A/N: Next chapter for you!

Refresh of what happened in the last chapter for those of you who have forgotten:

Mitchie's life support plug was pulled.

Nate got in a fight with Jason because his girlfriend Emma is coming to Camp Rock.

Shane returned to Camp, to find the whole place in upheaval.

He discovered Caitlyn, went to find help.

Caitlyn cut herself *Gasp*

Sorry if the last chapter was a bit gruesome for any of you! Thanks to my wonderful reviewers! Hope you enjoy this one.

Nate sucked in a deep breath and knocked on Caitlyn's door.

"Caitlyn?" He whispered nervously. "Are you in there?"

When there was no reply, he twisted the handle and stepped inside.

"Caitlyn?"

His hands were shaking.

Why was he so nervous?

He jumped as a strangled cry filled the room, and turned apprehensively to face the sound.

A gasp escaped his lips.

Lying on the floor, blood trickling from her wrist, was Caitlyn.

Her face was riddled with tears and her hair clung in short damp curls to her cheeks.

A razor was clenched tightly in her fist.

Nate swore under his breath as he ran to her side.

With one swift movement he snatched the razor from her hand and hurled it across the room, kneeling down beside her as he did so.

"Shit Caitlyn, are you crazy?" He muttered, conscious that her eyes were rolling backwards even as he spoke.

Nate picked her up off the ground, alarmed at how light she was, and placed her gently on the bed.

He scanned the room desperately for something he could use to stop the bleeding and his eyes finally settled on a bath towel lying on the floor.

With one swift movement he snatched it up and wrapped it tightly around Caitlyn's wrists, trying not to look at her face as he did so.

Nate had never seen anyone so pale in his life. Her face was an unnatural shade of ivory, and beads of sweat were covering her forehead. It was frightening. His heart was racing, accelerating at what he knew was not a healthy speed.

"Caitlyn," He murmured urgently. "Caitlyn! Can you hear me?"

She was fading in and out of consciousness, seemingly unaware of Nate's presence.

He pressed the towel more firmly against her wrist, still murmuring her name.

Within a few minutes, the blood flow had lessened considerably, and Nate noticed that Caitlyn's eyes were half-open, watching him.

"Caitlyn?"

"Nate," She whispered, her voice hoarse. "What are you doing here?"

"Are you feeling okay? Not woozy, or dizzy, or anything?" Nate asked in concern, ignoring her question.

She shook her head, but it took her a minute to gather her thoughts together. Her mind was whirling.

Nate was here. What had she done? Nate was here.

"I'm alright. Don't.. Don't worry about me."

Nate ignored her.

"You could've killed yourself," He said sternly, surprised at the harshness in his voice. "How could you do that, Caitlyn! What the hell were you thinking?"

A tear trickled down Caitlyn's cheek. She hated it when Nate was angry.

"I wasn't.. I wasn't trying to kill myself, Nate."

Nate reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"What are you doing?" Caitlyn cried.

"Ringing Brown."

"No! Nate, don't. Please. I'm fine now. I'm sorry. I shouldn't-"

"Caitlyn, don't tell me you're fine. You need help."

"No! Please!" Caitlyn was begging now. "Please don't tell Brown. Please, Nate. You don't understand, he'll kick me out of Camp Rock, I won't be allowed to come back."

When Nate looked unconvinced, she brandished her wrist in front of his face. "Look! I'm sorry, and it's OK. I'm OK. The bleeding's stopped, the cut's not very deep, just please-"

"You don't look okay to me, Caitlyn. Have you seen yourself, lately?" His eyes travelled to the wispy ringlet that came to just below Caitlyn's chin. "Your hair."

"Huh?"

"Why did you cut it?"

Caitlyn fingered the short strand guiltily.

"I.. I don't know. I guess I just wanted a change."

After a moment's silence, Nate nodded reluctantly, placing the phone back in his pocket and sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Fine. I won't tell Brown about all this, but you've got to be honest with me. I'm going to stay here until you tell me what's been bothering you so badly that you would harm yourself over. And no lies," He added sternly. "You know you can tell me anything."

"I.. It's not something that… Nate, there's a lot of things… I don't think you'd understand."

"Try me."

Caitlyn was caught off guard by the compassion on his face. It took her a minute to speak. When she did, her voice came out in a slow monotone. "It just feels like... no one cares about me any more. No one gives a damn about stupid Caitlyn Gellar."

"Well, I agree with the stupid bit," Nate replied. "But people do care about you Caitlyn."

"No they don't." Caitlyn shook her head furiously. "You don't. Mitchie doesn't. No one at this stupid camp does! And no one at home does either.."

"What do you mean?" Nate asked, exasperation edging into his voice. "Of course we care about you Caitlyn!" He paused for a second before catching her eye again. "Explain yourself."

