‹ Prequel: If You Only Knew
Status: Sequel to If You Only Knew

Who Could Have Known

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Darren's POV

It felt like we'd been in that hospital forever. It didn't help that Kaley had been an emotional wreck for a while after talking to the officer. We had both been stunned to find out that not only was the accident not an accident, but it had been Jordan Carter, James' younger brother, who had hit Kaley.

At first, I had been angry at him for wanting to hurt Kaley, but it actually ended up being Kaley who made me feel sympathy for him instead. She was more upset by the fact that he had lost his life by trying to hurt her than she was about him actually trying to hurt her.

"He was just a kid," she kept saying. "He had so much to live for. And now it's all over."

She didn't hate him, but rather she felt sorry for him. So how could I let myself hate him when she didn't?

One thing I refused to let Kaley do was blame herself, as much as she wanted to. There was no way that we could have known what Jordan was going to do and she had done nothing wrong. If anyone was to blame, it was James. It was his own fault that he had ended up in jail and he was the one who messed with Jordan's mind to make it as twisted as his own. If Jordan should have been made at anyone, it should have been his brother.

But now it was time to put all of that behind us. Kaley was finally coming home today and I wanted her to be happy again.

"Kales?" I called out, knocking on her hospital room door as I slowly pushed it open. "You ready to go?"

She had her back to me as she finished packing her things into the bag on her bed, but she looked over her shoulder at me and smiled as I entered.

"Yeah, I just finished," she replied, moving to pick up the bag. I quickly jumped forward and picked up the bag before she could.

"Remember what the Doctor said," I warned. "You're supposed to take it easy."

"Darren, I'm not going to fall apart by carrying a bag," she replied, rolling her eyes, though the smile didn't leave her lips.

"That may be true," I grinned. "But I'm not going to take any chances. I don't want to lose you again." I pulled her towards me and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I love you," I whispered, holding her there for a moment.

"I love you too," she whispered back, leaning into my embrace. "But I'd love you even more if we were at home. I'm so tired of being in hospitals."

"Agreed," I laughed, letting her go and taking her hand in my own. "Shall we?" She nodded.

I was thankful to be leaving that room for the last time. The only thing I would miss were the people who worked here. With the exception of a few cranky nurses, everyone was really nice to Kaley and me here. Every nurse that we passed on our way out stopped to give Kaley a hug and wish her all the best in her continued recovery. Kaley would let go of my hand to return their hugs, but she always reached for it again immediately afterwards. Each time she took my hand again, I'd give it a light squeeze to tell her that I'm here and I'm never leaving you.

I mentally braced myself for the paparazzi as we stepped outside. Thankfully, most of them had lost interest in our story after learning that Kaley was okay, but a couple of them still hung around, just in case something interesting happened. And I guess they were about to get their money shot now.

"Darren! Kaley! Over here!" a voice called out. I squeezed Kaley's hand, worried about how she'd react, but she just smiled and waved at the group of paps. I looked at her, surprised, but she just shrugged.

"What?" she said. "I'm going to have to get more comfortable dealing with them since that's an inevitable part of your life. And besides, I'm happy to finally be out of there." She motioned behind us at the hospital. "Don't get me wrong, the people were great and all, but I'm happy to be going home."

"Then let's get you there," I replied with a smile, leading her over to where I had parked our new car. I heard a low whistle of appreciation as we approached the sleek, silver Mustang before us.

"My brother would be jealous," Kaley grinned as I opened the passenger side door for her, which she carefully slid into. "He loves Mustangs."

"Well, we'll just have to get him one for Christmas then," I chuckled as I hopped in on the driver's side, tossing her bag into the backseat as I did so.

"Yeah, cause that's such an easy gift to bring with us to Canada," she joked. "Besides, that's a really expensive gift, one that you'd be paying for cause Lord knows I don't have that kind of money. And I want them to like you for you, not for the flashy gifts that you can get them."

"So you're saying that I can't buy their love and approval?" I gave her a slight pouty lip.

"Oh stop it!" she laughed, playfully smacking my arm. "They're going to love you. And Christmas is still months away! I don't know why you're already worrying about it."

"It'll be my first time meeting your whole family," I countered. "There's a lot to be worried about. I know how much they mean to you and I would be devastated if they didn't approve of us being together."

"That won't happen," she replied, reaching over to give my hand an encouraging squeeze before nestling back into her seat with a yawn. "I know that they're going to love you. But not as much as me...."

I couldn't help but smile as Kaley literally fell asleep while talking to me. I couldn't blame her though. It wasn't easy sleeping in hospitals and I knew that we'd both spent enough restless nights there.

