Ash crumpled back down into the chair after her friend had been cleaned up and given more medication to help her fall back asleep. She was having a hard enough time dealing with everything, but now the guys were here. The ones that Shay had specifically asked her to not tell if anything happened to her, she was just following her friend’s wishes. She rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands, trying to catch a grip on reality. It was hard considering that the fact Shay was awake hadn’t really settled in, not to mention that she didn’t even seem to recognize anyone around her. Her heart broke slightly at the fact, the one person who she depended on more than anything, the one person who was her rock, didn’t even know her name. She felt the tears seep from her eyes, as she kept her head buried in her hands, as her shoulders shook.

Howie stood there watching her, taking her in. He didn’t know what to do, he glanced at Brian and AJ, who like him were bewildered with what was going on. The news had come too fast, too soon, and none of them knew how to deal with it. The one laying in the bed was woman of their closest friends, along with the woman sitting in the chair. He couldn’t be mad at Ash for not telling them, he couldn’t be upset like Nick was, what exactly would that solve? Nothing in the long run; they were here now, and they could offer any support that was needed, he would make sure of that.

Kevin’s voice broke the silence, “what happened?” he questioned simply as he moved to crouch beside Ash’s chair tilting his head to try and catch her gaze.

Her breath stuttered slightly as she glanced towards the man beside her, his haunted green eyes staring at her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, looking towards the bed, watching the gentle rise and fall of her friend’s chest, “I… not in front of her. It’s bad enough she is reliving it in her mind, I don’t want her overhearing what happened too.”

“Then let’s go get a coffee,” Kevin offered, as he stood up reaching his hand towards her. He noticed her hesitate, her eyes still trained on the bed, “If anything happens, we’ll make sure they call you okay?” glancing towards the Doctor, “you’ll call her if she wakes up again right?”

“Of course Ms. Accord, we have your number right at the nurses station, and I have it on me.”

“Thank you,” she whispered as she pushed herself up from the chair, making sure she had her balance before she even bothered taking a step. Her whole body was now letting how exhausted she actually was take over. She felt weak, but she couldn’t let that show, she had to be strong, she had to do everything to make sure that Shay had everything she needed. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she felt Kevin’s hand on her back, guiding her slightly. Her eyes flickered towards the other guys, just as AJ moved to walk beside her, reaching down and taking her hand.

“We’re here now,” he whispered as his fingers stroked her knuckles, “you don’t need to do this alone anymore.”

She let out a shaky breath as she let them lead her towards the elevator so they could descend to the coffee shop on the first floor. She wasn’t sure what was happening anymore, her best friend, her sister was finally awake. She had friends around her who knew what was going on, but why couldn’t she let herself at least relax a little? Let her body not be tense and wound up? She knew why. It had been the look on her sister’s face, that complete look of confusion when she stared at her, or rather through her. She didn’t know who she was. She felt the tears fall, as the elevator moved and her knees buckle slightly under her, “oh god..” she whispered, “she doesn’t remember,” it came out so mumbled she was sure no one heard her.

Kevin quickly slid his arm around her waist to hold her upright, hearing her whispered confession as he held onto her. This wasn’t the same woman that he used to spend hours having conversations with, this wasn’t her, he was sure she was in there somewhere, but right now he wasn’t holding that Ash, “relax, it’ll be okay.”

“How do you know?” she whispered as she reached her hand up to wipe her eyes.

He couldn’t answer that question, because in all honestly he didn’t know. Three years ago if you had asked him a question like that he would have answered it so quick someone’s head would spin, but now, with everything that had happened in his own life, he wasn’t so sure how he knew anything anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She ran a hand through her hair as she sat at the table starring absently into her cup of coffee, “I don’t even know where to begin.  All I know is that this has been my home since she’s been here, this has been my life, and I couldn’t imagine myself being anywhere else but with her right now.”

Brian reached across the table and rested his hand on top of hers, he knew this was going to be hard, but they needed to know what happened;she couldn’t have expected anything less really. They had spent so much time together; so many tours the two had been with them. So many times Ash had been beside him, helping him prank Nick and Shay. They all had a special bond together, that he was sure off. It was time that they brought that back together.

