Hey all! Two exams down! A million and one things to go!

You all remain the BEST reviewers in the world, and I am so thankful for all of you!

So I figured I would post a little chapter for you all. Please enjoy!

Previously...

Kyoya groaned. "My father...he has this...let's call it his fatherly side. He gets very overprotective when my siblings or myself are in trouble. He also doesn't want the press to get wind of it, seeing as they do anything to undermine our credibility. And then there's the fact that he thinks reduced stress, via restricting visitors, will help us get better. Really, it just gives us a case of cabin fever, and we just try to get better faster so as not to be in confinement for much longer..."

"I suppose it works then." Haruhi observed.

"Wha...huh?"

Haruhi glanced at him, looking inquisitive. "Those meds are frying your brain, huh? Can't even remember what you said…"

Kyoya was still lost, and he suddenly felt the world spinning beneath him. He heard his girlfriend's frantic calls to him before the darkness consumed him and he collapsed to the floor.

And now...

Kyoya had no idea how long he was out, but when he woke up, Haruhi was beside him playing what seemed to be "Go Fish" with Isamu. He raised a shaky hand to his face and groaned at the muscle tension plaguing his arms.

"Kyoya?" A curious and worried voice met his ears.

"Mm?" His throat was dry and his head ached.

Haruhi brought a straw to his lips, and Kyoya drank greedily. "You gave us quite the scare, sir." She informed him.

"Yeah! How are you supposed to take care of me if you can't take care of yourself?" Isamu piped in.

Kyoya and Haruhi chuckled, but Haruhi soon turned serious once more. "The doctor said that you weren't supposed to be out of bed, let alone walking the hospital aimlessly. It was too much stress for your body to handle, so it shut down temporarily. Kami, Kyoya! You can't do that to yourself!"

Kyoay was suddenly at a loss for words. It wasn't that he hadn't thought of her reaction; he just never imagined that…yeah, okay. He hadn't even considered her reaction.

"I-I'm sorry…?" Kyoya tried.

"That's not good enough, Kyoya. Look, I love you, and the fact that you came to find me means a lot, but do me a favor…next time…don't. I can take care of myself, and apparently you can't. Kyoya, I don't want to constantly have to worry about you…that's all."

He nodded, suddenly feeling incredibly moronic. He knew he wasn't technically supposed to get out of bed, and he knew Haruhi could take care of herself. But in that moment, when Kyoya woke up without her by his side, he had panicked. The drug-induced stupor he was constantly a victim of seemed to be doing more harm than good lately.

Kyoya sucked in a big gulp of air and opened his mouth to reply, but all that came out was a strangled, half-human sound. Before he knew it, tears were rolling down his face and he was becoming light-headed once more. But why was he crying? He had no reason to cry, dammit! Kyoya was suddenly having trouble breathing and desperately clawed at his throat. The lack of oxygen made it very hard to keep his eyes open. What the hell was going on?

"…a…yo…Kyo…wha…on…" He could only make out fragments of what Haruhi was shouting, and in the background, he could hear fragments of what sounded like Isamu trying to get a nurse to the room. Kyoya could feel large, strong hands gripping his own to keep him from clawing a hole in his throat, and he heard a familiar deep voice trying to calm him down.

"D-Dad…" He gasped out before his eyes rolled back and he saw only darkness once more.

Haruhi

Haruhi's mind was whirling. One second, she had been berating Kyoya for not taking care of himself; the next second, he was essentially having a seizure right before her eyes. Yoshio Ootori had come at that moment to check on his son and talk with him about Isamu, but as soon as his eyes (and ears) detected Kyoya's perilous situation, he rushed to the bed.

Isamu had his head out the door, desperately calling to any nurse who could come and help Kyoya. He seemed extremely worried about his cousin, and his little face was screwed into a fretful expression. Haruhi and Isamu shared a glance as a nurse came into the room, and before Haruhi knew what was happening, Isamu had flung himself at her. The poor boy probably didn't want to see any more than he already had.

The pair was roughly pushed aside as several nurses rushed into the room. Haruhi didn't know what to do, so she stood in the corner, out of the way, and closed her eyes. She became more in tune with the sounds and almost wished she hadn't. Sounds of all sorts assaulted her ears. Haruhi wanted to cry when she heard a loud sob rip from the boy's throat. She could hear Kyoya's desperate intakes of air, and every so often a gurgling gasp would emit from his body. Haruhi felt herself flinch whenever she heard the nightmarish sound. The squeak of shoes, the panicked voice of Yoshio Ootori, the authoritative voices of the nurses as they worked on Kyoya...all of it was too overwhelming.

Haruhi felt herself losing grip with the situation, and she backed herself and Isamu all the way into the corner, smacking her back forcefully on the wall behind her. Tears streamed down her face soundlessly as she let her body slide heavily down the wall. Isamu's tears continued to wet her back, and he eventually cried himself hoarse and fell asleep.

