When I woke up that morning, I was partly surprised. Wow...what even happened last night? I thought to myself. I looked at the clock to see it was alerady about three in the afternoon. Oh crap. How did I sleep in so late? I got up and walked like a ghost to the kitchen table, where I saw my phone had about 15 messages, all from Adam. I put my phone down, a huge chill go down my spine. I didn't want to know what Adam said, because I assumed the worst. I took a deep breath and mustered up every ounce of courage I could possibly spare and dialed my voicemail.

The first one was almost completely noise, I wouldn't be able to understand it for the life of me.

"Clare!...I think...okay...running...hospital...do you...happened! Call me...okay?"

I clicked delete and went on to the next one, which was clear and understandable.

"You still haven't called me back...I'm getting really worried, Clare. Please call me. I don't know if Eli is okay yet. They rushed him into the ambulance and I just rode my bike to the hospital. It's about 4 a.m. Will you come? Okay well you're probably sleeping...please call me back when you wake up...I'm not leaving the hospital."

I felt tears rush to my eyes, and my face get hot. I took a deep breath before I called Adam.

He picked up after one ring.

"Adam? I'm so sorry...I just woke up now. What happened?"

"Eli's okay..."

"Oh my god. Thank god...how is he now? What's he doing? What's he been saying?"

"He's really shaken Clare. The doctor said he was injured but he'll definitely live. He's been asking about you every time I come through the door. He wanted me to let you know how sorry is-"

"What? If anyone should be apologizing, it's me, Adam."

"What? Why? Clare, you didn't do anything wrong. You tried so hard to protect him the whole time. He's the one that put you in such complete...well...danger. He wouldn't let the feud go and he brought it way too far..."

"Well I don't wanna sit around and play the blame game. Should I come to the hospital?"

"Yes, please! I'm so bored. I'll meet you out front?"

"Alright, I'll hurry. Bye."

I hung up and raced outside on my bike. It was biting cold, and all I had one was PJs and a T-shirt, but it didn't really matter to me. Riding my bike into the hospital parking lot gave me a feeling of disbelief. I thought back to last year. I was the epitome of innocence and my life was nothing special at all. I was just another dorky honors student with no drama and nothing going on. And just a year later, I'm riding my bike to the hospital to visit my stabbed boyfriend. How much can change in one year...

I saw adam pacing around, and I could see his breath. When he saw me he sprinted to give me a hug. It felt like forever before he let go and grabbed my wrist to pull me inside.

I was so relieved when I got a blast of warm air, it almost gave me a bit of reassurance before I had to see Eli. It seemed like everything took forever. The elevator, the walk to the room, even opening the door seemed to take an hour. I entered the room and saw Eli before he even noticed me. He was sleeping. He looked pale and shaken, even though he was sleeping I could tell that he was dreaming about the incident. He had a look of fear written all over his face and when I sat on his bed and grabbed his hand, he immediately opened his eyes. When I saw a huge smile find it's way on his face, all I could think of was how relieved I am. We both opened our mouths to say something, but nothing came out.

Right when I thought that he had nothing to say, he spoke, and his voice shook.

"Clare. I don't...I don't even know what to tell you. I thought I was going to die...and I was glad that if I did, your face was the last thing I saw." This brought tears to my eyes once again. I was surprised, I thought I used the last possible tear my body could make. I thought I was all out.

"Eli, I don't wanna hear you say this. Apologize all you want, but it won't change anything. It's not your fault...and it's not mine either. It's no one's, and if we play this game then we can never move on. I forgive you...please don't shut me out, though."

"Clare, after everything we've been through, I don't think I could shut you out even if I wanted to. This whole experience made me realize something."

"Made you realize what?"

"Clare...I love you."

When I heard him say this I put my head on his chest. "I love you too, Eli."

"Thank God. I thought you were gonna leave me hanging..."

I laughed and said, "Same Eli I see...what do you think will happen to Fitz?"

"Hopefully he gets locked up. I don't wanna see his face again..."

"Me neither. When can you leave?"

"Soon. I don't want to keep you here. I'm probably just gonna read comics anyway."

"I hope you're not trying to get rid of me! It's not gonna work," I laughed as I went and sat down in one of the chairs and laid down my head. I didn't know what was gonna happen when school started again, but I was just glad Eli was okay, and that's all that was in my mind.