"Well.. You've been avoiding me ever since we kissed. My family are better off without me, Mitchie's in a coma, she doesn't care, and everyone's been so busy worrying about her and Tess that I just feel.. Kind of.. Invisible," She finished with a sigh.

There was a tense silence.

"Invisible? Caitlyn, that's ridiculous. People care about you. I care about you-"

Caitlyn let out a harsh laugh.

"You care about me? You don't have to lie just to make me feel better, Nate. It's okay, I know you already have a girlfriend."

Nate sighed in frustration, running a hand through his unruly curls.

"It's not like that, you know it's not. I do care about you, a lot more than you know.. But, Emma.. I don't want to hurt her."

"Do you love her?"

Nate smiled sadly.

"I like her."

"You like her?"

"She's a great girl, and a good friend, but…"

"You're not in love with her," Caitlyn finished.

Nate bit his lip and nodded.

"But.. It's complicated now. She's coming to see me. Soon. She's coming to Camp Rock."

Caitlyn raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Emma? Why?"

"She's my girlfriend, Caitlyn," Nate reminded her. "I guess she misses me."

"She loves you," Caitlyn said. It was not a question; the answer was already obvious in Nate's eyes.

"She does. Too much," Nate murmured.

"That's why I don't want to… I mean, It would be so hard on her if I decided to… Let her go."

Caitlyn nodded. "I understand."

Although she didn't. She didn't understand at all. She wanted to tell him that it had been hard on her when he had let her go too, but he hadn't even seemed to care, hadn't even thought about how it was going to effect her. She had let lust get in the way of their friendship, and when everything had come crashing down on her, she had done nothing: She had wallowed in her own pity, let herself fall into a million pieces.

How could she have let that happen to herself? She was better than that. Stronger than that.

"Lust," Caitlyn thought to herself as she gazed into Nate's mellow eyes. "That's all it was. That's all it ever will be."

She let the lie sink in, feeling a slight pang in her stomach as she did so.

"How's your arm?" Nate asked, the concern in his voice making Caitlyn's heart do little pitter patters against her own will.

"It's fine," Caitlyn assured him, showing him the fine red line. "See? The bleedings stopped. I… That was stupid. I shouldn't have done that to myself. I'm sorry, Nate. You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"As long as you promise to never, ever scare me like that again," Nate whispered. "I won't tell anyone."

Caitlyn gulped, unable to stop the tear that was now rolling down her cheek.

She had scared him? Did that mean… There was still the slightest chance that he actually cared about her? Even after everything that had happened?

Nate took in Caitlyn's tears in surprise and finally gave in to his emotions, letting his instincts take over. He wrapped his arms around her frail body and pulled her close to him, holding her tightly. He shushed her sobs, stroking her hair and rocking her slowly in an attempt to comfort her.

"Do you promise?" Nate asked when she had fallen silent. He still held her close, knowing it was wrong but not wanting to let her go.

"I promise."

"Good. Please don't cry, Caity, it's over now."

Caitlyn pulled away reluctantly, shaking her head.

"I haven't told you everything."

"There's more?"

"It's… Yeah, there's more," Caitlyn admitted sadly. "It's kind of… personal, and it's something I haven't told anyone about, but if I tell you, you've got to promise not to judge me before you know the whole story. OK?"

"Is this still about me and Emma?"

"No, it's different."

"What then?"

"Wait. You haven't promised."

Nate nodded and reached for Caitlyn's hand, liking the feeling of warmth that rushed through his body.

"I promise," He said solemnly.

Caitlyn looked down at her hand held gently in his. She couldn't deny that it felt nice, to have someone who actually cared. Believe it or not, it was a rare thing in her life, and she hoped that it wasn't about to end when Nate found out the secret that she had been keeping to herself for the whole time at Camp Rock.

"How are you feeling, Tess? How did physio go?"

"It was horrible," Tess wined, struggling to pull her body into a sitting position so David could have a seat on the bed.

"It's not helping at all. All they do is moan about how badly I'm progressing, they're not doing anything to make my legs work again."

David frowned at this new piece of news.

"You know we could always move you to a bigger, private hospital. You'd get better care there, and then maybe you'd be more enthusiastic about your rehabilitation."

"David," Tess said grimly. "There is no possible way anybody in their right minds could be enthusiastic about rehabilitation. It's torture."

David knew his sisters paralysation was still a touchy subject, so he let the topic slide.

"Dad and I talked to a lawyer today," He said after a moment.

"Why?" Tess asked nervously, causing David to raise his eyebrows.

"Tess, what do you mean 'why?'" He replied scathingly. "Those kids pushed you off of the cliff. That's a criminal offence, attempted murder. You're paralysed from the waist down, the chances of you walking again are slim to none!" His voice rose in volume. "They deserve jail for what they did to you, and jail is exactly what they're going to get."

