I knew Noah was showering and cursed my body when I felt the fog clearing up. I was aware that Noah hadn't moved since Thursday. Trust the moment he finally gets up to be when I wake up. My eyes opened and I found Papa and Isaiah sitting beside my bed. They looked a little worse for wear, but better than Noah did, that's for sure. They smiled at me warily, knowing each time I woke up, I needed pain medication desperately.

This time I wasn't in immense pain. I knew that the nurse came and gave me morphine not long ago. I shakily smile back at them and they sighed as if avoiding a bullet.

"Mini, sweetheart, I'm so glad you're up! Can we get you anything? Noah will be right back," Papa ensured. The man that looked so much like his sons fluffed my pillows behind my head and worried over me. "That boy hasn't left your side for three days now, I'm glad he went to shower before you got up. He was starting to smell a little like a dead man."

I giggled and promptly groaned, pulling the sore organ in my abdomen. Papa looked guilty for my pain. I'd sort of pieced together from the hushed whispers while unconscious that I had been given surgery on my ruptured liver because of broken ribs. Each movement hurt like crap. Even my breathing was labored slightly.

We sat and I listened to my foster father and brothers for twenty minutes before Noah walked in, wearing a fresh pair of clothes and towel drying his hair with his hands. When he looked up, he dropped his arms and his handsome face melted into an adorable frown.

"Edith," he pouted. "I'm very happy you're awake, but couldn't you have waited until I was here? I wanted to be there for you. I've missed you!"

Isaiah got up out of the chair that had become Noah's spot for the past few days and Noah settled back in, grabbing my hand and fussing over my pillows and blankets. "Can I get you anything? Are you thirsty? In pain? Cold?"

I stared into his eyes not really processing what he was saying. He looked so handsome and grown up. His hair was still wet and stuck to his forehead in little tufts and he had more than a little bit of facial hair growing out on his jaw from neglecting his grooming habits.

Isaiah huffed and grumbled something about him not getting attention when Noah was in the room. I heard Papa whack him in the arm. He was on the phone with his wife and telling her I was awake. He hung up and announced that she and the rest of the family were on their way up. I was excited to see them, now that my pain had subsided a little and I could stand to be awake.

Noah couldn't take his eyes off me like he was afraid I'd disappear if he did.

When the rest of the family came in, I was overwhelmed by the amount of love that filled the room. Ezekiel and Jenna walked in with a huge teal balloon that said in pink. Isaiah had given me a teddy bear a few days prior and placed it in the crook of my arm. Momma was holding a bouquet of daisies almost bigger than her torso. Gigi and Noah's grandpa walked in behind her with a basket full of my favorite snacks. Each came and kissed my head gently. I was mortified because I desperately needed a shower.

All of us sat in the room around my bed and my family talked for hours. It was exhausting because I hadn't been awake in so long and my body was having a difficult time adjusting, but I couldn't complain because I loved being in a group of people that loved me. Every few minutes someone would ask if I needed anything. I didn't answer until I decided I was thirsty.

I looked at Noah, who was speaking to his Pawpaw about football. I realized with a great amount of guilt that Noah had missed his football game. Noah was extremely skilled at what he did. He loved his sport and spent every week preparing for the upcoming game incessantly. Missing a game for me was extremely flattering.

When Noah realized I was looking at him, he stopped talking like he knew I had something to say. "What is it?" He had that worried look in his beautiful eyes.

"Can you get me some water?" The chatter around the room stopped instantly. My voice was quiet and extremely raspy from years of not being used. Noah didn't look surprised in the slightest and got up to fill my request, but everyone else seemed ready to fall over.

I think I saw Momma turn pale and fan herself. Others stared open-mouthed at me. All of them looked like they wanted to hear more. It made me self-conscious, but I knew they had never seen me talk before and were curious.

Every male in the room rushed to get me what I requested, all possessing the need to be a gentleman. But Noah already had it and had given me a bottle of water with a pink straw in a matter of seconds. "Thank you," I rasped.

