If You Only Knew

Darren's POV

"Heard anything yet?" I looked up at Chris to find him holding out a coffee cup to me.

"Not yet," I sighed, taking the cup from him. "They won't tell me anything because 'I'm not family'."

"But you're her boyfriend!" Chris exclaimed. "You're like the closest thing to family that she has here!"

"I know!" I huffed. "But apparently that's not good enough for them. Stuck up b-"

"Family of Kaley Grant?" a nurse's voice suddenly cut into the room. I looked up at the sound of her voice, my heart skipping a beat when I heard her say Kaley's name.

"Here!" I called out, quickly standing up and moving over to her. Her pale grey eyes looked me over with skepticism, her lips pursing into a frown.

"And what's your relationship to Miss Grant?" the greying haired woman before me asked.

"I'm her boyfriend," I replied anxiously.

"I'm sorry, but I need to speak to a family member," she stated firmly.

"She doesn't have any family in this country," Leah's voice suddenly announced. I looked up to see her walking towards us, a small back pack hanging off her shoulder.

"And you are?" the nurse sighed.

"Leah Tanner," Leah replied bluntly. "Roommate and best friend. We're both from Canada originally, so she has no family anywhere nearby that you can contact. I should be on her emergency call list." The woman looked down at the clipboard in her hands, nodding slowly as she read what must have been Leah's name.

"That will have to do," I heard her mumble softly. She slowly looked back up at us, her eyes flickering back to me briefly with what looked like annoyance before they landed back on Leah.

"You may see Miss Grant then, Miss Tanner," she said. "But only you."

"What?!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air. "Why can't we come?" I gestured towards Chris and myself.

"You are not on Miss Grant's emergency call list, so you do not have authorization to come," she replied emotionlessly. "You may visit Miss Grant during our normal visiting hours."

"Please, can't you just make an exception for me?" I pleaded. "Kaley's my girlfriend and I just need to see her and know that she's okay."

"I'm sorry, but no," she replied sharply before turning to Leah. "Now if you would just follow me please."

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" I exclaimed as she started to lead Leah away.

Leah quickly glanced back at me and mouthed, "I'm sorry," as she followed the grouchy woman away.

"That is freaking bull!" I growled as I walked back over to my seat and dropped down onto it. "I'm her boyfriend! I freaking rode here with her and they won't even let me see her?!"

"Someone didn't get enough coffee today," Chris commented, sitting down beside me and taking a sip from his coffee cup. I sighed as I slowly picked up my own coffee cup that I had abandoned when the nurse had walked in.

"Grumpy old bag," I murmured, smirking slightly as I took a sip from the cup.

"Excuse me," a soft voice suddenly said. I looked up to find another nurse, a much younger and sweeter looking one, standing in front of us. Her blonde hair was falling out of the bun that she had pulled it back into and she nervously reached up with a shaky hand to tuck a loose strand behind her ear. Her light green eyes flickered up at me before shyly dropping down again.

"Hi, can we help you?" Chris asked gently.

"Actually, I might be able to help you," she replied with a small smile. "I was passing by and I couldn't help but overhear you talking to Darla. Are you... are you really dating that girl?" She was looking at me with wide, expectant eyes.

"Umm, yes?" I nodded slowly.

"So it's true then," she exclaimed softly. "You really do have a new girlfriend!"

Oh, she's a fan! I suddenly realized. In the chaos of everything that had happened, I had actually forgotten that I was famous.

"Yes," I smiled at her. "I have a new girlfriend. But just because that's true doesn't mean that everything that you read is true. We actually weren't dating when the papers started printing about us. We were just friends and our feelings for each other slowly grew and why am I telling you all of this?" I suddenly blushed as I realized that I was rambling.

"Sorry," I blushed. "It's just things are still new with her, and with her having to deal with all the rumours and haters and now this-"

"Actually that's what I wanted to talk to you about," she smiled. "I can get you into her room, if you want."

