When Brian and Noelle got to Noelle's hospital room, she immediately fell asleep. Brian didn't have a problem sitting there, just watching her chest rise and fall slowly as she breathed. Without thinking about it, he laced his fingers in hers and squeezed her hand gently. He could literally sit there forever, if she needed him.

Brian and Noelle had never been in a relationship, really. They had slept together a couple of times and were on the verge of maybe getting together for real, but there was no title. She wasn't ever his girlfriend, but he felt a stronger connection to her than he felt to anyone in a long time. He certainly hadn't ever felt this connection this quickly.

Brian had a lot of time to think about where his marriage had gone wrong recently. He'd found that he probably should have gone back to before the marriage even happened. He and Leighanne had been together for three years. It was the next logical step to get married. He loved her, but he never thought about whether he could love her forever and that was his first mistake.

Brian was afraid to admit it, but he felt like he loved Leighanne, but he was in love with Noelle.

He knew that was crazy. He knew that he couldn't be in love with Noelle. They'd only known each other a couple of months. There was nothing to base this love off of other than a couple of the best sexual experiences he'd ever had and a few late night conversations. All Brian knew is that he felt sick without her. Since meeting Noelle, nothing felt right if she wasn't around. She made everything in Brian's life better, which was a scary thought.

Noelle stirred lightly in her sleep and gently squeezed Brian's hand back, but she didn't wake up. Brian smiled softly and leaned back into his chair. He propped his feet up onto the bed and was starting to make himself comfortable when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled the phone out quickly and saw that it was Leighanne.

She had called two other times that day and Brian had ignored it both times. She hadn't been calling lately. Brian assumed that he should answer the phone.

“Hello?” he whispered as he walked out of Noelle's room.

“Brian!” Leighanne exclaimed. “I've been trying to call everyone out there. I heard that you were seen entering a hospital in London this morning.”

Brian sighed heavily. He should have known that Leighanne was keeping up-to-the-minute tabs on him. “I was, but I'm fine. AJ's sister was sick. She has pneumonia.”

“Oh,” Leighanne replied, sounding halfway relieved. “So then, you're there with her? I didn't hear anything about AJ being there.”

“Yeah, I'm here with her,” Brian replied simply. “So, it's fine. I'm fine.”

“So, why isn't AJ there? I mean, why are you with her? I didn't even know AJ had a sister,” Leighanne responded quickly, starting to sound panicked.

“AJ wasn't around. He had some solo shows or something and yeah, Noelle is his half sister,” Brian said slowly, then sighed again. “So, like I said, I'm good.”

“Good. So, are you seeing her or something? I mean, it's just surprising that one of your managers didn't bring her to the hospital if her brother wasn't around,” Leighanne probed. The thought of Brian seeing someone else nearly killed her every time. “Why you?”

“Leigh, seriously, I told you what happened and I'm fine. You don't need to worry,” Brian replied. He was starting to get frustrated, which admittedly wasn't really fair.

“You didn't answer my question,” Leighanne replied seriously, not letting Brian out that easily. “Are you seeing her?”

“No, Leighanne!” Brian yelled. A week ago, Brian wouldn't have even known how to answer that question, but now he told her the truth; he wasn't seeing Noelle. “I'm not seeing her. I've got to go. I'm in a hospital. I'll be back in Atlanta in a few days.”

“Home, Brian,” Leighanne corrected him sternly. “You'll be home in a few days.”

Brian sighed again. Pretty soon, this hospital was going to be admitting him for mental illness.

“Bye Leighanne. I'll talk to you in a few days.”

Brian hung up. His head spun every time that he spoke to Leighanne. He knew that he was about to break her heart and while he didn't want to hurt her, the sheer annoyance that he felt just by hearing her voice was enough to send him over the edge. Maybe that wasn't fair to her. Okay, it wasn't fair to her, but what was done was done and Brian had come to the conclusion months ago that he wasn't ever going to feel differently.

He walked slowly, exhausted, back into Noelle's hospital room. He was half-mortified when he saw that she was awake and looking at him curiously.

“Now, you look like the one who's sick,” Noelle said softly when she saw Brian enter.

Brian tried his best to smile and sat back down in the chair next to her bed. “How are you feeling?”

Noelle shrugged. “I'm okay, I guess. Thanks for taking me to the hospital.”

Brian nodded. “You needed it.”

“So,” Noelle started slowly after a slight pause in the conversation. She turned away from Brian and stared down at her hands which were folded in her lap. “That was your wife just then? On the phone?”

“Um,” Brian replied, wondering how to answer that. “That was Leighanne.”

“So, your wife,” Noelle responded, annoyed. Maybe they were getting divorced, but an orange was still an orange.

Brian rolled his eyes and continued without answering that. “She heard that I'd been in the hospital today. She assumed the worst. That's why she called.”

There was so much more that he wanted to say, but Noelle was still sick and he didn't want to overwhelm her. If she wanted to bring it up, however, Brian was more than willing to let her.

“Yeah,” Noelle replied. “I heard that part. So, you said that you weren't seeing me.”

“I'm not,” Brian snapped. “Which is no fault of mine. You know how I feel about you. You won't even look at me, how am I supposed to be seeing you?”

“So, what if you were still seeing me? Would you have told her then?” Noelle asked, though she didn't know if she would receive an answer she would believe.

