𝒩ℯ𝓌 𝒴ℴ𝓇𝓀, 𝒜𝓊ℊ𝓊𝓈𝓉 21, 2019

Maximus squeezed Alice's hand as he walked with her into the hospital, Cosmo was outside finding a good parking spot and wanted to give the twins some time to themselves before the surgery. Alice glanced at Maximus and smiled,

"We are gonna be okay,"

Maximus nodded,

"Yeah, we will,"

Doctor Zander saw them and walked up to them,

"Glad you could make it,"

Maximus shook his hand,

"Thank you, Doc, for actually helping us,"

Doctor Zander nodded at him,

"It's my job,"

Alice smiled weakly at him,

"Uh, so how's this gonna work?"

Doctor Zander nodded,

"Follow me,"

He led them into a big room and Alice sat down on the bed while Maximus stood next to her. Zander sighed,

"Alright, so we are going to perform surgery in an attempt to fix all of the clotting and damage already done on your nervous system and heart, this surgery is very precise and could take many hours but we will have the best doctors currently available working on you, Alice. This is still slightly experimental because no one that I know has dealt with anything like your illness...I am very sorry,"

Alice sighed,

"Uh...do you know the...the percentages?"

Zander sighed and looked at his notes,

"None that are 100% clear. You have my word that we will try everything to make sure that this goes as smoothly as possible,"

Maximus sighed and looked at his sister in pure worry,

"It's going to be fine,"

Alice nodded,

"Yeah...uh so how long will I be out?"

Zander winced,

"It ranges from a day to maybe a week,"

Alice nodded,

"Alright,"

Maximus squeezed her hand again,

"You got this sis,"

Alice smiled and nodded,

"Yeah,"

Then Cosmo came in and smiled at Alice,

"Are you ready?"

Alice shrugged,

"Sure,"

Cosmo winked at her,

"I'll give you more clout when you get back,"

Alice gasped and smiled hugely,

"Doc, I was born read,"

The four laughed and Doctor Zander smiled at Cosmo and Maximus,

"The surgery will start in a minute, I'll go get everyone,"

He left and the two boys went to Alice's sides and sat down next to her. Alice looked at the two boys and smiled,

"Thank you both,"

Maximus nudged her,

"Anything for you,"

Cosmo smiled,

"Yeah, we got your back Bunny,"

Alice smiled and hugged the two,

"I love you both,"

Maximus and Cosmo smiled at her,

"Love you too,"

Zander walked in and smiled softly at the three,

"We are ready, Cosmo, Maximus, if you will please leave the room,"

Cosmo and Maximus squeezed Alice's hand again before leaving the teenager. They sat down in the chairs in the waiting room. Maximus sighed,

"How did we even get up to this point."

Cosmo glanced at Maximus,

"What do you mean?"

Maximus sighed and looked at Cosmo,

"When we were younger, the doctors never thought it was serious...yet here we are,"

Cosmo frowned and patted his shoulder,

"She's gonna be fine,"

Maximus looked down,

"But for how long?"

Cosmo frowned,

"I wish I knew,"

Maximus smiled sadly,

"Me too,"

They looked up when they heard rushing. Amaury ran up to them and Maximus stood up and was pulled into a hug by Amaury once again,

"Hey, Max,"

Maximus smiled sadly,

"Thank you for coming,"

Amaury smiled softly,

"Man, I will always be here,"

Cosmo smiled and stood up,

"Hey,"

Amaury smiled at Cosmo,

"Hi Cosmo, thank you for being here too,"

Cosmo smiled and hugged Amaury,

"Gotta look out for my best friend,"

Amaury chuckled and nodded,

"Yeah,"

He looked at Maximus,

"So, any updates?"

Maximus shrugged,

"She might be out for a bit after the surgery, they gotta repair some stuff near her heart,"

Amaury nodded,

"I'm glad someone found something finally,"

Maximus nodded,

"Yeah, me too,"

Amaury nodded at them,

"I'm going to check in with the nurses to see if I have to sign anything, I'll be right back...oh and here are some snacks,"

Maximus smiled gratefully at him and nodded while grabbing the bag. Cosmo looked at Maximus,

"Does anyone else know you are in the hospital with Alice? Like any blood relatives?"

