"Belle." Alex chocked out, tears in his eyes as he hurried over to me, taking me in his arms. His shaky breath against my skin was not particularly pleasant, but I could deal with it. "Jesus Christ, Belle. Do you even know what happened?"
"I tried to go to my boyfriend's sister's house for dinner and I got hit by another car?" I asked, but my hand shot to my head as a sharp pain started beating against my brain. "So I've been told."
"What? No, that's not what happened, Trisha-"
I made a coughing noise with my throat, gesturing past him and to Adam. Alex whipped around and saw him, and his lips flattened as he saw who it was.
"Adam." He nodded slightly, gesturing a greeting. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"I'm not leaving her, she just woke up." Adam stated angrily, offended that he tried to send him away. "And I also found her."
"And I was the one that pulled her out of her car, and I actually know what's going on, so can you please leave so I can talk to my cousin alone?" He growled quickly, having a stare down with him.
"I want to know what's going on, too."
"You can't know!" Alex snapped, his calm posture now broken, and his body tensed as he shook slightly, maybe out of stress, maybe out of insanity. "You're not even supposed to see her, remember!?"
"That was months ago." He argued, "There's no way it could be in effect now."
I didn't want to, but I knew I needed to. Alex was, as usual, painfully right. I had no information if I was now allowed to see him, and I wasn't taking the risk if I wasn't. "Adam, it's best if you go."
He lost his focus on Alex and put it all on me. "What?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry, just for a little bit, we're going to have a short chat." I assured him, and he shook his head, but stood up in defeat.
"This isn't okay." He stated, giving Alex the most devilish glare I've ever seen from him, but turned around and left. Alex waited until the door was shut to start talking again.
"Okay, what the hell is he doing here?" He asked lowly, pointing at the door, but gesturing to Adam. "How did he get here before me?"
"He was here every day, unlike anyone else in my family." I shot at him, but he paced the floor nervously.
"I was here for the first two weeks, but I was with our team, tracking down Trisha. She wasn't there, you know. She either jumped before the cars contacted or climbed out on her own. Either way, she's gone, disappeared, and still out there."
"And you didn't find her!?" My fist slammed down on the table next to me, my head still throbbing, making me whimper softly. He headed over to the cabinets and rummaged through them until he found a bottle of something and handed it to me.
"I'm pretty sure you can't do that." I stated as I looked at the bottle. "This isn't a very effective pain reliever."
"It'll help for a little bit, enough to talk." He opened the bottle for me and handed me two pills, "And our team is almost here. They're beating your parents."
"I'm not ready for my parents yet." I admitted, "But I feel fine, I think I can work again."
"Not right now, you can't. You're still on the partial suspension, but I'll see what I can do to convince Crank for you to be lifted."
"But are you at least close to finding Trisha, or did you learn what the Russians are planning? They're going to execute a whole terrorist plan and we can't do anything to stop it!?" My pulse was beating fast, heart rate risen, but I couldn't stop it. "Do you know how many people will die?"
"I do have an image, but don't worry, we haven't seen any Russians since the Fullerton attack."
"No, you haven't seen any Russians. I've seen Trisha."
"She's not a Russian, and you know that."
"But she's on their side, and whatever they're doing, they needed to get rid of me first." I sat up, studying the beeping machine next to me. "I'm fine. I have to get back to work before they realize I woke up." I saw what I needed to; my body was slowly returning to its normal homeostasis.
"Well," He stopped trying to argue with me and focused on the other bodies outside the room. "I'll let you argue with them, then."
I could only glare at him until my other team members shoved the doors open sharply and hustled over to me.
"Belle! You're okay!" Jane cried, hugging me tightly, and I had to violently shove her away.
"Do you know how many heart attacks you caused us?" Peter added, "And my fiancée has been worried sick!"
"Why? I don't even know her that well." I countered.
"Belle, I statistically put in the calculated speed of the crash, both initial weights of the cars, your weight, estimated number of air bags, air bag strength, some angles and velocities of pieces of metal that were fatally crushing you, and the number of inches the sharp piece of window glass cut into your neck, and do you know what the percentage of you surviving was?" Milo asked shakily, his eyes filled with either fear, relief, shock, and other emotions I couldn't read. "A point-zero-zero-zero-one percent. I didn't know what to think, I thought we were going to lose you."
