A/N: You know how people say "I have good news and bad news"? Well, this time, I only have bad news. I cut a chapter, so the next one...will be the last chapter of Lost & Found...ever. This is the second-to-last chapter, and the first multichapter I've ever finished.

Wow. Never thought I'd be able to say that.

Anyway...I do hope you enjoy this chapter, and...well, be prepared for the next one, because I'll most likely be an emotional mess.

/o~~~o/

What's your worst fear?

Some people fear heights, dying, spiders, and small spaces. Some fear dogs, flying, dirt, or thunder storms. But me? I was afraid of failure.

During my time in the performing arts school, my fears had become a reality. They asked me to perform in front of a crowd every Friday (They did that with everyone), and I was too scared to perform every single time. Yet, they made me do it anyway, and I failed with the chords, lyrics, and the confidence every single time.

It wasn't until some random girl came up to me and gave me the confidence to do something with my music that I finally stepped up and asked for a record deal. I knew it was a one in a million shot, but Aaron was interested in me, and now...here I was, Fabian Rutter, famous singer. My fears had been alleviated for once in my life.

My fears had just been coming back to haunt me. I had failed as a boyfriend. I had failed as a father. Maybe my child was still safe and sound, with my sisters, sleeping over my house, but Nina had just been in an accident.

An accident.

I didn't even know what type of accident.

Eddie hung up as soon as he told me the address of the hospital.

The hospital.

The hospital that I was supposed to drive to, knowing Nina was suffering in there, knowing that I had let her get hurt and I wasn't the one to take the bullet for her this time. The hospital that held my girlfriend, the girlfriend who had been in an accident that I knew nothing about. All her bones could be broken, she could be in a coma for all I knew, or she could even be dead.

How would it feel to see Nina in a coffin, being lowered into the ground? How would Emma feel, knowing that was her mother in there? How would I feel, knowing I had full responsibility of Emma now, and she had no mother to take care of her? How different would things be if Nina actually wasn't okay, and she was dead, and I'd never get to see her again?

I'd never see her smile, or laugh at a cheesy joke that I made up on the spot, yet she laughed anyway. She'd never rant about the movies and TV shows she was passionate about, or email me even though we had each other's phone numbers now, or take Emma to the park and flip off paparazzi together.

I had no freaking idea what to do.

I was sitting upright in my bed, my red comforter covering my blue Spider-Man fleece blanket. I stared at the wall, not knowing what to do, telling myself Come on, you have to go to the hospital, Nina's there, she's waiting for you but I couldn't force myself out of bed. I was glued to it.

I don't know how long it was, but I was brought back to reality by my phone ringing again. I fumbled around, reaching for my phone, my hands shaking uncontrollably. I must have been scared shitless, because the last time I had shook this hard was the first time I was performing for Aaron.

"H-hel-hello?" I stuttered once I had gripped my phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"FABIAN!" A voice on the other line screamed so loud, I lost grip of the phone and it flew out of my hands and on to the floor. While I leaned over the bed, I saw who it was; Aaron. It wasn't Eddie, or Mara, or even Nina calling to tell me if Nina was alive or if she was dead; it was my manager calling, probably to tell me about the concert I had today.

Once I had fumbled with the phone to bring it up to my ear again, i greeted, "Hi, Aaron," my voice still shaky. "What...what's, um, what's the problem?"

"Fabian, I have called you NINE TIMES, and this is the time you have picked up." I apologized quickly, trying to think things through while at the same time trying to listen to my manager. "What's the problem?" He repeated my question, once he had accepted my apology. "Well, you have a very important concert today, and you need to get ready right now."

I didn't answer that. My thoughts didn't go to the concert (Which Aaron was right; it was a very important concert to my career), it went to Nina and Eddie and Mara in the hospital room, Mara crying her eyes out because she was a paranoid mess and Eddie probably being ready to strange me since I wasn't there yet. My thoughts went to Nina in a hospital bed, maybe awake or maybe not, either waiting for death or waiting for me.

"Fabian?" Aaron's voice came through the phone again, now calm and collected rather than angry. "Fabian, you've been silent for about two minutes now, and I've heard...muttering coming through the phone. Is everything okay?"

"No," I answered immediately, finally being able to push myself out of bed and pacing my bedroom. "No, Aaron, everything's not okay. I...I don't know what to do, and Nina might possibly be dead, and my child might have no mother and god – oh – Aaron I don't know what I'd do if she was dead she means so much to me and Aaron please, please, please–"

"Wait, hold on," Aaron's voice was commanding now, but only because he was trying to sort me out, and I knew that. He must have been confused, but..."Alright, Fabian, deep breaths. One..."

Inhale.

"Two..."

Exhale.

And by the time he got to ten, I was calm again. Or at least as calm as I could be with the possibly of my girlfriend being dead. I didn't want her to dead, I didn't want her to be hurt and I didn't want Eddie to strangle me if I got there late, I wanted to be there with her and them and I wanted her to recover and–

"Fabian, it's going to be okay," Aaron assured me, but I couldn't be so sure. "I'm sure she'll be fine. From what you've told me about her, Nina's a tough cookie. She'll push through the pain if she has to. Okay, mate? Listen to me. /She'll be fine./"

"You don't even know what happened to her."

