Cath's POV

When I wake up, Harry is sitting next to me.

"Harry?" I ask. My voice comes out as a squeak. I don't even recognize my own voice.

"I'm right here, Cath. How are you feeling? Any pain?"

"A little bit right here," I say, pointing at the side of my stomach. The pain is annoying more than anything.

"Okay, I'll ring the nurse." Harry looks nervous and tired. I'm sure he's been here the whole time. I know he wouldn't want to leave me. It's one of his traits I love about him.

"Thanks, Harry," I croak with a hoarse voice. They must've put a tube down my throat during surgery. At least I assume I had surgery...

The nurse comes in and puts pain medicine through my IV. The moment I feel it working, I feel my body relax and tiredness begins to cloud my mind. I want to fight the sleepiness by asking Harry questions about what happened.

"What happened?" I ask, turning to face Harry. He instantly perks up from his exhausted state. Now I feel bad for bothering him. I should just let him sleep now too.

He starts, "Well... while we were at the restaurant, we were getting up to leave and you just...passed out. It looked like you were clutching your side. Thank God a doctor was there and told us what the problem was. Your appendix ruptured and we barely got you to the hospital in time. Cath...we almost lost you." I see him beginning to tear up, causing me to tear up too, knowing that they really did almost lose me. I want to tell him but I'm so tired I can only muster a few sentences.

"Oh. All I remember is that my stomach had started to hurt really bad and then I felt a sharp pain and everything went black." I avert my eyes, remembering that strange place. It felt so real.

"All that matters is you're fine now. I love you, Cath. I don't know what I would do if I lost you." I can tell he means this, which makes me glad I came back to him.

"I love you too, Harry. I'm gonna try and get some more sleep. I'm so tired." I nestle down in my sheets and reach for Harry's hand to hold.  He makes me feel so safe and loved. While I'm thinking about him, I can feel myself drifting off to sleep.

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I wake up still holding Harry's hand. Even though it's sweaty, I don't remove it from his grasp, knowing it'll wake him up.

My mom is sleeping in a chair on the opposite side of my bed, so I take the opportunity to talk to her while Harry is asleep. I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to her by myself yet, and I have a feeling this is the closest I'll get to being alone with her.

I gently touch her hand, careful not to scare her. "Mom!" I whisper.

She slowly opens her eyes, then realizes I'm awake. She sits up quickly, bringing her hand to my cheek, asking, "Cath, honey, how are you feeling? Do you need me to call the nurse?"

I shake my head no, but ask, "Can I have some water please?"

My mom stands up quickly and says, "I'll be back in a minute." She rushes out of the room to get me some water. My throat is really dry and itchy. I realize I haven't had anything to drink for almost two days.

She returns with a big jug of ice water and a cup of ice chips. Honestly, ice chips from the hospital are amazing!

I thank her for the water and ice chips, and slowly take in small amounts of water. At first it hurts, but then begins to feel soothing on my dry throat. I set my water down and grab some ice chips, crunching them between my teeth. I figure now is the best time to talk to my mom...

"Mom?" I ask.

"What honey? Do you need some more water?" She stands up again, but I motion my hand for her to sit down.

"Can we talk?" I say.

She looks slightly confused, but says yes.

"So how have you been? I mean really been?" I say, knowing she'd sugarcoat it.

I see tears forming in her eyes, but she smiles softly saying, "It's been hard, I'll admit it. Even though he wasn't around much before, now it's really hit me that he's gone. And now.." Her voice cracks. "I'm all alone for real this time." Tears stream down both of our faces.

I wrap my free arm around her, hugging her tightly. "It's gonna be okay, Mom. We'll get through this together. Harry and I can stay with you. I'm sure he won't have a problem with it either."

I rub circles around her back to try and calm her down. "I promise Harry and I won't leave you. You can even help us plan our wedding!" I say, trying to lighten the mood.

She pulls away from the hug with a surprised expression on her face saying, "Really? You'll let me help? After everything that's gone on?"

"Of course, you're my mom! I wouldn't want it any other way."

She pulls me in for another long hug. Finally, she lets me go and says, "Now that you're awake and I know you're okay, I'm gonna go grab some food from the cafeteria. I haven't eaten anything because I've been so worried about you. I'll grab some stuff for you and Harry too. I'll be back in a few." With that, she walks out of the room while I grab some tissues to wipe my face off from all the crying.

I notice Harry is squeezing my hand tighter like he's waking up. His head raises, slightly, peering up at my face. A small smile forms when he realizes I'm awake.

"Cath! You're awake again!" he says in his raspy voice.

I smile back at him saying, "Yeah, I am for once!" I laugh, knowing it's not actually that funny, especially with the circumstances we're in at the moment. Harry still laughs though, which makes me feel better.

"My mom is getting herself some food and was gonna bring stuff for us too," I tell Harry.

"Okay. Sounds good to me! I'm starving!" He says with a grin on his face.

"You're adorable," I say while rolling my eyes.

"Well, at least you haven't lost your sensibility," he says with an even bigger grin.

It's quiet for a few moments while each of us registers our thoughts. I wanna take this time to talk to Harry about the place I'd seen Ashley in while my mom is gone. I don't really know how he'll handle it because we've never talked about the subject of death before.

"Harry?" I ask.

"Yeah?" He says, turning to look at me.

"Can I talk to you about something? About... well... while I was in the operating room? Do you... do you think I died in there, but they brought me back?"

"Umm... the doctor told us your heart stopped for a few minutes, but that you were fine. Why are you asking about this?" He looks worried about me asking because I couldn't have known that I died for a few minutes. Nobody told me, but I've seen so many movies and tv shows where some people see their loved ones or Jesus if they momentarily die in the OR.

"Well... I think I saw Ashley when I died. You wouldn't have known her, but she was my cousin that died in a car accident a few years ago."

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Author's Note:

What'd you guys think?? Was it any good? I tried to make this one longer than the rest.. I'm going to be doing that from here on out.

Also, peep the title! Named after my favorite fanfic EVER!

Please please please like, comment, and share!! It means sooo much to me! Thank you to everyone reading this! You all mean the world to me!

So glad to be back & writing again! xx

-Aubrie