Chapter 8: It's Been Forever

Single and ready to mingle? Heartthrob rocker KT Parker tweeted this weekend that he's been looking for love in all the wrong places, and while he's been having fun doing it, he might be ready to settle down. His feed blew up with fans offering to fill the role of Mrs. Right. One fan was shocked when her tweet asking for a prom date was answered with, "I never went to prom, why the hell not."

Sitting in the hospital was just as bad as waiting around anywhere else he'd been. Thankfully he'd found his whole family, and all of them, while not totally fine, were on the mend. Austin had been to see Dani, but she hadn't woken up yet. They said it was only a matter of time, and the tests they ran indicated she'd make a full recovery. He hated that Dani had to go through what she was, but the momma bear in her was fierce. If he had been in that house with them, he would have done the same thing.

When he finally made it back to see his mom, she had filled him in on what happened. She told him that when they realized the house was falling apart around them, Dani had laid on top of Reece to protect her. The toddler didn't know what was going on and had been hurt because Dani had crushed her, but it would have been so much worse if Dani hadn't done what she had. Because of what her mother did for her, Reece was alive and just bruised a little. Her momma didn't fare out as well, but he'd make sure Dani was taken care of, and same with his mom. They'd get the best care they could, and he'd make sure they got everything they needed.

When Reece saw Austin, she'd gone crazy, and it hadn't taken long for her to wear herself out. Instead of them all being uncomfortable, Austin decided to take Reagan and Reece back to his hotel room to get a good night's sleep, or what he hoped would be one. As the night wore on, the only one who seemed to get any decent sleep was Reece. Reagan and Austin just lay in bed tossing and turning. He was overtired, still worried about his mom and sister, and wondering if Shelby ever found her sister.

"You asleep?" Reagan asked breaking him from his thoughts.

"Nah. What time is it?"

The light from Reagan's cellphone lit the room. "Four."

"Damn."

Reagan chuckled. "My thoughts exactly."

"You okay?" Austin knew he wouldn't be.

"Yeah, I think out of everyone I got it easy. Even Reecie is more banged up than me." Austin wasn't sure when or who nicknamed the girl, but at one point someone had started calling her Reecie, and it stuck.

"Not what I meant, but I'm glad you're okay that way too."

Reagan didn't talk for a while, but eventually, he started talking again. "It was awful, Austin. I've never felt so helpless in my whole life. I watched as the house fell around us, as that beam pinned Mom down, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. There was so much shit in the air, and it hurt when it hit me, so I just curled up and did nothing. I should have done something."

That was just like Reagan, wanting to do something when he couldn't. "What should you have done?"

Reagan sniffed. "I dunno. Something more than curl into a ball like a little bitch. Even Dani thought of Reece. I didn't think of anyone. If I'd have covered Mom maybe she would be in better shape."

"You can't beat yourself up. When you're faced with life and death, you react. It's that whole fight or flight thing. Besides, with the broken pelvis and leg, Mom's sure to get the church ladies to come over and bring her food now."

That got Reagan laughing for a few seconds before he sobered up and asked, "Shouldn't I have fought though?"

"Probably get that the same place I get it. I've been doing a lot of running."

"Like Dad." Well now that Reagan put it that way, it was like the whole male side of the family. "What are you running from?"

That was the million-dollar question. What was he running from? He'd been running for so long, he didn't even know why he was still running. First, he took off in a dead sprint when his dad turned into a giant asshole. He had looked up to the man his whole life and then all of a sudden the man idolized Austin's fame more than his own family. When that went to shit, he at least had Shelby to lean on, but she left him too. Seeing Shelby and being with her even for just a little bit had been so strange. He had thought about her over the years and wondered how she'd changed. Sure she looked different, but he wondered about her spirit. Was she still her same perky, lovable self? He had no right to hold her, but when he saw her, and she was so lost, so upset over not knowing where her family was, he just had to hold her. He hadn't been home for any real amount of time in the five years since he'd been on Supernova, and he hadn't planned on coming home now. This place, his home, reminded him of everything he'd lost, his family, the first and the only girl he'd loved, and his life as a normal kid. He didn't so much care about the last one, but he wondered if it weren't for the gig with the band if the other two would still be intact.