"That's true...I don't. What happened to her!"

"I don't know either!" I wailed, sitting back down on my bed and burying my head in my hands. I was too shocked, too confused, too scared to cry. No tears came, and I didn't feel any coming, either. "Aaron, I – I don't know – I have no idea what to do."

"Is she in a hospital?" Aaron asked carefully, knowing not to tread on dangerous territory.

"Yeah," I breathed, running my fingers through my hair.

"Do you know how to get there?"

"Yeah," I breathed again, my chest hurting more than if you dropped a brick on it. It hurt so much it pained me just to think about it.

"Alright then, go to the hospital," Aaron told me calmly, knowing that if his voice was panicked, I'd go into a panicked state as well. "I'll call you later, but remember, this concert is important."

"I know," I breathed, my voice shaking again, along with my entire body. "Okay. T-th-thank you, Aaron."

"No problem, kid."

He hung up, and I groaned, staring at the ceiling. I was expected to go to the hospital and see Nina there, for who knows how long. Hospitals had always bothered me, ever since I was a kid. When Rosie tackled Olivia once in a game of football my sisters were playing once a few years back, and Olivia broke her ankle and wrist from the fall, I spent my entire day in the hospital in the cafeteria instead of her hospital room. I didn't go in there until my mother threatened to drag me in there by the ear.

Now, instead of Olivia being in there because of a football accident, Nina was in there because of some accident I didn't even know about. It could have been a mugging, an attempted murder, a fall, a car accident, a —

A car accident.

She was in a car when I called her.

She ended the conversation mid-sentence when I was on the phone with her.

The phone went dead after that.

An accident.

A car accident.

"Oh, Jesus Christ."

/o~~~o/

Checklist:

Bag with food (since I hated hospital food)? Check.

Extra clothes, both for Nina and I? Check.

Emma sleeping soundly with my sisters instead of anywhere else? Double check.

I didn't want to bring Emma with me, since it was a big hospital with tons of people and someone there would recognize me. I didn't want to attract attention to myself or my daughter, especially considering the circumstances.

I was out the door in a flash, driving a vehicle that had caused Nina's downfall. I know I shouldn't have thought like that, but I didn't know what else to call it; she was in an accident, it was mostly my fault, and now I was on the way to see the result of that accident. I was much later then expected; Eddie called me at 3 AM, and the clock in the car told me it was 4:30. An hour and a half had passed since he called me.

I drove carefully, making sure not to do anything reckless. I didn't want to get myself in an accident because I was too nervous about Nina's accident. I stopped at every stop sign. I didn't turn right on red, or anything else that was allowed on roads.

I turned the radio on to distract me from my thoughts, but it didn't do much good. Even with music playing, all I could think about was going there and seeing her, seeing her broken, seeing the end results of the accident.

I thought of choices on the way there. Good choices and bad choices both, and even though the bad choices didn't make me feel any better, it sure was better than not knowing anything.

Choice 1: Nina was alive, and she was already awake. The receptionist would direct me to her room, and I'd see her awake and alert as soon as I walked inside her room.

Choice 2: Nina had died while I was talking with Aaron, and Eddie and Mara would be in front of her room. They'd stop me from going in there, and tell me that my girlfriend had died because of an accident I had partly caused. Eddie would try to strangle me on sight and Mara would run away crying because her best friend was dead.

Choice 3: Nina was alive, but not awake. The receptionist would direct me to her room, and Eddie, Mara, and I would walk in there to see her asleep. We'd wait until she woke up, and then I'd know she was fine and everything would be okay.

Choice 4: A coma, like any of those soap operas I may or may not have watched. Who knows how long she'd be in one, but I wouldn't be able to wake her up and she'd be stuck in that state, unable to see me or her friends or the world.

Choice 5: By the time I got there, Nina would be alive. But when Eddie, Mara, and I stepped into her hospital room, her heart would stop and she would die. I'd see her die and I'd never be the same again.

I truly hoped for Choice 1.

I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. It was truly scary, because I looked up and it had to be at least ten stories high, and Nina, Eddie, and Mara were in there somewhere.

I closed my hands into fists to stop them from shaking, but I'm pretty sure they still were as I pushed the front doors opened and the smell of a hospital overwhelmed me. I was here, and so were the other three.

I walked up to the receptionist and placed my shaking hands on the desk. "Excuse me?" I asked quietly, since it was 5 in the morning.

The person behind the desk looked up, a woman around my age with short blonde hair. "How may I help you?" She asked me, her voice as quiet as mine was...until she recognised my face. "Oh my god. You're...you're–"

"Fabian Rutter, I know," I shook my head slowly, not wanting to be rude or mean.

"Whoa," the woman behind the desk stared at my face, confused. "Dude, I'm, like, your biggest fan. I love your music! Why are you here?!"

I smiled weakly; even in my state, I still loved it when I heard that people liked me and my music. I glanced at the woman's name tag: Hope. "I'm sorry, Hope. I promise I can give you whatever you want later, but...I'm kind of in an emergency. Could you, um, could you direct me to a room?"