I let her sleep the entire way home, turning the music down low enough that it wouldn't disturb her, while still being loud enough to enjoy. The weather report came on at one point, predicting sunny days away, and I couldn't have agreed more.

"Kales, we're here," I said, giving her a light nudge as I pulled into our driveway. Kaley groaned, rolling her body away from me. I reached out again and gently grabbed her shoulder, turning her back towards me.

"Noooo," she mumbled, swatting my hand away as she tried to turn away again.

"Kaley, I'm not carrying you into the house," I chuckled, turning her back to me once again.

"Why not?" her voice was still heavy with sleep as she slowly cracked her eyes open to look at me. Even though she was still half asleep, she still managed to give me droopy puppy dog eyes.

"Come on, Kaley, you're a big girl," I coaxed with a light chuckle. "You can do it."

Any other time, I would have happily obliged and carried her in, but today was an exception. And I knew that she'd thank me for not doing it later.

Finally, with a loud groan, she sat up and unbuckled her seatbelt. She gave me an unhappy, pouty glare, but I just laughed it off. Kaley was the silent, broody type when she first woke up, so that was a face that I was used to.

I hopped out of the car, grabbed her bag from the backseat, and then walked around to open the door for her. She very reluctantly slid out and hooked her arm through mine, leaning heavily on me for support as we walked up to the house, yawning all the while.

The lights were off as we stepped into the house and I couldn't help but grin as I reached for the light switch.

"SURPRISE!" a chorus of voices cheered as the lights flicked on. I felt Kaley's grip tighten on my arm as she gasped in surprise herself.

"Welcome home, Kaley!" Leah's voice said as she stepped out of the group of people to hug her.

"Umm, hi," Kaley laughed lightly, still trying to process what had just happened as she accepted the hug. Turning to me, she added, "I'm definitely awake now." This gained a chuckle from myself as well.

I had to take a step back as everyone else swarmed forward to give Kaley welcome home hugs as well, each of which she happily accepted. All of our friends were here - the majority of the Glee cast, the crew from Radio City Music Hall, and even the StarKids had come out to welcome her home. Joey came to stand beside me after giving Kaley a hug, slinging his arm over my shoulder.

"It's good to see things are still going so well with you two," he commented with a grin. "I can really see this relationship lasting."

"Me too," I grinned, watching Kaley as Lauren gave her a big hug. "There's something about her that just makes me want to do better, to be better. She makes me a better person."

"You think she could be the one?" Joey asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"I think it's a little early to be deciding that," I chuckled. "We've only been together for a couple months now."

That's what I told him, at least. In my mind, I couldn't help but ponder his question further. Could she be the one? I had definitely never had feelings this strong for anyone else before, and being apart from her made my heart ache. Was that was true love felt like? I watched as Kaley's face lit up with a smile, reacting to something Harry was saying. Her smile made me smile as well, and my heart fluttered happily. If this was what true love felt like, then I never wanted it to end.

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Kaley's POV

The last thing I had been expecting to come home to was a house full of people, but as it turned out, that was exactly what I needed. Most people when they had just got home from the hospital would just want to curl up in their own bed and sleep, not have to entertain a packed room, but I didn't mind. I was happy to see all of my friends here. It was an unexpected pleasure, to say the least.

"How are you feeling?" Lea asked me, Cory right by her side, his hand laced through hers. I couldn't help but smile at their blossoming relationship.

"I'm doing a lot better," I replied honestly. "My shoulder's still a bit sore, but the Doctor gave me a prescription to help with the pain. Honestly, I'm just so thankful that things hadn't turned out worse. A lot of the nurses said that it was a miracle that I survived or was even able to walk away without any broken bones. I like to think it's because I have an overly protective Guardian Angel."

Lea and Cory laughed with me, though I was partly serious. I had always been fairly lucky with never having broken any bones, and I always used to say it was because my Guardian Angel was ever vigil and protective of me. Surviving what could have been a deadly car accident just seemed like further proof of that.

Especially since the accident was meant to seriously hurt or even kill me, I thought briefly with a shudder, though I quickly pushed those thoughts away. I couldn't allow myself to think like that. What had happened to Jordan was a tragedy, no matter how horrible his motives may have been.

Though the constant stream of people wanting to talk to me held my attention, Darren never strayed too far from my sight. Every so often I'd glance over his way and he'd tilt his head to the side, silently asking me if I needed him there. I smiled, happy and thankful to know that he would be there in a second if I needed him.

