She tells herself that it's not real. She tells herself, it's a trick and she can't breathe as she drops to her knees afraid to touch her father in case it is real. Her mind is racing a hundred miles an hour, and she can't fucking breathe. Allison's hands hover above her father, inches from his face, and she's at a loss for what to do.

"Dad?" she manages to choke out as she finally calms down slightly. "Dad!" her voice is more forceful this time, and she lies her hands on him, his blood is half dry, which means-

She can't fucking think, her world is falling apart as she realizes if her father dies, she's left alone with Gerard, and he's not worth the family name.

She tries to picture her mother sitting beside her, what her mom would say. Check to see if he's breathing. Her mother tells her, a hard glint in her eyes. Check his pulse Allison.

So she does.

She can barely feel it, but it's there. He's alive. Allison can feel something on her face, and reaches up a hand to brush it away, staring at her hand as she realizes the color. Red. A part of her realizes she's crying, and that she's smeared some of her father's blood on her face, but the majority of her doesn't care.

"What now?" she mumbles, asking the image of her mother she's pictured beside her.

Check his wounds. Can you fix him, or does he need a hospital? Allison can picture her mother's words clearly in her head, and she pushes her father's coat off him, and she wants to scream again. There's too much blood and she can't fix him. She fumbles for her phone, and dials the hospital. Her voice cracks when she tells them the situation, and her body shakes as she balls her free hand into a fist. After they tell her help is on the way, she hangs up, her fingers fumbling over the buttons on her phone, and she hears it barely ring once before he picks up.

"Allison."

She feels herself break apart more at the sound of his voice. She can't find any words, and a sob slips out of her throat, and she's crying on the phone, and she hates how he gets to hear her cry and be weak.

But she can't help it, she needs him.

"Allison." His voice is rushed this time, and a part of her realizes he was grabbing his things and leaving Scott's. "Talk to me. Allison, what's going on?"

She cries for another minute, and manages to whisper in between sobs. "I need you. My d-dad–" it's as much as she can get out, before his voice comes through the phone.

"I can hear sirens. I'm coming, Allison. I'll be there soon."

Time passes oddly after that. She hears the beeping, which means he hung up, then the sound his shoes make as he's running down the hall, sliding to a stop as his shoulder hits the doorframe and then he's beside her.

Isaac's hands are on her face, and he's pulling her father away from her, which makes her hold onto him tighter, afraid that the moment she lets go of him, her dad will be gone.

"No!" She meant for the word to be hard, but it comes out a whisper as she realizes it wasn't Isaac who was taking him, it was the paramedics. She watches Isaac speak to one of them, but her brain won't translate the words and all she can hear is buzzing. She cries as she makes and attempt to stand, but one of the paramedics is asking her questions, and she wants to scream "My father is dying, and you're wasting time with me!" but the words don't leave her.

She manages to stand and she isn't sure what's going on anymore, because things are happening in flashes and they're taking her father away and she remembers vividly in the hospital as her father tells her he's sorry, and she can picture that as she looks into the room her mother had been in, she sees her father right there beside her mom.

Isaac's arms are wrapped around her, pressing her close to his body as they take her father away and she realizes she was trying to stop them and she releases a breath and sags against Isaac, and just cries as they leave and the apartment is quiet again except for her sobbing.

Then they're on the floor and she can't remember how they had gotten there but the blood is all over her and she can't breathe, can't breathe, can't breathe.

It seems like hours later when she's finally calm and her head feels like it's full of sand, while her voice cracks when she says Isaac's name like it's a question, and he squeezes his arms around her as if to say, I'm here.

"You're in shock." His voice is quiet, and she nods like he just told her the sky was blue.

"Okay."

"You need to wash off the paint." His voice is gentle, and her eyes focus, and everything seems to snap into place, and she feels calm.

"Okay."

Isaac helps her stand, and she pulls off the flannel shirt she had worn to the party, and kicks off her shoes. "I want it off." Allison tells him, as her hands start pulling her shorts down and he stops her, his hands on hers, and she feels the heat begin to spread throughout her body and she realize he's trying to heal her.

"Allison." Isaac's voice holds a warning tone as he turns quickly, and shuts the door to the apartment, left open after they had left, and gently pushes her back through the empty place to her room.

"I don't want these clothes anymore. I want them off." She's crying again, and she wishes she would just stop crying.

His hands are on her face, and he's brushing the tears away from her face with his thumbs. "Just breathe." He tells her.

So she does.

She feels calmer, steadier, and her mouth twitches into a sad smile. "He's going to be okay right? That's what you're going to tell me."

He nods, unsure what to do now that she seems to be herself again. "He's one of the strongest people I know. He'll make it through." Isaac prays for Allison's sake that he will.

She nods, and swallows. "I'm going to take a shower." He doesn't say anything, but as she busies herself with finding different clothes, she can't help but notice there's spots of blood on his clothing and she hates the sight of it. He makes a move to leave, but she speaks up.

"Don't leave." He turns to look at her, and she motions to his clothes. "You have–" Blood. She thinks, but shakes it away. "–paint on you still. You probably want it off."

He knows what she means, but he doesn't say anything about it. "I can take one after I get you to the hospital."

"No, I don't want you to run all over. I bet there's something of my dad's that will fit." He can hear the words under the ones she's saying. Don't leave me alone.

So he nods once. "I'll get a shower after you."

She wants to smile at his hesitation but instead she presses her lips together, as she brushes past him, heading for the bathroom and turning on the water as hot as she can stand it, and she shuts the door, stripping her clothes off and tossing them in the trash.

She wraps a towel around herself as she takes the trash with her to throw everything she was wearing away. She spots Isaac in the kitchen, and hears his soft voice as he's on the phone.

"...we were lucky they got here..."

"She seems alright, just in shock..."

"..getting a shower..."

"...let Melissa know."

"I'm staying with her." He says finally, and hangs up. She didn't have time to duck back into the bathroom before he sighed. "I know you're there."

She took a small step into the kitchen, and he turned to face her. She felt a laugh bubble out of her as his eyes roamed her body. "Not what you were expecting?"

"Exactly what I was expecting." He said. "You better get into the shower."

"Who were you talking to?" Isaac sighs again, but she presses for an answer. "Who. Were. You. Talking. To?"

"I called Scott." Allison wanted to hit him, but instead settles for glaring,

"Why?"

"His mom works at the hospital, Allison. I figured she could watch him until we get there." Isaac says as he stands. "So get in the shower."

She stays still, pressing her lips together to keep herself from saying something, but realizes there's nothing left to say. She turns away from him and returns to the bathroom, where she scrubs her skin raw swearing she can still smell the blood.