As Long As You're Alive Here I Am

"Two weeks." Quinn sighed.

"Do we tell Anna?" Bert asked.

"What else do we do?" Quinn said.

"She's going to freak out if we tell her." Jeph said, rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"Not as bad if she sees her mom just show up on the front doorstep." Quinn said.

"Okay. So, do we tell her right now?" Bert asked.

"She already had a bit of a problem when she saw who was calling." Quinn said.

"Why did she start choking anyway?" Bert asked.

"Well, look at her. She's terrified of her mother calling. She had an attack." Jeph said.

"Let's go. The sooner we tell her the sooner she can move on." Quinn said, pushing himself up from the counter he was leaning on.

"Alright." Bert and Jeph sighed in frustration.

They knew they had a wrestling match ahead of them. Anna was not easy to control when her emotions got the best of her. She would thrash around, throw things, scream, cry, hit herself and the guys...

"Anna," The guys called as they entered the music room.

They saw that the room was completely vacant. Anna wasn't anywhere to be seen in there. Dan wasn't in there like they left him either.

Out on the balcony, Anna sat in one of the patio chairs while Dan sat in another. They sat there in silence. They looked out into the sky as birds flew by and a light cool breeze made their hair dance around.

"Anna!" The guys' voices could be heard from inside.

Anna sat quietly, ignoring them. Dan on the other hand sat up straight and turned to look behind himself.

"They'll find us eventually." Anna said calmly.

Despite what Anna said, Dan got up to go find the guys. Anna rolled her eyes and continued staring out at nothing.

"Yo, were out on the balcony." Dan said when he found the guys looking into Anna's room.

"Anna's mom is coming in two weeks." Quinn said as he closed the door behind them.

"Is she taking Anna away?" Dan asked. It was the first thing to come to his mind. He didn't want to see Anna leave. He was becoming just as afraid as Anna was about leaving.

"Who said she was going anywhere?" Quinn asked, looking strangely at Dan.

"Well, Anna said..." Then he remembered what Anna said about the guys not knowing about what she knew.

"Her mom is just coming to see her. Anna is not going anywhere as of right now." Quinn said bitterly, walking away from the guys and locking himself in his room.

The guys looked at Quinn strangely. Why was he all touchy? They shrugged it off and went to find Anna on the balcony.

Quinn went and sat on his bed. He stared angrily out his window. How could she do this? He stood up and went to his window. He opened it and stuck his head out to get some air. How could Anna's mom do this? He punched the wall angrily. His teeth grinded together in frustration. Anna wasn't going anywhere! Her mom was not going to throw her in a stupid psychiatric ward! He wouldn't let her.

"Anna!" He heard the guys yell in panic.

Quinn stuck his head further out the window to hear.

"Anna get off of there! You're going to fall!" They yelled again.

"What for?" Anna said lazily, turning to look at the guys.

"You'll kill yourself!" Jeph yelled.

"Really? You think so?" Anna chuckled. "Maybe it'll work this time. The suicide thing I mean." She smiled crookedly.

Something in Anna's voice scared the guys. It had some sort of casual edge to it. She was taking the whole idea of suicide like it was nothing. What was she going to do? She couldn't possibly jump off to her death, could she?

Quinn heard Anna, but faintly. He heard fall, suicide, maybe, work. He then remembered that Anna was on the balcony. He brought his head in and sprinted out onto the balcony.

"Anna, don't you dare contemplate suicide! Get off now!" Quinn shouted when he got outside.

The guys snapped their heads around to see Quinn standing there heaving and pointing a stern finger at Anna. They turned around and saw Anna wasn't on the edge of the wall anymore.

"Anna!" They yelled in shock.

Quinn stared in horror. He scared Anna. He couldn't bare the thought of bringing Anna to her death. He dropped to his knees on the hard tiled floor.

"Help me." Anna's voice came.

The guys rushed over to the wall. There was Anna hanging on with one hand to the edge of the wall. Quinn couldn't hear anything. He hadn't realized that the guys rushed over to help Anna who was hanging on for dear life. Tears filled his eyes and swirls of white noise filled his ears.

"Anna, hang on." Bert said over the edge.

"Don't unclasp her hands!" Dan said to Jeph. Dan reached down over the edge and wrapped one hand around Anna's wrist and the other on her forearm. He pulled her up and they both fell to the tiled floor of the balcony.

"Anna, don't do that again!" Bert said, hugging Anna to himself.

"You're crazy, Anna!" Jeph exclaimed, embracing Anna as well.

Dan took a deep breath and looked back at Quinn who was on his knees and crying into his hands.

Anna looked up through teary eyes and saw Quinn on the ground crying. She got up and went to sit in front of him.

"Quinn, I'm still here." Anna said.

"Oh no! Her ghost is going to haunt me now!" Quinn cried harder. "Wait- Anna!" Quinn shrieked when he looked up and saw Anna there in front of him. "God, you insane person! Never do that! I very damn near had a heart attack!" He said, taking Anna into his arms and holding her tightly.

They both cried into each other's shoulders. The guys watched them. They knew Quinn and Anna were best friends. They couldn't imagine them ever being separated. They balanced each other out. When Anna was near going insane there was Quinn to put some sense into her. When Quinn was in a funk there was Anna to get him out of it. When they were kids they'd be their being scolded together. Seeing Anna leave back to Utah would kill Quinn.