*Archer POV*

*****

After I Arrived home I went to my room and shut the door behind me.

I am infuriated with what Martin did. What a slimy, little shit.

I walked over to where my punching bag hung from the ceiling and hit it with everything I had. All the anger and pain.

I could have hit Martin more if it weren't for Blondie's cries to stop.

Why did I do that to her. I didn't want to leave. I saw her face, the tears and I heard her sob, all I wanted to do was comfort her, but I was so caught up in my anger.

Asshole. I'm such an idiot.

But the image of Martin standing over her, his lips pressed to hers, his hand on her cheek- No!

It's not her fault.

I stopped punching, pulled my phone out from my pocket and dialed her number. It rang for a long time before her voicemail came on. I tried again. Nothing. And again. Nothing.

I left a voice message, "Blondie, I know that you're probably upset with me and you have every right to be, but please answer your phone."

I looked at the time, 18:12. I put my phone down on my desk and went to lay on my bed. I lay staring at the ceiling, for what felt like forever. Replaying the events of just an hour and a half ago.

My phone rang and I stood up in flash speed.

I didn't recognise the number on my screen, but I picked up anyway. Slightly disappointed that it wasn't Aurora.

"Hello?"

"Archer?"

"That is me."

"Archer, it's Caitlyn. Aurora, I'm at the hospital. She... she's not doing well. She was just in a bad car accident."

My heart dropped. I felt every part of my body go numb. I stumbled back onto my bed. taking a seat.

"Archer?"

What. Why was she even driving.

My limbs began to tingle with fear. I cannot loose her, that cannot happen.

"I'm on my way. Which hospital are you at?"

"Sinclair Med." She stated.

"I'm coming." I said before putting down the phone.

I threw my door open and ran for the front door.

"Archer where are you going?" My mom asked as I ran passed her.

"Hospital."

"Why?"

"Aurora has been in an accident."

She gasped and a look of shock look over her face.

"What... I'm coming with." She said.

"Mom, I'm leaving now."

"You go, I'll meet you there in a bit. I'll get someone to watch the twins." She said. "Drive safely."

"Thanks, mom."

I shut the door behind me and ran to my car. I started the engine and reversed into the street. I drove as quickly as I could. I needed to get to her.

The drive felt like forever, but I eventually arrived outside of the hospital entrance. The door slammed shut after I got out of my car and I ran toward the emergency entrance.

I approached the desk with quick steps. The lady behind the desk looked startled at my haste.

"Hello sir, how may I help you?"

"I'm here to see Aurora West, she was just brought in from a car accident." I said impatiently.

"Relation?" She asked.

"I'm her boyfriend."

"You'll have to wait in the waiting room with the rest of her friends and family. She's currently in surgery." Surgery? "Third floor."

As soon as I heard which floor she was on, I ran for the stairs, shouting a'thanks' back at the lady.

I ran as quickly as I could up each step and jogged down the hall toward the waiting groom.

When I saw everyone sitting in the chairs outside of the doors labled 'Surgery, no unauthorised entry.' my heart broke.

Caitlyn was sitting next to Ethan and the other two girls on one of the benches, talking in a panicked mumble. Aurora's mother was standing with her arms folded over her chest crying softly, while her dad paced the floor. He eventually found his way over to Victoria, when he noticed that she had started crying again. Willow sat with Aurora's friends, as Ethan hugged her.

"Hi." I greeted everyone softly. "How is she? What happened?" I asked.

"She's in surgery. They're trying to stop the internal bleeding. We haven't heard any news." Aurora's father informed me.

Her mother gave me a hug. I returned it. "The paramedics say that the car had flipped onto its side. They said that she hit her head, has internal bleeding, a broken arm and a few broken ribs." She informed me, letting out some more tears as she neared the end of her explanation.

I could hardly breathe. She was in surgery. We didn't know if she would be okay. She's lost a lot of blood and could have a possible brain injury.

"Thank God the paramedics got there so quickly. They said that she was still in and out of consciousness when they arrived." Caitlyn said as she came up next to me.

"Why was she even driving? She doesn't have a car." I asked.

"She used mine. She left a note that said that she had to 'clear her head' and was on her way to the gym when it happened." Victoria informed me.

Clear her head. I'm the reason she was on the road.

"What, Archer?" Ethan asked.

"This is all my fault." I said stunned. I sat on the bench with my head in my hands.

