Before I start this, I wanted to thank yougotburned and lonneytunecrazy for reviewing practically every chapter in my story. Your feedback has really helped me along so far, and I really appreciate it :). Not to say that I don't appreciate the other reviews you guys have given though.

Also, this isn't the last chapter yet. I still feel that I can go different ways with the Finster family plot, so I'll let you know when the last one will be. Without further ado, here's the next chapter.

The next day...

Kira sat in one of the chairs that were located in her daughter's hospital room. It turned out that Kimi had broken her left arm and gotten a pretty nasty concussion from the previous events.

They had taken Chas into the hospital, but as Kimi walked in, she started to feel a little groggy and unbalanced. She held her hand to her forehead, stumbled into the receptionist's desk and passed out. She hadn't woken up since yesterday, but the doctor's said that she would be fine eventually.

'Why couldn't it have been me,' she thought to herself, 'What did Kimi ever do to anyone? She shouldn't have had to go through this.'

Kira sighed and closed her eyes. She needed to regain her composure after all of the trauma that she had experienced. She thought of what life was like before all of this began; when she and Hiro were married and had a beautiful daughter together. Kira then thought of more recently, when she and Kimi had started their new life in America, and how the Finsters were so kind when they offered to help them out. Thinking of these things helped to calm her down, even though these moments before had been few and far between.

Kira's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a soft groaning sound. She opened her eyes to find Kimi awake in the hospital bed, looking around the room.

"Mmmfff... Uh, where am I?" Kimi asked groggily.

Kira rushed over to her daughter's bedside and explained, "You're in the hospital, Kimi. Don't you remember? You passed out as soon as we walked in through the door. Everyone was worried about you. Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm okay, but I don't remember that much after seeing Chuckie in the warehouse. Why are we in the hospital?"

Kira lowered her head and answered, "You have a severe concussion and a broken left arm. It's a good thing that nothing else happened to you."

Kimi nodded, and then she asked, "Where is everyone, Mom? Is everybody back home?"

Kira shook her head and turned to the wall. Kimi frowned and asked her mom, "Is everyone alright, Mom? Did something bad happen?"

Down the hall...

Chuckie sat in the hall while doctors operated on his dad in his room. The bullet had gone into his stomach, and they didn't know if Chas was going to make it.

Those words were ringing around in Chuckie's head. 'Not going to make it? It can't be true! If there is a God up there, please save my dad! He's all that I have left, and I'd do anything to save him!'

The hallway was almost deserted, as everyone else had gone home for the night. The fact that it was deserted made Chuckie feel even more alone than he ever had been before. 'I've already lost my mother... my dad's been taking care of me my entire life. I can't lose him... not now... not like this...'

He heard the door creak open, and Dr. Carmichael stepped out in a surgeon's outfit. She looked sympathetically towards Chuckie, and then she explained, "We've taken the bullet out of your father's stomach, but he hasn't woken up just yet... You can go inside, if you'd like to."

Chuckie nodded and walked into the room.

As he stepped inside, he saw that the doctors had put him on some sort of breathing system, and connected to him were lots of little tubes. His father's eyes were closed, and Chuckie could see that his breathing was slight.

He walked over and sat down in a chair. He grabbed his dad's hand and squeezed it, hoping that he would squeeze back, but he didn't.

After several minutes of just staring at him, Chuckie cried himself to sleep. He just wished that all of this business with Coco had never happened, and that everything would just return to the way it was before. Unfortunately, Chuckie was faced with a different reality.

The door creeped open again, and Kira stood in the doorway, hoping that she wouldn't disturb anyone. She walked over to Chuckie and nudged him in the shoulder.

"...Zzz... Wh-what? It's not time for school yet, leave me alone... Zzz..."

Kira shook him again, but this time she said, "Chuckie, Kimi's awake now, and she said that she wanted to see you. How about I stay here for a while, and you go see her?"

Chuckie nodded sleepily, yawned, and slowly started walking out. He took one last look at Kira as she held on to his father's hand, and walked down the hall.

He passed by a number of doors before he finally found the one that he was looking for: 213. Chuckie opened the door slowly, since he wasn't sure whether Kimi was asleep or not.

"Kimi? Are you awake?" Chuckie asked quietly.

The Watanabe girl rose up in the bed as she heard her friend. "Yeah, come on in."

Chuckie walked into the room and sat down. He noticed that this room had a great view of the outside, and it seemed much friendlier in this room than in his dad's.

"So... how are you holding up? I know you must be really traumatized with this, but..."

"I'm good, for the most part. Well, other than me being kidnapped and everything..."

The 2 of them laughed to try to lighten up the situation, but there was an awkward pause after they finished.

Chuckie tried to break the ice. "So, nice weather we're having, eh?"

Kimi nodded and simply said, "Yep." Another awkward pause came between the two of them, and it was really starting to irritate Kimi.

"What is wrong with us, Chuckie? We talked to eachother all the time without any problems before! Why should it be any different now?"

The Finster kid shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I'm not sure. I guess this whole thing has kind of messed everything up, you know? I mean, you're in the hospital with a broken arm and a severe concussion, the Java Lava was burned down, and my dad..."

He stopped midsentence and put his hand under his chin.

