"Good Morning, am I speaking to Matthew Lynwood?" Someone asks from the other side of the phone.

"Yes, this is he."

"I'm calling from St. Joseph's Hospital. Your mother, Linda Lynwood, was admited early this morning, we were calling to inform you. If you could come down to the hospital, the doctor in charge of your mother's file would be able to explain her case."

"Yes, I'll be there in a few minutes, thank you," I answer with a shaky voice and hang up.

Leo, who has been watching the conversation the whole time, holding my hand as a kind of support, I'm guessing. He probably realised I was nervous from the shaking in my voice to the trmor of my hands.

"Hey, babe what's up?" Leo asks concerned, resting a warm hand against my cheek.

"My- my," I take a deep breath to calm down before continuing. "My mom is inthe hospital."

"What? What happened?"

"I don't know yet. Will you come with me?"

"Yes, of course, you know you don't even have to ask. Let's go," he takes my hand and together we go to his car.

The ride to the hospital was silent, Leo held my han the whole time, only letting go when necessary, which I was glad for. Him holding my hand kept me grounded and somehow more calm, even if just a little bit. That little bit kept me from completely breaking down.

I decided to take the time to call Mrs. Pemberton to inform her of what was going on. She told me she would meet us in the hospital with Chris. How I'm going to explain this to him, I have no idea, but I'm dreading the moment.

When we finally reach the hospital, we make our way to the reception, where they tell us where to go after taking our identification, even though some of the staff know me because my mom is a nurse here and I already knew my way around more or less, so I guess that helped, too.

When I make my way to the right floor, I ask a nurse working there if she has any information on my mom and she goes to the phone on the screteray and calls someone, who I'm guessing will come talk to us and explain everything.

"Excuse me," a man asks, getting my attention. "Are you Matthew Lynwood?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Good Morning, I'm Doctor Michaels, I'm in charge of your mother's case. So your mother was admitted last night, a little after 4 am, someone found her car on the side of the road, she hit a lamp post. The blood results came out and turns out, she was driving under the influence of alcohol, and, reasonbly, that affected her driving. She was ok but we had to put her to sleep so that the first few hours wouldn't be so painful. She didn't have any major injuries, thankfully, two broken ribs, that will heal with time, a broken leg and a concussion. It'll take a few months for her to recover but she'll be fine. You can go in and visit her, we'll discuss the rest, for example, the meds and everything needed for her recovery later if you'd like. She must be almost waking up, but go ahead. Her room number is 145B. Just through there, " the doctor finishes and points us in the right direction of her room.

I hesitate when we get to the door of her room, my hand hovering over the door knob. I don't know why I'm nervous, maybe it's the fact that last time this happened, I received the news that my father had died.

And even though I know the doctor told me that ita was nothing serious and that she would be ok, the fear is still there. The fact that my mom and I don't have the best relationship at the time, dooesn't erase the fact that I'm terrified to lose her. She used to be a great mom before my dad died and the drinking came. I guess I just always hoped she would go back to being that mom. The mom that Chris needs.

"Hey," Leo whispers and puts his arms around my waist, nuzzling his face on my neck and leaving soothing kisses on it. "It's ok, she's ok, and I'm here for whatever you need. Always."

I turn my head a little to the side and he kisses me on the lips. Not really a peck, it lasted a few more seconds than that, but enough to reassure me.

With my newfound strength, I open the door, greeted by my sleeping mom with an oxygen mask and tubes on her arms and a cast on her leg. It's not what one would consider a pretty sight.

I go to the chair next to the bed and sit down, with Leo standing behind me and resting his hands on my shoulders.

We stay silent for a while, taking in the sitution, when we're interrupted by a phone ringing. It's Leo's. He looks at it, before telling me it's mom. She's probably worried from getting home and having no one there like she expected. Leo goes outsie and picks it up.

While I wait, I take my moms hand and just stay silent, thinking about everything that's been happening for the past months.

The fact that just an hour ago I was happy at Leo's house, both of us, cudling in his couch and watching a movie, having taken the last step in our relationship that actually made stronger, an now here we are, in a hospital, with my mom sleeping and connected to machines. Things definitly took a wrong turn.

Leo comes into the room a few minutes later, "I told my mom everything. She's on her way here with my dad, I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not, it's ok."

We decided to go outside for now. Take a little breather from the stuffy hair of the hospital and wait for Mrs. Pemberton and Leo's parents outside.

Mrs. Pemberton arrives first, whith Chris, Oliver and Mike behind her, all with worried looks and concerned faces, which is expected, considering what hapened.

"Matt, sweetie, how are you doing?" Mrs. Pemberton asks as soon as I'm at hearing sight, envoloping me in a warm hug, immediately followed by Mike and Oliver.