“Just take your time,” Kevin whispered softly, his arm still around her shoulders, rubbing softly in comforting strokes. He knew what she was going through, he had been there. He was still there, still trying to come to grips with the reality of the whole situation, the fact that when Mason did something he was proud of, he couldn’t turn and have Kristen sitting there smiling with him. It broke his heart every time he even thought her name, but he had to be strong right? If not for anyone, he had to be for Mason.

She bit her bottom lip and sighed softly, “I just remember that day, I was at the office working and Paul had come to see me. He isn’t supposed to be within a hundred feet of me, but he was there, outside waiting for me. I was sure he was there to hurt me, like he had so many times before…”

“He hurt you?” AJ questioned, his breathe getting a littler harsher at the thought of it, the thought that someone would dare lay their hands on one of his friends.

“It’s over now Alex,” she replied looking at him, “I haven’t seen him since Shay has been here, he used to call me ten times a day, now I hear nothing. He’s gone for good,” she watched as he nodded before she continued, “So I called Shay because I was honestly scared to leave. She told me she was on her way and that she would be there in ten minutes because she was just around the corner getting a coffee. That was the last time I heard her speak,” the tears were rolling down her cheeks, blurring her visions, “if I had just called the police she wouldn’t be here.”

Kevin pulled her closer to him, letting her cry against his shoulder as he looked up at the other guys who were all leaned forward, listening intently. He saw the tears peeking in Howie’s eyes and he looked at him, shaking his head, Ash didn’t need to see them falling apart too. It was the last thing that she needed. He watched as Howie cleared his throat and took a deep breath, focusing himself again, “you cannot in any way blame this on yourself, you know even if you called the police she would have come anyway, because you would have called her. You know that she was always going to be there to protect you no matter what the situation.”

Nodding her head against his shoulder, “I know that, she was always so stubborn, so fucking stubborn about everything,” as she took a deep breath and sat back up lifting her head just as she saw Nick slip into the room. She watched his eyes scan the room before coming to rest on hers, she blinked slightly as if letting him know to come over and sit with them, “I’m sorry Nick.”

“No don’t you dare be sorry, I acted stupid,” as he moved to stand beside her crouching down and hugging her tightly, “I’m sorry I acted like that, I know this is hard on you and you were just carrying out her wishes, as unfair as they were. You are her sister and I know you would do anything for her.”

She hugged him back tightly, pulling back to look in his eyes, “you are here now, and that is the one thing that means the world to me, I don’t have to suffer through this alone anymore.”

Brian pushed out a chair for Nick to sit beside him, “sit down, Ash was just telling us what happened,” looking at her to make sure that it was okay for him to tell the first part, “all we know so far is that Shay was going to help Ash because Paul was stalking her and she was scared he would try and hurt her.”

Nick’s gaze shifted back to the other woman, he knew from Shay that Paul wasn’t a nice person, and he always wondered why Ash had stayed in such a horrible relationship. It was never his place to say anything though, but now he let out a sigh of relief at the words that he was gone, “well that’s one step in the right direction,” smiling at her softly.

Kevin gently brushed a piece of hair from her face, “continue.”

She took a deep breath, “well, she never showed up. I didn’t leave the office, even though he had disappeared the minute I had called her. It was about an hour later when I got a call, it was a police officer telling me to get to the hospital. They never told me what happened, they wouldn’t explain anything to me over the phone, they just asked me if I knew Shay,” her tears still falling down, “and here we are six weeks later. The Doctor didn’t think she would wake up; I was going to have to make the decision to move her onto the long-term care ward. I was going to lose the one person who I had beside me my entire life.”

“That was until today,” AJ replied softly, “today she woke up, which is one step in the right direction. It means that she is on the road to recovery.”

She looked up at AJ, “it isn’t that simple Alex, she doesn’t even know who I am. She doesn’t even recognize my voice, she looks right through me. This is the beginning of a very long road.”