I slid down off the bar counter, my knees buckling as I hit the floor. I stared blankly ahead of me, knowing I need to force myself into action but not knowing where to start.

Finally, I looked down at myself and felt a wave of self-consciousness wash over me at the sight of my bra and nothing else covering my torso. Okay, first things first, I needed my shirt.

"Here."

I looked up to see Alex holding out my t-shirt to me; he already had his own back on. I mutely grabbed it from him and threw it back on over my head.

"Ana, what happened?"

I barely registered the question, and I turned around so I could grip the edge of the bar.

Alex came up next to me. "Ana, what happened?" he repeated. His voice was soft and concerned, but I couldn't meet his eyes.

"That was, uh, that was the hospital," I said breathlessly, still trying to process everything. My dad, in the hospital. The hospital. I hated the hospital. "They said my dad had an accident, but not much else."

It was getting harder to breathe. My throat was closing up as panic threatened to overwhelm me. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes and I squeezed my eyelids shut, trying to hold them off.

I pushed myself off the counter. "I have to go." My legs had a mind of their own as I headed back to the office, picking up speed as I went.

Alex followed. "Ana, wait." He grabbed my wrist, stopping me. "You can't drive like this."

"Just let go, Alex," I whispered. I was in no mood for an argument. I didn't think I would even be capable of arguing.

He did as I ask, letting my hand drop lifelessly by my side. But I didn't start moving, again. I just stood there, my mind still unable to think properly from panic.

"Let me drive, Ana," Alex said. "Let me drive."

Compared to my alarmed state, Alex was like a monk. I nodded mutely. Not even I thought I would be able to make it on my own to the hospital.

I urgently grabbed my stuff and I locked the door behind us as we headed out. Alex guided me to his car and took off as soon as I got in.

But without driving, I had nothing to distract me from the panic that still pressed on the edges of my mind. I went through every single possible scenario, and they only got worse.

Did he fall? Did he have a head injury? A spine injury? Slip in the shower? Would he be conscious when I got there? What if he never woke up?

"Ana."

Alex's voice jerked me out of my spiral.

"You're not saying much over there, but I'm sensing you're thinking of worst-case scenarios."

I didn't answer, but my silence served to confirm his assumption.

"Listen, I'm sure it will all be fine. He's at the hospital; they're taking care of him."

And that was another thing. The hospital. I hadn't been in a hospital since, well, since everything. I hated the blinding white floors, I hated the all-consuming smell of rubbing alcohol that no one could escape from, I hated the neutral expressions that doctors and nurses kept on their faces. And it was even worse at night. Then it just felt like a tomb.

I couldn't even be sure that when we got there, I would be able to force myself to go inside.

"Just keep going," I told him.

Delphine General was on the other side of town and farther inland, but it still barely took ten minutes to get there. Alex pulled into a parking spot, but I already had my seatbelt off and the door open before he fully stopped.

I raced up to the hospital entrance, knowing that if I stopped, I wouldn't be able to force myself through the doors. I hurried up to the front desk, where a receptionist looked up calmly at me.

"Hi, I'm here for my dad," I said, slightly out of breath. "His name is Andrew Cassidy."

"Oh, you must be Anais."

I turned to find a man in a white coat coming up to me. He held out his hand. "I'm Dr. Danvers, we spoke on the phone."

I grasped his hand briefly. "Hi, Dr. Danvers, how is my dad, is he okay?"

Dr. Danvers put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a kind smile. "Breathe, Miss Cassidy, just breathe. We have him here, but he should be able to go home tomorrow. We just want to be cautious."

I felt about two tons of pressure release from my shoulders. If he would be able to go home the next day, then he must be alright. "Can I see him?"

Dr. Danvers nodded. "Of course. He's awake, and has been refusing to sleep until he sees you." The doctor focused on something behind me. "Is he with you?"

I turned around. I hadn't even noticed that Alex followed me in here. I nodded. "Yeah, he's a friend of mine."

Dr. Danvers nodded. "Very well. Follow me."

I hurried down a hallway after him, trying to block out my surroundings. Even so, my hands wouldn't stop shaking, so I clasped them together in front of me.

Eventually, Dr. Danvers stopped in front of a room. "He's in here," he told me. "Technically, visiting hours are over, but I can give you a little bit of time. But he does need to rest."
I nodded. "Thank you, Doctor."

Dr. Danvers gave a curt nod and then walked back down the hallway.

With a shaky breath, I pressed down the door handle and pushed it open.

As Dr. Danvers had said, my dad was awake. And when I came into the room, he opened his eyes and a weak but genuine smile came on his face. "Ana."

"Dad." I pushed my way into his room and to his bedside. I sank into the chair next to him and grabbed his hand. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, honey, I'm fine," he said. "I didn't even want them to call you, I knew you would freak out."

"Dad!"

"I know, I know." He sighed. "But you got here okay?"

"Yeah, actually, Alex drove me—" I stopped short as I looked up and saw that Alex didn't follow me into the room. "We were still at work," I explained. "Cleanup took a while. And he offered to drive."

"That's good," my dad said. "I wouldn't have wanted you driving in what I'm assuming was a somewhat panicked state."

I didn't bother to deny it. He knew my feelings about hospitals.

"He's a good kid," my dad continued.

"Yeah," I murmured. I really didn't want to talk about Alex at this point. "What happened, Dad?"

He sighed again. "Honestly, I don't even want to tell you. You'll just worry."

"Dad."

"I was just changing a lightbulb, I swear," he told me. "I was standing on a chair, unscrewing the old one, and I just stepped forward in the wrong way and fell."

"What did the doctors say?"

"Well, I hit my head so that's what they were most worried about," he said. "That's the main reason why they're keeping me, but they don't think anything serious happened. And I cracked a couple of ribs, but that's it. It's really nothing to be worried about. I mean, I wasn't so injured that I couldn't call 9-1-1."

I couldn't crack a smile at that. "Dad, you need to be more careful," I said, my voice cracking. "Maybe it wasn't serious this time, but it could have been. And I—" I couldn't continue, but he knew what I was going to say.

He lifted his hand and stroked my hair. "I know, sweetheart," he said. "I know. And I am sorry, and I do promise to be more careful." He looked around his hospital room. "And it's not like I'm thrilled to be here, either. After your mom, well, I think we both have a certain distaste for these places."

I clenched the ring I wore around my neck in my hand so that the stone cut into my palm. The pain helped me keep tears back.

"But hey," my dad said, trying to sound encouraging. "Tomorrow, I'll be back at home, and I'll probably be back at work by next weekend. No more hospitals."

"Take as long as you need," I said automatically. "I can handle things while you're gone, it's no problem."

"You say that, but you were still at the bar after three," my dad said.

"Why did you give them the number for the bar, anyway?" I asked. I had checked my cell on the way here, and I didn't have any missed calls.

"Honestly, I was hoping you wouldn't have been there," he said. "So you could have gotten the news in the morning and not have dealt with it tonight."

I shook my head. "Well, then we definitely wouldn't have had to deal with any more hospitals," I said. "Because I would have murdered you if I found out you kept this from me."

My dad chuckled just as his room door opened again. Dr. Danvers came in. "Good to see you smiling, Mr. Cassidy. But, Miss Cassidy, I really must insist that you allow your dad to get some rest. You can come back in the morning."

I nodded and stood up, kissing my dad on his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, Dad."

"Try and get some rest, honey."

I followed Dr. Danvers out of the room, giving my dad one last look before closing the door.

A/N: Poor Ana, all she wanted to do was make out with a hot guy haha. Let me know where you think this is all going to go!