Author's Note: Hello everyone! And here is Chapter Fifteen. I hope that you all enjoy it. Please let me know what you think! A HUGE thank you to MacheSalas for your reviews! I have no idea why your the only one reviewing! But I GREATLY appreciate it, and your reviews always brighten my days! As always, Read/Enjoy/Review!

Chapter Fifteen: The Heart Has Reasons

" The worlds greatest mysteries are deep and vast. None as deep or vast as the matter of the heart…"-Anonymous.

XXX

' It's Ty, Brae. Ty's sick.'

Nick's words whirl around in my head furiously, making me dizzy and I blink my eyes, noticing the way that Evy, Jared, and Chase stare at me, curiosity on their faces.

" Oh, okay. Listen to me, text me okay? I'm in Florida right now, Disneyworld, but if you text me the directions, I might be able to help," I say and I can tell at first that Nick isn't understanding me, but it takes just a few seconds of silence for him to get it.

" Right. Okay, and Brae, hurry," Nick's voice says filled with panic and anxiety and I let out a breath, hands shaking slightly.

" What did Nick want? I didn't even know you still talked to him," Evy says catching my eyes.

" That was Nick from my anatomy class," I lie easily, so easily in fact that I feel a slight twinge of guilt over my deception, " Apparently, he isn't understanding a paper we're supposed to write. Anyways, he'll be texting me the directions, so I can try to help."

" Oh, okay, well, we're off then," Chase says taking my hand, but I can tell by the way Evy stares after me that she knows better, and I'll hear about it.

XXX

I was barely out of my dress when the knock on the bathroom door came, and I groaned knowing very well who was on the other side. Rather than ignoring her or telling her to go away which would just worsen the situation, I open the door and pull her in.

" Turn on the shower," Evy says and I look at her confused and don't move, and with a frustrated flow of curse words she does it herself, the sound of rushing water filling the large bathroom, " Now, are you going to tell me what is really going on, or are you going to lie to me, again?"

" Tyson's sick," I blurt out, completely caught off guard by the fact that tears fill my eyes.

" What? What do you mean, he's sick?"

" I, I don't know the details. All I know is what Nick told me. He's sick. I knew, I knew they were in Florida, for vacation, Nick and I do talk. From time to time. Nothing serious or anything, just hey, how are you doing. But he told me they were coming here for vacation."

" What are you going to do?"

" What can I do? I can't do anything. You think I can just tell Chase, oh hey babe, I know this is our last vacation together until you come back in May, but I'm going to see my ex-boyfriend?" I say pacing the bathroom floor.

" Well, why not? It must be something serious if Nick is calling you," she says and I shake my head.

" No. No, it isn't my place. It isn't my place to be there. Tyson, Tyson isn't my concern anymore," I say, more to convince myself than to convince her.

" Brae, listen to me. You have to tell him, because I know you. I know that you will end up going, and lying to Chase or trying to hide it, will make it worse," she says and I shake my head furiously.

" I, I don't know what to do," I stammer and my phone rings, signaling that the text I was waiting on came through.

' They want to do emergency surgery, but he's refusing. He's asking for you Brae, please, please, come. Bay Medical Center, Panama Florida. Please, Brae. Please.'

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

" I'll cover for you, go," Evy says, and I look up at her, scared out of my mind, " Go. Hear, take our rental, it has the GPS. But you better call me, or text me, as soon as you get there."

" Okay. Okay," I say taking the keys she holds out to me.

" I'll get Chase out of the way," she says reaching for the door, " And Brae. I hope Ty's okay."

Before I can say anything in response she opens the door and closes it behind her, talking loudly so that I can hear her, and I wait, holding my breath until I hear the door to the suit open and shut, and then I scramble. Throwing a few things into my large shoulder bag, not forgetting my cell phone charger.

" I'm sorry, Chase. God please, don't let this blow up in my face," I murmur the prayer as I race down the hall in the opposite direction that Evy and Chase would have gone in, and that's all I can do.

Pray.

XXX

Six hours and thirty seven minutes.

That is precisely how long it took for me to drive from Orlando, to Panama City. The longest three hundred and ninety-seven minutes of my life. I blink blurry eyes as I stare up at Bay Medical Center, the watery morning sunlight tinting the sky pink as I walk through the sliding doors.

It's quiet, the eerie silence that only a hospital can have, and the stale smell of disinfectant in the air causes my stomach to turn. I look around numbly, fighting the fatigue that threatens to take me over.

" Excuse me, can I help you?" a light voice asks, and I look up finding a nurse standing before me, her eyes tired from what I'm sure have been countless nights of graveyard shifts.

" I'm uhm, I'm looking for.." my words are interrupted by the sound of someone calling my name.

" Brae! You came," Nick's voice fills my ears, and I turn, finding myself in his arms as he crushes me against him.

" Yeah, where, how, how is he?" I ask, and he smiles at me sadly, leaving his arm around my shoulder, as he leads me away from the nurse.

" He's not good," Nick murmurs ushering me into the elevator ahead of him, " I need to prepare you. He's lost ten pounds, doesn't sound like much but.."

" He was a toothpick all ready," I murmur smiling just a little at the memory of endless teasing on my part to Tyson, who I swear could eat everything in sight and not gain an ounce.

" Exactly. They have him pretty doped up, for the pain, and antibiotics for the infection. They tried convincing him to have the surgery late last night, but he said he wouldn't do it until you were here."

" Why? I don't understand."

" Brae, I know Ty's screwed up with you, a lot, but he never stopped loving you. Even after he found out you got married, he loved you."

