Warning: This chapter contains discussion of sexual assault. 

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I groaned, and stirred, the distant hum of conversation, and beeping machinery, drawing me into consciousness. My mind felt foggy and slow as I turned my head slowly against the soft surface below me. I tried slowly to open my eyes and winced under the blinding bright light overhead.

"Ethan?" A voice said gently as a hand moved to rest gently over my wrist.

My mind spun, and I blinked away the haze, the rhythmic beeping around me picking up pace. As my vision cleared, I found myself surrounded by light and lying in what looked like a crisp and white hospital bed. I turned to my side and saw a middle-aged nurse jotting down notes on a paper. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Hi, Ethan, I'm glad to see you're awake, the doctor's just been with you. Are you feeling okay? Any nausea? Headache? Dizziness? Pain?" She rattled off as she came to my side, and poured a drink into a little plastic cup from a nearby trolley.

"Bet you're thirsty," she said as she handed me over the cup.

"Erm...yeah, thanks, and I'm okay," I stuttered as I took hold of the cup. My throat felt like sandpaper, and I took about four overly enthusiastic gulps, shocked by how thirsty I was.

I looked in disorientation around the room, taking in the pale cream walls, and the pristine floors. My eyes dropped to my hand taking note of the line in my hand, which was hooked up to a fluid bag hanging up overhead.

What on earth had happened to me?

I turned to the nurse, who seemed busy changing the settings on one of the machines. I cleared my throat softly. "Hi....erm...do you know why I'm-

"You're stable enough for visitors if you'd like. I'd be happy to send them in, they're quite eager to see you I imagine, after everything," she said with a soft smile interrupting me.

After everything?

I looked blankly at her for a second. "Unless you'd rather rest?" she asked.

"Oh no, please send them in," I interrupted quickly.

"Excellent," she smiled. "I'll go tell the doctor and I'm sure she'll grab them on her way, okay."

"Erm..okay," I mumbled, despite the panicked confusion that was slowly overtaking my mind.

She marched forward and left through the door with a small smile goodbye, leaving me alone.

In the silence of the room, I sat up slowly in bed, observing the stiff hospital gown shrouding my body. I tried for the life of me to remember how I could have possibly ended up in hospital, but my mind came up empty. 

All I remembered were random details of being at the party. I sure as hell remembered Mia climbing into my lap and kissing me – pigs would fly before I would forget something as sexy as that.

Just as I was adjusting the fluid line coming out of my hand, I heard the sound of the door swinging open.

"Probably shouldn't mess around with that, Ethan, I'm pretty sure it's keeping you alive," a familiar voice called out in amusement.

I lifted my eyes, and as suspected locked eyes with Lucas who was smiling gently, the whites of his eyes slightly tinged red. It almost looked like he'd been crying, which was impossible, Lucas rarely cried.

Standing off to the side of him was Mia looking as beautiful as ever, while her eyes searched over mine frantically. I noticed immediately she was wearing my jersey, causing a natural smile to lift to my lips.

I turned back to Lucas. "Relax idiot. I was just adjusting it," I said, with the roll of my eyes.

Almost immediately, a massive smile stretched out on Mia's face. I'd never seen her look at me with such joy in all my life.

I arched up a brow at her in amusement. "Chubs, is there a particular reason why you're smiling all creepy-like, or are you just bored?" I teased.

Instead of glaring at me for my joke, Mia started running towards me before practically jumping on me in her eagerness to give me a hug.

I wrapped my arms around her with a laugh, wondering how we'd gone from her refusing to run to me at my game to this.

"Wow, if this is the kind of reaction I get when I call you creepy, I'll do it more often," I chuckled, holding her tight.

Mia pulled back from the hug and kissed me on the lips causing heat to pool to my stomach. I let her waist slip between my fingers, as she straightened back up while having to fight the urge to drag her back to me.

Embarrassingly, the beeping on the monitoring machine picked up.

Mia looked down at me, still smiling. "I'm just really, really happy you're okay," she said softly, squeezing my arm. As I looked at her, I noticed the whites of her eyes were a similar kind of red to Lucas's.

My smile slowly fell, processing this." Wait, why are you happy, I'm okay? What happened after the party?" I asked slowly.

