'Miss Hadley?'

Lauren jumped up,

'Yes, that's me'

'You can come and sit with him now'

'Is he alright?'

'He's stable, he's sleeping right now'

'But there's nothing wrong with him, no brain injury or anything?'

The nurse smiled.

'No, he has a bad lump on the back of his head and a cut across his forehead, fortunately it doesn't need stitches so he should be ok'

Lauren smiled at the nurse.

'Thank you'

'I suppose now wouldn't be the best time to ask for an autograph, my daughter adores you'

Lauren smiled and said,

'Of course not, you helped Zac, it's the least I can do to thank you'

She signed the nurse two pieces of paper, one for her daughter, and one for her daughter's friend and was lead down to Zac's room.

She gasped when she saw him. His face was as white as a sheet so the gash across his forehead looked very red and prominent. He didn't have any tubes coming from his mouth seeing as he was stable, just one through his arm.

She walked over and sat on a chair next to him. She picked up his hand and rubbed it, before closing her eyes and pressing her lips to it. She held onto his hand for ages until she decided to turn the TV on.

The first thing that came up was a newsflash on them, the news reporter was saying how Zac and Jacob had got into a fight over Lauren and it had ended with Jacob throwing Zac down a stone staircase.

'Well they got half of it right' Lauren said out loud.

'Which half would that be?' Zac said weakly.

Lauren turned around and squealed. She carefully placed her arms round his neck and hugged him. They stayed like that for a while, until Lauren got a crick in her back.

'How do you feel?' she asked him.

'Pretty crap, but I'll live'

They smiled, Zac turned his attention to the TV and watched as they showed pictures of the ambulance arriving at the hospital.

'How did they get that?' Lauren said when a picture came up of them both on the beach, Lauren resting her head on his shoulder with Zac's arm around her.

'No idea'

'Oh well, it'll give them something to talk about'

'Yeah, suppose'

Lauren frowned; Zac was being really odd, as if he didn't want her there.

'Zac, what's up, and don't try telling me nothing 'cause I'm not stupid'

'How could I hide anything from you?' he joked.

Lauren didn't laugh, just stared him out.

'Ok, I guess I just feel a bit of a girl what with Jacob beating me up and everything'

'Hey now, I could beat Jacob up any day and you wanna know something?'

'What?'

'I'm a girl'

Zac pretended to be shocked,

'Really, you disguise yourself really well'

Lauren acted hurt and Zac patted her arm. She smiled and went to fetch a drink. When she got back, Zac had fallen asleep again. She pushed his hair off his head and smiled. She sat back down in her chair and soon fell asleep.

6 hours later

Lauren woke up and groaned, she'd slept in a hard armchair and now she was paying for it. She looked up and saw Zac was watching her.

'Hey you' she said.

Zac smiled at her, not saying anything.

'Hey, I think I'm gonna go and grab some fresh clothes and stuff. I'll be back in about an hour, you want anything?'

'No, I'm fine'

'Ok, see you in a bit'

Lauren's smile dropped as soon as she'd shut the door, something was still up with Zac and he wasn't telling her. She decided that she'd tackle the situation when she returned. She stepped out of the elevator and walked straight into media frenzy.

Photographers, journalists, TV people crowded round her, shouting questions.

'Are you and Zac and item?'

'How bad is he?'

'Why did Jacob push him?'

She ignored them and pushed past everyone, receiving a few bumps. As soon as she was around the corner she ran to her flat.

With Zac

Zac was resting watching TV when one news programme suddenly switched live. Up on the screen came Lauren, walking out of the hospital, her head was down and she had big sunglasses on.

Zac almost got up and ran down when he noticed one photographer knock into her. He saw her face scrunch up in pain but she soon composed herself and carried on walking, not saying a word to anyone. He stayed there worried until she came back, supposing she was really badly hurt? She could end up anywhere.

Lauren walked back in Zac's room. He quickly got up and grabbed her arm. He pulled her sleeve up and inspected the already large bruise on the inside of her arm, and the cut across her forearm. He pushed her onto the bed and called for a nurse.

Lauren was puzzled, she kept trying to get up and tell Zac she was fine but he kept pushing her down. The nurse came and checked her bruises; she left to fetch some antiseptic for the cut, when Lauren said,

'Zac, why won't you tell me what's wrong?'

Zac looked at her. He watched her eyes search his face for any trace of emotion. When she finally looked back at him he could see her trying to find an answer somewhere deep inside his eyes. He sighed and began to speak,

'What I told you before, about feeling a bit of a girl, not being able to defend myself, well that was true'

'But it wasn't the whole of it, was it?' Lauren pressed, softly.

'No, the truth is, how do I know that some time in the future, there will come a time when someone I really like, a girl, needs my help, but I'm not able to give it them because I can't defend myself? How do I know that I won't leave them waiting for me to come and help? How do I know I won't just run away?'

Lauren cupped his face with her hands and pulled his head up to face her,

'Because you don't run away from things. However much you don't think you are Zac, you're a fighter. You fight for what you believe in and you don't let anyone take it away from you, no matter how tough they are. Believe me Zac, there will never, ever come a time when you'll run instead of fight, never'

Zac watched her, he saw the concern in her eyes, the hurt in her gaze that he hadn't come to her to tell her what was wrong. He saw all the relief that flooded her face when he told her the truth, and he saw the honesty when she answered him, then he realised something.

Lauren stared into Zac's eyes. She couldn't see anything. He'd closed her off; he'd cordoned all his feelings and emotions away from her. She was about to break the gaze when she noticed something, there was a glimmer in his eyes; one of understanding, Zac was back, her Zac. She smiled and in that instant, they understood one another perfectly, they leant in….

A/N

OMG!!!! What's gonna happen? I already know lol!! I love secrets, even though I'm not that good at keeping them (some stuff just has to be told, you know?) lol. Anyways, hope u like it and I'll post the other one soon. xxxx