Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted.
Chad was pacing the hallway in front of Sonny's room. So many thoughts were racing through his mind, but his mind was mostly focused on Sonny. She ended up scratching her back upon hitting it, and she was bleeding on the way to the hospital. He sped the whole way to the hospital and, luckily, found a parking space right near the door. Fortunately, she didn't need any stitches or any kind of surgery, and they just disinfected the wound and put a bandage on it.
He was upset about the meeting that she had set up with Alex and his parents, but the end of the meeting made him realize that there may be something wrong with him. Sonny was right - he would have NEVER done something like that before. He still couldn't believe he did something like that - it shocked him incredibly, and he was sure it shocked Alex and his parents. He hadn't received any calls or texts from them, though; true, he did rush off after Sonny asked to go to the hospital, but expected some form of communication from them by now.
He sat down in a chair across from her room. A few minutes later, he saw someone who didn't look like a doctor walk into Sonny's room. He frowned slightly, wondering who that person was. A few minutes later, the doctor and nurse left the room. Ten minutes after that, the unknown person came out of the room. She walked over to Chad and said, "Hi, you must be Chad. I'm Dr. Laura."
Chad nodded. "Hi..."
"Sonny can't really receive any visitors right now that aren't her family, but I'm allowing you to come in... she wanted me to tell you why I came." Chad slowly nodded, and Dr. Laura continued. "Sonny relapsed recently. As you know, she began receiving help for her eating disorder, anorexia, almost one year ago. Five months ago, she wasn't required to come get hospital checkups, but she still saw me as a psychiatrist from time to time. The last time I saw her was about three months ago, and she seemed fine then. Unfortunately, her doctor said she had low blood pressure and her weight / height index was a bit low, and after talking to her, I've concluded that she's had a relapse in her recovery..."
Chad just sat there. Sonny was suffering? Five months ago... that was right before she found the cocaine in his room. That was right before he acted like a jackass towards her and called her some of the meanest names he's called anyone. Of course he hadn't noticed any changes in her, and he continued to feel guilty.
"She specifically asked to see you; she figured you were still here, and she was correct. I'm allowing you to visit her for fifteen minutes before I'm going to ask you to leave until she can receive non-family visitors."
Chad nodded and stood up and walked into Sonny's room. Thankfully, Dr. Laura hadn't followed him in. He frowned at Sonny's sight. She had at least two tubes connected to her, one in each arm, and she was laying on her side. She looked up at him as he walked in.
"Sonny, I am so sorry," Chad said, walking over to her and sitting in the chair beside her bed.
Sonny shrugged. "Did Dr. Laura tell you?"
He nodded, slightly hurt that she wasn't awknowleding his apology. "Why?"
"Why are you doing drugs?" she retorted. She sighed and shut her eyes. "Look, I'm not surprised I relapsed. I wish I hadn't, and in the back of my head, I actually figured I was slipping, but I didn't do anything about it. That's why I relapsed." She opened her eyes and looked at him, a hint of sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry I tried to set up the intervention. I'm sorry I called Alex and your parents. I shouldn't have done it..."
"What you did opened my eyes, Sonny," he muttered. "Hurting you made me realize I had changed. I... I'm still not sure about my addiction, I really don't know if I'm one, but... I... I want to get help, Sonny. I miss being your friend. I miss the times we used to talk, whether we 'argued' or actually got along. I never hated you, Sonny, and after what you said to me yesterday, I realized what I did was in bad taste, and I must've seemed like a bastard."
"Talk to your parents," she told him. "Talk to Alex." She smiled softly at him. "I believe you when I say you want to get help. Your addiction, your disorder, is a lot worse than mine, and you'll need to go through a lot more than what I went through, but remember this, Chad: I will always be here to help you."
Chad smiled and nodded. He rubbed Sonny's arm before standing up. "I'll call you... hopefully... I'm going to talk to my parents and see what happens from there."
Sonny nodded and softly said, "It was nice seeing you, Chad."
He nodded, still smiling at her, before walking out of the room. He walked down the hallway and got out his phone before he heard someone calling out his name. He turned around and saw his Mom running towards him. He wrapped his arms around her as she reached him. She gave him a squeeze as she hugged him. "Oh, baby," she murmured, rubbing his hair and back.
"Mom, I'm getting help," he muttered.
She smiled and sniffed. "Baby... your Father and I will be here every step of the way. We'll help you find the best program, we'll help you through this."
Chad nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry, Mommy," he quietly said. He only called her "Mommy" when he was truly upset, or when he felt incredibly guilty about something.
She laughed softly at the nickname. "It's okay, sweetie. Everyone makes mistakes. You'll get better, though. You saw your Father - he eventually got better."
Chad nodded. "Where is Dad?"
"Oh, he's in the bathroom. Alex is in the lobby."
"Alex is here?" Chad softly asked, pulling back and looking at his Mom reluctantly.
