Chapter 11

Nick walked back up the stairs to the main floor where Christi was sitting in the waiting room. Nick walked over and sat down in a chair beside Christi, pulling out his phone after he sat down. Nick unlocked his phone and decided to go on twitter for a little bit while Chloe was in surgery. He scrolled down through his feed and decided to tweet about Chloe being in surgery.

"Official_NickD : At the hospital, waiting for Chloe to get out of surgery. :(" 

Nick pressed the tweet button that appeared on his iPhone screen and smiled when he saw all the instant replies from people, wishing for Chloe to be alright and saying that they loved her. Christi leaned over and looked at Nick's phone screen. 

Christi knew that this was hard for Nick, he was practically like Chloe's older brother and he loved her with all his heart. She could tell the two had a special connection from the very beginning. Christi put a hand on Nick's wrist which was now lying on the arm of the chair, as Nick stared straight ahead. Christi gave it a little squeeze grabbing Nick's attention.

"She's going to be fine." Christi said not knowing weather if she was trying to convince Nick or herself. 

"I know." Nick responded. "I'm just nervous for her." Nick said.

Nick was beyond nervous he was scared to death for the safety of Chloe. When Nick was about nine his grandpa had, had a brain tumor and the doctors scheduled him for major surgery right away, but when the doctors went to operate and remove the tumor, they dug too deep into his grandpas brain and it killed him, all while trying to remove the brain tumor.

"I'm going to go take a walk. I'll be right back." Nick said the nervousness still present in his voice. Nick walked back to where Chloe's hospital room was located; he walked into the room and laid down on the bed. The sheets smelled like the faint smell of Chloe's shampoo and conditioner. Nick breathed in the light scent of green apples. 

After a few minutes of just laying there thinking about Chloe, Nick got up and walked out the door and back towards the waiting room, where Christi was sitting. Once Nick got back to the waiting room he took his seat next to Christi again, looking for something to keep his mind off of Chloe.

A few hours later Nick heard footsteps approaching him and Christi. Nick looked up and saw it was Chloe's doctor, which had been in charge of her surgery. Nick jumped up from his seat and met the doctor halfway; Christi followed Nick to where the doctor was standing by the front desk. 

"Well.." The doctor began. "Her surgery went perfectly fine and the tumor was successfully removed. She shouldn't have any more problems and should be able to dance again after a couple weeks of recovery." The doctor said looking at Christi and Nick. 

"Can we see her?" Nic asked, with a smile on his face. He was so relieved that nothing bad had happened to Chloe during her surgery.

"Yes, but she is still asleep from her surgery. She should wake up in about an hour or two." The doctor said, flipping through his clipboard.

"Thank you so much, Doctor Avril." Christi said smiling.

"No problem." He responded, then turned and walked down the hallway to go check on another patient.

Christi and Nick walked down the hallway to Chloe's room; both were happy and excited to see her. Once they got to her room Nick opened and held the door while Christi walked in and then walked in himself behind her. Christi took a seat next to Chloe by the nightstand and Nick sat on the edge of Chloe's bed where he always sat.

About one hour later the doctor came back to talk to Christi out in the hallway and explain some of the possible symptoms that Chloe could have, from having the surgery. 

While Christ was still out in the hallway, Nick felt movement beside him. He immediately looked over and down at Chloe where she was laying on her back beside him. Chloe started to move around a bit more and very slowly about a minute later, she opened her eyes and let out a big yawn.

Chloe looked up at the person who was sitting next to her, and she saw it was Nick. 

"Hey, Chlo." Nick said, looking at her with concern, she looked like she was about to cry. Chloe stood up on her knees on the bed, ignoring the pain that shot through her head almost instantly. She wrapped her arms around Nick's neck and buried her head in the crook of his neck. 

Nick soon felt little droplets fall onto the base of his neck where Chloe had her head buried. Nick pulled away for a minute before wrapping his arms around her waist. 

