Annie's POV

It was hard for me to sleep that night, since all I could think about was, well, everything.

I just laid awake staring at the ceiling, and I was awake for the hourly checks when the nurse would come in. She would always frantically apologize for disturbing me, but I was never asleep, so she wasn't bothering me at all.

She did all the basics; take my temperature, check my heart rate, ask me how I was feeling, etc. Then she'd write it down and say she'd be back in an hour.

Eventually the sun came up, and I had another hourly check before being able to order my breakfast. While I was eating my pancakes, I got a text from Brennan saying he'd be coming in a couple of hours.

I was definitely looking forward to Brennan coming, since I'm mostly alone. Dad and Skylar had to stay home for Hayley and Owen, which I completely understood, so I didn't expect them to be here with me overnight or around all the time. Plus, staying in a hospital when someone you love is sick can be very depressing.

"Hey, Jules," I looked up from my phone a little while later to see Brennan walking in.

"Hey," I gave him a small smile.

"How's it going? You feeling any better?" he asked as he sat on the edge of my bed.

I shrugged. "I feel a little better I guess, but I still occasionally feel nauseous," I answered.

He nodded before looking around. "Are you alone?"

"Well I was before you got here," I said. "I didn't expect my family to stay, especially because of Owen."

"That makes sense," Brennan replied.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, but it wasn't awkward; I think we both were appreciative of each other's presence.

"So, what's going on? Are they going to let you go home?"

I shook my head. "No, the doctors say I'm too weak to go on a flight home, so I have to stay here for however long they think is necessary."

"I'm sorry," Brennan said. "I bet you miss home and want to go back to California."

I shrugged. "Yeah, kind of. I like coming here to see Dad and Skylar and now Owen, and it's nice to catch up with my friends I still have here, but my whole new life is in California. So yeah, I do miss it, but it's nice to be here for a change."

"Do you ever miss living here?"

"I kind of do, since I lived here for so many years, but I definitely love the California weather," I replied.

Brennan laughed. "Yeah, Cali has some really great weather. You're lucky you don't have to shovel the driveway anymore."

I laughed along with him. "I remember when we were little that used to be our favorite game during the winter season! Our parents would make it this whole big competition and we'd get distracted somehow and start throwing snowballs at each other or making a snowman."

"It was always either Caleb or Katie who started the snowball fight," Brennan pointed out.

"True," I start to reminisce of when we were all younger; I could still see Caleb throwing a snowball at me and hiding behind a tree so I didn't know it was him.

"I know it was you, Caleb!" I'd shout as I started making a ball of snow in my hand.

"Actually, it was me," I heard a voice say from behind as another snowball hit me. I turned around to see Katie grinning at me. "Caleb, run!"

Caleb would scream at the top of his lungs as he ran out from behind the tree.

"You're so done!" I exclaimed as I chased after him with Katie trailing behind.

Katie tackled me and I fell into her front yard and got a face full of snow. I spit it out and tried to get her off of me as we were all laughing.

"Take that!" I looked over to see Brennan across the yard throwing a snowball at his sister.

"Hey!" she scowled at him, which gave me the opportunity to shove her off of me and continue to chase down Caleb.

Of course, Caleb screamed again (somehow even louder?) and I chased him. I finally caught him and tackled him to the ground like Katie has done to me.

Caleb fake cried as I threw a snowball at him. "You're a meanie, Annie!"

"I am not! This is payback!" I said through laughs.

"So is this," Caleb said right before someone grabbed me from behind. I screamed and realized it was Brennan dragging me away.

"Hey, I thought we were teamed up!" I whined as he continued to drag me away.

"Whoops," he said before dropping me. I plopped down in the snow and pouted as he ran away laughing.

"Kids, that's enough for now!" Ms. Jill yelled. "Remember, whoever finished their side first wins!"

That's when we all remembered what we were doing. We all exchanged glances with each other before racing back to the driveway and continuing our mission.

"That was always a lot of fun," I said as I awoke from my daydream.

