Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Inheritance Games series. I just like making the characters suffer (jk!)

Author's Notes: So this chapter is definitely a bit longer than my last one. Hopefully you're not bored with the story already because I'm hoping to post a new chapter in time for Christmas (fingers crossed). Also: I know that in the book there's this confrontation between Jameson and Grayson that Avery overhears while she's in her coma, and I was going to put that in this chapter in an effort to stay true to canon, but I'm not entirely sure I can put an whole conversation that I didn't write into my fic, so there's still going to be a confrontation scene at some point in time, but if it's a little different than you remember, it's because I'm trying very hard to avoid plagiarism.

Day 2

I woke up to a ray of sunlight shining directly in my eye. Blinking groggily, I looked around, trying to remember where I was. That's when I saw the white hospital bed standing next to me, Avery lying motionless under the sheets. Oh right.

I stretched myself out, groaning as I rubbed at a crick in my neck.

"Did you sleep here all night?" I glanced up to see Rebecca Laughlin standing in the doorway, looking concerned.

"Best seat in the house." I joked halfheartedly, patting the plastic armrest that had served as my pillow.

Rebecca shifted back and forth uncomfortably, before finally saying, "I'm sorry about… What happened."

"What happened?" I said in mock confusion, "Oh right, you mean the bomb that set off in Avery's plane, knocking her unconscious and almost killing her. Don't even mention it." My tone started off lighthearted but by the end I could barely breathe.

Rebecca walked over and patted my shoulder. "I get it. After what happened to Emily…" A pained expression clouded her face, "The hardest part was just not having her there. Never being able to talk to her or be with her or tell her I loved her."

"Love." I thought, "That's an interesting concept." I never got the chance to say as much, because the next moment I heard raised voices in the hallway. Rebecca glanced at me, eyebrows quirked up, and the two of us stepped out to see what all the commotion was about. We found Libby standing right outside, clutching a cup of hospital coffee and staring furiously at Alisa. I rubbed at my eyes, wondering if I was still dreaming. Libby almost never got angry. I once saw Skye accidentally spill a glass of champagne on her, and Libby ended up apologizing for it.

Let's just say she didn't seem ready to apologize for anything now. "Are you absolutely out of your mind?" she seethed, "How could you suggest something like that? How could you even be thinking about it at a time like this?"

"Look, I know you're hurting," Alisa started, but Libby immediately cut her off.

"Hurting?" she snapped, "My sister was just blown up, so excuse me if her money isn't exactly my top priority right now." She spat the word 'money' like just saying it put a bad taste in her mouth.

"What's going on?" I questioned, walking over to them. Alisa cringed like she wasn't ready to have this conversation with another person, which just made me feel like it was exactly the sort of conversation we should be having.

"This, this lawyer," Libby said, like she couldn't think of a worse thing to call her, "Just said that we should 'relocate' Avery!"

"Relocate?" I said, an edge to my voice.

"If Avery isn't back at Hawthorne house by noon tomorrow, she'll exceed her maximum three days away, thus forfeiting her inheritance." Alisa stated matter-of-factly.

"What a pity." I replied, "I'll be sure to tell her once she's regained consciousness."

"This isn't a joke, Jameson." Alisa said.

"I wasn't laughing."

"Look," she said, "All I'm saying is that the best thing to do in this situation would be to move her to the house now, while we still have enough time to do so."

"She got out of surgery less than eight hours ago." I said.

"I understand that." she replied.

"It doesn't seem like you do." Libby shot at her.

"I just don't think Avery will be pleased if the first thing she hears after she wakes up is that she lost her fortune." Alisa said.

"And I don't think she'll be pleased if she doesn't wake up at all!" Libby barked. She attempted to glare at Alisa, but the tears in her eyes kind of ruined the effect.

Alisa looked hurt. "Do you really think I would be suggesting this if I didn't think it was what's best for Avery?"

"More like what's best for your law firm." Libby muttered, wiping her face.

"Excuse me?"

I'd had enough of this back and forth. "Stop it." I said, then turned to Alisa, "What Libby is trying to say is that we don't care if Avery loses her palace on Mars. She's not leaving this hospital until she gets up and walks out of here on her own two feet."

"But," Alisa argued.

