Pulling Me Through Part Three

Well, be sure to vote in the poll that I have on my profile and hope you all enjoy and please review! Oh, and this chapter will take place a week after the last.

Chapter Nine

Jake's POV

After a week of being away from Scout, I began to miss her more than I could ever imagine I would. I wanted my girlfriend back. I didn't want the girl who was high on drugs all the time. She wasn't my girl. I wanted sweet Scout Taylor-Compton back with me. I missed the way she'd edge closer to me at night as a way to hint that she wanted to cuddle. I missed the way that she'd play with Benji when she was bored, but I missed all the little things like the way her hair smelled and how soft her hands were.

It got to the point where I thought she would never change. I was under the impression that she would always be a drug addict and that thought almost killed me. I detested the very essence of her when she was high.

At least it seemed as though she was going to finally try and get some help. She knocked on the door this morning with her hair pulled into a tight ponytail with only a little bit of makeup on, reminding me very much of how she was before Crystal came into her life. She looked so beautiful that it took every ounce of strength in my body and mind to keep myself from wrapping my arms tightly around her. She was perfect in every single way.

She had told me that she wanted to quit this awful habit. That she didn't see the point in using if her life just became awful because she didn't have me. She told me that she loved me more than anything in the world and that she was on her way to get help. It was at that moment that I had to make the choice of staying out of her way for good or being there to support her. I chose the latter.

So, as soon as she told me that, I went with her to rehab and stayed with her for a while before heading straight to Riley's to tell her the good news. Scout had told me about the argument that the two had had.

…

"Are you being serious?" Riley questioned, delight written all over her face. "She's actually decided to quit the drugs? How did you persuade her to do it" I couldn't tell what I enjoyed more. Riley's reaction to the news or the fact that I didn't have to do anything to get her to stop abusing her body in the way that she was.

"Absolutely nothing" I answered, my pride going out to her. "She came over and told me that she wanted to do it." Andy was sitting on the sofa with her, his arm slung over her shoulder as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"You do know that this is because of you, don't you?" He asked. The argument that Riley had had with Scout must have really knocked some sense into her. "If you hadn't gone over there and scared her into all of this, she probably would have never found the willpower to admit that she needed help. Well done, babe."

"And you said that it would do more harm than good to talk to her" Riley joked, taking pride in the victory that had probably saved Scout's life. I would take pride in that too. "See? My meddling can have good effects. There's such a lack of faith in this house."

"And for that I apologise" Andy laughed, his lips traveling closer to her lips "Jake, don't you have somewhere that you need to be?"

"Okay, there is nowhere I'm leaving this house to let you two get closer" I shouted, raising my hands up in protest. "I'm not falling for that one again. I've already done that…twice."

"Yes and the products were excellent" Riley laughed, holding Zane close to her.

"Yes they were" I agreed, looking at my little nephew with love. Gosh, I loved those two kids with all of my heart. "But that doesn't mean that I wanted to see another little one running around here. At least not yet."

"Well, it will happen one day" Riley warned, grinning all the while, but something in her voice told me that she wasn't joking. God, there was no way that I wanted to sit here and listen to my little sister talk about how she was planning on having a third child. Does she ever know how to just give it a rest?

"What are you talking about?" I asked, almost dreading to hear the answer.

"Yeah, what are you talking about?" Andy questioned. "You've never mentioned anything to me about having a third chid."

"Well, it's not like I'm planning to have one now" She laughed. "It's just that when I picture us, ten years down the line, we always have another baby. We'll have three and then that'll be it."

"Aw, that's too cute" Andy cooed, kissing Riley on the nose. Are they trying to make me gag? I know I get all adorable when I'm with Scout, but when it's your best friend and your little sister talking about how many children they're going to have, it's so awkward and not the kind of conversation that I enjoy being a part of. It' just creepy when you really think about it.

Just as I was about to voice my thoughts and opinions, the phone rang loudly.

"Can you get that?" Riley asked, standing up from the sofa with Zane still wrapped up in her arms. "I need to feed Zane."

I picked up the phone, not recognizing the voice that spoke, but I hung on to absolutely every word they said. It was a doctor. I knew that from his introduction line. Everything that followed was a blur. I understood everything that he was saying, but I couldn't bring myself to speak to him. This couldn't be happening.

