A/N: Thank you to all of you that review every chapter! Congratulations to the two of you who figured out what my inflection point was in the last chapter; you get gold stars! So here's Oliver's big speech; it gets it's own chapter. Be sure to let me know how you like it!

Disclaimer: If I owned anything useful, it wouldn't matter what the plane tickets to New Orleans for New Year's costs.

Nighttime Disclosure

"Kate, you need to wake up soon. And I mean that as an order, not a request. I'm here for you, like I'm always here for you. Your best friend waiting patiently for you to say Oliver go get me a coffee or Oliver go find a life or to whine Oliver fix it. Well I can't damn well do anything while you're not here. I'm so mad…"

At this point, Oliver begins pacing around the room for lack of something better to do and throwing his hands around in the air. Had anyone been watching, they may have been reminded of early morning lectures on Quidditch plays.

"I'm mad that some bloody berk did this to you, I'm mad the healers know nothing, I'm mad that I couldn't protect you, and I'm sure as hell mad I can't fix it. I've had to become tough cause it's hard as hell being on this side and KNOWING it's possible you'll never wake up and also being afraid you'll wake up for two minutes and no one will be there. You have it easy in this situation!"

"I'm mad that I can't just visit a couple of times a week like a normal friend. NOOOO, I have to come in here with my bouts on insomnia just to see if anything has changed, to be supportive, to be close to you, to convince myself you're still real."

"I'm sure everyone around here thinks I've gone mad. They just look at me with pity or treat me like I'll fall apart any second. And who can blame them? I'm here as much as your parents, if not more. They're lovely folks by the way Kate; we've spent quite some time together while you've been here asleep. Anyway, the point is, I've been here so much the healers have started giving ME updates on how you are! It's not that I don't appreciate it, but they've no obligation to tell me anything." He slowed his pacing and came to a stop at the end of the bed continue with his lecture.

"That idgit of a teammate of mine almost had it pegged. He called you my girl. That's the problem, you're not my girl, never have been my girl. No. The problem is I belong to you. I'm yours and I never had any say in the matter. You for some reason have my lap reserved as your personal cushion, my shoulder might as well be deeded over to you, and people actually used to MOVE so you could sit next to me. One of your glares sent any female in Hogwarts back to your idea of a respectable distance. It was the unspoken rule of Gryffindor, Oliver is Kate's; don't ask, don't touch."

"It's ridiculous because we never dated, in the three years we played together never one date. Never anything more than best friends. Our three years apart in age seemed an uncloseable gap then."

"Of course you dated, idiots all of them, and I picked up the pieces of my Kate when they hurt you, but ya didn't love any of them. Maybe you thought you did, but none of them were worth your love. I've dated, most of them only went 'cause I was a rich Quidditch star and you weren't there to back them off. Even the quality girls had a problem Kate, they weren't you. 'Course I didn't figure that out till I came here and thought about it by your bedside."

He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair before pleading with her. "Kate, a lot of people love you and want you back into this world and not that obviously happy dreamland you are living in. I don't know what's happening there but you've got to come back. I want my Kate back. You can nick my stuff, hit me, manipulate me, or just scare off any girl who wants to me near me, whatever you want; I just want my girl back."

He sat on the edge of her bed and took her hand much the same way that he did the first night. "I know that I can't have everything in this life. If it were to be perfect you'd come back to me, fall in love with me or back in love with me whichever, and let me keep you forever. It's far more likely that you'll come back, be glad to see me, fall for a few more idiots before settling down with a guy who isn't good enough for you but loads better than me, and I'd toast you at the wedding because it would make you happy. It's even possible you'll come back just to make my life a living hell because I've been stupid."

The thought of Katie's wedding made Oliver grimace. He hung his head and addressed their entwined hands. "I know I've been stupid and you saved me. I was standing like a prize idiot in an ice cold shower. And you barged in and started yelling at me. Everything was numb, my brain had permanently checked out, and you…"

"I swear to Godric Oliver, if you don't snap out of it I'll snap you out myself" Katie continued her tirade, deciding she'd better try yelling at him in the shower next, cold or not. She yanked the curtain back and shoved him up against the wall. "This is NOT your fault, this is NOT Harry's fault…"

She continued to list all of the people whose fault it was not, being sure to include Oliver several hundred times, but nothing got through. Suddenly Oliver's brain woke up and his body was on fire.

Katie was kissing him and to Oliver's surprise he was responding. He tried to pull back to speak and she just growled "Oliver shut up."

And he did.

He was so numb and he just needed to feel. He lifted her up so he could kiss her properly and turned to trap her between his body and the wall. The only thing that he could feel was Katie. The next time his brain checked in it was because Katie had broken their connection by tugging his shirt over his head.

This time he stopped and rested his forehead against her shoulder. He needed to breathe. While staring down he noticed that both sets of Quidditch robes were in the pool of water in the bottom of the shower, along with his shirt. Katie was only in tank top and shorts and some primal animal in his mind thought that overdressed. He noticed that his hands had, of their own volition, migrated to places that no gentleman's hands should be. How long had they been doing this?

"Kate we need to stop."

"Yeah" she breathed out.

He gently set her down, and she gathered the wet things and cut off the shower. She then reached back a hand and pulled him into the locker room. She threw a spare cloak around her shoulders and the reached to put one around his.

"Kate?" He knew he should say something. He needed to make sure things were right with her, but his brain still didn't work well enough.

Katie wove her small hand into his large one.

"It's ok Oliver, let's go back to the castle."

"You stayed with me and never made me guilty, never wanted anything more than before. But Kate, that broke me. It broke me and somehow I'm sitting next to your hospital bed, wanting you to wake up even if all you do is hate me forever. It broke me so I'm useless to anyone but you."

"Kate, I want to save you, but I can't when you're so far away. I can only give you what you gave me."

Oliver leaned over and placed a kiss on the lips of the sleeping girl and whispered in her ear before striding out of the room and apparating away. The assistant healer who had listened crept in and saw tear drops on the girl's pillow. That poor man must have been crying! If she hadn't been examining the tear drops, she would have missed the sweet smile that crossed her face.

"He loves you dear, and even if you have no other reason, that man is enough to come back for."

The girl in bed just continued to smile and rolled over onto her side, hugging her pillow. The assistant healer was shocked by such dramatic movement and practically sprinted out of the room to find a Healer.