Hope shook her head quickly, bringing herself back down to earth. "Yes, of course!" She told me, looking down at her computer. "Who do you need to see?"

"Nina Martin," I told her calmly, as if my palms weren't shaking even harder than before. Hope typed the name up on the computer, and a few results came up in a flash.

"She's still getting situated," Hope said quietly. "A doctor will tell me and you her room as soon as humanly possible. But there are...three people waiting for her in the waiting area, so feel free to join them."

"Thank you," I told her gratefully, smiling at her. I was going to give he something on my way out of here, because she was my fan, after all. Hope seemed nice, kind, and sweet; I didn't want to deny her something just because I was in a rush, but I needed to see Nina and the three people in the waiting room.

And that's when I realized; three people? Eddie and Mara were certainly two of them, but who was the other one?

I decided to blow it off and walk into the waiting room to the right.

It was a big waiting room, which was surprisingly not empty for five in the morning. It had blue walls and blue cushioned seats, with tables to the sides of every five. I ignored the shake that had now moved to my legs instead of my hands, and looked around for a blond and a brunette.

Eventually, I found them. Mara was sitting down in a chair, her leg bobbing up and down with anticipation. Eddie was up, pacing the room, and I stopped to listen before intruding.

"Eddie, would you please stop pacing?" Mara asked. "You're giving me a headache."

"I'm sorry," I heard Eddie mutter, but the footsteps continued, as if he never stopped. "But I'm scared, okay? They haven't told us if she's okay or not."

"I'm sure she's okay," Mara's voice continued, softly but with a hint of confidence. "The doctors...they would tell us if she..."

"Don't talk like that," I finally interrupted them, making both Mara and Eddie turn their heads to face me. "She isn't dead, okay? She isn't dead."

"Wow, it only took you two hours to show up," Eddie snarled at me, sitting down and crossing his arms across his chest. "We've been waiting for you since three, and it's five now! Where have you been, Fabian?"

"I'm sorry," I apologized quickly, sitting next to Mara and trying to halt the shake in my legs. "I...I was...scared. And shocked. And I hard to work things out with Aaron, because–"

"I don't care," Eddie commanded, his face trying to look angry, but the sadness still lingering. Nina was one of his best friends, and she was in this hospital right now yet he had no clue if she was okay or not. "You could have been here, but you chose to take a long time. We've been waiting for you this entire time."

"In sorry, okay?" I wanted to be angry, but I really couldn't be. "I'm scared too. Nina's not just my girlfriend, she's the mother of my child and more. I'm just as scared and concerned as you are, so stop yelling at me!"

At this, Eddie's hard expression softened and he slowly sat down next to me. Mara took in a shaky breath, and I rubbed her arm in reassurance.

Now Eddie was the one to apologize. "I'm sorry. I'm just...nervous that something is gonna go wrong and she'll...well...you know."

"I understand," I sympathized, "I'm nervous too. I...don't know what I'd do if I lost her. Also, the receptionist told me that a third person was here with her. Who is it?"

"My dad," Eddie answered almost immediately. "After I...got the call that told me Nina had been in a car accident, I woke my dad up because I figured we'd need an adult here. He's in the cafeteria now, getting something for us to eat. I'm starving."

"Me too," Mara agreed quietly, smiling sadly. She was just as scared as Eddie and I were.

I focused on Eddie's sentence; so she was definitely in a car accident, probably right as she "hung up" on me, if she had even hung up on me at all. The sentence she cut short on, could have been the sentence that she stopped on because another car hit hers.

"Did they tell you what the damage was?" I asked carefully, not knowing if I wanted to know or not. Just hearing about her injuries (she obviously had some injuries if she was in the hospital) would cause me pain.

"No," Eddie shook his head, fixing me with a look of sympathy. "If I knew, I'd tell you. I'm sorry, Fabian. I'm just scared for her. I still don't know if she's okay or not, because the doctor won't tell me anything until she's got a room, and everything, like, documented...I can't tell you anything about her condition, and I'm sorry."

"It's alright." As Eddie moved over to Mara to strike up a short conversation with her, I decided to glance around the waiting area. For five in the morning, there seemed to be a lot of different people here: an older man and a younger woman who was holding her nose with a bloody paper towel; a group of young teenage guys who were muttering silently to themselves, and from what I could hear from where I was sitting it sounded like complete gibberish; and a little girl who looked no older than 8 with bruises all over her face and arms.

A few minutes later, Eddie's dad returned with two pretzels wrapped in tinfoil and two sodas. He stopped dead when he saw me, and Eddie grabbed the pretzels and sodas before they could drop. "Who are you?" He asked me, as I was sitting next to his son and his friend.

"He's Emma's father," Eddie answered nonchalantly, pretzel in his mouth. "Fabian, this is my dad, Eric Sweet."

"Ah," Mr. Sweet muttered, scanning me over. I was used to this, as I was famous, but having my girlfriend's best friend's father examine me have me a little bit of an anxiety rush. "So where were you the first two years of Emma's life, huh?"

