Once Again

"Lacy, come on. Don't be like that." he sighed.

"I -said- I don't want to talk about him anymore. Unless you wanna be on the shitlist with him, I suggest you let it go. Madison and Ajay will probably be in here later and I'd like to get a little sleep before that happens." she snapped as she pulled away from him and pulled the covers over her. She didn't mean to snap at him, but Scott had really just soured her mood.

"Fine. Good night." he said as he kissed her cheek and turned on his side to sleep.

Lacy had tried to sleep, but couldn't. She was stuck between being worried about Ellie's kids and being pissed at Scott.

Maddie couldn't sleep either, so she knocked on Lacy's door gently. "Layley..." Maddie whispered.

Lacy heard the knock on the door and already knew who it was. "Come in, Maddie," she said quietly so she wouldn't disturb Punk. She pulled back the covers so Maddie could climb in.

She climbed into the bed quietly, laying next to Lacy. "Layley, if Mommy leaves me...do I have to go back with Daddy? I love my Daddy, but he works too much and I don't want to go to work with him." she sniffled.

"If your Mommy leaves then you will be with me and Punk." Lacy said, holding her. "But your mommy's not going anywhere so we don't have to worry about that." she kissed her forehead. "You're here with me now, try and sleep."

"Okay." she said as she snuggled up to Lacy. "Can you hold me Layley? Sometimes when I can't sleep, Mommy holds me.

"Of course." Lacy wrapped her arms around Madison and kissed her forehead. "All better?"

She nodded. "Better."

"Try to sleep. I'm right here."

"Okay." she said. "Good night Layley."

"Goodnight, Madison." Lacy sighed and kissed her forehead.

The next morning...back at the hospital, Ellie opened her eyes and winced a bit as she adjusted to the light. She felt like she got hit by a truck...oh wait, lol. Anyway, she sat up a little and glanced around the room...frowning at all the machines. They were annoying. She then looked over and saw Colt sleeping on the couch in her room. That didn't look very comfortable. "Scott..." she said quietly...then cleared her throat a bit. "Scott." she said a little louder.

Scott woke up, stiff and uncomfortable as all hell, but he heard Ellie calling for him and opened his eyes, looking at her. She was awake and talking, so that meant that the swelling in her brain had gone down.... thank God. "Ellie," he let out a sigh of relief and ignored the soreness in his muscles to rush over to her. "I thought I'd lost you."

"Would have been too easy." she said as she smiled a little. Then she thought about the last time she saw him and frowned, tearing up. "Scott, I'm so sorry." she said as she started to cry.

He frowned when he saw her cry and was at her side, holding her hand gingerly. "No, don't cry baby." he shook his head. "I was an ass, and I should have let you explain... if I did, you wouldn't be in here right now. I'm sorry, El.. this is my fault."

"Don't." she said as she shook her head a little. "Don't you dare blame yourself." she told him. "I shouldn't have driven, I knew I was upset and should have called Lacy to pick up Maddie and Ajay for me. I should have stayed home and calmed down."

He wiped her tears away with the pads of his thumb. "It's too late for that, Ellie. I blame myself and I will never forgive myself." he shook his head. "I'm gonna help you through every step of this El... but I can't in good consciousness ask you to take me back. I don't want to inflict anymore pain on you than I already have."

"But you didn't." she stopped crying and sniffled instead. "Scott, please...I love you." she said. "I want you to be with me."

"I love you too, Ellie. That's why I'm doing this." he kissed the back of her hand.

She cried again and well...all the crying was getting to her. She slowly removed her hand from his and laid back. "...I have a headache." she sniffled as she wiped her tears away. "I think I'll try to get some more sleep."

"The doctor said you'll have really unpleasant headaches," he told her. "You've got a really bad concussion and it's not good to sleep with one. You'll fall into a coma if you do." he told her as he rang for the doctor. "I'll see if there's anything that the doctor can do."

She nodded a bit and rubbed her temples. "Where's Madison and Ajay?"