"You're welcome, cupcake." Noah kissed my head and grabbed my hand gently before sitting back down.

Once the shock of hearing my voice had worn off, my new family competed against one another to talk to me. Of course, I didn't say much. I wasn't trying to be rude, I was just extremely unaccustomed to speaking and my dry throat was hindering me.

Noah just sat and listened to everything going on. It wasn't like him to be so quiet. I wanted time just with him, but it didn't look like everyone else wanted to leave.

They stayed long past visiting hours, my nurse pulled some strings, and by the time they left, I was ready to pass out. Throughout the Winters' visit, various nurses had come in to check on me. They said it was a very good sign that I was awake and I didn't have a fever or a headache, but they would need to keep me for quite a while to monitor my head injury and my ruptured liver. They cleaned some of my bad gashes on my body and re-bandaged some seeping wounds.

I worried about my school work. Momma stated she knew I would be and already started me on an online homeschool. She claimed that school would be hard with the upcoming trials and my need to heal and that I didn't need that kind of stress. I wanted to jump into her arms to thank her.

That night would be the last night Noah could spend with me because of school and he was very unhappy with his family taking up most of it. When they left, he almost whooped with joy. After the nurse left with my last dose of morphine, we were finally left alone.

"Ugh, I thought they'd never go! I almost begged them to leave you alone! I can practically feel how exhausted you are."

It was a little scary how attuned to each other me and Noah were. The only thing he didn't seem to feel was the fact that I loved him more than anything or anyone. I wanted to tell him, I really did. But the idea of Noah rejecting me and our friendship becoming strained stopped me.

Noah was my constant through everything in my messed up life. I found myself questioning for the hundredth time why I even thought it was a good idea to avoid him the weeks before I was kidnapped. Noah was my everything and the fact that he stayed by my side the entire weekend reinforced those feelings tenfold.

"Noah, they were just trying to be there for me." I was still getting used to my scratchy voice, but I was growing more confident. I had been talking for most of the night, but only this statement made Noah react with surprise. His gorgeous eyes almost bugged out of his head and his smile grew.

"Say my name again," he begged. Noah was grinning so hard I thought he'd split his face. He brushed his hand through his hair.

"Noah?" I questioned.

"That's so cool! I've always imagined how you'd say my name and that was so much better! Your voice is so sexy!" He paused. "Okay, that was insensitive. I didn't mean to say your voice was sexy because I know why it sounds the way it does. Holy hell, I didn't mean to say that! Forget I said anything."

I was oddly flattered. I let out a burst of laughter and gasped at the horrible pain it sent through my body.

Noah was staring at me, scared. "Edith, baby, are you okay? You shouldn't laugh like that. You can hurt yourself."

Flashes of the twins passed through my head and to my horror, tears streamed down my face and I found myself crying. I gripped my side, the foreign movements excruciating.

"Fuck, baby, what's the matter? Should I get a nurse? Are you in pain? What can I do, Edith?" I shook my head at him. I was sure I had gone crazy. Noah looked positively terrified.

"I don't know what's wrong with me!" I sounded like I had an awful cold, my voice breaking and scratching. Then I giggled. I felt truly deranged. Noah looked alarmed, hovering his finger over the button that would call my nurses.

When I stopped crying like an idiot, I leaned back in bed, embarrassed.

My best friend stared at me. With a deep sigh, he sputtered, "You're absolutely stunning. You're beautiful and amazing and I'm sorry for not being there for you the past few weeks. I'm an idiot and I don't deserve your friendship. I shouldn't have said your voice was sexy. That word doesn't do you justice."

My heart thundered in my chest. He was too amazing. Everything about him was exactly what I wanted. "You're perfect." I don't know how I let the words slip out of my mouth, but I didn't try to take them back because I believed them wholeheartedly. Noah's grin resurfaced bigger than before.

We didn't talk about our feelings after that. I changed the subject to something much safer. I fell asleep soon after with my hand lodged in my best friend's, talking about everything we had missed while we had been avoiding each other.