I have only ever stepped foot in a hospital four times in my life.

The first being when I was just six years old.

"Honey, come over here really quickly," my mother told me as I stepped out of the pool. I skipped over to her with a happy smile on my face due to all the friends I made. She reached her hands out to help me sit on her lap, her eyes trained on my chin. Her fingers gently angled my jaw up, so she could have a better look.

"How did this happen?" She mumbled. She pulled away her hands from my jaw and pulled me up so she carried me.

"What is it, mommy?"

"We need to go get some stitches for you. How did you hurt the bottom of your chin?"

"I did a back flip into the pool!" I exclaimed excitedly.

She shook her head. "You should be careful, sweetie."

Instantly, a pout formed on my face. "I know, but I just wanted to have fun."

"Be more careful next time,"

~*~

The hospital visit went really well, and the doctor was so nice. He even gave me a teddy bear, who has a bandaid too! The doctor said I was very brave and told mommy I got three whole stitches. It took me a while to figure out what they were, but for sure it would make me better.

Mommy even gave me money to buy a candy bar! I raced down to the vending machines as mommy was talking with the doctor and bought a heath bar. They were my favorite. I turned back to see mommy still talking with the doctor, but I had to go to the bathroom. It shouldn't be too hard to find it on my own.

I walked through a couple hallways before finding it, and once I was done with my business, I walked back. Suddenly, there was a bunch of yelling from a different hallway. I was curious, so I went around the corner, and I was certainly not expecting to see this.

A woman was laying down on a rolling bed with lot of doctors around her. Red blood stained her white T-shirt and dripped down her light hair. Her skin was pale and her eyes were closed. The annoying noise of the heart monitor was echoing in my ears louder than the doctors yelling.

My heart was beating so fast and my eyes started watering. Why does she look so hurt? Kids on the playground sometimes had a few scratches after falling, but this was a bajillion times worse.

The noise from the heart monitor changed to a long, never ending beep. I knew what that meant. I've seen it in tv shows before that I secretly watch when mommy and daddy aren't around. It meant she was dying. I watched as the doctors kept pushing down on her chest and moving away at times to use these two metal things to shock her, but none of it was working.

Tears dripped from my eyes as I watched the scene unfold. It was when they gave up and said 'time of death 3:57 PM' that I ran away. My heart never beat this fast before. This was the scariest thing I have ever seen. I ran faster and faster to mommy, and when she picked me up and I snuggled closer to her, I felt myself relax.

"Honey, what's wrong?" She asked.

"I got lost," I sobbed, deciding not to tell her about the incident.

~*~

When I was 14 years old, I got sick.

Very sick.

It was a virus that I had to just let my immune system fight. I was in bed for weeks and I lost almost 15 pounds. I had a fever almost everyday. I coughed every five minutes. I couldn't move my arm up because I was too weak. And on top of all that, the boy next to me died.

There was only a curtain separating us, and because of that, we got to know each other a bit over the few weeks when I was a bit stronger. He was in here for leukemia treatment. He told me he was worse off than I was because the doctors always gave him false hope, but I was actually going to make it out of here. I thought he was wrong. I thought he should have hope that he could live.

And then one day, when I woke up, he didn't.

It was that simple. He died in his sleep.

~*~

There was one night in college, when I was about 20 years old, that I got super wasted at a frat party.

I ended up getting a 4.0 in all my classes, unlike most of the time, so I decided to celebrate. Because I wasn't exactly used to anything more than beer and wine, seven shots of tequila was a bad idea. I got a little crazy and decided sledding down the stairs with no protection was a great idea and broke my wrist.

The whole entire time at the hospital I prayed nothing would happen. My heart was beating so fast and I was careful of every move I made. The visit was casual and I shouldn't have even been anywhere near any trauma patients or ER, but I managed to find another horrible situation.

I got completely checked out and was about to head to my friend's car when I stopped right in the middle of the parking lot. Two cars, one backing out and another racing into the lot, slammed together. Glass shattered everywhere and I heard many people screaming. Doctors and nurses rushed out of the hospital to help with the scene and I ran off to my friend's car.

"Let's just go, please," I whispered, shakily before I broke down.