"And we couldn't lose another team member." Alex added, "And you know why."
But then my mind sparked, remembering what happened in the coma, either a vision, dream, who knows. But what mattered was that Jack was there, and it was definitely him. And it couldn't have been a hallucination, no matter what he said. Because he was denying existing there, I knew he was real.
"Guys, I…" I stammered, getting their attention, and they all focused on me. "I saw Jack."
They all froze, looking at me like I was either crazy or sick, legitimately sick. "What?" Alex whispered, disbelief in his voice. Jane was shaking slightly, but Peter and Milo were both frozen, only staring at me with minds churning many theories and thoughts. "How… is that… do you even know what you're saying right now?"
"I know, it's crazy, but while I was in a coma, he appeared." I stated, ready for any argument they were going to throw at me. "And it was definitely him."
"But how do you know it wasn't just some hallucination or something? You were in a vulnerable and maybe desperate place; maybe some doctor drugged you with something. But you couldn't have seen Jack. He's dead." Alex stated, his hands firmly on my shoulders, "Do you understand? He wasn't there."
"You don't know that. I know it was him. It had to be him." I countered, throwing him off of me. "He asked how you all were doing without him."
"And what did you tell him?" Peter asked, finally speaking, but Milo was still speechless.
"The truth."
"That we missed him?" Jane cut in again.
"Definitely." I breathed, desperately wanting to go back to him.
"But… if you really, and I mean really saw him… what did you do?" Alex asked slowly, scared to see if he could've pulled my emotional trigger.
"I told him I missed him, loved him, I kissed him." I replied, "And he told me that since I had a new life with Adam, the thing between us could never happen."
"Did you ever think it could happen again?" Peter asked, also worrying about the same thing Alex was. And they probably all were.
"I thought, and I was pretty sure, I was dead when he told me. I didn't see why we couldn't work out. I still love him. Especially after that." I imagined us together again, but then I saw the shadow outside the room. He's been waiting out there for a while. "But he thought since I'm dating Adam that… us couldn't happen. Not again."
"I'm sorry, Belle." Jane cried, hugging me again, but more softly. "But everything will work out for the better."
"But I still miss him!" My voice squeaked, and the tears I didn't want fell easily from my face. "And I knew it was him. It had to be him!"
"I think it still could've been a hallucination." Alex replied quickly, "Because no one can just visit from the dead."
"I don't know, Alex." Milo finally spoke up, and it was the first time he spoke. "I really don't have a scientific, mathematic, or logical explanation for that."
Alex scoffed, shaking his head in annoyance. "Of course you do, Milo. Don't lie."
"Alex, I'm sorry for this but..." Milo started, a small smirk on his face, but nothing too noticeable. "Not this time."
"You're not helping." Alex muttered.
"Look, I know he's not coming back, and I know he's dead, but I know what I saw. It was definitely him."
"He's not here anymore. You have to stop this, you're only hurting yourself." Alex scolded once more, like he usually does. "You have to let him go."
"For who? Adam? You?"
"For you, and your own good." His hand found its way back onto my shoulder, "I don't like Adam-"
"As you've said before."
"But I don't want you chasing after a dead man. I can agree that Adam is a healthier choice then Jack." Alex bent down to my level, talking slowly, softly, and carefully. "And with your… eating… condition, I feel that we're now going to have to make you get help again."
"You want to put me back in therapy?" I questioned, but I already knew the answer. "That's your answer to this?"
"Only for a little bit. I mean, you did just come out of a coma. And I figure some symptoms are hallucinations, and who knows what your eating habits will be now."
"I don't need help!" I snapped, my voice piercing the air around, and everyone stopped talking. Maybe they were finally listening. "We need to figure out where Trisha is and what the Russians are planning. It has to be some sort of terrorist attack, and I was in the way. They wanted me gone to go through with their plan, but they couldn't do it. And we need to work before they try again."
"I'll see if I can get some release papers." Peter informed before heading out of the room.
"What makes him think he can get them?" I asked quietly in case he could still hear me.
