Hey guys. Sorry about the lack of updates. I wanted to have this up last night, but I had a sick husky to deal with. I love my Kikee and all, but ew. And then I was just not in the mood to write. Anywho: More drama. I know, I know. 'There is no way all this crap happens in real life'. You'd be surprised.

Chapter 8:

After making out at the apartment for a while, Shane decided we should stop before he lost it and took me home. We didn't say much in the car, just listening to his CD, playing the songs that were on both. Shane was singing softly along with the radio while I hummed.

He insisted on walking me to the door. That was one hell of a good-night kiss. When I came inside a while later, Caitlyn was curled up into a ball crying, Nate rubbing her back soothingly. I quickly ran over to her. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Nate shrugged and looked at me helplessly. "I don't feel good." Caitlyn whimpered.

I knelt on the floor so I was eyelevel with her. "What hurts? Did you tell Mom?" She shook her head no.

"My stomach." She cried. "My head."

"Nate, go get my mom." I instructed. Nate ran out of my room. "Cait." I said softly, taking Nate's place. "You'll be fine, okay?" I said trying to calm my own nerves of what could be wrong with her.

"She's not here!" He cried. "She's still out with Steve." He said frantically.

"How are you getting home?" I asked.

"I was going to stay because she was so sick. Shane was supposed to take me home, but I texted him while you were still at dinner." I pulled out my phone and sent Shane a text before turning to Caitlyn.

"Come on. I'm taking you to the hospital." I said, helping her try to stand. Eventually, Nate and I ended up caring her down the stairs. Well, mostly Nate. I just made sure he didn't drop her.

"How are we getting her there?" Nate asked as we got her downstairs.

Shane came rushing inside a moment later. "I think I just broke about 16 different driving laws." He said ushering us outside. I sighed in relief that he was there. We got in the car and drove to the hospital. I called my parents who wouldn't be home for another hour or so. They said they'd meet us there.

We ended up waiting in the emergency room for awhile, with Caitlyn in a lot of pain still. She had her head in Nate's lap as she cried. He did his best to comfort her.

"Caitlyn Gellar?" A nurse finally called. When we got into the hospital room, the nurse started asking a bunch of questions that Caitlyn, myself or Nate tried to answer.

Shane wrapped his arm around me as they wheeled her off to do tests. "She'll be fine." He said softly. He pulled Nate under his other arm. "Come on, let's go get coffee and call Jason and her parents, okay?" I smiled. Jason was more important than her parents in Shane's eyes. Then again, he was in all of our eyes. My parents acted more like parents than Caitlyn's did, though it wasn't entirely their fault.

"She's not, like, miscarrying a baby or something, is she?" Shane asked Nate seriously.

Nate's face looked horrified. "Dude, we haven't had sex in over a year." He exclaimed loudly. The few people in the cafeteria looked at him with looks of sympathy and humor. "I mean, there is no way she could be." He lowered his voice. "Unless… she… cheated on me. You don't think she's cheating on me do you?" Nate became suddenly frantic.

"No." I assured him. "She loves you, promise."

He visibly relaxed and slumped in his chair. "That was frightening."

I smiled at him. "Sorry." Shane said trying not to laugh.

"I have no idea what's wrong, but it's not a possible pregnancy." I said to the two boys. "It's probably just the pill, I hope." I said shrugging. Both boys looked around the room uncomfortably. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"Come on, let's go back." Nate said standing up.

When we got back to the room, they were bringing Caitlyn back, who was asleep. "How is she?" I asked the nurse.

"She'll be fine as soon as the toxins pump out of her stomach," The nurse assured us. Nate sighed heavily as he dropped into the chair next to her bed.

"Thank god." He said, grabbing her hand. "Where did she possibly get toxins from?"

"I'll send a doctor in." The nurse said, slipping out of the room. I shrugged in response to Nate, unknowing. My phone vibrated in my pocket.

"Oh. Mom and Dad are here." I said reading the texts I'd just gotten.

"I'll go get them." Shane offered, leaving Nate and I to stay with Caitlyn. There was only one chair in the room and I was tired, so I sat on Nate.

"You're comfy." I commented as he 'oofed' under me.

"As long as your good, Mitch." He said, adjusting slightly.

