I am updating early, which means that there is no update for tomorrow, or I might if I get the zeal to write. Either way, enjoy.

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Sensation was all she had.

Pain, something so far above agony it had no name. Ferocious cold bound by intolerable heat. Thousands of claws, thousands of teeth tore and ripped at her each wound a separate, searing misery. Her own blood burned under her broken skin, and it's blood coated her like oil.

Around her the dark closed in, squeezing her in a terrible embrace so she waited to feel her own ribs snap. In her ears sounds seemed to boil- screeches, screams, laughter, pleas. She crawled and shoved through the quivering wet mass, gagging on the stench, wheezing for what little ditty air was left to her. In the heat, what was left of her own clothes smoked. In the cold her fingers numbed.

This, she thought, was hell.

She prayed for something, anything to get her out of the hell. Her skin was scorched by the amounting heat. She could feel her skin melting away which each seconds that passed. Still she crawled until her body could move no more.

And the she was flying.

From her bird's-eye vintage point, high in the crystal clear sky, Abbie could see the vast cobalt expanse of the Pacific Ocean, edged by sparkling white sand.

It was so quite up there, with only the sounds of air rushing over her wide open arms. So peaceful and serene. Yet she wanted to go higher.

As she flew up past the stars in the milky way, she continued on, until she was getting closer and closer to the sun. Just as her sleeves went up in flames, she crashed back to earth with a hard thud that made her breathless.

Salty water closed over her and began to fill her lungs. She clawed at the water desperate to reach it's, ever growing distant, surface. Panic filled her and her head began to spin, her struggles became less frantic and Annie knew without a doubts that this was her ending.

She was going to die.

"Someone call the doctor!"

A familiar voice, although she couldn't for the life of her remember who it belonged to, sounded as if it was coming from the sea surface.

"Lu-Lukas?" Annie croaked.

The sharp slap to her face irritated her. The second one pissed her off. Couldn't she die in peace?

"You come back, you selfish little bitch! Do you hear me? You come back. You fight, you fucking coward. You're not going to die and leave us here."

Annie heard other voices join the first one and there seemed to be a crazy beeping sound all around her. She struggled to regain consciou-sness, to swim back to the surface and escape the water that was filling her system so quickly, but her body felt heavy and her mind was fogged.

She gave up the attempt and let the sea take her to it's dark, cold and bottomless depth.

*                         *                              *

"Oh, my God." Cassie sobbed into her palms. "Please help,Annie. Don't let her die."

For the second time in three days, Annie had scared them again.

The family had been sitting in the private ward where Annie was transfered to after the Doctor's confirmed that she was out if danger along with her baby. They were discussing about Annie's sudden return home with a baby when the heart monitor started beeping like crazy. While Kaden and William went in search of the doctor's and nurses in duty, Cassie and Arabella had rushed over to each side of the bed. They watched as the numbers on the monitor screen decreased rapidly.

Cassie reacted blindly. She had struck Annie twice on the cheek yelling at her not to die. She was about to go for a third slap when the doctors arrived and they were ushered out of the room and told to wait in the waiting area. Again.

Cassie was a bit glad that Ella was told to stay home with the children and guards, so she could get some rest. Only God knew how she would have reacted if she was here right now. She didn't even want to think about what Steve would say about this. That selfish man had gone to work today,claiming he had some important business to attend to.

No one knew the reason why he was being mean to Annie, and honestly, they all care. It wasn't fair to a girl so sweet and kind as Annie Mckade. She shouldn't have to go through all these pain again. Cassie couldn't stop thinking of the first time they met.

"Cass." Kaden wrapped his arm around her and drew her to his side. "She'll be fine."

Cassie nodded desperately, wanting to believe what he was saying. Annie would be alright. She had to be.

"That girl is so stubborn and won't give in to death easily." William said from where he was sitting beside their mother. "Remember how insistent she was about getting Raffy and I together?"

Arabella laughed wetly. "I was shocked when I heard that she planned for you two to meet in a resort in Maldives. What if you two never met until you left?"

"Ah,that's where you're wrong mother," William chuckled. "She got us the villa beside each other. Raffy and I were neighbours. There was no way we wouldn't meet each other."

Cassie smiled too. "Imagine my shock when I discovered that she was Josie. She stopped Skylar from carrying out her evil plans about Kade. Bought her a black rose and all. That girl is crazy." She sighed. "The good kind of crazy. Always full of life, love, happiness. She was a little ray if sunshine, who touched and brightened everything she touched or came across."

Kaden hummed in agreement. "But what I still don't understand is the fact that she's pregnant." Then he pulled away from Cassie slightly, so he could see her. "You two talked while she was in Washington, didn't you?"

Cassie nodded. "We did. She mentioned meeting some guy who almost killed her by running her off the road and something about smashing the car into a telephone pole."

William was in front of her in the blink of an eye. "Who is he? And what's his name?"

"His, uh, name is-"

"Where is she?!"

Eight pair of eyes turned towards the person who just spoke. A man, dressed in white chinos and aquamarine shirt, was running towards them with a worried look on his face. He was handsome, Cassie noted, and would have been eye-catching if he didn't have dark bags, the size of a cheetos bag, under his eyes. Three days growth of beards littered his prominent jaw. His eyes were a dazzling shade of Hazel and he was tall too. He had the whole she-bang hotness going for him.

