The scan was clear, completely.

"You were suffering from a traumatic brain injury, Ms. Grande, which is now unable to be detected." The doctor shook his head in disbelief. "This is remarkable. It's likely the most successful surgery I've seen in my lifetime."

Ariana's hand was shaking, she noticed something else by observing the scan, and Dr. Huego was quick to point it out. "Also, there are absolutely no signs of memory loss on this MRI scan, Ariana."

Ariana felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes. Her mind was racing with thoughts. All she could manage to say was, "Can someone go get Aaliyah for me?" Ariana turned to her mom with pleading eyes. "Please?"

"I can go," Victoria said, standing from her seat, leaving the room. "Aali, wake up." Aaliyah's eyes snapped open, feeling Victoria violently shake her. "Is mommy okay?" Victoria smiled. "She's better than okay; she wants to see you too."

They walked to the hall where Ariana was. "Now I want you to take it easy on her."

"Mommy, you're awake!" Aaliyah hugged Ariana, burying her face in her mother's chest. "You scared me. Don't ever do that to me again. "

"I won't." Ariana hugged Aaliyah as tightly as she could, not wanting to let her go. Seeing the look of relief on Aaliyah's face made Ariana want to cry.

"You better not."

"I didn't mean to scare you, babygirl. You know that." Ariana rested her chin on Aaliyah's head.

Aaliyah pulled out of the hug, causing Ariana's face to drop. "What?"

"You called me your babygirl. You haven't said that in forever."

Aaliyah's eyes wandered around the room and to the two MRI scans that the doctor had left on the edge of the hospital bed, and then back to Ariana.

A gasp left her mouth."You're crying, mom? Are they happy tears? " Aaliyah asked, on the verge of crying herself. If what she was thinking right now was correct, then the following would be true:

Ariana smiled, holding her arms out. "Yes, their happy tears mama's-oh." Ariana almost fell back when Aaliyah hugged her again, sobbing. "Don't cry, baby," Ariana said as she cupped Aaliyah's face in her hands and kissed all over her face.

You forgot all about me. You didn't remember me. I never thought you'd remember. I didn't think you'd ever be yourself again." Aaliyah coughed, choking over her words.

"Shhh, I know, I know, I know," Ariana soothed.

"It all makes so much sense now" Ariana breathed out. "I found a old book full of pictures i'd written back when I was pregnant and in the hospital." She said. "I felt like I was missing a huge part of my life. I just couldn't remember. Now I do."

Joan covered her mouth and cried. Everyone in the room was emotional, even the doctor.

"It's like 9 o'clock," Ariana brought up after seeing the clock on the wall. She laughed. "You're supposed to be in bed." Aaliyah's eyebrows shot up. "I have school tomorrow!"

Ariana laughed again, pulling Aaliyah into her, planting kisses on her head. "I'm just joking. You can stay home with me." She whispered.

The doctors ran some more tests, disregarding Ariana's protest, saying that she felt perfectly fine and didn't need any. Soon, she was cleared to go home.

"Are you sure you're going to sleep in there? You can sleep in my room; it's way better than the couch, trust me."

Ariana stood just footsteps away from her and Mac's bedroom, staring inside. She was drowning in all of the good memories of the times they'd spent in that room together, late nights and all.

"Mom?" Aaliyah came up behind Ariana, calling her name, bringing her back to reality.

"No, thanks, bubbly, but you can sleep with me. Keep me company?"

"Alright." Aaliyah wrapped her arms around her mom's waist, looking up at her, "I'll go get some extra blankets." A smile crept onto Ariana's face as she watched Aaliyah skip off to her room. When she was gone, Ariana stepped inside the bedroom and switched on the light.

"Holy shit," she gulped, feeling it all set in. He really wasn't here. He was gone. She paced the room for a minute, going over some breathing exercises to help her heart rate slow down.

"I'm coming, mommy!" Aaliyah shouted from another room.

Not wanting Aaliyah to see her like this, Ariana got herself together. She pulled back the bed she hadn't slept in in months, sitting down.

"I'm back!" Aaliyah ran into the room, tossing the blankets on the bed. She climbed in and once again found herself in Ariana's embrace.

Ariana chuckled. "Hmm, I don't remember you being this clingy? Is this something new? "

"Maybe," Aaliyah giggled into Ariana's chest.

Ariana nodded, "Mhm. You've always been independent. You walked at 7 months, learned how to say my name 2 weeks later, and you started changing your pull-ups on your own 5 months before you turned two."

"And you remember all that?"

"Yes, I'm your mommy. It's my job to remember."

Ariana arched her eyebrows. "Wait a minute, something isn't right here." Aaliyah's smile fell a little, "What?"

"Your hair! What's going on here?" Ariana went to get a brush and came back. "C'mere" Ariana sat with Aaliyah on her legs, brushing her hair as she hummed.

"You couldn't exactly do it so I um- I tried my best" Aaliyah snickered.

"Thank you for being so patient with me. I know that's a really hard thing for you."

"It is. But it was worth it. I'm proud of you."

Ariana set the brush down, blinking away her tears. "Braid or no braid?" Her voice cracked.

"No braid."

"No braid, of course." Ariana put her daughter's hair in a low ponytail. "All done, babygirl"

___

"Arms up!" Ariana buckled Aaliyah's seatbelt for her. Two weeks had passed by and Ariana was doing better than ever. She let Aaliyah do school from home for a while; today was her first day back.

"Now if I could just..." Ariana's voice trailed off when she saw something in her car door. "What the fuck?"

Ariana picked up a package of cigarettes. "What are these doing in my car? I don't smoke." Her eyes went to Aaliyah.

"You're right, you don't," Aaliyah said. Ariana focused on the road ahead, deciding to worry about this later.

"How about some music?" Aaliyah reached for the radio screen.

"Actually," Ariana said, moving her hand. "I have something I want you to hear." Ariana played some songs she'd recorded in the studio. She went down there one day while Aaliyah was in school to find Victoria and Tommy there. As always. They picked up where they'd left off before the accident and made some pretty good stuff.

"It's so good!" Aaliyah clapped excitedly.

"I'm like beside myself right now. You know that right? I mean, Victoria said it was good, but I had to hear what you thought before I played it for the label."

Well, it's great. Imagine how your fans are going to react when they listen to this. They'd probably pass out. I almost did."

They arrived at the school. "Bye, my love, have a good day!" Ariana handed Aaliyah's lunchbox to her. "I love you!"

"I love you too!" Aaliyah went to go and join her friends in the courtyard.

Ariana looked at her reflection in the car's mirror, and for the first time in months, liking with what she was seeing.

She was back.

❝𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿
𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲❞

vote for book 2.