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As I opened my eyes, I found myself sitting in a chair in the hallway, Aaron, Angel, Nick, and Dad standing around me. Before I could say a word Aaron handed me a styrofoam cup with ice water in it.

"You passed out..." Aaron trailed off.

"Are you alright?" Dad asked, standing next to Aaron.

"I guess..." I replied after taking a few short sips of water.

"I'm sorry for anything I did," I took another sip, "You know, before I passed out."

Aaron's lips bestowed another kiss on my forehead, whispering, "It's okay, baby. Its okay."

I felt so glad that he was there. And the rest of them.

But the footsteps of the doctor coming almost killed all of my optimistic feelings.

"I think you should go home, Miss." he said curtly, but not really in a rude manner, "We'll call you when we get news."

"But-"

"Amy, we'll take you," Nick said softly as Aaron helped me up from my chair.



As I sat in the backseat of Nick's car on the way home, Angel beside me, I looked out the window. Why my mom? Why now? Why at all? Would it have been the same if we'd stayed home, at our old house? Would things have been different if I were with Jack, and not Aaron? It certainly wouldn't have been better if I was with Jack... Wait, what's the use of talking about all these buts?

"Mom's gonna be alright," I said suddenly to nobody in particular. A lie. Partly. I was talking to myself.

They gave me a peculiar look. Angel patted my hand. "What?"

"Mom's gonna be alright," I repeated, "I just know it. She's a fighter. She'll be okay, and she'll fly doing it." Aaron looked back at me and smiled. Yeah. Mom'll be okay. And so will I.

I looked up at my big, empty house as Nick pulled into my driveway. "I dont really wanna go home," I whispered to Angel. She looked back at me with sympathy in her eyes, and I felt so guilty. They were feeling sorry for me, when they should've been sorry for my mom.

Aaron twisted his neck from around the front seat. After he seemed to contemplate something that made his eyes troubled, he finally asked, "Where should we go?"

"How about the beach?" I suggested out loud. When Aaron and Angel both gave me quizzical looks, I explained, "We used to have family outings at the beach far away at our old house."

Nick backed out of my driveway as he chimed in agreement and we all headed for the beach.

I slowly got out of the car after we pulled up to the beach. When I finally stood up and looked at the waves, my phone rang.

'To say that you deserve this
And what kind of God would serve this
We will cure this dirty old disease
Well if you've gots the poison, I've gots the remedy'

I looked at it for a moment. It was Julie. I completely forgot about her and Gina.

"Hello?" I said, sniffling.

"Amy...Are you okay?" Julie asked when she realized I was upset. I heard Gina's voice murmur in the background.

"I've seen better days, I guess," I gazed out at Aaron slowly venturing closer out to the shore, and felt a numbness chiming in my stomach. Good, or bad, I have no idea. "But it's okay. I'm okay. My mom's gonna be okay."

"Whats wrong with your mom??" Julie asked. I also forgot neither of them knew about my mom. I slowly told Julie everything, trying as hard as I could not to cry. "Oh my God, Amy, I'm soo sorry. Where are you? Do you want us to come?"

"No, I'm okay, I'm with Aaron, Angel, and Nick."

"Oh." She said. "Are you gonna be at school tomorrow?"

School. I forgot about that too. "I don't know. I really hadn't thought about it, Julie..."

"Of course not. But you sound tired, Amy, you should get some rest."

I nodded, forgetting we were on the phone and she couldn't see me. "Yeah, I'll call you later. Bye."

"Bye!" Julie said, and I could hear Gina yell goodbye in the background before we hung up.

"Who was that?" Aaron breathed into my hair, suddenly by my side. I felt somewhat more reassured by his arms slinkishly wrapping around my waist, even though I was pretty much sure him hugging me wouldn't make my mom better. She was still going to be, anyways.

"Julie. And Gina."

"Those two twins?" he asked.

I giggled, my lips curving upwards slightly. "They're not twins, they're just freakishly alike."

"Damn." Aaron commented, "For once, I actually thought I got it right."

"I'm sure you will someday." I replied, looking out at the ocean.

"Come on," he said, pulling me towards the beach by the hand, "Lets take a walk."

He pulled my lightly towards the shore, with a sense of control that I didnt really mind. It wasn't control freakish. It was control because...that I had to find out.

But I liked it.

The wet sand surrounding the shore felt soft and pudgy beneath my feet, and I looked down to see the cool brownness of it oozing between my toes. I'd forgotten my shoes. So did Aaron, I noticed. I let out a laugh.

"Great minds think alike, huh?" I commented.

"Guess so," he said, looking out at the water as he pulled me closer to him.

"So what's next?" he asked softly. I liked the way his breath warmed my neck as he talked, and the way my head fit into his chest's mold. I liked how he acted, how he talked, how he walked, how he laughed. And let's not forget how absolutely gorgeous he is.

I giggled at my own chatising, my own inside rebellion.

"What's so funny?" Aaron asked in mock indignance, "Do I smell like poop or something? Cause I swear that I put almost half the bottle of spray in the hospitals bathroom, and it was -"

"No, it wasn't that," I smiled, breaking our tune of walking and turning to face him. "I was just listing all the amazing things about you, and I almost forgot just how amazingly beautiful you are."