Watching the two of them grow still and the smiles slide slowly from their faces, I felt the blood leave my face.

"Did, we get into an accident on the road? Are you okay?" I said rapidly, my eyes scanning over Mia's in panic and then over to Lucas. Fuck, had I nearly killed everybody?

Mia shifted nervously on her feet and exchanged a nervous look with Lucas, as though neither one of them knew how best to break the news.

Finally, Mia settled her eyes back on mine, and let out a heavy sigh. "Do you remember anything?" she asked slowly, her voice slightly shaky.

"Erm...," I said as I started to think. "I remember that we were dancing together, but everything after that gets a little hazy," I murmured as I slowly tried to think back. "Why the hell can't I remember?" I asked quietly.

Mia took a deep breath in and out. "Well, you see when we were dancing you got kind of sick...," she started to say. "You had a headache, and then you could hardly stand on your feet. I tried to take you to sit down, but you got worse and..." she cut herself off, the words catching in her throat. She sounded like she wanted to cry. Her eyes turned to the floor like she felt ashamed.

I looked towards Lucas in confusion, before gently grabbing hold of Mia's hand. "Hey, it's alright. What happened?"

She met my eyes hesitantly. "You were too heavy to carry, and I wanted you to lie down upstairs. And well, Lucas wasn't around, and neither were any of your other friends. So many people were too drunk to help, and I didn't want to leave you and, I swear to God, Ethan if I could change things, I would have got someone else to help you."

"Who helped me, Mia?" I interrupted.

She swallowed thickly, guilt once more flashing through her eyes. "Connor," she answered weakly. "He erm...asked if I needed help carrying you, and I stupidly said yes. I'm so, so sorry."

At her words, a faint hazy memory of being half carried by Mia, and hearing Connor's voice flashed through my mind.

"It's okay, Mia, I remember. It's okay, I'm not mad...," I said slowly and meaning it. I couldn't exactly blame her for not being able to carry me up a flight of stairs.

"Well, Connor told me to get you some water while he got you upstairs, and so I left you...he took you away and erm....,"

A tear slipped from Mia's eye, and she pushed it away aggressively, and impatiently. "It's a long story but they kept me away from you....and I found out you were sick because April slipped ketamine into your drink. I'm so sorry, Ethan, but she drugged you. That's why Connor took you. He took you to her because she ...," she hesitated on her words, the crack in her voice scaring me. "Well, she wanted to fucking rape you, that's why she drugged you. It's why you're here," she said slowly. "It almost killed you."

The impact of her words settled through the quiet of the room, and then a brief flash of memory of lying on a bed, unable to move flashed through my mind. Then nausea twisted me, remembering the feel of someone taking off my shirt, someone kissing me...

A hardened lump formed in the base of my throat, and suddenly, I couldn't meet either of their eyes; my eyes choosing to focus on a meaningless white corner in the distance. I felt warmth prick at my eyes as I desperately fought back the tears that wanted to form.

I knew there was a question I wanted to know, but I was too scared to ask, knowing how much the answer had the power to destroy me.

Still staring at the corner, I swallowed thickly. "Do you know if she...if she...," I mumbled softly, struggling to get the words out.

Lucas drew nearer to the bed, and he put a gentle hand on my shoulder. "No, she didn't, we got there in good time," he said softly, giving me a weak smile.

A shaky breath escaped my lips as I bowed my head down in relief. "Thank God," I choked out, ridding myself of the horrible images that had been crossing my mind.

"Jesus Christ, I had no idea she was such a fucking crazy bitch," I groaned, as I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. "Like, who the fuck does that?" I snapped, anger bubbling through my chest. I could have died.

"I'm so sorry, Ethan, this is all my fault," Mia mumbled, tears starting to well obviously in her already reddened eyes.

My brows knitted together, shocked by how she could think that. "No, no, of course, it's not your fault. None of this is your fault. Why would you say that?" I asked.

She let out a frustrated huff as she blinked back her tears. "You don't get it, Ethan, I could have prevented this. I knew how obsessed she was with you, and I didn't tell you because I'm an idiot. We weren't having 'girl talk' the other day Ethan, she slapped me because she wanted you," she chocked out as she wiped fallen tears from her face.