Brennan nodded. "Yeah, I miss that."

"Me too," I agreed as I felt my heart sink; it was nice to think of my brother, but it also reminded me that he wasn't here. "I still miss Caleb terribly."

Brennan got closer and wrapped me in a hug. "Me too, Jules."

That's when I couldn't be strong anymore; I let my tears come pouring down as I buried my face in Brennan's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I said in between sobs.

"Don't be, you have nothing to be sorry for," he hugged me tighter. "I'm here for you."

"Th-thanks, Brennan," I sniffed before pulling away.

"Of course," he gave me a small smile. "I'll always be here for you, Jules."

"Not when I go back to California," I muttered quietly to myself, but apparently not quiet enough.

"Don't say that," Brennan said as he looked me directly in the eye. "I'm not making that same mistake ever again, no matter what happens to us."

"What do you mean 'no matter what happens to us'?" I asked.

Brennan suddenly looked embarrassed. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"You sure?" I asked in a quizical tone.

Brennan nodded. "It's fine, just forget about it."

Just then, the nurse came back in to let me know I had more visitors, and in came my family.

"ANNIE!" Hayley ran over and tackled me in a hug like she hadn't seen me in years.

"Hey," I said with a light laugh before greeting Dad, Skylar, and little adorable Owen.

"You beat us here, huh?" Skylar said as she hugged Brennan with the arm that didn't have Owen.

"I guess so," Brennan smiled and then waved to Owen. "I don't believe we've met yet."

"Owen, this is Brennan," Skylar grabbed his little hand and made him wave at Brennan. Owen cooed in delight and let out a small giggle.

"Seems like your brother approves of your boyfriend," Dad said, causing my eyes to go wide.

"Um, we're not..." I looked over at Brennan.

"I haven't gotten the chance to properly ask you out yet," Brennan said.

I felt my eyes go wide again. "You were going to ask me out?"

Brennan nodded, a smile growing on his face.

"Me? Cancer girl?"

"Don't call yourself that," Brennan said as he walked closer. He then cupped my chin. "You're the Self Destruct Button, and I love you." He then leaned in and kissed me.

When he pulled away, I felt myself grinning. "I love you too."

"I KNEW IT!" Hayley screamed, causing us to laugh (even Owen was giggling). "BRANNIE IS ENDGAME!"

"Hayley, chill," I said with a laugh.

"I can't!" Hayley dramatically collapsed onto the couch.

"By the way, I still haven't asked you out," Brennan whispered into my ear. "But I will soon, properly."

"I don't know what that means, but okay," I whispered back.

"Good, because it'll be a surprise," Brennan winked before backing up, since the nurse walked in to check on me. Then we all chilled out in my room for a couple hours before Brennan had to go to a water polo practice.

His phone dinged during our Scrabble game Dad brought over. "That's my mom, I gotta go."

"Aw, okay," I said. "You can come back whenever."

"Then I'll be back tomorrow," he leaned down to kiss my forehead before saying goodbye to everyone and leaving.

"We've gotta get going now," Dad said a little while later when Owen began to cry. "He's probably hungry."

"Okay, see you tomorrow," I said goodbye to them before they left, and I was alone again.

I FaceTimed Jayden to fill her in on everything that had happened, and she said she might come with my family to visit in a few days.

I honestly didn't really want my family to come over and see me like this, but they are family.

I just hope everything will be okay soon.

•••

A/N: hEYO EVERYONE I'M BACK WITH AN UPDATE AFTER 18819 YEARS OOPS

it's winter break and i unfortunately go back to school next week but 🤷🏻‍♀️ oh well

so what's up? how was everyone's holiday and new year? who's gonna try to make 2018 their year? IM GONNA TRY 😂😭

also sorry for the terrible picture for this chapter, i couldn't find a good facetime png so i had to make my own 🤷🏻‍♀️

anyway i hope you enjoyed this chapter! if so please don't forget to vote comment and share because i love your feedback!

thanks, until next time ;)