Maximus sighed,

"We are pretty much cut off from all of our relatives, they don't really like our mom that much. And uh...my mom is uh...busy right now so I didn't tell her,"

Cosmo looked at him oddly,

"Wait...so who pays?"

Maximus sighed,

"Well...we both do. Ally has a job right now and I have a part-time job at an animal shelter along with doing some delivery through GrubHub...also I use a card that my mom gave us a few years ago when she started getting too busy with work to make it to the hospital visits with Ally and I,"

Cosmo frowned,

"Wait...you pay everything out of pocket?"

Maximus sighed,

"Yeah...don't tell Ally I told you. She hates charity shit. She feels bad if someone helps us pay unless it's our mom giving us something. We let Amaury help us a few times when we were struggling with money but that's it,"

Cosmo sighed,

"I didn't know,"

Maximus chuckled,

"Not many do. Really only Amaury only because he always comes to these visits, mostly because he signs off for everything."

Cosmo looked at him,

"Really?"

Maximus nodded,

"Yeah, he is our emergency contact and our mom put him down as a guardian when we were younger so he is completely allowed to do it,"

Cosmo nodded,

"That's cool,"

Maximus smiled and nodded,

"Yeah, we owe him a lot,"

Cosmo smiled and Amaury came back,

"Alright, so her surgery is possibly going to end in a few hours. Do you guys want anything else to eat?"

The two shook their heads. Maximus smiled,

"Okan said he is bringing pasta with him and Adam said he would bring drinks and food,"

Amaury nodded,

"Oh yeah, true,"

They heard steps and looked up to see Okan  with a dish in his hands,

"I have arrived!"

Maximus smiled,

"Okan!"

Okan laughed as he hugged Maximus back,

"How are you holding up?"

Maximus sighed,

"Getting there,"

Okan smiled softly and nodded,

"Alright, now...who is this Cosmo?"

Cosmo smiled and stood up,

"Hello, my name is Cosmo Xenia,"

He stuck out his hand. Okan glanced at his hand and he smiled and shook it,

"Nice to finally meet you, Cosmo. I'm Okan,"

Cosmo smiled at him,

"Pleasure's all mine,"

Okan nodded. He looked at Maximus,

"I will be right back, I left something in my car...Cosmo can you help me?"

Amaury and Maximus shared a look but Maximus chuckled and nodded. Cosmo smiled uneasily but nodded,

"Sure,"

Okan smiled and the two left. Amaury laughed,

"Okan will definitely drill that kid,"

Maximus chuckled,

"This is giving me massive Julie vibes,"

Amaury chuckled,

"That girl ran for the hills after Okan talked to her about Alice,"

Maximus chuckled,

"Yeah, but I have a feeling Cosmo will pass the test,"

Amaury chckled and nodded,

"Yeah....Julie was also like what? 12?"

Maximus laughed and nodded,

"Yep,"

W̷i̷t̷h̷ O̷k̷a̷n̷ a̷n̷d̷ C̷o̷s̷m̷o̷

Okan and Cosmo just left the hospital and Okan looked at Cosmo,

"Take a seat Cosmo,"

Cosmo sat down on the curb as Okan sat down next to him and turned to each other. Okan nodded at him,

"Alice has been through a lot in life alright? You know a good amount of it from her actually telling you. You, Cosmo, are the first person Al has ever told about her attacks. So you better not take that for granted buddy. If I so much as hear that you hurt her, I will personally grab my tennis racquet and hit you so hard with it no one will recognize your face ever again. She is the most pure person I have ever met even if she's been through shit, she remains so positive and joyful. If you are the cause for any pain in her life, I will make it my personal mission to give you hell. Alice doesn't have that many close friends...she hasn't for a long time because she was always worried about her attacks, you are different though. Just don't screw this up,"

Cosmo was silent as he took in the new information and he nodded,

"I would never hurt her. Alice is like a sister to me, I don't know what it is...but I just felt a connection the second we met, and I think she felt the same. I told myself I would protect her to the best of my ability. I was wondering how I could help the twins...Max told me they paid out of pocket,"

Okan sighed,

"They have ever since their mother started working more, she is barely home and when she is...it's not pretty...and the only reason I know of this is because Al told me about her mom and Amaury told me about the money,"

Cosmo nodded,

"Yeah, I'm not gonna push into that, they don't mention her,"

Okan smiled softly at him,

"Give them time,"

Cosmo nodded and Okan stood up,

"Okay, let us go back,"

Cosmo smiled and got up too,

"Thank you, for this conversation,"

Okan smiled softly,

"You, Cosmo are special,"

Cosmo smiled and laughed,

"You are too,"

Okan chuckled,

"Obviously,"

They laughed again and went back into the hospital. Maximus smiled when he saw the two walking towards them,

"You made it in time, we are about to start eating!"

