I blinked a couple of times. “Huh?”

            “Jake’s awake. The hospital just called the house to tell us,” Jared said.

            It took a moment to sink in, but once it did, I bolted upright. “He’s awake?”

            “Yeah, and apparently he keeps saying your name.”

            “Holy crap! We’ll meet you at the hospital,” I said and then hung up the phone. I turned to Blake to see that he already had his phone to his ear. “He’s awake.”

            “I heard, which is why I’m calling Jack right now. I’ll get him to pick us up.”

            “Thanks,” I said then climbed out of the bed and got dressed quickly. I went around the suite and packed everything into our bags, not really caring whose stuff went into which one. We could sort it out later.

            Blake came out of the bedroom, wearing his jeans and pulling his shirt on over his head. He made his way over to where I was just finishing zipping up the bags. “Jack should be here in five minutes.”

            I straightened up and looked at him. “Thanks. I can’t believe this is happening.”

            He closed the distance between us and pulled me into his arms. “How are you feeling right now?”

            I pressed my face into his shoulder. “Overwhelmed. It’s been ten months. I really didn’t think he’d ever wake up. I’m also scared, because I don’t know what he’s going to be like.”

            Blake rubbed my back gently. “Well, you’ll find out soon enough, so don’t worry about it too much. Whatever happens, happens.”

            I let out a breath. “I know. Promise that you’ll stay with me?”

            “Of course I’ll stay with you. Now come on, Jack should be here very soon and I know you want to get to the hospital quickly.”

            I nodded and bent down to grab the bags. Blake took them from me and then grabbed my hand. We left the room and went down to the lobby to wait. We only had to wait for about a minute, and then Jack was there.

            Once we were in the limo, I couldn’t sit still. I was bouncing my knee up and down and I kept shifting in my seat.

            After five minutes, Blake finally reached over and laid a hand on my knee. “Easy Hailey,” he murmured.

            I took a deep breath and managed to get my knee to stop bouncing, but I still couldn’t sit completely still. Every few minutes I would move a little and Blake would just shake his head.

            The drive seemed to take forever, but in reality it was probably only about twenty minutes. As soon as Jack pulled the limo to a stop, I jumped out, literally dragging Blake with me. I went directly to the elevators and bounced in place until it arrived. I pulled Blake on with me and pushed the button to take us to Jake’s floor.

            When the doors opened, I saw Jared waiting outside of Jake’s room. When he saw me, relief washed over his face and he hurried towards us. “Thank god you’re finally here. He’s been asking for you and he’s getting agitated.”

            “Where the hell is my sister?” I heard Jake bellow from in the room.

            I went to the doorway and looked in. Jake was half sitting up in the bed and there were nurses fluttering around him, but he kept on trying to shoo them away. “Jake,” I said quietly.

            His head whipped in my direction and when he saw me, his whole body relaxed. “There you are Hales. I’ve been looking for you.”

            I took a few steps into the room. “Sorry, I got here as fast as I could.” I was surprised at how steady my voice was.

            “They told me that I’ve been in a coma for ten months. Is that true?”

            I nodded as I walked the last few steps to his bedside. The nurses greeted me and then left the room, saying that they would give us some privacy and that the doctor would be there shortly. “Yeah, it’s true. I didn’t think I’d ever see you awake again,” I replied and my voice broke on the last word.

            Jake held his arms open for me and I eagerly went into them, letting his embrace soothe me as the tears started trailing down my cheeks. “Shh, it’s okay Hailey. I’m awake now and I won’t leave you again.” He pushed me back a little so he could wipe my tears away. “Can you tell me what happened?”

            I frowned a little. “You don’t remember?”

            He shook his head. “No, everything is fuzzy. The last clear memory I have is of your sixteenth birthday party.”

            “But that was almost ten months before the accident,” I whispered.

            “What accident?”

            I took a step back and let out a long breath. I suddenly felt two arms go around my waist from behind and I knew automatically that it was Blake. I leaned back against his chest, glad for his strength. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a few calming breaths. When I opened them again, Jake was giving me an odd look. “What?” I asked.

            “Uh, who is the guy that’s got his arms around you?” Jake asked in his big brother tone.

            “This is Blake. He’s my boyfriend.”

            Jake raised a brow. “What happened to Marcus? Not that I liked that ass, but last thing I remember, you were still with him.”

            My knees went a little weak and I might have collapsed if Blake hadn’t tightened his arms around me. I let my head drop forward so that my hair covered my eyes until I could regain my composure. Then I looked up at my brother again. “Marcus is the reason that mom and dad are dead,” I replied.

