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Chapter Three

The Grey's stayed most of the night. It wasn't until Nate was asleep on the couch that Jason insisted it was time to go. He almost had to physically drag Shane away. They promised Belle they would be back the next night. Early the next morning, Mrs. Cover returned not looking very rested. She told Belle to go home and sleep. Belle did go home, but she didn't sleep very well. At seven that evening, she got up and went back to the hospital.

When she got there this time, Mrs. Cover was already gone. Shane was the only one in the room. He didn't hear Belle come in. He was sitting by the bed, his head resting on the sheets, weeping.

Belle froze, not sure what to do. She should have been nicer to him. She was about to go out and leave him alone, but something changed her mind. She walked silently across the room and touched his shoulder.

Shane didn't react. It was as if he could even feel her. She knelt next to him and put her arms around him. She put her head against his.

"It's okay." She whispered. "She forgives you. I know her. She wouldn't blame you for a minute." Belle paused. "I forgive you too."

Belle kissed the top of Shane's head and kept hugging him. He took her by surprise when he wrapped Belle in to a hug, drawing in her strength. Bell heard the door open and close. She couldn't see who it was, but she heard footsteps then Nate kneeled beside her and put his arms around her on one side and Jason was on the other. They all joined together in one group hug there, kneeling on the cold floor of hospital room.

"Give us strength, Lord…" Jason whispered.

"To make it through this…" Nate added.

"And what is to come…" Belle added.

"Forevermore." Shane finished.

"Amen." They all said together. Belle felt refreshed and strengthened by their prayer and hug. She reluctantly stood when Shane released her. He wiped off his face and was hugged by Nate then Jason.

Belle sat on the couch and was joined by Jason. Nate and Shane talked to Ruth about their day. Belle watched Shane.

"He is strong." Belle said. Jason glanced first at her then followed her gaze to Shane.

"He is." Jason said. "So are you."

Belle looked at him.

"In a different way." Jason said. "You forgave himp; that takes great strength. I don't know if I could forgive him if I was in your place."

"Yeah, well, if Ruth doesn't…" Belle trailed off, not being able to say it. "We will see how strong I am." She finished simply. Jason kissed her cheek, catching her by surprise. He stood up and took his guitar out of it's case.

"Let's sing her some Christmas songs." He said. Belle stood and they all sang quietly to Ruth.

The brothers again stayed until early the next morning. Belle hugged them each good bye than sat next to Ruth.

"They are good people, Ruth." She said. "You had better wake up soon so that you can meet them. They invited me to the concert they are having tomorrow night. I'm going to go, but I promise that I'll come straight here after and tell you all about it."

Belle kissed Ruth's cheek.

"Please, wake up soon." She whispered to her.

Belle got to the concert the next night and got to go in the back gate. Once inside, she was confused. She wanted to find the Grey brothers, but everyone was running around and Belle didn't know where to go. She finally managed to find the stage. Their opening act was still going so they had to still be getting ready. Belle stopped a few people and asked them where the Grey brothers were. Most of the people didn't know, but finally one directed her to their dressing room. Belle knocked on it hesitantly.

"Come in!" Nate called. Belle opened the door and stepped in the room. Nate was standing in front of the mirror combing his hair.

"Dad, he-" Nate started as he turned. "Ah! Belle!" he cried in surprise. Belle looked at him strangely. He grabbed her and opened the door and pushed her out. "Hold on one minute!" He said before slamming the door in her face. Belle found the whole thing funny and started laughing.

"Something funny?" Belle turned to find Mr. Grey standing there holding a cup of coffee. Belle smiled.

"It's nothing really." She said, trying to control her laughter. Mr. Grey knocked on the door.

"One second, Belle!" Nate shouted. Mr. Grey smiled.

"It's your father, Nicholas" He said. There was silence for a second.

"Oh." Nate said. "Come in!"

Mr. Grey went in and shut the door behind him. Belle lost it again and laughed. She laughed so hard she started crying.

"I must be really tired." She said as stopped laughing and wiped her face. After another minute, the dressing room door opened.

"You can come in now." Nate said. Belle smiled at him and followed him in.

"What was that about?" She asked, struggling to not laugh. Nate blushed.

"I thought you were Dad since he said he was coming right back." Nate said. "So…"

"So he just called you in when Shane and I were still dressing." Jason said, coming in from the joining room. Belle put a hand over her mouth to try to hide her grin. Nate sighed.

"Go ahead and laugh." Nate said. Belle did. When she was done she looked around.

"Where is Shane?" She asked. She looked at Nate. "He is dressed, right?

Nate glared at her, but Jason laughed.

"Yes, he's in there with Dad." Nate said, suddenly serious. Belle looked at Jason and he was frowning now.

