Rylee couldn't get much sleep. She woke up each time the nurses came into the room, which had turned out to be about every hour.

She would talk with them, learn about what they monitored, and also just learned about the nurses themselves.

Laura was his overnight shift nurse. She was 32 and had been an ICU nurse for 6 years, but she had just moved to New York City last year. She had a husband named Josh and they had two beautiful twin two year olds named Cooper and Layla.

Michelle was his morning shift nurse. She was 28 and newer to nursing, being in the field for two years but she loved helping others. She had a boyfriend named Adam and a Labrador puppy named Bandit.

Both Michelle and Laura said she'd probably be seeing another nurse named Jasmine at some point, but she didn't come in until later in the day.

Rylee had mentioned to Laura that she was surprised that Sebastian didn't have a bunk mate, but Laura quickly told her that celebrities didn't get duo rooms, only singles, per protocol. They always followed HIPAA laws but they were extra careful about celebrity privacy and keeping distance from media.

Rylee appreciated knowing this. She knew how obsessive and harsh the media could be. And no one needs that in recovery.

Rylee looked at her phone to see it was now 6:38 am. She was finally beyond exhausted. After the events of yesterday, and the lack of sleep, she was running on fumes.

Michelle strolled in at 6:45, and was out by 6:50. As soon as Michelle left, Rylee fell asleep on the small sofa as soon as she laid down again. She was surprised though that when she woke up, it was now 9:30. Honestly the only reason she really woke up was because she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket continuously. At first she looked and saw a missed call from Chris and then a few texts from him.

Hey Ry

How's everything going?

Hey..pretty much the same.

Sebs still asleep.

Ah, well. I'm in the lobby with coffee and breakfast if you want a bite.

Not sure I'm hungry, but I'll be out.

Rylee slid her phone in her pocket, took another parting glance at the still sleeping Sebastian, and walked out the door and down the hall to meet Chris in the lobby.

When he spotted her, he helped close the distance and gave her a hug.

"Wanna sit outside? Get some fresh air?" Chris offered.

"Sure." Rylee said as she followed Chris out to sit on a bench. He opened the bag he brought and offered her a breakfast sandwich but Rylee declined.

"You need to take care of yourself too, Ry. At least take the coffee."

"I'm fine Chris, I'm not hungry, thank you though." She did take the coffee that he unceremoniously shoved in her hands. "So...what's happening at work now?"

"Productions on hold the rest of the week minimum, could be longer. OSHA is coming in to complete a report..." Chris said through the bite of his sandwich.

Rylee hummed, acknowledging what Chris just said, taking a sip of the vanilla latte.

"Well I know for sure you've barely slept. So why don't you head home and I'll stay with Sebastian for a while."

Rylee wanted to say no, but she was exhausted...it couldn't hurt to go sleep for a bit and come back.

Chris smiled when Rylee accepted his offer. Even if she wasn't taking food from him, at least she'd accept proper sleep.

Chris walked with Rylee out to Jeff's Suburban and opened the door for her to get in. "Get some sleep. Some food. Whatever you've gotta do. Take your time. I'll be here. Just call Jeff and he can bring you back whenever."

"Okay, thank you Chris. For everything."

Chris smiled and gave her a quick hug before she hopped into the car.

He waved them off and then trekked back into the hospital. He stopped at the nurses station asking for directions to Sebastian's room and shortly after, made it there. He paused and took a deep breath before he opened the door. He had seen Sebastian fall. He knew what he looked like on the ground in a crumpled heap, but he wasn't sure how he would look patched up and basically tied back together with strings.

He opened the door and was shook seeing Sebastian like this. But it was his best friend laying in that bed right now, he had to focus, for Sebastian and Rylee's sake.

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Jeff dropped Rylee off at her apartment building around 10:00. The first thing Rylee did was hop into the shower. She didn't go in their forever, just mainly to refresh. She got dressed and then laid down in bed. It was hard for her to drift to sleep when all she could think about was how empty the bed felt, but soon sleep encompassed her.

She wished she could say she slept well and everything was normal but she'd be lying to herself. She did finally hit a deep sleep but she was torn from it quickly by a nightmare about Sebastian. She watched him fall. And when he hit the ground she jolted awake with a terrified scream.

In the bleariness of sleep, she grabbed her phone and hit redial out of habit, but it went straight to voicemail, "Hey, this is Sebastian. Please leave your name and number after the beep. Thanks!" *beep*

Rylee froze. She didn't even think about the fact that he's her first go to person to call when she's hurting. She wanted to hear his real voice so much her heart ached.