"Dad," Eddie groaned, helping the pretzel travel down his esophagus. Mara was still in her corner, eating her pretzel like the little loner she was. "It doesn't matter, we've sorted things out now. It wasn't just Fabian's fault that he wasn't there when Emma was born, or the first two years of her life. They've made up now, and they're boyfriend and girlfriend. It's all good."

Mr. Sweet glanced me over again, probably judging me, and I became so insecure I moved around in my seat until I was facing the sunrise.

Silence ensued. We tried to make awkward conversation, but when I asked, "Do you think she's okay?" Mara started to panic in the event that Nina wasn't okay and Eddie had to calm her down. By the time it reached 6:30, there were dry tears on her cheeks.

"I'm serious, though," I started up again, making Eddie groan and tilt his head back in exasperation. "You've been here since three o'clock, right? Why have you been sitting here for three and a half hours? Is she okay or not?"

Mara squeaked and covered her head with her hands. As Eddie comforted her, Mr. Sweet got up and told me quietly, "I'll go and check if everything's okay. Stay here."

I assumed he was talking to everyone, so I exhaled and leaned back in my chair.

"I'm nervous," I muttered, almost silently.

"Me too," Mara agreed.

I was almost expecting Eddie to say "Me three", but he remained silent, and the three of us stayed that way while Mr. Sweet was gone.

"I'm gonna go get something from the vending machine," Eddie said with barely any emotion, pushing himself out of the cushioned chair and walking across the hallway.

The other people in the waiting room had either all been called in, or left on their own time. The young woman and old man with the bloody nose had gotten a bandage. The 8-year-old girl's mother had come back and brought her into a different room. The drunk guys had all been tested and sent home in a taxi cab.

As Mara and I were alone, I began to notice some other things; like the stack of wheelchairs by the revolving door, unused by many. The swinging door leading into the hospital rooms, opening and closing by the staff. The consistent BEEP that had been heard since I walked in.

"That beep is annoying, isn't it?" I asked Mara and, once again, she agreed with me.

The silence between us wasn't awkward, but it wasn't particularly comfortable either. "Wanna make a bet?"

"What kind of bet?" That got Mara's attention and spark back a little bit, but the tears were still on her cheeks and she had a whole stack of tissues for her runny nose.

"What floor do you think Nina's room will be on?" I asked, moving to the seat next to her, which originally was Eddie's.

"I dunno," she shrugged, even though I could tell she was thinking about it. "Umm...the seventh floor."

"I think she'll be on the ninth."

Mara nodded, and turned away. "Oh look, Eddie's coming back!" She told me silently, though her slap to get m attention wasn't as silent. "He looks...distressed."

He was sure as hell distressed by the time he approached us. His hair was matted, like he had ran his fingers through it one too many times. "Eddie!" Mara exclaimed, sprinting towards him so fast that a nurse had to tell her to slow down. "Eddie, what's wrong? What took you so long to get your snack? Did you find out if Nina was okay? What floor is she on?"

"She's alive," he confirmed, lifting a huge thousand-pound wait off of my chest. Nina was okay. She was alive. Choice 2 and Choice 5 were eliminated. "Do you guys, um, do you want to see her?" He grabbed a crisp out of his bag and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Yeah," Mara said, her exited tone turning into a nervous one. Eddie's tone of voice had made me a little anxious as well; he didn't sound too pleased to find out Nina was alive.

He ushered us into the elevator, and surprisingly no one followed, so it was just us three. Without Nina (and without knowing what happened to Eddie's dad) the elevator felt bigger, somehow. "So, what floor is Nina on?" Mara wondered, before any buttons were pressed.

Without a word and one confused expression later, Eddie pressed his finger on the button with the number eight. Both Mara and I groaned, as we were both wrong, and Eddie sighed; not in exasperation, but in a kind of way like he was done with everything, and just wanted to climb into his bed and sleep.

"What's the damage?" I asked softly, watching the elevator climb from the first floor, second floor, third floor... I didn't know for sure if he knew, but his tired expression and the look like he was a puppy that had just been stepped on gave away the impression that he had seen her.

"Broken leg," he began, no emotion whatsoever, and just like that, the thousand-pound weight came crashing back down on my chest again. Just when I thought a broken leg was bad, I realized that Eddie wasn't finished. "Fractured arm. The bones in her hand are...shattered, and there's cuts and bruises all over from the broken glass."

Fifth floor. Sixth floor. Seventh floor. We reached the eighth floor without saying a word, my legs shaking more and more by the passing second.

"She's in room...807," Eddie remembered suddenly, leading us across the hallway. Mara leaned on me for support, while I tried to play off the impression that my hands weren't trembling inside the pockets of my jeans, and my legs weren't shaking with every step I took. "And she's sleeping...the doctor told us not to wake her up if we don't have to, just to let her wake up on her own. That means no yelling, and no crying, alright, Mara?"

She glared at him, but took in a shaky breath and nodded. We arrived in front of a door with the number 807...next to it stood a sign that said: PATIENTS: Amber Delamater, age 13...Nina Martin, age 17. Just seeing her name on the plaque made me shiver. I didn't know what would await me as soon as I opened the door.

"Let's go inside, then." Eddie looked almost as scared as I was. He took in a large breath, and pushed the door open.

