Vienna woke up without opening her eyes. Automatically, he felt the searing pain under her ribs. She cried out, slightly, and immediately after, felt her surroundings react.

She opened her eyes to find herself wrapped in Zac's arms, him staring down at her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Vienna whispered. She glanced around, "Okay, I'm gonna find a way to get off you now."

He laughed. She started trying to move, slowly. He watched, rather amused, as she clawed her way up his arm, trying to raise herself into a sitting position.

She gave up and let go, falling back to where she started from. He laughed harder.

"This is not funny!" she punched him in the arm.

He stopped laughing and put on a dead serious face for a moment then burst out laughing again.

"You know.." Vienna said, threateningly, "If I don't move, you can't move." she tried to look menacing but it only made him laugh harder.

"You think.." he choked out, "You think you're actually keeping me here?" he was turning red.

"Yes, I do, actually."

He nodded, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay." he agreed, "You're right."

"Precisely." she said, continuing to glare at him with her arms crossed. He held her gaze, straight faced, until she looked away, glancing at the clock.

Then, in one movement, he stood up and spun around in a cricle with her still in his arms, to better prove his point.

Viena glared at him.

"Nice." she said, sourly.

He nodded, mocking her.

"You realise now," he said, "You can't move until I put you down."

She nodded, mocking him back.

"You think you're so clever." she sneered, "Well, for your information, I wouldn't be able to move anyway."

He burst out laughing again, putting her down.

Zac shook his head as their laughter died down.

"Oh God.." he muttered, "What are we gonna do with you?"

~~~~~

"I need to go Christmas shopping."

"Oh hell..."

"Screw it, I'm shopping online."

Isaac, Taylor, and Zac were all lounged about the den at the back of the house.

Taylor was laying on a couch by the window, Isaac had his upper body in a beanbag chair and was staring at the ceiling, and Zac was spinning around in a desk chair while throwing a ball at the wall.

"Online." said Zac, "That could work. In fact, both of you go online and pick out what you want."

"Hm." Isaac mused, "Wouldn't that make it easier.."

Zac threw the ball as hard as he could and bounced off the wall and shot across the room.

"Why am I so bored?!"

"Because we live in New Jersey."

Taylor was staring out the window.

"Actually it's not that bad." he said, "There's a lot going on out there. I mean, look, these two can't carry their Christmas tree three feet without dropping it. And there's a kid hiding behind a rock, that keeps throwing snowballs at them. He's nailed that guy in the head twice. And..hey Zac, your girlfriend runs really fast."

Zac rolled his chair nearer to the window.

"What the hell is she doing?"

"I don't know..would you stop leaning over me!"

Zac got up to leave,

"Oh hey, if you're going out there, could you do me a favor and slip on the ice or something? It'll give me a laugh." Taylor called after him.

Zac ran out the front door and called out to her. She wasn't wearing a coat, there was snow matted in her hair, and her cheeks were red from the twenty degree air. She should have been freezing, but she seemed to be ignoring it.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Well, first of all, you had to have one hell of a motivation to get you standing, even. Bolting down the road would require a phenomenom. And, apart from that, you're not wearing a fucking coat, Vienna." he snapped.

"My dog.." Vienna said, breathlessly.

"What?!"

"I have to catch my dog!" she said, brushing past him.

He ran after her, catching up and stopping her again.

"Zac!" she yelled, "Get out of my way! My dog got loose, I have to catch him before he gets hit by a car, so just MOVE!" she tried to push away from him.

"I'll get the dog!" he yelled back, "You're gonna seriously hurt yourself like this, God, just stay put!" he said, taking off in the direction of the dog.

Vienna watched him run away from her, as the pain in her abdomen rapidly increased. She tried to focus her eyes on his retreating back, but it was getting harder and harder to see as the pain grew.

Darkness creeped into her vision from the sides and then the whole world went black, as she dropped in a dead faint to the snow covered pavement.

~~~~

Taylor sat up quickly, staring out the window.

"Ike." he said.

"What?"

"That girl." he stood up, "Vienna. I think she just passed out."

Isaac stood up too and they hurried out of the den and out the front door.

Taylor ran over to where the girl was laying, in the center of the street, Isaac behind him.

"Do you think it's okay to move her?" asked Taylor.

