February 24th
"So you'd happily fly me out to see and spend time with her?"
"Dude, you're her brother. It'd be like a Christmas gift to both of you or birthday present for her. Your pick."
"I'll go with Christmas gift. That way I can get you something as a thank you and you can't take it back."
"Dammit."
We'd been in this hospital for another eight days. It'd been fourteen days since I arrived and just under a month for Jake. Charlia's condition was constantly improving, but I didn't dare risk leaving her side and Jake still came back every day despite the Uni load he had.
He was really powering through for her. I'd seen him do sleepless nights filled with Uni coursework to go into class the next day. That was one of the few nights he stayed over to take away the distractions which surrounded him on campus.
It amazed me to see him do that, but then again, sometimes you did what you could to make sure that you got your work done. I'd had the sleepless nights over the lyrics.
Many people would have just given up hope by now, accepted that she wouldn't get better. Us? We stuck by each other, talking about anything and everything. I told stories of growing up in London, he told me stories of when he first met Charlia.
It amazed me how a boy who was upset at the fact that a girl who was younger than him had taken the attention off him could become best friends with her.
He told me that Rosie had always said that if they were never married to someone else, they'd have married each other and adopted kids.
That conversation was pretty intense afterwards, because he continually questioned me about what I would do if something went wrong.
But today, we didn't really need to talk much. Jake had just finished his long day at Uni and I'd been on the phone to Matt, knowing full well that we had to cancel a tour as well as set things up for her to come back with me.
"I wonder how she'd react to it all.."
"She'd be confused probably. Or upset because she hates being a burden for someone."
"A burden? Christ, I'd love to wait on her hand and foot if she was ill. Because I'd do crazy shit to make her laugh." At this, Jake laughed.
"If you manage that, record it because her laugh is adorable. She snorts and everything." I grinned.
"I plan to do just-" I turned to glimpse at Charlia, a habit that had made itself present. That was when I noticed her hand twitch.
Excitement bubbled up as I scrambled out of my chair, shocking Jake.
"Get a Doctor, or a nurse. She just moved." The look of shock on his face instantly changed to one which held so much hope that it made me grin. He was quick to vacate his seat, practically sprinting out of her room. "Charlia, I know you're there kiddo. C'mon, you've been out for the count for too long now, you need to wake up." I practically whispered.
I wanted her awake so badly.
CHARLIA.
Days and nights had become a blur. I'd be aware and then I'd be within my dreams once more. But the only difference was that when I was aware, everything was pitch black.
When I was aware of the world, I was angry because I couldn't do anything. I was restricted. I couldn't call out to anyone, I couldn't move.
There were points where I caught snippets of conversations. I knew that from this, Jake and Alex were there by me.
Eventually, I'd had enough.
Silently, I was begging my body to move, to give me back some of the control. It felt like that my brain had shut down that side of me and there was a brick wall.
I was just too weak to get through.
But I wanted to see, taste and smell everything. Listening wasn't good by itself, I wanted the full picture. I wanted to know where I was, how long it had been since I got pulled from the canel.
'C'mon, just move god dammit.' I thought to myself, focusing on my hand. I don't know what happened, but I did something right because I heard a reaction.
But after putting so much effort into that one thing, I could feel my awareness slipping, like a tidal wave of exhaustion hit me over the head.
I don't know how long I had fallen back asleep for, but when I was next aware, it seemed that they still had hope in the fact that I was more aware than ever.
"C'mon Charlia. We all miss you here. Life isn't the same without our little ball of sunshine." If I could have smiled, I'd of had this shit eating grin on my face by this point.
I pulled my attention to the sharp pain in my hand. It was repetetive and irritating and I wanted it to stop.
"Did you see that?! You can't have missed that, her hand is in a different place!" The american accent seemed gleeful.
But it wasn't the american accent that I was used to.
"Yes, yes. Charlia? Can you hear me? If so, what I want you to do, is move your hand away from the pain." Instantly, the irritating prodding started and I really wanted it to stop.
Clearly I had done something right.
"She's on her way back!" Jake's voice was music to my ears.
I don't know how long I was in this state for. It was like I was trying to do one thing, but my mind would just give up and go to another thing. I could never focus
But it was when the lead weight which was on my eyes, were moved away. It felt like I could breathe again and it felt great.
Very slowly, I inched my eyes open, feeling strangely weird like I couldn't remember what had happened to cause all of this. My mind was blank.
The room was dark. Once my eyes were adjusted, I noticed that it was pitch black outside. Next to me, there was a light snore which caused me to jump, my head twisting to see who was sat there.
