Noah,

Charlie was tired and in pain, and her body desperately needed time to rest and heal itself even with the ambrosia's help from a few hours ago. But there was no way in Hades that Charlie was going to fall asleep before she had given us all a piece of her mind about how mad she was.

It was all given to us differently.

Aiden had gotten himself a mixture of a death glare and sympathy from my sister. She wanted to make him guilty for the freedom he had just taken away from her, but she didn't want him to feel guilty for what had prompted that decision, her getting hurt.

Chester seemed to be egging on her anger, which she liked and hated. She liked that he was with her on the fact that she wasn't a three year old who needed to be watched all the time, but she didn't like how it made Aiden feel guilty as well. And she was too tired to go along with the teasing they usually did.

Kate was reminded of the fact that, just a few days ago, she had been on her side saying that we shouldn't treat her like a child anymore. Charlie was asked why Kate let us make a choice like that, and Kate took it, just saying that it was best. Halfway through the anger from Charlie I was getting, Kate even began to comfort me by holding my hand.

I got it pretty bad from my babysitter who had once never been able to yell at me without crying half way through and hugging me. She, of course, blamed me for agreeing with Aiden's option. After a while, she dulled it down, and she even let me hold onto her hand like I had wanted to since she was hurt.

After a while, not even Charlie's anger at the whole situation could keep her awake. She fell asleep, and we all began to work out who would go to bed and who would take the shift with her tonight.

I took it since I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, and everyone except for Kate, who decided to sleep here, too, went on to bed.

Of course, only Chester stayed in bed, and Aiden came back, shrugging and saying that he couldn't sleep.

And, at about two AM, Swift showed back up.

She came into the room, depressed, and sat down on the floor, hugging her knees. We kept looking to Aiden, questioning if he knew what was wrong with her, and he just shrugged and looked back at Charlie as the guilt came back into his eyes.

"You okay?" Kate finally asked as we all looked to Swift.

Swift now had her head resting on her knees, and she had a blank, sad look as she looked up at us.

"I'm fine…" her voice was soft and vacant.

"Have you seen Sam? I'm getting a little worried," I tried to change the topic, and Swift's eyes flew up to me.

She didn't say anything, but that spoke volumes. She just sat there, letting out a barely there shrug, and it didn't take long until Kate stood up and asked Swift to go with her to get something from the vending machine.

At first, Swift just looked at her as if this was just a joke since she had made it pretty clear she didn't want to talk or move or do anything.

But Kate held out her hand and gave her the Kate look that always worked, and Swift got up.

Kate's look was legendary. It could make you do things you thought you would never do before. It had gotten me through many break-ups in which I wanted to hide away in my room and mourn but she got me out and doing things. It had gotten me to go to my senior winter formal even though I hadn't had anyone I had wanted to go with, and she gave me that look to enjoy my time the rest of the night as she went with me.

It was weird to think of how different things were in high school.

In high school, I woke up to my parents rushing about to get ready for the morning and blue breakfast on the table instead of Sam and I throwing something in the microwave as his one night stand was just leaving. I went to school instead of practice. Kate was there for every day of my life. If we went to a dance together, it would mean defeat for both of us finding someone else for that night, and now it would have meant that I succeeded in getting the girl I wanted.

In high school, I took Kate for granted. She was just like another little sister. I never ever thought I would like her.

Then I graduated. I moved out. She went to finish up high school. We lost touch. And losing her like that made me realize just how much I loved her.

"Alright, I guess," Swift grabbed onto Kate's hand, and the two girls left the room, leaving it to be just Aiden awake with me.

"So, what's going on?" I asked Aiden, hoping that her brother would be able to explain what the heck was up with Swift.

He shrugged.

"Absolutely no idea. I've never seen her like that," Aiden stretched, shrugging as he sat back down.

"Do you think she and Sam have something going?" I smirked, somewhat laughing at the crazy idea.

Sure, Sam had changed when it came to her, and she was his match. But it was still Swift and Sam. Could they really be together?

The more I thought about it, the less insane it got. It even made a bit sense…

"I'm her brother. No things mentioned, please," Aiden shook his head, and I laughed as I realized that Aiden and I were a lot alike.

Maybe that was why Charlie liked him.

"They probably do," I teased.

He threw a pillow at me, and I laughed harder.

Aiden began to laugh, too, and Charlie let out a small sound in her sleep as she shifted in bed, making us both silent.

For a minute or two, we just looked at my baby sister. Hurt. Having almost died. And now sleeping it all off.

"I forgive you, you know," my words were soft and came out without me even realizing it.

Aiden's eyes shot to me.

"Y-You do?"

"It isn't your fault. You didn't do it to her," I nodded, and Aiden smiled a bit, though it was still weak and still had guilt.

"Thank you," he nodded, "I needed that…"

Kate,

Swift looked across from me, and I realized that I hadn't seen anyone look like this in a long time, though it was pretty common.