What have I done.

"What? How on earth is this your fault?" Caitlyn asked.

"I went over to pick her up for a date, but when I arrived I saw Martin with his tongue down her throat." I started.

"What!" Caitlyn said and I gave her a look. "Right, not important. Go on."

"I was angry and beat him up. I know that she rejected him and wasn't the one to initiated it, but I told her that I needed some space. I couldn't shake my anger, so I left." I said looking away from everyone, ashamed. "She was driving to clear her head of the things I had said and did."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Archer..." Victoria began. "This isn't your fault." She placed her hand on my shoulder.

I looked up to meet her gaze. "Victoria is right, kid." Her husband agreed.

I looked away. "It is. I accept that it is, but if anything happens..." I cut off unable to finish.

Victoria returned to her husbands arms and placed her forehead on his chest. Caitlyn gave me a side hug as she sat down next to me. "She's going to be fine. She is strong. We both know that." She reassured, but I think she was more reassuring herself than she was me.

I gave her a lopsided smile of appreciation.

We all sat waiting for an eternity to hear news, anything that might give an indication of what might happen.

*** A long half an hour passed ***

We had been waiting for a while before a lady dressed in scrubs came out through the doors.

"Mr and Mrs West?" She asked looking around.

"That's us." Victoria said as she stood up, anxious to hear what the nurse had to say.

"She is stable. We managed to stop the bleeding."

We all let out a sigh of relief.

It felt as though the weight of a thousand worlds had been removed from my body.

"But..." But what!? "Aurora did experience head trauma. We aren't sure what her response will be in terms of waking up. We will have to wait and see."

"Shit." I mumbled. Nobody heard.

"She is resting now. How she responds to surgery is yet to be know." She said. "You can go see her now."

I stood up ready to burst through the doors.

"Family only." The nurse said to me.

"What?"

"Sorry sir, but you'll have to wait."

"But-"

"Archer, sit tight. We'll let you know what's happening." Aurora's father informed me.

I've never understood that about hospitals. I love her like any family member would, maybe more. How am I not qualified to go visit my girlfriend, when it isn't even guaranteed that she will wake up?

Aurora's parents followed the nurse through the doors toward her hospital room. Victoria gave me a reassuring glance over her shoulder before they left.

"This is horrible." Caitlyn said.

"Agreed." Erin added.

"When the nurse said that 'how she responds is yet to be known'..."

"They don't know if she's going to wake up." Ethan said.

We all stayed silent and sat waiting to hear any news about Aurora's state.

*******

I was asleep on the waiting groom bench when I was woken softly by my mother.

"Hey, Arch." She said softly. "You okay?"

"Hey ma. Yah, I'm okay." I replied in attempt to ease her worry. "Did you just get here?" I asked.

"I've been here for twenty minutes the girls filled me in on everything. It's horrible what happened to her." She said looking sad.

I looked away. "I hate this, being out here... not knowing." I said.

"Love is a scary thing, Arch."

I sighed.

"Where are the others?"

"They left. Aurora's parents told them that it was okay if they left, considering nobody knows when she's going to wake up. So they reluctantly went home."

"They didn't wake me."

"They knew that you wouldn't leave."

"Smart." I said.

The doors opened to reveal Aurora's parents. Victoria approached me and said, "I can sneak you into her room while James and I go down to the cafeteria for coffee."

I was stunned. "Really? Thank you." I said gratefully.

I stood up and sent a glance to my mom, who gave me a reassuring look.

Victoria lead me to Aurora's room, while James stayed behind with my mom.

"In here." She said.

"Thank you, Victoria." She gave me a hug in return.

"I'll see you soon." She left.

I walked into Aurora's room and looked at her damaged figure.

Her face was swollen and bruised, her arm in a cast, her other was linked up to multiple drips. It was torture seeing her like this. How could I let this happen?

The steady beep of the machine beside her bed was the only thing that kept me grounded.

I walked over to stand beside her and pulled up a chair to sit against the side of her bed.

I took hold of her other, less mangled, hand.

"Blondie, I'm so sorry. I was an ass." I started. "I'm not sure if you can hear me, but I'm going to go ahead and speak anyway."

I felt a small smile find my lips at the thought of her being able to hear what I was saying.

