Status: Completed, after eleven months and four days. XD

Baby Just Say Yes

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Where's Ray? Is she alright?" Brian asked rushedly as he sat up in the hospital bed the next morning, unaware of his surroundings. His mom and dad, who had been sleeping on a chair next to the wall, heard him wake up and ran to him.

"Bri! Oh, thank God you're awake!" Suzie said, relief lining her words. Papa Gates stood behind her, his arm in a sling, his unbroken arm resting on her shoulder.

"Dad, what happened?" Brian asked worriedly.

"One of them came into the house and tried to hit your mother." Papa Gates said darkly. "He didn't get very far."

"What abou--"Brian started. His mother rubbed his arm and tried to calm him down.

"Rayleigh's in the next room over with her mom and Adam." She said quietly. "She's in critical condition, and he's going to be okay."

"What happened?" Brian asked.

"Her father shot her mother, and then attempted to stab her. Adam intervened and got stabbed instead. Otherwise she wouldn't be alive." Suzie said, her voice very serious.

"Ray's been worried about you, though. I'll go get her, and we'll let you have some privacy."

"Thanks, Mom. You too, Dad." Brian said quietly, waiting for her to walk into the room. Brian looked at her with a frown on his face when she did walk in. She had bandages on her face, and her right arm was in a sling. She had bruises covering her pale skin, and she had a cut above her left eye.

"He did all that to you?" Brian asked her. She looked at him and nodded.

"Yeah. But it was worth it." She smiled.

"Nothing is worth that kind of pain, Ray."

"There's one thing." She said. "One thing that got me through that."

"What?" He asked her, knowing she wasn't going to give in.

"You. And Matt. Knowing that you guys would pull through is what got me through."

She smiled. He looked at her and grabbed the hand she was offering him.

"You know I love you, right?" He asked her. Her eyes widened, but she nodded.

"It's been too long since I've heard you say it." She admitted. "But I know it's true."

"I promise that I'll start saying it more often." He told her.

"I hear something under that." She smiled nervously, knowing what he was getting at.

"After this ordeal, Ray, I realized something. After the death threats on you, and all the sick things your father's done to you over the years. Like forbidding you from having a life, and not understanding when you wouldn't be his precious little robot." He said. She smiled, but didn't speak. She knew he wanted to finish what he was saying. He continued, "And during those three years, I had pretty much no idea what had happened to you. I'd ask Matt, but he wouldn't tell me. Then after this last thing that's happened to us, me almost dying, you almost dying, I came to another realization. I love you more than anything, but that's already something I knew. What I didn't know is that I don't want to be apart from you again."

"In what way?" She smiled.

"In any way. That's why I'm asking you to marry me." He grinned sheepishly at her. "I know we're both young, particularly you, but I think it's the real deal, and I never ask something I'm not sure of the answer."

"And what if..." She started. He stopped her.

"Baby, just say yes." He whispered to her, pulling her onto the bed on top of him. She grinned at him.

"Would I be able to say no to a face like that? Come on, Brian." She joked. "Yes."

Not paying attention to the pain, he pulled her face towards his and kissed her.

"Ahem. There are other friends of yours that are hurt too." Matt's voice said from the door to the hospital room.