"You can?" I exclaimed, my eyes widening as I jumped up.

"Uh huh," she beamed, nodding her head proudly. "Come on, I can take you right to her." She quickly turned and beckoned us to follow her, quickly leading us out of the Waiting Room.

"I'm Alicia, by the way," she told us as we followed her down the hallway.

"And I think that you already know who we are," I grinned back. "Thank you so much for doing this, Alicia. I've been so worried about her and the other lady was being such a jerk and-"

"It's no problem," she laughed. "I'm happy to be able to help you. And yeah, Darla's always been like that. She's the strict, 'follow the rules' kind of woman. She takes some getting used to. Well, here we are." She stopped in front of a closed door that had its blinds pulled down.

"Thanks again, Alicia," I smiled. "If there's anyway that I can repay you..."

"A picture would be awesome," she replied eagerly. "And maybe an autograph? That would mean so much to me."

"Of course," I smiled, leaning closer to her as she pulled out her phone.

"Umm, Chris, could you-" she started to ask.

"Yeah, I can take the picture," he sighed, reaching for the phone.

"No," she shook her head. "I want you to be in it too."

"Oh!" his face lit up. "Sure." He moved around to her other side and we both leaned in as she held her phone out and snapped a picture. As she looked it over, I pulled out my notebook from my pocket and scribbled down a thank you to her, specifically addressing it to her, before passing it to Chris to sign as well.

"Thank you," she squealed softly as I handed her the page.

"Thank you," I replied, my eyes flickering back to the door. "So much. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Happy to help," she smiled as she reluctantly turned away and left us.

I took a deep breath as I put my hand on the doorknob and opened the door. I slowly peeked my head into the room, my eyes instantly catching those of the person lying on the bed.

"Darren!" Kaley exclaimed, her eyes lighting up as she saw me.

"Kaley," I smiled, quickly moving all the way into the room and over to the chair beside the bed. I grabbed her hand as I slid into the chair and gave it a light squeeze.

"How are you?" I asked, my eyes flickering up to the fresh stitches on her forehead. Kaley noticed where my eyes had shifted to and raised her hand self-consciously to cover the mark.

"I'm fine," she said softly, lowering her gaze. "It didn't have to be stitched up, but they wanted to do it just so that it would close up properly. I still might end up with a small scar though."

"That's okay," I replied encouragingly, squeezing her hand again. "Maybe it'll look like a lightning bolt and then you'll be my own personal Harry Potter."

That got a chuckle out of her and she looked back up at me, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

"You would like that, wouldn't you," she grinned.

"You know I would," I grinned back, staring deep into her eyes.

I want to kiss you so badly right now, I silently told her. But I refrained from doing so. She was still in a sensitive place after what had happened and I didn't want to unsettle her by doing anything intimate.

"Ok, so when you two lovebirds are done making googly eyes at each other, would you mind including the rest of us in on your conversation?" Leah's voice commented teasingly. We both looked up to where she and Chris were standing and gave them identical sheepish grins.

"Sorry," we both mumbled at the same time. Our eyes instantly locked on each others' as we realized what we had done and we both burst out laughing. I glanced back over at Leah and Chris to find them rolling their eyes at us. They looked at each other and smirked, a silent joke passing between them.

A knock at the door suddenly cut off our laughter. My eyes flickered over to Chris, a slight feeling of panic passing through me as I realized that we technically weren't allowed to be in here. I was suddenly worried that it would be the grumpy nurse from earlier and I felt Kaley's hand tighten around mine as the door opened, mimicking my own fear. Instead of the nurse, a young doctor with short, dark, curly hair entered. He frowned slightly when he saw us, but his eyes quickly flickered down to our interlocked hands and he smiled.

"You must be Darren," he said to me.

"I am," I nodded slowly, casting a quizzical glance at Kaley, who lowered her head slightly as she blushed.