"He's the medic. Of course he can get you out." Alex sassed, "But we may have to wait until your parents get here."
"Where are they, anyway?" I questioned, but it was answered when my entire family filed in two seconds later.
"Oh God." Mom whimpered, pushing past my team members to get to me. "You're awake!"
"Of course I'm awake." I muttered, sliding her arms off of me.
"How do you feel?" Dad asked, and since everyone else was in the room, Adam strolled back in.
"I feel fine! Just make them let me go." I begged, and Peter finally came back with the doctor.
"Since you're eighteen, you can sign for yourself." She stated, handing me the clipboard, "But we need to get some medication together for you."
"I'm signing for her." Dad stated, and she handed him the clipboard as my brothers wove their way over to me, and despite some fights and being socially apart, I still got the most sincere hugs from them.
"Of course she woke up. She wouldn't leave us." Eric whimpered, and I wiped the tears from his eyes.
"Don't you ever do that again." Phillip ordered, but I opened my arms and he practically fell into them crying. I hugged him tightly and rubbed his back; even thought I wasn't dead, he still could've lost me, and I knew that feeling all too well. "Promise me you won't ever come close to getting killed again."
"You have to promise me the same thing." I stated, and he nodded. "Good. Now no one will get hurt again."
"Keep telling yourself that." Alex muttered, but I shot him a glare to make him shut up.
"Okay, you're officially released. We'll have to see you out, though." The doctor stated, but she turned the machine off. "And please get your friends and family out of here, it's way too crowded."
I sat up and swung my feet around and off the bed, but as I stood up, my head felt light-headed and I found myself losing my footing. I tried to take one step and felt myself fall over, but thick arms were around me fast, pulling me up and keeping me steady. It took a couple seconds to realize who it was.
"What are you doing here?" Dad growled, his finger jabbing Adam's shoulder a couple times. "I told you what would happen if you were around my daughter again."
"Oh shut up." Adam ordered lowly, and suddenly my feet didn't touch the ground as I was cradled in Adam's arms, my head next to his chest. "She's my girlfriend."
"You're in the way."
"Can we please not do this now!?" I pleaded, closing my eyes, letting his warm body comfort me.
"Come on, let's just go home." Mom spoke up, opening the door for us. "I'm just so glad you're okay."
"Yeah, I'm not dead yet." I smiled as Adam kissed my head softly, and I could feel the death glares we were getting from Dad.
"Not this time." Alex added before we all piled out of the room, heading towards the front of the building. Adam obediently but unhappily placed me in my parent's car, with Phillip and Eric climbing in around me, but I rolled down the window before we could drive off.
"We'll see you later, okay?" Jane smiled, sliding some of my hair that was in my face out of the way. "Just rest easy."
"And when you get the chance, Molly would like to take you and the other bridesmaids dress shopping." Peter added, "You know, if you're still interested."
"Unless I'm dead, I'm going to be a bridesmaid." I assured him.
"Well, you did give it your best shot." Milo pointed out.
"We'll talk about this later. I'll see you at work." I told all my coworkers as they said their goodbyes and got into their own cars, driving away. Now it was only Adam, my family, and I. Adam opened the car door and gently put me inside,and when I shut the dor, I also rolled the window down.
"Please be safe." Adam whispered, leaning against the door with his arms kinda hanging inside. I leaned towards him and kissed his lips as my parents took the two seats in front, and Dad hit the button to roll up the window, which couldn't be stopped. I groaned and glared at him, but he ignored me. "I'll call you."
"No you won't." Dad stated as he started the car.
"I'll call you." I yelled once the window rolled up so he could hear me.
"Well, you're going back to work. You've missed too much." Dad argued as his anger got the better of him, so his driving was more jerky and uncontrolled. "So this guy of yours won't be much of a problem anymore."
"He's not a problem." I shot back, but there was no point arguing. I wasn't going to win.
"I bet your coworkers missed you." Mom added, "They'll be happy to see you back at work."
"Trust me, I know." I muttered, and thought about everything that happened before, and just how happy I'd be once we tracked down my psycho aunt and stopped the terrorist attack once and for all. "I'm looking forward to it."