Shining Through the Shadow of a Star

We were still waiting in the hospital. Claire was still sobbing on the floor, refusing to take Joe's request to 'get some air', and each one of us was scattered around, in a corner of the room that seemed to be smaller now. Except for Lauren and Kevin who seemed to be sitting closer to each other than they should be. We heard snickers' squeaks on the freshly cleaned floor and I immediately looked up to see Matt walking in with Mary, his arm around her fragile shoulder as if trying to keep her up. Her head hung low, and it was obvious that she was ashamed of what she has done. Claire hadn't noticed that she came back yet, because she was still denying Joe's offers, but neither did Lauren and Kevin. Something was up but I decided to let it go for now and I will ask about it later once I have her on her own.
"You found her?" Claire coughed out in a surprise.

Matt nodded his head, his aviators still on. He seemed to wear them all the time even when he is inside. Zacky approached them and stepped in front of Mary who still hadn't looked up yet. He was obviously mad.
Mary, who felt his presence, shook Matt's arm off of her shoulder but still did not dare to look at him. "Look up." He ordered her in a determined voice. Everyone was silent by now. "Now talk. Explain yourself." He said as soon as she raised her head and their eyes met. She kept her silence. "We can never get you to shut up when it's needed and now you chose to be calm!?" he said, his tone getting higher with each word he pronounced. Silent tears slid down her face.

He took her wrist in his hand and spun her around, towards the room she was in. "Zachary, remember that she didn’t heal yet and can't handle all that." Matt yelled to him.

"He needs himself some anger management." Joe said.

"They both do." Matt told him.

"No, he needs to be raised the good way." Denise spoke. Based on what Nick told me before, she was never afraid of speaking her mind, which can be a very good thing most of the time but not in this case.

That ticked Matt off. "Mrs. Jonas, I never disrespected anyone on purpose in my whole life but I would not tolerate you insulting two of the best parents that I've known. And I'm sure that they raised Zack better than you would have been able to."

Suddenly, we heard shouts from the room they were in. "You want me to calm down Zacky? Me!?" Mary had said. "Have you seen yourself?"

"Look, I'm sorry that I've been looking for your best, okay!?" Zacky yelled back. "I'm sorry that I don’t want to make a fool of myself and of you in front of kids!" he put so much pressure on the word kid except that none of us was under eighteen here.

"These kids, these KIDS Zachary, are my best friends! These kids got me out of my depression when Gena, who was supposed to be my best friend forever, sold me out! These kids know me better than you do. These kids don't just want to FUCK me and they know I have feelings! Ever heard of those, Zachary!? Ever had feelings!?"

After that, the screaming was shut. "Great. She's playing the role of the innocent baby now." Jordin muttered.

"Mom, I suggest you and Jordin leave and go have some rest at home." Joe told them, not looking at either of them.

Before either of them could say anything, Mary came out of the door in a fleeting movement, tears streaming down her face, her hair and looks all looking like a mess. She didn’t look at either of us and ran her way to the elevator. Two nurses stopped her but she wouldn’t say anything other than the normal protesting 'no's. She struggled and managed to knock the two nurses to the floor but Matt was fast enough not to let her go. He held on her waist tight but she still was kicking and screaming. "Calm down and talk to me!" he yelled.
Her tense body immediately seemed to loosen, and she wasn’t kicking anymore. "Remember what we talked about?" He told her. She nodded. He whispered something in her ear that I wasn’t able to capture. "Now tell me what happened."

"He hit me." She said in a monotone low voice. "The bastard hit me!" She screamed.

"Okay, okay, calm down. I will deal with that sweetie. You trust me don't you?" she nodded again.

Zacky was still in the room, we don’t know why. Maybe he was regretting what he did? Maybe he didn’t want to face us after what he has said about us?

Denise got up to leave. "Jordin, sweetie, I'm leaving now if you want to come."

"No I think I will stay for a bit more, but thank you." She smiled at her.

Before Denise could reach the elevator, her phone went off. "Hello? Yes, we're still in the hospital but I was just leaving… You want to talk to them? Just Nick? Okay, hold on." She held the phone away from her ear and placed her hand on top of it. She came back to where she was. "Nick, your father needs you. He wants to know when you guys will come back because you have so much work to do before tour."

Nick took the phone from her hand. "Yes dad, it's me… Yeah, no she's okay now. She just needs to rest. No I don’t know yet, but when do you want us there? Sure, I will tell them." He shut the phone and handed it back to his mum. "Dad, wants us three and you Jordin in the studio in half an hour. Now that everything is okay."

The guys and Jordin all got up, saying their goodbyes and how they will see us later. Lauren decided to tag along. I should seriously talk to her. She can't go on doing this just because she has a celebrity crush on Kevin… but maybe, it's not just that?

"Alright, let's get you to bed." Matt said to Mary, carrying her bridal style and going to the room. Her eyes were slowly dropping meaning she was getting tired and needed her sleep. He took her to the room leaving Claire and I to talk about the whole Kevin/Lauren situation.