Chapter Twenty-One

-Kendall's POV-

It took a while for the news to sink in.

Carlos was awake, he was ok!

I couldn't help but smile the whole time we were going to the hospital. I guess my smiled was contagious as Katie, James, and my mom were grinning like crazy on the car ride there. Camille and Jo were getting a ride with Kelly and Gustavo; they were finally going to go see Carlos and Logan as well. But it made me wonder, why was it that they never visited before? I understand Gustavo not wanting to go but Kelly? She was a good friend to us and I figured that she would be one of the first people that I would have seen after the accident.

But I didn't care, I just wanted to see my budddy, awake and with that bright smile on his face. That was something I really liked about him, no matter how much trouble we were getting in (and it's been a lot of trouble ever since the four of us met) Carlos always had a smile on his face. Even when we were grounded and would sneak phone calls to each other, I could always hear the smile in Carlos' voice as he talked to us. The only time that he ever seemed to not smile is when someone was upset about something; it would usually make him cry as well. But that's just Carlos, he was the sensitive one out of us, and it kept us grounded whenever we got into fights with each other.

All four of us, we're brothers, so we're bound to get in fights sometimes. But Carlos is like our youngest brother, the sensitive one, the one that held us all together.

So that's why it hurt me so badly to see him in the hospital, unconscious. Don't get me wrong I felt bad in general, but being able to hear Carlos say that everything will get better, or to suggest that I think about kittens and puppies and rainbows, made everything seem more real. Especially when I had hoped that it was a dream.

"Hi," Mom stated as she moved to the receptionists' desk once we arrived at the hospital. "We're here to see Carlos Garcia."

I looked around the hospital, watching as nurses and doctors scurried past. There was a family, much like mine, that was sitting in chairs nearby, cheeks stained with tears and their eyes red. Surely they were there for a family member, or just someone close to them. I knew exactly how they felt; it reminded me of how hysterical I was when I had first woken up.

The next thing Kendall knew, everything had turned black, and when he woke up, he was being treated by some doctors while he was looking up at the white ceiling. He tried to ask what was going on, but the doctors worked so fast they were out of the room in seconds. Kendall had checked his arms and legs and then went over to the small mirror that was over the sink in the room that he was in. He had a small cut on his cheek that was covered with a bandage and a small bruise above his eyebrow.

Confused, he left the room and looked around, seeing doctors and nurses rushing back and forth down the same hallway, not noticing that he was standing there. He was jostled a few times and noticed that there was some blood on a few of their scrubs.

"Excuse me?" he tried to get a doctor's attention but they moved right by him. "What's going on?" he tried again, but was still annoyed. He started to walk down the hallway, determined to find answers, but the answers came to him.

"Kendall Knight left the accident with a couple of scrapes and a bruise," a nurse was saying to the doctor down the hall. "But his friends weren't so lucky." She heaved a heavy sigh and looked older than her years, a combination of stress and of worrying about the teenage boys. "James Diamond is unconscious, but his body is responding to what we're doing for him. He has a broken arm, some broken ribs, and a sprain ankle." She let out another sigh, shaking her head. "Logan Mitchell and Carlos Garcia are both in comas; we're not sure about the extent of their injuries."

"Thanks for telling me, Nurse Michaels." The doctor replied as she heaved a weary sigh himself. "What we should do is…"

Kendall couldn't hear what the doctor had said. There seemed to be a roaring in his ears, he felt dizzy, and sick. Thankfully he collapsed into the chair behind him, seconds before the tears came.

He knew how anyone that was waiting for news of a loved one in the hospital felt. Depressed, angry, confused, hopeful, and also holding a feeling of dread. But he now knew that hospitals weren't only a place where bad things happened, miracles happened there to.

"Kendall?"

I looked around and saw Katie standing by me, her hand in mine and looking up at me with her big brown eyes. 'Katie is such a great sister,' I thought to myself as I looked down at her. 'She never gave up on me and she never gave up on the guys. That's all that I could ask for out of her, especially when I've been such a bad brother in return.'

"Kendall, we can go and see him now," Katie stated and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, waving it around. "Jo says that she and Camille will be here in a few minutes, they got stuck at a series of red lights a few cars back, but they'll be here." She turned and held her other hand out and lightly grabbed onto the bottom of James' shirt. "C'mon."

With that, Katie, James, and I slowly started out way to Carlos' room, mom was going to sit back and wait for Kelly, Gustavo, Jo, and Camille to get there so she could show them the way before she joined us. I barely heard her say it, all I could hear the sound of my heart pounding against my ribcage. I was going to be able to see Carlos; I was going to be able to apologize.

I was going to be able to see his smile again.

How long has it been since the accident? It seems like eternity. I know that James and Katie felt the same way; we were all pretty restless back at the Palm Woods. Me especially, I know that I've hurt so many people just because I have been battling emotions that I didn't want to show, I didn't want to let out.

I tried to tell Jo, but…I didn't think that was a good idea. I explained a little bit of what I was feeling, but not everything. I don't want her to worry about me.

I looked up as I saw a grim-faced doctor walking towards us, but his eyes were on the group of people that were sitting on the hard plastic chairs, waiting. The same way that I was waiting for my mom and sister, waiting for the time that I would wake up from my nightmare.

