

I sat in the cold hard hospital chair thinking everything over. The thoughts swirled around in my mind again and again, like a broken record player, repeating my thoughts of how I could have prevented it all. If I had not started the argument. If I had stopped her from leaving the house.

"Don't you think you've ran away from her enough times" I heard a voice announce.

I looked up and stared at Katie, her eyebrows raised, her arms crossed tightly.

"It's my fault…" I started to say.

"What are talking about? If it weren't for you the doctors said she'd have been in a hell of a worse state than she is in now" Katie explained. "She's going to be ok, you know. She's woken up" She added, taking the seat next to me.

I looked up at her and met her eyes. And for maybe the first time ever we just stared at each other, no hate, no malice, just stared.

"It's all my fault…I started an argument and she ran off…that's why she was in the middle of the road… we were arguing" I cried, placing my head into my hands. "It's all my fault, if she had, if she had have died…then I would have been the one that killed her…me…" I cried, burying my head in my hands.

I looked up at Katie; her face gave no hint of her emotions. I half expected her to hit me or to start screaming. But all she said was:

"Oh, shut up you stupid cow… it ain't you're fault she doesn't know how to cross the street" She stated laughing weakly. The laugh shocked me, but I knew how Katie was, other than me this probably affected her the most. She tried to act strong for everyone. I just stared at her and then found myself laughing weakly with her. "Oh, what's she like, eh" She added.

She smiled weakly at me and sighed placing an arm around waist. And I don't know why but I think the act of it, that simple act of comfort caused me to start crying. I sobbed and sobbed as she drew me closer and wrapped her other arm around my right shoulder.

"Don't be getting any ideas, Campbell" She stated dryly. "Because I'm not interested in a 'twin thing'!" She added, impersonating her ex, Danny, which caused us both to burst out laughing.

***

We walked quickly to Emily's room, well as quickly as my hip would let me. We chattered about silly things, as we walked, we discussed the first day of college.

"I knew you we're going to trouble" She stated, teasingly.

"Me? You were the one that always started on me" I gasped in mock shock.

"Yeah, well, that's cause I saw the way you looked at Emily" She replied grinning. "I am sorry though…about being so hard on you, on the both of you. I guess I was just scared of losing her. I know I don't always show it but, well she's my best friend as well as my twin" Katie added, the grin faded, replaced with a sad smile.

"Jeez, Fitch you're not going soft on me are you? I think I liked you better when you hated me" I laughed.

"Shut up" She said, nudging me in the side as I let out a fake whimper. "Oh, shit, sorry" She added, looking genuinely concerned, before I laughed. "Oh, you cow" She scowled, yet laughing.

We had reached Emily's room when Katie announced she would meet up with the others that had gone to get a drink.

"I'll give you two some time on your own" She added smiling.

"You know, Katie" I started, sighing, with a grin on my face. "You can actually be really nice when you want to be, can't you?"

"Yeah" She laughed. "But don't go around telling everyone" She added in mock warn, as she walked off to meet the others.

I laughed and turned around to the door, looking through the small window at Emily, she lay peacefully with her eyes closed. I breathed out heavily and twisted the door handle gently, as not to wake her up if she was sleeping.

I walked slowly and silently to the bed taking a seat on one of the chairs that the others had left out. I looked around at the machine beeping.

"Hey" Her weak voice whispered.

I turned and looked at her and in just looking at her I began to cry. But I wasn't sad, just relieved. I knew she was going to be ok.

"Hey" I replied. "I know you and Katie do everything together but putting yourself in hospital just so you can have matching scars? It's a bit much isn't it?" I added with a weak smile.

"That's us Fitch girls for you" She replied, shrugging, with a smile.

"Oh Emily! I'm so sorry for everything that I've put you through…I'm…" I cried taking hold of her hand.

"Hey, shush, it's ok…I'm sorry for what I said too, I could never stop loving you" Emily replied, smiling.

And then in her smile, I knew then that everything was going to be ok. It was Fate.