Author's Notes: I know I said that I'd hopefully be updating sooner because it's now the Summer Holidays but I've just been out of fanfiction writing for some reason. Not in the zone as much as I used to be. But I shall change for my darling fans! And my muse – Dean; love ya baby - just inspired me big time, not for this fic in particular, just a general inspiration buzz, so I'm typing incredibly fast for me (smoke rises from keyboard). Yeah…that fast…

Don't think he's even seen Stand By Me…

Anyway - Shout-outs:

Sophie: My true love! Soya The Pimp!

Leggy: I haven't heard from you in forever! Where are you? (cries uncontrollably)

Anna

Odd Girl In Band Shirts

CiCi

Sara: I haven't heard from you either…why are all my friends disappearing? It's a conspiracy! (shifty eyes)

Mel

lost-delirious-crazy

lora

lifegoeson-unfortunately: You remind me of…me… 0o

freaky: ooh la la

Simon: My Hitch! Bwhahahaha!

OTHlover04: You're the only person to wish me happy birthday (single tear) Thank You!

FashionVictim7185: (thumbs up) Ace is hot! …and you'll have to wait and see

Get A Room: This is your favorite 'Stand By Me' fic? (blows kiss…in a non-lesbian way…)

Thank you to all of you!

Chapter 10: The Hospital – Part One

When we arrived at the hospital, my eyesight had gotten worse; so much that I ungracefully fell out of the car…and landed on my ass, which was incredibly amusing to the tour group standing outside the hospital. There was someone looking under the bonnet of the tour bus, it must have broken down outside the hospital. Perfect.

I immediately lowered my head as the heat rushed to my face, Ace came around the other side of the car and helped me up. I could see he was trying to keep a sincere look on his face, but I knew he was silently laughing. I shook his arm off me and stood up by myself, walking a few feet ahead of him towards the hospital entrance.

He caught up to me and put his arm around my shoulders, pulled me towards him, "How are you?"

"Apart from the major embarrassment I just suffered and the pain in my right eye, I'm just peachy." I said as we walked through the doors.

He chuckled and guided me to the reception desk; a burly nurse was stood behind it.

"I meant; how have you been?"

We stopped at the desk, waiting for the nurse to stop filing files, I looked at Ace leaning casually against the desk. I decided I had to tell him the truth, my real name, my past, everything; he had a right to know. But now wasn't the right time, not in a hospital in a crowded room, I had to tell him when we were alone, in a calmer setting where he couldn't over-act and people couldn't look at us.

"I've been okay, I suppose." I looked away at him and to the nurse who was impatiently looking at me.

"Can I help you?" She instantly terrified me with her deep husky voice.

The nurse and Ace were both looking at me expectantly, but I was mesmerized by the nurse's big manly hands with fat sausage-like fingers. I began to wonder if she really was a woman at all.

Ace, sensing that I wasn't going to answer anytime soon, replied to the nurse's question, "Yeah, we'd like to see a doctor."

"Your name, please?" She said looking at Ace and then me and then back to Ace.

"Miss Avalon" I replied, hoping she didn't ask for my first name, I didn't want to make a scene with Ace, not now.

"And what seems to be the problem?" She said polite things, but she said them in an agitating and annoying manner, I wanted to trip her up or put laxatives in her coffee. Something childishly hilarious.

"My eye, I got some dust in it and I can't see that well out of it." That was an understatement, it was getting a lot worse and it was causing a lot of pain.

"I'm sorry, unless it's an emergency you'll have to wait." She looked as if she was going to turn away, but then I spoke up.

"Please, I think it's infected, it shouldn't take long for a doctor to just look at my eye." She probably thought I just needed eye-drops or something, and if that was the case, it really wouldn't take that long, she had to see that I was right.

She looked at me and then at the piece of clothe that was covering my eye. "Like I said Miss, you'll just have to wait like everybody else. Please take a seat." She had stated her position clearly, now I was going to state mine. (Yes – I stole that from the movie. Pure Ace baby)

"Listen Lady, I can barely see out of my fucking eye! Will you please just call a doctor? It'll only take a second!" I'd leant forward on the desk to say this too her in a slightly menacing tone, Ace was looking at me in shock and I'm sure all the other patients behind me were speaking this way to the nurse.

"Take. Your. Seat." She responded through gritted teeth before walking away.

"Well done," Ace said as he sat down on an empty seat.

I sat down into the empty one next to him. "What? She isn't taking into consideration the urgency of the situation." I wanted to fold my arms across my chest but couldn't because one was still holding the cloth on my right eye.

He looked at me with a know-it-all expression on his face. "Then you should have said that it was an emergency."

"I told her the problem; she decided for herself that it wasn't an emergency." I was getting angrier at him for not taking my side. I realized we were arguing and didn't know why.

I thought about the last time I was in the hospital, in the maternity ward with Leggy. I thought about Sophie.

Ace was about to say something, but I cut him off by standing up. I ignored the fact that he was ready to argue back at me, "I'm going to go and check up on Sophie." And without waiting for a response, I walked away and into a corridor, hoping I wouldn't get lost like earlier.

I eventually got to the maternity ward ten minutes later, after walking into three glass windows, one doctor and an old person in a wheelchair. My 'eye' situation was starting to annoy me.

I walked past the nurses' station without a glance, trying to remember which room Sophie was in, I'd already had enough with the staff here. But God was not on my side and obviously wanted me to interact with the medical staff as much as I could.

"Can I help you?" A soft female voice called after me.

