"Brian, she's waking up."

The nurse's quiet voice stirred him, he the only one who was even partially awake after her nearly eight-hour surgery and four hour recovery, AJ asleep on the floor; JC asleep sitting up on a chair; Aubrey and Aundrea asleep leaning up against each other and the others sleeping in cots in the private waiting room. He, he couldn't sleep. Every so often, he caught his eyes falling, and this was one of those moments.

"Thank you," he said groggily, getting up quickly and ridding the sleep from his eyes, following her down the hall to his sister, anxiety running through his veins. The doctor said that the hole had enlarged, it had taken some time to repair. The heart attack had been some sort of blessing, she probably would have died in her sleep or even not within the next few days if she had not had the attack. The blockage was cleared, though she would still have to take medicine, just like he did; though it was a small price to pay for the life he now had.

Stepped into the room, he saw his sister, eyes slowly blinking and still adjusting to the dim light, watching the television on the wall in front of her. "Hey, baby sister," he greeted, she turning her head slightly to giving him a weak smile from beneath the oxygen mask, "how you feeling?"

Giving him a weak shrug, her head turned back to the television as her name was mentioned, both siblings now listening in as her news made the top story.

"Audrina Littrell, little sister of Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell and respective singer herself has been admitted to Cedars-Sinai hospital late last night of undisclosed reasons. Sources say that ambulances and a quick response bus were spotted at her residence at around 9PM -"

"Argh," she mumbled, pulling at the mask and reaching for the remote, turning the channel, settling on MTV. "If they're gonna talk, they'll at least tell something better because they actually like me ..."

Brian chuckled a bit, reaching over and taking his sister's hand, squeezing gently. "Everyone likes you, Drina."

"Yeah, yeah."

"And in our top news, pop singing sensation Audrina Littrell underwent emergency surgery after a massive heart attack late last night. Word from her manager, Johnny Wright says that she is now resting at Cedars-Sinai Hospital after getting a hole in her heart repaired and the blockage cleared resulting from the heart attack. The singer has had heart troubles in the past and rumors have been circulating for quite some time that this was the very reason why she had post-poned the overseas promotional tour to come home and wait for the world tour. Wright stated in an official press release that Littrell is healing and not yet completely out of the woods but the doctors feel as if she is doing well and will recover beautiful just as her brother did four years ago when he underwent the same procedure. She will be taking off two months two take time off for herself and another six weeks to get back into career-mode before rescheduling her world tour, which would be picking up in about six weeks. We will have more on this breaking news when it is available. That's MTV News at 10 to the hour, every hour, here on MTV. Now back to your regularly scheduled program."

"So are you feeling any pain?"

She looked over at Brian, shaking her head. "No, they've got me so doped up that I don't think I could feel a two-ton anvil on my chest if they dropped it on me right now."

"No, cause you'd be dead."

"Yeah." She looked down at her hands, tears burning her eyes. "I'm gonna have a scar."

"Just another thing you and I will have in common."

"It's gonna be ugly."

"Maybe for a little while," he said, frowning as he squeezed her hand, "but look, it's not bad now." He lifted up his shirt, the scar flesh colored and barely visible unless the person studied his skin. "And besides, it's not like people are going to judge you by a surgical scar. That scar, saved your life, Rina. JC saved your life."

"I know." Her eyes were heavy as she looked down at the heavily padded section of her chest where the procedure had taken place, the medication working wonders yet again as she felt herself slipping into slumber. "I love you, Brian."

"I love you too, kiddo," he said, voice distant as he watched her eyes drop, grasp on his hand weaken. He looked up, seeing JC's form standing in the doorway. "Hey," he said softly, "I didn't know you were standing there."

"I just got here," he said, "I didn't want to intrude."

"Never," he said, smiling weakly, "she's just doped up with the medications. Got a long road ahead of her before they take her out of the Cardiac ICU, but they think she'll be okay."

"Good." He edged away from the door slowly, eyes never leaving Audrina's sleeping face, worry etched throughout his own. "Is she -"

Brian took in the paleness of JC's face, giving him a small smile. "She's going to be okay, JC. You were there just in time. You got her here. We owe you every debt of gratitude for saving her. She owes you. She owes you big time."