"Is everything okay?" Belle asked. Nate and Jason exchanged a silent conversation in one look. Belle rolled her eyes. They did this all the time and Bell knew what they were saying.

"We are having a little trouble getting Shane pumped up for the concert." Nate said. Belle frowned.

"Oh." She said, simply. Jason shook his head.

"No, we are having a lot of trouble." Jason said. "He doesn't want to go on stage at all."

"Oh, that's not good." Belle said. She leaned against the counter and watched Jason tie his tie.

"No." Jason said.

"At least he's here." Belle offered. Jason and Nate again looked at each other. Belle sighed. "Just say it, guys. I can read your silent conversations anyway."

"Yeah, he's here, but he's refusing to go out." Nate said.

"We tried every way to coax him into going out." Jason said. He looked at his tie it was lopsided. He untied it again. "Dad's going to try to talk to him. If that doesn't work… Well, we have yet to see Shane refuse a direct order from Dad."

"Wow." Belle said. Shane didn't want to go out there and have a good time when Ruth was laying in a hospital bed because of him.

Jason was yanking his tie out again. Belle took pity on him. "Let me." She said. She shooed his hands away from the tie and tied it herself.

"Wow, you do that better than me." He said as he went to tighten it. Belle noticed that his hands trembled. She pulled her hands away.

"Are you okay?" She asked, him quietly without Nate hearing. Jason glanced at Nate, but he was on his phone. Jason cleared his throat and straightened his tie.

"It's hard, seeing Shane this way." Jason said. "I try to keep a strong front, but sometimes I feel like I'm crumbling on the inside."

Belle fixed his tie for him and took his hands in hers. "You feel like you are the older brother. You are supposed to be protecting Shane from things like this."

Jason looked at her, surprised by her insight. Belle smiled.

"Jason, you can't protect him from everything. He has to grow." She said. "You just have to be there to support him."

"Thanks." Jason said, as he thought about all she had said. He hugged her. "This is going to be a hard concert."

"Why don't you tell the audience what's going on?" Belle asked. "They would understand."

Mr. Grey then came out of the room and went out the door. They all watched him leave, shaking his head.

"I guess Shane was still being stubborn." Jason said. "The only thing for him to do now is to order Shane to go on the stage."

"How long do you have?" Belle asked. Jason looked at the clock on the wall.

"Fiveish minutes." He said.

"Can I try talking to him?" She asked. Jason shrugged as he brushed his hair.

"Be my guest." He said. Belle went into the other room. Shane was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch. A still full cup of coffee sat on the floor next to him. Belle sat next to him. He glanced at her.

"Guess you here to tell me to go out there too?" He asked. Belle shrugged.

"You have to do what you think is right." Belle said. She smiled. "But if you don't go out there, I think you dad is going to order you."

Shane winced. Belle reached across him and picked up his cup of coffee. "Mind if I have a sip?" She asked. Shane shrugged. Belle took a sip and winced. Wow, there was a lot of espresso in that drink. She put the cup down. That must be their plan to get Shane pumped.

"Drink some of this." She said. Shane picked it up drank a swallow. He didn't even make a face at the strongness of the coffee. "So you going to go out there?" She asked. He looked at her and kept drinking.

"Shane, I am sure your dad told you all of this, but I will to. Shane, your job is to entertain. You have to act no matter how you are feeling." Belle said. "Ruth would be so mad at you if she knew you were sitting here feeling upset and that you were even thinking of disappointing your fans because you feel sorry for yourself." Belle said, harshly. "You shouldn't just sit here in self-pity. The fans out there are counting on you. Are you going to just sit here? That is selfish."

Belle was hoping to make Shane irritated and it worked. He glared at her and stood up. He didn't say anything though. He finished off the coffee and put it on the table.

"Fine." He said. "I'll go out there, but not for you, not for me, not for all those fans out there. For Ruth."

Belle stood up and gave him a quick hug. "Good." She said. She went back to Jason and Nate in the other room.

"He's going to do it." Belle said. Jason looked at her and raised an eyebrow. She smiled. "I have my ways. Plus, your dad just gave him like four espressos."

Jason smiled and Nate laughed. "At least he'll be pumped."

Belle turned to leave.

"Belle." Jason said. She paused in the doorway. "We thought about what you said, about telling the fans. Will you do it?"

Belle paled. "Go out there in front of all those people and tell them about Ruth?"

"Yeah." Jason said.

"I don't know…" She started.

"What's wrong? Ruth would want you too." Shane said, slyly. Belle glared at him. He smiled.

"Fine." Belle said. "I will do it."