Haruhi wasn't sure how long she spent crouched on the floor, but at one point or another she must have fallen asleep herself. Yoshio Ootori was shaking her shoulder quite vigorously, telling her to wake up. She stirred but found her body too heavy to move. Her eyes opened slowly, and she immediately tightened her grasp on Isamu.

"Take it easy, Haruhi. It's just me." He whispered calmly.

She nodded in understanding. "K-Kyoya?" She croaked, wanting to know how he was.

"He's in the clear now. He had some sort of allergic reaction to the new medication the nurses switched him to. He'll be alright."

Haruhi nodded solemnly, still not allowing herself to smile.

"It will be alright. He should be awake soon, you'll-"

"D-Dad…? Har-Haruhi?" They heard a weak voice call from the bed above them.

Her eyes widened, and she stood up so fast she had to grab onto Yoshio's arm for support. Isamu was still sleeping on her shoulder, so Haruhi walked over to Kyoya's bedside as quietly as possible.

"You gave us quite the scare, son." Yoshio mentioned. Haruhi nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry…I don't even know what happened…" Kyoya seemed genuinely confused.

"You had an adverse reaction to your new medication…well part of the new medication anyway."

Kyoya nodded his head, and Haruhi marveled at how calm he was being. He had almost died and here he was, acting like nothing had happened. She felt absolutely terrible knowing that if he had died, she would have been the last person to speak to him…and she would have been yelling at him…she had been attacking him…verbally striking him…assaulting him with her words…

Every time she rearranged the words, she felt worse. Before she knew what was happening, tears were slipping down her cheeks. Had he died, she would have ended her own life…or so she assumed. The guilt would have been too much to bear. One second, she had been berating him and the next…he…she couldn't think about it anymore.

"Haruhi?" She heard Yoshio's voice, but her thoughts overpowered anything else she could have heard. Something or someone was guiding her to a chair and as soon as her bottom hit it, she snapped back to reality.

"You alright there? Goodness, you teens…always making us adults worry!" Yoshio was mumbling as he analyzed her.

"Huh?" Great, just perfect, Haruhi! Intelligently put.

"You got a little bit pale there. Thought we were going to lose you too! Do you want me to take the kid?"

As Yoshio reached for Isamu, Haruhi shook her head. She needed the human contact, and she doubted she would allow herself around Kyoya for a long while.

"I'm going…I'm going to take him to his room…I might stay there for a while…" Haruhi muttered, standing up once more.

As she left, she could feel the Ootori eyes boring into her back in questioning, but she did not look back. When she got to Isamu's room, she laid him on the bed and covered him up before sitting in the chair beside his bed. Haruhi threaded her hand through his fringe and took some time to think about everything.

Kyoya probably hated her. That was for sure. Isamu was depending on her to take care of him when he got out of the hospital within the week. Yoshio would probably hate her as soon as he found out what she had done. No one yelled at an Ootori and got away with it. Then again, Kyoya was no Draco Malfoy.

Her father was probably under a lot of stress without her home. Maybe she would go home tonight after checking herself out. It was five PM, plenty of time to get home and make dinner before her father got back. It would be a nice surprise for him.

Haruhi stood up and kissed Isamu on the forehead. She gave him his teddy bear and left a message with the nurse, letting Isamu know that she had gone home for a bit and would be back tomorrow after school. School…she honestly debated going back, but she knew she was severely behind.

No doubt the twins had been collecting work for her, and she would need to get started on it as soon as possible. With her mind set on the homework she had been missing, Haruhi walked out of the hospital and towards her home.

Once she walked through the door, she was almost relieved to find that her father was still at work. She could cook him a wonderful dinner and hopefully help him to de-stress a bit. Haruhi worked mindlessly and before she knew it, dinner was on the table. Cooking had always been a way for her to relax. This time was no exception.

She slumped into a chair and stared at the door, waiting for her father to come home. He wasn't usually this late, was he? Haruhi felt sorry for her father…she had not meant to worry him or stress him out, but like the doting father that he was, he was always worried about her. There was no doubt that the love was mutual. Haruhi often had dreams where her father was no longer around…and she was alone. Those were even worse than the nightmares about Kyoya dying. That seemed to be a common theme in her life at the moment…dying. It was a scary thought, but she and Kyoya had had to face it multiple times already…

Not quite a cliffy, but I didn't want to make it too incredibly long...the next chapter is almost 2,000 words long...

I honestly can't wait to post the next chapter, but I'm trying to find the perfect place to stop that one...it should be up by next week! I've been writing 750 words every day with the site . It's a great challenge, and it really helps me to make sure I write a bit of this piece every day!

Either way, I hope you enjoyed it!

Please review if you get the chance!