A/N: Sorry for taking a bit longer to update. I don't know what happens in a hospital when someone slit their wrists, or what happens with blood tranfusuions, so you're just gonna have to put up with the little knowledge I know. Enjoy . .

"Trouble is part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you enough chance to love you enough."

Zell, Irvine, Rinoa and Squall had been waiting around now for what seemed like hours. Irvine had had enough of being cooped up in the bland little room filled with a few grey chairs and paintings of flowers, a poor attempt to brighten up the gloom of which only a hospital could bring.

He got up and began pacing back and forth.

"I can't stand this. Why hasn't anyone told us how she is?" Irvine was getting visibly annoyed at the lack of staff around.

Zell lifted his head up from his hands and looked up at Irvine, but said nothing.

Squall got up and offered to go down to the reception area and enquire. Rinoa also went with him. She was much like a shadow to him at times and Zell wondered if Squall eve got annoyed with the brunette following him around.

With just Zell and Irvine together now, an uneasy silence filled the room. They had worked together perfectly when Selphie was in need a few hours back, but that was because other things were on their minds and there was no time for idol chat.

Now however, there seemed to be plenty of time to discuss things which should've been dealt with when it first began.

Zell stared at the sharpshooter until he bore an imaginary hole into his skull.

Irvine could feel his gaze upon him and knew almost definitely what was about to be said.

"Irvine?"

He looked over at the seated blonde. He'd never seen him with such a serious expression across his usually perky features.

Irvine leaned against the wall and waited for Zell to continue.

"Irvine . . . I don't wanna be harsh, 'coz we're all worried 'bout Selph, but . . . what exactly made you think you could be such a dick to her and get away with it?"

The man in question tipped his cowboy hat back so he could settle his eyes on Zell.

"I never thought she was so . . . fragile."

"Is that it?? What a lame answer. She only became like that since you pissed off and treated her like shit!"

Zell kept his fists clenched tightly together on his knees, obviously irritated in a way that only he could get.

"Look, Zell, calm down. I'm not gonna talk if you're gonna sit there tensed up and angry."

The blonde frowned at him and was about to protest until he realised that he was actually getting agitated rather quickly. Unclenching his tightly balled fists, he took a deep breath – more like a sigh- then crossed his arms over his chest, looking up at Irvine, waiting to see if he'd say any more.

"That's better Zell. Where were we?"

"We were talking 'bout why you've been such a jerk."

Irvine looked over to the doors of the room in which Selphie was in, battling for her life.

"We were arguing a lot, and I mean about stupid petty things, it was like we were a couple, except we weren't-,"

"Pretty much acted like one."

"Yup, arguments an' all. Sefie's one helluva stubborn lady." He looked over to the doors again and let out a bit of a sigh.

"Anyway, she kept asking about all my previous girlfriends and our history and stuff . . ."

Zell looked at him blankly.

"Y'know . . . sexual history?"

"Oh, right, carry on."

"She act all interested, and then afterwards, she'd blow her top and start calling me a slut. Hell, she was the one who wanted to know, it's like she only wanted me to tell her for an excuse to go insane."

Zell sneered a little and snapped, "Don't say that!"

"Sorry . . . but why would she ask me if she knew it pissed her off?"

"Maybe she wanted to know if you'd slept with any hookers or if you had any STD's."

For a moment, Irvine thought Zell was joking, but he realised from his face that he was as sullen and serious as Squall.

A few moments of silence ensued after that. Rinoa and Squall still hadn't come back and the question still hadn't been answered, so Zell decided to push it some more.

"So . . . what was the deal with Celia and the others sluts?"

"I just wanted some fun . . . you can't tell me you never get frustrated . . ."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't drop a lifetime friend for a quick screw with a blonde slag and her mates."

Irvine looked rather embarrassed.

"Yeah, well . . . I couldn't take it! Selphie would tease me so much and then she'd go crazy at me if I tried anything on."

"Well, she's respectable, she's not the type of girl you can click your fingers at and she'll do whatever you want."

"Look, I know whatever I say isn't gonna make it justifiable, so what's the point? I'm sorry all right? I never liked Celia anyway."

"Too late for that, cowboy."

Irvine pushed himself away from the wall and walked over to Zell, trying to stay calm.

"Anyway, you two were always together, laughing and stuff. Whenever I use to come over to you guys at lunch, Selphie would give me this 'piss off' look, and you would just continue laughing at staring down her top."

"The hell?! I've never stared down her top . . . . I don't see her in that way. I know you look a every woman as just another hole to fill, but some of us have respect you know!"

"Yeah, sure. I saw Selphie creeping into your room at night when you thought no-one was around, and she was hardly decent in that loose night shirt."