"But-"

"After you talked to the police," He continued, ignoring Tess's weak attempt at an interruption. "They recommended we take legal action against the Torres girl and those other kids. Our lawyer agreed. There's going to be a court case."

Tess felt suddenly nauseous.

A court case? Was he serious?

Panic rose up in her throat.

How had this escalated so quickly?

When she had told David that her falling over the cliff hadn't been an accident, it had just been a way to save her own skin; after all, Shane would have mentioned to somebody eventually that it was her, Tess Tyler, that was going to push Mitchie over the cliff.

He had known that that was her intention. She knew he had. Why else would he refuse all of her offers and pleas to come and visit her in hospital? What else could he have thought when he had returned to the clearing to find Mitchie gone, and eventually discovered her, unconscious, by the cliff side?

Tess shuddered.

If the truth ever got out, it would be headline news. And of course, she wasn't going to let that happen. It would ruin her mothers career, hell, it would even ruin her own future singing career.

She ignored the little voice in her head that asked scathingly 'What future singing career?'

"Tess?" David's anxious voice interrupted her silent rambling.

"Huh?"

"Are you okay with that?"

"With what?"

"The court case," David replied as though it was obvious.

"Oh."

She bit her lip for a moment.

There was going to be media attention around her whether she liked it or not: if she hadn't said anything, Shane would have gone to the police about what she had been about to do to Mitchie. But she had said something, she reminded herself sternly, and it was too late to take it back now. She was in far too deep. And besides, if there was going to be a media frenzy over 'TJ Tyler's daughter', it may as well be in sympathy with her.

Attempted Murder On Pop Star's Daughter: Tess Tyler Left Paralysed And Abandoned At Cliff Side

Tess grinned to herself, imagining the worldwide headlines and finding herself liking the concept.

She nodded her acceptance to David, resigned to the fact that she had left herself with no other options.

"Good," David said, patting Tess's hand happily. "There's just one thing."

"What?" Tess asked, suddenly wary.

"We don't have any witnesses. The lawyer said it's basically your word against those kids, and there's five of them, and only one of you," David pointed out, causing Tess to frown.

"That could be a problem."

"But not if we find a witness."

"There was no one else there," Tess informed him bluntly. "You said yourself that there were no witnesses, we can't just make one appear out of thin air."

"Dad and I have done a bit of research on that Connect Three band," David said with a smile. "I think we've got a plan." He paused for a moment before continuing. "What's Jason like?"

Tess hesitated.

"He's… Different. Nothing like Nate or Shane," She said with a quiet laugh, her voice lingering slightly longer than needed on Shane's name.

"Would you say he's particularly intelligent?" David probed.

Tess looked at David in surprise.

"I don't get where this is going."

"Just answer the question."

"Well, no, not intelligent. He's kind of, gullible," She replied. "And immature for his age."

David was nodding eagerly.

"That's what we've heard. Don't you realize, Tess? We could use him. This could work to our advantage."

Shane sat restlessly in the hospital waiting room, desperate to see Mitchie. After the early morning phone call, he and his Uncle had rushed down to the hospital, afraid of what they would find. For over four hours now they had sat in the hospital waiting room, keeping a distraught Connie and Steve company as they waited for news on Mitchie's condition.

The doctors had skimmed around the details of how Mitchie's life support had come to be unplugged, and offered nothing more than 'There's been no change' and 'We're still running tests'.

It made Shane furious.

He was sick of being lied to, being told that they were doing everything that they possibly could.

All he wanted was to see her, to see Mitchie and to apologize for being a jerk, for the stupid way he had acted all those days ago when Tess had exposed her lie to the campers. It seemed so insignificant now, after everything that had happened. And it had been. It was stupid of him to react the way he had, for what had come of it? Mitchie in a coma in the hospital, that's what.

Shane shook his head, disgusted with himself.

He wanted nothing more than to hold Mitchie's hand in his one last time, to apologize, and whisper a goodbye to her before it was too late. Was that too much to ask?

At that very moment, a nurse in a white coat walked into the waiting room. His heart almost exploded in his chest. "You're Mitchie Torres family?" She asked politely. "We've finished running tests, you may go and see her now."

"Is she-?"

"She's doing okay," The nurse assured Connie in response to her question, and all of the occupants of the room stood stunned. "She regained consciousness about an hour ago."

"She's not in a coma anymore?" Shane cried in relief. The nurse nodded, smiling at the tears of joy that were now running down Connies cheeks.

"Hypoxia can be fatal," She warned them cautiously. "The lack of oxygen supply to the blood stream is extremely dangerous, which is why the doctors didn't think that Mitchie was quite ready to come off life support. But you must have one determined daughter, Mrs Torres," She said kindly. "It was clear from the beginning that she wasn't going to go down without a fight."

