Trigger Warning: Talk of self harm and all the things that go along with it

Jack's POV:

I'd had a fairly good day with Alex and there wasn't too much trouble, apart from the incident in the canteen at lunch. I've been feeling bad about that from the moment Danny left. Alex had taken the brunt of the attack, even though it was mainly directed at me. Alex had gotten punched because he stood up for me...and that really does mean something to me.

I've been lying on my bed all night, just thinking...of my future. I've tried picturing it without Alex but it's just impossible. He completes me. He makes me feel whole. I can't help but think that something's wrong though. I don't know, I just have this feeling. I picked up my phone and brought up Alex's contact. My thumb hovered over the call button when my phone buzzed in my hand.

From: Lexy - I'm sorry...I was wrong earlier, I'm not stronger than we thought. I'm weaker. I'm so fucking sorry.

I stared at the text, trying to comprehend what Alex said. He's cut...and it's bad. I jumped up from my bed, shoved a random pair of shoes on, bolted down the stairs and out the door. I ran. I've never ran so quick in my life. Although I've never been in Alex's house, I knew where it was: he pointed it out to me on our walk with Olivia. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I smashed open his front door and ran up the stairs three at a time. I stopped at the hallway. I was faced with multiple doors.
"ALEX?! ALEX WHERE ARE YOU?!" The hall was long and thin, I ran down it until I came to a door with a Green Day poster on. This must be it. I flung the door open and rushed in. I was horrified. I couldn't think straight, I just sort of went on auto-pilot. Alex was passed out on his bed, his phone in his hand and a blood-soaked towel on his arm. I grabbed his phone and dialled for an ambulance. I put pressure on his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. He hadn't been out long: it had only been 7 minutes since he sent the text. He still had a pulse but it was growing weaker by the second.
"Lex, please. Please don't leave me. I need you."
Tears had started to roll down my face. I heard sirens in the distance. Everything was just a blur. I kissed Alex, hoping that it wouldn't be the last time. I held his hand in mine and squeezed.
"Lex, please. I know you're in there somewhere. You can do this. I cannot live without you. P-please."
The silent tears had turned to sobs now, I was panicking. The sirens were getting louder now. I kept kissing Alex, more for my own sake than anything else. I kept checking his pulse and I kept pressure on his arm. I didn't look, I didn't dare, I just knew what I had to. I felt Alex's hand twitch in mine. My head snapped up to his. His eyes fluttered open and he kept opening and closing his mouth as if he was trying to speak.
"Shh. No, Lex. You need to keep your energy. You're going to be okay, I know it. Just...hang in there, I can't loose you."
"J-jack, I c-can't loose y-you either. I'm s-so s-sorry."
His eyes rolled back into his head as his eyelids slid shut again.
"LEX? ALEX? NO!"
I sobbed even harder. He's gone, I've lost him.
"Hello? Mr Barakat? You in here?"
"YES, YES. UP HERE!! PLEASE HELP HIM."
I heard several pairs of heavy-booted feet storm up the stairs and run along the hall way towards the direction of my constant sobbing and screaming of Alex's name.
"Son, you're going to have to step away for a moment." A soft-spoken woman put her hand on my shoulder and pulled me away. She held me in her arms as I sobbed and plead for them to make Alex okay again. I kept zoning out on what was happening but I heard someone say something about a low pulse but stable? I don't know, I was just wishing that he would be okay.
"We're going to have to take him to the hospital. He's lost a lot of blood and he'll most likely need stitches."
"CAN I COME?!" I literally screamed in the ear of the poor woman holding me. That wasn't my main priority right now though.
"Of course, sweetie. You can ride up front with me in the ambulance whilst the team work on your friend at the hospital."
"T-thank you. A-and he's n-not my friend. He-he's my b-boyfriend. I can't loose h-him."
"That's lovely dear, really, it is. It's nice to see but come on, we need to get moving."

