Chapter Ten

Lullaby for Maestro

Caroline closed her eyes and listened to Tyler's breathing, it was a labored in and out, in and out, she counted the beats of his heart turning it into a lullaby. She would have been happy to just stay that way forever.

"Maestro?" Tyler's whisper of a voice made Caroline look up, her head didn't leave his chest, but she could see his face. He managed a small smile, "You alright?" His voice was cracking as if he had spent the day in the desert.

Caroline nodded, "I'm great." She let her body fall down onto the bed on Tyler's good side and she snuggled closely to him, her head still not leaving his chest. She looked up at him again, "I'm not hurting you, am I?"

Tyler shook his head slowly, "No, you're good." He turned towards the door, wincing a little as he moved his leg the wrong way, he was starting to get the feeling back but he wasn't sure that was such a good thing, he turned back to his sister, "Caroline, how did you get here?"

"I came with Ally, you know she took me to the Statue of Liberty today? She's a keeper Tyler, but of course I already knew that," Caroline said looking up at him with a smile.

"If she brought you here-," he paused to take a breath, "Then where is she?"

Almost as if on cue, the door opened once again. Ally walked in looking as confused as Caroline had, but it didn't take her as long to realize who was in the bed. Automatically tears welled up in her eyes, "Tyler!" She yelled and nearly smashed Caroline as she tried to kiss him, "I love you, I love you, I love you!" she yelled as she grabbed Tyler's shoulders.

Tyler almost laughed, he opened his mouth to say something but he was cut off when her lips touched his. The kiss lasted for as long as it could before Tyler started coughing making Caroline sit up. Ally winced, and patted him on the back, "I'm sorry," she said, "I wasn't thinking."

Tyler was still coughing so he couldn't say anything but he gripped Ally's hand as hard as he possibly could trying to tell her that he didn't care.

"Are you alright?" Carline asked her face showing some fear.

Tyler nodded as the coughing subsided, he squeezed his sister's hand as his eyes moved to Ally's, "As I was trying to say, I love you too-more then you'll ever know." he paused as he watched the tears stream down her face, "Hey don't cry Alls, I'm fine-well not fine-but I will be."

Ally smiled through her tears and gently ran her hand over the swollen cheek on Tyler's left side. Then she reached out and gently hugged him, "I've missed you," she whispered into his shoulder.

Tyler smiled and whispered back, "I missed you too." he looked past Ally to Caroline who was still sitting beside him on the bed, looking like she was not planning on leaving any time soon. He looked at the necklace that now always graced his little sister's neck. He saw that four of the charms were new. "Did you get new charms, Maestro?"

Caroline had forgotten about her necklace, she pulled the charms up and showed them to her brother, "Yeah, Ally gave them to me for my birthday."

Forcing his eyes to stay open Tyler pushed himself up a little with his good arm and took a closer look at the charms. Seeing his name and the numbers it didn't take him long to figure out what those two were for, "I guess you really don't need those anymore do you?" he said with a small smile pointing to the shining charms.

Caroline shook her head, "I'm not taking them off Tyler," she said as she let the charms fall to her neck once again.

As tired as he was Tyler looked confused, "But Maestro, I'm here, I'm going to be okay."

Ally smiled as she rubbed small circle's on the back of Tyler's hand, being careful of the IV in his arm. She had an idea of what Caroline was thinking and had to admit she would do the same thing.

Caroline smiled, "I'm going to keep them as a reminder," she said as she curled up and once again placed her head on her brother's chest, "A reminder of how close I came to losing you."

Tyler smiled, he was half asleep but he understood what his sister was saying, "Okay Maestro, you do that."

Ally smiled and moved her hand to Tyler's head and began playing with his hair, "I never want to go through this again," she whispered into his ear as she continued to run her fingers through the waves that she had thought she would never see again.

Tyler forced his eyes open; he slowly reached up with his good hand and pulled her to him this time avoiding Caroline all together. His lips touched hers and they kissed again, this kiss not lasting as long. When they pulled away, Tyler said, "We won't, I'm here Alls, I'm here."

Ally nodded, with a smile as she watched his head fall gently to the pillows again, "It's okay Ty, go to sleep," She said as she began playing with his hair again.

Tyler took Ally's advice and closed his eyes, his arm automatically rapping around his sister who was still lying beside him.

Caroline closed her eyes as she listened to Tyler's breathing even out, it wasn't as labored showing that he had fallen asleep. She sighed and snuggled closer to him, she didn't care that it was only six in the evening, or that it was still her birthday. She gripped his arm and moved her head so that she was once again listening to his heartbeat and fell asleep too.

..............................................................

When Tyler woke up the sun was shining through the window, he looked down at Caroline who was still curled up at his side sound asleep. He kissed the top of her head and began running his fingers through her hair.

"Good morning," Tyler looked over at his father who was sitting beside him along with his mother and Les.

"Morning," Tyler said as Diane gently ran her fingers over his cheek, "How are you feeling?" she asked as she kissed the top of his head.

Tyler sighed and blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up, "I'm feeling a little better actually," he looked around him, "Where's Ally?"

"She'll be here any minute, only family is allowed to stay the night," Charles said, he was actually smiling.

Just then the door opened, but it wasn't Ally in the doorway. It was the one person that Tyler couldn't believe he had forgotten about, his mouth fell open, "Aidan."

"It's true, it's all true, you're alive and you didn't tell me." Aidan said as he walked into the room arms crossed over his chest, "You remember your sister and your girlfriend but when it comes to your best friend, forget it."

Tyler bit his lip, he saw Ally walk in behind his roommate and smiled before saying, "You know I knew we forgot something."

Aidan threw up his arms, "You see, you see what I get?" he said looking to Ally.

"Aidan," Ally said, she was smiling, she knew it was just a matter of time before-.

"Oh-come here!" Aidan said and gripped Tyler around the neck and squeezed making Tyler wince as his broken cheek bone came in contact with the side of Aidan's shirt as his best friend gripped him in a hug.

"Yeah, good to see you too Aidan," Tyler said biting his lip again, Aidan didn't let go, "Aidan-I'm running out of air."

Aidan released him, "Oh-right sorry, it's good to see you man."

Tyler smiled, "It's good to see you too."

Just then Caroline stirred; Tyler was surprised she hadn't woken up earlier. She ran her hand over her face and then looked up into Tyler's face. He smiled at her, "Good morning sleepy head."

Caroline smiled, "It wasn't a dream?"

Tyler laughed a little, "I'm right here Maestro, I'm not going anywhere."

Caroline smiled and hugged him gently and then set up, but her hand never left his arm, "You know I've never realized how much your heartbeat is like a lullaby, it put me to sleep last night."

Tyler smiled, knowing that it was only like that because his heartbeat now gave his sister comfort in knowing that he was alive, "I'm glad it helped you sleep Maestro," he said with a smile, pulling at the strap that held his left arm to his chest.

Caroline smiled and sighed, "So-What have I missed?"

"Oh nothing, Aidan just tried to strangle me, nothing new," Tyler said as he pushed the button on his bed so that he could sit up.

"So in other words, just a normal day," Ally said with a smile, looking to Aidan, waiting for him to realize what she had just said.