Katie

I wake up to the sound of gentle knocking on the door. It opens and Lincoln comes in. He still looks pretty tired. I look at the small white clock on the wall, it's only 8 am. A bit of light streams into the room through the blinds.

"Lincoln? It's still so early," I whisper, "you need rest."

He smiles, "I felt bad about leaving you alone, you should go back to sleep if you're still tired, I'll stay here."

I press and hold a button to tilt the bed upwards so I'm sitting up. "No, it's alright," I say. I wince a bit at the pain from the movement. Everything still hurts, but it's much more bearable than yesterday.

He looks concerned. "Do you need a nurse?"

"No, no I'm fine, the nurse gave me some medication a couple hours ago," I say, giving him a weak smile. I don't want to worry him, it sounds like he's already been through a lot since I was admitted here.

"I brought you some food," he says, holding up a bag, "I've stayed in a hospital before and I know how terrible their food is." I recall him mentioning a tree climbing incident with Jason and Ray when they were six.

He opens the bag and places the container down on my over bed table. It's liege waffles from my favorite waffle place.

I chuckle a bit. "Lincoln, I only have one usable hand," I say, holding up my left arm in a cast, "how do I use the fork and knife."

He turns pink. "Whoops," he says sheepishly, "I didn't think about that."

Lincoln ends up feeding me. He's so sweet and nice.

We hang out for a bit until I build up the courage to ask what I've been wanting to ask since yesterday. "Why didn't you tell me what really happened that night of the party? And how Jason was involved?" I ask quietly.

"Ray and Stephanie told you huh?" he asks, smiling sheepishly.

I nod, "Why didn't you want them to?"

"You had already started hanging out with Jason by the time you were ready to talk. Every time I saw you around him, you seemed so happy," he recalls glumly. "I didn't want to take that away from you. I wanted you to be happy, even if it wasn't with me."

"Oh Lincoln, I'm so sorry," I say, reaching out to take his hand. I can't believe how selfless he is, and I just let him go.

"I'm sorry too, I can't believe I let him manipulate you like that. He's done something similar before to a former friend, Sally. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, and assume he had matured since then," he sighs, "but it looks like I was wrong to do that."

"Please don't blame yourself," I whisper, reaching out to hug him.

I've missed his hugs. The feeling of his arms holding me are so comforting and familiar. His warmth and scent make the sinking feeling in my heart go away. I don't even realize I've started crying.

"Hey shh, Katie," he says, wiping away my tears. "Don't cry."

He gives me a reassuring smile that I can't help but smile back at.

"I've missed you," he says, gently touching my hand, "and I was so terrified when I thought I was going to lose you two nights ago."

I give him a wobbly smile. "I'm not going anywhere," I whisper.

"I'm so glad," he says softly before pulling me into a hug again. "I thought I lost my chance to tell you that I...I never stopped loving you."

I start crying again, and bury my face into his shoulder. "I love you too," I manage to say, in between sobs.

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Within a few hours, everyone's back in my room again.

Nurses come into my room every couple hours to check on my vitals.

"I'm so sorry I ruined everyone's holiday plans," I say sadly, trying not to tear up again.

Lincoln hugs me and kisses my forehead. "Hey don't say that. We're all just so glad you're OK."

Stephanie has a giant grin on her face, and pats Lincoln on the back. I assume they had some sort of talk.

Lincoln's face turns slightly pink as he notices everyone watching us. "Oh yeah guys, Katie and I are back together."

"Congrats," Stephanie says happily, clasping her hands together.

"Well...I thought I'd be meeting your parents under wildly different circumstances," he says awkwardly, before turning to them, "but I promise I'll take good care of your daughter."

Mom gives him a hug. "I think we've seen enough in the past day to know you definitely will."

Dad nods, "We're happy for both of you."

I get a fluttery feeling in my stomach when I hear the things they say.

I look at my parents, they both look extremely tired. They work at the same clinic and apparently have been low on staff, so they've been working even more than usual for the past month. The stress from the past day and a half must have made things even worse.

"Mom, Dad? I'm OK if you want to go home, I'm sure I'll be fine, It doesn't look like I'll be short on support," I say with a grateful smile, looking around the room at my friends. "Leena, you too, you hardly got to spend time with your family before coming back here."

After a lot of convincing from myself and my friends, they all agree to take a flight home tonight, and head back to their hotel to pack up.

A couple hours later, we hear a knock on the door. Tina opens it, and it's the entire executive team. They somehow manage to fit all 25 of them into the room. They give me hugs, tons of flowers, stuffed animals, and get well soon cards.

I can't help but tear up a little. "Guys, oh my gosh. You didn't have to do this."

"Nah come on Katie, you know we all love you," Joe says, "we've missed you a lot too."

Tiffany shuffles through the group, it looks like she's been crying. "Katie I'm so sorry, it's all my fault I shouldn't have left you alone," she says, sobbing.

"No no Tiffany don't cry," I say, hugging her, "it's not your fault, I promise."

Someone guides her into a chair and tries to comfort her.

"So...um...I heard about what happened with Jason," I say slowly, expecting a very poor reaction to the mention of him.

Most of them look angry when I bring up his name. "Yeah, we all threatened to quit if he didn't step down," Amanda says.

"We were trying to report him to the university," Michelle says, "but we found out about the countless things he's gotten away with because of his parents and their money. We knew he'd be able to worm his way out of this one too."

I sigh, "It's alright, I don't want to get involved with him. I really appreciate the effort though." I know it would turn into a whole ordeal if they did that. I just want him out of my life, once and for all.

A nurse walks in and her eyes widen at the number of people in the room. "Oh my god, I told you guys no!"

Michael whispers under his breath to me, "We snuck to your room in groups of three so they wouldn't notice."

I chuckle a bit before the nurse makes them leave. Lincoln, Stephanie, Ray, and Tina stay.

Tina checks her phone. "Hey sorry I'm gonna have to leave for a bit, my siblings and I are taking turns staying with my grandpa to make sure everything's OK."

"No problem Tina, I'll see you soon," I say.

We hear a knock on the ajar door, and someone walks in.

It's Jason.

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