"What's the matter Chloe?" Nick asked her with a gentle voice.

"Nothing...Nothing." She said choking back some more tears. "I'm just glad that you're here right now." She said laying her head back down on his shoulder.

"Chlo." Nick said, leaning his head on top of hers.

"Yeah?" Chloe answered, her head still lying on his shoulder.

"I love you." Nick said tears welling up in his eyes, he was happy that Chloe made it through the surgery; he didn't know what he would do without her. 

"I love you too." Chloe said back, lifting her head up off his shoulder and giving him a little peck on the cheek, when she pulled away, a rosy blush started to appear on her cheeks.

Nick laughed at her cuteness, returning the favor of giving her a small peck on the cheek. 

"I'm glad you are here with me Chlo." Nick said staring into her eyes. 

The way Nick was looking at her with such love in his bright green eyes mad Chloe get butterflies in her stomach. Nick had never looked at her like this before. Lately Chloe had been confused about how she felt about Nick. She didn't know if she just loved him like an older brother or if she might have a small crush on him.

"Thanks." Chloe said, feeling a small smile creep up on her face. A few minutes later Nick let Chloe go and she laid back down. Nick laid down next to her making funny faces causing Chloe to burst out in laughter. A few minutes later Chloe heard the door open. 

Chloe turned away from Nick and had a smile on her face when she turned to face the door. She saw her mom standing there. Christi saw that Chloe was awake and ran over next to the bed picking Chloe up, hugging her tight.

"I missed you so much Chlobird." Christi said, tears starting to run down her cheeks. She was happy her little girls was alive and happy.

"I missed you more Mamabird." Chloe said pulling away and looking at her mom. 

Christi leaned forward and gave a Chloe a slight kiss on the forehead before, sitting her daughter back on the bed beside Nick. 

Christi wiped away the remaining tears and looked at her daughter and Nick. She didn't say anything; she just took a moment to acknowledge Chloe and Nick's relationship. Christi loved how close her daughter was with him, and she knew that Nick would never purposely hurt her daughter. 

A doctor came in a few minutes later to check on how Chloe was doing after her surgery. The doctor explained to Christi what Chloe's options for dinner were and then checked the monitors and then walked out the door and down the hallway. 

"Well, I think that's my cue to go get dinner so anything, either of you want particularly?" Christi said looking at Nick and Chloe.

"I'm good thanks though." Nick said, smiling and looking over at Chloe.

"No thanks just bring me something I'm allowed to have." Chloe said, smiling and looking at her mom.

"Alright then." Christi said opening the door and walking out into the hallway and down to the cafeteria.

"I'm so tired right now." Chloe said after her mom left, leaning back and resting her head on her pillow. As soon as she did though she let out a small yelp and jumped up.

This action startled Nick. He thought something might be wrong and started to get very nervous.

"You okay Chloe?" He asked looking at her.

Chloe was holding the back of her head.

"Yeah..I think I just laid directly on my stitched that’s all." She said, letting go of the back of her head.

Nick laid down on his back, with his head resting on the pillow. Chloe gave Nick a confused look. Nick responded by spreading his legs slightly apart and pulling Chloe between them, pulling her down on top of him gently until her back was flat against his chest, and her head was resting on his shoulder.

"Thanks." Chloe said smiling up at him. She was so happy and she especially loved how sweet Nick was to her. Chloe tried her hardest to stay awake until her mom got back with dinner, but it was really hard to do with the warmth of Nick's body beneath her and then the gentleness of Nick's fingers rubbing up and down the sides of her body at a slow pace.

Chloe smiled up at Nick one last time and then closed her eyes. 

Nick leaned down and pressed him lips to Chloe’s for a second thinking Chloe was asleep, when she really just had her eyes closed. Nick pulled away and Chloe felt sparks shoot through her body, Chloe fell asleep thinking about the way Nick's lips had felt on hers and how she secretly wished that it would happen again.