Zell looked confused. How did he know? Maybe Irvine was one of those guys who liked to walk around in the dark like a nocturnal creature.

"What the hell are you tryin' to say, Kinneas?"

"You're goin' around talking about respect when you were probably giving her one each night on the sly."

"No! NO way was I! She came into my room at night because she was so upset with you not being there for her. In case you failed to notice from you're late night pervin', she was actually crying half the time she came to me and she was always carrying that penguin with her."

Now it was Irvines turn to look confused.

"You've forgotten? You know, that stuffed toy penguin you brought her, holding a love heart saying somethin' on it?"

He remembered it now. He'd bought it for Selphie on Valentines Day because it read on the front, "Cutest girl in the world" and it felt so appropriate. The way her face had lit up when he gave her it was adorable, and it forever laid a mark on his heart.

How could I forget that??

"After the night I saw her going into your dorm, I thought that there was no point if she was foolin' around with you."

"Apart from she wasn't."

"Well I know that now."

"But you were goin' about with the slut group before she started coming into my room. How d'ya explain that, Irvine?"

Irvine began to look a bit flustered at all of Zell's questions.

"Well, erm, I was friends with Celia, Amber and Nichi when Sefie kept arguing all the time. She didn't like me going with them."

"I'm not surprised."

"Well, they were in one of my classes that none of my other friends were in. What was I s'pose to do? Sit on my own?"

"Yep. Woulda been the smartest thing to do if it was causin' arguments."

"Look, I didn't know she'd fucking try an' kill herself!!! If I knew how unstable she was I would've put up with all her arguing and-,"

"She's not unstable! She cares for you a lot. Can't you even imagine how she felt when you pissed off without an explanation and befriended those sluts, who teased her and beat her up?? Didn't you see the way they'd look at her and how they'd shout things out? And what about that leaflet Celia printed that was full of bullshit?"

"I didn't know what to do! I was caught in the middle of them both. Yeah, I know that Celia is a viscious bitch, and I did tell her to leave Sefie alone but that made things worse."

"Then why the hell did you stay with her?"

Irvine didn't answer. Still no sign of Rinoa and Squall. He prayed for them to come back so he didn't have to deal with this.

"Answer!"

"I . . ."

"That's right, you don't know. Still, you were gettin' cheap sex off them every night, I s'pose that's much more important than a best friend soon-to-be girlfriend," Zell replied sarcastically.

Footsteps alerted them to the presence of their two friends, apart from now, Quistis was with them.

"Look who we found in reception," stated Squall monotonously.

Quistis ran over to Zell, who seemed to be the one most people were talking to.

"I came as soon as Doctor Kadowaki told me what happened. It's such a shock."

Zell nodded and asked Rinoa if she'd found out anything.

Rinoa pulled on a strand on jet black hair and shook her head.

"That snotty receptionist said she wasn't allowed to disclose information to people who weren't family members, and then when we said she didn't have any family, she wouldn't believe us and told us to go back and wait for a GP to tell us something."

Zell got up and mirrored Irvine by pacing up and down. A squeak from the creaking double doors made him snap his gaze up from the floor. A doctor dressed in a long white overall had come out of a small door at the side of the room Selphie was in.

Zell rushed over to the man before he could get away and asked uneasily, "How is she? Is she okay? Please say she's okay!"

The doctor, who held a clipboard in his hands, looked down at it. His glasses fell down his nose so he pushed them back up with one finger and replied, "We're talking about the patient Selphie Tilmitt I assume?"

A few of the group shouted out replies of yes. Everyone was now crowding around the doctor, waiting with a heavy heart about what he had to say.

"I've been informed that you are her friends, but since she has no family, I'm allowed to tell you. Miss Tilmitt's condition was rather unstable when you got her here. Her heart stopped beating for a few minutes, but thanks to our medics, we were able to get it going again."

"How is she now?" This came from Irvine.

"Well, we had to do some emergency transfusions, due to the amount of blood she lost through severing her main vein, although it wasn't as much as we expected because of the tourniquet someone had put around the wound. But now we're completely out of AB positive."

Most of the group looked rather blank until Quistis stated to them that it was a blood type.

"Luckily, she doesn't need any more blood," the doctor continued, "as her own red blood cells will produce the rest. She's conscious at the moment, but is extremely tired and will need to recover."

Zell let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that she was well.

"Can we go in and see her for a few minutes?"

The doctor hesitated at Zells request.

Rinoa and Quistis began asking in unison and chirping the word 'please' over and over again.

The doctor smiled and agreed, but only for ten minutes and only two at a time could go in.

Irvine decided to go last and on his own.

Zell and Quistis pushed open the large double doors and entered the brightly lit room.

