Look out for the <>! Also Enjoy a little Jaimie and El photo!

I smiled as I got off my bike. I walked into the garage and parked it. I wouldn't lie, having mom and dad gone was freeing. Without them looking over at me, I felt more alive than I had in a while and they had only been gone for a 30 hours. 

I walked back into the house after being away for hours and slipped off my shoes. My socks were wet from a puddle I stepped in a while ago. I took them off to show my blistered and slightly mangled feet from skating boots.

"Hey Jaimie, I'm home!" I called out to him, knowing that he probably would even acknowledge me but for some reason it was habit to let him know I came back. 

I hung onto the wall and tried to catch my breath. As if I hit an invisible force field, I suddenly felt light headed and dizzy. I didn't feel like myself as my head started to pound. I needed to sit down to rest.

"Hey El," I heard Jaimie's voice ring out from somewhere deep in the house. His words echoed in my mind, making me think that I was imagining it.

Jaimie had been such a ghost, I hadn't heard from him in days even though we lived in the same house. Like Paulo, Jaimie had changed over the past few months. I knew that it was his way of cooping, but I wished he was more present. I wanted my brother back.

I walked into the family room and saw him laying on the couch with an ice pack to his face. I held back a shocked look from my face as I looked at him. Jaimie never got into fights other then with Paulo. That was always Paulo's thing. Paulo was the hot head of the family. Jaimie was more of a thinker then a fighter. "What happened to you?" I asked as he sat upright. Without waiting for an invitation, I sat down next to him.

<>

"I slipped," he said a little too quickly. I saw that his eyes were guarded. He was hiding something from me.

I shook my head, causing the room to spin. I wasn't stupid. He couldn't get a black eye from falling, after all, I should know. "I call BS on that."

He let out a sigh. "You can always see right through me," he said with a small smile.

I nodded. "It's something I'm so good at. So let's see it," I said and took the ice from his face. His eye was already bruising. Whoever got him, had a lot of force behind their punch. "Ouch, who did this to you, Jaimie?"

"Wallace Weeks," Jaimie spit out instantly with venom.

"Callum's dad?" I asked as I felt my forehead. I think I was running a low-grade fever. I put up my blonde hair into a ponytail. 

He nodded in silence.

I knew Wallace had a temper but I didn't even think Jaimie knew him. What did Jaimie do to get this? Or was Jaimie looking for trouble.

As if he read my mind, Jaimie went into details about why he got the shiner. "I went to find him because of that article about you."

That article was posted almost two weeks ago. I wonder why he went now. Regardless of the facts, I felt my heart swoon. My eyes welled up with tears. Finally, after all, that was said between us, this one action made up for whatever hard feelings I had towards him. Jaimie was there to watch me back, he always was, he just showed it differently. "You did that for me?"

He nodded. "Of course. The thing is, I know Paulo hates Callum, but I don't think Callum is that bad. I think the bad guy in this story is Wallace. As I have watched Callum, I realized that Callum doesn't have the heart to post any harsh article about you. I saw the way he looked at you. He loves you. I may be a little slow with social ques but I can at least read people when they love someone," Jaimie said with a chuckle.

I nodded and smiled lightly. I think Jaimie was wrong about the article though. After that article was posted, I read it over and over again, trying to see if he actually wrote it. It did seem a little too heartless for him to do, but the thing was, it was his writing style. I couldn't deny that Wallace wrote it because I knew that Callum did. 

Too hurt from what he had done, I hadn't talked to Callum in weeks. I blocked his number and refused to let him in in fears that he would hurt me again. I unfollowed him on Instagram and tried to take any reminder of him from my life. He wrote that article and he was as heartless as Paulo said. Jaimie was just blind. Callum didn't love me. He made that clear when he posted the article. 

But I couldn't lie, after all that he did to me, I still missed him. I missed the way he talked to me and made me laugh. What we had was special but like all special things, this one was bound to fall. Gosh, I missed him so much. "I miss him," I said.

He wrapped his arm around me as I snuggled into his chest. "I know you do. It's written all over your face."

There were a few minutes of silence as I snuggled into his chest. I missed this. Since I passed out on the ice, Jaimie and I hadn't been vibing. It was like we were oil and water, never mixing, but this moment, we were not separated by different elements, we were the same. He was my brother again. "You know who else I missed?"

"Who?"