"You were the first person that she asked for when she woke up," the doctor explained with a grin. "She kept saying 'Where's Darren? I need to find Darren.' It was quite endearing. You've definitely got yourself a keeper here." He gave us a playful wink before glancing down at the clipboard in his hands.

"Thanks," I grinned back, squeezing Kaley's hand again. "She definitely is a keeper, Doctor..."

"Hanover," he supplied instantly with a smile before his face turned more serious. "Now it says here that you were the one who made the call, correct?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"Alright, so you are aware of what happened then?" he asked gently.

"I-I think so," I replied slowly. "It was dark but when I realized what he was doing to her-" Kaley's grip suddenly got tighter in my hand and I snuck a glance at her. Her face had gone pale and her eyes were wide as she stared at the doctor with an intense, scared look on her face.

"What did it say?" she asked, her voice barely audible.

"Well, Miss Grant," Doctor Hanover sighed. "I just got your test results back and..." His lips slowly pulled up into a smile. "They came back as negative."

Both Kaley and Leah let out a deep breath and as I turned back to Kaley again, I noticed the tears in her eyes.

"Kaley, what is it?" I asked anxiously. "What's wrong? What's negative?"

"Nothing's wrong," she smiled softly, fighting back the tears that threatened to overflow her eyes. "Everything is... He didn't... He didn't do it! I'm still..." She cut herself off as she glanced over at Leah and smiled. "He didn't take it, Leah. He didn't take it."

It took me a second to actually clue in to what they were talking about.

"The rape test... came back as negative," I said slowly, making sure that I was right. Kaley nodded, her lips spreading wide into a smile, as the tears started to roll down her cheeks.

For the first time in the past two hours, I finally felt myself relax. Kaley was okay. A little banged up, but she was fine. She was whole. She was not, as she was so revoltingly referred to as, damaged. I squeezed her hand again as a smile of my own spread across my lips.

"Now Miss Grant does have a slight concussion, so she will need to have someone with her at all times for at least the next twenty-four hours, though I don't think that that will be too difficult to arrange," Doctor Hanover stated, grinning at us as he said the last part. "With plenty of bed rest and relaxation, you will be good as new in no time. The cut should heal up nicely in about a week or two and, if it heals up properly, then you hopefully shouldn't have a scar."

"Or maybe hopefully you will, Potter," I whispered with a grin as I leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"You missed," she laughed as I pulled away. "My lips are right here." She tapped her lips playfully, looking at me expectantly.

"You sure?" I asked, not wanting to overstep.

"Please, you have no idea how badly I need one of your kisses right now," she replied very seriously.

"Alright," I laughed, leaning over again to place a kiss this time on her lips. As soon as my lips brushed against hers, I instantly felt her lean forward and press into the kiss. Her lips pressed against mine eagerly, hungrily inhaling the taste of my lips against her own.

When we finally broke apart for air, I heard her whisper, "So much better." I slowly opened my eyes and smiled at her.

I love you, I almost said. But for some reason, I held back. Maybe it was because I was still wary of how sensitive she could be right now. Or maybe it was because I didn't want to tell her something that special when she was lying in a hospital bed.

Someday when we tell our kids about the first time that I said I love you to their mamma, I don't want her to tell them that it was in a hospital. I want it to be romantic! ... Wait a second... Our kids? My eyes quickly flickered up to Kaley's to make sure that I hadn't said any of that out loud. Chris would never let me live it down if he knew what I had just thought!

Our kids, I grinned to myself. That actually doesn't have that bad of a ring to it. Our kids...

"I hate to break you two up, but I'm afraid that you will have to leave now," Doctor Hanover's voice cut through my thoughts.

"What?" I exclaimed unhappily, pulling away from Kaley to look at the doctor. "Why?"

"Visiting hours are technically over," Doctor Hanover stated. "And Miss Grant needs her rest. We'd like to keep her here for the rest of the night, but she can be picked up around noon, if that works for you."

