Niall's POV

First of all, why can't I feel any part of my body? Am I a ghost? Is this what being dead feels like? But then I'd be able to levitate, right? Ghosts can levitate. Or has my whole life been a lie?

Well, if they're any similar to the ghosts in Supernatural, then yeah, my whole life's been a lie.

My eyes are already closed so I squeeze my eyelids, seeing as that's the only movement I can make at the moment. It takes me a few seconds, but once I've gained enough conscience, I slowly open my eyes.

Okay, I know that my room is all white and basically the most boring and plain place anyone could ever be in, but I don't remember it being like this. Since when do I have a white armchair in a corner of the room? And white tiles? And window shades? I certainly don't remember replacing my old beige door with a glass door? And where is my table, my drawings, my pencils and ru-

Oh, I see it now. And I'm almost embarrassed that it took seeing an EKG machine right next to the bed, for me to realize that I'm not in my room. This is a hospital room. Which is not confusing at all. Not one bit.

What the hell am I doing in a hospital?!

I sigh and close my eyes at the thought, trying not to freak out but of course I fail to stay calm. I try to lift myself in the surprisingly comfortable hospital bed, but of course I can't even move my arms. I can barely move my fingers- what the hell did they put in that IV? I can't feel shit. I'm almost positive that I'm high on morphine right now.

With another sigh, I decide that my only solution is to wait for a nurse or something, someone to find me in here. I'm still processing everything – I've only just started processing things – but I can tell that I'm a little sad that no one's here, with me. I only have friends who are in their twenties here, of course they'd be too busy with their own lives, and my mum probably has no idea I'm here. Everyone's probably making plans for Christmas. Too bad I spent so much money on electric bills and Netflix and Slurpees, now I can't go to Ireland for Christmas. I actually spent a plane ticket worth of money on those three things, I need to get a job if I want to-

I gulp and shut my eyes quickly, ending the pointless train of thoughts as I hear the door open. I peek through my lids, and restrain myself from frowning; last time I saw the lanky 23 year old, I can swear she had more color to her face and twice as much make up. I also didn't think it was possible for her hair to be even curlier and messier, but, I guess she's full of surprises.

She makes her way to the left side of the bed and I follow her movements, just then noticing a small Christmas tree on the end table. Wait, so it's already Christmas? It can't be Christmas. That'd mean... I was out for five days? No, of course not, they only put the tree there early.

Freya takes her bag off her shoulder, dumping it next to a wooden chair that's facing the bed. Then she takes her jacket off, hanging it on the chair, and walking off somewhere in the room. Okay, I get that she thinks I'm asleep, but she barely even looked at me. I could have opened my eyes wide and she would've still walked right past me.

I can't turn my head a lot, but I can see her reflection in the glass door – oh, she's just warming her hands, using the radiator that's against a wall on my left. I guess I could forgive her, then.

A minute passes before she claps her hands together instead of rubbing them, and stands to her feet, making her way to the wooden chair. I close my eyes immediately – I've always wanted to do this, see what people are like around me when they think I can't hear them or anything. Though I swear I'd heard her voice while I was asleep? And Seth's? And possibly Harry's, but I still can't tell-

Good thing I can't move, because I would have probably just jumped as I felt Freya's cold hand on mine. I proceed to let out a slow breath as she rubs the back of my hand with her thumb, and I can only picture the look on her face. I get that she's probably worried about me, but it's not like I was run over by a bus.

My thoughts are interrupted again as she lifts my hand from the bed, and places my knuckle against her lips. She's not kissing it, just keeping it there and holding it in both of her hands. I try peeking again, but quickly close them again when I see her standing up a little, so she could sit on the edge of the bed. I stop breathing for a second when I feel her hand on my chest, and then gulp when I feel her breath on my face – did she see that I'm awake? Is this a way of making me drop my act?

I breathe out carefully as she leans forward, burying her face in the crook of my neck first. I gulp, hoping she can't feel it, and look up at the ceiling in slight desperation. In a way I knew this wasn't a good idea, but-

Oh, God. Now her lips are on my shoulder, placing small kisses there, and I can suddenly move my hips.

