Disclaimer: I own nothing, no one, no place, no time, no NOTHING!

A/N: I know as much about medicine as the gopher in Caddyshack (which I don't own). So, if I mess up on medical stuff, please don't hold it against me. :makes gopher noise:

Chapter 7- I Hate Hospital Food...

After Miranda had called an ambulance and Andrew was taken to the Emergency Room, his parents and the families of the trio sat anxiously in the waiting room.

"Don't worry. He's going to be fine," Gordo said to the girls reassuringly. "That kid is tough. He'll fight through it."

"I know..." Lizzie whispered. Here she was with a new friend that was kind, sweet, and an all-around good guy, and he could die at any moment. She had a million thoughts running through her mind. What would happen if he dies? How would they cope? What are the chances of him making it?

"Lizzie?" Miranda asked, snapping her out of her trance.

"Yeah?"

"The doctor's coming," Miranda said, pointing to the man in the white coat coming down the hallway. He arrived with no certian expression on his face to give the family and friends a guess as to whether Andrew would live or not. He arrived in the waiting room, and all the families and friends tensed, hanging on the doctor's every word. He cleared his throat.

"I'm not going to lie to you all," the doctor said matter-of-factly. "There is a chance he may not make it." He paused to let that piece of news sink in. "The bullet pierced the skin three inches below his heart. We've removed the bullet and closed the wound, but he is still unconscious. With the proper medicine and rest, he should survive." He finished and waited for a response.

"Is there anything we can do?" his mother asked.

"Yes. Stay with him as often as possible. He'll need family or friends to be there when he wakes up, and he will also need you to be there for strength." The fact that he had said "when he wakes up" brought a certain degree of comfort to the family and friends.

"Thank you, Doctor," Andrew's father said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Okay, Gordon. Now's your chance. You almost lost your friend today. That's proof enough that you can't keep putting this off. Now, have some courage and tell her!"

"Miranda, can I talk to you outside for a second?"

"Sure," the lovely girl replied. And she was just that. Lovely. It was all Gordo could think about as they stepped outside Andrew's room.

"What's up?" Miranda asked, slightly concerned.

"Well, there's something I've been needing to get off my chest for a little while."

"What is it?" Miradna asked, concerned now. She gently touched his forearm, and Gordo's courage started to falter a little.

"Well, lately...I've kind of...um..."

"Gordo, listen," Miranda said putting both her hands on his shoulders, causing his courage to deplete even more. "Whatever it is, you can tell me." She added a smile to the end of her statement.

"Um...recently..." 'Do it!' "I've..." 'Come on!' "I've been falling for you..." he said in a whisper that even he could barely hear. Miranda, however, had heard it all too clearly. She dropped her hands from his shoulders and stood there silently for a few moments. She broke the silence once she had gathered her words.

"Gordo...that's...unexpected..." Gordo's face dropped when he heard this. "I'm sorry...but I can't..." Miranda could see the pain in Gordo's eyes. She took his hand and repeated in a whisper, "I'm sorry."

Gordo stared into Miranda's eyes and could tell that there was no convincing her. He knew that all he could do from this point on was agitate her if he pursued her. He looked her in the eyes and whispered comfortingly, with a small smile, "Don't be." The two engaged in a friendly embrace and released each other.

"Guys! Come here quick!" a voice came in a whisper-scream. The two turned to see Lizzie standing in the doorway, rather excited.

"What is it?" Miranda asked.

"He moved!"

Gordo and Miranda ran inside, where Lizzie had already sat down next to Andrew, holding his hand. She felt a rush of shock through her when she felt his hand take control of the squeeze. By this time, everyone had gathered around the bed, watching carefully.

"Come on man, wake up..." Gordo said anxiously.

After a while, everyone backed away from the bed and sat down, still waiting. That's when they heard the motion and the words:

"What...where am I?" They all turned to see Andrew stirring in bed. They rushed over to the weak boy. "THAT GUY!" he screamed. He quickly sat up in the bed and screamed in such a volume that even people down the hall heard him.

"Andrew, relax," Gordo said, gently putting Andrew back down. "You were shot. You're in the hospital. We're all here."

Andrew panned the area around him with his eyes, seeing that Lizzie, Miranda, Gordo, Matt, and the parents of each child were there. "What?...shot?...hospital?...Hey, who are you?" he asked, looking at Matt. He was standing behind everyone else with a look of fear on his face.

"I...I'm Matt," he studdered.

"Oh, you're Lizzie's little brother? Well, come here."

"I'd rather not," he said, still scared.

"Come on, I won't hurt you."

"Matt, it's okay." Lizzie said with a reassuring tone.

Matt made his way over to Andrew, who stuck out his hand. Matt hesitantly reached out and shook it. Andrew chuckled, then smiled. "I like him." His smile slowly faded. "Now does somebody want to tell me how I got here?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good night, everyone," Andrew's mother said as the parents and Matt left, while the trio remained inside to say there goodbyes for the night.

"Andrew, can I ask you something?" Lizzie asked.

"You just did," Andrew said smiling, getting a chuckle from Lizzie.

"My question is: What is wrong with you?"

"Um, Lizzie, he's been shot and he's in a hospital bed. I don't think this is the time to ask a question like that," Miranda interjected.

"No, wait. I want to see where she's going with this," Andrew responded before Lizzie could.

"What I mean is, you stopped that guy for attempted rape of Miranda and I, and then you try and stop him from mugging us. Didn't you realize he would smarten up the second time and carry a weapon? Why do you have to play the hero?" Lizzie emphasized the last part of her interrogation.

"I have my reasons," Andrew replied, turning to Miranda and smiling. She caught his smile and returned it, a little unsure of what was going on.

"That's not good enough! You almost got yourself killed!" Lizzie raised the level of her voice.

"Listen, if I wasn't there, wouldn't you have done the same thing? Miranda? Gordo?" he said looking at each of them, and they all weakly nodded. "See? I guess I just have faster reflexes than you three old folks!" This prompted Miranda to give him a play-slap, gentle as possible, on his arm. "Alright, now get on your scooters and roll back to the home," he said grinning.

"Yeah, goodnight to you, too," Lizzie said giggling.

"Goodnight. Get well, you hear? There's an empty seat with your name on it at the home," Miranda joked.

"Returning my own joke at me..." Andrew said with an approving tone and smile. Miranda and Lizzie left the room, but Gorod stayed behind.

"You coming, Gordo?" Lizzie asked.

"Yeah, I'll be right there," he responded.

"What's up, Gordo?" Andrew asked.

'He's easy to talk to. Just let it out.'

"Well, I talked to Miranda, because well, I liked her. But you probably knew that from overhearing my conversation with Mr. Jehle." Andrew nodded. "Well, she rejected me." Andrew gave a smile, which Gordo caught. He started to laugh, much to Gordo's surprise. "That's funny?!"

"No. No. It's just that...nothing...It's not funny," Andrew said regaining a straight face.

"Well, now I don't know what to do."

"I'll tell you what to do. You stay here until I get better and then we go to New York. I mean, I have to visit my hometown."

Gordo sighed. "Of course I'll wait. Now, rest up. We need you healthy."

Andrew smiled. "You got it." Gordo left, and Andrew took a bite of the food in front of him. He made a disgusted face. "I hate hospital food..."

A/N: Review PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE! Next time, Miranda tells Lizzie what happened with Gordo, and Andrew meets his roommate.