IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm considering DISCONTINUING this fic. For some reason, the amount of reviews I usually get plummeted. I'm not sure if there is as much as a reader interest anymore. It's hard to tell. If you're still interested in this fic, please let me know, or if you think I should discontinue this let me know also in the reviews.

He woke before she did, and he continued to say in that position with her, just staring at her face. The relief on his face at her being right next to him-safe and sound was so great. Her moved a flock of her hair away from her face as breathed deeply in her sleep.

He thought it best that he get up now, head to the restroom and freshen up. Slowly and gently, he skid to the side and got off the bed making sure to cover Téa with the blanket they had shared.

When he came out of the bathroom he was startled to find a nurse there who quickly turned pointing at him with an angry face. "You!" She exclaimed.

Atem inwardly shivered. "Y-yes?" He managed to spit out.

The nurse walked closer to him, her eyes giving him a threatening look. "Don't think I didn't know what happened here." Her brown eyes narrowed. "You're lucky that the supervisor took a day off and I let you slide for the sake of that girl. If she had had a nightmare you would have been kicked out in a snap." Atem gulped. "Don't be here tonight! I won't be so forgiven this time, ya hear?"

Atem nodded. With that, the nurse gave him one more sideways glance and left the room. Atem took in a deep breath, his heart finally starting to slow down after beating so rapidly. He turned to hear a murmur coming from Téa. It looked like she was waking up.

"Get well cards!" Téa exclaimed. "Wow, there's one from Mai, Serenity... even Pegasus!" She held up a stack of envelopes with cards inside that her parents brought her from their mail.

Atem smiled. "That's nice."

Téa quickly tore through the cards reading the get well wishes and other sweet words from her friends and family. Pegasus even sent a gift basket full of baked goods with his card. Téa took two chocolate chip cookies from the basket, passing one to Atem and started to munch on one herself.

"Téa..."

Téa glanced up. "Hm?"

Atem rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "A nurse found out about me staying the night with you..."

She blinked, biting her lip. "Oh."

"I can't stay with you today."

"What? No." Téa unconsciously pouted. "The nightmares...they'll come back." She took shorter breaths. "I can't...but.."

"Téa." Atem put his hand on her shoulder comfortably. "I'm sure you'll be ok. You only had nightmares on the first day..."

"But that's because you were with me the second day!" She protested.

"I'm sure that it was just a onetime thing, me being there was just a coincidence. You'll be fine. Besides, the next morning you'll be released anyway and you'll get to go home to the comfort of your own room and bed." He reasoned.

"Just one night?" She thought out loud.

"Just one night." Atem repeated.

Téa sighed. "Alright."

Except Atem was wrong. The dreams returned at night. They plagued her and this time it was worse than before. They were more vivid, more frightening. Her screams were heard from the hall and every time sleep overcame her, so did the nightmare. She barely got a wink of sleep.

Atem arrived shortly after her parents did at the hospital the next day. Mrs. Gardner was fawning over her daughter who had dark circles under her eyes. Mr. Gardner brought back a glass of warm milk. "Perhaps some warm milk might help?" He beckoned her the glass.

Téa frowned, but accepted it. "Maybe." She drank it slowly.

Mrs. Gardner turned to Atem. "The doctors are worried. She barely slept last night and she needs it badly. It's bad for her condition and health." Atem frowned.

"Sweetheart, how did you stop the nightmare from coming last night?" Her father asked.

Téa gulped down her milk. "Well...um..." She made eye contact with Atem.

"Well?" Mr. Gardner asked strictly, catching on that something was wrong.

Téa had hoped that Atem would have done some quick thinking to alleviate the situation, but alas it did not happen. Téa sighed. "Please don't get angry..." Both her parents looked at one another and then her.

Her father ran his fingers through his hair. "Just tell us what happened, cupcake."

Their daughter bit her lip. "Atem stayed the night with me..."

"WHAT?!" Both their parents yelled.

"Who is this Atem?" Her father questioned, fuming.

"I promise nothing happened Daddy!" Téa defended herself quickly. As she opened her mouth to explain just who Atem was, Atem himself stepped into explain.

"I'm Atem." He said loudly.

Both their parents calmed down a bit. "Oh, Yugi." Téa's mother said relieved. Téa swallowed. It hurt hearing that name.

"I prefer to be called Atem now, if you don't mind." He gave a nod to her parents. Téa's mother looked as if she was about to say something, but said nothing.

Téa spoke again. "I promise nothing happened. We just went to sleep...I didn't want to be alone...I was scared." She bit her lip.

Mr. Gardner sighed. "Alright. We'll let this one slide. But why on Earth did you think it was alright to have an unwelcome guest in the hospital? How did they not even catch him?"

His daughter bit her lip, "Well, I hid him for a while. Apparently, he was discovered, but they let it slide for one day. They're forcing me to stay alone tomorrow."

The Mr. and Mrs. exchanged glances. Téa's mother gave a comforting smile. "I'm sure you'll be alright, darling. One night, and you'll be back to us." She said nodding.

"Ok." Téa murmured, wanting to end the conversation.

She had been able to nap a little when Atem was here with her, but now that visiting hours were over, he and her parents had left. Téa found time to examine herself in the mirror closely for the first time. She flexed her leg and turned over her arms, one by one. She felt fragile. She lost a lot of muscle strength that she had built up and she had lost a lot of weight. She was pretty sure she might have even gone down a bra size.

She looked paler than usual and so thin. She wondered how long it would take for her to gain back all that weight and muscle mass. She wanted to get back to dancing. At least it would be something that would get her mind off things. Once she got home, she would definitely need to get back to working out and eating right.

Five months she was gone, almost void. It amazed her how long she was out. She didn't know what to do. How much had she missed? What about school? She did the math and it looked like she never finished up the last school year. Then summer came, so she was about 2 and a half months late to this year. Would the school make her stay back the year? It wouldn't be fair... She nearly completed it... She wouldn't be with her friends-oh.

What friends? They were all gone, almost. As much as she liked to think that Seto was technically their friend, he was a weird acquaintance kind-of-friend. It was only Seto and Atem left.

Atem said he was still going to school... did that mean he was going to school in Yugi's place? Who did he sit with at lunch? Was he happy these past 5 months? Who did he have while she was gone?

He mentioned that he was still staying with Yugi's grandfather. Solomon would obviously know that it was Atem, but what about Yugi's mother? Did she notice? What about Yugi's father? He traveled a lot as a traveling business man, but he did come visit home to see his family often when he could.

Was Atem pretending to be Yugi this whole time? Who else knew what happened?

She had so many questions, but she was too scared to ask. She slowly walked over to her bed and laid down, pulling the covers up. 'Please no more nightmares, please no more nightmares.' She prayed.

Sadly, her prayers were not answered as images of her friends surrounded by smoke seeped into her mind the moment unconsciousness hit her.

Uh-oh. Looks like the nightmares come back when Atem's not with her. That's troublesome isn't it?

If you haven't seen my note, let me know if I should discontinue this fic or not.

~Startistica