The first thing I saw was Eddie's dad, sitting in a chair, reading a magazine. He looked up at us and smiled, pausing when he saw me. Instead of the angry expression he wore earlier, it was now sympathetic and concerned, and it didn't make me feel any better about what it would look like when I turned my head and saw my girlfriend on the hospital bed to my right.

Eddie and Mara took their seats on either side of her bed, but I was still hesitant to turn around. Mr. Sweet's magazine was discussing something on cars; I didn't know he was such a car enthusiast. Eddie finally got my attention by saying, "So...are you gonna turn around, or...?"

"Yep," I muttered quickly, telling myself to suck it up...and eventually, I did. And it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it still hit me like a ton of bricks.

She was asleep (or so I hoped), but the heart monitor, a constant sound, told me she was breathing and her heart was still beating. Her right leg was elevated

"But she's alive?" Was the first logical thought out of my mouth. Seeing her asleep — breathing still, but just asleep — pulled at my heart strings. I didn't know why; the monitor clearly stated that she was alive, and she'd be waking up on her own sometime soon.

I wanted to touch her, but at the same time, I didn't. I knew she was okay by now, but I also wanted to touch her to see if she'd open her eyes, and the familiar pale green color I knew and loved would appear again. I wanted her to assure me that she felt fine, even with broken bones and cuts on her face. It had only been a few hours, but I was missing her already.

"Are you gonna take a seat, or...?" Eddie asked me, making me turn around. Anyone could see the tremble in my legs right now, but Eddie and Mara, sitting on Nina's left, seemed perfectly fine. I took the respective seat on her right, waiting for Nina to wake up and say hello, ask where Emma is, and I'd have to tell her that I had called her and some idiot had crashed into her car.

"Did the guy..." I began, looking over Nina's body to Eddie and Mara, "did the other half of the car crash get taken to the hospital too, or...?"

"Not that I know of," Eddie shrugged, turning his body around to face his father. I couldn't tear my eyes away from my girlfriend on the bed, her chest moving up and down, her head facing Eddie and Mara's side instead of mine. "But...they didn't tell me anything about the guy that had crashed into her."

"What did they tell you, anyway?" I asked, just wanting to divert my attention away from anything that might have to do with Nina, and her broken bones and cuts and scrapes and anything that had to do with the car crash. "Like...when they called you this morning."

"They woke me up at like one thirty," Eddie told me, yawning, only confirming his alibi. "They...they said I was the first speed dial on Nina's phone, which miraculously survived the crash somehow. I answered, of course, and they said that she had been in an accident and was asked to come down to this hospital immediately. I woke my dad up because I realized there would need to be an adult here, and when I got here they said she was in the emergency room and would be getting a room soon. I couldn't see her, so they told me to go in the waiting room...I called Mara there and she came...like pretty much as soon as I called her, which was around two AM."

Eddie yawned again, leaning back in his chair. He continued, "We were there for about an hour when Mara realized that we didn't call you. I remembered that Emma was sleeping over your house, so I wasn't concerned about her at the time, but...Mara demanded for me to call you even though I was pacing the floor like a maniac. I called you, told you the hospital and hung up."

"You told me you didn't know if Nina was okay or not," I remembered, and Eddie nodded accordingly.

"Yeah, that's because I didn't," Eddie shrugged, looking down at his friend on the hospital bed. I never thought about how he must be feeling; he always, somehow, felt the need to protect her even when she was strong enough to protect herself. I supposed it was because what went on during her pregnancy, but when it fizzled down, he must have been concerned when she heard she was talking to the man who basically ruined her life (Me).

When Eddie was here alone, he must have been terrified. One of his best friends was in the emergency room, and he didn't even know if she was still alive. If I was the first one on Nina's speed dial, if the paramedics had called me instead of Eddie...well...

I didn't even know how I was feeling; I was scared, nervous, and grateful at the same time. The crash could have killed her, but instead it only broke a few bones and scraped her skin a little bit. Her chest was still moving and even though her head was facing Eddie and Mara's side, she was alive.

I felt tempted to wake her up; to ask her how she was feeling, if she needed a nurse or a doctor, if she wanted anything to eat. I know Eddie told me to leave her be, to let her wake up on her own time, but...

I grabbed Nina's hand — the one that was on my side — and just held it in mine, caressing this fingers and waiting for her to wake up.

For the next hour or so, Eddie, Mara, and I talked. Mr. Sweet was in the cafeteria, sitting and drinking tea instead of in the room with us, and we told him we'd meet him the cafeteria whenever we were hungry.

We talked about the school that Eddie, Mara, and Nina went to; Eddie's girlfriend Patricia, and how she seemed to be even more annoying than usual; Mara's studies and her sort-of relationship with Jerome; and what would happen once Nina was discharged out of here. Where would she go, who would take her home, and what would happen.

She tossed and turned a lot, and every time she did that, I really kind of hoped that she would open her eyes and talk to us, but every time she was just moving in her sleep.

By the time the clock on the wall reached 9 in the morning, Eddie's stomach was growling so loud even I could hear it, so I reluctantly left Nina's hospital room to go to the cafeteria with Eddie's dad and the others.