As I looked at the man, his features became recognisable. He was resting on one arm whilst holding my hand loosely. I caught sight of the tattoo on his hand and my mind made the connection. It was a Rose. Which meant that it was Alex.
Gently, I squeezed his hand, wondering if I'd be able to gain a reaction out of him, but it seemed that he was dead to the world. So I searched the room with my eyes and I finally found the button that I was looking for, hooked onto the rails of my bed.
Not even seconds had passed and a nurse was walking in. She looked shocked for a split second and then she was smiling, like she knew something I didn't.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, Charlia."
In attempt to reply, I found that my throat was scratchy. She smiled and left the room, coming back a minute later with a cup and straw. Once I'd had a few sips, I cleared my throat.
"How long have I been out?"
"Just under a month." I let out a shakey breath and slowly lifted my hand, running it through my hair. "I'm going to just get the Doctor so he can check your vitals and make sure that there's no permenant damage." I smiled at her as she left and let my hand drop back to the bed.
I'd forgotton about Alex until he jolted upright, his eyes still half closed.
"Mmfph?" He rubbed his eyes clumisly before blinking and looking at me. It took him a full minute to process that I was awake and he let out a gleeful yell, wrapping me in a tight hug.
"Hi there Mister Enthusiastic." I grinned as I returned the hug, hiding my face against his chest. I felt like I was home.
"You've scared us, seriously." A cough caused us to break apart. Both of us had matching grins. The nurse finally caught my attention and with her she had brought along with her one of the night shift Doctors.
"I'm gonna go call Jake, I promised him that I'd call." I nodded my head as he got up to leave. I let out a long sigh as they checked over my obs, the Doctor checking my eyes and doing what seemed to be a normal routine for him.
"Any dizzyiness?"
"Nope."
"Memory loss?"
"Apart from the last month?" I teased and he laughed.
"I'll take that as a no then. You were clearly happy enough to see young Mister Gaskarth there." I nodded towards the door where Alex had just left and I shrugged.
"What can I say?"
"I've got to admit Charlia, you scared us all at one point. You nearly died." I felt the smile fall off my face as my blood went cold. "Do you know who did this to you?" I hesitated before shrugging my shoulders.
"I don't really remember that part. All I remember is trying not to freeze to death." I mumbled and he looked at me carefully.
"Are you sure?"
"Doc, I can't lie for toffee. I remember that someone was there, I just can't remember who." I admitted, and he sighed.
"Hopefully, time will reveal who did this to you."
Once Alex had come back, the nurse left me with a jug of water and the cup with a straw. Alex was under strict instructions to help me when I needed it. To which he saluted in a cheesy manner, causing me to giggle like a lunatic.
"Jake's on his way. We've got something I want to discuss with you.
"Awesome. So, can you tell me what I've missed?"
"Well,-"
"Charlia!" Jake's voice cut accross and I looked over, grinning. How I wanted to get out of bed and hug my best friend. But I couldn't. So he settled for awkwardly hugging me.
"I'll tell you in a bit." Alex mouthed and I nodded, cuddling closer to him.
"Knock, knock." A familiar female voice came through and I looked over to the door. My jaw literally hit the floor. Cassadee Pope was standing with Rian and Rosie was just behind them.
"Who else did you call, the media?" I jokingly glared at Alex who grinned unashamedly at me.
"Don't have a go at him. We've been visiting the past couple of days. He sent out a text to us to come and visit whilst you were awake." Cassadee admitted as they pulled the seats around my bed.
I was just in awe that despite how bad I looked, Cassadee was sat here, talking to me.
"Holy shit I must be dreaming." At this,both Jake and Alex laughed.
"You can't be dreaming kiddo, you're wide awake thank the lord." Rosie chimed in. Jake moved away so that she could step in and hugged me, placing a kiss to my forehead. "I prayed to god every day to give me one of my babies back and he did."
That just made me hold onto her that little bit tighter. She wasn't just a carer for kids, she was mum as well. She was more of a mother to us all and I was grateful for that.
"I'm just glad to finally be awake. I remember hearing you two." I nodded to Alex and Jake as Rosie took a seat. "And I remember Cassadee talking as well. I got confused because I'm so used to Alex's accent." At this, she grinned.
"First off, call me Cass. It's not a problem. Secondly, I hope you'll be hearing my voice a lot more often."
Alex made a movement and I cast a sideway glance to him shaking his head at Cassadee.
"Well, you're staying here for a while, right?" I questioned curiously. I heard Alex sigh and I tuned to him.
"Well, actually. I've been sorting things out here and back home to adopt you.." He admitted sheepishly.
It felt like my mouth had gone dry again.
"Holy fuck, are you serious?"
finally finished off this chapter. no promises on the next update.
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peace, love n tiger stuff xo