The last time was about three months ago when my roommate/best friend, Adriane, had come home from the party I had skipped in favor of studying for my big test the next day. Her pretty make-up was smeared by tears, and she wasn't wearing the necklace her boyfriend, Robby, had given her three weeks before that she hadn't taken off since. She told me that she had just been broken up with by Robby, and I threw my book across the room in favor of letting her borrow my most comfortable sweatshirt and watch movies. Their relationship was rekindled, and they were happy for another three weeks. At that point, she had met her new short-term boyfriend, George, who was a more "intellectual" guy over her jock boyfriend, and she was the one to break-up with Robby that time.

At the time, I thought that Adriane's break-up faces were the worst. She was very dramatic about break-ups, and I thought that no one could beat that level until now.

Swift wasn't screaming or even really crying. She wasn't cursing him to spend eternity in Tartarus. She didn't even say if they had broken up, whoever "they" were.

She was just… broken.

Not just broken hearted but broken completely.

Her feet seemed to drag as she walked along the halls. Her arms stayed crossed. Her head stayed down, studying the floor. And her body was slumped over, lacking the prominence that it had once had.

We got to the vending machine without any words, and I wasn't even sure if Swift even realized we weren't talking. She seemed too deep in thought to even notice me.

"What happened?" I finally asked as I was shoving a quarter in the machine.

Her head looked up, and her eyes ran over me.

"What are you talking about?"

"You disappeared with my brother a few hours ago after a day of being weird, and then you showed up depressed when he still hasn't been found by anyone. What happened?" I repeated, and I found myself feeling a bit guilty for pressuring her when she looked so fragile.

Fragile.

Not a word I ever would have put in the same sentence with Swift until now.

"I screwed it up," she put her back to the wall and fell to the ground. She put her face back in her hands, and I got on the floor with her, handing her the chocolate bar I had just gotten.

She took it and opened it, biting into it.

"I have never found anyone like him. I love him. I told him I love him. I only tell Aiden I love him. No one else," she babbled, eating chocolate still. I just let her keep going, "And what did I do? I screwed it up!"

"What happened? The full story."

"Last night, he walked me to my room," her chocolate and speed got slower, "He spilled his drink on me, and he was so embarrassed…" she let out a small laugh at the memory, "It was almost funny to see him. I thought he was going to just curl up and die. Then he started helping me get it off, and he was close to me. And then he told me he loved me, and I told him. And it was perfect. Absolutely perfect. In the few hours before I screwed it up, it was the best relationship I ever had."

"He is Sam?"

She nodded, taking another big bite of the chocolate bar.

"This morning we agreed to keep it a secret-"

"This morning?"

She didn't listen. She just kept going.

"And it was hard honestly. After Charlie got hurt, I could tell he was freaked out, so I just went with him to get air. Then he just started talking about how he was worried for Charlie… I was just on-on edge after he said that. The way he seemed to be leading up to something," she finished the candy bar, and I pressed the button for a new one.

"What was he leading up to?" I asked as I handed her the new candy.

"He told me that he didn't think he could handle it if I got hurt like that. If I almost died. If I died. And I just went off!"

I wasn't sure what I was the most shocked about.

The fact that Sam and Swift were together now and were keeping it a secret from us all or the fact that this amazing guy was actually my brother.

My brother who was known for one-night stands. My brother who just dated girls until he got bored of them, when he left them from what they thought was out of nowhere. My brother who had never really been in love with a girl.

And yet he loved her, the opposite of his "type". He loved her…

And now he had lost her.

I couldn't imagine how he was taking it, where he was, or what he was doing.

"Why did you go off at that?" I asked, trying not to be a bit mad at her.

This was my brother. He was just doing what a guy in love does, and she broke his heart.

"I don't know," she cried, "I-I just was afraid that he was trying to make me quit. That he was just trying to make me the pretty little housewife or something like that. I just started yelling that he was like the rest…"

I froze.

"You didn't?"

She nodded, ashamed.

"Where is he?" I asked, now completely worried for my older brother.

"I-I don't know. He ran off. I'm worried to death. Who knows what he'll do?"

"Why did you do that to him? You said you loved him!" I was suddenly angry at her, and I could tell that I was making it worse, though I didn't really stop.

"I do," she cried harder, "I love him. I-I just got scared!"

"Do something about it then. Get off your butt. Stop crying. And don't hurt my brother," my arms were crossed, and I realized that my brother would have just beaten up my boyfriend in this situation.

"I don't know where he is."

"Find him."

Swift reached across and did the absolute weirdest thing she has ever done around me.

She…hugged me.

"Thank you so much," she hugged me tight before getting up and running off.

Sam,

I was tired. My shirt had a tear in it that I didn't even remember getting. My right knuckle was bruised from getting in a fight at a bar. I was a bit hungover. And I needed as much sleep as I could get.

I fumbled to get my key in the hotel room lock as I felt around for my phone, trying to see if I even still had it. I did, and I pulled it out a bit clumsily.

