you're just as far in as you'll ever be out

it's such a shame for us to part

I know I always say this, but thank you so much for reading and letting me know your thoughts! The next chapter I'm going to skip ahead just to keep moving the story along to see if anything has changed!

--

"Ms. Haim?"

Este looked up from the outdated magazine she had been pretending to read and frowned at the new doctor standing in front of her. "Yes, hi. How's my sister? Wait-what happened to the Doogie Howser looking doc?"

"I'm Dr. Levi. Dr. Fallon had an emergency so I will be taking over."

"How's my sister?" Este repeated frantically, standing up. She towered over the new doctor by at least three inches. "Is she okay?"

"She's going to be fine," Dr. Levi said reassuringly. "Her fainting was due to extreme dehydration and stress. We've had her on an IV drip for the past three hours. You can take her home now."

Este didn't bother listening to the rest of the doctor's spiel. All that mattered was Alana was in fact, okay. She rushed alongside Dr. Levi to the small triage room they stuffed Alana in. Thankfully, it was a small hospital so no one really recognized them. Twitter was already up in arms because they canceled the show only two hours before it began. There were already hundreds of fans lined up outside when the announcement was made.

Poor Danielle was left to deal with the fallout this time.

Este knew that was another mess she was going to have to clean up later.

It took her a minute or two to compose herself. She hated when her sisters saw her upset so she took several deep breaths and fanned her eyes until the unshed tears dried up. Though the sight of Alana sitting in a paper thin hospital gown that was two sizes too big was enough to make her flat out sob.

"Hi, bub," Este greeted softly; afraid if her voice was too loud it would upset her sister.

Alana barely looked up. She shrugged one shoulder. "Sup?"

"How are you doing?" Este continued in a hushed tone. She averted her eyes from the large purple bruise from the IV on Alana's arm.

"Oh, just lovely."

Este bit her lap and dragged a flimsy plastic chair over to the side of the bed. "The doctor said I could take you home. He just needs to print out the discharge papers."

Alana merely nodded and continued swinging her legs back and forth underneath the makeshift bed. "Did you have to cancel the show?"

"Yeah," Este replied. "You're more important." When Alana didn't respond, Este leaned back slightly and peered all around the room. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Tell you what?"

"Don't bullshit me," Este said bluntly. "I found the pills in your bag the other day."

Alana flinched. She couldn't form a lie fast enough before Este continued talking.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Este repeated, this time her voice broke and she could not control her emotions.

"I don't know," Alana answered honestly, her tone devoid of any emotion. She was too exhausted to cry. "I didn't want you to be disappointed."

"Disappointed? Why the hell would we be disappointed in you?"

"I don't know."

Este leaned forward and rubbed her sister's knee. "Lans, we could never be disappointed in you. Especially if you've been feeling this way for...how long?"