A/N: before people start mistaking it to be another one of Paige's panic attacks...
thanks Jocelyn Torrent and werewolf666vampire for proofing.

sorry about the country mistake, i guess i wasn't listening carefully when they said it on the show.
For now though, I'll stick with Sweden.
Also, I offer a quick update as an apology for the bad cliffhanger.

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or any of it's characters.

Chapter 2

Alex anxiously walked toward the big building of St. Michael's Hospital. The big saintly ceramic figure outside the hospital seemed as if it was staring right at her. It always did, Alex remembered.

Alex had been here a few times before and the memories of those events that had led her to this place were not pleasant at all. The only relief was that her mom was now at a safe place. she had finally admitted that she needed help. She now lived in an apartment that she shared with two other women, whom she had met at the 'Abused women group' an year ago.

Alex walked up to the 'Visitor Desk' but she was quickly referred to the 'triage counter' of the emergency department.

'Paige was not moved to a room, she was still in the ER. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?' Alex thought nervously as she approached the Triage counter.

The look on the nurse's face, standing at the counter, turned in to a concerned one as she saw Alex. Alex figured that her state of mind had to be obvious on her face for the nurse to react that way.

"Hi, I'm looking for Paige Michalchuk. My name is Alex Nunez. I got a call from the hospital," she said in a nervous voice.

"Your relation?" the nurse asked.

Alex had asked herself this very question lots of times in the years that she had known Paige, and had come up with a different answer every time. She did not have room in her life for any more complications, so she chose the simplest of the answers.

"I'm her friend. She asked for me."

Alex read her name badge: Suzie.
The nurse punched in the name on her computer and then nodded at the monitor screen.

"Come with me." The nurse opened the locked door that separated the waiting area of the ER from the patient area.

"Your friend's been taken to the radiology for a head CAT scan. This is her room," the nurse explained as she took her to one of the small cabin looking room that had a drape hanging as a substitute for a proper door. This was Paige's room.

"The doctor wants to talk to you before you take Paige home. You can wait for him in here. They'll bring her back here as soon as radiology's done with her."

"Is it something serious? Why are they scanning her head?" Alex asked when she was not able to handle the suspense anymore.

"No, it's just procedure. Your friend is doing well."

"Okay, thanks," Alex thanked the nurse and sat down at a chair by the hospital bed with a sigh of relief.

"Alex?"
A doctor wearing greens had knocked on the side wall of the door-less room, after what had seemed to Alex like a lifetime.

"Yeah, I'm Alex."

"I'm Dr. Hayes. I'm the ER physician who's been taking care of your friend, Paige."

"Thank you."

"Paige asked me to let you know that she's doing well and as soon as she's done with the Radiology, you'll be able to take her home."

"Doctor, what happened to her? Was she in an accident?"

"Someone attacked her on the street. She had a blow to her head and there was a minor cut to the side of her forehead. There was some bleeding so we had to put a couple stitches there."

"The scans? What are they for?" Alex asked apprehensively.

"Yeah, we did those to rule out any head injury and everything seems to be okay. But..."

'But? This is when they tell you what's really wrong with the person you lo... uh... care a lot about.' Alex recollected from all the movies she had seen, as she prepared herself for the bad news.

"We still need to rule out a concussion because of the blow."

"A concussion?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, because she got a blow to the head. Thing is that the symptoms of a concussion can take up to a day to become obvious so we want someone to stay with her for the next twenty-four hours and keep a close watch."

"She doesn't need to stay at the hospital?" A surprised Alex asked for a confirmation.

"No, you can take her home just as long as you make sure that she doesn't feel sick in any way, physically or otherwise. If there's any change in her behavior or if she gets nauseous, or forgetful, has trouble balancing, then she needs to be brought back in here. The nurse will give you a list of things to what to look out for."

"Okay. Would she need to take pills?"

"No, she doesn't. Just make sure she doesn't feel sick; otherwise, she is good to go."

"Thanks, doctor." Alex thanked graciously.

"You're welcome."

After a few minutes, Paige, in a wheelchair, was back to the tiny room where Alex was waiting for her.

"Hi, Alex."

"Are you okay, Paige? The doctor said some guy attacked you. What happened?" A concerned Alex rushed to her side, forgetting her previous anger.

"Sorry that I asked them to call you, Alex. My parents have left for Sweden so I gave them your number. I didn't know who else to call." Paige had different worries.

"Don't be ridiculous, Paige. You were in a hospital for crying out loud. It's okay if you needed me to pick you up." Paige just looked at Alex, appreciating her kindness.

Just then, the same nurse came back into the room. "Hey, hon, you're lucky you have a friend who loves you this much; she was very worried about you when she'd walked in."

Paige smiled at Alex lovingly. Alex just shrugged her shoulders to hide her embarrassment.

"I called you a cab like you asked. Is there anything else I can do, hon?"

"Thanks for all your help, Suzie," Paige thanked her with a grateful smile.

"Okay, so come by next week sometime, and we'll check those stitches for you."

"Alright,"

"Bye now," Suzie said as she left the room.

"Alex, I know the doctor wants me to stay with someone but I can't trouble you any more than I already have. I've called for a cab and they'll drop me off to my parent's place. Sorry for the trouble, the doctor insisted that someone come here, but you don't need to worry anymore."

"Paige, I'm going to push your wheelchair out to the cab," Alex said as she walked behind her.

"No, Alex. There's nothing wrong with me. I can walk," Paige objected.

"Yeah, but the fact that you have stitches on your forehead says otherwise and you're not going to your parents' place, you're coming home with me." Alex said definitively as she wheeled Paige to the cab waiting for them outside the ER entrance.

Paige was amused by Alex concerns. Two days ago, when they had met in the coffee shop, Alex's cold behavior had startled her even though she knew she deserved every bit of it. Seeing Alex's behavior now was a pleasant change.

'All she needed to do was to get hit in the head'. Paige smiled at the thought that had suddenly come to her mind.

Paige knew that if she could laugh at herself like this, she had to be perfectly okay, but if Alex still wanted to stay with her, then she had no objections whatsoever.

To be continued...