That bastard.

That f***ing, drunk bastard.

Joe raised his head from where it had been cradled in his hands, and squinted across the room, through the harsh fluorescent lighting to the digital clock that rested upon the opposite wall.

3:03… make that 3:04 a.m.

They have been sitting in this room for a little under three hours, waiting as doctors worked vigorously to stop the internal bleeding, while the son-of-a-bitch who thought stopping at a red light was optional, left with nothing more than a concussion and a few stitches an hour and a half earlier. Was it really just six hours earlier that she had been crying at The Lion King in his apartment? Just five hours ago that she was dancing around his living room after beating Jaime, Meredith, and Joey at MarioKart for the fourth time?

Joe let his cerulean eyes scan the familiar faces around him. Directly across from him sat Brian, holding hands with Meredith, who sat staring unseeingly at the magazine on her lap, while Brian chose to study the infinitely white ceiling above them. To Meredith's left was Jaime who had pulled her purple pajama-clad legs into her chest and was crying in complete silence. Joey; who had just flown in from L.A. earlier that day, for a visit, was seated to Joe's right. His left leg bouncing, hitting the linoleum floors with a muffled tap! tap! tap! Julia stood in the corner of the rather bare waiting room, where she was speaking in hushed tones on the phone to their friend Darren, who was finding a flight to Chicago for later this day. Dylan went off to hunt down a couple cups of coffee.

"Is there a Ms. Albain here for a-," the doctor referred to his clipboard, "a Lauren Lopez?"

Joe Walker bound to his feet only to notice everyone else in their unconventional family had done the same.

Julia finished her phone conversation with a rushed, "I got to go!" Before walking towards the middle aged man in the lab coat, and giving the rest of a group a warning look when they tried to do the same.

"We were successful in stopping the bleeding, hopefully for good, but your friend did get pretty banged up. She received two broken ribs, a fractured ankle, broken wrist, multiple sets of stitches, and will have quite the headache when she becomes conscious again. Lauren is in room 402; I can usually only allow two people in at a time, but I think I can make an exception. You all are incredibly close, that much is clear; however, I can only give you all fifteen minutes, visiting hours are long over. One person is allowed to spend the night with her, if he or she wishes. Any questions?"

"No, no questions. Thank you, Doctor." Julia spoke softly, but her voice still carried through the empty hallway. She turned around and walked back to her friends, tears threatening to escape from the confines of her lashes.

"They stopped the bleeding and put her in a room. She is still unconscious but the Doctor said we can all go see her." There was a collective sigh as the entirety of the waiting room, Dylan having returned. The group of twenty-something year olds filed haphazardly behind the brunette speaking.

Joe was the first to reach room 402, probably because he nearly jogged through the empty corridors. He paused for just a moment and peered through the rectangular glass panel in to door. Just one of the salty drops he had been fighting back since he was awoken by Julia's urgent phone call that night, had finally fallen.

She looked so broken.

As the surrogate family, gathered around the bed they were stuck full force with just how close they were to losing their best friend. Beneath the various tubes that were attached to her body, they could make out every visible bruise and laceration on their petite friend. There was black stitching holding together a deep cut stretching about two inches along her hairline on the left side of her pale- than-normal face. There was another, slightly shallower cut resting along her left cheekbone, the skin beneath this cut was already swollen and bruised purple. The group could see the beginning of yet another mean-looking cut across one of her collarbones, before it disappeared beneath the flimsy material of her hospital gown. Her right wrist was confined in a plaster cast, and her left ankle in a clunky, black brace.

The room was loud with silence until Walker hammer punched the wall beside Lauren's headboard and mumbled something incoherent. Everyone was looking at him as he stared misty eyed down at the small girl in the white sheets. Everyone knew it, without words ever being said. It wasn't hard to spot what lie just beneath the surface. For as long as they could remember, there was always an invisible force between the two friends. Sure, they would laugh, and flirt, and tease, the same as the rest of them, but when it was Walker and Lauren it was as though each word held a deeper meaning, each touch was filled with greater warmth, and each look portrayed absolute affection. Even Joey, usually the slowest to catch on, noticed it eventually.

Joe wiped the back of his hand across both eyes before he looked up at the rest of the room. "Would you guys mind if I be the one to stay tonight? I think I really need to be here." His voice containing a sort of childlike innocence; there were nods around the room, and an "of course, Joe" from Julia before each person mumbled a soft goodbye to their fallen friend, and a chorus of "g'night's" and "love you's" resounded through the room.

With the final click of the door closing, Joe pulled up a chair to the left of Laurens bed. He took up her hand in his own larger one, dwarfing it even further. He didn't say anything at first, not really knowing what to say. He felt like he was in one of those cheesy romance films that the girls always watch on their girl-nights. Except in those movies you know there will be a happy ending, in real life it doesn't always work that way.

He opened his mouth as if to say something before closing it again. Joe took a deep breath and begun to talk,

"Do you remember that time when we were rehearsing for Starship, and we were in the middle of the scene right after I kill the mosquitoes? Remember when Joey jumped out at us from behind a curtain and scared you so badly that you turned around and punched him right in the neck?" He gave a small chuckle then started again, a bit more confident this time.

"Or when we had our day off in Alabama on tour, and I threw you in the lake when you weren't expecting it? When you stayed underwater so long it thought I drowned you, and so I dove in to save you?" He stopped for a moment his gaze lowering to the loose thread next to where their hands were resting. He swallowed before continuing,

"I would never let anything bad happen to you, Lo. You have to know that." His voice low and earnest, "You are my best friend, Lauren… and I need you to wake up and yell at me for worrying so much, because to tell you the truth, I don't know what I would do without you. And the thought of what could have happened tonight terrifies me."

He searched the face he had long ago memorized, for a sign telling him she heard any of what he said, and let out a long sigh when it remained unchanged. A curvy nurse with ebony skin came in to check her vitals, and showed him which button to press if there was any change. He nodded and turned back to the girl in front of him.

"Wake up, Lo." He whispered one last time, before leaning over and placing a feather light kiss on the top of her head.

"Ahhhhhhh!"