Yet he didn't look like the guy, what's his name again- Jared? James? Joel?- she couldn't remember for the life of her, Annie sent the picture of.

William stepped forward puffing out his chest with narrowed eyes at the newcomer. "Who are you? And how did you get in here?"

"I will tell you that," The man glanced around frantically as if searching for something. Or in his case, someone. "But first, tell me where Annie is. I have to see her."

Kaden joined William with a scowl. "You're not seeing my sister until we know who you are and how you know my sister."

"My name is Lukas Russell. I am a very good friend of Annie's. We were at the airport together and I said I wanted to go to the bathroom, but when I came out she was gone."

"Lukas?" Arabella and Cassie echoed together.

Kaden glanced at them over his shoulder. "Do you know him?"

"Annie mentioned his name a while ago." Arabella said. Then she gasped and narrowed her eyes. "You bastard! You're the one who got her pregnant and beat her like that, weren't you?"

Lukas gaped at her. "W-what?"

Cassie saw William draw his fist back and before she could blink she saw it hit Lukas on his nose. The sound of bone breaking resonated through the room. Her teeth rattled from the force of it, and she wasn't even the one that was hit.

"You low-life coward!" William launched himself into the man and they went down with flailing limbs and punches.

Cassie watched the fight in horror, telling her limbs to move forward and stop them, but it seemed her body wasn't getting the message her brain was sending to it. She was transfixed by the scuffle on the hospital floor. It seemed Arabella was having the same reaction, because her jaw was open but no sound came out from it.

The door to Annie's door jerked open, spurring her into action. "Stop it! Kade, don't just stand there. Do something!"

"What is going on here?" Annie's personal doctor, Doctor Francis King a tall, blond and immaculate man, asked, his words tainted with a annoyance. "This is a hospital and not a boxing ring. You better stop it before I have security throw you out."

Kaden sprung into action. He managed to separate them,despite his own casted arm, but got in a few punches of his own. Then he pried William away from the bloodied face man before he could lunge for him again.

"I thought you were more matured than this." Arabella scoffed in disbelief. "How do you think Annie would react if she discovers that you beat her baby daddy into a bloody pulp?"

"'M not her bayby dadeh." Lukas managed to say despite his swollen lip and bloodied face.

"You should both see a nurse to clean that mess up right now." The doctor said. "And as for Ms. Mckade, she's stable now. "

"Why was the monitor going berserk earlier?" Kaden asked with a twist of his mouth.

Doctor King smiled. "Must be that she was having some kind if nightmare or something. But don't worry. She should wake up soon though. This night or tomorrow, tops."

Arabella's shoulder sagged with relief. "I can't wait for her to be alright again. The smell of this place is making sick and if I am to come back here again after she's discharged, I would end up in a sick bed myself."

The doctor chuckled. "I was told that visiting hours are over now. Which means that only a person is allowed to stay over night. Just let the nurses know who's staying with her. And you two should see a nurse to clean you up." He pointed at William's bleeding mouth and Lukas' battered face. "Excuse me."

Arabella went into the room to see Annie,while William and Lukas did as the doctor instructed. When they all finally assembled outside the room, it was silent without any fear of fighting, but animosity lingered in the air. Cassie didn't miss the death look that was being sent Lukas' way. The poor guy was sporting a crooked nose, a bruised eye and busted lips. Even his right jaw was swelling rapidly with each passing second.

"Before we decide who would be staying the night," Arabella was the first person to break the silence. "William and Kaden should apologize to Mr. Russell first."

William's jaw dropped open to let out some sort of choking noise. "Wha-wha-what?"

Arabella leveled him with a stare which shut him up immediately. Then she raised an eyebrow at him.

He gritted his teeth. "I apologize, Mr. Russell." If looked could kill, Lukas would be ten feet under right now.

"Yeah, sorry." Kaden murmured. "But you're still a bastard for hurting my sister."

"Annie is my friend." Lukas said, wincing with each word he spoke. "I am Jovon's cousin. Jovon's the one who hurt her. Not me. You can ask Annie."

"You lying-"

"He's right." Cassie spoke up before Kaden could do anything. "Jovon Phim is the one who hurt her. She told me about him in her e-mails to me and also when I called her few days ago. She went to Santiago to meet his family and also about the wedding anniversary plans."

"She's right." Lukas nodded. "I was going to bring her home after that bastard hit her in the chest and also called her all the crude names in the world you could think of after she told him she loved him. He used her, slept with her multiple times and when she told him she was pregnant he kicked her out. Beat her until she was bleeding."

Arabella started crying again, while Cassie embraced her in comfort, her own eyes shiny with tears too.

Kaden clenched his jaw so hard that Cassie feared his teeth would break off. "Lukas is staying with Annie tonight. Mom and Cassie are going home to rest."

"Yeah," William seconded. "You definitely owe that to Annie after the way your shitty family treated her."

Kaden moved until he was standing in front of Lukas; he was bent at the waist and leaned forward until their lips were few inches apart. Lukas filled audibly.

"Where can I find this bastard?"