She hung up and then immediately called Alexa, it only rang twice and she answered.

"Hey honey." Alexa said, trying to cover her saddened tone, but Rylee didn't care.

"Lex. Can you p-please come over." Rylee asked, heart shattered to pieces.

"I'll be there in ten. I love you."

"Love you." Rylee squeaked out as Alexa hung up.

Alexa unlocked Rylee's door seven minutes later and immediately went to the bedroom, where she found Rylee curled up under the covers in one of Sebastian's shirts, tears staining her face.

"Lex. I-I-" Rylee started to stutter out.

"I know babe, I know. Come here." Alexa said quietly as she got under the covers with Rylee and embraced her. She knew all about what happened from Chris.

All Rylee could do was cry, and Alexa was simply there to let her. Rylee had a lot of big things going on in her life at once, and Alexa was waiting for the straw to break the camels back and here it was.

Rylee eventually cried herself to sleep, but Alexa stayed put, slowly petting Rylee's hair to comfort her, even in sleep.

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Rylee woke up, the side of the bed Alexa was on was empty. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, she could hear Alexa's voice faintly outside the room. She got up and padded down the hallway, listening as she got closer.

"...yeah I know...this past weeks been a rollercoaster babe...yeah...well no news is good news I guess...I'm surprised he's not awake yet....yeah...alright, well I'm gonna go check on our girl...okay...love you, bye."

"Oh my god," Alexa jumped out of her skin as she turned around, "you scared me." She laughed trying to shake it off.

"Sorry. Was that Chris?"

"Yeah. Still no changes or anything. Sebastians still out."

"Huh. What time is it?"

Alexa looked at her phone, "it's 5:00."

"FIVE? Alexa, I've gotta get back...I didn't want to be gone this long," Rylee started to panic, her breaths cutting short as she struggled with them.

Alexa grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a sturdy, calming hug. "Rylee Ann. Take a deep breath with me." She stepped back and took both of her hands on either of hers, rubbing the backs of both with her thumbs in time with her breathing.

After a few minutes, Rylee was back. "You got a bunch of sleep. That was important. Now we need to get some food in you."

"I'm not hungry." Rylee added.

"Well, we're getting food." Alexa sternly stated, "and then we'll go back to the hospital, okay?" First, before we go, let's pack some stuff for you just in case you stay there." Alexa took out her phone and texted Jeff to head their way.

All Rylee could do was nod. Her and Alexa went back to the bedroom and started tossing in a few odds and ends of clothing as well as hygiene products, including some of Sebastian's own, just in case.

Alexa tossed the duffle bag strap over her shoulder and walked out to the car to be greeted by Jeff waiting out on the street.

They stopped at a McDonald's on the way through for convenience sake, but Rylee only picked at a couple fries in the back seat while Alexa tried to encourage her to eat. She felt like she wouldn't be able to keep anything down if she did.

They made it to the hospital, where Jeff pulled off to the side, since he was now waiting on Chris and Alexa to come back.

Rylee went up to the nurses desk and said hi to Michelle as she signed in to the visitor log. She walked straight back to Sebastian's room where she found Chris sitting in the bed side chair.

"Hey Chris. Sorry I meant to come back way earlier."

"Hey Ry Bread. No, I'm glad you got some sleep."

"So Alexa said nothings changed?"

Chris shook his head.

"Ah well...Alexa's waiting out in the lobby for you. Thank you Chris for being here."

"Always. I'll call you later okay?"

"Alright."

With that, Chris hugged Rylee and headed down the hall toward Alexa.

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Rylee leaned down and kissed Sebastian on the forehead. As she sat down, she took his splinted hand into hers.

"Hey Seb. Sorry I was gone so long. I tried to sleep when I first got home, but it just wasn't the same without you there. I eventually got some sleep though. Alexa came over. Her and Chris have been helping a lot. They're great." She smiled sadly. "I'm hoping you can hear all this. Cause God do I miss you. I even tried to call you this afternoon. How dumb am I," she laughed to herself.

She sat in silence, the only sound was the clock ticking the time away quietly. She wished it would slow down. Every tick was another moment that she wouldn't get back with Sebastian.

While she was lost in thought, she squeezed his fingers, and suddenly her heart stopped.

He squeezed back.

He definitely just squeezed back.