I stopped and slowly turning around, I saw a girl; she looked about my age, a few years older maybe. She was awkwardly looking at my eye that was covered by the piece of clothe.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a patient here, Sophie Wren? She had a baby girl a few hours ago." I knew the nurse probably wouldn't let me see her, with it being the middle of the night and visit hours would clearly be over.

"Are you a relative?" She asked, stepping behind the desk at the nurse's station.

"No, I'm a close friend." I couldn't be bothered to lie.

She nodded and flicked through some papers that were attached to a clipboard. "Just a few doors down on your left, room number 18."

I was shocked at her kindness and wondered why she was bending the rules; I guessed she pitied me because of the obvious bad eye.

"Thanks," I replied and saluted her with my other hand.

I turned and walked down the corridor; I stood outside Sophie's room and knocked gently on the door. The blinds were shut so I couldn't see if she was asleep or not. I slowly turned the doorknob and entered the room.

Sophie was still asleep on the bed, baby Lila was in a crib next to the bottom of the bed. I closed the door silently and walked over to the crib, Lila's eyes were half open, I knew she was awake by the way she was moving her limbs. I sat down on a chair that was placed next to the crib; I held her tiny hand in my own and stroked her fingers, my heart turned to mush at that moment. It was hard to believe that this small cherub had been inside Sophie less than 24 hours ago.

I'd never really wanted kids, after all, when you were doing prostitution for money to buy drugs with your dangerous drug dealer boyfriend, you didn't really think about kids. But I'd cleaned up my act, I had Ace back in my life, I had my friends around me, maybe I could settle with Ace. Maybe one day we could have kids of our own. The thought made me smile; Ace Merrill, a family man? I doubted it.

"She's beautiful isn't she?" I looked up to see that Sophie had woken up; she was looking at me with a huge grin.

"She's just darling, Sophie, I'm incredibly happy for you." I was also incredibly jealous; Sophie had a beautiful baby, the love of a nice, good looking guy, and she was staying in amazing house.

I stood up and sat on the side of Sophie's bed, and Sophie, being the abrupt madam that she is asked me about my eye.

"I got some dust in it, eyesight's gone pretty bad, came here to see a doctor about it; hopefully nothing serious, maybe some painkillers and eye-drops."

"You didn't come here to see me then?" She pouted.

"Shut up," I said smiling as we had one of those glorious girly hugs. But then we went back to Sophie's abruptness.

"Can I see?" She said, grinning evilly.

"I don't know, according to Ace it doesn't look good."

"So? The gory the better."

I rolled my one good eye. "Not better for me," I replied as I peeled off the cloth.

"Ewwww." Sophie said as soon as the cloth had uncovered my eye. "Awesome." (I don't think 'awesome' was around in those days…but oh well)

I looked for a towel around the room to put over my eye, deciding that the rag was too dirty. I looked at it as I threw it in the small trash can in the corner of the room, it was covered in yellow puss, there were wet patches which I guessed was tears or water, there was also some unnerving blotches of dark red - blood.

"Wait…you've spoken to Ace?" She looked at me with a perplexed look on her face.

I smiled slowly, picking up a small white wash cloth and dipping it into a bowl of cold water that was placed on the cabinet next to Sophie's bed. "I think we're back together." I placed the cold wet cloth on my eye and sat back down on Sophie's bed. She had a confused look on her face.

"What is it?" I asked her, still smiling, thinking about how I and Ace were back together and not understanding what Sophie was confused about.

She rubbed her forehead and sighed, "He hasn't told you, has he?" She was looking at me dead in the eye, I didn't know what she was talking about, but whatever it was, I knew there was something only I didn't know.

I grew worried, wondering what Ace was supposed to have told me. I asked her: "Ace hasn't told me what?"

"I really shouldn't say. I mean, it's up to him to tell you, but you are my best friend…" She was looking at me, as if waiting for me to give her permission on telling me whatever this mystery secret was.

"Sophie, tell me. What is it?"

#Twenty minutes later#

I marched back into the waiting room, my eyes settled on Ace. I held the cloth against my eye, tears were streaming down my other eye.

"You bastard." I said coldly, standing next to him.

He turned and looked at me, his face softening when he saw me and my tears. "Blue? What is it?" He stood up and reached for my arm.

"Don't touch me! You lying bastard!" I hit him instead, powerfully in the chest, but he didn't even flinch.

"What?" He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Your fucking engaged Ace! To that bloody red-head!" I noticed all eyes were on me and him, I didn't really care. I couldn't believe he could have done this. He'd acted so hurt and all along he was engaging to that tramp, that red-headed tramp. My head started pounding.

He rested a hand on his hip and scratched the back of his neck with the other hand. "Juliette, I can explain."

A voice interrupted our scene, "Miss Avalon?" A man in a long white coat was looking at me with concern. He was either:

Going to send me to a nut house because of my recent outbursts in the waiting room

The doctor who was going to see me about my eye

Going to ask me to politely leave the hospital

I didn't turn away from Ace, my eyes burning coldly into his, "Yeah, that's me."

"I'm ready to see you now." And with that I turned away from Ace, walked out of the waiting room and followed the doctor to his office.

Author's Notes: Longer than usual my dears, a bit of a shock there too, I wasn't expecting it either, I will hopefully be updating quite soon. Hopefully there'll be more humor in the next chapter.

Cheers me dears! Don't forget to review! (big cheesy grin)

PS: I'll be updating be other fics this week too! Fingers crossed!