It was medium sized and painted white with a blue border around the middle. All around it, there were various chrome trays with doctor's instruments on and a couple of machines, the uses of which were unknown.

In the middle of the room was a standard size hospital bed with Selphie laid out on her back in the middle, with white sheets up to her waist. Her eyes were shut tight; one of her arms was stretched out beside her and the other one resting upon her stomach. This one had a thick white bandage wrapped around her wrist, covering the wound she had made, although the ones on her upper arm were visible.

Quistis made a little noise, hardly audible, but Zell caught it.

They both walked over to Selphie.

"Hey Sef . . ."

The young girls eyes flickered open slowly, revealing that familiar green, although it seemed to have lost its usual sparkle.

"Zell?"

He smiled and fought back the urge to cry.

"Yup, it's me. Quistis is here too. How're you feelin'?"

". . . Urgh . . ."

Quistis tittered a little at her response and leant down to hug her friend in a warm embrace.

"We were all so worried about you, Selphie. We love you so much."

Zell took hold of Selphies hand and gave it a squeeze. Selphie looked at Zell, the corners of her eyes tilting up slightly with a small smile, and squeezed back.

Quistis said she was going to wait outside. Saying goodbye to Selphie, her eyes began to water a little and she wiped them on her sleeve before going back out to the others.

Selphie and Zell sat there in silence, their bodies connected by the holding of hands.

". . . I'm sorry. . ." Selphie said quietly.

Zell stroked her hazel coloured hair and answered, "You don't have to apologise for feeling down, Sef. By the way, Squall, Rinoa and Irvine are outside too."

At the mention of this, she gave Zell another small smile. It was all she could manage, she ached all over.

"I should let them in now, or they'll start nagging and poking me for being so long."

Selphie reached up to Zell with her arms for a hug. He leaned down into them and told her he'd be back first thing in the morning.

After he walked out, Squall and Rinoa came in.

Rinoa rushed over to Selphie, her blue over-top flowing out behind her.

"Selphie!! I'm so happy you didn't die!"

Squall frowned a little at her loud outburst and choice of words. He looked over at Rinoa, who was now clinging to Selphie and sobbing again.

"You don't know how good a friend you are to me. I was worried sick!"

Selphie hugged Rinoa back, grateful for making her feel needed.

Squall walked over to Rinoa and whispered, "Go lightly on her, will you?"

She nodded, wiped her eyes and pulled back from Selphie.

"The doctor said we have to let you rest, and that you've got to stay overnight. But when you're . . . recovered . . . or whatever, we'll go out and have some fun, okay?"

Selphie nodded weakly in approval and waved slightly as her friends walked out.

Outside, Zell was urging Irvine to go in.

"What if she doesn't wanna see me?"

"She does!! Get in there before I kick your ass!"

Irvine sighed and walked through the double doors.

He stopped at the end of the bed.

Selphie had shut her eyes again but she opened one of them when she heard familiar boot falls on the floor.

Irvine re-positioned his hat on his head and walked over to her. He felt awkward and didn't know what to say.

"So . . . erm . . . how you feelin'?"

Selphie looked up at him towering over her. He was edged by the bright lights behind him, so all she could really make out was a silhouette.

". . . Can you sit down?"

Irvine did perched himself on the side of the hospital bed, making sure he didn't sit on any part of Selphie.

She reached out for the glass of water by her bedside, but as she went to pick it up, she realised it put a strain on her wrist.

"I'll get that for you."

Irvine picked it up and handed it to her other hand. He waited till she'd finished drinking and then put it back on the side.

"You don't have to be here you know. I can tell you're uneasy."

"I wanna be here, Sefie. I just . . ."

Selphie just continued staring up at him with her jade green eyes. Her stare made the guilt rise in him.

"I know how much of a jerk I've been to you. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have acted like I did just because we were having arguments."

". . . Damage's kinda done already, Irvy. . ." Selphie glanced down at her bandaged wrist then looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry."

Selphie didn't say anything but shut her eyes instead.

Sleeping beauty.

Irvine knew he was treading on eggshells here, but he leant down and gave her a hug, lifting her up slightly.

Selphie enjoyed the feel of him again, but she was still angry and she couldn't let it go just like that, it wasn't in her nature.

Irvine stroked Selphies hair, much liked Zell had done, but after, he grazed her soft cheek with his lips and kissed her.

This sent a shock wave through Selphie, and left the skin on her cheek tingly with where he'd planted a kiss on her.

". . . Those lips have been on Celia . . ." She said coldly.

Irvine released his hug on her. She'd made him feel guilty again and she had a right to. It was true.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry Sefie?"

". . . Until I'm convinced that you mean it . . ."