Happiness is a really weird thing. Sometimes, it seems like it's right there in front of you, or even inside of you for a little while. And then, it's just snatched away, as though some higher power was only just dangling it in front of your face just to torture you.

It was that way with Arianna. The day before, I went out with my best friends in the world, and not to mention one of my babies. I had cake, tried on a beautiful dress, went sightseeing, had a nice birthday dinner that I shared with my brother, and for the first time, felt my niece kick.

But the next day, I found myself in a bright white room, with bright white lights, and one baby in my arms, and the other in a metal box with tubes running all over her body.

"Aria," Leonel said to me eventually, putting a hand on my shoulder. "She's going to be okay. You…know that, right?"

"You don't sound very sure of yourself," I said.

"Well," he said. "It's a tough thing to think about, let alone be sure about."

Dr. Morris stepped through a pair of double doors. Her hair was covered with a strange-looking cap, and her mouth was covered with a mask.

"We're ready for her now," she told us, lowering the mask from her mouth in order to speak to us more easily. "You both are welcome to come in during the first part."

"What goes on in the first part?" I asked.

"Basically," she explained. "We're going to make her go to sleep for the surgery."

"She won't feel any pain that way," Leonel added.

"They drugged her pretty heavily back in Alvarna," Dr. Morris said. "From what I can tell, anyway. But it's necessary to knock her out for the surgery. The tricky part is making sure she doesn't develop an addiction to…well, just about everything she's on." I decided it would be best not to think about that.

"All right," I said.

Dr. Morris started to push Arianna's cart, and led us through the double doors into a fairly large room, although it seemed smaller because of all the people in it. Like every other room in the hospital, it was pure white. I was really starting to get sick of that color.

"You're going to have to put these on," she said, handing us each one of the caps and one of the masks. Neither of us asked questions, and we took them from her.

"You put yours on," Leonel said. "I'll hold Tristan. Then, we can switch off."

"Okay," I said. I handed Tristan to him, and put the cap on over my hair, and the mask over my mouth. He handed Tristan back to me, and did the same. Despite how awful I was feeling, I couldn't help but laugh a little at the sight of Leonel looking as ridiculous as he did right then.

"Come on," he said to me through his mask. "Let's go see about Arianna."

We walked over to the operating table, where they were just about to take Arianna out of her metal box. Dr. Morris was giving orders.

"Get that ready," she said to one of the nurses. She was pointing to a large machine with a tube and a mask on the end of it. She looked at another nurse. "I'll need that syringe, too." The two nurses nodded, and went over to do their respective jobs.

After some time, Dr. Morris and the nurses were all standing around the operating table. They started to unscrew the top off Arianna's metal box, while one of the nurses held the mask that was attached to the big machine. After the top was unscrewed, I heard Arianna's desperate gasp for air, like she had done before, but the nurse quickly put the mask over her face. Dr. Morris picked her up, while a nurse put the metal box on the floor. Dr. Morris then set Arianna on the operating table.

"You can come see her now," she finally said.

I hesitantly walked through the crowd of nurses, Tristan in my arms, and looked down at Arianna. I could see her chest rise and fall with shallow breathing. She looked so fragile that I was almost afraid to touch her. Leonel stood next to me, and when I looked at his face, I could tell he must have been thinking the same thing. And that he was tired.

I looked down at Tristan, and to my surprise, he was reaching down toward Arianna. The table was so high that it was slightly past my elbows, so he didn't have to reach far. He looked right at her, although I knew that he probably couldn't see too well. With little effort, he touched Arianna's hand.

The entire operating room seemed captivated by Tristan's action. It was absolutely silent.

"In all my years of practice," Dr. Morris said, finally. "I've never seen anything like that." I felt a tear roll down my cheek. Although it was an incredible thing to witness, I had, for some stupid reason, hoped that somehow, their hands touching would somehow cure Arianna. Maybe there was some sort of twin magic. Nothing happened.

I watched as one of the nurses stuck a needle into Arianna's tiny arm, and as her limbs relaxed.

"We should go," Leonel said. "We'd probably just get in the way here."

"Yeah," I said. I decided not to tell him about my stupid thought.

After we left the operating room, we went into a waiting room, where we saw Dorothy.

"Hi, Mom," Leonel said as he sat down in a chair and closed his eyes.

"Hello," Dorothy said. She walked over to him, and started to stroke his hair in a motherly way. "I bet you need to sleep." She turned to me. "Both of you."