I quickly glanced over at the clock on the wall and realized how late it was.

"Oh gosh, yes, we need to get our sleep too," Chris exclaimed, noticing the time as well. "Quarter after one! I never stay up this late! Not on a show night! We should go, Dare. Do you need a ride home, Leah?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm going to be staying the night here with Kaley. I've already cleared it with the hospital and I brought some extra clothes with me, along with some for Kaley." She gestured to the back pack that was now lying on the floor next to the bed.

"Why do you get to stay?" I pouted slightly.

"Because I don't have to do a show tomorrow and need my proper rest tonight," Leah replied with a slight chuckle. "Chris and I got all of the costumes done before we left so I don't have to be there as early. But you do, so you need to get going."

"Fine," I sighed, leaning down to give Kaley another quick kiss. "Good night, Kaley. I'll see you in a few hours, okay?"

"Okay," she nodded. "Good night. Sweet dreams."

"They will be if I'm dreaming about you," I grinned as I stood up and moved towards the door.

"You're a dork," she laughed.

"Yes, but I'm your dork," I laughed as well, giving her a small wink.

"Alright, come on, Darren," Chris sighed, grabbing my arm as he started to pull me out of the room. "That's enough lovey-dovey talk for one night! Good night, girls!"

"But-" I started to argue.

"Darren!" Chris cut me off, shooting me a warning glare.

"Fine!" I pouted, shooting one last glance over at Kaley. "Good night!" I quickly blew her a kiss and was able to see her catch it before Chris pulled me completely out of eye sight.

"Not cool, man," I said as I pulled my arm out of his grip. "Why'd you cut me off like that?"

"Because if I hadn't, then we'd be saying good night all night!" Chris exclaimed. "And unlike you, I need my beauty sleep!"

"You're such a drama queen," I remarked as we walked out of the hospital.

"Oh and you're not?" Chris retorted. "Mr. My Dreams Will Be Sweet Only If I'm Dreaming About You?"

"Hey, that was a cute line!" I exclaimed.

"That was a cheesy line and you know it!" Chris scoffed.

"Yeah," I grinned. "But the ladies love it anyways."

"Kaley was right," Chris smirked. "You are a dork."

"A very happy dork," I agreed, a huge smile beaming on my face.

"Come on, Mr. Happy Dork," Chris laughed. "I think I see our ride." Sure enough, a long, black limo pulled up before us. Chris opened the door and we both quickly slid into the back seat.

"Hey, Steven," I smiled at him as the dark window lowered.

"How is Miss Grant?" he asked immediately.

"She's doing fine," I grinned. "They said that we can come pick her up tomorrow."

"Good," Steven smiled as he turned back to face the front. "I like that one."

Me too, I grinned to myself as I felt the vehicle start to pull away. Me too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaley's POV

I slowly opened my eyes, blinking uncomfortably as the light hit them. As my vision cleared, I slowly looked around the room. It wasn't my room.

The hospital, I realized. I'm still at the hospital.

A small groan came from the small cot beside me and I looked over at the sleeping form lying there with a smile. Leah's hair was splayed all over the pillow and one of her arms was hanging off the side of the bed. She was fast asleep, her mouth hanging open slightly, letting a low snore slip out.

"Leah," I whispered, trying to reach out and poke her, but I wasn't able to because the bed was too far away.

"Leah," I called again, a little louder. A quiet moan was the only response I got. Looking around, I noticed the small, brown monkey stuffy that Leah had brought for me last night. With a smile, I picked it up and took aim.

"Leah!" I called out louder, throwing the stuffy at her. I hit her square in the face, jolting her awake.

"What the-" she exclaimed, her eyes shooting open and her body vaulting up. She blinked a couple times before she looked at me then down to the stuffy lying beside her. She looked back up at me with a glare as she put two and two together.

"Good morning," I smiled at her. "I think I dropped Coco. Have you seen him?"