I lick my lips, not even caring if she sees me anymore, as she starts making her way up, from my shoulder over my neck and to my jaw. Her kisses are completely innocent – it's literally like she's telling me 'hi, I missed you' – but I haven't been touched by a woman in so long, she could have given me a hard on if she'd only held my hand a minute longer. And the fact that it's her, and not someone else- anyone else, makes it that much better.

Now I hope that thought hasn't jinxed what I have with this, this- Christ, how do you even call this girl? What is she, where did she come from? I'm not gonna say that she's not like other girls because every girl is different but fuck me, she's not even remotely similar to anyone I've met before. And I technically have her living with me now. I must have been really good this year.

A little lost in my thoughts, I barely notice that I'm moving my head to the left, nuzzling my face against hers. She's not kissing my skin anymore, rather just lightly pressing her face against my cheek. I wonder if she'd done this same thing while I was asleep. If she'd even been he-

I take a quick breath in, feeling the bed move sharply and suddenly. I subconsciously open my eyes to see what the hell just happened – and here I am, face to face with Freya and her astounded slash terrified expression. She must have felt me move.

"Niall?" She whispers, nearly saying my name in fright, and lifts her hand to touch my cheek. I squeeze my eyes shut for a second before opening them wider, this time looking at her properly. The face she makes once our eyes meet is priceless; her eyes widen, her lips part as she exhales shakily, and, if possible, her face turns even paler.

"You're awake. You're awake, fuck, you're awake!" She rambles, mostly to herself as she gets off the bed and runs to the door. I close my eyes as she opens the glass door and starts shouting for a doctor – she could have at least given me another few minutes to compose myself. While my brain is functioning just fine, I feel like I'm in the body of a dead person.

A middle aged man rushes into the room a minute later, followed by a woman that looks a few years younger than him, presumably the nurse. A couple of minutes pass while they check if everything's okay with me, if I can hear properly, see properly, if I can remember my name – which I do – and my last name – which takes me a few seconds to remember.

I sigh, almost in relief as they conclude that I'm fine, and start walking out of the room. With slight difficulty I lift my head off my pillow, to see what's going on, and sigh again when I see Freya talking to the doctor with the same terrified expression. I get that she's worried but seriously, is this much worry necessary?

"What'd I miss?" Another familiar voice says, and I look down at the door again – the doctors are just walking out, Freya's walking toward the bed and Seth is standing with two cups of coffee in his hands. The moment he sees that I'm awake, though, his expression goes blank for a minute and I'm almost afraid that he's going to drop the two cups, but then he tries covering up his shock by snorting.

"Well it was about time," He says loudly, in a flat tone that sounds almost angry, but grins at me a second after. Before I can respond to his comment, I feel a hand on my cheek, turning my face to the other side.

"Hi," Freya almost whispers, sitting down on the bed again, with a worried face. Okay, now she's freaking me out.

"Hi," I whisper back, my head wincing to the right when I hear Seth placing the coffee on the end table, and sitting on the small chair that's on that side of the bed.

"Do you, um..." I blink at Freya as she trails off, rubbing her nose with her sweaterpaw, and glances at Seth before looking back at me, that look of concern in her eyes only intensifying. She's really freaking me out. "Do you know who I am?"

I shut my eyes for a second; is that what she's so worried about? That I might have forgotten who she is? "Yeah," I breathe out, trying not to laugh at her question. I feel around the bed for a few moments to find her hand, and place mine atop of hers before answering, "You're my angel."

Honestly, I was expecting a reaction from her. But not the one I got – I don't recall girls widening their eyes in horror and clapping their hand over their mouth like they're going to burst into tears when a guy calls them an angel.

"Oh my God," She gushes, standing up and placing one hand over her heart, and looks at Seth. "He thinks my name is Angel, I'm going to fucking-"

"Wait," I croak out, gripping her hand as tight as I can but her fingers still almost slip through mine. I wish I was as physically strong as I mentally am right now. "I meant," I begin, pulling her closer to me, until she's sitting on the bed again. "You're Freya and you're my angel."