The ride to the hospital seemed like it took hours when in reality it probably only took ten minutes. I had calmed down slightly when one of the ambulance crew members told the lady driving that all was stable. I sat in silence, tears still running down my face. We pulled into the hospital and Alex was immediately taken away from me. The lady who held me at the house had to hold me back from running after him. The wait was agonisingly long and this poor woman, who I still hadn't gotten the name of, was still sat with me, holding me in her arms.
A doctor had walked into the waiting room, looking like he was looking for someone.
"Anyone here with Alexander Gaskarth?"
My head shot up in his direction.
"Yes, is he okay? Is he awake? Will he be okay? What's happe-"
"Alright, kid. Calm down. If you just shut up I'd be able to tell you."
Well, that was rude.
"Cameron, don't speak to him like that. He's just saved his boyfriend's life back there and you're talking to him like a piece of shit!" The ambulance lady had now stood up next to me, her eyes narrow and her arms crossed over her chest.
"Shut the fuck up, Jenna. I don't do faggots and you know that!" The doctor spat back at the woman and I.
"You know what? Fuck this. Come on, Jack. Let's go and find someone who knows how to be fucking sensitive and not be insulting. You don't need anyone making this day any more unbearable for you." The lady grabbed my hand and marched out of the waiting room and down towards the emergencies ward.
"T-thank you, um, Jenny?"
"Jenna. And it's no problem. You've been to hell and back today and I won't let him make it any worse. I'll give him hell when I get home."
"You live together? Is he your partner?"
"Fuck, no. He's my brother. He still lives with our parents, I'm just staying back with them whilst my house is being renovated. Now, enough about me. He's in that room there, I can see him through the window. You can go in, just be careful and I'll go and see what's up."
I left Jenna stood talking to another doctor at the desk. I walked up to his door and looked through the little window. I pushed the door open and hesitantly stepped in.

His skin was a lot paler than usual. His arm was bandaged up and he had a tube going into his arm with what looked like blood going through it. He had oxygen tubes going into his nose and he had machines hooked up to him left, right and centre. His chest was slowly rising and falling with each breath he took. I walked over to his bed and sat on the edge of it. I took his hand in mine and gasped at how cold it was.
"Hey, Lex. How are you doing?"
Stupid fucking question, Jack.
"You really had me worried there, Lex. I thought I'd lost you. Please...don't ever do that again. Not to me, not to your mum, to Rian, Zack and Cass. But, most importantly, not to yourself."
I sat there for about an hour. Jenna hadn't come back in but I figured that she had to be called out on another job or something. Alex's heart monitor picked up a little, the beeps getting faster.
"NURSE? NURSE?!"
A nurse came running into the room, followed by a doctor.
"His heart monitor thing just suddenly started beeping faster. Is he okay? What's happening?"
"Oh thank heavens for that!" The nurse seemed happy...why was she happy?
"There's no easy way to say this, dear, but we honestly thought that young Mr Gaskarth here wouldn't make it. His heart rate was so slow...we were just waiting for it to pack in all together. This is a good thing, a really good thing." The doctor had moved over to the monitor and studied the sheets while he spoke.Thank fuck for that. "Were you talking to him?"
"Yeah, a little...why?"
"That's probably why he's improved. The hearing is the last sense to go so he's more than likely heard you and responded in the only way that his body could right now. Carry on talking to him, it'll help."
I nodded as the doctor and the nurse left the room.
"You scared the shit out of me, Lex. You know, I was worried that you'd seriously gone. I started to think of all the things that we didn't get round to doing. I don't want to miss out on those moments, Lex."
I trailed off, tears threatening to fall from my eyes. The memory was too much. The room was silent for a while.
"I don't want to miss out on those things either, Jay."

Notes

Hey,

Yeah, I know it's kind of late and it is now technically Sunday where I live but hey...you got a chapter :)

I'd just like to thank everyone for the lovely response that this story has had. The subs, comments, views and just everything really is just insane. I thought this story was pretty lame so thank you for helping me believe in myself a little more.

Don't be shy though, I love reading your comments so keep them coming.

Thanks a lot
Em x