"Well?" Reagan's prompting broke him from his internal musing.

"Lots of shit." He didn't want to explain it all to his little brother. The kid had just been through so much, and Austin had been dealing with it all on his own for so long anyway.

"Not like either of us is sleeping anyway. Might as well get it off your chest."

"What are you, a shrink?" Austin teased lightheartedly.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I really miss you being around. I know that we still see you when we go on vacation, but I miss the good 'ol days."

"Hate to break it to you, kid, but we'll never get back to that. Those days are long gone."

"Didn't think we would. I'd just like if you'd come home once in a while instead of us always going on vacation, not that I don't love all those trips, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah. I'm not sure I can give you that. This place... it's just... it's just not good for me." The memories of what used to be, what could have been, haunted him, and he couldn't do it.

"Maybe we need to change that?"

As much as he hated what the idea of being around his home did to him, if Reagan wanted it, maybe he'd make an effort. His brother had never asked him for that before, and since he had, he was going to try. Austin looked over at his brother. "When did you get so smart?"

"It's something else we have in common."

*

Shelby jerked awake when she heard a loud crash. "It was just a dream," she muttered to herself. Rubbing her hands over her arms to try and warm herself, but she found it brought no comfort and looked around for Colby. She wasn't sure where he was, and she was sad that he wasn't around. He wasn't happy that she wanted to stay with Anna, but he should understand. Anna was her only family.

When Anna and Shelby were little, her parents went on a work trip and left them with an aunt. They had a great time with the aunt while her parents were gone, and she was sad she'd have to go home at the end of her parents' trip. The night her parents were due to arrive home, their small plane had a mechanical failure in the air and went down. There were no survivors. Their aunt had taken them in, but Shelby and Anna both knew that she'd never wanted to have kids of her own, and while they'd always be grateful to their aunt, they knew she'd done all she was going to for them.

It was just the two of them against the world. When Cameron had come along and swept Anna off her feet, Shelby was happy for Anna. Cameron was everything she wanted for her sister. He mellowed her out and reminded her to have fun. He taught her that life wasn't all about a to-do list and taking care of others. Cameron taught Anna how to live, and now that he was gone, Shelby worried that Anna wouldn't know how to live anymore.

Shelby looked over at her sister and was hit again with the emotions of losing the last member of her family. She was being selfish. She didn't want to know that pain. Grabbing her hand, she said, "Oh sis, are you in there somewhere? I really don't know what to do without you."

"Good morning," a man in scrubs and a lab coat said as he came through the door. "I'm Doctor Williams. I've been assigned to Ms. Morris' case, and I just wanted to come in and take a look."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Only time can tell. Right now, it's a wait and see. I wish I could tell you one way or another, but I'd only be guessing. Let's take a look and see how she is this morning, though, shall we?"

That wasn't good enough. She needed to let the doctor know just how important this was. "I need her to be okay."

Doctor Williams nodded at her. "I'm going to do my best to make sure she is."

"Okay."

After the doctor left, Shelby took a seat still holding Anna's hand and had just gotten comfortable when Colby came around the corner.

"There you are!" He'd been missing most of the night, and she wasn't sure where he'd gone off to. True to his word he stayed until she stopped freaking out, but not much longer. At least when she'd told him he was needed, he was there.

Giving her a funny look he then looked around the room and said, "Here I am."

"I've been wondering where you were."

"Just went for some coffee," he told her holding up the cup in his hand. She noticed he only grabbed the one. "We planning on being here all day?"

"You have something else planned?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Awe, come on Shelb, you know I hate hospitals."

"I really need you here."