“I have no reason to lie. She told me when she was dating someone else,” Brian answered calmly. At least, he would like to believe that he wouldn't have lied to Leighanne about Noelle.

Noelle kept looking at her hands and then sighed, finally looking up. “I don't know what you want me to say.”

Brian groaned and threw his head into his hands. “I don't expect you to say anything, not anymore.”

“What do you mean not anymore? It's only been a week, Brian. I really cared about you and you gave me the same shit that Rob gave me, what the hell am I supposed to do with that?” Noelle yelled weakly.

She understood that the situation was a little different. Every minute that she wasn't throwing up or thinking about simply dying, Noelle was thinking about Brian. Maybe she hadn't been fair to him, but he hadn't exactly been fair to her either.

With that, Brian stood up next to Noelle's bed. “I didn't do the same thing to you that Rob did and you know it. I really cared about you, Noelle. You want to know what I was like those couple of months before you were around? I was dead inside. You woke me up just by being around. You made my cold insides warm. You reminded me that there was a better life out there. You were always running through my mind. The nights that I spent with you were the best night’s sleep I'd gotten in years. Getting to hold you in my arms, the few times that I did, was like my own slice of heaven. Let that freak you out. I don't care anymore, because the simple fact of the matter is that I could love you the way that you deserve to be loved and I think that you know that and it scares you to death and THAT'S really what's going on here.”

Brian and Noelle locked eyes. Brian wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms right then and there and prove what he meant. Noelle, however, was stunned into silence. Part of her wanted to scream that he was right and that she was scared—to feel loved again, to fall in love again. The other part of her just wanted this all to end.

When AJ stepped into the doorway, the latter won. Noticing the tension in the room, AJ knocked lightly as he entered. When Brian noticed that AJ was the one standing there, he grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair and shrugged it onto his shoulders. He wanted to cry, but he would be damned if he was going to cry in front of AJ and Noelle.

“So, your brother's here now. I'll get going.”

“Thanks again, Brian,” Noelle whispered, turning to look down to her hands again, instead of watching him leave. She really wanted him to stay, but she knew that she wasn't going to tell him that.

Brian hurried down the hallway. He had to force himself not to run. Though, he hated to use references to his own songs, he really felt like he was in Siberia. Brian groaned when he heard AJ calling his name from down the hallway. He stopped, but kept his back turned.

“Brian,” AJ repeated, then patted Brian's shoulder hoping that he would turn around and face him. When he didn't, AJ dropped his arm back to his side and continued, “Hey, I just wanted to thank you for looking out for Noelle for me and I wanted to apologize—for earlier and for the other day.”

Brian simply nodded and continued walking. “Yeah, Dude. Forget about it.”

“Bri,” AJ called again.

This time Brian turned around and raised his eyebrows in response.

“Look man, she really cares about you, she does, and if things were different there isn't anyone else I'd want my little sister to care about, you know?” AJ stammered. “I just, um, I just wanted you to know that.”

Brian smiled to himself sarcastically and nodded his head slowly.

“Thanks J, but unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that things are different and that I'm in love with your sister. It doesn't matter though, because I'm also pretty sure that she couldn't care less.” Brian turned back around and continued to walk down the hallway. “I'll talk to you later, Man.”

AJ sighed and watched Brian walk away until he turned the corner. Then, he walked back into Noelle's room, where he immediately noticed the tears streaming down her face. “It's been a rough few days, huh?”

“I do care,” Noelle replied. “I care a lot and that's the problem.”

AJ nodded his head slowly and sat down on the edge of her bed. “Maybe you should tell him that then.”

Noelle shook her head. “Why would it matter? The facts remain the same. Getting divorced or not, he’s not divorced and hearing the way you talk, despite him have papers, this whole marriage thing doesn’t look like it’s going to change.”

AJ chewed on his bottom lip gently. “I don’t know, Noelle. Things might me different than I thought and maybe you can’t be together now. In fact, I don’t suggest that you do get together now, but once the smoke settles and Brian’s alone and healthy again and you’re alone and healthy again. Who knows?”

Noelle laid her head back against her pillows and sighed again. “I don’t know, Alex.”

“You don’t have to know right now,” AJ replied while he rubbed the top of her hand supportively. “Even if you’re feeling physically better, you’re still sick and you still need to get some rest. You can worry about what to say to Brian later.”

“You’re right,” Noelle replied. “You didn’t have to miss your show, you know. You could have waited.”

AJ laughed to himself. “Yeah, only because you wanted more time with Brian.”

Noelle sighed and shook her head, then smiled and closed her eyes. “Whatever, brother.”

“Yeah,” AJ replied, smiling to himself. He got up off of the edge of Noelle’s hospital bed and plopped down in the chair where Brian had been sitting all day. Noelle quickly fell asleep and AJ knew that he should probably settle in for a long night, but as he watched his sister peacefully sleep he couldn’t help but to feel a ting of regret for her. He hated that he didn’t know anything what had been going on in her life. He had never known that she’d had a boyfriend--let alone a married boyfriend--not once, but twice. He was failing her as an older brother, but had recently made a promise to himself to keep up with Noelle and to know what was going on in her life. If AJ could help it, Noelle wasn’t going to hurt like this again.