His Mom nodded. "Of course he is. He was so... relieved when Sonny called him. He missed you so much. I'll talk to your Father, you go talk to Alex."
Chad nodded and walked off. He completely forgot about Alex, and that also hurt him. Like Alex said, they used to be best friends. They were always together. They looked alike, too, and whenever they were out, people thought they were twins. He walked into the lobby and found Alex sitting in a chair in the back of the room. Chad walked over to him. Alex looked up from his iPhone and stuffed it into his pocket as he stood up. The two boys stared at each other for a moment.
"So..." they both started before chuckling.
"Thanks," Chad suddenly said. Alex looked at him curiously, so Chad said, "For being here. For going along with Sonny's plan."
Alex shrugged. "I meant what I said, man - I miss you. It's unfortunate that we're together again under these circumstances, but..." He shrugged once more before quietly adding, "I'm just glad to see you again."
Chad nodded. "Let's sit and talk before my parents get back."
Alex laughed as they sat down. "Dude, I doubt they'd interrupt us unless it was important. Plus, after you left, your Mom was, like, 'Alex! C'mon, sweetie, we'll take you to the hospital! No, no, no, don't worry about driving yourself, we'll take you!'"
The two boys laughed. They continued to sit there in the lobby for what seemed like hours. Chad's parents smiled and kept to themselves on the other side of the room; they didn't want to interrupt the two of them. Chad was honestly having a great time, and there weren't any drugs, alcohol, or sex around him.
Sometime later, Alex's phone started ringing. He looked at it and sighed. "It's my parents... I forgot I was supposed to visit them tonight. Whoops."
Chad laughed. "Always so forgetful, Alex."
Alex rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll see you later, Chad."
"You bet," Chad said, smiling as Alex walked off. He stood up and looked around. His Mom was resting in another chair, reading a magazine. He walked over to her. "Where's Dad?"
"Oh, he had to go to work," she said, placing the magazine down. "You and Alex talked for a long time."
Chad shrugged, smiling, as he sat in a chair next to her. "We were catching up."
She nodded, smiling. She rested a hand on his arm. "How's Sonny doing?"
Chad paused for a moment. He decided not to tell her about Sonny's anorexia relapse and said, "She's better. She doesn't hate me."
His Mom grinned. "Well, that's good."
"Hey Mom?" he asked, looking at her.
"Yes?"
"I... I don't want to go to a recovery place here. I want to go to one out-of-state."
"What about Mackenzie Falls?" she asked, frowning slightly.
He also frowned. True, they were about to go on their winter break, but that was only for a month. He couldn't get completely better during that time period. "I don't know," he murmured. He groaned and buried his head in his hands. "I'm Mackenzie, the lead character... I screwed up..."
She softly rubbed his back. "Well... you may have to quit. Maybe they could write out your character for the rest of the season?"
"I can't quit," he murmured. "But... I'll talk to them tomorrow."
"I'll come with you, sweetie," she softly said. "Your Dad has to go to San Francisco, otherwise he'd be coming, too." She reached over and gave him a hug. "Wherever you decide to go to recover, I'll be supporting you 100 percent. Your Father will be, too. And I know Alex and Sonny will be there to support you as well. After we talk to the bosses tomorrow, we'll look up places for you to go to."
Chad sat up and hugged his Mom. "Thanks, Mom. You're truly incredible."
She smiled and sniffed, tears stinging her eyes. "Oh, honey..." She hugged him tighter. "It sounds so good to hear you say that again."
'Chad Dylan Cooper Drops Out of Mackenzie Falls?'
'Chad Dylan Cooper Admits to Drug Usage!'
'Chad Dylan Cooper - Recovering Drug Addict?'
Chad and his Mom talked to the main director of Mackenzie Falls and Mr. Condor, the President and Executive of Condor Studios, about Chad seeking a recovery program. Surprisingly, they were more than okay with allowing him time off for his problems - they said they would just come up with a great storyline for his absense. Of course, within the next few days, word got out that Chad was going to temporarily leave Mackenzie Falls. He set it straight on his blog:
Dear Readers,
I'm sure you heard by now, but I am temporarily leaving Mackenzie Falls. I will be coming back someday, hopefully by next season. I am going into a recovery program, and I will be going there in early January. I want to spend the holidays with my family and friends before leaving. I will write more about this later.
Peace out, suckas!
-Chad
Chad's phone started to vibrate. He opened it and got up. Alex was at his door, and he hadn't heard any knocks at all. They were going to have a bit of a boys night that night, and they were going to continue to catch up on each other's lives and such.
A/N: Yay! We reached the review quota! Haha. Let's reach for 55 this time, okay? ;) Anyways, thank you all so much for the reviews! And, I have to thank SparkleInTheSun for giving me ideas for this chapter (and for upcoming ones). I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!