"She owes me nothing," he said softly, standing at the foot of her bed as he took in a sharp intake of breath, watching her chest rise and fall slowly with the monitors, taking in the heaviness of her chest with the gauze that hid each and every stitch, each and every reminder of what had happened only four hours before. "I just want her to be healthy. I just want her to be alive. That's all I ever wanted."

"I know."

The almost death sentence that the doctor had told them all about had weighed heavily on them all, and he could see that it still weighed heavily on JC as he watched her intently, watched to see if it still hung over her like a dark storm cloud, ready to pour over her like molasses. She was still deep in the woods and the sentence was still there, complications could still arise, but they were all praying for the best.

Brian turned his head to look back at his sister, hands grasping one of hers, taking in her pale, nearly ashen face, though it looking more healthy than it had in a while, more serene, more comfortable than she had in weeks, months even. He watched as JC took the spot across from him, his own eyes doing what he had done: taking in the face that he had seen for so long with a deep sigh, grasping her hand inbetween his own. He put his hands to his forehead and bowed his head in a silent prayer, letting JC be in his own silence, wanting to be in his own peace.

"You look a little better."

She smiled weakly at AJ as he ran his finger gently over the top of hers, studying her face. "I'm still really tired, but I think I'm okay ..."

"It took three days, but you got a little color back. Feeling any pain?"

"My chest feels heavy," she murmured, yawning dramatically as one hand went to her chest, touching the gown gingerly as she peeked beneath it, cringing at the bandages. "I feel like a partial mummy with an anvil on my chest. I feel like my eyes are connected to weights and they're slowly tugging down ... "

"Well, how about this," he said, leaning forward as he shoved his hand into his pocket, she watching him intently, eyebrows knitting in confusion. "What's one more thing to weigh on you than this?"

"J," she asked, trying to lift herself but hissing out in pain as his eyes widened, scrambling to help her lie back down, he chuckling as he sat down on the edge of her bed, kissing her on the lips gently as her eyes traveled to his hand, gasping slightly as he let his fingers uncurl from around the nearly blinding ring that stared up at her. "AJ, what the hell is this ..."

"It's not an engagement ring, D," AJ laughed, "and I'm glad because of that reaction."

She tore her eyes away from the ring to look into his laughing ones, confused. "Then what -"

"It was going to be a 'Get Well', slash 'I'm Thinking Of You', slash, 'Just Because' gift. You've been going through a lot lately and I thought it'd be nice to get you something after you busted your ass for so long."

"Oh."

"Oh?" He asked, laughing incredulously as he watched her reach to touch the ring gingerly with her fingers. "You like it?"

"Like it?" She gave him the strongest smile she could, watching as he took her left hand, sliding it onto her ring finger. "I love it, Alex. It's ... it's beautiful."

It was a two and a half carat cushion cut sapphire and diamond ring inspired from the Edwardian period, the band encrusted with diamonds that matched the ones in the ring itself.

"You know it's going to cause a lot of talk, right?"

She smiled weakly, looking down at the ring that now adorned her finger and shrugged. "Yeah. Let them talk." She closed her eyes, grasping his hand as he continued to sit there, unable to put any pressure against her, wanting to hug him and be held but unable to do so. The medicine was wearing off and she was beginning to feel the pain; she swallowing hard as she pressed the morphine drip, almost immediately feeling the tension wear down. "Thank you," she said softly, he squeezing her hand as she said it, opening her eyes to meet his gaze. "For the ring, for being here ..."

He smiled at her, lifting her hand up to his mouth and kissing each of her fingers tenderly, lifting his eyes to meet her gaze. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be."

She pulled him so that he was lying on his side, turning her head to bury her face into his neck and inhaling slowly, his scent taking over her senses slowly. "I love you," she said softly, eyes dropping closed in exhaustion once more. She hated how tired she got. "I love you."

He stood in the doorway, heart at his feet. What he had just witnessed had taken his entire heart and just thrown it against the wall. The ring was put on her finger, her left ring finger and now they were lying together, she telling him she loved him over and over.

She was engaged. She knew what she felt. She just didn't want to tell him how she felt about him. She knew. She very well knew how she felt about him but didn't want to hurt him so instead covered it up and waited. Instead, he walks in on the middle of a propsal.

Good timing, Chasez.

"You okay, JC? You look a little pale."

He looked over at Aubrey, she rolling her cell phone in her hands as she walked down the hall, waiting for Aundrea to call to come back and pick her up from the flower shoppe down the road. "No, I'm okay," he said quickly. "Just, still very overwhelmed from what's been going on the last few days and seeing her like I did ..."