"Do you mind?" I asked.

He laughed. "Nah. It's good. I don't want to be gentlemanly and give you the chair cause I'm just as tired." He admitted. "But I can't help feeling bad if you're standing."

"Thanks, Nate." I ruffled his curls.

Mom, Shane, and Dad came in a few minutes later. Shane stopped and looked at Nate and I. "I'm not gonna ask."

I shrugged. "He's comfy." I teased. Shane rolled his eyes and stood next to us, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"How is she?" Mom asked moving to brush hair out of Caitlyn's eyes.

"Better. The nurse said there were toxins in her stomach." Nate answered. His eyes never left Caitlyn.

"From what?" Dad asked. We shrugged.

"Her birth control." A doctor said walking in.

"Her what?" Dad asked looking at Mom, who looked away. I giggled to myself. Mom never mentioned to Dad we were on birth control, evidentially.

"Miss Gellar is a rare case. Usually the toxin is so low it doesn't harm the body. It's an unfortunate side effect of the pills. It's why the first week or so women experience pain as the body adjusts to the toxins. However, Caitlyn never developed the immunity and her body isn't processing the toxin, only allowing it to build up."

"Oh, Cait." I sighed, reaching out to touch her hand that laying limply on top of Nate's. "This is my fault."

"It's a good thing you brought her in. Most times people mistake things like this for the flu or something else when it's really something that can really harm them."

"Good thinking, Mitch." Nate said softly.

"Is she going to be alright?" Dad asked.

The doctor nodded. "Yes. As soon as her stomach is pumped. She'll be alright. She shouldn't continue with her birth control though. And, if the problem persists, then she should see her doctor immediately."

"Thank you." Mom and Dad shook the doctor's hand before they left.

"Shane, why don't you take Mitchie and Steve home, and Nate and I will stay with Caitlyn, because I know he's not leaving, are you, Nate?" Mom suggested.

"No." Nate said firmly.

"Mitchie, you have school, I don't want to hear it." She said as I began to protest. I closed my mouth. "Shane feel free to stay. It's really late." He nodded.

"Night, Mom." I kissed her cheek. "Nate." I kissed his as well and hugged him.

"Night, Mom." Shane said as well, causing Mom to smile a bit more. "Nate." Shane hugged Nate good-bye while I hugged Caitlyn's sleeping body. Dad said good-bye as well and we headed out to the parking lot.

As Shane and I crawled into bed a little while later, I sighed. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Too many trips to the hospital lately," I said softly.

He kissed my temple, wrapping his arms around me from behind. "Well, she'll be fine. Thanks to you." He said trying to soothe me.

"Shane, it's my fault in the first place." I argued. "I was the one that wanted to go on the birth control, and she's the one who gets sick."

"You didn't know. And Connie is the one who made her. She's going to be fine and that's all that matters." I nodded.

The next morning, I awoke to an empty bed. I started playing my music so I could fully wake up. I saw it was almost 7, meaning Shane had taken Jacob out for me. I smiled and started getting dressed.

Of course, Shane decided to come back while I was doing so. He didn't knock, for whatever reason, and entered as I was putting a clean bra on. "Shit." He closed the door rather quickly and stayed on the other side. I laughed, though blushing.

"It's okay, you can come back in." I called through the door, now having a shirt on. "Why didn't you knock?" I asked as he peeked open the door before entering.

He closed the door behind him. "Didn't think." He said simply, collapsing onto my bed again. "Why don't you have pants on?" He asked, taking in my current appearance.

I looked at him oddly as I pulled a pair of jeans out of my dresser. "Because I didn't get that far?"

"Oh." He was looking away from me again. "I'm going to hell." He said simply.

"Why's that?' I asked, laughing slightly.

He shook his head and looked at my face, not allowing his eyes to drift anywhere else. "Because of the thoughts in my head at the moment."

I laughed at him as I pulled my jeans on. "You're crazy. You're like a saint physically. God can't blame you for the way I act around you."

He shrugged. "Yeah, but you aren't the one not even bothering to stop the thoughts."

I sat on the bed next to him. "Where's Jake?" I asked changing the subject as I pulled on my boots.

"Eating. Uh, Steve said to tell you to have cereal." He said, remembering. "And, he loves you. And have a good day at school."

