To Die For

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING FOR HIGHER GROUND!

Chapter 8

Scott sat in a small white room nervously. After his speech about Shelby, his father's lawyer continued to bring up his past with Elaine and his drug use. If he was the judge listening to someone else's case, he would have thought he was incapable of making the decision, the lawyer was so good. He seriously believed that the case was a lost cause, but the judge surprised him, she didn't immediately throw it out, she ordered Scott to talk to a judge appointed psychologist, and at the moment, that was what he was waiting to do.

Originally, he figured Peter would come in with him, but found out it was not allowed, the point was to make sure he was making the decision on his own, and that he was at a good mindset. When the door behind where he was sitting opened, Scott turned. A woman in her late twenty's/early thirty's with dark brown hair and dark brown eye's step through, Scott stood up nervously, she reminded him of Elaine too much.

"Hello Scott, my name is Jill; it's nice to meet you." She said while extending her hand

Scott stared at it, he tried to think of anything that would take his mind off Elaine. Then he saw Shelby in his head, and Elaine disappeared, he took the woman's hand and shook it, he knew why he was there. He had to impress her, "Hi."

"Have a seat," She smiled at him and walked to the other side of the table, she looked through a file she had brought with her, "So, you want to donate a portion of your liver? That's a really dangerous operation for both the donor and recipient, do you realize that?"

"Yea, I know, but I figure that all the positives outweigh the negatives in this situation."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, yes it's true that me or Shelby could die, but it's also true that we could both be fine, that I can possibly save her."

"You're not scared that you could die?"

Scott shook his head, "If this didn't happen, and they couldn't find a donor, if Shelby died, I would die anyway."

"Are you saying that if you weren't allowed to donate a part of your liver, you would kill yourself?" She asked looking at Scott intently, trying to read his expressions

"No, but if she died, a piece of me would die with her. I would be alive, but not able to enjoy my life, I would be dead on the inside."

She smiled, he was a sweet kid, and she could tell he really loved this girl.

"Ok, now I need to talk to you about your stepmother."

Scott winced; it was embarrassing enough that he had to talk to a woman about it, but the fact that she looked so much like Elaine just creeped him out.

"I know that this is a difficult subject, but you father seems to think you made the wrong decisions in regarding to her."

Scott thought a moment, "I did make the wrong decisions."

She raised her eyebrows in shock, "How do you mean?"

"I was scared and alone, I didn't think I could talk to my father about it and I didn't think my friends would understand. I thought the best solution would be to run from it so I started taking drugs. After attending Mr. Horizon for two years now, and making tons of different kinds of mistakes, I realize that running never helps a situation. That even if you run, your problems are always going to be there."

"Do you feel that if you were in the same position right now, that you would make the right choices?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because now I have a huge support system. I have a group of people who are always willing to listen to me, no matter what I have to say. They are always willing to give me a second chance. They are my rock, and if I had them, I would have known they would understand and believe me."

She wrote some things down, "Alright, well Scott, it was nice to meet you." She said and stood up, when she was shaking his hand again, Scott asked her a question

"What are you going to tell the judge?"

"That I think you are a very responsible young man, you know what your doing and are more than capable of making your own decision in this case."

Scott had a huge smile which made her smile, "Thank you SO much!"

"Thank you Scott, I hope everything works out alright for you."

She left and a few minutes later, Peter walked in smiling, "So how'd it go?"

Scott was still smiling, "Really good, she said she's going to give the judge a good report!"

"That's great Scott, I'm very proud of you, you did a great job."

"So what do we do now?"

"They said they will call us when the judge has a verdict."

Scott's smile fell, "How long will that be?"

"I'm sure it won't take her too long."

"Well I hope not," Scott paused to think, "Can we go see Shelby?"

Peter looked at his watch, "We'll go tomorrow, visiting hours are over."

Scott was visibly upset, "Alright."

"Shelby needs to get her rest or she won't be healthy enough for the operation."

"Yea, I know, I just miss her, I haven't seen her in two days."

"Well, tomorrow you will see her, we'll go early too."

"Ok…Hey Peter, thanks for everything, like with the trial and everything."

"Your welcome, we better get going."

They left and when they arrived at Horizon, it was lights out, all the Cliffhangers were trying to find out what had happened that day with Scott. Peter and Sophie were finally able to get everyone in their own dorms and in their beds.

The next morning, when Peter went to wake the guys up, he noticed all but Scott were already up, "Hey, what's going on, how come your all up already?"

Auggie spoke up, "Man, Meat's been having nightmares all night, keeps waking us up."

"Yea, it's getting a bit annoying now." David added

"What about?" Peter asked confused

"Well, we don't know for sure, he won't talk about them, but I heard him talking about Elaine once." Ezra said

"Yea, I heard him saying something about her too." David agreed

Peter shook his head; he realized the interview must have brought back memories for Scott. When Peter was about to wake Scott up, he noticed the boy begin to move slightly. Scott started to whimper quietly, and soon it became louder, tears running down his face.

"There he goes again." Ezra shook his head

"How many has there been?" Peter asked worriedly

"Don't know for sure, but it was every few hours." Auggie answered

"Please, no…please he'll hear us, just stop!" Scott moaned

Peter walked over to him and began shaking him lightly, "Scott it's ok, wake up, she's not there." He said soothingly.

