Chapter 13

Paddy paced the hospital waiting room as Cain comforted a hysterical Chas. Liam stared at the beige wall in front of him, a steady but silent stream of tears splashing onto his leather jacket.

"I can't lose him Cain. I really can't. Everything we've been through, He's just started looking up to me as his mother, for the first time in his life. They can't take him away from me. Not now." Chas sobbed, clinging onto her brother, desperate for some kind of hope for Aaron.

The doctor entered the room and sat down next to Cain.

"We've managed to bring him back. We think the flat line was caused because of his reaction to the medication we gave him earlier."

"Can you help him yet or not?" Paddy asked, wiping his eyes "Have you got those test results back?"

"Unfortunately we are still waiting for the test results. We need to let the drugs work their way out of Aaron's system before we can treat him further."

"So until then you cant do anything for him?" Liam asked

"I'm afraid not, no. "

Liam sighed and nodded his head. "Is he gonna be ok?"

"I'll be honest with you, I'm afraid I can't answer that right now. It's all up to Aaron now. If he wants to fight this, he will. We just need to run a few more tests and then you can see him again." the doctor smiled, placing a reassuring hand on Liam's shoulder before leaving the room.

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"Liam? Look I know this is not really what we need right now, But I want to know what you were talking about earlier, all of the "this cant happen again" stuff. What's going on?" Cain asked "I'm just looking out for our Aaron, that's all."

Liam sighed and rubbed his eyes, tiredness taking over his body. "My mum died when I was 17. I'm just scared I'm gonna lose someone else I care about."

Cain nodded his head and placed his hand on Liam's shoulder "I'm sorry about your mum. But you've got to understand I'm looking out for Aaron."

Liam nodded his head "Yeah I know. I'm not gonna hurt him, Cain."

"Good. Cause if you do you've got me to deal with."

Liam nodded his head and sighed, wondering how much longer he could keep his secret. He rubbed his hands over his face and Chas smiled. "Our Aaron does that, When he's stressed. Think you've picked up all his habits already!"

"He is going to be ok, isn't he Chas?" Liam asked, twirling a ring around on his finger.

"Yeah, Course he is. He's a fighter. He's got through worse. That's a lovely ring by the way." Chas smiled, admiring the sparkling silver band.

"Thank you." Liam smiled

"Where did you get it?"

"I got it made. Special like." Liam smiled, continuing to twirl it on his finger.

"Well I suppose with you being a rock star and all you can afford it!"

Liam nodded "Sorry about the way this might come across, but I got it made out of my Mum's ashes."

"Oh Liam, I'm sorry."

"It's ok. You weren't to know" Liam smiled, cringing inside as lie after lie began to unfold.

The doctor soon re-entered the room, smiling. "Aaron's woken up."

Chas sighed with relief "Thank god! Can I see him?"

"He has asked for you Miss Dingle. Bear in mind though, he does unfortunately have blood poisoning. Although he's awake he's still very ill. He will be in pain and may slip in and out of consciousness. They're all classic symptoms. He is very confused as to where he is aswell, but once the drugs are out of his system we can treat him and hopefully that will improve."

Chas nodded and followed the doctor to Aaron's room. She looked inside and was relieved to see her son's eyes open. He looked very ill and pale but he was alive and that was all that mattered. She entered his room and sat down on a chair next to his bed.

"Hey you." She smiled, stroking his hand.

"Mum…What…What happened?" Aaron asked, his voice muffled by the oxygen mask. He tried taking it off but Chas stopped him

"You need to leave that on Aaron, It's helping you breathe properly. You've been stabbed in the chest love. The doctors had to operate and you had an allergic reaction to the meds they put you on. It's given you slight blood poisoning, but they said you are going to be ok."

"It… hurts.." Aaron groaned.

"It will Aaron, it will. They can't give you any more pain relief until the drugs you have in your system now have cleared. Don't want to overdose on top of everything else do you?" Chas laughed

"Mum…Liam.."

"Liam's ok. He's here. Do you want me to get him?"

"Stay…just for a little bit longer…..please?" Aaron asked, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"I'll be here Aaron. Get some sleep love. I'm staying right here." Chas smiled.

Aaron nodded his head weakly, and slowly gave in to the sleep that was desperately overtaking his exhausted body.

TBC