"I don't know.." Isaac shivered from the ice cold air, "God, yes, we have to get her inside." he hooked an arm under her knees and the other around her back, then lifted her off the street and hurried inside the house.

He put her down on the couch just as Zac came running in the door.

"What happened?" he ran over to the couch.

She just went out. Zac, get her blankets, she's nearly frozen. I'm calling for an ambulance. Tay, go see if there's anyone home at her house."

Zac ran to the linen closet and pulled out several blankets. He started wrapping them around her and Ike hung up the phone, coming over to help him.

"The ambulance is on its way." he said, "Zac, is there anything physically wrong with her?"

"No." said Zac. "Well, I mean, she's not sick or anything." he hesitated. 'She hurt herself though, I think she may have cracked a rib, yesterday." he looked at her face. She was even paler, if possible, than normal and she looked almost dead."

~~~~

Vienna woke up in a hospital bed. She looked around, anxiously.

Outside of the room, she could see people rushing around, actively, meaning she was in a cell of the emergency room. Good. At least she hadn't been admitted. She looked down at herself.

There were electrobes stuck all over her, attaching her to all sorts of machines. She was dressed only in a papery hospital gown.

She tried to sit up and felt that searing pain all throughout her abdomen that she'd been feeling for the past two days. The next thing she felt was a rising panic over it. There wasn't a chance that the huge, dark bruise had gone un noticed. Moments later, a man walked in the room.

"Look who's awake!" he said, enthusiastically.

Vienna couldn't tell if he was a doctor or a nurse or God knows what.

He started messing with machines and copying things onto clipboards.

"Okay." he said, looking up at her. "Do you know who you are, honey? Tell me your name."

"Whitney. Whitney, Vienna Marie." she muttered.

He laughed.

"Very good. And very formal. Vienna, do you know where you are?"

"Hospital."

"Great. And why are you here?"

She thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure."

"Okay. Vienna, are you aware of the bruising on your stomach?" he fixed her in a serious stare.

She nodded.

"How did this happen?"

She stared at him a few seconds before answering.

"I fell down the stairs." she answered. Then, to make it more believable, she added, "I tripped over my dog. He was sleeping on the top of the stairs. It was dark, I couldn't see him."

"Ah." he nodded, "Okay. because the young men who came in with you didn't know anything about it."

Vienna was washed over by relief, mixed with gratitude towards Zac.

The man was reading through something on his clipboard.

"Well, Vienna, you're bleeding internally. Did you have any idea?"

She shook her head, a little surprised.

"Is this a really serious thing."

"I won't lie, Vienna, it could have been. You wouldn't have gone much longer. We were able to stop the bleeding, but we're gonna have to keep you here for a while."

She sighed.

"How long?"

He shook his head.

"Depends. If I had to guess, I'd say about a week."

Vienna closed her eyes, shaking her head. He patted her on the shoulder.

"I know it's tough, kido. You're probably gonna sleep through most of it then be out in time to finish Christmas shopping." he smiled and walked out.

~~~~

The boys were sitting in a small waiting area, right off the ER wing.

Zac was shaking his leg up and down quickly, sighing every few seconds.

Isaac glanced up at him from his magazine.

"Zac, you alright?"

Zac looked up at him.

"Oh yeah. Hey, guys, you don't have to stay. I mean, it's not a big deal, I'm sure she's fine."

"Nah, it's okay, we'll hang a while." shrugged Taylor, "We've got nothing better to do."

"When did that happen, anyway?" asked Isaac.

"When we stopped making music." Zac said, distantly, peering out into the active hall of wheel chairs and stretchers and doctors hurrying back and forth.

"When we went on break." corrected Taylor.

Their conversation came to an end when a white coated man approached them.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Henkle." he said, "Vienna, I'm afraid, has gone through some very serious internal bleeding."

Taylor and Isaac switched their gazes from the doctor to Zac, who was staring at the man blankly.

He continued.

"We were able to stop the bleeding, which I must say, was against most odds." Zac let out a sigh of relief. "Vienna is going to be staying here until she recovers some stregnth. It's really taken a lot out of her." he continued, "Now, we're moving her to a floor on the third floor. You can go see her up there if you like. Otherwise, that's all I've got for you." he smiled then turned and walked away.