"Chuckie, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. This isn't your fault- you got hurt too."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have let them shoot him in the stomach. I should've done something."

"Kimi, listen to me," Chuckie said, "don't ever think that any of this was your fault. It was just some crazy woman who was out for revenge, and she's now behind bars. We're just going to forget about this whole ordeal and move on."

Chuckie's breathing was getting a bit heavy, as he was getting worked up about this. He closed his eyes, sighed, and said to Kimi, "I just want things to go back to normal."

Kimi looked at her depressed friend. She thought of all of the things that Chuckie had done for her, like helping her adjust to her new life in America, standing up to that bully, and rescuing her from the kidnappers. Kimi wanted to find a way to repay him, but she didn't know how to do that exactly.

"Your dad is a really awesome person, you know that?"

Chuckie looked over to her, and had an expression on his face that told her to continue. "I mean it. When we were locked up in that warehouse, he kept me from losing my mind. He calmed me down, talked to me, and even helped me out with problems that I had been having before. I've never met anyone quite like him in my entire life."

After about a minute, she decided to change the subject. "So, Chuckie... have you asked Lil out yet?"

Chuckie's eyes went wide, as he wasn't expecting to hear that. "No... and what makes you think I like her anyway?"

"Come on, Chucko! You can't fool me. I've seen you check her out in class before, and I've got a feeling that she likes you, too."

"Really? I mean, not that I like her or anything. I was just curious, is all."

Kimi giggled, and she said, "Yeah, Chuckie. I'm almost 100% certain that she likes you! You've gotta make your move later, or she might think that you don't like her."

"... well, suppose that I "did" like Lil (which I'm not saying that I do), how do you think I should ask her out?"

Kimi scratched her chin and replied, "Well, you could take her to a place that she likes, like the park or the movies. Don't immediately ask her out as soon as you get there though, as you don't want to seem desperate. Try to make the evening enjoyable with her, and when the time's right, ask her if she would go out with you."

Chuckie raised his eyebrow and asked, "How will I know when the time is right?"

Sitting as if she was meditating, Kimi replied, "You will know when you feel it, young grasshopper. You will feel it."

They both shared a real laugh together for the first time in weeks. It felt good for them to talk like this again, as friends and not 2 complete strangers.

"So, is your mom doing better? I'd imagine that she would be having a harder time than any of us."

Kimi again nodded and explained, "Yeah, she's getting better, especially now that we're all back together again."

She paused for a second, but then she continued, "I think that she's getting pretty lonely, though. That's my major concern."

Kimi had already talked about how Kira had gotten divorced many years ago, so Chuckie was respectful about the situation. "I think that may have been another reason why she came here. She wanted to find someone to be in a relationship with, but she couldn't find anyone back in Paris."

Chuckie thought that now would be as good a time as any to talk about his dad, so he said, "My dad was looking for someone to be with too. I guess he just never found the right person."

The 2 of them realized that both of their parents were looking to be in a relationship, and they stared wide-eyed at eachother for a little while.

"You don't think that..."

"No, that wouldn't happen... would it?"

The two of them shook their heads and laughed slightly. In their minds, though, they knew that their parents liked eachother, but they decided to avoid that right now.

Instead, Chuckie decided to bug Kimi about a certain issue.

"So, when are you going to ask Tommy out?"

Kimi blushed instantly, and said, "What makes you say that? And hey, you can't ask me who I like just because I asked you!"

Chuckie smirked, as he had her right where he wanted her. "Oh, so you do like him then! Ha ha!"

Kimi was now blushing beat red from embarrassment. "I do not! I've barely known him for that long and... I... shut up, Chuckie."

They laughed and continued to talk about whatever was on their minds. They talked about home life, school, crushes, sports, anything that came to their minds. It was just like old times once again.

By the time that they finished, it was around 1:00 in the morning, and her concussion was making Kimi very sleepy. As her eyes slowly started to close, Chuckie asked her if she wanted to be alone.

"No, it's cool. You can stay here- but try not to snore!"

"I don't snore! But, I'll try to keep the noise down so you can get some sleep. You're going to need it."

Kimi smiled and rolled over in the hospital bed. Chuckie then heard her say to him, "Thanks, Chuckie, for everything. You're like the sibling I never had."

Chuckie looked over at the Watanabe girl surprised. He never even thought about having a sibling before, but he thought that it would be pretty cool to have one.

He smiled and leaned back in the chair, before slowly starting to close his eyes. "No problem... sis..." He thought that Kimi hadn't heard that last part, but she could hear it clearly.

Her smile grew larger as she drifted off into sleep.

Around 3:00...

Kira walked into room 213, and wanted to tell Chuckie that his father had woken up in the middle of the night, but she heard the soft sounds of 2 teenagers sleeping, so she refrained from doing so.

She smiled at the 2 of them, wrote Chuckie a note that instructed him to go to his father's room, and walked over to Kimi.

Kira kissed her daughter's forehead and walked over to the door.

"Sweet dreams, you two." She whispered, and she turned off the light.

Little did any of them know that soon, the two families would become closer than they ever had before.

Well? What did you guys think? Leave your reviews, and I'll write the next chapter soon!