My Favorite Song

Chapter 17: The Deadline

"Uhn..."

I opened my eyes and found myself laying in a hospital bed.

*Where...where am I?*

I held my head as I tried to sit up. I had such a headache...but I still wanted to know where I was.

"Finally awake, Slim?"

I looked over to see Castiel sitting on the edge of my bed. He sat there, crossing his arms, staring at me. The expression on his face certainly didn't look happy. I ignored that and answered him with a question of my own.

"Where am I...what happened?"

"You tell me. You're the one who passed out."

*Oh yeah...that's right...*

I suddenly remembered that I had just been standing in this room, visiting Nathaniel when Castiel got here and caught me with him. Castiel shouted at me, Nathaniel shouted at me, they shouted at each other, I got overwhelmed and dizzy, and then...

"The doctor said you passed out because you weren't sleeping..."

I looked over at Nathaniel in the bed next to me, staring at me with concern. I was going to say something, when Castiel spoke again.

"Slim, I thought I told you to stay with me; you needed your rest...!"

I looked back at him; him with the same expression.

"I know...I'm sorry...it's just that, I wanted to see Nathaniel and make sure he was ok...I felt terrible for leaving him out in the rain like that...I'm sorry...!"

I could feel the tears welling up.

"It's ok...don't cry..." Nathaniel said to me from across the room.

"No, It's not ok. I understand she wanted to make sure you weren't hurt, but that is NO excuse for her to be three-timing us." Castiel interrupted, glaring at me.

"Castiel!"

"No! She needs to know that this is wrong!"

He looked away from Nathaniel and instead, at me.

"How long were you gonna string us along like this?! You CAN'T. HAVE. all THREE of us! What is WRONG with you?!"

"EVERYTHING!" I screamed at him, bursting into tears.

He just stared at me, shocked. Slowly, I lowered my face into my hands. "Everything...is wrong with me. I know that what I'm doing is wrong...but I just want everyone to be happy...and that's why it's just so hard..."

"...Well...you can forget about moving in with me...at least until you make your decision. You got 'til Christmas, Slim, and if you can't decide by then...you can forget about 'us'.

I was a little sad by his words. Nevertheless, I nodded in agreement, knowing this plan was for the best. But Christmas was only a month away...I didn't have a lot of time left....

"...I think we should spend some time apart as well..." Nathaniel said to me.

"Yeah...that would be for the best..." I replied, looking away from both of them.

"Well, I'm outta here." Castiel said as he got up and walked towards the door.

"And one more thing..."

"Yeah...?"

"You got the choice between me and him. Lysander is OUT of the question; do you understand me?"

"I hate to say it, but he's right. Lysander is dangerous, Julia; I'd hate to think of what he might do to you. Even if you don't choose me, I would feel safer knowing that you had chosen Castiel instead. At least, I know he won't hurt you.

"Yeah...I'll stay away from Lysander..."

*As if THAT'LL be easy... -.-*

"I mean it, Slim."

And with that, he left.

"Don't worry...I won't ever let him near you." Nathaniel said to me, as if he already knew what I was thinking.

"But...you'll just hurt yourself again...!" I replied, turning to look at him; sitting in a hospital bed, and injured because of Lysander.

"I would rather get hurt than let him hurt you." He said, looking at me with sad eyes.

*Yeah...but you're talking about two completely different hurts, Nathaniel...*

"Well...thank you." I said back to him before laying down and turning to the other side.

*...But what if Lysander isn't dangerous? What if he won't hurt me? He only does the things he does because I don't pay attention to him. Maybe he would stop if I chose him. Maybe he's actually a really nice person who just needs...love...*

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed Lysander was really a nice person deep down. But I still couldn't ignore the possibility of him actually being the person he seemed to be.

I must have fallen asleep in the middle of my thoughts because the next time I opened my eyes, it was dark outside and the room's light was off. I wanted to know what time it was, but there were no digital clocks in the room and it was way too dark to see the wall-clock.

Suddenly, I sensed another presence in the room...right next to me...

"Oh, you're awake..." the person whispered.

I closed my eyes, and sighed; I already knew who it was...

"Lysander."

Normally, I would've freaked out and asked how he got in here so late at night, but after seeing the lengths he'd gone to before, I wasn't surprised at all.

"I heard you collapsed...I came here to make sure you were ok..."

He stroked the side of my face with his hand.

"I know it's late at night, but I didn't want to visit you with Castiel here, watching over you like a hawk."

*...Says the guy who DOES watch me like a hawk.*

And then I thought of something...

"Lysander...were you waiting for me to wake up?"

I just couldn't help but ask.

"No, of course not, Darling. I would never want to disturb you in your sleep; I just came here to check on you. That's all."

"..."

"And no, I was not going to stay here and watch you all night. I'm not like that, so you don't have to worry..."

"What?"

"Trust me Darling, I could tell what you were thinking."

"Um...okay..."

"Well, I should be going now. I'll see you soon..."

Lysander leaned down, about to kiss me, when the door suddenly opened and a nurse walked in.

"Yes, did someone call-" She took one look at Lysander and froze. "H-How did you get in here?! Security!" She practically ran out the door, shouting for back-up. And sure enough, about five seconds later, security came in and escorted Lysander out of the room. Once they had shut the door behind them, the room had gone silent again. But unlike the room, I wasn't at peace just yet. I was still too shocked at what had just happened to even THINK straight!

*Wh-What just happened?! Why did the nurse...?*

"He thinks he can just sneak in here whenever he wants?"

That soft voice from across the room...

"Nathaniel?"

"It's good to know that my pager works now..."

"...Did you...?"

"Julia, I told you; I'm not letting him anywhere near you. I meant that. Now just relax. You need your rest..."

"Okay...good night..."

"Good night..."

And with that, I rolled over and went back to sleep.

*One month...what do I do?!*