Zac stood up.

"I need to see her." he said to his brothers. He hurried off, them behind him, to an elevator.

Once upstairs, they stoped at the desk to ask the woman behind it for Vienna's room number.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Zac ran off down the hall, skidding to a halt outside Vienna's room and going in.

Taylor and Isaac hung back, watching him. They looked at each other.
"Isn't he over reacting a little, for someone he's only known a few days? I've never seen him act like this." Taylor commented.

"Yeah, he's been acting really off since he met her." Isaac agreed. "Well, I mean, he's been acting off since he was born, but he's even weirder since they met." he corrected. Taylor looked at him and grinned.

"Do you think he's in love?"

Isaac nodded, very matter-of-factly as they walked down the hall, causing Taylor to giggle like a school girl.

As soon as Zac entered the room, all of his rushing came to a halt.

Seeing Vienna in a hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown, and attached to an IV made him want to cry. He approached her bed, cautiosly, almost afraid to look at her. When he got to her side her eyes opened and she blinked at the ceiling before turning her head to look at him.

Zac shook his head, feeling something inside of him shake loose.

"I was sure I'd lost you.'' he said, quietly. She extended a shaking hand which he enveloped in his own. "Remind me again why no one can know about this." he whispered.

She shook her head.

"Thank you so much for not saying anything." her eyes were over bright.

He fized her in a steady gaze.

"I did promise." he said, "But Vienna, God, he dosn't even know he does it! I called your Uncle, he seemed mildly worried, but he can't leave work. He said he'd be here as soon as he could."

"What did you tell him?" she asked, fear evident behind her whisper.

"I just told him you passed out. We didn't know anything at that point."

She smiled weakly at him.

"My dog.."

"He's okay." Zac assured her, "I caught him and put him back inside."

She smiled again, in gratitude.

"Thank you, Zac." she whispered.

He smiled back, stroking her hair away from her forehead. He sighed.

"It's so strange..I've only known you a week, but I think I would have died if I lost you."

She smiled, tears in her eyes.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked, her voice cracking.

He didn't answer, just kept smoothing her hair out of her face.

"You know, I should be cheering you up." he laughed, "It's what I do."

"I know." she said, "That's alright."

"No, no." he said, taking his hand back and retreating into his wacky exterior. He started messing with the IV.

"What is it that they put in here?"

she shrugged.

"You don't know?" he asked, astounded, "They're pumping something into your veins at ninety miles an hour and you don't know what it is!?"

"It's hardly ninety miles an hour, Zac." she laughed.

"Oh, look who's so smart now." he teased, "It's probably Lysol!"

She laughed again, shaking her head.

"Maybe it's anti-freeze."

"Anti-freeze is green." she giggled, clutching her ribs.

"They could have put food coloring in it." he reasoned.

"Oh, so they're trying to kill me?"

he nodded.

"Great! That'll help me get to sleep tonight." she laughed.

Taylor poked his head in the door.

"Zac, her uncle's here, come on." he beckoned, waving to Vienna before disappearing again.

Zac looked back at her

"Will this be okay?"

She nodded.

"Get out of here, I'm fine."

"Alright." Zac smiled, reassuringly, "I'll come back tomorrow." he clasped her hand briefly then turned and walked out.

Him and Vienna's Uncle met in the doorway. The man smiled.

"Thank you for taking care of her."

Zac just looked at him for a minute then walked away.

Ron stared after him for a second, confused, before shaking it off and walking in the room. Vienna smiled the polite, respectful smile that you would give an old woman as you passed them on the street.

"Hi, Uncle Ron."

He smiled back.

"Hey, popple!" he greeted, "How ya feeling?" he asked.

"I'm okay."

"Yeah? They told me at the desk you were bleeding inside."

She nodded.

He sighed.

"Do we have any idea how this happened?"

She nodded again.

"The other night, you were drunk and you dropped me, remember? I fell on your tool belt...remember?"

"Damn." Ron muttered, "Oh man.." he rubbed at his eyes

"I told them I fell down the stairs." she said.

"Oh, man...God, why didn't you tell me?" Ron asked.

"I don't know."

He sighed in distress.

"Are you going to be able to forgive me?"

Vienna nodded.

"Of course." she said, "I always do."