I didn't let Mara or anyone else pay, because I was the famous one and I had the money here. We went on line and bought panini sandwiches; mine had tomato, chicken, and mozzarella cheese, and I didn't really pay attention to what Eddie or Mara got. We took our seats after standing on line for a few minutes, and the first thing any of us did: Mara took a sip of her orange juice.

None of us spoke until my phone buzzed on the table.

"Who's that?" Eddie wondered, his mouth full of food. I waited for him to chew and swallow before I answered, because I didn't want any flying chewed pieces of food spewing at me.

"My manager," I groaned, opening the text message from him. It read: Fabian, your concert is soon, and you know it's SUPER DUPER important. Get your ass back to the house now, you can visit your girlfriend later. I didn't tell Eddie or Mara what it said, so I let the phone go to sleep, leaning back in the chair. "There's, um...there's this important concert that I'm supposed to go to today."

"For Valentine's Day?" Mara wondered, and I nodded. "Huh. I never noticed...today's Valentine's Day. The day of love."

"And we're spending it in the hospital," Eddie laughed, his smile weak. "I could be spending it with Patricia...but she never really liked doing anything couply..."

"You could go, if you want," I told him nonchalantly, cutting off a piece of my sandwich with a plastic knife since I had always been insecure about the way I ate, especially around people. "I don't care, and I'm pretty sure Mara doesn't care, either. Do you, Mara?"

Mara nodded her head in confirmation, but Eddie blew me off with the wave of his hand. "Nah...it's fine, anyway. I want to know if Nina's okay or not, so I'll stay here with you guys. If Patricia wants to call me, I'll go out in front or something. Besides, it's not bad being here. I was always in a hospital when I was younger."

I didn't say anything to that, because I realized that I really didn't know Eddie or Mara like I knew Nina. Because if I knew Nina, I knew that when she woke up, she'd try to fight through the pain of her broken bones and say that it barely hurt. She'd try to divert the conversation, no matter how many times I would try to go back to the subject of her and the fight we had before the accident and what was happening now, with the outcome of that accident.

"Wait," Mara interrupted again, helping her whatever-panini to travel down her esophagus. "Didn't you say you had an important concert today?!"

"Yeah," I nodded, looking down at the text message Aaron had send me, unreplied to. "But...it's not till noon, anyway. I still have two hours."

"Doesn't it take a while to get ready for a concert?" Mara continued to pry.

"This is more important," I shrugged, playing with my cut-up chicken and tomato and mozzarella panini. "Like I said, Nina isn't just my girlfriend. She's the mother of my child. She's the oldest flame I have. She's the reason why I'm famous. She's a friend. If I went to that concert...I wouldn't know if Nina is okay or not, and I'd hate myself for it. I wouldn't be able to perform any songs correctly without knowing she's okay."

"Well, we don't want to get you in trouble," Eddie said, barely any emotion in his tone. I could tell he was tired (beyond tired; probably exhausted), and just wanted to sleep. "And I'm sure Nina wouldn't, either. If you want to...well, not if you want to, you have to leave right now and go to the concert. Your fans are waiting for you, Fabian, and you don't want to let them down."

"I know, but—"

"No buts." Eddie interrupted me, yawning yet again. "You're going to that concert. Besides, I an always text you when she's awake and let you talk to her over the phone or something. Now I'll...I'll, uh, go back to Nina's room, to check if...if any doctors or anything have been in there. I'll be right...I'll be right back."

Mara and I watched him leave the cafeteria, leaving just us.

"I feel like a dick," I muttered, sipping my apple juice, opposite Mara's orange.

"Because of the concert thing?" Mara asked, mirroring me.

"No..." I regretted saying this, but it had to be said. I couldn't keep this big of a revelation inside of me forever; I'd explode if I didn't get it out. "Um...well, I realized, on the car ride here, that...that I may be at fault...that I may be thereasonwhyNinagotintothatcaraccidentinthefirstplace."

"What?" Mara asked, though I'm like half sure she heard me perfectly well. When I didn't say anything else, she continued, confirming my suspicion. "What do you mean, that you're the reason she got into the accident in the first place? Some idiot wasn't looking and crashed into her, that's all! She survived the crash, and that's all that really matters, right?"

"Except that I am the reason why she was in the accident," I probably should have let Mara go with her theory, but it just proved how stupid I was to not let it go. "I, um...well, I called her a little after she stormed out of my house. I was asking her what we were going to do, and she just went on and on about how we were going too fast, and when the line went dead...I assumed she had just hung up on me. But now I realize that...well, when the line went dead...it might have been the moment she'd gotten into the accident."

Silence. There were only a few people in the cafeteria, since it was 10 AM, and no one else really wanted to get a panini this early in the day. Mara was soaking this information up, staring at the table between us. "So what you're saying is that the other person in the car accident might not be to blame."

"That's exactly what I'm saying," I grimaced, now being the one to stare at the table. "And now...I have a concert to go to, and Nina got into a car accident because of me. So much for me telling her to drive safely when I first bought her the car," I snorted, but wiped my nose with the sides of my fingers, sniffling. The hospital aroma always did that to me.