" Nick, he has to know that…"

" To know what? Deny it all you want Brae, you still love him, somewhere inside of you, Ty's still there. If he wasn't you wouldn't be here."

I can't say anything. Neither deny or confirm his claims, even if I had wanted to do either of those things, the elevator doors slide noiselessly open and he silently take my hand and leads the way.

XXX

I stand outside of Tyson's hospital room. Staring at him, and there isn't anything I can say. No words come to mind. I'm numbed by the fear, numbed by the fact that Tyson, the same Tyson who once had been mine, lays sleeping and looking nothing like the man I once knew. Once loved.

Still love.

I step into the room, and the only sound surrounding me come from the monitors attached to Tyson, and my breathing. Breathing that grows increasingly harder with every step I take towards his bedside. My throat thickens and I blink furiously, but it doesn't help.

I'm fixing to break. The dam I had spent so long building against any sort of emotion as far as Tyson was concerned was breaking. Breaking bit by bit by the sight of Tyson in the bed, covered to his neck in blankets, his skin pale, and hair disheveled.

" Oh, Ty," I murmur sitting in the chair beside him, and he stirs, and I hold my breath, praying I didn't wake him. His movement causes the blanket to slide away, revealing his naked chest and he shivers almost violently, and I pull the blanket back up, " Shh. It's okay. I'm here."

" Br, Brae," Tyson's voice is thick and slightly slurred, most likely do to the drugs coursing through his veins, " You came." I stare into his eyes, not breaking the contact as he stares at me, blinking slowly, his eyes clearing slowly.

" Of course I came," I whisper, running my hand over his forehead, brushing his hair back, alarmed by how clammy he feels.

" I. I didn't think you'd come," he says wincing as he tries to turn towards me.

" Don't, don't move," I murmur trying to smile.

" Why, why are you crying?"

" Look at you Ty," I choke out, wiping the tears away quickly, " You're a mess."

" Don't I know it," he says, chuckling lightly, " Hey, hey don't cry. Please, don't cry."

I shake my head, burying my face in my hands, tears rolling thickly down my face. I don't know why, or how, but I find myself climbing into the hospital bed next to him, his head pillowed on my chest, fingers gliding through his hair, and before I can count to ten his chest is rising and falling rhythmically, telling me silently, he's asleep.

XXX

I wake to the sound of low, murmured voices, and my eyes blink open slowly, clearing with every second passing.

" The surgery shouldn't take longer than two hours. You will of course have to be kept for a few days, and will be sent home with the PICC line in place so that you can receive the intravenous antibiotics. You might consider hiring a nurse to come in three times a day to give you the proper dosages."

" I, I can do it," I say sleepily, sitting up slowly.

" Excuse me?" the doctor and Ty ask at the same time.

" Granted, I'm still only in school, but we covered PICC lines last quarter, and I know the proper care that is needed for them, and I'm brilliant at giving medication."

" Well, I must say that a nurse, a registered qualified nurse would be best, but since this can also be done by a family member, she would be your best bet," the doctor says and I look over at Tyson, who smiles despite the confusion on his face.

" Brae, you don't have to do that.." he says but I shake my head.

" Are you really going to trust Nick to do it?" I ask, slipping out of the bed before turning my eyes towards Nick whose own eyes are the size of saucers at the idea of having to inject his friend with medication every day.

" I guess it's settled then," I say, and before I can smile the sound of someone clearing their throat from the doorway catches my attention.

" Seems to me that's something you should discuss with your husband."

Chase.

XXX

I watch as Chase paces the family waiting room we were guided to, to discus the current situation we find ourselves in. His fingers pinch the bridge of his nose as long legs eat up the floor with every stride.

" Do you have any idea, what you put me through?" Chase asks, his voice tight with anger.

" Chase, I'm sorry, I just, I didn't know," I say, my words trailing off when he punches the wall, knuckles cracking against the lavender colored paint.

" You didn't know what! How to tell me that you were going to sneak out and rush off to your ex-boyfriends bedside? That you would be asleep in his bed, wrapped around him like, like a whore!"

I sit, shocked into silence by his words. Words that served a better purpose than if he had struck out and physically slapped me in the face.

" I am not a whore. The furthest thing from it, in fact. I'm sorry that I just left, and I should have told you what was going on, but all I knew was that someone I care about, even if I don't fully understand the meaning of caring about him, is sick. That he was refusing the surgery that could probably save his life unless I was here, and I just drove. I didn't think about it. I don't think when someone is in trouble okay! I never have. Someone needs me, and I'm there, and if you think for one second that throwing a tantrum like some sort of bratty two year old, and calling me a whore is going to make me hurry to come back with you, your sorely mistaken."

" Brae, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say," he starts apologizing but I just shake my head.

" You did! You did mean it, because if that isn't what you thought of me, the words would have never come out of your mouth. I'm a lot of thing Chase, but stupid isn't one of them. You can say it was anger that made you say what you did, but I know better. If you honestly think, that just because I'm choosing to be the bigger person, and set aside the anger and hurt that is inside of me, to be there for someone I cared about, care about, deems me to be a whore. Than I guess it's a whore that I am. Just paint the scarlet letter on me, and go. Your not wanted, or needed here."

" Brae! Braelyn!" Chase calls after me, but I ignore his pleading calls, refusing to turn and face him. I slip Tyson's hospital room door shut behind me, and finding no one but Ty, staring at me with knowing eyes, I slide against the glass and cry into my knees.