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I blinked a few times before I realized I was staring at a white tiled ceiling. A white tiled ceiling I'd bet I'd stared at not too long ago. I looked around, and once again found tubes in my hands, and looking down further found a bandage wrapped around my foot. It was actually kinda tight. What the fuck happened? Looking at the end of the bed, I saw Angel and BJ leaning on each other, sleeping. Angel yawned as she woke up, and, seeing me looking at her, hit BJ in the arm, causing her to stir.

BJ gave her sister an annoyed look. "Go get Nick..." Angel trailed off, still looking at me. BJ glanced up at me, too, smiled, and rushed out of the room, apparently looking for Nick.

But why? Seriously... What the Hell happened??

Moments later the door flung open and Nick came bursting into the room. He and Angel were once again at my side. Talk about Deja Vu...

"What happened?" I finally asked.

"You were in an accident." Nick answered. I gave him the best "no shit" look I could manage and he continued, "You'd just left on your way to Kyle's house, and some dickwad came speeding down the street."

"He said he didn't even see you." Angel said, teary-eyed, making me wonder just how much of a miracle it really was that I was alive... I frowned when I noticed that Angel was giving Nick a concerned look.

"Is there something else?" I asked, hoping to get the answer out of one of them.

Nick nodded. "Well, he- he was high, when he hit you..." I sat there in disbelief.

"So... Where's Aaron?" I asked.

"In his room...." Nick said, giving me a hurt look. "The last time I saw him, he was a mess..."

"That was when-" Angel stopped and gave me a worried look.

"When what?" I asked anxiously.

"When uh..." Nick looked like he wasn't quite sure what to say. "When the doctor said that you only had a 40 percent chance of living... He also said if you went into a coma, you'd only have a 30 percent chance of coming out of it..."

"He- Aaron didn't ki-"

"No!" Angel exclaimed. I guess she still didn't wanna hear those words.

"His room at home." Nick answered.

"Oh." That reminded me... "How did you guys find me?"

Angel and Nick exchanged confused glances. "Don't you remember?"

"You had your phone..." Angel said when she saw the look on my face.

"Thank god..." I said. "Good thing I brought it..."

"Yeah," Angel and Nick chorused.

"Is Aaron coming?" I asked.

Angel hesitated for a minute before saying, "He didn't want to see what happened to you...what he could've done to you...he pleaded for us to not make him go...."

"Get him."

"What?" she asked incredulously.

"Get him. Maybe seeing me like this will scare some sense into him and he'll think twice before doing drugs again."

"No," Angel said. "He said he wouldn't, and I believe him..."

"I'm sorry..." I said in a low, solemn tone, taking a threateningly tight hold on the IV's in my arms. "His word...it doesn't mean that much to me anymore..."

"Amy....what are you doing...?" Nick asked slowly getting up from his chair.

"Bring Aaron here NOW! Or so help me God, I will get him here myself."

"HASN'T HE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH!!?" Angel half screamed. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!!?"

"Because...it's bigger than him and me now. If he does this again, he could kill someone. I'm helping him..."

"He PROMISED that he would never do it again!" she cried, tears streaming down her face.

I looked at her with a pitiful expression and said somewhat coldly, "I bet he 'promised' that the last time, too..."

She got up from her chair and was about to leave when Nick stopped her.

"Shes right, Ang." He sighed. "Aaron promised before, and I wanna believe him, too. What could it hurt to have him see her? Hes gonna have to sometime."

I could see Angel's arm shaking, I guessed it was out of rage.

"Fine..." she finally said.

"I'll go get him," Nick said. "It for his own good," he said in a comforting voice to Angel, before kissing her on the cheek and leaving.

Angel plopped down in the chair farthest from me and crossed her arms. She wouldn't even look at me. I felt bad for being as harsh as I was, but I knew I had to. I love Aaron, and I know what I'm doing.

"Look," I said shortly, gazing at her imploringly. "I'm sorry for being like that, but I have to do this. No, I need to do this. It'd make it better for both of our lives, the whole family's, okay?"

She looked up slowly, her eyes fixed on a spot on the wall. "Amy. What are you talking about?"

"Ang, I'm..."

"You're what? Tell me now, Amy, or forever hold your words." Angel gave a glare; At least it was softer and more hospitable than her screaming. Even though it sounded like we were in a wedding.

"I'm sorry too." I said, hoping she would move closer. "I just don't want to see Aaron end up like Jack, and I know you don't either."

Tears swam down her cheeks, gathering momentum as they fell to the linoleum floor beneath her. "Amy...I hate seeing my baby brother going through this again! It's just like it was a couple years ago, 'cept he didn't have you...He was so wreckless, like you wouldn't believe, taking every single breath for granted...I'm scared."

I wanted to reach out to console her, to tell her that her words were totally off, but I couldn't. A) I was strapped to the hospital bed and B) Her words screamed out a lot of truth.

"Come here, Ang. We don't need to be fighting. Friends?"

She reached out and held my hand. "Friends."

"I'm scared, too..." I confessed.

"Amy! You're still awake!" Nick's anxious voice broke through the solemn silence as he rushed into the room, his Nike's slapping friction against the white floor. "I was so stressed out that something had happened to you while I was gone getting Aaron, on top of all of this... Geez, we can't ever have a drama free week here, can we?"

