Chapter 12

APOV

The green grass was soft beneath my feet. The sun was shining bright and hot, but the shade provided by the willow tree was gentle and cool. An optometry journal was lying in my lap, but I wasn't reading it. My arms were wrapped around the pair of arms that were wrapped around me, holding me close. I leaned back and rested my head against the firm, but somehow soft, chest. I glanced up and looked into the most beautiful pair of green eyes that I had ever seen.

"Jackson," his name slipped from my lips.

"I'm here darlin'. I'm not leaving you." He responded as he caressed my arm lovingly.

"Mmmm," I snuggled into his neck inhaling his scent. He pressed his lips against my forehead tenderly. "I love you." I whispered before slipping into an unconscious sleep.

A low rhythmic beeping drew me from my slumber. My eyelids felt like they weighed a ton so I tried to determine my location using my other available senses. There was no soft grass beneath my feet and there was definitely not a pair of strong arms embracing me. Though it seemed bright around me, I could not feel the warmth of the sun. I didn't hear a gentle breeze blowing, but I did hear a low murmuring and that annoying beep. I breathed in deeply, and my nostrils were invaded by a very overpowering and unpleasant overly sanitized smell.

I tried opening my eyes again, and this time I succeeded; at least I think I did. I was met with an onslaught of white, or maybe it was a pale beige; either way it did little in determining my location. I slowly scanned my surroundings to the left and found the source of the beep. A heart monitor, so that meant I must be in a hospital. But why was I here? The last thing I remembered was sitting in a peaceful meadow with him, my angel. At least, he must have been an angel because guys as amazing as that just don't exist in the real world.

"She's awake." A voice announced gently.

I looked further down my left side and found Kellie, my best friend; of course she'd be sitting at my bedside. She smiled faintly. I looked around at the rest of the people leaning over me. They were all curious and yet they were trying to keep their distance. When I looked around to my right I found the most gorgeous green eyes I'd ever laid eyes on. Only, I had laid eyes on them before. They were my angel's eyes. Maybe he did exist after all.

"Jackson," his name came out barely above a whisper for my throat was dry and scratchy.

"Hey darlin'." He rubbed my hand gently and handed me a glass of water. I sipped from the straw carefully. "How do you feel?"

"Like I was run over by a bus. It feels like my body has been coated in lead, everything is so heavy." I replied as I laid my head back down on the pillow.

"That's just the muscle relaxant they gave you." Kellie said. I looked back at her.

"Kells, what happened?" I asked. "Why am I here?"

She bit her lower lip and her brow furrowed. "Honey, you had a panic attack. You were hyperventilating and you were balling your fists so tight that your nails dug into your hands and drew blood. The doctor had to give you a muscle relaxant so that you would… well relax your muscles. Don't you remember, on the elevator?"

Suddenly it all came rushing back to me: walking onto the elevator, the closed, tight quarters, the annoying fan girls who wouldn't shut up and leave, the elevator jerking to a sudden stop on the third floor, the pressure on my lungs as the panic took over, the burning meadow, and Frankie. Frankie was there with his crooked, sadistic smile and his sinister laugh, terrorizing me. But Jackson was there too. Jackson, my angel, was there pulling me from the fire, pulling me from Frankie. Jackson was there and he rescued me. As I looked back into his eyes, I knew instantly that he would always be there to rescue me, if only I'd let him.

"Amy?" Kellie sounded worried; I'd been quiet too long.

"Yea, yea I remember now." I squeezed my eyes closed. "I wish I could forget it again though."

"That frightening huh?" Jackson asked.

"You've no idea." I looked into his eyes yet again; I couldn't get enough of them today. "Oh my god the concert! You better hurry or you're gonna be late."

"Relax darlin', it's all taken care of. Marty called in and canceled it."

"What? No, no you can't cancel it. No please don't. If you leave now you might can make it still."

"Me-Me, relax. It would be nearly over by now anyways." Kellie said.

"Ugh," I groaned. "They're going to kill me."

"Who is?" Jackson asked.

"Your fans. All those disappointed fans, those girls on the elevator. They're going to hunt me down and kill me now. I just know it."

Jackson chuckled. "I won't let anyone hurt you. They'll have to get through me and Johnson first."

"Or we could just sick Kellie on them." Jerad laughed. I looked at her oddly.

"I kinda showed my bitchy side in the elevator." She explained.

"Oh, that is a terrifying site." I added.

After a few more minutes of talking, being visited by the nurse and the doctor, and slowly regaining feeling to my arms and legs, I asked the guys to leave to give Kellie and me some time alone. Jackson and Benny were the most reluctant to leave, but I finally convinced them to go the café to get me some dinner.

"I'm so, so, so, so, sorry." Kellie immediately began after the door closed behind Jackson. "I should have never made you get on that elevator. I can't say I'm sorry enough times."

"Kells, calm down. I should be the one apologizing to you. I shouldn't have snapped at you like I did in the hotel suite."

"It's ok. Jackson explained everything to me, once I was able to pry him away from you. Geez, that boy never left your side Amy. You had him really worried; he cares about you, a lot! He's really a great guy Me-Me."

"Yea, I know. I really care about him too. And I want to tell him about what happened, about my family, but…what if he decides he doesn't want me anymore once he knows or worse, what if he feels sorry for me. If he started to look at me like everyone in Bartelso did, I wouldn't be able to take it. I don't want to lose him like that."

"Honestly Me-Me, I don't think that is going to happen. You didn't see the way he was looking at you all day, the way he cradled you in his arms, or the way he never left your side. Amy I've never been more jealous of you than I was today, and not just because it's Jackson Rathbone, but because you have a guy who truly cares about you. He deserves to know what happened."

I nodded. "I know."

"But first, I think you need to talk to your cousin because, hell, if he didn't know about you and Jackson before then he surely knows now; or if not then he's even more dense than I made him out to be."

"Was Jackson that obvious about our relationship?"

"Honey, you were both that obvious. I mean really, clinging to his neck begging him not to leave, begging him to come to the meadow with you. It was all rather pathetic, in a very sweet and adorable, make-me-jealous kind of way."

"Ah Kells, what am I going to do with you?"

"Love me."

"Always."

The guys returned shortly after and Jackson had a tray full of food for me. With Kellie's help, I pulled myself up into a sitting position. I ate in an uncomfortable silence. None of the guys knew how to act; Jackson was trying to be careful around Benny, Benny was trying to be careful around me, and Jerad and Ben, well they just looked odd and out of place. I eyed Kellie and knew that she was thinking the same thing I was.

"Good god Kellie, what did you tell them was wrong with me?"

"Just that you were a raving lunatic who would tear their head off while they slept if they got too close to you." Kellie responded.

"Well gee, thanks." I rolled my eyes. "Really guys, I'm the same Amy you met a few months ago, the same Amy that will throw back a few beers with ya. So man up already, because the last thing I need is a bunch of pansies hanging around. It really does nothing for the image."

"I am not a pansy." Graupner defended.

"Well I sure as hell haven't seen anything to prove otherwise."

"Come by my room later tonight and I'll show you just how man I am." He smirked.

"That's my cousin you ass." Benny playfully punched Graupner in the arm and Jerad and Jackson laughed as they proceeded to roll about the floor in a wrestling match. Good, at least maybe now things could get back to normal between us.