Lastly, I kneel down in front of Chris to hug him in hopes to comfort him, and explain what happened. The moment I finished telling him everything, he started crying.

This is what I was afraid of. Having to explain everything to him and having him be sad, despide not being completely aware of what is happening, he does know that something's wrong. Kid's are smarter than we thing, very preceptive.

"She's still asleep. The doctors say she'll wake up soon, though. You can go ahead to her room. We're waiting for Leo's parents to get here."

"Ok, then. I'll see you there. I'll bring Chris," Mrs. Pemberton answers and goes in, while holding Chris' hand, and Mike following behind them.

Leo immediately hugs me and rests his head on mine, while I breathe in his comforting scent and hug him back. He kisses the top of my head, "Do you want to talk about something? You have your worried face on."

That manages to get a smile from me, making me look up to look him in the eye "What? What do you mean my worried face?"

He pecks my lips, "Yeah, you use it more than I like it. Makes me worried, but I figured that you know I'm always here for you and that eventually when you do want to talk, you'll know I'll listen."

I can't believe I was lucky to land someone like him, so I try to show it by hugging him with all I have and gently pecking his neck, "I love you so much. You're too good for me."

"Hey," Leo says firmly, holding my head in his hands gently, making me look at him, "don't you even dare think that. If anything, it's the other way around," He kisses my nose, and for some reason that melted my heart, such a simple gesture, but it held so much passion I actually felt like melting. "And I love you, too."

"And I'm just worried about my mom, and I'm worried about the future, what will hapeen to Chris, what will happen to my mom, what will happen with us and I try really hard not to think about it, because it will drive me to madness, and I was right because it keeps me awake at night and I'm about to go mad, because I don't know what to do with my life let alone Chris' and my mom's. I mean, I'm a teenager, I'm confused about everything and I just want everyone to be happy. Including myself."

"First of all, for the millionth time, you're not going to lose me and I know you're scared and have your doubts and that's ok, because I'll always be here to prove you wrong. With pleasure. Do you think I don't doubt about everything? I have no idea what I'm going to do next year. Because we are teenagers and we're reckless. But we'll take one day at time and everything's gonna be fine, because you don't just have me. You have a shit ton of friends who love you and will always support you. Not just me, but John, Macy, Harry, the Pemberton family, my family, Jackson, you even have Carter. I don't know how you managed to get him to open up to you, because Carter is the most closed off person ever, but you did, because you have a way with people and you have their back. And they'll have yours.

"Wow, that was a big speech."

I laugh, with tears in my eyes, because for some weird reason, that speech did managed to reassure me. It honestly feels like a weight lifted frm my shoulders.

I bring my arms around his neck and kiss him, resting my forehead with his after.

We're brought out our bubble by a throat clearing coming from Mrs. Bryant. We disentagle from eache other, only for me to be immediately hugged by Olivia.

"Oh, Matt, how are you holding up?" She asks.

"I'm holding up fine. The doctors say she'll wake up soon."

Mr. Bryant rests a hand on my shoulder, with his usual stoic face and says, "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Bryant," I thank him.

Only then do I notice that Cat and Liam are also here. For a second I feel bad I didn't notice, but it mostly goes away when they both hug me at the same time. It was a little awkward, not gonna lie, but I just get over it. After all, they're here for me and to show their support, so I'm just glad to know they care.

"How are you holding up, honey?" Cat asks me once they release me from their hug.

"Could be better, could be worse," I answer honestly. "We should probably go up now, though. My mom must be waking up."

We all go back up to my mom's room, with Leo holding my hand the entire time, as if showing support and that he's here no matter what, so, in response, I give his hand a little squeeze.

When we get inside the room, Mrs. Pemberton, Mike, Oliver and Chris are all there, with Mike playing some game with Oliver on the nintendo and Mrs. Pemberton was in the chair next to my mom's bed with Chris.

I go over to them and sit on the other chair next to the bed, taking Chris from Mrs. Pemberton gently and settling him on my lap.

"Leo and his family are outside and I can stay here now if you'd like to go get some water or something," I say. "You don't have to wait here, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure, honey? We can stay if you'd like."

"No, it's ok, I'd actually rather be alone for a while, if you don't mind," I answer with a small smile. "With Chris here, too, though."

"Ok, sure. Just call us if you need anything, ok?" Mike asks.

I just simply give him a nod as an answer and watch them leave the room, leaving only me, Chris and my mom.

I don't actually know how long we were there for, but somewhere in that time, Chris fell asleep on my lap, probably from being tired after spending the night at the Pembertons. According to Mrs. Pemberton, they stay up until late soing God knows what. She says she can hear them giggling in the other room, even after being scolded.

I'm about to fall asleep, too, when my mom starts moving. I look up at her and see her eyes opening and focusing on me and Chris.