Aubrey immediately ran to the doctor, checking his facial expressions for anything, anything that might have meant good news, anything that wasn't bad. When she saw that the frown on the doctors face wasn't going anywhere she had to know what was going on, if her best friend was still alive, or if she lost the only sister she ever had. She wasn't prepared to hear bad news, how could she be? She never thought she would have to prepare herself for this day. She and Chloe were always supposed to be best friends forever; they've been through so much together, they were supposed to grow old side by side. Aubrey couldn't picture her life without the red head in it, and she didn't want to.

7 years earlier…

Aubrey came home from a long day of school, which she knew was followed by a long night of homework for her. She went straight to her room as usual, ready to study, she expected Chloe to be home, she was always home from school before her. She even expected Chloe's boyfriend, Tom to be over. What she didn't expect was to hear the muffled cries of her best friend in the room beside her. Quickly, without thinking twice, Aubrey ran to Chloe's bedroom door and knocked.

"Chloe," she asked. As much as she wanted to just barge into her room, the 2 had recently made a new rule for their apartment when Aubrey walked in one day on Chloe releasing some stress after a long and hard day.

Aubrey waited for an answer, but instead all she got were more muffled cries. She decided to try one more time before breaking their first, and only rule.

"Chlo, it's me…can I come in?" She asked a bit louder, thinking maybe the red head didn't hear her the first time. She waited, but again only got muffled cries back as an answer. Chloe cries soon turned into sobs when she saw her bedroom door slowly open.

"Chlo," Aubrey peeked her head through the bedroom door before fully entering. She saw her best friend lying on her bed, crying and hugging a stuffed animal. Not just any stuffed animal though, it was the last stuffed animal she received from her parents before they died. Aubrey knew something bad was happening when she saw Mr. Cuddles in Chloe's arms. Chloe had a bad habit of only holding the monkey when something was seriously going wrong in her life. "Oh no, Chloe what's going on?" Aubrey said quickly running to her best friend's side, taking a seat on her bed beside her.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Chloe cried into the stuffed monkey.

"Chlo, Don't tell me your fine when you have Mr. Cuddles out. You only bring him out for serious reasons. Please, talk to me." Aubrey asked softly.

Chloe didn't respond, instead she just shook her head and continued to cry into her stuffed friend. Aubrey knew Chloe wasn't going to share what was going on with her easily. Talking with her best friend either went 2 ways: She either tells you straight up what's wrong right away, or she makes you work for it, and it's a long and hard process. Without any more questions Aubrey lied in the bed beside her best friend and wrapped her arms around her waist, cuddling into her side. This was a routine for the blonde. She cuddled Chloe every time something was wrong, so when Chloe immediately retracted herself from the taller woman's grasp, she got worried.

"Chlo, what's going on?" Aubrey asked in a more serious tone. "Did I do something?" She frowned when she saw Chloe move as far away from the blonde as possible, on her single bed. "Talk to me, please." Aubrey tried one more time.

"I can't Bre," Chloe finally spoke up.

"Yes you can, you always talk to me about everything. It's the agreement we made when you moved in with my family 6 years ago. Please," Aubrey asked again, softly.

"I know, but this time it's different. I can't talk to you about this. I wish…" Chloe trailed off and looked down at her stuffed monkey.

"You wish what sweetie?" Aubrey asked. Chloe took a deep breath.

"I wish my mom was here, this is a talk meant for a mother and a daughter. Something I'll never be able to do." Chloe cried. Aubrey frowned and went to grab her best friend into a hug, but Chloe again pulled away. "Bre don't, please." Chloe cried harder.

"Chloe, you're seriously starting to freak me out…" Aubrey's stomach began churning inside her. "Why won't you let me hold you, let alone touch you?" Aubrey frowned.

"You wouldn't understand, please just leave me alone. I need time; I need to think about things." Chloe asked.

"I can't do that Chlo I'm all you have here. Just talk to me, I promise whatever it is we'll get through it, together." Aubrey said placing her hand on the red head's thigh. Chloe immediately pulled away, shaking her head. "Chlo, stop and talk to me. Don't shake your head." Aubrey sternly said.

"Tom and I broke up." Chloe spit out. Aubrey had to admit she was shocked hearing this; she and Tom were pretty much perfect together. She also expected to hear way worse though, from how Chloe had been acting.

"Oh Chlo, I'm so sorry… Why did you break up?" Aubrey frowned. She expected to hear a long story about how Tom wasn't right for her, or how he didn't do certain things the way she wanted him to. Aubrey had been through this conversation with Chloe so many times, she's lost count. Chloe was always one to end a relationship with poor excuses, so Aubrey expected to hear the poor excuses come rushing out of her mouth. What Aubrey didn't expect was Chloe jumping her and pressing their lips together. For a second Aubrey found herself kissing the red head back, quickly coming back to reality she pulled back and looked at the red head with a half gaped mouth.

"What the fuck Chloe…I…" Aubrey was shocked and trying to find the right words to say to her very emotional friend.

"I knew it; I knew I couldn't talk to you about this. I knew you would turn me down." Chloe right away spat out.

"Chloe hold on, that's not fair at all. First of all you didn't even talk to me, you just kissed me! How the hell am I supposed to react? Second of all, if I don't even understand what's going on, how could I have had the chance to turn you down, and what do you mean by that?" Aubrey asked, her heart was racing, she was so confused.