I laughed at my father. "He's never been good at the whole off to school thing. He's usually gone by the time I get downstairs."

Shane nodded. "Well, today you don't have to walk." He said.

"Why not?" I asked, missing what he was saying.

He rolled his eyes. "Maybe because your boyfriend is here to drive you?" He asked.

"Oh." I laughed getting up. "I'm slow in the mornings." I said.

"I see that." He teased.

After I ate, he dropped me off for school. I received a few odd glances as I kissed him good-bye. And the fact that Caitlyn wasn't with me. "Where's Cait?" Sierra asked as I walked into school.

"Hospital. She had toxins in her stomach." I chose to leave at the why part. That was the last thing we needed. "Mom and Nate stayed with her, and Shane brought Dad and I home."

"Oh. I she going to be okay?" She asked concerned.

"Yeah. As soon as the toxins are gone." I explained. "So, how was Valentine's Day with Craig?" I asked.

"Good." She smiled. "Okay, amazing. He took me to dinner and bought me stuffed animal. It was clichéd, but adorable." She said rolling her eyes playfully. "What about yours? I imagine Cait's wasn't too spectacular."

"Mine was… hilarious." I decided. "Except from the whole… Caitlyn hospital thing."

"Did he like the Mix Tape?" She asked. "Or, CD." She corrected. "Is it still a called a Mix Tape if it's on a CD?"

I shrugged, having no idea. "He loved it." I said simply. "He agreed on a few of the songs." "That's cool. What did he get you?"

I smiled. "A Mix Tape."

"Yeah, I know you got him a Mix Tape. I helped with it, remember? What did he get you?" She asked.

I laughed. "No, Sierra, he got me a Mix Tape as well." I explained. "And we had some of the same songs on them."

"Ugh, you two are amazing." She shook her head. Craig came up behind her a moment later. "I'll catch up with you later, okay? Lunch?" Sierra said, as she started walking off with him. I smiled and nodded.

School was pretty slow and boring without Caitlyn. I spent a majority of the day texting Shane and Nate. Occasionally Jason, but he took forever to respond most times. I almost got my phone taken away because of all of the texting, too.

"Miss Torres. Cell phone." My math teacher demanded, holding out his phone.

"Uh, Mr. Zamour, Caitlyn's boyfriend was texting me to let me know how she is. I've been really worried about her all morning." Thankfully, that wasn't a lie. The last text received was from Nate saying how Caitlyn was doing.

"Oh really." He said. "Show me." I opened the text and Mr. Zamour read the text to the whole class. "Better. They finally pumped all of it out of her stomach. We should be home around the time you get there. Is Shane at the house?" My teacher handed me back my phone. "Well, is Shane back at the house?" He asked teasingly. My teacher was pretty cool most of the time.

"I don't know. I wasn't texting him." I said as innocently as I could.

"Tell Caitlyn, I hope she feels better." He said before going back to Calculus. While he wasn't looking, I quickly sent him a reply back, that Shane was at the Hardware store with Dad because he was bored. As I sent the message, I saw Mr. Zamour looking at me out of the corner of his eye with a smile. I smiled back slightly, and slipped my phone into my bag.

Shane was waiting for me after school. "Is she home?' I asked.

"Hey, babe, how are you? Really? I'm good." He teased opening the car door.

"You have a serious issue of talking to yourself." I replied, climbing in as well.

"You and my sister have a serious issue of ignoring me." He threw back. "And yes, she's home."

I ran out of the car before it even came to a full stop. Shane laughed at me and came in a few minutes after me. I was already upstairs with Caitlyn and Nate, by that time. I was relieved to see her awake and well. She'd been really pale the last few weeks. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out in our room with the guys.

I couldn't shake the feelings I'd gotten that morning, though. It seemed really natural for Shane to walk to dog while I got up for school. To have breakfast, just us. To have him drop me off and pick me up. I was seriously liking those feelings.

Forgive me if that sucked horribly. I just wanted to get you an update because there is no guarentee i'll have another one up until Thursday or Friday. My cousin is sleeping over tonight and tomorrow, and the the concert is Wednesday, in which I'll be spending Tuesday and possibly Wednesday night at my friend's house. I feel bad making you guys wait so much.