Even though Mara started to talk to me about what my friends had been up to, and any other "famous" related things I had done, I couldn't stop thinking about Nina and what happened to her. Broken leg. Fractured arm. Shattered hand. Concussion. Cuts and scrapes all over. I didn't know how much pain she'd be in when she woke up, and the fact that she'd try to hide the pain only made it that much worse.

"I just hope she's okay," I said, without any indication that I had to. "I really hope she's okay."

/o~~~o/

We didn't talk for that much longer.

At least, it didn't feel like that long, until I received a call at 11:52. I knew I was in for it as soon as I know AARON in big letters across my screen, and even though Mara didn't understand why I told her I had to go outside, I rushed to the elevator and waited until I was out of the hospital to answer the phone.

And, of course, the phone call was not pleasant.

He yelled at me for not showing up, and told me that we had to give all the fans who came complete refunds, and one free merchandise item as well. They provided music just as good as I was. We had to reschedule the concert...and he also told me that the tour I was going on, the tour that I would have to leave Nina and Emma and everyone else for, would have to pushed up to next weekend.

The tour. The four month tour that would (now) begin in February and end in June. The tour that I was now forced to go on or my career would not move forward.

I knew that not showing up was wrong, but the mother of my child was in the hospital and I'd never be able to live with myself if I wasn't there to see her wake up. And that was exactly what I was going to do; I was going back there now, I was going to sit next to her and wait until she opened her eyes and saw me sitting right next to her, like I wished I had been doing since I got the call 9 hours earlier.

Mara wasn't in the cafeteria, so I assumed she was back in Nina's room. She'd wait with me, and then she'd help me explain what happened to Nina when she woke up completely confused. I expected Mara to be on the couch and Eddie to be in the chair next to Nina's bed, but surprisngly enough, when I first walked in, the first thing I saw was Eddie snoring on the couch.

I didn't even turn around to look at Nina on the bed; I knew what I'd find. A sleeping girl with broken bones and cuts and bruises and a girl who would been in immense pain when she woke up. So instead, I shook Eddie until he opened his eyes.

"Wha...?" Eddie murmured, sitting up the slightest bit and wiping his eyes free of all the sleep. He recognized me immediately, but only groaned and flopped back down on the couch. I let him do this, because I knew he had been up since 1 AM and the clock on the wall told me it was 12:25 in the afternoon.

I sighed and turned around, expecting to see my girlfriend asleep in her hospital bed, her arms laying at her sides, cuts and scrapes still on her face.

One of those things proved to be right as I finally turned around to see Nina, awake, sitting partially up in the bed. Her open eyes came as quite a shock to me, so when she greeted, "Hi, Fabian", I wanted to punch myself in the gut. I wasn't here when she woke up. She woke up, all alone, and somehow she was sitting up.

"Nina," I whispered, fumbling over my feet and taking my seat in the chair on the left side of her bed. Her green eyes met my blue ones, and we just stood there. She was okay. She was alive, she was awake, her eyes were open and she was staring at me. "Wha...what happened...when did you wake up?"

Nina opened her mouth to speak, but soon found it was too painful to lean upwards like that, so she crashed back against the pillows. "Um...I...a few minutes ago...no one was here. Oh, I'm so tired."

It made me upset that she was saying she was tired so soon after she had woken up, and I knew that I wasn't the reason why she had woken up, but I knew I had to do what I had to do. "Go back to sleep, love," I told her, moving some clumps of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear, but that only made the cuts and scrapes on her face all the more visible. She had two long, thin cuts right under her eye; I was sure some broken pieces of glass had cut her there when the other car crashed into hers.

"I don't want to," she gasped, closing her eyes and leaning against the very unfluffy pillow, to the ceiling. "I want to stay. Ugh, Fabian, it hurts. It hurts."

"I know," I said sympathetically, knowing it was the best thing I could do. I was too afraid to touch her, in fear that I'd touch a soft spot and she'd be in more pain than she already was. "What hurts?"

"Leg," she breathed, her eyes still closed. "Um...arm, too. My face stings. And...OW, my hand is killing me. My hand hurts the most. Why does my hand hurt so much?!"

Luckily, the hand that was on my side of the bed was the one that wasn't broken, so I took it in mine and stroked it, hoping that may calm her nerves. "Okay, Nina, I'm horrible at this," I told her softly, knowing there was a girl on the other side of the curtain. "But listen to me, okay? You're in the hospital because of a car accident."

"I know that," she added unnecessarily, finally opening her eyes, but the only thing that did was show me how much pain she was in. It must be even more painful to know why you were in here, and I couldn't imagine the panic she felt when she opened her eyes and the only person in the room was Eddie, and he was sleeping on the other couch.

"And the doctors will help you, all right?" I told her, rubbing her knuckles with my fingers. "You'll be alright, I promise. This pain will fade."

"You still never answered my question," she gasped, tightening the grip on my hand. Her chest was moving up and down slowly, but the rate on the heart monitor seemed to be fine. The IV was attached to the back of her hand, and extended all the way up her body to her neck, but surprisingly enough she didn't need a nasal cannula; her face was clear except for the cuts and scrapes and bruises. "Why...why does my hand hurt so much? Why does it hurt like a motherfucker?!"

