AN: Last chapter, okay? With an epilogue coming so we can see how everything turned out.

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Clem opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a white room bathed with light, and flowers everywhere. She slowly turned her head and saw her sister and mother sitting in chairs pulled up to the bed. Her mom was asleep, but Hy looked at her and smiled encouragingly.

"Hello, sleeping beauty," she teased, reaching out to squeeze Clem's hand.

"Mom? Clemmy's awake," she continued, nudging their mom with her free hand.

Jill stirred, opening her eyes and sitting up. "Hey there, baby girl," she murmured, rising and leaning forward to press a kiss to Clem's forehead.

"What's going on? Why am I in the hospital? Where's John?"

Saying John's name brought all of the horrible events spilling over into her brain: being chased by the pap, John driving too fast, hitting the tree—

"Johnny? How's John?" she asked, grasping Hy's hand with trembling fingers.

"Shh, let's not talk about John right now," Jill admonished gently, smoothing Clem's hair away from her forehead. "Kimmy and Ryan were just here, they had to leave for class, but they'll be back later, okay?"

Suddenly Clem could see everything in the room with vivid clarity, from the myriad flowers to the TV bolted to the wall to the equipment that was monitoring her off to her left.

"Mom? Hy? No, please, tell me about John right now, please," Clem begged, struggling to sit up in the hospital bed.

"Shh, Clem, don't move, I'll do that for you," Hy said, moving the lever that raised the bed.

"John? Please?" Clem reiterated as soon as she was sitting up.

Jill sighed. "John's in a coma, Clementine. As far as they can tell, he had some sort of trauma to his spine and neck, though no bleeding in his brain, thankfully. His family is with him now."

Clem started to cry. "I have to be with him, Mom, I have to." She started to try to get out of bed, which was ridiculous considering how many tubes and pieces of equipment were holding her there. A sharp pain in her midsection made her gasp for breath.

"Is anything actually wrong with me?" she cried out in frustration, gesturing at all of the paraphernalia. "Surely I don't need all this crap?"

Hy gently pushed her back into the bed. "You have a fractured ankle and some bruised ribs," she told her sister. "You're going to be fine, but you're not ready for the Olympics just yet, sis, so settle down."

"I want to see John," she said again. "Please find out how to make this happen. I feel fine."

"I'll go find someone," Jill soothed, rising from her chair. "Please, try to stay calm, okay?"
Reluctantly, Clementine nodded, forcing herself to relax.

Hy took her hand once more and the sisters watched their mother leave the room.

"So I saw you make a face when you tried to sit up," Hy said. "Those will be your bruised ribs. The doctor said they'll heal on their own, but it might be hard for you to take deep breaths for a while. He's given you something for the pain, do you remember?"

Clem shook her head. The last thing she remembered clearly was riding in the ambulance with her sister. Everything else was a blur.

"What happened? How did you happen to be there right when we hit the tree?" Clem asked. "You were the first one there."

"I was actually just leaving the set," Hy said, blue eyes serious. "You guys must've gone around in a big circle or something, because you left, like, ten minutes before I did."

Clem explained about being followed by the pap, and John trying to elude him. "He started driving too fast, trying to get away, you know? And he didn't know the neighborhood very well, so it wouldn't surprise me if we did end up back close to where you were." Clem gave an involuntary shudder as she recalled the squealing of tires, and the tree coming at them at an impossible angle.

"And then he just drove away," Hy concluded, her voice clipped with anger. "That fucking paparazzi caused you guys to nearly die, and then he just—left." She squeezed her sister's hand. "I'm going to find out who it was if it's the last thing I ever do," she assured Clem.

Jill was apparently extremely persuasive. She opened the door to Clem's room and entered with a smile on her face. "They're going to send an orderly with a wheelchair to take you to Johnny, okay?" She took her seat once again.

"Thanks, mom," Clementine said, relaxing a little more.

Just then the door opened, and Anastasia entered, bringing her vivid energy with her.

"Oh my god, Clementine, I came as soon as I heard," she said, eyes bright with worry. She leaned in and kissed Clem on the cheek. "The front of the hospital's a real zoo, with all the photographers and fans and stuff? I almost gave up and went home, but I really wanted to see that you were okay with my own eyes."

"Photographers and fans?"

"For Johnny," Anastasia clarified gently. "It's been all over the news and the internet and stuff."

"For all we know, the person who caused all this is out there right now, trying to get in and take some pictures," Hy said grimly.

"We were being chased by a paparazzi," Clementine explained to her friend. "It made John go too fast, and he took a crazy turn, and the sun was shining in our eyes, and—and—"

"Shh, you don't have to tell me," Anastasia assured her, rubbing her arm. "I just wanted to check and see that you're all right."

"This might set us back a little with our plans," Clementine fretted. "I mean, I don't know when I'll be back to full strength and up to working on the jackets—"

"Don't give it another thought," Anastasia interrupted again, gently. "There's no rush, it will all be waiting when you're ready, okay? Please don't worry."

Clem nodded, grateful.

The orderly arrived just then, a cheerful, beefy man named Hollis. "I hear you want to get over and see that young man of yours," he said, gesturing toward the wheelchair.

The nurse entered right behind Hollis to disconnect Clem from everything for the trip to the ICU to see John.

"This seems like a good time for me to go, then," Anastasia called from the door. "You take care, we'll talk soon, okay?"