"But nothing." I said with an air of finality that only a Hawthorne could manage. Alisa looked like she wanted to object, but instead nodded curtly, then turned on her heel and clicked away. Libby cast me a grateful look then walked briskly into Avery's room.

"Well that was certainly interesting." Rebecca noted, coming up behind me.

"What else can you expect around here?" I remarked.

• • •

Max showed up just after eight a.m., scoffing when she heard what Alisa had suggested. "Like hell we'd move her. Screw her inheritance."

"My thoughts exactly." Libby said huffily. Still, I was uneasy. I'd known Alisa for a long time, and she wasn't one to give up without a fight.

"Maybe we should make sure there's always someone keeping an eye on Avery." I suggested, "Just to be safe."

Max looked concerned. "You don't think Alisa would go behind our backs and try to move her herself, do you?"

I rubbed my temples. "I don't know what to think anymore."

"I think watching her is a good idea." Libby piped up, shooting me a knowing glance, "Just to be safe."

"Just to be safe." I replied, relieved.

And so, whenever one of us left Avery's bedside, usually just to use the restroom or go downstairs to the cafeteria, we always made sure there was another person close at hand, ready to swing into action if Alisa came marching up to whisk her away. The sky was just starting to darken when Libby ran off to grab some dinner, leaving me alone in Avery's hospital room. I watched as the EKG tracked her heartbeat, every deviation from a straight line meaning she was still alive.

"Avery wouldn't like that." I thought, "She doesn't like straying from the path. She'd rather get from point A to point B with as little distraction as possible." I smiled a little at the thought. Her focus was one of the things I loved most about her. "There's that word again. Love." The thought appeared in my mind, unbidden. I was trying to decide what to make of it when there was a knock at the door. I glanced up to see Oren standing there.

"Jameson." he nodded, "You look like you're thinking about something."

"I'm always thinking about something." I replied, and I felt a pang in my chest because that's exactly what I had told Avery before… I shook the thought away. "So what are you doing here?" I asked, changing the conversation.

"I just wanted to come see how she's doing." he noted, his head scraping against the doorframe as he stepped into the room.

"The doctors say she's stable." I said, wrinkling my nose at the word.

Oren raised an eyebrow. "That not good?"

"I'd prefer it if she was awake."

"Wouldn't we all." he sighed, and part of me wondered if he was talking about more than just Avery.

"I heard about what happened to those guards." I said, "I'm sorry."

Oren shrugged. "What's done is done."

I nodded. After a moment of silence I said, "As long as you're here, maybe you can tell me where the heck Grayson's holed up." He hadn't come to visit Avery once since she had gotten out of surgery. Nash and Xander had both come around noon to check in, but neither of them had seen him.

"Beats me." Oren said, "He's probably somewhere hiding from you."

"Hiding from me?" I asked, puzzled, "Why?"

He seemed to study my expression for a moment before saying, "Just because he must feel guilty about not having come to visit sooner."

Oren was a decent liar, but I couldn't be fooled so easily. "That's not it." I said, "What's Grayson hiding from me?"

Oren sighed. "It's impossible to keep anything from you Hawthornes. You're too used to secrets for your own good."

That was an understatement.

"Anyway, it's nothing really." he said, "It's just that, right after the explosion, it was clear that Avery was hurt pretty bad. I was trying to drag a few of my men out from under some scraps of burning metal, but your brother was standing a couple of yards away, relatively unharmed, so I figured he'd rush to Avery's side. See how he could help."

"And?" I said, a dangerous edge evident in my voice as I waited for what would come next.

"And," Oren sighed, "When I looked back, he was just standing there, staring at Avery as she laid in the ash."

"HE DID WHAT?!" I exploded, unable to comprehend what I'd just heard.

"Jameson, he was in shock." Oren said.

"If you really believed that, then you wouldn't've tried to hide it from me."

He opened his mouth to respond, but seemed to think better of it. I jumped up from my seat, pacing back and forth across the room. My mind was going in a million different directions at once. This couldn't be true, there had to be something I was missing. This was just a big puzzle, and I was missing a piece.

I didn't even notice when Oren left the room and Libby arrived. All I could do was stare at Avery's bandage-wrapped face and wonder how anyone could just leave her to die.