"The bones were shattered in the crash, love," I told her softly, wanting to cradle her face but not wanting to hurt her at the same time. I didn't use the word "love" too often, but now it was the only thing I thought to say. She was my love, she was the mother of my child, she was a friend, she was my girlfriend. "Just don't move it, alright? Keep it still."

"Except other things hurt, too," Nina groaned, making my heart ache for her. "How much...how much was hurt in the...in the...in the car crash?" She looked like she was having trouble trying to get the breath to speak.

Before I could answer her, Nina took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, all before opening them again and taking her hand out of mine. I watched her as she slowly laid her palm on the mattress. It didn't register with me what she was trying to do until she had pushed herself up a few centimeters, only to look like she was going to collapse. However, I caught her before she could fall flat on her back.

I held her softly, leaning her back down on the pillows. She looked annoyed, somehow, that I had done such a "simple" thing for her, what with all that was casted, she'd have trouble doing on her own. "Don't strain yourself, Nina," I told her carefully, caressing her hand again. "The last thing you want to do is put stress on your body."

Nina nodded, but I could tell all she was focusing on was the pain, and nothing I could say would get her to think of anything different I finally answered her question, since I didn't want to leave it hanging, "You broke your leg, and fractured your arm. You have a mild concussion...the bones in your hand are completely shattered, and there's cuts, scrapes, and bruises all over. Nothing more, though."

"Oh," Nina groaned. Just hearing about these things had taken too much out of her."I'm sorry," I heard her mutter, seeing a few tears leak out of her eyes. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't be complaining about all this in...in front of you. I'm...I'm so sorry, Fabian." With her hand free, she moved it onto her chest; she was obviously in a ton of pain (she was crying about it, after all) and yet here she was trying to apologize.

"Nina, you're in tons of pain right now," I told her, wanting to find anything to help her calm down, to make her be in less pain. "You have a right to complain, you're in the bloody hospital!"

"My hand hurts," she whispered, now that she knew she could complain in front of me. "And my leg. And my arm. My head is killing me, too, oh my god, it hurts—"

"I'm calling in a nurse," I told Nina, moving my body to press the button on the wall. "She'll give you some painkillers, and it'll all go away."

"No!" Nina exclaimed, grabbing my attention. While she was laying down on a pillow, I could see the desperation in her expression. "I don't wanna go back to sleep. I wanna stay here with you. I...I love you, Fabian. Don't leave me, please. It hurts."

I had no freaking idea what to do. I wanted Nina to be in less pain, and the painkillers would do that for her, but if she wanted to be with me...I would be denying her that if I forced her to take the painkillers. "Nina, I love you too. I really do. But you have to go back to sleep, okay? You're in a lot of pain right now and it would be unfair of me to keep you in that pain."

I turned around and slammed the button before Nina could protest it anymore. Another few tears came out of her eyes, but I wiped them away as soon as they came. "It'll all be over soon," I promised her, stroking her cheek. "The pain will be gone soon."

While we waited for a nurse to come up with the pills, Nina was still breathing heavily. "Why does my face sting so much?" She wondered innocently, her face contorting as the pain came and went. I told her there were a lot of cuts from the broken glass of her window on her face, arms, and chest, and that was some of the equation of why she was hurting so much.

"I'm sorry for not using other...adjectives," Nina gasped again, holding her hand to her chest. I couldn't wait to send her back under again, so she wouldn't have to be in this much pain anymore. The nurse was taking much too long. "It just...it just hurts, and I can't think of anything else. It hurts so much."

"What hurts the most?" I asked her, which probably wasn't the smartest thing to ask, but I was right there by her side.

"I dunno," she muttered, closing her eyes again. "My leg...I can't feel my leg. I know it's...up...I know it's el—elev—elevated, but I can't feel it. My arm doesn't hurt so much...but it still aches, and I can feel it everywhere. My pain in my hand is plain out agonizing, and my head...ugh, my head is so heavy, it feels like I have the worst headache in the world. It just hurts everywhere, and I can't place what hurts the most, because sometimes it'll be my leg and other times it's my hand. Ow."

She talked until the nurse came in, but Nina just sighed and leaned back against the pillows again, having given up. By the time she put the painkillers in the IV bag, Nina had grabbed my hand and whispered, "Please don't go."

I figured I wouldn't, since I cancelled my concert and the tour wasn't scheduled for another two weeks. I knew I'd have to leave her then, because as much as I loved her, I didn't want my career to flop. "I won't," I told her honestly, "I'll be right here when you wake up."

/o~~~o/

A/N: *AGGRESIVELY SINGS MY HEART WILL GO ON SINCE I WATCHED TITANIC LAST NIGHT*

Yeah, yeah, I know, crappy ending. Do you believe me now when I say I can't end chapters anymore? But Fabian's going on a four-month tour, Nina's still in pain, they've yet to make up, and there's one chapter left of this story before I'm done with it forever and it's out of my sights. This is surreal. To know I'm writing the last chapter just wow. Wow.

It'll be strange for me not to be writing this story anymore, but all good things have to come to an end, right? I do hope you enjoyed this chapter, and...well, stay tuned for the last one.

-Lia