Cosmo smirked,

"Great! Now pass me a plate,"

Maximus handed him a plate of pasta and they all sat down in the chairs and ate while talking.

ℱℯ𝓌 𝒽ℴ𝓊𝓇𝓈 𝓁𝒶𝓉ℯ𝓇

They all looked up when they heard running. Adam ran up to them panting,

"Got...here,"

Maximus laughed and stood up,

"Did you run here?"

Adam nodded,

"Yeah...but I got everything!"

Maximus laughed and hugged him,

"Thank you for coming,"

Adam smiled,

"We told you Max, we have your back,"

Maximus smiled and nodded,

"I really appreciate it,"

Adam smiled at Cosmo,

"You must be the infamous Cosmo, I'm Adam,"

Cosmo smiled and shook his hand,

"Nice to meet you, Adam."

Adam nodded at him and looked at Maximus again,

"Uh, any updates?"

Maximus sighed,

"Not yet,"

The five guys sighed and sat down again. Then they heard a door opening and all looked up to see Doctor Zander coming out. Maximus immediately shot up out of his chair,

"Doctor, any news?"

Doctor Zander smiled softly at the boy,

"Alice should make a full recovery,"

Maximus immediately smiled and pulled Doctor Zander into a hug,

"Thank you, thank you so much Doctor,"

Zander chuckled and nodded,

"There are some things we will have to discuss,"

Maximus nodded,

"Yeah,"

Cosmo smiled and Okan hugged Adam, Amaury, and him in pure joy. Maximus chuckled at his friends before nodding at Zander,

"So what is the news?"

Doctor Zander smiled sadly at him,

"So, we were able to get everything cleared up, and got most of the damage fixed. However, she has to be very careful the next few weeks. If she has a big attack, it could cause some severe damage to her heart,"

Maximus frowned,

"So uh...what kind of meds will she have to take?"

Doctor Zander gave him a box,

"All of the meds are in this box. Alice should wake up tomorrow, you can go inside her room now,"

Maximus smiled and immediately walked into her room, Amaury stayed back to talk a little more with Doctor Zander while Okan, Adam, and Cosmo went into Alice's room with the things they brought. Maximus smiled sadly when he saw his sister sleeping on her hospital bed, he walked up to her bed and kissed her forehead

"We are gonna get through this sis, like we always do,"

The three guys smiled softly at the small interaction of the twins. Maximus pulled up a chair to put right next to her and the four others piled onto the couch. Cosmo patted Maximus' shoulder,

"She's a fighter,"

Maximus smiled softly and nodded,

"Damn right,"

Amaury walked in with a small paper in his hand,

"The bill's paid,"

Maximus immediately looked up at him,

"Am-"

Amaury shook his head,

"There is no way in hell that I am letting you worry about this, you got enough on your plate right now Max and you know that's true. You better only worry about helping your twin, no money, no nothing...got it?"

Maximus sighed,

"Fine, fine,"

Adam looked at Amaury and smiled,

"Come join us, we are just about to start eating cake,"

Maximus immediately turned to Adam and laughed when he saw him pull out a cake. Amaury smirked,

"I am so down with that,"

Everyone laughed as they shared the cake. Okan smiled and looked at Cosmo,

"Welcome to the squad, Cosmo,"

Cosmo looked up at him,

"Squad?"

Adam chuckled,

"Why yes, the Alice Protection Squad,"

Cosmo chuckled,

"I'm honored to be a part of it,"

Amaury winked at him,

"You better be,"

They all laughed again and Cosmo smiled proudly at his accomplishment. He was accepted by Alice's over-protective family.

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