Hello Darkness, A New Years Day Fanfic

9- Pain

Pain.

That's all I felt. A searing pain in my thigh. It throbbed in my leg, traveled up through the upper part of my leg, to my hip, to my stomach, and beyond. "You... little..." I screamed, scrambling over to the gun I'd dropped and shooting the crazed man once, twice, three times. A policeman came through the door and demanded me to stop. I put the gun down and screamed at the top of my lungs. This was too much.

A few more policemen and paramedics rushed in the door. One paramedic rushed to me, one to Nikki, and one to the man. The police mainly focused on comforting and interrogating Ash.

"Nikki," I rasped to the young, pretty paramedic that was tending to my leg, "is he okay? Nikki? My friend?" The woman looked me in the eyes and placed one gloved hand on my shoulder. "He's lost a lot of blood," she admitted, "but the paramedic that's on him is the best we have. He'll be taken good care of. I promise." I nodded as 3 more paramedics came in, carrying stretchers. Pain shot through my leg as I was hoisted up onto one. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nikki lifted up on to one as well.

I closed my eyes, and felt consciousness slip away from me. Desperately trying to hang on, to stay awake, to keep on fighting, I breathed one more quiet word. "Nikki..." And then I fell into darkness.

Was I dead? I wondered, floating about in the darkness. There was no floor beneath my feet, no roof or sky above my head, no walls on either side of me. I was alone, in a never ending pitch black darkness. Suspended in midair, I could move no other part of my body but my head. My arms were outstretched, my legs as close to a split as they could get. I suspected, had I not been seeing things out of my own eyes, I would have looked like a starfish.

Where was I? Was this heaven? Was it hell? Was it somewhere in between? A faint beeping sounded in the distance, but that was the only sound that I could hear.

I took deep breath and let it out in a long, aggitated sigh. In the distance, the faint beeping seemed to get louder, and was replaced with a long, monotone beep. It sounded kind of familiar, actually. Where had I heard it?

My thoughts were interupted by a light burning in the distance. It was like a bright sun, and it seemed to be getting closer to me by the second. I opened my mouth to cry for help, but no sound came out. Trying to thrash my body, or run away the only thing I could do was shake my head around like crazy.

After deciding that my efforts would be totally useless, I closed my eyes and let the light engulf me. I faded into a bliss oblivion until...

Electricity coursed through my body- literally. I felt a surge of pain in my chest, and my heart started beating again.

The funny part? I hadn't even known it stopped.

My eyes shot open. 4 doctors and nurses standed above me, looking down with satisfied eyes. "Well, hello, sweetheart," a pretty, young nurse with a petite face smiled down at me. "You went into a coma from blood loss. The surgeons... "messed up" a bit when trying to remove the bullet from your thigh. But it's okay, you're doing well now."

A tear rolled down my cheek, and I smiled weakly. Truthfully, only one thing was on my mind- Nikki. "I-is he okay?" I managed, wiping tears off my pale cheeks. The nurse tilted her head a bit. "Who, sweetheart?" she smiled. I took a deep breath in, dreading the possible answer. "N-Nikki.." I stuttered. The nurse smiled. "If you mean the young man who came in with you, yes! He is doing very good. In fact, he's well enough to visit you now. He's been doing so a lot ever since they allowed him to."

The thought made my heart flutter. Nikki- visiting me? I smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, please! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, ma'am!" Her bright blue eyes twinkled. "Just call me Kath. I'll bring Mr. Nikki over straightaway."

Within a few long, tense moments, the nurse knocked on my door. "Miss Ali?" she peeked her head in the door, "he's here." She stepped out of the way as Nikki walked into the room.

His face lit up when he saw me. I couldn't contain the tears that ran down my ashen cheeks- and neither could he. "Ali..." he smiled, a clear mix of emotions shining in his eyes. "I-I... I..." his voice trailed off as he stared meekly at the floor. I weakly pushed myself into a sitting position, then said, "I know. I'm speechless, too. Now, come here and give me a hug, you beautiful fucker."

A grin lit up his face. He slowly took a few step towards me, and paused. I glared at him. "Misery, don't you make my wounded ass get out of this bed myself!" With that, he took a few more steps. I opened my arms, and he bent down and gratefully accepted the embrace.

I buried my face into his not wounded shoulder, happy to feel his embrace, his warmth. He opened his arms to let go, but I just grabbed on tighter. "No." I murmured, probably sounding like a spoiled rotten 5 year old. He chuckled a bit, and hugged me back. After a few moments, I let go, and he pulled back.

I looked into his eyes for a moment. Happiness, sadness, concern, love and care all shone in his eyes. He leaned forward, so that his lips were a few inches from my ear. "I missed you," he said, pulling back and planting a gentle kiss on my lips.

Looking deep into his eyes, I smiled. "Missed me, did ya?" I laughed. "It wasn't, y'know, totally obvious or anything." He punched my arm playfully, before sitting down next to me on the bed. Reaching down and stroking my hair, he laughed. "But in all seriousness," his expression changed quickly, "I missed you." He let his hand fall from my hair and looked down into his lap. "Hey," I whispered, grabbing his hand, "it's okay. I'm back now. And I missed you, too."

We were interupted by Ash barging into the room. "ALI OH MY GOD YOU'RE-" she paused when she saw me and Nikki holding hands and staring at her. "Did... did I interrupt something?" She stood there awkwardly, fidgeting with her hands. I shook my head and shrugged. "Oh," she grinned, "in that case, ALI OH MY GOD YOU'RE ALIVE I WAS SO WORRIED HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US YOU BITCH! JUST KIDDING I LOVE YOU WAIT- WHAT THE HELL AM I- WHAT- OK I'M GONNA STOP!"

Me and Nikki exchanged glances, and erupted into a fit of laughter. "Sorry," Ash smiled in between laughs, "I just was scared, I guess." I shook my head dismissevly. "That was great though. C'mere." I opened my arms and we exchanged a quick hug. She proceeded to grab a chair and sit at my bedside.

"Nikki here hardly left your side. The only reason he left just then was... whelp.. erm... uh..." Ash stuttered nervously. I looked at Nikki and raised an eyebrow. "If Ash won't say it, I will. A few moments ago- what, maybe 45? You started like, convulsing. The doctors ordered me out. You- you flatlined, Ali. You were... you were dead."

I raised a hand. "Hold the fuck up. Dead? Like, almost bye-bye Ali?" Nikki nodded and gulped. A tear rolled down his cheek. "Hey, hey, don't cry," I squeezed his hand tightly. "I'm ok, Nikki. I'm alive. See?" I placed his hand over my heart. "My heart's still beating." I grabbed his hand again, and watched a few more tears roll down his cheek, helpless. "I'm just terrified by what could have been. You could have been dead. Dead. And I would've never even got the chance to..."

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. "To do what, Nikki?" I asked tenderly. He dismissed it with a small shake of his head. Shruging, I dropped his hand into my lap and figited with my own. After a few moments of awkward silence, Nikki finally found the voice to speak again.

"Ali? I-I... I think... I think I just might love you."

**A/N: Hello lovlies. Do you think I should keep the story from Ali's POV, or switch between her, Nico, Ash, Nikki, and maaaaaaybe the occasional "surprise" character?**