It was four in the morning. I had sixteen calls and about twenty messages.

I shoved my smartphone back into my pocket, too afraid that those messages and calls had been from her. I couldn't stop hearing those words. I kept trying to drown them out by doing the craziest stuff I could do.

I tried to silence it all with loud music. Then a drive. Then a bar. Then a couple of drinks. Then I tried to drown it out with the sound of my knuckles breaking a guy's nose. I drove again. Ran around, hoping that the sneakers slapping against the pavement would help.

But, instead, I was just the new crazy person in this town.

In a few hours, people would be talking about that crazy guy that showed up. The stories would probably include me most likely being a drug addict going insane from withdraw or some guy who couldn't hold his drink.

Either way, the stories I kept imagining going around were better than how it really was.

Swift, the love of my life and the one who had been different than any other girl in every single way, just saw me as some guy. As "just like the rest"….

I could feel the beer I had been drinking all night start to fight up my throat, and I forced the door open, hoping that Noah wasn't there, which he wasn't. I began to pull off my clothes, once perfectly styled and fashionable and now stained with tears, blood, and alcohol. I fumbled around in the dark, trying to get it all off as fast as I could.

Clothes were flying everywhere until I was left in my boxers, sprawled on the carpet of the hotel, and gulping in air like it was the last I would ever have of it.

The room was too quiet. It let me think too much.

She left me.

She left me.

She left me, I could hear it again and again.

I could hear everything she said. I could remember everything about her. I could feel the heartbreak of it all hitting me again and again.

And yet I could remember the way her lips tasted the first time we kissed. I could remember the giddy feeling I got when she would say that she loved me. I remembered the touch of her skin. I remembered the feeling of her scars. I remembered how much I loved being around her.

The anger towards her and the love I felt for her mixed together, making it hard to breathe. Making it hard to think. Making it hard to do anything.

"Sam?" a sleep voice asked, and I could see a shadow begin to sit up from the second bed.

I knew the sleepy voice anywhere, and it made me freeze.

"Sam?" she called out again, stumbling around in the dark, and I could see her body slightly due to the light coming from the window. Her foot touched my chest, and she stopped.

I couldn't see it, but I could feel her head turn down to look at me and her eyes run over what she could see of me.

"There you are," she fell to her knees quickly, her arms wrapping tightly around me, burying her face in my neck. I could feel something wet, and I realized she was crying.

"What do you want?" I tried to pull away.

"Sam…" her face pulled away a bit, and I could hear in her voice now that she was crying. I was glad I couldn't see it. I couldn't bear to see her cry.

"You don't get to cry, Swift. Why would you cry? I'm just like the rest. I'm just some guy," my voice had never had such hostility as I tried to pull away again, and I got away. But her hands wrapped around my arm, silently begging me to stay.

"I didn't mean that!" Swift cried harder, "Please, believe me! I love you!"

"If you loved me, you never would have said anything like that after I was just trying to tell you that I cared if you got hurt!"

"It wasn't like that," her voice was softer now, but mine wasn't.

"Why then? Why did you start screaming that I was just some guy who wanted you to quit your job just like the rest if you loved me like you say you do?" I screamed.

"Because I would for you!" she yelled, and the room got silent.

"What?"

"I would quit for you, okay? And that scares the Pluto out of me!" she leaned back to the edge of the bed, "No one has ever made me even think about quitting my job, but I would do it for you…. And I don't like that. I was sensitive with you bringing it up, and I just…"

"That killed me, Swift," my voice was softer, too, "I was just some guy. I was like the rest. You're the only one that has made me feel like this. You're the only person I have ever met like how you are. I love you."

"I love you, too, Sam," she held out her arms, hugging me close, "Please, please, forgive me."

I closed my eyes, a tear dripping onto her black curls, and I ran my fingers through her hair.

"Please, please," she whispered, crying harder, "I love you, I love you. I have never felt like this before, and you are not at all just some guy. I can't believe I said anything like that to you."

"I love you, too," I whispered, "If you'll have me, I want you back."

"Of course I'll have you," she kissed me, and I could taste her salty tears on her lips.

I wrapped my arms around her, slowly standing up with her.

"It is four am. We need some sleep," I whispered, pulling her down to the bed with me. I wrapped my arms around her, and she nuzzled up to me, closing her eyes tightly.

I happily smiled as I felt her warmth against me, and the sound of her breathing finally drowned out the sound of her words today, and I really felt like they were gone. We would be alright, maybe even better now that we were together again.

"How about we start actually talking instead of just screaming and breaking up with issues?" I whispered, a smirk on my lips, and she kissed my jaw.

"By the way," she whispered, resting her head on my chest, "I kind of told your sister."

"Maybe we shouldn't even keep it a secret," I ran my fingers through her hair again.

"Maybe not…" her voice drifted off as she fell asleep, and I grinned as I closed my eyes and fell asleep with her.