"Okay, I'm just gonna go stare at the snow outside," I hear Seth's voice and the creaking of the chair on my right, but I barely pay any attention on it as Freya's face goes blank; a second later she stands up again, places her knees on the edge of the bed and leans over me, taking my face in her hands before giving me a kiss that would have probably made me melt to the ground, if I weren't already lying down.

It takes me a couple of seconds to remember that I can breathe through my nose, so I take a deep breath and finally kiss her back. This is more like the reaction I was hoping for.

My lack of energy slows down the kiss, so she pulls away to place a few quick ones on my lips. "I missed you," She whispers, in between a few kisses, "I was with you every day and I still missed you."

I smile at her words, but then realize what she'd said so I put my hand on the back of her neck to stop her. "Wait," I mumble against her lips, and she pulls away a couple of inches. "What do you mean, every day?"

Her eyes go slightly wide, but she quickly composes herself and sits up properly. She pulls the sleeves of her black sweater over her knuckles and brings them to her face, looking a little- nervous? "Um... well, technically, you were..."

Seth returns to his chair as she trails off, and I glance at him, catching an equally nervous face. If I could move properly, I'd probably be choking him. "You were, like... you know that thing where people have to bathe you and feed you through a vein because you won't wake up?"

"Like a coma?" I suggest sarcastically, not really believing him. No, I couldn't have been in a coma, it's impossible to get in a coma because of a damn club fight.

"Yeah, that's about it." But good thing I have Seth to prove me wrong.

"So... I was... in a coma?" I ask bluntly, and when both of them nod hesitantly I'm not sure how to react. I mean, I was in a coma. I just woke up from a coma. Another man got me in a coma with his bare hands. Mum's not going to be happy about this.

"Okay, um..." I try sitting up, remembering how the doctor told me I'm perfectly fine and using that as something to comfort myself with. "How long was I out?"

"Five months," Seth says immediately, and once I look at him – my eyes wide and heart rate faster than it should be – he points to Freya. "She's 24 now."

"Seth!" But the annoyance in her voice tells me that he's just fucking with me. I mean I hope he is. "No, it's been 10 days. For real," She tells me, with a small smile that assures me she's telling the truth. Thank God he was fucking with me.

"Alright," I sigh, still processing the information. Ten days, that's not so bad, right? I mean, I did miss Christmas and all, but it could have been worse, for all I know. "Is it 2015 now?"

"No, but it's New Year's Eve," Freya says with a bright smile, taking my hand in hers again. She's looking at me as if saying 'and you waking up is my New Year's present'.

I smile at the thought, "Okay. Good, what'd I miss?"

The way the two of them look at each other assures me I've missed quite a lot. "Well," Freya starts, but looks over at Seth. "Do you wanna tell him?"

At that, his face lights up like this Christmas tree that's a foot away from my head. "Yeah, let me," He grins, and turns his head to me. "Well, while you were off sleeping, Craig got a year."

A year? "What, in prison?"

Seth's nod of approval is probably the best Christmas slash New Year present I'll get this year. "For aggravated assault. Illegal drug possession could have had something with the verdict, I'm not sure."

Wait, illeg- illegal drug possession? "They found your weed?" I turn to Freya, my brows raised, and I can barely hold back a laugh as she narrows her eyes in a glare. I can tell she's not really insulted or angry – she's too happy that I've woken up to be either of that.

"Not all of it. You know," She shrugs, rolling her eyes as she looks up at the ceiling and crosses her legs, "Because I'm a fucking genius."

I start laughing, my reaction making her smile slightly – I can't believe I've woken up to her like this. She's become more open since I met her and she talks more, but I feel like knowing that Craig is behind bars is giving her a whole new feeling of freedom. She's smiling and laughing and joking- I deserve a pat on the back. Good job Niall.