"We'll be straight down" I finally managed to say before putting the phone back down. How on Earth was I supposed to explain this to Andy and Riley?

Andy's POV

When Jake put down the phone, his face was as white as a sheet. I could tell straight away that something bad had happened. I racked my brains as I tried to think of anything that could bring about this kind of reaction from him. Who does he love that much? Scout. He had said that she had gone to rehab today. What if the withdrawal from the drugs had done something bad to her? That can happen, can't it? I didn't know. I wasn't an expert on drugs.

"What's wrong, Jake?" I asked as Riley came back into the living room. As soon as she saw Jake, concern flashed over her eyes and she settled Zane in the Moses basket before turning back to him.

"Jake, what's happened?" She asked. He finally looked as though he was going to answer the questioned, the sound of his sister's voice probably snapping him out of it.

"Um, it's CC" He answered, struggling to get his words out. What the hell had happened? My heart thumped hard in my chest. Something bad had happened to my band mate and best friend and Jake was taking eons to tell me what it was.

"Jake, spit it out already" I snapped. "You're making us worry. Look, it's nothing too bad, is it?" I prayed silently that it wasn't, but Jake just nodded. God, it would take a lot to make Jake this silent and freaked out. "Tell us then!"

"CC's in hospital" He gushed. "He was hit by a car. They said he's in bad condition and we've got to go down there straight away." For a moment I was frozen. How could innocent CC be hit by a car? He'd never done anything wrong in his life. Surely this was against some sort of rules that had been set by God.

"Is he going to be okay?" Riley asked, tears already springing up to her eyes. This was incredibly hard on her. She'd never been particularly good at dealing with her emotions. CC was like her brother. "Please just tell me that he's going to be okay."

"I don't know, Riley" He answered. At least he's being entirely truthful with us. I couldn't deal with Riley feeling betrayed by Jake for trying to sugar coat things. "They didn't tell me. They just said that we had to go to the hospital." It was then that I snapped into action. Well, shouldn't I be allowed to have a moment of shock?

"Well then" I sighed. "What are we doing standing here?" I asked, already placing Savannah on my hip. "We have a friend in the hospital that needs us to be by his side and we're standing here discussing what to do. Isn't it obvious? Come on, we need to get down to the hospital.

Riley's POV

I could barely move without the help of Andy and Jake. They had the kids and they were leading us to the car. To be honest, the only reason I was struggling with this so much was because I just couldn't get over the fact that it had happened to him. Out of all of the people in the world, it had to be him to be injured and he wouldn't have any family to sit with him in the early hours of the morning or any girlfriend. No, he only had us which was why I was so determined to be there for him throughout all of this.

"Are you okay?" Andy asked once we were sitting in the car with the kids sitting on our knees. As much as I wanted to tell him that I was perfectly fine, so he wouldn't worry about me when he had bigger things to worry about it, I couldn't help but shake my head. Was anyone really fine after they found out something as horrible as this. "Look, doctors know what they're doing."

"Talk about stating the obvious" I commented, giving a dry laugh in an effort to brighten the mood in this car, but I knew it was a failed attempt. There was no point in even trying to make a joke in here. You could cut through this atmosphere with a knife.

"I'm sure that whatever has happened to CC, they know how to treat and he'll be home with us very soon" He reassured, but I couldn't accept his words. Doctors slip up all the time. Hey, look what happened to my Mom and my grandparents. If doctors were as good as Andy was preaching, I would still have my Mom and my grandparents would have died much later than they did. They could just as easily slip up with CC and I made it a point to keep reminding myself of that. I didn't want to get my hopes up in the belief that CC was going to be fine in case the worst happened.

"Hey, I know that look" Jake suddenly snapped, looking in the rear-view mirror at me. "Don't you even dare" Even when I'm upset people still shout at me. How is that even fair?

"I don't know what you're talking about" I sighed, too tired and upset to argue. "I was just thinking."

"You were thinking negatively" He accused. "How can you expect CC to pull through this if you don't even believe he can do it?"

As shitty as his words made me feel, I knew that he was right. I couldn't give up on him without a fight. Hey, he just might surprise us. Please, CC, please. Just surprise us.

Ah, sorry for making this chapter just as depressing as the last. Anyway, I hope you do enjoy this and please review! Oh, and don't forget about the poll! ;)