"You," I said as I poked him in the chest with a smile. I felt sick to my stomach but I pushed it to the back of my mind. I needed this moment to be perfect. If I only had one minute to make up with him, this was going to be the time.

He chuckled lightly as he pulled me in closer. He felt hot next to my sticky cold skin. I wondered if he realized that I was in a cold sweat. "I missed you too. I'm so sorry I had been such....."

"An Ass?" I asked, finishing his sentence with a small chuckle.

He laughed lightly. "Yeah. It wasn't right. I just didn't know how to handle everything, and I'm sorry. I'm learning though, just give me a little more time. I'll figure it out."

I snuggled close to him. Of course, I would give him time. I just wish he told me that, to begin with. "I forgive you. Goodness, Jaimie, you know, I'll always forgive you."

"I love you El," he said as the home phone rang in the kitchen.

I frowned, knowing someone had to pick it up and it wouldn't be Jaimie. He never liked talking on the phone. Without saying anything, I moved out from under Jaimie's arm and stood up to get it, then everything went black.

It felt like only seconds went by when I heard Jaimie's voice call to me. "Oh, El, please wake up." Jaimie's voice rang out.

When I opened my eyes to see Jaimie right beside me. He looked terrified.

My eyes were fuzzy and out of focus as I looked at him. Jaimie ran his hands through his dark hair in panic. Suddenly, someone walked up to us and sat next to Jaimie. Even with fuzzy eyes, I knew it was Callum. "El, can you hear me?" Jaimie asked.

I nodded. Of course, I could hear him. But what I wanted to know was why Callum was here. I hadn't talked to him in so long. I burnt bridges between us and he did the same. I wasn't sure if I wanted him here. "Jaimie, why is Callum here?"

Jaimie's frown fell deeper onto his face as he looked around the room, not looking at Callum. "What are you talking about El?" he asked with worry as if he couldn't see Callum.

"Callum, he's right by your side," I said and pointed to him in frustration.

Callum put his hand on my shoulder in silence. He smiled slightly then brushed some hair from my face. Seeing him here, I realized that there was so much I wanted to say. I should have heard his side to the article. Maybe there was more to the story that I wasn't understanding and I didn't give him the chance to tell me. But now was not the time, not in front of Jaimie. That conversation needed to be done in private.

"Ellis, no one's here," Jaimie said and pulled out his phone. His hands were shaking. He was scared, no, actually terrified.

I watched as Callum faded away. Panic took its hold as I realized that I was seeing things again.

I felt wet. I looked down and noticed my pants were soaking but I didn't remember spilling any water on them. I felt sick to my stomach. I rolled over on my side and vomited everything I ate that day.

"Yes, we live on 180 Carmack Road. We need someone here right away." Jaimie's voice rang out.

I knew who Jaimie was calling but I didn't want him to. I had only been home from the hospital for a little more than a week. I couldn't go back.

Jaimie sat next to me and brushed some of my hair away from my face. His hands weren't shaking anymore as he held mine. He looked so focused. It was as if he knew exactly what to do. Suddenly it made sense to me, the medical field would be good for him. I didn't realize that he could be good at it because I was refusing to see him change. But he had changed and maybe he had changed for the better.

I was terrified. I had pushed myself too hard. Kris was right, I was slipping. I was a train wreck. I had to pull out of nationals. What had I done? I started to hyperventilate as I couldn't shake the fear that came over me. "Jaimie, I'm scared," I said to him honestly.

Jaimie squeezed my hand. "Everything will be ok. El, I'm here. I'll stay by your side," he said firmly.

I squeezed his hand as my vision started to dim. I could feel myself fading. "Jaimie," I begged for an answer as my vision went black.

"I'm here," he said as his voice faded just like my vision then everything went dark again.

When I woke, I found myself in a hospital room. I looked at the IV in my arm and thought I was done with all of this. My eyes fell onto Jaimie who was asleep, curled up in a chair by my bed. His face contorted as he moved in his sleep. I looked out the window and saw that the sun had gone down. I wonder how long I had been asleep because I did get home at three.

"Jaimie?" I asked, my voice was rough and it hurt as I spoke. He didn't stir. "Jaimie?" I asked louder.

Suddenly he jumped awake. He looked around the room franticly then his eyes fell on me. "Hey El." He said as he rubbed his eyes and inched closer to me. He gave a sigh as he tucked some hair behind my ear.

"Where are we?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"The hospital. Mom, dad, and Paulo are driving back as we speak but there's a snowstorm and it's taking longer than normal to drive back. The whole state's getting dumped on. It's a blizzard out there. I don't think they will be back until tomorrow morning."