I turned around and walked over to the group of people, looking directly at the mother. She lifted her head and looked up at me with red-rimmed, watery eyes.

"It'll be okay," I reassured her the best I could, willing her to believe that I was saying. "Whatever has happened, things will be ok." I patted her on the hand gently and turned and caught up to my sister and James again and we went to Carlos' room.

I pushed open the door and went inside, a smile crept onto my face when I saw Stephanie sitting on the side of Carlos' bed, talking happily to him, a wide grin on his face. Carlos was beaming as well and when his eyes turned to us as we entered the door, his face split into a grin so wide I was surprised his lips didn't fall off.

"Kendall! James! Katie!" He cried, waving enthusiastically. "Hey guys! It's great to see you!"

"It's good to see you too, Carlos." Katie replied and moved forward, giving him a big hug. "I missed you back at the Palm Woods, no one to help me mess with Bitters." She hesitated for a second and then kissed him on the cheek before giving him a hug again.

"Aww, you're sweet Katie." Carlos said and then he looked over at James and his eyes immediately flooded with concern. "Oh no, James, are you alright?" Typical Carlos, wondering about others before himself.

"I should be asking you the same thing." James slowly moved his crutches down onto the other side of the bed and leaned forward, giving Carlos a hug and messing up his head. "Ugh, being in the hospital this long as totally dried out your hair, dude." He stated, and that made me smile, knowing that James was getting back to his normal self.

But what if I didn't return to my normal self?

'Don't worry about that now,' I scolded myself, shaking my head. 'Think about Carlos.'

"Hey man," Carlos grinned up at me and opened his arms for a hug.

Of course I had to give it to him; I couldn't not give Carlos a hug. Not with a smile like that on his face, I could see it in his eyes, he forgave me, I didn't deserve it, but Carlos held no hard feelings towards me, and that made me happy. Happier than I have ever been recently.

"Carlos," Camille smiled as she, Jo, Kelly, Gustavo, and my mom walked into the room. "I'm glad to see that you're ok."

"Well, he's not completely ok," Stephanie spoke up; she had her hand in Carlos' and was gently rubbing it with her thumb. "The doctor's said that he has a severe concussion and may have some trouble remembering things, as well as having bruised ribs and a sprained ankle." She smiled. "But he's going to do just fine."

"That's good to hear," Kelly smiled and walked over to the other side of the room and dropped a vase of brightly colored flowers onto a nearby table. "I hope these make you feel better." She turned back to Carlos and the rest of us. "I'm so sorry that Gustavo and I haven't been here earlier."

I looked over at Gustavo and wanted to laugh when I saw how uncomfortable he was.

I wanted to.

But I didn't.

"I was having such a hard time convincing him to come see you," Kelly continued and walked over to Carlos, gently patting his shoulder and then gave it a squeeze. "But apparently he's scared of hospitals, or just really doesn't like them." She then smiled over at her partner and our music producer, who looked up and nodded. "But I finally got him here."

"Thanks for coming, Gustavo." Carlos smiled and nodded.

"And your parents are on their way as well," Mrs. Knight stated, smiling fondly down at him. "I know they're going to be so happy to know that you're awake and already regaining your strength."

"So what things does he not remember?" I questioned, smiling down at him a little. Just to reassure him in case he had any doubts of me being happy.

"Just some things from a couple of months ago," Stephanie replied. "He doesn't really remember that you're in a band, where you guys live, and some other stuff like that." She smiled. "But we can help him remember."

"Of course we will," Jo agreed. "He's our friend and we're willing to help him with everything."

"He's not just our friend," I stated, looking at James, who smiled and nodded back. "He's our brother. Ever since we were young we laugh at the weirdest things. We help each other through the bad times. We talk about everything...politics, movies, and books. We leave no topic unexplored. We tend to agree on things, so no heated debates have arisen, but I'm sure we'll find something to disagree about. And once we do, we'll argue. We'll yell. We'll hurt each other. But in the end, I'll be right back with you, laughing about something stupid."

"Ain't that the truth" Katie muttered and smiled as I lightly hit her on the arm.

"You're one of our best friends." I continued, sometimes when I get like this I can't stop talking. It was the same way when we had first moved here to LA and was thinking about quitting and going back home. I need to show my friends that we needed to do this. "Our amigo. Our buddy."

Suddenly there was a loud sniffing sound and we all turned to see Gustavo standing in the back of the room, hastily rubbing his eyes.

"That was so beautiful," he said in a high-pitched voice.

"Gustavo, are you crying?" Mrs. Knight asked, looking over at him oddly.

"No," He replied loudly, rubbing his eyes still. "I just have something in my eye." He turned away and continued to rub at his eyes. "The dogs, I must be allergic to them or something."

"Or something" James replied, rolling his eyes. He smiled over at Carlos. "It's good to have you back man."

It is.

A/N: Next chapter gets into Logan's thoughts again. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, thank you for all of the reviews. It really makes me smile when I see them; you guys are inspiring me to write more (although I bet you hate me since the chapters are short.) Haha. I'll update again soon.

-Riley