I shook my head with a grim smile. "Nope. Mission Impossible 4."

He grinned briefly before taking seat beside Angel. "We'd be box office hits if these past couple of months were a movie."

"So..." My throat suddenly felt starched and dry. "Where's Aaron?"

"Oh yeah..." Nick said, walking out of the room. Angel grabbed a small plastic pitcher off of a table and poured a cup of water for me, bringing it up to my lips for me after realizing I couldn't do so myself. The two of us looked up at the door as we heard yelling.

"DAMNIT, NICK! WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?" One voice yelled. Aaron's.

"'CAUSE YOU FUCKING NEED TO SEE HER!" Nick hollared.

"NO! STOP IT, NICK!" Aaron yelled. Apparently he lost the fight, 'cause moments later we saw Nick walk back through the door, followed very closely behind by Aaron, who was being pulled by the back of the neck into the room.

"Sorry about that..." Nick said, shoving his brother in front of him and brushing off his hands, as if he'd gotten them dirty somehow.

"Its okay..." I trailed off, looking past Aaron and at Nick for a moment, before looking at Aaron, who kept his eyes on the floor. Angel, who had made her way over to the side of the bed her brothers were on, shoved him in the arm, causing him to look up at her. She raised her eyebrows and looked at me.

He sighed in frustration and looked up at me, tears welling in his eyes when he looked at my face. Was I bashed up that badly? Or was he just feeling guilty?

"....Amy?" he asked. Good lord, I must look like hell for him to not recognize me.

"Yeah?" I replied, trying to sit up more, but failing. As tear escaped one eye, Nick and Angel took that as their cue to leave.

"Amy... I got rid of everything," he said walking up to me and gently taking my hand. "I'm sorry..." he whispered looking down at the floor. "I'm so sorry..."

"Well, if it took me nearly dying for you to get rid of the drugs, then I guess it means that you chose them over me," I concluded.

"No I didn't, Amy, I swear!!" he said defensively. "Amy, it was no contest. I wasn't about to let something as stupid as a drug addiction make me lose you forever!!"

"Woah, wait a minute!!" I said, holding a hand up to stop him from saying anything else. "Addiction?!"

He hung his head and collapsed in a chair that was next to my bed. Slowly he nodded.

"But you can't be addicted after just a couple of weeks...." I said, not wanting to believe what I'd just heard.

"I've been using drugs for a lot longer than 'just a couple of weeks'..." he confessed.

"How much longer?"

He thought for a moment before answering, "Since about two months before we met..."

"So this entire time, ever since I moved here, ever since we started dating, you've been high?!"

"No!!!" he said, looking up at me, his eyes pleading for me not to get mad. "Why do you think it took so long for everyone to notice?!" When I gave him a blank look he continued, "It's because I haven't been using them that much! I'd get high like once or twice a week... That was it! And everytime, it was only a little bit. But all the crap finally got to me and soon, when you told me about Kyle, I doubled what I'd been doing. Then it tripled. And then I was going off and using everyday, I was at that point when I pushed you."

"Aaron, why'd you start in the first place? Way back before we met?" I asked, squeezing his hand lightly.

"Because I just wanted to forget about everything for just a little bit! Not have to worry about my music, or my career, or my love life...just so I could relax for an hour, if that."

I was speechless. All this time... And I didn't notice? All I could do was look at him, sitting there, about to start sobbing at any given moment.

"Relax?? What if it'd killed you?!" I'd been keeping my feelings inside for way too long.

"It wouldn't've," he insisted.

"How do you know? Do you know how it would feel for the people who love and care for you if you suddenly died of an overdose? Nick? Angel? B.J, Leslie? Your whole family, fans..." I paused and took a deep breath. "Me?"

Tears welled up in his eyes again, and I thought he was going to have another break down. But then again... Is he high right now?

"Aaron... You're not high right now, are you?" I asked soberly.

He bit his lip. "Well...."

"Aaron, baby... Please, tell me the truth."

"I took some after you left... And-and then I heard you were in a car accident, and I threw everything away, I swear! Nick came and got me, and the effects haven't really worn completely off..."

I pulled my hand away from him and wished I could turn on my side, just so I didn't have to see him. but the damned IV tubes were in my way.

"Amy!" He exclaimed, a tear running down his cheek. "Please don't be like this."

"Be like what? Be angry because I'm in the hospital again, because another moron hurt me? And I don't even know this one!"

"Wait... What are you talking about?" He really must be high. Or did no one tell him?

"Didn't your family tell you? Nick said the cops told him the guy who hit me was high off his ass." Aaron's jaw hit the floor. "Yeah... Now what? Now am I allowed to be like this?"

"Amy...Baby..I'm...I'm..." Aaron stuttered copiously, and I counted to ten before turning back to face him.

"What?" I asked shrilly. The IV's were making me irritated, and tired. "Fucking sorry again? How many times do we have to do this at the hospital, each time you having to be forced to come by one of your family members because you're being an asshole?"

I turned back to face the dreary sunshine behind the window, feeling very much as the clouds did. "Just go. I know you don't want to be here."

"Amy, I..." He trailed off into silence, and I heard footsteps slapping against the floor a few minutes later, followed by the swing of the hinges.

Voices flowed from behind the closed door. Nick. Angel. Aaron.