Though We May Fall {An Aphmau AU}

You Should (Never) Be Alone

**Aphmau's POV**

     "You ready to go?"

     Standing by the door to my hospital room, a wheelchair before her, was Dr. Cameron, a broad smile on her face. I copied her expression, sliding the last of my things into the backpack Mom had brought me from home. For the first time in four months, I was dressed in regular clothes—yoga pants, loose tank top, flip flops. I kept my hair loose, my best attempt to cover the scars marring my back, even if my hair was only a few inches past my shoulders. It still felt odd, not having the hospital gown constantly brushing my thighs, but it also felt... liberating. Finally, I was leaving the hospital.

     I zipped the bag close, starting to swing it over my shoulder before stopping myself. I could put weight on my back fine enough, but the constant slamming of a backpack against my back might irritate the skin grafts. I don't know. I honestly had no idea about what to do for anything.

     "I've been waiting for this for months, if I'm being honest." I laughed, making my way towards her in order to sit in the wheelchair. Dr. Cameron laughed with me, grabbing the duffel bag still sitting on my empty bed to swing it over her shoulder. I was ready, backpack sitting in my lap, and as soon as she made it back to me, Dr. Cameron began pushing the wheelchair out of the room and towards the elevators at the end of the hall. We continued in a comfortable silence, my mind too busy wrapping itself around the fact that I was finally leaving! to talk to anyone.

     When Dr. Cameron wheeled me out of the elevator, I couldn't help but break into a grin. Aaron stood waiting in the lobby, talking to my mom and Eric, but as soon as he heard the elevator, his head turned to face me. His grin quickly matched mine, and he hurried over to take the bag from Dr. Cameron. She thanked him before pushing my chair right up to my parents.

     "Hey mija. How excited are you for this?" Mom brushed my hair away from my face, offering her hand to pull me from the chair. I took it, as well as the proffered one from Eric, in order to push myself up. At that moment, I was glad for the weeks spent walking around the hospital with Aaron. If I hadn't, I probably would have fallen straight on my face. With my arm around Mom's shoulders, we started to walk out of the building I had called home for so long.

     "Wait," I pulled away, turning back for one minute. "Thank you for everything, Dr. Cameron. I'm glad you were my doctor. You... you really helped me more than you know." I smiled, feeling the weight of the hospital finally sliding off of my chest. She smiled back, and that was the last I ever saw of Dr. Alison Cameron.

      Katelyn was waiting right outside of the hospital in her car, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel along to whatever musical she was currently in to. A smile blossomed over her face when Eric opened the back door, and she craned her head to wink at me. "Good to see you out of that prison."

     "Katelyn!" Mom scolded before we all laughed. I slid into the seat, Katelyn crawling over the console to sit next to me. Aaron still stood by the door, handing me the duffel bag he had taken from Dr. Cameron.

     "I'll see you tonight, right?" I nodded, and he flashed me a quick smile. "Try not to push yourself too much. We'll take a walk later, yeah?" I laughed, and after agreeing with him, he shut the door and Eric pulled the car out of the lot.

     "Oh mija I'm so glad you're coming home!" Mom continued to gush the rest of the twenty minute car ride home, and Katelyn and I couldn't help but laugh. I had to admit, driving back to the old house of Phoenix Drop and calling it home still felt weird, but it felt right. The next three months I would be living back at home with Mom and Eric and Katelyn, and of course Celeste. I was ready for this new chapter in the book of my life, even if it did come after such a life-changing experience.

     "Wait, where am I staying? The guest room downstairs?" I asked Katelyn as we began unloading the couple of bags I had kept at the hospital. She winked, slinging a bag over her shoulder with a quick "You'll see." Huffing at her lack of an answer, I followed my step-sister into the house.

     Up the stairs we went until Katelyn paused by the door to her room. She looked at me, a smile spreading across her normally inscrutable face. "Welcome home, Aphmau." And the door swung inwards.

     Inside was the room I had called my own ten years ago, and the room Katelyn had claimed for the past five. But now, it was both of ours. The room had been completely rearranged, two twin beds along the wall besides us, dressers somewhere in the closet I assumed. Two desks were under the window and along the wall was a ballet barre, bins sitting underneath with all of my dance stuff. The opposite wall was covered floor-to-ceiling with playbills from Broadway scattered among pictures of our friends.

     "Oh my Irene... Katelyn..." I threw my arms around her, squeezing the breath out of her in the tightest hug I could manage. She laughed, wrapping her own arms gingerly around my back.

     "I'm glad you like it. Dad, Sylvanna, and I spent the past month on it." With those words, she pulled me in, throwing my bags on the bed closest to us, which, to no great surprise, was covered by multiple shades of purple. "Now, you and I have some serious things to talk about."

     Katelyn flopped across her own bed, reminding me so much of Teony and Ivy just a year before. I frowned, sitting down and gently laying back against the pillows, ready to move at the slightest twinge. "And what are you talking about?"

     Katelyn snorted, twisting so she faced me clearly. "Well, what's going on between you and Aaron! I mean, he obviously has the hots for you."

     I was so stunned by Katelyn, Katelyn of all people, bringing up my love life that I stared at her for several seconds before stuttering back to life. "What- no he doesn't! We're just really good friends is all."

     "Uh huh," Katelyn smirked. "Aph, come on. He was at that hospital more than your own parents combined. Either he's the world's best friend, or-"

     "Is it so bad that he was worried?" I retorted, feeling my face grow hot. "I mean all of you were there a lot."

     "Aph, I came like three times a week. Our parents came everyday in the beginning, but only like four times a week after you woke up. All of our friends only came a couple days a week. Aaron, on the other hand? He was there every single day the entirety of the four months you were there. Everyday, he would leave PAA after classes and do his homework in the hallway outside of your room, and on the weekends he would be there practically all day when he didn't have dance. Aph, he's been falling hard all school year."

     I blinked, finding myself stuttering but no actual words leaving my mouth. My face was definitely burning up by now, and all I could do was hide in a pillow. Katelyn laughed, and I felt a thud as one of her own pillows hit my leg. I shrieked, retaliating quickly and turning our bedroom into a war-zone. As I threw countless pillows at my step-sister, I tried to push aside just how much her words had resonated with me.