CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

It had been a week since Kimmy had gotten out of the hospital, and it was as if Aaron had not wanted to leave her side. The boy was terrified for her.

Just like Aaron had asked her to, she'd ended up staying at his house.

Her room was the guest room in the large home, the one that had remained empty for years, the only one downstairs. Aaron was positive the only reason it was even made up to look like a bedroom was so that everything looked organised, however it never actually had anyone staying in it.

Kimmy didn't have an issue being the only person to sleep downstairs, however Aaron did.

Although that was more because he'd convinced himself it would be more difficult for her to get help if she needed it, seeing as both he and his brother were upstairs.

She'd not been sleeping great - Aaron knew this. The pain of her injuries growing overwhelming and quite literally waking her up and causing her to struggle to fall back asleep.

Since she was downstairs and she was still struggling with her injuries, Aaron would sneak down at least two times during the night to check on her.

The boy was so paranoid something would happen to her that he could not get to sleep until he knew she was okay.

So like usual, the boy crept down the stairs as quietly as he could, instantly heading for the brunettes room.

It was late, the boy had actually already been asleep that night. But he'd woken up at some point and the worry didn't take long to settle in.

As quietly as he could, he opened her bedroom door and slowly made his way over to her bed. While looking down at her curiously, he reached his hand out to move her hair away so in hope he could see her face, the boy only able to leave once he saw she was still breathing.

Her back was to him, which was why he hadn't realised that she was still awake, not until she shifted and turned to face him with a tired expression.

"What's wrong?" Kimmy whispered, her eyebrows knitting together in concern. She was clearly half asleep.

"Nothing's wrong." Aaron reassured her instantly, he too talking in a whisper. The blond hesitated before his next words, momentarily biting the inside of his cheek before be rushed the words out. "I was checking on you, I was- I was just worried. I was just making sure you were okay."

Kimmy appeared to be taken aback for several seconds, perplexity consuming her face before understanding sunk in. "Oh... I'm okay. I'll be fine."

The boy reluctantly nodded, scratching his arm as he was unsure what to do.

"Um... would you feel better if we switched rooms?" Aaron blurted cautiously, unable to hide his anxiety on the matter. "I just don't like the thought of you being down here yourself after what's happened. What if-"

"Aaron, I'm fine." Kimmy cut him off before he could find himself spiralling on theories. "I'm okay down here on my own, I know I can come get you if I really need to."

Aaron wanted to disagree with her, her words bringing no sense of comfort to the boy. He wanted to tell her that he couldn't just stop worrying and act like everything was fine when it wasn't.

Kimmy was just out of the hospital and Aaron wasn't going to ignore that. He'd been completely stressed out with her wellbeing.

"You don't have to say that you're fine. I know you're not. Kimmy, you're just out of the hospital and you're up all through the night because of how much you hurt." Aaron told her in a serious voice, trying to get her to see his perspective. "And I know you can come get me if you need to but I still worry. It would make me feel better if you would swap rooms with me so that you can get help faster if you need it. I don't like knowing you're down here on your own."

Kimmy didn't say anything in response, simply sighing and rolling back over on her side to try get back to sleep. This left Aaron puzzled, the boy beginning to fear that she was mad at him.

"Stay here then." The girl mumbled tiredly with her eyes now closed, shifting to the complete other end of the large bed  so that the two would have a big gap between them if he did end up doing as she suggested. "I'm too tired to walk all the way upstairs."

Aaron's eyes widened and he didn't know what to do. On one hand he did want to stay with her so that he knew she would be okay and so he didn't have to stress out from upstairs in his own bed. Although on the other hand he could feel himself already panicking over the idea.

The blond eventually decided against the idea, instead taking one last look at her now sleeping figure to make sure she was definitely okay before he made his way to the door of the room.

Aaron was just about to close the door behind him when she began to cough rather violently, the boy instantly doing a one-eighty and walking back to where he had been stood before. Trying to see if she was okay without waking her.

She then coughed again, only stressing Aaron out further. It got to the point that Aaron did end up taking up her offer, hesitantly climbing in next to her. They weren't actually touching, with Kimmy on one side and Aaron on the other a reasonably sized gap between them was made. However it was still enough to send Aaron into a spiral of panic.

Aaron found himself frowning when she shifted in her sleep and ended up facing him. Her face was pulled into an almost pained expression, as if even while sleeping her injuries were bothering her.

The blond could not understand how her dad could have done that to her. Aaron knew that some kids got abused by their parents, but it was almost like you never expect it to happen to someone so close to you.

The boy could not fathom for the life of him how someone could have done that to the girl next to him. Aaron couldn't even imagine anyone being able to dislike her, never mind hate her so much that she was practically beat to death.

Aaron couldn't imagine ever even trying to hurt the girls feelings, never mind actually physically hurting her.

He found himself on a constant loop of worry, always concerned for the girl. The blond had done his best to help Kimmy out, ranging from giving her the medicine she'd been instructed to take to simply checking on her. He'd even helped her out when she'd needed to throw up, which was more often than he'd hoped, the girl either having caught some sort of bug, or the vomit being some sort of aftermath to something. Aaron wasn't really sure.

Despite his absolute phobia of germs no matter how big or how small, he'd always made sure to do his best to push down his body's natural response and help her out without reacting.

It was obvious Kimmy felt bad enough about it anyway, she didn't need him gagging in disgust every few seconds. Although he would usually throw up himself after, he did try his hardest to hold back when he was with her.

Steve had helped the girl out too, but he'd known to leave Aaron and Kimmy alone at times, the two not needing him there all the time.

Aaron had not told anyone she was staying at his house, knowing she probably wouldn't want people to know what had happened.