            Jake’s eyes went wide. “They’re dead?” he asked, his voice a little hoarse.

            I winced a little. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have just blurted that out. But yeah, they died the night of the accident.”

            Jake closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. “I think you’d better tell me the whole story,” he said.

            So I did. I told him all about the accident, including my own injuries and how Jared had helped me walk again. Then I told him that Blake had helped me open up again and start wanting to actually talk to people.

            Jake was silent the whole time I spoke, processing everything I had said. He glanced at Blake, who was still behind me and held out his hand. “Thanks for helping my sister,” he said.

            I tilted my head a little so I could whisper in Blake’s ear. “He wants to shake your hand,” I said quietly.

            But apparently it wasn’t quiet enough, because Jake frowned. “Why did you have to tell him that?”

            “Because I’m blind,” Blake said, speaking for the first time since we got to the hospital. “I lost my sight in an accident just over two years ago.”

            Jake’s jaw dropped and he looked between me and Blake a few times. “Seriously? You kind of forgot to mention that in your story, Hales.”

            I gave him a sheepish look. “Sorry, sometimes I forget about it. He gets around better then I do a lot of times. Unless you put him behind my wheelchair. Then he suddenly turns into an uncoordinated idiot.”

            “It’s not my fault you can’t give good directions,” Blake retorted.

            I rolled my eyes. “I give directions perfectly well, you just don’t listen.”

            “Liar.”

            “Jerk.”

            “Guys?” Jake interjected. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. And do you always argue like that?”

            “Yeah. It’s a key part of our relationship,” I replied. “I’m the sweet laidback one, and he’s the uptight jerk that lives off of sarcasm. It works out pretty well.”

            “You’re the sweet one? Who just planned out the whole perfect weekend?” Blake demanded. “And I’m not the only sarcastic one.”

            “But you’re a lot more sarcastic then I am. And you’re downright mean to a lot of people. At least I’m polite to everyone.”

            “Oh really? Do you not remember what you called that teacher the other day?”

            I had the grace to blush a little. “That was different,” I muttered. “He deserved it for being such an ass.”

            “He did, but don’t act like you’re always so innocent.”

            A wicked grin crossed my face and I turned in his arms so that I was facing him. “I think after this weekend, we both no I’m not innocent,” I replied, kissing the tip of his nose.

            “Ugh, way too much information guys,” Jake complained from behind me.

            I turned back to him with a guilty smile. “Sorry Jake, I haven’t really had to worry about grossing my big brother out for awhile.”

            “Don’t I count?” Jared asked as he finally came into the room.

            I looked over at him and shrugged. “No, because you were my fake boyfriend for awhile, remember? Therefore, I don’t have to worry about grossing you out.”

            Jake groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. “I obviously have missed out on quite a lot. Half of your conversations don’t make any sense to me.”

            “We’ll get you filled in Jake, don’t worry. But we don’t want to give you too much information at once because you’ll just become confused,” Jared said. 

            “I get that, but it’s frustrating not knowing what everyone is talking about. Can you tell me one thing? Where’s Amanda?” he asked.

            “She’s on her way,” Jared said. “But you should know that the two of you broke up a few months before the accident.”

            Jake’s brows furrowed. “Why did we do that?”

            “Because you’re an idiot,” I said bluntly.

            “Hailey,” Jared began warningly.

            “What? He is! He knew all along that Amanda wanted marriage and yet the moron didn’t give any hints that he was thinking that way.” I looked back at my brother. “She ended it with you because she didn’t think she was going to get what she wanted. And you let her, so therefore, you’re an idiot.”

            Jake was quiet for a moment as he thought this over. “If we broke up, then why is she coming here?”

            I rolled my eyes at his stupidity. “Because she still loves you, moron. She’s been visiting you every week, just like we have. For the past couple of months, we’ve all been coming to see you together.”

            Jake shook his head with a frustrated look. “None of this makes any sense to me! Why can’t I remember anything that happened after that one day that was apparently ten months before the accident?”

            “I can answer that,” a man replied as he walked into the room. He had dark blonde hair and green eyes that seemed to sparkle. I knew who he was because I’d spoken to him many times in the past. “Hello Jake, I’m Dr. Schultz. I’ve been taking care of you since you got moved to this hospital five months ago.”

            “Nice to meet you. Now can you explain what’s going on?” Jake asked.