"And your mom called for Christmas," Seth continues, his words momentarily making me gulp. Dear lord, how did I not think of that? "But it's okay, 'cause this fucking genius as she likes to call herself, made up a believable story."

What? They lied to my mum? But when I think about it, I would have probably lied about how I got hurt too. "What'd you tell her, you fucking genius?"

"Well, you went out to buy yourself pizza," Freya begins, and I immediately know where the story is going. Good job Freya. "And you were crossing the street and got hit by a car, driven by a drunk man."

"Beautiful," I say quietly, earning a laugh from her. I'll have to ask her about this 'man' and his 'car', later when I call my mum. That's gonna be one long conversation. "Okay, um, anything else important?"

Freya looks over at Seth, and they just stare at each other for a few seconds before he speaks up. "Um, not really. You missed your last week of this semester, but that's about it."

I nod, looking away from both of them for a minute. This isn't the worst case scenario; well, at least not anymore. Now that I've woken up and I'm okay, things can go back to the way the used to be. Ten days couldn't have changed a lot of things, that's for sure.

"So, listen," Seth starts, standing up from his chair, putting on his jacket and eventually taking his cup of coffee. "I gotta go back to the frat house, everyone came back from Christmas with their families so now we're throwing the party of the year," He beams, but then gives me a serious look. "But I'll be back in a few hours. I'm not spending New Year's Eve in college without my best friend."

He lifts his hand, probably to give me a high five, and I take a few seconds to lift mine too. Seth grabs my wrist, carefully placing his palm against mine for a second before putting it back on the bed, and giving us a wave as he walks out.

I snort at his actions, thinking that if there's ever going to be anyone who would run into a burning building for me, it'd be him. He deserves a motorcycle for Christmas from me.

"So," Freya slowly starts, and I avert my eyes to her, as she takes my hand again. "Are you feeling alright? Do you need anything? Water, food? Go to the bathroom?"

She stops talking when I keep shaking my head, and with slight difficulty, try to sit up. "No, I just- woah," I say, raising my eyebrows and falling onto my pillow again. For real though, what the hell did they put in the IV?

"Yeah, you're practically high now," She chuckles – she knew about this? "Move over."

"What?" I mumble, turning my head to look at her and see her sitting on the bed again, but this time she lies down next to me. I take the hint and pull myself to the right, and she also makes herself comfortable – nuzzling her head in the side of my neck, her hand on my shoulder and her feet hanging off the bed. She clearly doesn't want to hurt me, or stain the bed with her boots.

"Can I ask you something?" She whispers a minute later, and I look at her; she's looking at me nervously again, so I raise my hand off the bed and place it over hers, that's on my shoulder, and give it a light squeeze. She smiles at the gesture, but still looks a bit anxious.

"Sure."

"Um," She shifts in the bed, "Before you passed out... you said something. In the club, you fell on the ground but you were still conscious and you said something. Do you... do you remember what you said?"

I blink in confusion, wondering if she's messing with me but apparently, she isn't. "Um... I don't remember."

"You don't?"

"No," I shake my head lightly, "I thought I passed out right when he hit me with the bottle. What did I say?"

Freya parts her lips, but stays looking at me like that for a few long seconds. In the end she closes her mouth, to gulp before beginning to speak, "I don't really know, you sort of just... mumbled something and I was wondering if you remembered what you said, because I couldn't understand you."

I give her a nod, but the look on her face and the smile she's trying to hide are basically saying 'I know something you don't know'. "You really don't know what I said?" I raise my brows at her, and she props herself up on one elbow to get a good look at me.

"No," She says, grinning at me. Yeah, that's not transparent at all.

"Okay," I play along, my eyes not leaving hers. "You sure?"

"One hundred percent."

Note to self: remember what the fuck you told her before you slipped into a coma.

*******

HE WOKE UP SO NOW WE CAN ALL JUST CHILL

and please vote and comment guys? i know i'm late af but pretty pleeeeeeeaaaase i need something to read in class and nothing makes me happier than your comments c: thank you and ily x