Belle wiped her hands on her pants as she gripped the microphone. She was insane. The opening band went off the stage leaving the crowd cheering. Suddenly all the music stopped and a single spotlight shined on the stage. The audience was silent as they wondered what was going on. Belle walked out and stood in the spotlight. She cleared her throat and then started to speak into the microphone. Her voice flooded the building.

"Good evening everyone." She said. "I know you are waiting for the Grey Brother-" a cheer went up. Belle waited until it stopped to continue. "But they asked me to talk to you first. My name is Belle. I wanted to share a few things with you. The Grey Brothers have had a hard week. Just a few days ago, Shane hit a girl with his car." A gasp went through the crowd. The music for "A Little Bit Longer" started.

"Her name was Ruth Cover. She was taken to the hospital right away." Beth said. "The entire Grey family is taking it hard, especially Shane. He didn't want to perform tonight, but he knows you are all counting on him and he's going to come out." Belle paused. She was losing control of her emotions. "All…they ask is that you bare with them. This is going to be a very…hard concert for them to perform. They need your strength. Ruth is…my best friend. She is…in the hospital today. She has a concussion and several broken bones. She has been in… a coma for several days." Bella said. "No one is even sure that she is…going to…make it." Bella choked out. She put her hand over face as she started to cry.

Suddenly Jason was beside her. He put his arm around her and kissed her temple. "You almost made it." He whispered. "Just take a minute." Belle struggled to be in control again. Finally, she spoke.

"I have one last thing to say." She said. She wiped her face. Jason said next to her. Nate and Shane came and stood with her. They looked to be struggling to control their emotions too.

"This is the last concert the Grey Brothers are performing before Christmas." She said. "Ruth, I know you can't hear me, but this concert is dedicated you."

The crowd erupted into applause as Belle hugged each of the brothers then walked of the stage as they started to sing "A Little Bit Longer". Belle was swept into a hug by Frankie, and Mr. and Mrs. Grey.

It was one of the best concerts Belle had ever been to. She watched the rest of it from backstage and was just as exhausted as they were when it was over. They came walking back stage and over to Belle as staff handed them towels and took their instruments.

"What did you think?" Shane asked as he wiped his face and hair with the towel. Belle was grinning.

"It was awesome." She said. Nate was looking a little pale, she noticed. "Are you okay?"

Nate smiled weakly. "I will be."

"You sure?" She asked. Shane and Jason now looked at Nate also concerned.

"Yeah, I have diabetes and I think my sugar is a little off." Nate explain. "I'm going to go check it, right now."

"He has diabetes?" Belle asked looking at the other two. They nodded. "Me too." She said, quietly. They looked at her.

"Oh." Shane said, surprised. He threw his towel on the nearby table and drank some water.

"You guys should go home and get some sleep." Belle said. They looked tired. "I need to leave anyways."

"Are you going home?" Jason asked. Belle shook her head.

"Back to the hospital." She said. Jason threw his damp towel too.

"Give me ten minutes to change and I'll go with you." He said. Belle shook her head.

"You should go get some sleep." She said. "You must all be exhausted from your concert."

"I can go with you or with out you." Jason said.

"Either way we are still going." Shane added. Belle looked from Shane to Jason and back to Shane. She knew they weren't going to listen to her.

"Fine. Ten minutes." She said, looking at her watch as if she was going to time them. They took off toward their dressing room running.

It actually took twenty minutes before they left for the hospital. Once Jason and Shane were ready they all had to wait for Nate. As soon as they got to Ruth's room, they all started talking about the concert at once. Finally they managed to tell her everything that had happened with many interruptions and shushing.

An hour later, the high wore off and the exhaustion hit. Nate curled up in one of the chairs and fell asleep. Shane was sitting at his usual place at Ruth's side. Soon he followed Nate's example though and put his head on the bed and went to sleep. Jason stretched out on the couch and Belle placed his head on her lap as she reclined on the couch, but neither of them slept.

"Are you afraid for her?" Jason asked, quietly. Belle watched Ruth at the bed. She still had yet to move. Belle sighed and started absently playing with Jason's hair.

"In some ways." Belle said. "I am afraid for her in that what if she dies when she has so much left to experience. I am afraid for what her death will do to her mom, her dad,…Shane."

Her cool fingers and absent playing with his hair, soothed Jason. He was falling asleep. She placed a hand on his chest and he wrapped his hand around hers.

"You don't have to be afraid alone." He whispered, half-asleep already, but meaning every word.

"I know." She said. Jason could have sworn she kissed his temple as he drifted to sleep.

Thanks for reading!! Now please let me know what you think! Just hit that button and type in "good" or "bad"! This is only the first part of chapter three and chapter four is the best one chapter so far!! If I get ten reviews I will update WAY sooner…. ^_^ Thanks!

Crazybluegirl