"Is that your phone, Kaley?" Amber Riley's voice was asking me. I turned back to her, confused, when I realized that my phone was, in fact, ringing.

"Excuse me a moment," I said apologetically as I pulled my phone from my pocket and ducked into a quieter room. I vaguely recognized the number, so I quickly answered it.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Hello, would Kaley Grant be there please?" a woman's voice asked. Her voice was familiar but I couldn't place how I knew it.

"Speaking," I replied.

"Good afternoon, Miss Grant," the woman said. "This is Sheilah Robertson from SkyRocket Publishing." My heart dropped in my stomach. How many weeks ago was it now that I was supposed to have met with her about my story? Did she think that I was an irresponsible writer for not having shown up to the meeting? Was this an official call to turn down my story because they didn't want to work with me?

"Hello? Miss Grant? Are you still there?" Sheilah's voice asked, calling me back to the present moment.

"Oh, um, yes, I'm still here," I stumbled, mentally slapping myself for not sounding more professional. "What can I do for you, Miss Robertson?"

"Actually, I'm calling about what I can do for you, Miss Grant," she replied warmly. Not what I was expecting. "I heard that you were in the hospital. I hope that you are recovering well."

"Yes, I am, thank you," I replied, a little confused as to how she knew that. Maybe Darren or Leah had called her?

"Since you weren't able to make our last meeting, I was hoping to schedule a new one whenever you are available," she said. Aka the nice way of saying once you're out of the hospital. "We are still very interested in your story and would love to discuss the possibility of publication."

"That would be amazing!" I grinned, a wave of relief washing over me. They were still interested! I could still get published! "Would sometime next week work for you?"

We agreed on a date that worked best for both of us and finalized the details of our meeting place before I hung up. I did a small happy dance before turning to return to the party, only to find Darren standing in the doorway, watching me with a grin on his face.

"You're adorable, you know that, right?" he chuckled, coming over and pulling me into his arms. "Especially when you're excited. I take it that was a good phone call?"

"Yes," I beamed, looking up at him with a huge smile on my face. "That was the publishing company! They still want to meet with me!"

"Kales, that's amazing!" he exclaimed, carefully picking up me and giving me a tight, but not overly tight that it would jostle my shoulder, hug. "I'm so relieved that they got my message."

"You were the one who called them?" I asked, surprised and impressed. Darren nodded.

"You were so disappointed when you realized you'd missed your meeting and I didn't want them to write you off because of something that you had no control over," Darren explained. "So I called them and explained the situation. I even had Doctor Hanover confirm it so they didn't think I was just trying to make up an excuse for you or whatever. I was afraid that they wouldn't take me seriously, but I guess they did listen!"

"Have I ever told you what an amazing boyfriend you are?" I grinned.

"Well, of course," he grinned back. "It's only natural that I would be. After all, I am Darren Freaking Criss." I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was just joking, but his eyes told me that he appreciated my comment. And then his lips did as well as he leaned down and kissed me.

"You're seriously the best," I whispered between kisses.

"Alright, love birds, how about you two come back and join the party now?" Leah's voice laughed from the doorway. We both turned towards her and a small blush rose to my cheeks.

"After all," Leah continued, coming over to take my hand. "This party kind of is for you." She pulled me out of the room, back towards the party. I barely had enough time to grab Darren's arm as she did so, to pull him along with us. He caught up quickly, sliding his hand into my own, as we rejoined our friends.

As I looked around the room, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the amount of love and support that they all had given me. I would never forget their kindness and how much each and every one of them meant to me. Especially Darren, Leah, and Chris. The three of them had become my stable rocks during my recovery and I don't know where I would have been without them.

These people weren't just my friends. They were my family. And I loved each and every one of them.
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A/N: Thank you so much for all of the love and support that you have all shown my stories. I apologize that I have left this story shelved for so long and I have heard your cries for more. Honestly, I just reread the story myself and fell in love with my characters all over again. I promise that I'm going to try to be more dedicated to this story and not leave you guys hanging for months and years again. Thank you to all of you who are still here, still supporting, even after all these years. Kaley's final words there aren't just about her friends - they are my words to you guys too. I honestly am so thankful for all of your love and support and your kind words. The way you guys encourage me makes me want to write again and I want to thank you for that. Please look forward for more chapters to come, hopefully very soon haha :) I also finally have another chapter in the works for If They Only Knew, so be on the look out for that soon as well! I love you guys! Until next chapter, take care!

Love & Hugs Always,

Annabelle Graceton ~ aka Cass Haines <3