"No! Please, you promised!" Tears were running down his face frantically now

Peter shook Scott slightly harder and it worked, Scott sat up quickly breathing heavily.

"Are you alright?" Peter asked concerned

Scott wiped his tears, he always hated when people caught him having a nightmare, and he knew it had happened multiple times over the night, "Yea…I'm fine."

"Do you want to talk about what happened?"

Scott shook his head lightly, "No, I'm fine, really."

"Ok, well it's time to get up anyway, go eat breakfast then we'll head to the hospital."

Scott shook his head, he was still trying to catch his breath, the image of Elaine was still fresh in his mind, and he tried desperately to clear it.

At breakfast, Scott remained fairly quiet, he just wanted to eat then go see Shelby, the only time he talked was when Daisy started talking to him.

"Hey, are you alright?" She asked worried

He looked at her and nodded, "Yea, why?"

She stared at him, trying to read his face, but knew only Shelby could read what Scott was really thinking, "Just checking, you seem out of it today."

"Oh, well, no, I'm really alright."

She nodded, "Going to see Shelby?"

"Yea."

"Tell her I said hi and that I miss her and hope she's feeling better."

"No problem."

"Thanks."

He nodded, finished his meal and found Peter. Once he was ready, the two headed to the hospital. When they got there, the nurse told them Shelby's mother and sister were already in with her, so they had to wait. Reluctantly, Scott followed Peter to the waiting area.

They sat in silence; neither entirely there, both deep in thought.

"Scott?" He looked up to see Jess and her mother standing in front of him looking solemn, he gave a questioning look.

"Yea? Is everything aright?"

"Shelby wants to talk to you." She said quietly, Scott looked up at Mrs. Merrick, he understood why Jess was talking, she looked like she was going to lose it at any moment, "What happened?"

"She wants to talk to you ok?"

Scott was nervous; he nodded and walked to the room he had learned by heart now. When he got there, Scott knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in." He heard Shelby say faintly. Upon walking in, he saw Shelby sitting up, with a serious face, Scott's stomach fell.

He walked over to the bed she sat in, sat on the edge of it and took her hand, "Shelby, what's going on?"

"Scott, I've been thinking, and I've made a decision. I know your not going to like it, but it's my decision, and it's for the best."

Scott had confusion written all over his face, he just nodded for her to continue.

Shelby took a deep breathe and help his hand tighter, knowing that what she was going to say was the hardest thing ever, "Scott, I've decided that even if the judge allows you to donate half your liver, I'm going to have my name put on the donor list."

Scott's heart sank and his ears began to ring, "Wha...what do you mean? Why?"

"I've been talking to my doctor and this operation is extremely dangerous, especially for the donor."

"I know the risks Shel."

"I know you do, but I refuse to allow you to risk your life, you mean too much to me Scott."

He had tears in his eyes, he started shaking his head, "No…no…you can't be serious, if you don't have this operation, you'll die!"

She had tears in her eyes too, "Scott, there's always hope, come on, everything will be fine."

"No Shelby, you can't do this. Please don't do this, if I didn't want to do this, I wouldn't, my life means nothing if you're not in it." He was starting to get hysterical.

"Scott believe me, in the long run you'll thank me. You have your whole life ahead of you, even with the surgery, there's no guarantee that I do."

Scott had stood up and started pacing and when she said that he stopped and looked at her with disbelief, "Shelby why are you really doing this? a few days ago, you were excited about everything, now suddenly you want to just give up?"

"I'm not giving up Scott, I'm being real!"

"Shelby you're sick, there's a way to make you better, take it!"

"Not if it means risking your life. I told you once that I couldn't stand it if you hated me, imagine how I would feel if it was my fault you were dead?"

Scott walked over to her and sat on the bed while pulling her into a hug, they were both crying, trying to fight for the exact same thing, the life of the one they loved.

"Scott don't make me do this!"

He pulled away from her slightly so that she was looking up at him, he wiped away some of the falling tears, then looked into her eyes, "Don't make me not." He said quietly and pulled her back to him. She continued crying, Scott just kept on holding her and rubbing her back, praying to God that she would let him save her.

After a while, Shelby had stopped crying and they both had laid down on Shelby's bed, her laying her head on his chest, listening to his heart. Scott had started playing with Shelby's hair slightly; she just took in everything about her and smiled. When she looked up at Scott, he looked back down at her.

"Thanks." She whispered quietly.

"For what?" He asked just as low

"Not giving up on me."

Scott leaned down and kissed the top of her head, "How could I?"

"I'm really scared Scott," She looked down, "I couldn't ever imagine loosing you."

"I'm here Shelby, I'll always be here."

"But all the risks, what if…"

"What if everything turns out fine?" He cut her off.

She looked back up, "What if they don't?"

"Then we will deal with that when we get there, right now all that is important is doing everything possible to help you get better, we'll cross each bridge as we get there, alright?"

"Alright, but I'm still scared."

"It's ok to be scared, but do you trust me?"

She smiled, leaned up, and kissed him, "Only with my life."

a/n- Thank you all for all the reviews, please continue to review, good or bad, just tell me what you think:-)