            “Of course. You sustained a serious head injury in the car accident, which is what caused your coma. The fact that you woke up at all is amazing and the fact that you’re lucid and seem to be functioning normally is nothing short of miraculous. I was fully expecting for you to have a lot of problems if you ever woke up. I still have to run some tests, but it would appear that you’re almost completely normal.”

            I snorted a little at that. “He’s never been normal,” I muttered.

            Blake chuckled in my ear, but Jake shot me a nasty look before returning his attention to the doctor. “So why can’t I remember anything past a certain time?”

            “Amnesia would be my guess. It’s too be expected after what you went through. Tell me, can you remember everything that has happened since you woke up?”

            Jake concentrated for a moment, clearly struggling to think back. “Yeah,” he said hesitantly. “But it’s hard for me to think back about it.”

            Dr. Schultz nodded. “I’ll do some tests, but I believe you’re suffering from short-term amnesia. To you, the accident happened just yesterday, so the day you can remember doesn’t seem as far back to you. There’s a decent chance that this is only a temporary problem and we’ll be able to give you some exercises to help improve your memory again.”

            “What if it isn’t temporary? What if this is permanent?” Jake wanted to know.

            “Then you’ll learn to adapt,” I interjected. “I had to learn to adapt to my disability and Blake had to learn as well. You won’t be alone during any of it.”

            Jake frowned. “He’s Blake, right?” he pointed behind me.

            I nodded. “Yeah, he’s my boyfriend,” I stated.

            “Right. And he’s…” Jake trailed off for a moment as he concentrated. “Blind. Right?”

            “There you go, you remembered that without any help,” I said with a smile. I looked at Dr. Schultz. “Am I right in thinking that repetition will help him remember things?”

            “Very good, Hailey. You’re right; some people just need things repeated to them a bunch of times. There are other things that help as well, but I’ll get into those later. Right now, I need all of you to leave the room for a moment so I can do some tests on Jake. They shouldn’t take too long and then you can come back in.”

            We reluctantly left the room and headed to some chairs in the waiting room. They were bench style, so Blake took advantage of that and stretched out, putting his head in my lap and closing his eyes. I stroked a finger down his cheek. “Tired?” I asked.

            He nodded. “A little. Aren’t you?”

            “No, I’ve got too much adrenaline going through me right now. I’m sure once it wears off I’ll be ready to crash though. It’s a good thing we don’t have school today.”

            Jared looked over at us. “You’ll probably be taking a few days off anyways Hales. Jake is going to need you, especially if his memory doesn’t improve. Blake, you should do the same, actually. Seeing how the two of you have learned to deal with your problems will help Jake out a lot I think.”

            “Sure, it’s not like I’d be doing anything at school without Hailey anyways,” Blake responded.

            The elevator doors opened at that moment and Amanda came rushing out, her blonde hair streaming out behind her. She skidded to a halt when she saw us sitting there. “What’s going on? Why aren’t you in there with him?” she asked worriedly.

            “Calm down, the doctor just wanted to run some tests,” Jared replied soothingly. “Jake’s fine, he’s actually completely alert and aware of his surroundings. He doesn’t have any trouble speaking and it seems he has complete mobility in his limbs as well.”

            “I sense a but,” Amanda stated.

            “But he’s suffering from some memory loss,” I told her. “He doesn’t remember anything after my sixteenth birthday party for some reason. And he’s having trouble remembering things that just happened as well. He has to concentrate to remember something that was said a few minutes earlier.”

            Amanda nodded. “That’s not unexpected after what he went through.” She paused for a moment and her eyes widened. “That means he doesn’t remember us breaking up.”

            “We told him,” Jared said. “And Hailey called him an idiot a couple of times because of it.”

            I smiled sheepishly. “It’s because he was an idiot; we all know it. I just wanted to make sure that he knew it as well.”

            Amanda smiled a little and took a seat next to Jared. “It’s nice to know that you’re on my side,” she informed me.

            Blake shifted a little. “Yeah, Hailey isn’t the kind of person you want on your bad side.”

            Amanda did a bit of a double take when he spoke. I don’t think she’d really noticed that he was here, even though he had his head on my lap. She was too distracted by thoughts of Jake. “Amanda, this is Blake. Blake, that’s Amanda, the one I told you about.”

            Amanda looked at me with one brow raised. “So this is the famous Blake, huh?”

            I rolled my eyes. “Don’t say it like that. He’s got a big enough ego as it is.”

            Blake grinned. “Hey, I never get tired of hearing how much you talk about me.”