~*~

And then, my fourth visit. This time it wasn't me that was hurt, but my father. I didn't know if I was so focused on my dad being okay or if Nick's presence helped me feel so much safer that I didn't even really think about my fear. This was my only visit to a hospital that actually went okay.

So, my fear morphed into myself laying in that hospital bed rather than hospitals in general.

~*~

I blinked my eyes open slowly to see a dark head of hair next to my arm.

Nick.

My heart fluttered for a moment and a warm feeling spread in my chest for a few second when I didn't realize what was going on.

My eyes traveled to the arm that was next to his head to see an IV connected to it. The noise from the heart monitor suddenly screamed in my ear. I frantically scanned over my body to see the gown and bed that could only be at a hospital.

I shot up, completely terrified. Not this again. Not this again. Not this again. I can't be here. Not again.

My eyes watered as I threw the covers off of me and I tried to take out the IV from my arm. Large, warm hands wrapped around my wrists and stopped any of my movements.

"Amelia!" He yelled.

"Not again," I mumbled as I struggled to fight my way out of his grip.

"Amelia stop!" He yelled again.

I looked into his eyes, tears falling. He could tell something was wrong, that I was scared of this. He always could read me like a book, and I didn't know if I hated it or loved it. He pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arms around me, knowing that I would feel safer.

"It's okay," he whispered. "You're alright."

"Nick," my voice wavered.

"You're okay," he repeated and started to soothingly rub circles on my lower back.

"I'm scared," I shakily whispered, my grip on his shirt tightening.

"It's okay. You're safe,"

"No, Nick. I don't want to be here. Please, get me out of here."

He pulled back to look at me, his hand resting in my hair. Tears still were falling from my eyes. I'm sure my eyes gave away my fear. And, I was physically shaking from how terrified I was to be in one of these hospital beds.

"Okay, I'll get you out of here. Don't be scared. You're safe with me."

"I know," I whispered, trying to breathe at a normal pace.

"I'll have the nurse come and look at you, and if she says that it's not dangerous then I'll pull some strings and get you out of here."

I nodded and closed my eyes as I waited for the nurse to get here.

~*~

After my little freak out, I explained everything to Nick, and he was really supportive as he always is. He told me what happened to me afterward. I got shot in the abdomen and lost a lot of blood before I got to the hospital. He waited for me to wake up for two days before I finally did, only leaving to the nearby bathroom for a shower and picking up food from his men.

He was currently wheeling me out to the parking lot. I couldn't walk for at least a week just in case my wound would reopen, so I was stuck in this wheelchair. I noticed some people looking over at us and staring. Someone was even taking photos.

"Nick, why are they staring and taking photos?" I asked.

He chuckled. "You're going to have to get used to it because now everyone knows what the king looks like."

"What do you mean?"

"We were on TV and someone let it slip, so now everyone knows who we are, not just mafia," he explained.

I giggled.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing. I used to hear a lot about what you looked like. I even over heard these girls saying that you had blond hair and green eyes right before I met you, so when I saw you in that alley with dark brown hair and silver eyes, I never would have imagined that you were the king, but I guess that's what kept you away from most of the danger."

He chuckled as he lifted me up from the wheelchair and onto the passenger seat of his car. "All that I'm glad about is that the king has his queen back. I couldn't care less about if everyone knows what I look like or not."

"Yeah?"

"Of course, I can keep myself and you safe either way." Suddenly his mood completely dropped. The smile turned into a straight line. "I'm so sorry, Amelia."

"Why?" I asked confused.

"I couldn't keep you safe."

I shook my head. "But you did. I chose to come out of hiding and push you away from the bullet. I wanted to protect you."

"Still, I should have done better to keep Lorenzo away from you."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. What did you do to him anyway?" I asked to change the subject. I knew he felt guilty, but soon enough he'll forget about it. Besides, I'm glad it was me and not him that got shot.

"You know, what I usually do. It was really funny to reveal that I never destroyed the peace treaty."

"You never destroyed it?"

"I was testing him. He obviously failed. Let's just get home. We can talk more there."

"Sounds good," I agreed as he shut the car door.

Let's get as far as we can from any hospital.