He blushed, a small tinging pink running up his cheeks. "Weh-ell, who is the naughty girl here? I'm not even naked yet! Anyways, you're the beautiful one. Inside and out. You just haven't hung around me that much to know all of my mistakes."

"I've seen some mistakes. But I could look past 'em."

"I've seen a mistake in you too," he admitted.

I stopped smiling. "You did? What?"

"That you didnt let me meet you sooner."

I rolled my eyes. What a cheezy line. "I met you the day I moved here." He just smiled, apparently sticking to his original answer.

"Next time, babes, move here faster before I start to stalk you," he laughed.

"Next time?" I asked. Being stalked by him doesn't sound so bad, anyway.

"Yeah. I'm going to get your picture embedded in my pillowcase."

"So... you're a teenie now?" I said, smiling.

"Of course," he smiled.

"Teenie weenie," I declared, laughing as Aaron tried to chase me away. I stopped and looked at him. The sun was going down but still he was glowing...

"...Maybe we should go home." Nick suggested as he and Angel walked over to us. I frowned. I guess I had to go home sometime.

"I guess," I said softly, looking back at Aaron. He looked disappointed. "Let's go, Aaron."

He obeyed and we walked back together to Nick's truck, hand in hand, silently.

It wasn't until we were buckled in safe and sound, like good citizens, that he spoke again in a low whisper, cupping his hands around my ear. I was instantly aroused by the warm sensation of his breath against my sensitive skin.

Ahh, sad or not, I was still a stupid horny teenager.

"Listen," Aaron said, "I know youre sad and all, but I was wondering if you'd like to, you know, spend a night with my family. I mean, you can bring your dad too," he said quickly before I even protested. How did he read my mind. He was definitely a stalker. "But if you dont want to..."

I heard the words in my mind, but I just didn't know what to say. "Uh, I don't know... maybe you can... stay at our house?" It was Aaron's turn to not know what to say. "Its just that, the house is so big, and it would seem so empty if it just was me and my dad..."

I noticed him exchange a look with Nick, who seemed to smirk a bit. That look must run in the family.

"Sure... If your dad agrees to it." He replied, smiling at me as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my dad's cell number.

"Dad?" I asked when the ringing stopped abruptly.

"Hi Amy..." He trailed off. "Is something wrong?" He sounded worried.

"Not really..." I answered.

"Have you heard anything about Mom yet?" I tried not to sound too worried.

I heard a sigh. "No, but they said shes still sleeping."

"Oh." I looked away from the window for a moment, and realized everyone in the car was silent. I guess they were trying to hear what we were saying.

"The doctors seem to be optimistic, honey." Dad said consolingly.

"Optimistic?" What the hell does that mean??

"She'll be alright, Amy. No one is gonna let anything happen to her."

"I hope not..." I trailed off. "Um, Dad?" I paused, waiting for a response.

"Yeah?"

"Can I, um, ask you something?" I cringed as I imagined his reaction.

"Sure, honey, what is it?"

"Well, Aaron, Angel, and Nick invited us to stay at their house tonight, and-"

"I'll think about it, honey." Dad interrupted. I was thankful that I didn't have to finish my question, but worried because he said he'd "think about it".

"That's not code for 'no', is it?"

"Amy, I'll think about it." He said. "I'll call you later. Get some rest."

I nodded. "Yeah. Talk to you later. Love you, Dad."

"Love you too, Amy. Bye." He said, followed by a click. I sighed as I hung up the phone.

Aaron looked at me curiously. "Well?"

"Uhhh." I tried to stall, to think up of a plausible answer.

"Tell me baby girl, cause I need to know." he sang out.

I gave in and laughed, sliding towards Aaron so that we were closer as we sat parked in his driveway, Nick with his door open.

"I didn't actually get to ask him the question....correctly." I admitted, looking down at my black Converse. I grinned as Aaron's white Nike nudged mine playfully. So he wasn't mad.

"Thats what I heard." he told me, finally resting his shoes on top of mine so that my Chuck's could suffocate.

Mofo.

"He'll think about it..." I said finally, looking up into Aaron's puppy dog eyes.

"You can hang here until he gets back." Nick offered. We all got out of the car, and Aaron and I stayed outside for a while. He was making silly faces at me, trying to get me to smile. I was trying not to, but he started tickling me and I burst out laughing. A few minutes of tickling later and Aaron started to play with my hair... He always did that when he wanted to make his move. Sure enough, the same minute as he was going for my neck, Nick came outside.

"Uh, hey, Nick!" I called out cheerfully after swiftly dodging Aaron's lips. Darn.

Nick had another smirk on his face. What was up with all these freakin' Carter men smirks? I had to figure it out later.

"Having fun?" he asked once he was in our vicinity.

"Doing what?" I asked innocently.

"Are you really gonna make him say it?" Angel asked, walking up behind him.

"No... and no." I said, looking at Nick as I answered his question, too. Hopefully that would end the smirking.

"Suuure..." He said, winking at Aaron and once again smirking. Seriously, what is it with all the smirking??

Aaron elbowed his brother and led me inside. As I looked at my phone to check the time, I stopped for a minute. I totally forgot.

"I need to call Julie and Gina." I said, flipping open my phone and dialing.