"I can't stand these places. After seeing you in the hospital, and then you were in for so long, I just can't do it," he told her making her feel guilty... again. It didn't matter that for the month she was in the hospital, she was mostly alone, scared, and couldn't do anything. She was stuck in bed, and if it weren't for Anna and Cameron, she'd have been alone pretty much the whole time. Still, every time Colby came to the hospital she could see how much he hated being there, how much he hated looking at her in that bed. She could see how this might be bringing that back.

"Fine."

"Just leave them a number. I'm sure they'll call you if anything changes."

Shelby shook her head. "You misinterpreted my fine. Go if you must, but I'm not leaving."

"I can't believe how selfish you're being. I mean really. I just wish you'd think about the rest of us too."

"Colby, I can't fight with you right now. When Anna wakes up and everything is better, then you can tell me what a horrible person I am. Right now I just need to do this."

"Shelb, I'm sorry. I just hate this fucking place. It makes me crazy, and it makes me say crazy shit. I'll come check on you tonight. I promise."

"Okay."

And that was it. He was gone without another word. After another hour, she needed to feel human again. Thankfully she'd been able to use a shower and didn't feel nasty anymore, but she needed some caffeine, and she needed it now. With her mind made up, she decided it was time to go search for some of that coffee Colby had found.

She asked at the nurse's station where she might find a cup or gallon, and they pointed her in the direction of a place called the Coffee Cart. When she finally found it, she realized it wasn't really a cart, but she didn't really care as long as they could hook her up. She ordered a Caramel Latte, and when she took a step back, she ran into someone. That was getting to be a bad habit.

"I'm..." The apology died as she came face to face with Austin King... again. It was a definite bad habit. One she needed to cut out.

Looking over her he ordered his coffee, and when she heard his drink order, an English Toffee Latte, she couldn't help but laugh a little.

A small smile spread across his lips. "Do I amuse you?"

"I just didn't picture someone like you drinking something like that."

"Someone like me?"

Her face heated instantly, and she knew that she was blushing. Open mouth, insert foot. "Never mind."

"Oh no, please enlighten me," he said as he crossed his hands over his chest.

"It's just..." She was trying to figure out how to word it. "I'd imagine you were a guy who drank his coffee black."

Austin shrugged and seemed satisfied with that. "Honestly, I'm not really a fan of the stuff, but I've learned to drink it over the years. I don't think I could ever do black, though."

The more Austin talked, the more Shelby was hypnotized by his smooth voice. It was deep and drew her in. She was having a hard time taking her eyes off of him too. If you asked her if she had kept up with him over the years, she'd tell you no, but it'd be a big fat lie. She would look him up from time to time online, and she saw him in the magazines she shelved at the library. Those held nothing on the real deal.

"What?" he asked with an amused look.

Busted. "It's been... forever," she said trying to move the conversation along but failing miserably. She was a blubbering mess around him. How was it possible that she, the girl who was Austin King's first girlfriend, first kiss, first love, was this nervous around the man?

"Yeah, it has. I take it you found your sister?" he asked changing the subject.

Shelby nodded but didn't say much more. She didn't want to get into everything that had happened with Anna and Cameron with Austin. "You found your family?"

"I did."

When the lady at the counter handed over her drink, she started to reach for some money, but Austin beat her to it. It was a nice gesture, but one he shouldn't be making. It wasn't like she meant anything to him.

When she tried to hand him the money for her drink, he shook his head. "Put that away."

"You don't have to buy my coffee."

"But I want to."

"Why?" The question even startled her. She wasn't sure why she wanted to know, but now that she'd asked it, she was curious of the answer.

"You look like you could use it, and after feeling helpless all day yesterday, it feels good to finally be able to do something good, something that no matter how small it is matters."

She tilted her head to the side looking at him. "That's pretty deep."

He shrugged. "I'm a pretty deep guy. I better get back. Reagan has Reece, and she's a total handful right now."

"Austin," Shelby said and waited for him to turn around, "thanks for the coffee."

"Anytime."