"That's right," she said softly, nodding her head in understanding, "you're the one who called 911." She leaned up against the wall next to him, staring down at her feet as he once was. "How are you handling it? You need to talk?"

"I'm fine right now," he said, shoulders rising and falling in a slow shrug, "there are other things on my mind right now that I've been thinking about to keep myself from going too crazy over this. I've got other things making me crazy."

"Like what?"

He turned his head, blue eyes meeting blue. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Oh," she said, giving him a sympathetic smile. "Well, that's fine. But I am here if you need it, Jace. I'm not always a bitch, you know that."

He chuckled. "I know, Bree. I just ... this is something I need to figure out on my own. I've gotta wear the big boy pants sooner or later."

"It should have been a lot sooner if you know what I mean." She gave him a small smile, pushing off of the wall and beginning to walk down the hall towards the private waiting room, in search of reading material to wait until she could go in to see her friend since it was a 2 person limit.

"You're preaching to the already knowing choir," he mumbled, she turning to look at him. "Nothing."

"Okay," she chuckled, turning back around and disappearing down the hall.

"Hey, there you are," AJ greeted as he stepped out of the room, "Audrina's been asking where you disappeared to. She wanted to see you. Though I don't know how much company she'd be, since she's been slipping in and out of sleep."

He turned his gaze towards the door, seeing Audrina's half-asleep form lying in bed, eyes nearly closed as they struggled to focus on the television across the room. "I've been around. Bothering the hospital staff to make sure she's comfortable and taken care of, making sure everything is taken care of with the music stuff and publicity and media so she's not hounded with rumors and stuff ..."

"That's nice of you, man," AJ smiled, clapping him on the back, "I'm gonna go down to the cafeteria and get her some soup. She doesn't want the crap they brought up for her. You want anything?"

He shook his head. "No thanks."

"All right. Well, I'll see you in a bit."

He nodded, stepping past AJ and into the room, Audrina immediately looking over and taking in his form, a small smile forming on her face. "Good evening, beautiful."

"Why the long face?"

He paled at her question, shrugging. "Just tired, I guess."

"Well, you did go home and got some rest, did you not?"

He shook his head. "No, I've been here."

Her jaw dropped. "Josh, go home. Go sleep in your bed and stay there until I come home. I'm fine. I'll be here when you come back. It's not like I can go anywhere ..."

"No, I'm staying until you're sent home. I'm fine."

"No, you look like shit."

"Thanks, Drina," he said sarcastically, crossing the room and sitting down next to her as she turned her head to look at him, studying the bags under his eyes, the intense blue that normally was a lighter blue. "I'm fine, really."

"Please, at least go nap or something ..."

"There isn't anywhere to nap."

"Use that bed over there," she said, motioning for the bed on the other side of the room. "I have a private room. No one is gonna use it."

"I'm fine," he said, turning his head to look at the television. "Pretty ring."

She chuckled. "Thanks. AJ got it for me."

"Figured."

She paused. "Why do you sound so pissy?"

"I'm not. Just really didn't have a comment for that," he said, leaning his head onto her lower stomach and sighing, eyes involuntarily dropping closed as he felt her fingers weave through his hair. "I didn't realize you'd be getting married so soon after just starting to date."

She scoffed. "I'm not getting married, Jace."

"That's what the ring is, is it not?"

"No, it's not."

"Then why is it on that finger?"

"Because I don't wear rings on any other finger than this one? You knew that."

He sighed. He did know that. "Oh."

Smiling weakly, she continued to play with his hair, gently massaging his scalp as she felt his body weight begin to grow heavier. "Jace, go to sleep."

"No."

"You're still such a pain in the ass."

"Just as much as you." He lifted his head after a moment of silence, meeting her gaze, eyes lost. "I don't know what I would have done if I would have lost you, Audrina. I don't know how I would have dealt with losing you completely. Promise me you're not gonna leave me."

She felt him grasp her hand, fingers lacing between the spaces of her own and gently tickling her skin, nearly taking her breath away with his touch.

He nodded, silent as he got up, placing a tender kiss to her forehead as she reached over, grabbing the pen and paper Brian had left for her on the stand, she scribbing down what had ran through her head, adding more as it ran through her mind.