She stopped for a moment, her face turning serious. "But you must understand that coming out of a coma can be very traumatic, and Mitchie is still displaying symptoms of Hypoxia; lapsing in and out of consciousness, fatigue, shortness of breath, that type of thing. But it's nothing to worry about," She reassured the rooms freshly worried occupants. "The doctor's have it all under control. Once we have the results of the tests back, we can tell you for sure what the long term diagnosis will be."

"She's okay," Connie whispered joyously to herself through her tears. She turned to her husband in relief, letting herself sink into his arms. "She's going to be okay."

"The doctors expect that she will make a full recovery," The nurse affirmed.

"Can we see her?" Shane asked excitedly. "Is she awake?"

"She's awake," She nodded. "She's been asking about all of you."

"Family first," Brown reminded Shane, earning an approving smile from the nurse and a sullen glare from his nephew.

"Right," Shane muttered. "Family first."

"Caity, you can tell me. I promise I won't hate you for it, whatever it is. You haven't murdered anyone, have you?" Nate asked with a cheeky smile.

Caitlyn slapped Nate's arm crossly, but was unable to stop the tiny smirk that crept across her face. "Nate, be serious. Do you want to know or not?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Nate said, relenting. "Continue."

Caitlyn took a deep breath, trying to tie her thought's together before she began her story. It would be just like her to have everything come out in a huge jumbled mess.

"I live with my grandmother," Caitlyn began carefully. "My parents died when I was younger, and after a lot of debate my Grandmother reluctantly agreed to take Alana and I in."

"Alana?" Nate asked curiously. "Who-?"

"My sister."

"I never knew you had a sister."

Caitlyn nodded.

"We're twins, but we're not very close," She admitted with a sigh. "That's why I don't tell people about her; we don't exactly see eye to eye about things."

Nate raised his eyebrows and nodded, and Caitlyn took this as her signal to continue.

"My Grandmother always made me feel as though I was… Not as good as Alana. Alana was always the perfect twin," She told him, unable to hide the envy from her voice. "But she was always horrible to me, and it only made things worse when her and Grandmother became very close. She get's everything she wants, and she does her best to make sure that I miss out."

"She sounds like Tess Tyler," Nate laughed and Caitlyn nodded in agreement.

"Alana convinced Grandmother that music was not a 'healthy career option' for me." Caitlyn said the words scathingly. "She locked all of my music equipment, my laptop, everything, away-"

"Are you serious?" Nate interrupted loudly. "She actually went that far?"

"She knows that music was the only thing keeping me going. I kind of lost myself in it after my parents died, and she knew that she could really hurt me by taking the only thing out of my life that I still loved. I know it sounds crazy, and I don't care if you don't believe me Nate," Caitlyn said. "But it's true."

"I believe you," Nate replied, and the honesty was plain in his voice. "I just don't see how anyone could be so mean. Especially your own sister… Why didn't your Grandmother stop her?"

"Because she agrees that being a music producer isn't a good career for me, and she thinks she's doing what's best," Caitlyn fumed angrily. "But she's just as bad as my sister, and she's probably disowned me now anyway, so I suppose it doesn't matter."

Nate looked stunned.

"Disowned you? But.. She sent you to Camp Rock, didn't she? She can't hate you that much, and hate music that much, considering how much money it costs to come here."

Caitlyn laughed bitterly.

"She didn't send me here."

"Oh. Then who did?"

Caitlyn smiled sadly.

"I did."

"You did?" Nate frowned in confusion. "How?"

"I won a scholarship. I ran away, Nate," Caitlyn whispered. "My Gran doesn't know I'm here."

A/N: VOTE!

Emma will be arriving at Camp Rock next chapter.

DO YOU WANT NAITLYN OR NEMMA?

In other words, SHOULD NATE BREAK UP WITH EMMA?

Let me know in a review: YES OR NO. =)

To those who usually review, but didn't review the last chapter, I really missed you, and I hope you're still here?

Hope you guys are all doing well anyway, and I hope you liked this chapter.

Also: How do you feel about SMITCHIE in the next chapter?

By the way, have you heard about the Camp Rock Awards? Nominations close June 5th. You can go to my profile for a link if you want to be involved.

(PS: I'm not trying to tell you to vote for me. There are so many people who have amazing stories, a lot of my reviewers are really talented writers, and it's nice for them to get recognition for their work. So if you have a favourite story, you can nominate it there. I think the Awards are a really nice idea, and there are some truly fantastic stories up for nomination. Good luck to everybody)

You guys are amazing. =D

As always, I look forward to hearing from you!

Reviews make me SMILE :)

Hugs,

Kace