"Yeah," I replied. Tristan had kept me up almost all night with his vicious cycle of hunger and dirty diapers. "But where can we go? I don't want to leave the hospital."

"That's already taken care of," Dorothy said. "This hospital has a section for people who either have loved ones who dying, or they just don't want to leave them alone. We got a room for you, just in case you would need it. Unfortunately, there's only one bed." She thought for a second. "Well, I guess it's all right, as long as I'm there."

We went practically all the way across the hospital, until Dorothy said that we were there. By that time, I was so tired that I almost had no idea what was going on. Dorothy opened the door to a room that looked a lot like the one at the inn.

"Will you take care of Tristan while I sleep?" I asked her groggily.

"Of course," Dorothy replied. "Don't worry about a thing." I handed Tristan off to her, and got into bed. I was just about to drift off, when I felt Leonel climb in next to me.

"So," I said. "Why are you so tired?"

"Couldn't sleep," he replied in a soft voice. "I was…too worried. You?"

"Tristan was crying," I replied. "All night." Leonel yawned, and I did the same. I rolled over and opened my eyes, but just barely. He had dark circles under his closed eyes. I kissed him on the forehead, and his eyes fluttered open. He smiled sleepily at me.

"Sleep well," he said.

"I will," I replied. I rolled back over, and felt my eyes start to close on their own. But right before I fell asleep, I felt Leonel snuggle up next to me.

After some time, my eyes fluttered open, and I looked around the room. For some reason, Dorothy was gone. Then, I looked to the side, and saw that Leonel was still sleeping next to me. I took a deep breath, exhaled, and leaned back against the wall. As much as I loved being with Tristan, it was kind of peaceful.

The door suddenly burst open. I realized in just a matter of seconds the two people that were coming into the room by their voices in the doorway.

"Aaron and Leann," I muttered. They had already ruined my feeling of peace just by entering the room, and I really didn't want it ruined further. I decided the quickly and quietly to lie back down in bed and pretend I was asleep. I heard the door close, and the footsteps came closer.

"I didn't know they slept together," Aaron said.

"Don't be ridiculous," Leann replied. "Dorothy was in here. She wouldn't have allowed that sort of thing. And besides, they're still fully clothed!" I heard a slapping sound, which I assumed was Aaron's hand hitting his own forehead.

"I…didn't mean it like that, Leann," he said. I heard his footsteps come closer. "Aria, you faker." I opened my eyes, and sat up.

"How did you know?" I asked, honestly surprised.

"First of all," he said. "You were moving around. And second, you weren't moving your jaw in that weird way you always do when you sleep." I had no idea what he was talking about, but I decided to change the subject.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We thought we'd come see you!" Leann squealed excitedly. Leonel unexpectedly opened his eyes. He looked around the room, obviously a little disoriented, blinked, and smiled.

"I was having a dream about an angry chipsqueek," he said. "But I think I can guess what brought that on." I giggled, Aaron tried not to laugh, and Leann looked confused.

"What kind of a dream is that?" she asked.

"Never mind," Leonel said. "Is everything okay? Where are Mom and the baby?"

"Out in the hall," Aaron said. "Tristan started screaming bloody murder."

"Poor thing," Leann said. "His little face was all red, and even Dorothy can't figure out what's wrong!"

"I'd better go see," I said, starting to get out of bed. Leonel followed.

However, before we could even open the door, it flung open to reveal Dad, his face completely red. He looked as though he had been running.

"Dad!" I exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Get Tristan," he said between gasps of air. "Leonel, you come too."

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"You've got to go," he said. "Quickly. It's Arianna."

OMG CLIFFHANGER!!!

Apparently, I like to torture you guys. First, I write a really short chapter, then I don't update for weeks (I had an external hard drive crash and went out of town), and then I put in the biggest cliffie I've used since probably sixth grade. I'm currently in eleventh grade.

What else? School! Grrr...

Oh, wait important story news. Please, please, PUH-LEASE vote in the poll on my profile. It pertains to this story, and this story alone, and the future of Aria's family depends on it. Either that, or post it in a review (although I hope you'll actually REVIEW as well).

But here's the deal: if the majority of readers vote that they would like a sequel, than so be it. I've been planning to do it anyway. But if the majority votes the opposite, then I will cry. Just kidding. But I will be slightly disappointed, and I'll have to find something else to write about.

Oh, and congrats to Gabi123 for correctly guessing the Green Day song from which the title of the sequel will come.

And if anyone else wants to play a guessing game, here's an easy one: from which song does the title of this chapter come?