"Dropped him my butt," Leah grumbled as she chucked the monkey back at me. "Here, take your stupid monkey!"

"Hey! Careful!" I scolded. "He's sensitive! And he prefers the term intelligently handicapped!" Leah just rolled her eyes at me as she sat up and got out of the bed. She took a quick glance down at her ring watch and smiled.

"Oh good, it's almost noon," she smiled happily. "That means that I can take you home."

"Finally!" I exclaimed. "I hate being stuck in the hospital! It gives me the creeps and it smells funny."

"Amen to that!" Leah agreed, shivering slightly. "Here, go get dressed while I page the doctor and get you checked out so that we can go." She passed me the back pack that she had brought with her.

"Alright," I nodded as I took the bag and slid out of the bed. I quickly walked over to the bathroom attached to my room and closed the door behind me. Once I opened the bag, I quickly found a pair of dark sweats and a purple Campus Crew sweater, as well as some other necessities. I quickly put them on and, by the time I was done and had walked back out, Doctor Hanover had arrived.

"Good morning," he smiled at me as I walked back into the room. "How are you feeling today?"

"Good," I smiled back, passing the bag to Leah so that she could go change. "My head hurts a little, but I feel pretty good."

"Great," he replied, scribbling something down on his clipboard. "Looks like you're all set to go. I'd like to see you back here in a couple of weeks to make sure that your cut has healed up, but if there are any problems, don't hesitate to come back and see me before that, okay?"

"Okay," I nodded, though I really shouldn't have as the action made me kind of dizzy. I blinked a couple times to clear my vision, but thankfully the doctor hadn't noticed.

I don't want to have to be stuck here any longer, I thought as Leah rejoined us.

"Ready to go?" Leah asked me.

"Yep," I said, careful not to nod again. "Thanks for everything, Doctor Hanover."

"Anytime," he smiled. "Have a good day, ladies."

We both said our goodbyes as we quickly walked out the door. I think that Leah could sense my eagerness to get out of there.

As soon as we stepped outside the building, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Freedom!" I yelled only steps outside the door, which was still open. I heard a couple of chuckles float through the door before it closed behind us.

"Feel better now?" Leah teased.

"Much better," I grinned. "Come on, let's go home."

Leah quickly led me over to where her scooter was parked, which she and Chris had ridden over the night before. My scooter was still back at the theatre.

The theatre. I inwardly shuddered as I thought about the place. How was I going to be able to go back there? I would just be constantly reminded of him there.

Well, you don't have to go back today, at least, I told myself. We'll just have to take things one step at a time.

The scooter ride back to our apartment did not take very long. It felt weird not being the one driving. I hadn't really shared the driving with Darren for my scooter as I loved driving it myself too much to let him have a turn. It was kind of nice not having to really focus. I was able to look around as we drove. Some people gave us weird glances as we passed by, while others didn't even give us a second glance.

That's New York for you, I smiled to myself.

By the time we reached our apartment, I actually was starting to feel tired again.

"You get on up to bed then," Leah said when I told her how I felt. "The doctor said that you need lots of bed rest. I'll go make you some tea and soup."

"That sounds nice," I smiled as I trudged into the building and up the stairs to our apartment. Within minutes, I was crashing down onto my bed, pulling my large monkeys close to me as I snuggled down and promptly started drifting off to sleep, silently wishing that it was Darren that I was cuddling and not an over-sized monkey.

No offense, monkeys, I mentally told them. But Darren's the only monkey that I really want to be cuddling with right now. He's my little cuddle monkey. A small grin slipped onto my lips. Darren, my little cuddle monkey. It has a nice ring to it. Darren, I think that I just found you a new nickname. Cuddle monkey. Yeah, I think that will work. He's my cuddle monkey. I sighed happily as I snuggled down deeper under my blankets. And that's the best monkey that I could ever ask for. A cuddle monkey. My cuddle monkey. My cuddle monkey, Darren.