Forever and Always

Chapter 14 - Change of Plans

It's a funny thing how quickly plans can change. It's a funny thing how quickly everything can fall apart.

"Morning, brat," Levi smirked, poking my cheek. I yawned and rolled over, ignoring his prompting me to get up. "Eren, c'mon. Get your ass out of bed sleeping beauty."

"Five minutes," I mumbled into the pillow.

"No. Not five minutes. Do you remember what happened the last time I gave you five minutes?" I remembered Sunni walking in on me and Levi kissing, causing a long chain of events that briefly broke us up.

"I believe that happened when you didn't let me have five minutes, you psycho."

"Whatever. We gotta get on the road."

I finally sat up, stretching my arms above my head. Levi kissed me softly, taking my hands in his and pulling me out of bed. When he pulled back, I could tell he hadn't caught a wink of sleep the night before. He looked dazed as our prolonged eye contact caused him to slowly shut his eyelids.

"Levi did you sleep okay last night?"

He shook his head. "I'm okay."

"Not what I asked. Did you sleep okay, Levi?" I implored again.

"I maybe got a few extended blinks. Not much more than that. The nightmares come back when I close my eyes."

"God damn. Levi you aren't in any position to drive us anywhere. Let's just book the room for another night and you can sleep during the day."

"No. We're driving back," Levi yawned.

"At least let me drive," I begged. "You can sleep in shotgun.

"Hell no, you're not driving my car. I don't have Eren Jaeger insurance. If I need to stop, I will, dumbass. I know how to drive."

"Okay," I said skeptically, slipping my shoes on and doing a final room search. It wasn't like we brought anything, it was just a habit. When we got outside, I stopped Levi. "I'm driving. It's raining."

"I trust my rain-driving more than I trust your rain-driving. If I need to pull over, I will. Promise."

He unlocked the door to his little white Nissan and I stepped inside, closing the door and buckling up. Levi did thw same as he started the engine. I had a sick feeling that I couldn't place in the pit of my stomach. I shook my head and ignored it. We started driving and Levi got on the freeway, taking my hand.

"So where to next, boss?" I chirped, watching the rain coming down outside the car.

"I'm actually not sure. I don't really know what else is in northern California. I thought you would have an idea."

"Nope. I haven't ever been up here before."

"Really? I didn't wanna tour San Fran because I didn't wanna bore you with shit you've seen before. We'll hit it again on the way back down. Wanna go to Oregon?"

"Why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just for the hell of it. I dunno. I've never been it Oregon. We don't have to go far into Oregon, just enough to run around past the state line and say we've been to Oregon."

"Sounds great," I snickered quietly before leaning in and gently kissing Levi's shoulder. I sat up again and looked into his stormy eyes, loving how they matched the outside sky.

Levi smiled at me, and I felt like the only other person in the world.

Except we weren't the only two in the world. Levi's eyes widened in fear as he swerved into the emergency lane and out of the carpool lane.

"Shit!" He cursed as he slammed an arm into my gut to act as a second safety belt as I lurched forward when the car started to spin. It felt like Levi briefly pumped the gas again before I hit my head on the window. Then it all was black, but the sound of tearing metal rang loudly in my ears as I drifted off into oblivion, a warm puddle pooled around my body as an impact knocked me out.

"Mr. Jaeger?" I heard an unfamiliar voice ask, I tried to open my eyes but everything was too bright. "Mr. Jaeger?" The voice asked again.

"Yeah?" I mumbled. I was outside, on a gurney. Sirens were blaring and lights were flashing beyond my eyelids.

"My name is Alex. I'm here to help you, Mr. Jaeger. How are you feeling?" The voice asked me. I finally managed to get my eyelids open enough to look at the paramedic.

"Like shit. Where's Levi?" I asked, sitting up on the stretcher, scanning rhe area for him anywhere. I couldn't see any trace of him except for the crushed driver's side of the car. My stomach sank when I saw the blood on the inside of the car.

"Who?" The paramedic asked.

"The other guy in the car with me. He's my fiancee. Where is he?" I was starting to get scared.

"Your vitals look good," the paramedic said, completely ignoring me.

"You asshole! Where is my fiancee?"

The paramedic got a dark look in her eyes and looked past me as she spoke. "Mr. Ackerman is on his way to the ICU."

"What the fuck?!" I exclaimed. "Why? What happened to him?"

"I'm gonna need you to calm down. The way it's looking is that he tried to save you."

"What are you talking about? It was a car accident? You don't get to pick what happens to you." I folded my arms, trying to put up a strong front, when in reality, I wanted to burst into tears.

"It looks like he hit the gas at the last second so the car would rotate a final half turn before you were t-boned. He made the driver's side take the impact instead. He probably saved your life."

"Are you fucking kidding me? That fucking dumbass!" I demanded, tears picking my eyes and a burning knot building in my throat. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know. I was trying to work on making sure you were okay."

"Well I'm sure you saw him! How the fuck did it look?" I begged, my voice cracking, the lump in my throat strangling my speech.

"I'm near sighted, and I forgot my glasses today, but it looked pretty bad. I really hope he makes it. He barely seemed to have a prayer. Let's get you to the hospital."

"Is it the same hospital as Levi?"

"Yes. It is, as far as I know. And the way you're looking, we won't even keep you overnight. You'll be at your boyfriend's bedside within a couple of hours. I'll make sure of it."

"O-okay," I said, starting to lose my grip on my tears. One began to roll down my cheek as I prayed that I would get to see him again. I was loaded into the back of the ambulance before the torrent of body wracking sobs took me over while I was getting carted away to the hospital.

The next few hours was a long blur of tears and fear for Levi. I wanted to go back. I wanted to force him to let me drive. I wanted to stop this somehow, but when I saw him getting pushed out of the OR completely unconscious, a piece of my heart was permanently destroyed. I was immediately on my feet, running after the nurses pushing him to a hospital room.

I caught up and looked at the love of my life, who looked no more alive than the chair I had been sitting in just moments earlier.

"Levi," I cried, taking his cold hand.

"Sir we're gonna need you to step away," a nurse commanded. I flicked my middle finger up in defiance as I gently brushed his sticky hair off of his forehead. I felt strong hands gripping my shoulders and peeling me away from the moving gurney. I tried to struggle and continue chasing them down the long hospital halls, but the hands pulling me back were stronger than I was in my current state, so instead, I collapsed into a puddle of painful sobs and salty tears. For the first time in my life, I was totally alone.