            I scoffed. “You seem to think that all I’ve said are good things about you.”

            He raised one hand to his chest and gave me a mock hurt look. “You mean you’ve found something wrong with me?”

            I flicked his forehead lightly. “Maybe one or two things,” I replied. “But the good things seem to outweigh the bad things, so don’t worry about it too much.”

            “Oh, I can rest easily now,” he said sarcastically.

            Both Amanda and Jared started laughing, so I turned to look at them. “What’s so funny?”

            “You guys should record your conversations sometimes so you can hear what they sound like,” Jared said.

            I frowned a little. “Funny, Sophie said the same thing once before.”

            “You two act like an old married couple. It’s quite entertaining,” Amanda said with a smile.

            Blake snorted. “She nags me enough to be my wife,” he muttered.

            I narrowed my eyes and shoved his head off my lap. This had a more severe effect then I thought it would and he rolled off the seats completely and landed with a thud on the ground. I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep my laughter from erupting, but a snort escaped anyways.

            Blake scowled up at me. “What is with you and making me fall off of things?”

            “You shouldn’t have been a jerk,” I choked out, desperately trying to hold my laughter in still.

            Blake’s scowl deepened. “Are you laughing at me?”

            “No,” I said, but my voice was strangled and I couldn’t hold my laughter in anymore.

            “I fail to see how this is funny,” Blake grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

            Jared and Amanda were both laughing as well, and that made it even harder for me to stop. “The fact that you’re lying on the ground and pouting isn’t helping,” I finally gasped out.

            “I’m not pouting!”

            “Yes you are.”

            “Am not.”

            “You’re such a child sometimes,” I stated after regaining control of myself, before reaching down to grab one of his hands. “I’m sorry for pushing you off, that wasn’t my intention. It just kind of… happened.”

            Blake grumbled a little more, but got to his feet anyways and sat back down beside me. He crossed his arms over his chest again and I giggled a little at his attitude. I leaned into him and squirmed closer until he gave in and put one arm around me. “Forgive me?” I asked.

            “Whatever,” he said and then he got a little smile on his face, but didn’t say anything else.

            “What are you thinking about?” I wanted to know.

            “The last time you made me fall off of something,” he said absentmindedly.

            A goofy grin stretched across my face as I thought about that and what had happened afterwards. “Oh yeah,” I replied.

            Jared cleared his throat. “Okay children, get your dirty minds out of the gutter now.”

            I just laughed. “Like you’re one to talk, Jared. How often have you and Cindy spent the night together?”

            His cheeks turned a little pink. “That’s different,” he mumbled. “I’m older.”

            I rolled my eyes. “That doesn’t make it different,” I retorted. “But whatever, it doesn’t matter.” I let my head rest on Blake’s shoulder as a wave of exhaustion suddenly hit me. I yawned and closed my eyes for a moment.

            The next thing I knew, I felt myself being shifted around. I opened my eyes and saw that I was now in a different room and Blake and I were stretched out on a huge recliner. “What’s going on?” I asked tiredly.

            “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Jared helped me move you into here before he left so that we’d be more comfortable.”

            I looked around blearily and saw that Jared and Amanda were no longer in sight. “Where is everyone?”

            “Amanda is in with Jake and Jared went to pick Liam up from the airport. As soon as Jared told him that Jake was awake, he got his pilot to prepare the plane so that he could come here, but he forgot to arrange for a car to get him,” Blake replied.

            I chuckled as I snuggled in closer to him. “That sounds like him,” I mumbled. “What room are we in?”

            “I’m not really sure. Dr. Schultz came out and saw that you were sleeping on my shoulder, so he offered us a more comfortable spot to rest. I just followed them in here with you in my arms. I was concentrating too much on not bashing your head against something to try and figure out where we went.”

            “You didn’t have to carry me. I could’ve walked,” I said sleepily.

            “I didn’t mind carrying you,” he said simply. “Go back to sleep, Hales. We’re going to have a few long days ahead of us and you’ll need your rest.”

            “M’kay,” I said and then drifted back into dreamland.

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Her you go everyone :-). This chapter was harder to write then I originally thought it would be, so some of the wording is a little... off in my opinion. But it's the best I can do for now.

Oh, and for everyone wondering what song they'll be singing at the talent show, I'm still not telling you lol. However if someone guesses correctly, I will dedicate the talent show chapter to them. No one has come close to figuring it out yet though, so good luck guessing :-).

Comment as always to let me know what you think. You guys seriously rock and your comments make me smile all the time.