"I didn't mean anything that I said, except for the part where I said that Martin was a slimy asshole." I paused, imagining her disapproving look. "I was caught up in my anger. I love you. You cannot leave me like this. Everything good that has happened to me recently has happened because of you. I don't want to live a life without you in it. Please, you need to wake up." I felt my throat tense up and my eyes began to burn.

I put my head on the edge of her bed against my forearms and closed my eyes. One tear escaped and ran down my face.

I left my head leaning against her bed, eventually drifting into a light sleep.

I was asleep for an hour, laying peacefully next to Aurora's form.

I was woken up by the soft poking on my hand. I stirred awake and looked up.

It was Aurora that was tapping me awake.

My heart exploded with joy.

"Aurora, thank God." I said, standing up from my chair.

Her eyes looked tired and she barely moved, but she held a slight smile in my direction.

"I'm so happy that you're awake"

"What happened?" She asked in a groggy voice.

I still held her hand in mine. "You were in an accident. You had surgery to stop the internal bleeding."I paused to let her soak it in. "Ill call you parents, they'll want to know that you're awake."

She nodded her head.

I ran out and called a nurse, informing her that Aurora was awake.

I continued down the hall and interrupted a conversation between Aurora's parents and my mom, as I burst through the doors.

"She's awake!" I cheered, with a huge smile plastered across my face.

Her parents shot up and bolted toward Aurora's room. I followed.

When we got there, Aurora was sitting up slightly in her bed. The nurse was taking down some notes, while she sat, head tilted back and her eyes closed.

"Aurora. Thank goodness." James said, as her parents ran to her side.

She opened her eyes and smiled softly at them.

"You look awful." Victoria said.

"Thanks mom." She said groggily.

"You know what I mean." Victoria said with a smile, as she kissed her daughters forehead.

The nurse gave me a look, knowing that I snuck into Aurora's room. I smiled at her innocently.

"Mr and Mrs West, Aurora has a concussion. Other than that, her head is okay and we expect her to make a full recovery. It'll take a while, but she'll get there. Right now the pain is minimal, but that's because of all the medicine and painkillers."

"Thank you."

"I'll be back to check on you later, Okay." The nurse said to Aurora as she left, giving me one last disapproving look before exiting the room.

We sat with Aurora for a bit, enjoying her consciousness. I was filled with overwhelming relief.

After a while I left Aurora with her parents, to allow them to spend some time together. So, I went to the waiting room and sat by my mom.

I felt like I was floating. I've never been more relived in my life.

I sat for a while longer and went to the cafeteria once, until it was eventually three in the morning. Aurora's dad came out with Willow and told me that it was okay for me to go home, because Aurora was in and out of sleep. They said that I should go in and say goodbye, but that I should come tomorrow when I could.

I walked into Aurora's room and she opened her eyes when she heard me come in and smiled.

The others had left and it was just the two of us inside.

"You know I heard you." Was the first thing she said.

"What?" I asked confused.

"I heard you talking to me when I was 'unconscious'. I'm not sure how, but I heard you." She explained.

"So... you heard my embarrassing plea for you not to die?"

"And your sniffle at the end." She said laughing softly. She readjusted herself in her bed, the laugh causing her obvious pain.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I feel like shit, but I'm okay." She said. "Even breathing hurts, because of my stupid ribs."

I stayed silent and walked over to her bedside.

"I didn't even see the car, Archer. It swerved onto my side of the road and I didn't react quickly enough." She said, as she started to tear up. "Why was the other car even swerving?"

I placed my hand on hers. "Shh, its okay. Its over and you're alive. We're all here for you through whatever trauma you're going through."

A tear fell from her sad eyes and I slid my thumb across her cheek to wipe away her tear.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for being an ass. You weren't in the wrong and I behaved like an idiot."

"Archer, it's okay. I know you were angry with Martin and-"

"It's not okay. You didn't deserve that, you don't deserve this." I motioned my hand around the hospital bed.

She just smiled and reached out to touch my hand.

"I forgive you." She said.

I sighed. How can she be so easily forgiving.

"I love you." I said.

"I love you, too."

I placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow. You need to rest."

"Okay." She agreed. "I'm expecting you to show up." She said joking.

"Promise." I said. "Sleep well."

"Bye, Archie."

"Bye, Blondie."

With that I left the hospital with my mom, driving alone in my car peacefully down the road to my house.

Never again would I let something like that happen, never. She means too much and deserves even more.

That night I slept like a rock knowing that my Blondie was alive and well.