Clementine nodded. "Thanks for coming to see me," she said.

"Of course, you're my friend."

"She seems nice," Jill said as Hollis helped Clem into the wheelchair.

"She's one of the most successful artists in LA right now," Hy elaborated. "I think it's totally amazeballs that she's going to work with Clem on her clothing business."

Clem didn't care about Ana or the business or anything else, she just wanted to go see John.

Hy and Jill both rose from their chairs, but Hollis stopped them. "You two won't be allowed in the room with her, you might want to just wait right here where you're comfortable."

"Clem? You going to be okay by yourself?" Jill asked with concern.

"I'll be fine, just wait here," Clem assured her, holding on to her last shred of patience.

And finally, Hollis wheeled her out into the hallway, and they were on their way to see John.

Clementine lost track of the lefts and rights that they took, though she did notice they went up to the twelfth floor in a huge, shiny elevator.

When they finally arrived, it was only to be told that John was not there because he was getting another set of scans done on his head.

Hollis wheeled Clem into his room to wait, and Clem saw that there were already two people there; his parents, she assumed.

His mother was a petite blond woman with John's finely chiseled features, while his father was very tall and had skin and hair similar to John's.

"Hello, Clementine, it's a pleasure to meet you, though I wish it were under different circumstances," his mother said, extending a hand. "I'm Elizabeth, and this is my husband, Robert."

"Hello, my dear," he said, his voice surprisingly deep. "Glad to see you're up and about. This has been quite the ordeal."

They both had accents like Prince Charles, Clem noted in passing, kind of like Johnny himself, thought his accent had softened somewhat due to how much time he spent away from England.

"Hello, Mr. and Ms. Darling-Ezekwesili," Clementine responded.

"Oh, no, please, call us Liz and Rob, our last name is quite the mouthful," Elizabeth requested, and even under the circumstances, she had a smile for Clem, for which Clem was grateful.

"It's really important to John. Your last name, I mean," Clem said.

Elizabeth nodded, and Clem could see tears in her eyes. "Such things seem so trivial now," she explained. "To see our son fighting for his life really puts everything into perspective, you know?"

Clementine nodded and hugged Elizabeth as best she could from her wheelchair.

"He should be returning anytime now," Robert said, gesturing toward the door.

As if on cue, the door opened, and they wheeled John in.

Clem felt tears spring to her own eyes as she looked at John, lying on the gurney. His head was strapped to a board, his arms and legs immobilized for his own safety. He looked lifeless and pale under the glaring lights of the hospital room.

Clem wheeled her chair as close as she could, and John's parents backed up a little. "Would you like us to leave, give you a little privacy?" Rob asked, putting a hand on Clem's shoulder.

Clementine shook her head. "I'm not saying good bye or anything, he's not going to die," she said firmly. "He's going to wake up, and be fine, so no, I don't need any privacy, honest."

John's mother turned her head into her husband's shoulder at Clementine's words, then turned to look at her. "Thank you, thank you for saying that," she said, nodding for emphasis.

Clem leaned forward as far as she could, so she could just make out his face. "John? Johnny? It's me, it's Clementine, I'm here, John, okay?"

She rose on her one good leg and turned to sit on the edge of the bed so she could see him better. "I love you, John, I really do, you're the only one I've ever loved, the only one who's ever loved me. Don't you go anywhere we can't be together, you hear me? Don't you leave me!"

A tear dropped from Clem's chin onto the sheet. She hadn't even realized she was crying.

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cool lips while reaching to grasp his limp hand.

She put her head on his chest, though her own protested at the pain in her ribs.

"Clem?"

At first, Clementine thought she'd imagined it, and she kept her head down on his chest, taking comfort in the slow up and down of his breaths.

"Clementine?" It was barely a whisper.

Clementine lifted her head to see that John's eyes were open, and he was looking at her, aware of who she was.

"Oh my god, John?" She turned to look at his parents, who were sitting up, staring. "Johnny, you're awake! No, don't try to move, you're all strapped down right now."

"What happened?" he rasped out. "Am I in hospital?"

"We were in an accident," Clem told him, squeezing his hand. "No no, I'm fine," she assured him when his eyes widened in alarm at her words. "They're still worried about you, but you're going to be fine, okay?" She leaned forward, wincing at the pain in her ribs.

"You don't seem fine," John said, and Clem was overjoyed to hear the fire in his words, the strength. "You're in pain, Clem!" His tone was accusing.

"I have a few bruised ribs, that's all," Clem assured him. Behind her, she heard his father rising to go in search of someone to tell them that John was awake. "Thank goodness you're awake, Johnny! Look, here's your mother."

"John? It's me, it's mum," Liz said, wiping her tears to grasp his other hand and stroke his cheek.

"Mum? What are you doing here?" John blinked.

"Where else would I be, silly child? Dad's just gone to fetch the doctor, he'll be back in a moment."

Rob entered the room with a nurse, explaining that a doctor was on the way, but Clem didn't care. John was awake, and she knew he was going to be fine.

"Clem? Clementine?" John's soft voice was urgent.

"Yes, John, I'm here." Clem leaned forward.

"I love you, Clem."

"I love you too, John, I love you too." And Clem sat back, still holding his hand, to wait for the doctor to tell her that the man she loved would be fine. The sun shone into the room and across his bed, illuminating his smile at her words.

The End