The first thing that Lydia was aware of when her senses started to fire up, was murmured voices arguing at a low volume. She kept her eyes closed but let her mind wander and absorb the rest of her surroundings via her senses.

She felt a throbbing pain right down the side of her body. But it was as if there was a wall of numbness that was keeping more pain on the other side, allowing a mild comfort. Not that she felt particularly comfortable. Her leg was wrapped and heavy, weighed down by something solid and an incessant beeping threatened to heighten her headache.

She let her lids flutter open and closed them almost instantly when bright white fluorescent lighting blasted her eyeballs. She knew then that she must be in a hospital. The sterile smell should have been her first clue though.

Again she attempted to open her eyes, letting them adjust to the light before she could keep them wide enough to glance around the small single room.

In the far corner beside the window she found her Mom, Dad and Nathan with — Carter. He stared at the ground as he spoke and when Lydia paid attention she became aware that he was apologising for taking her out to the strip.

"It's not his fault," Lydia murmured with a gravelly voice which had them all turn their attention towards her.

In a blurred flurry of panic and tearful sobs, her bed was surrounded, her mother clutching on to her for dear life. She glanced past Spencer's shoulder at Carter who wore a broken expression, his lids were swollen, the whites of his eyes a tinge of red. He mouthed a sorry but she shook her head, refusing to let him apologise.

"Honey, you've been out for almost twenty four hours," Spencer sobbed, still clutching her daughters shoulders but allowing her a few inches of space.

"You scared the hell out of us," Grayson mumbled, pushing her hair from her forehead.

Nathan leaned in and gave her a peck on the temple. He looked tense, like he didn't want Carter this close to his step daughter. It was a miracle that he was even in the room to be honest.

"What happened?" She asked her friend.

"What happened is that he took you to an illegal car event and you almost got killed!" Nathan snapped with a violent tone.

"I went because I wanted too!" Lydia defended, silencing the arguments that her Mother was about to start spewing. "And it wasn't his fault that I caught Allison and Riley eating each other's faces and stormed off like an immature brat. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. It's my fault!"

Her three parents had no argument for that. Although Lydia could see that it hadn't totally appeased their upset.

There was no more time to argue because a doctor strolled in, wearing his white scrubs and reading a clipboard. If the tension in the room was obvious, he didn't let it show. Instead he prattled off a number of questions and took observations. He was satisfied that she hadn't suffered from memory loss but she did have a broken leg and a lot of surface abrasions.

"You're lucky to have had this one," the doctor patted Carter on the shoulder and he dropped his gaze as though he resented the attention. "You could have suffered permanent brain damage if he hadn't been there."

"What?" Lydia murmured.

"Go ahead and tell em," the doctor smiled. "I'll be back tomorrow to see how you're doing. The nurses will continue their obs on the hour."

The room fell quiet once the click of the door signalled the doctors departure.

"What's he talking about?" Nathan questioned with his arms still folded in a hostile stance.

Carter sighed and swept his hand through his hair in an exasperated manner. "When the car hit you," he explained, keeping his gaze on Lydia. "You went straight up in the air. I remember the noise. I heard your leg crack and it all happened so fast. I couldn't catch you but I managed to dive and cushion your head before it hit the ground."

Lydia heard the speed in her heart rate on the monitor as she stared at the devastation in his gaze. As if he still felt that he hadn't done enough and yet he'd essentially saved her life. She then noticed his knuckles and the top of his hand, the grazes and cuts that must have resulted from his hand shielding her head.

Spencer nodded with appreciation and a glisten in her gaze. "Thank you."

"Um, can we please have a second?" Lydia asked her parents with a pleading glance.

With reluctance the three of them agreed and left the room, assuring Lydia that they would be right outside. As soon as they were gone, Carter strode forward and threw his arms around her, smoothing her hair as he sighed with relief.

"Fuck I've never been so scared in my entire life," he told her. "I'm so sorry."

"Would you stop apologising," Lydia leaned back so that she could meet his gaze and gave him a stern look. "You're the reason that I'm not worse off. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Riley and Allison were here," he informed her with a bitter tone, his hands resting on the mattress on either side of her head. "I told them to piss off."

"I appreciate that," Lydia reached out and cupped his tired face. "I can't blame them though. I shouldn't have flipped out so bad."

"You had every right to."

Lydia's free hand outstretched to wrap around his back, but Carter winced with pain and jolted out of her reach. She stared at him with question for a moment until he lifted his shirt and revealed bruising and grazes that travelled from his armpit down to his hip.

"From diving to the ground like a mad man," he chuckled. "Worth it to save that pretty little head though."

Becoming so overwhelmed with more emotion than she could process, she wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and forced their mouths together. There was no hesitation on Carter's part. His plump full lips moved against hers as his hand cradled the side of her head.

She was so lost to the kiss that she hadn't noticed the door opening. But she did hear the sound of a throat being cleared and when she snapped her head towards the intrusion, dropping the kiss with regret, she was hit with a new set of emotions at the familiar face standing at the end of the bed with a bouquet in his hand.

"Johnny?"