Forget All You Know

"If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world."
-Mercedes Lackey

Tom's P.O.V.

Billy Joel once said, "The good old days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems." What bullshit. First off, Mr. Joel, let me just inform you that the "good old days" were perfect! Actually, they were beyond perfect. They were so amazing that there isn't even a word to describe them! And the future? My future? Well, let's just say that it's royally fucked.

The day after Lila showed up, I checked my email, just for the hell of it. I was trying to do anything to get my mind off of her. So, I checked my email. The normal news articles popped up: a murder, a plane crash with only three survivors, and a woman who managed to have ten kids. I sighed and checked my email, not really bothering to even read any of them. As I was turning off my laptop, the phone rung, so I went to pick it up.

"Hello?" I asked as I answered the phone.

"Hey, it's Jazzie," she said. "Come to the hospital now."

"Why?" I whined, not wanting to go out. I figured that Danny had probably broken something. That really wouldn't surprise me. He was definitely the most accident prone person that I'd ever met. He was constantly hurting himself or other people. Not intentionally, of course. He was just so absentminded that he would never notice when he was about to hurt himself. I guess he was just a natural klutz.

"Tom, just get here now," Jazzie said before hanging up, not even bothering to say goodbye.

I didn't want to go, but I did anyways.

Jazzie's P.O.V.

I nervously sat in front of the hospital room, anxiously awaiting Tom to come. Tears filled my eyes every time that I thought about what had happened. I didn't even know how it had happened. I was so confused about everything. And the worst part was that nobody was even here yet. I called all of them. Everyone. But, no one had shown yet. I knew that they were on their way, but I still didn't like the feeling of being all alone with no one to comfort me.

"Jazz, what happened?" Dougie asked as he walked up to me with Tom. "Did Danny break something?"

"No," I said as I looked at Tom, trying to keep my tears locked in my eyes. "D-Did you guys hear ab-bout that plane crash that ha-appened yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"It was heading for N-New York," I said as Dougie looked at me with a confused look in his eyes. Tom, though, knew what I was getting at. His mouth fell opened slightly and a look of pure horror spread across his face. His hand flew up to his blonde hair as I saw the tears beginning to form.

"I don't get it," Dougie said as I sniffled. "What has that got to do with us?"

"Don't say it, Jazz," Tom said weakly. "Please don't say she was on it."

I simply nodded as Tom let out a sob and pushed past me. He ran into the hospital room and...well, I don't know if I can talk about what happened next. It breaks my heart just thinking about what happened next. I still get nightmares of just that one scene repeating itself over and over again. I'll try for you, though.

Tom kept screaming Lila's name as he collapsed next to her motionless body. He was screaming apologies and telling her how much he loved her, but she couldn't hear a word. He held onto her hand as he continued to sob, on the brink of breaking down. I began to cry as well, causing Dougie to pull me into a hug. His blue orbs were illuminating despair as he rocked me back and forth.

"Are you her doctor?!" Tom asked as a tall, graying man walked into the room fifteen minutes later.

"Yes, I am," he said as Tom tore his gaze from Lila and walked up to the man, still sobbing. "Are you related to Ms. Paterson?"

"I'm her fiance," Tom said as more tears began to fall from his eyes. "Well, ex-fiance. But, we're the only thing that she can call family over here. Please, doctor, tell me what happened."

"Well, she was in a plane crash. She's lucky to be alive really. Only three people survived," he said as Tom ran a hand through his hair, not even bothering to conceal his tears. "I'm sorry to say that she suffered brain damage and is in a coma."

"Well, when is she going to wake up?" Tom asked desperately as he looked back at Lila. He was so heartbroken and it killed me to see two of my best friends suffering so much.

"It could be a day, or it could be a year. We can't say for sure when she'll wake up or even if she'll wake up," the doctor said as Tom's face went stony. I let out a sob as Danny, Harry, and Kate walked into the scene.

"What's going on? What happened?" Harry asked as Kate screamed upon seeing Lila. Danny, on the other hand, came up and took me from Dougie, wrapping his long arms around my waist.

"How can you not know?!" Tom suddenly screamed at the doctor. "How can you not know if she'll wake up?! You're a doctor, aren't you?! This is your fucking job!"

"Sir, I know that you're upset about your friend, but there's honestly nothing that I can do until she wakes up."

"My friend?! She's not just my friend! I'm in love with her!" Tom screamed at the doctor as I buried my head in Danny's chest. The doctor calmed Tom down as Dougie explained what happened to Danny, Harry, and Kate. I just cried. I couldn't even speak, or think properly. I didn't know what was going to happen and it was scary to me. I always liked knowing what would happen, so you can just imagine how scared I was at the moment.

"Did you know that she was even here?" Danny whispered in my ear as I shook my head and began crying some more. "Neither did I."

"Tom, what happened? Why was she here?" Harry asked gently as he approached Tom, who was hunched over on his knees beside Lila's hospital bed. He sobbed quietly, his hands enveloping hers.

"She got my message," Tom said as Kate put a hand on his shoulder. "She quit her job and came over here to tell me that she still loved me too. But, that was the night that I went on that date with Jamie. And, she saw Jamie in my apartment and assumed that I moved on, when I didn't. So, she got mad and left. I was so close to being with her again. But, I fucked it up and now look where she is."

"It's not your fault," Dougie said as he sat on the other side of Lila and took hold of the hand that Tom wasn't holding on to.

"Yes, it is," Tom said with his head hung low, his blonde hair masking his muddy brown eyes. "If I hadn't gone on that date with Jamie - or even tried harder to make her stay - she wouldn't be here. She wouldn't have gotten on that plane and she wouldn't be in this mess. We'd be happy. We'd be able to spend the rest of our lives together. And now I don't even know if I'll get to spend another day with her."

"She'll wake up," I said as Danny squeezed me closer to him. "Lila won't give up, Tom."

"Yeah," Kate agreed. "And when she wakes up, everything will be better."

"You'll get married," Dougie piped in.

"If only I could believe you guys," Tom said as he squeezed onto Lila's hand tighter.