Well, that was technically a lie. She had called Max two days ago and told her she was staying at Aaron's incase the redhead needed to get a hold of her, but Kimmy hadn't told her friend why she was staying at the Harrington household.

Aaron was pretty sure Kimmy still wasn't hearing much from Max. This clearly bothering her alot more than she showed. The girl was practically begging with the universe for her best friend to call her just once, but the call never came. Aaron was also pretty sure that Kimmy didn't want to call Max first seeing as she was still grieving her older brother.

Despite this it was clear as day that Kimmy was beginning to miss talking to her best friend everyday.

That night, Kimmy woke up one final time, her chest hurting to the point she was finding it difficult to get any air. Aaron had helped her, the boy awake anyway. She eventually did manage to fall back asleep just over an hour after she'd initially awoken.

Aaron didn't get much sleep that night, always shifting to face her so he could check on her.

That being said Aaron was only asleep for a few hours before he found himself awake again, not to the boys surprise. He hadn't been sleeping great recently whatsoever.

Despite only getting about three hours of sleep, as well as the fact it was quite literally the middle of the night, it was like his brain would not allow him to fall back asleep no matter how much he needed it.

Aaron noticed that the two teenagers had been slightly closer than he recalled them being when he'd fallen asleep. They still weren't touching at all, but they definitely weren't far off. Had Kimmy have been any closer to him and she may as well have had her head resting between his shoulder and his neck. The two obviously having shifted towards one another in their sleep.

The boy had been so disorientated from having just woken up that he didn't even think twice about it.

Aaron found himself shifting slightly, turning away from the girl and tiredly glancing at the unused alarm clock on the dresser.

"Oh, my god." He mumbled in an annoyed tone, frustrated to find that it was only half past three in the morning.

The blond moved once more, turning back to face the girl just as he had found himself doing when he'd woken up. Only unlike before he'd drifted back to sleep earlier, he was much closer to her. Now only the finest of gaps between them.

Unfortunately for Aaron, shortly after he'd got himself back to sleep, he was reluctantly awoken for a final time that night. Although it wasn't due to his seemingly inability to sleep or anything remotely to do with him actually, it was the girl next to him who had woke him up.

She was crying. The girl now sat up in the bed while sniffling quietly as she looked away from where the blond was with a hand pressed firmly to her mouth, evidently doing all she could to not wake him up.

Admittedly, it did take Aaron a little longer than usual to actually understand what was happening. His head still heavily laced with sleep.

Aaron rubbed his eyes with the bottom of his palms as he sat up, still slightly drowsy as he reached out to tap her shoulder.

Looking back, this probably wasn't the best idea. It only causing the girl to jump and look to him with wide eyes.

"Sorry." He told her in a sheepish mumble, still finding himself half asleep as his thoughts were a blur. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. I'm fine." Kimmy's reply was instant , shaking her head as she tried to ignore the tear stains on her cheeks. "I'm going back to sleep-"

Aaron blurted his next words before he meant to, just saying the first words he thought of. "Obviously you're not fine if you're crying-"

"I'm not crying-"

"Are you hurt?" Aaron asked her suddenly, a list of what-if's on the tip of his tongue. "Did you have a nightmare or something? Did you-"

"I'm fine." She insisted once again, wiping her face with her sleeve. "I have bigger things to worry about than stupid dreams. I don't know why I let them get to me."

Aaron felt himself begin to frown before he could stop himself, reaching out hesitantly to grab onto her shoulder closest to him to try his best to comfort her.

"They're just dreams." Aaron unnecessarily said the first words that came to mind. Cringing almost instantly at his attempt to comfort her, knowing his words probably weren't doing her any good. "They're not real."

"I know." Was Kimmy's simple response, clearly fighting back tears as she refused to look at the boy. "But... I know that it's happened before and I'm glad that you're letting me stay here but I'm just worried about having to go back, or if I ever have to see him again."

Aaron didn't know what to say in response. Ultimately the boy decided it would be best to let her talk it out and get everything off her chest, knowing she would have had everything pent up for quite a while.

"He scares me. I don't want to-" the girl abruptly cut herself off at the sound of her voice cracking, squeezing her eyes shut as she shook her head. She was silent for a moment before speaking up once more, rushing the words out before she completely cracked and crumbled. "I don't want to see him again."

"You don't have to see him ever again if you don't want to." Aaron told her in a quiet voice, trying to keep his tone as calm as possible as to not stress her out.

"But he's my dad." Kimmy sighed, the tears of frustration, fear as well as sadness rolling down her face. "I shouldn't have to be scared of him, I should want to see him again."

"I know." Aaron found himself agreeing as she sniffled even louder, clearly finding it difficult to keep her emotions at a calm. "But you don't want to see him again - that's no one's fault but his own. He treated you like shit, Kimmy. Drove you to the point you felt like you were forced to kill yourself, why would anyone ever think anything bad of you after what you dealt with?"

It was almost like the girl didn't hear him, too busy blaming herself for things out of her control. She was still crying, and Aaron didn't know how to make her feel better.

In one swift, panicked movement that wasn't exactly thought out on his part, Aaron wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to lean against him in hope to calm her down to the point she could get back to sleep.

It took a while, but eventually the crying and sniffling stopped, Kimmy fast asleep in the blond's arms. Aaron was panicked, unsure what he was supposed to do next.

Gently, he shifted her so she was lying back down on her side, doing his best not to wake her.

...

I'm so so tired so sorry if this chapters bad lol.

ALSO NOT PROOF READ!!

Anyway hope everyone had/has a great day and is enjoying the story!!!!

- AJ:)