My mind latched onto the word snow. At this moment, I didn't care that mom and dad weren't here. The snow was enough to distract me. I loved the snow, it was beautiful, the way it fell, the way it hugged the trees in a cold embrace. Honestly, everything about it was beautiful. "I want to see it."

Jaimie bit his lip as if something was preventing him from fulfilling my wish. "I don't know if you can."

Why couldn't I? Was I trapped here against my will? "What do you mean?"

"The doctors, they're still doing tests. You might need to say here for a while longer." He saw the distraught look on my face and sighed as he cupped my cheek. "But I can see if we can get you out of here for a few," he said and stood up from the chair. He stretched then yawned as he pulled out his phone for the time.

"What time is it?"

"10 PM." With that, he walked out of the room to ask if we could take a walk.

If mom, dad, and Paulo haven't made it yet, they weren't coming tonight. It was too late. Minutes later Jaimie came back with a wheelchair.

I frowned as pride took hold of me like a vice grip. I didn't need that. I wasn't going to use that. I wouldn't.

As if reading my mind Jaimie shook his head with a small chuckle. "The nurse said this was the only way we could get you out of here. Don't pout."

Knowing that there would be no conversation about this, I sighed loudly as I pushed myself out of bed. My world spun and my body ached as I swung my legs over the bed. I sat down in the chair and shivered. Without missing a beat, Jaimie grabbed a blanket that he brought from home and threw it over my legs.

Jaimie pushed me out of my room and down the hall to the elevator. Jaimie pushed the button and waited for the elevator to come in silence. As the door's opened and Allyson Weeks walked out.

She looked up from her phone and stared at me. "Ellis. What are you doing here?"

Her guess was as good as mine. I didn't ask Jaimie what was wrong with me. I rather not find out just yet. For now, snow was the most important thing. "I don't know."

She chuckled lightly at me. "Of course you don't." She was getting to know me too well. She looked at Jaimie and said, "you and I will talk later."

Jaimie nodded as he pushed me into the elevator. He hit the lobby button and seconds later we were on the ground floor in the empty lobby. I looked out the windows and saw the snow falling under the street lights. I got jittery just looking at it. It was breathtaking. "Jaimie, it's beautiful," I said as I reached up and grabbed his hand.

Jaimie nodded in silence as he sat down next to me. He had barely said a word to me since I woke up. I could feel his eyes on me as I watched the snowfall. He was thinking about me.

Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer. I turned to him just as he diverted his gaze towards the window. "What is it? What's happening?"

He chewed on his lip for a moment, as if debating about whether or not to tell me. "They need to do a few more tests, so nothing is set in stone," Jaimie said. He didn't want to answer my question.

"Jaimie," I sighed. "I'm a big girl, I can handle it."

He nodded, he knew that. But he didn't want to share it for his sake. Saying words out loud just made it more concrete. His eyes started to well up with tears as he thought about it. "They think it's Ependymoma."

Great, another phrase I didn't know anything about. "What is it?"

He grabbed my hand and held it tight. "It's a Brain tumor," he whispered.

And just like that, my fate was sealed. Nationals was over and honestly maybe even figure skating as a whole. I felt like someone punched me in the chest. I couldn't breathe as fear took hold of me. It wasn't enough that I had Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia. Why didn't they catch this when I was doing all those tests last month?

"It will be ok though El. They caught it early. You'll be ok." Jaimie said although he didn't believe it 100%. "They said that it's because of your multiple endocrine neoplasia."

I nodded as I looked out into the snow. I was suddenly upset that I even asked Jaimie in the first place. Now instead of focusing on the snow, I stared at the leafless trees. Everything looked so dead in the winter. The snow brought muddy streets and car crashes, wet socks, and frostbite. And just like that my mood was killed.

Minutes ticked by until finally, I couldn't stand it. I wanted to go back to my room. "Ok, I'm done. Can we go?" I asked Jaimie.

He nodded as he put his phone back into his pocket. "Mom and dad are getting a hotel. They will be here tomorrow. Also the nurse, Allyson, she's texting me. We have to get you back for that last test." He said and stood up from his seat. Without saying anything, he pushed the wheelchair away from the window and to the elevator.

"What's the last test?" I asked although I didn't really want to know.

"A lumbar puncture," Jaimie said as we waited for the elevator to come for us.