Immediately, I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her onto the bed and onto my lap. I pressed her back tightly into my chest, as though this could magically protect her, and kissed the back of her neck softly.

"Please don't cry, it's not your fault, Mia. You couldn't have known that she would do this," I whispered reassuringly.

I hated myself immediately for not putting the dots together. She had been acting strange after she'd talked with April, but I ignored it. I couldn't imagine how awful she must have felt for weeks.

I held her tighter, thinking of how badly April could have hit her. If that bitch wasn't in jail for the rest of her life, I'd get May to beat the living shit out of her.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that bitch rots in hell for ever hurting you," I mumbled reassuringly.

Mia let out a weak laugh. "She only slapped me, I think the fact that she drugged you unconscious is a little worse, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but you're special, no one's allowed to touch a single hair on your pretty little head," I said honestly as I softly kissed the top of her head and tightened my grip on her waist.

Mia stiffened in my hold as I said that before Lucas and her exchanged silent looks.

"Mia, I think you need to tell Ethan about Connor," Lucas said softly.

I turned to Lucas immediately, the seriousness on his face, scaring me. I twisted Mia to look at me. "Wait, what's he talking about? What else happened."

Mia struggled to meet my eyes.

Lucas patted me gently on the shoulder. "I'll give you guys some privacy so you can talk, I'll be back in a minute," he said gently before getting up to leave.

His departure only scared me more and as the door closed behind him, I looked back at Mia expectantly. "Mia? Tell me what?" I said firmly, my eyes frantically searching her face for answers.

Panic constricted my chest, as more tears fell down Mia's face that she brushed away in frustration.

She met my eyes. "He...erm," she swallowed then looked back down to her lap. "Connor, he attacked me and erm....held me down....and-"

Her words caught in her throat, clearly not having the courage to finish. I didn't need her to finish.

Everything else in the room and the distant conversation in the neighbouring rooms, all blurred into a muted backdrop as I found myself shaking my head. I stared at Mia's tear-stained face, her previous words lingering in the air and killing me.

"No, no, this can't be true. Please tell me this isn't true," I said my voice barely above a whisper and cracking painfully. I prayed desperately for some kind of misunderstanding.

Mia broke my gaze, turning to look at the sheets instead, saying nothing.

I fought back once more against tears. "No," I whispered. "No, no, fuck!" I suddenly screamed, no longer able to control myself as I slammed my fist against the mattress.

A suffocating sense of helplessness enveloped me as all kinds of God- fucking images invaded my mind. "I'm going to kill him," I snapped, my voice shaking with how much I meant it.

"This is my fault," I mumbled slowly, realization taking over me. "He went after you because he hates me. if I just stayed the fuck away from you like I said I would, this would never have happened. I'm a joke," I hissed.

Mia grabbed hold of my chin and angled my face up to look at her. I nearly broke down as I locked eyes with her.

"This is not your fault. Connor's issues have nothing to do with you. I would never wish for one second that you weren't in my life, ever. I love you," she explained, her eyes fierce and strong.

I stared at her silently for a few seconds, then I found my resolve breaking, and I pulled her in closer. "You're right," I said simply, my head sinking into her neck. "I just....I hate that I wasn't there to save you Chubs," I murmured against her skin.

"You were there to save me. I flipped him around just the way you showed me. Because of you, I got away, Ethan," she said with a soft smile.

My eyes darted between hers in disbelief. "You got away?" I asked, hope clutching my chest.

Mia smiling, nodded her head, her eyes shining brightly.

"Oh, thank god," I whispered, a shaky breath escaping me as I bowed my head, never feeling such relief in all my life for such a damn good fucking miracle.

I returned my eyes to her, laughing weakly. "I clearly need to stop underestimating you."

"Yeah, you do," Mia smiled.

We sat in silence for a while, neither of us saying anything, and I just enjoyed the silent comfort of having her wrapped tightly in my arms. She was safe.

Finally, after a while, Mia let out a brief breath of a laugh. "You know, I'm pretty sure there's probably a rule against sitting on the patient's lap," she joked.

I smiled loosely. "Well, this patient doesn't care since his visitor is extremely hot," I teased, my grip on her only tightening.

The moment I saw her smiling and rolling those big brown eyes at me I knew despite everything, we were going to be alright.  

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