"I'm gay Aubrey." Chloe shouted at the blonde, as if she wasn't getting what she was saying. "I have been for a while; I just didn't want to come to terms with it. It wasn't until now, when Tom broke up with me that I am finally accepting it. He told me that he could tell I wasn't into him that way, or into any guys for that matter" Chloe cried. Aubrey sat there, in shock. Waiting for the red head to continue, she knew there was more to it, by the kiss she had just received. "And I'm in love with you." Chloe started to cry uncontrollably.

There it was, Chloe finally spoke the words she had been longing to tell her best friend for the longest time, and now that she accepted it, she finally could. She had been afraid of her feelings for the blonde; she knew it wasn't normal to get butterflies whenever your best friend touches you, or to constantly think of them whenever you're alone and not doing anything. She knew what all of that meant, but she also didn't want to accept it, in fear of losing the only person she had left in her sad and pathetic life.

Aubrey wasn't quite sure what to say to the red head. She never expected this, she never thought she would have to turn down the one person in her life she actually loved and cared about. Sadly though, she wasn't into girls, and as much as she wanted to be right now just so she could spare her best friend from the heartbreak she was about to receive, she couldn't force herself to be.

"Chloe I…" Chloe cut her off.

"Aubrey it's okay, I get it. As much as I don't want to lose you, and as much as I want you, I know life doesn't work that way. You can't just fall in love with your best friend, and expect them to feel the same way. It doesn't happen like that….especially to me." Chloe frowned and squeezed her stuffed monkey harder. Aubrey looked at the red head sitting in front of her, hopeless, and lost. She could tell she was scared to death of what she was going to say.

"Chloe, I'm not going anywhere, okay?" Aubrey gently said with a small smile. "As you guessed though, I'm not gay Chlo… I really wish I didn't have to hurt you, but this needs to be said." Aubrey took a deep breath. "I don't think you're in love with me, I think you're confused."

Chloe went to protest but Aubrey continued on.

"We've been through so much together, every time something goes wrong in either of our lives, we're always there. I was there when the accident happened; you moved in with my family, we got closer and closer as the years went by. I think though…" Aubrey pursed her lips together, thinking of how to word her next sentence. "I think you want to be in love with me, but you're not."

"What? How does that even work? Trust me I don't want to be in love with my best friend Bre, it just happened." Chloe shot out feeling quite offended.

"Chloe, just try and hear me out before you get mad at me okay?" Aubrey asked softly. When she saw that the red head wasn't going to protest she decided to continue on. "You're gay, and that's great. I am so happy for you, but I think you're making yourself feel things for me. It would make the most sense. I would be the easiest person for you to be in a relationship with. We already know each other, flaws and everything. I mean Christ we've haven't been apart from each other for more than 2 days in the last 6 years. I think that you're so scared about being gay, that you're trying to take the easy way out… which is falling for your best friend…" Aubrey winced, expecting the red head to flip out on her. When the red head didn't say anything, she grew worried. "I'm sorry…" Chloe quickly cut her off.

"No, don't be sorry. You're probably right, I'm just confused. It would be the easier way out, falling for you. I don't want to have to go through this confusion alone, I guess in some ways I was hoping you'd go through it with me." Chloe laughed. 'God, what was I thinking?" She shook her head.

"You have every right to think like that Chloe! How dare you think otherwise? You're never going to be alone as long as I am here. I told you that year's ago. I am never leaving your side okay? We'll go through this confusion together, I'll help you in any way I can." Aubrey grabbed her best friend and wrapped her arms around her lightly kissing the top of her head. "This doesn't freak me out, Chloe. Nothing is going to change between us, I promise. You'll always be my best friend, we're going to be best friend's forever, you'll get married to some girl I'll get married to some guy, and us 4 will grow old together, we'll never be apart. You're my sister, for now and always." Aubrey said stroking the red head's hair.

Aubrey could feel the tears rush down her face as she replayed the words in her mind over, and over again. You're my sister, for now and always. She never expected their time together to be so short, she never expected that she was going to get married and Chloe wouldn't be around to grow old with. She looked up at the doctor, waiting for him to break the news to her. Waiting for him to speak seemed like hours.

"There were some complications and…" Aubrey fell to her knees and began to cry uncontrollably.

"I knew it. I can't….I can't do this." She cried. "I can't live life without my best friend, I don't want to." She choked out. Jesse quickly grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.

"There were some complications, but she's still hanging in there." The doctor quickly finished, he wasn't expecting to be cut off like that. Aubrey quickly shot her head out from Jesse's chest and looked at the doctor, eye wide open.

"You mean…?"

"She's still alive, yes. However, she won't be for much longer if I don't get the consent from her parents to insert a thoracostomy tube for the time being. When the bullet penetrated her chest, she was lucky. If it would have hit the 2 vessels, she would have died within minutes. Lucky for her, it hit her lung which gave her extra time, but we're running out of it and I need to insert a chest tube to help with the drainage of the fluids and blood for the time being. Where are her parents?" The doctor asked.

"They're dead, they died years ago." Aubrey quickly replied.

"Okay well do you know who her emergency contact is?" The doctor asked.

"I am," Aubrey replied. 'Do whatever it is you need to, just please keep her alive." Aubrey cried. The doctor nodded his head.

"I'll let you know how it goes, I promise to take good care of her." He said before quickly walking back into the ER.

'Well that's good news," Jesse sighed in relief.

"For now," Aubrey frowned.

A/N: Okay guys, I decided I'm doing another Chapter because one chapter was just getting too long. So, here is my gift to you. Read Chapter 14 as I write Chapter 15. Enjoy! Please review!