Rule 30 (You know the drill, not proofread, so please ignore any mistakes). Dedication for the b-e-a-u-tiful banner on the side!

                I watched, distraught, as Ash was carried inside the hospital on a gurney, doctors surrounding him and rushing him to surgery. I heard a lot of medical terms used on the trip over, but didn't have the energy to listen to them, let alone understand them.

                I tried to rush after Ash, but I was held back by a nurse and another doctor, who apparently had some questions for me.

                "I'm his girlfriend, he fell off his bike and was attacked. Is he going to be OK? Can I go through?" I attempted to answer all of their questions in one, but the nurse gave me a sad look and navigated me to a small room.

                "What is your boyfriend's name, dear?" she asked, grabbing a clipboard. I couldn't concentrate on anything she was saying to me. I kept looking over her shoulder at the door, silently hoping that he'd just walk in and laugh at me, telling me it was one of his best pranks yet. I felt my eyes water again at the thought and I choked on a sob.

                "Ash," I started and then shook my head. "Asher Toms," I told her. She nodded, writing it down on her board.

                "What happened?" she asked.

                "Look, I'll answer anything you want me to after I know he's ok," I interrupted. She gave me a stern look.

                "I understand you're upset," she began.

                "No, you don't," I cut in. "I just watched him fly over the top of a motorbike handle, one that was going at about eighty miles an hour. While that was on fire, he disappeared and I found him half dead after clearly being beaten with a rock!" I realised that towards the end of my rant I'd gotten close to hysterical.

                "Honey," the nurse began again. I didn't interrupt this time, merely looked at her. "Is there anyone you can call?" she asked.

                "My cousin is on his way here," I told her, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.

                "Any parents?" she enquired. I shook my head and she sighed.

                "Was your cousin at the scene?" I nodded in answer to her question.

                "Your boyfriend will be going in for emergency surgery, all you can do is wait outside," she informed me.

                "His dad is in here. Can I wait with him?" I asked her. Running my hand under my watery eyes, I started to get up.

                "Sure, sweetheart. Make sure you stay where we can find you, should anything happen." I nodded, letting her know Daryl's room number.

                I started down the corridor, walking extremely quickly. I needed to clear my head, sort myself out. Maybe sitting in with Daryl and talking to him would make it a bit easier.

                Just as I pushed the door open, movement came from the other side of the room, near the life support machine.

                "Nate," I gasped out, watching in horror as he held onto the pipe that was attached to Daryl's nose.

                He didn't look like the same fun loving red head that I met at Ash's mother's party, or the guy that ran the cafe I always went to when I was upset. He just looked an image of rage.

                "Get out and pretend that you didn't see anything, Alex," he snarled and I opened the door, preparing to shout for help.

                "Let go of his tube or I'll shout so loud you'll be arrested in minutes," I retorted, leaning on the open door. He narrowed his eyes, as if he didn't believe me. My heart was thumping, unsure if he'd just pull the tube out all together.

                "Go on then," he challenged, squeezing it. I panicked and leaned out of the door.

                "Nurse!" I bellowed. Nate's eyes widened, as he obviously didn't expect me to call on him. What he didn't realise was that I didn't care if Ash was to get arrested for illegal racing, as long as both him and his father lived through it.

                "Yes?" The same nurse I'd met the first time I visited Daryl with Ash approached and offered me a smile.

                "Hi, Alex. What can I do for you?" she asked. I shot a sidelong glance at Nate, who had stepped back from the tube and let go, giving me a hard look. I gave him a gesture with my free hand, making him move away from the bed and closer to the chair in the corner.

                "I was wondering if someone could come and get me when Ash gets out of surgery?" I asked. Her face went solemn and she nodded.

                "Of course. Such a horrific accident. If you need anything else, be sure to let me know."

                "I will," I assured and closed to door, moving protectively over to Daryl.

                Nate watched my every movement like a  lion stalking its prey. I felt like a tiny mouse in that room with him, being fully aware of what he was capable of. Saying that, he didn't exactly go after Ash himself, he had other people do his dirty work.

                "Was this even about Ash?" I broke the silence, stopping next to Daryl's bed. I frowned, noticing that his heart rate was going up.

                "This is about my dad," Nate said coldly and then smirked. "Although, you both made a good effort in trying to make the race go... smoothly. What gave me away?" he asked, cocking his head.

                "The birthday card," I answered curtly, feeling the need to hit him several hundred times with a heavy object to get my anger out.

                "Damn, I'm not as smart as I thought," he chided.

                "He's not going to die, you know," I snapped, glancing in the corner of my eye at the security camera in the top left of the room, hidden so it looked like a sprinkler. I only knew it was there because when I tried to kiss Ash, he'd told me that he didn't want to give security an amateur porno to watch.

                "I don't know, I did a pretty decent job on his head," he considered. I flinched at the tone of his voice, nausea building up in my stomach at the thought.

                "You're disgusting. Why would you do that? He's your friend," I countered and glanced nervously at Daryl's heart rate, which was still beeping faster.

                "A friend who helped his father plot against mine in order to win," he snapped.

                "He was thirteen at the time, you arrogant prat!" I exploded. "This is no revenge act, what happened to your dad was an accident and I am truly sorry for what you've been through. You just haven't come to terms with itand you've started throwing your toys out of the pram," I continued. Nate's eyebrows had risen and he was staring at me as if he didn't know I possessed the ability to yell. "Deal with this like an adult," I added at the end.

                Nate, clearly enraged, stalked closer. I watched, nerves overcoming my muscles, as he stopped directly in front of me and got right up in my face.

                "I bashed your boyfriend's skull in with a rock, want to see how much air I can prevent from reaching your lungs with just my bare hands?" he enquired with a small chuckle.

                Just that noise made my skin crawl and my hair stand up on end. I reached back behind me, slowly to prevent pushing him to hurt me, and pulled down on the panic cord behind Daryl's bed.

                A nurse came running in almost instantly and Nate took a step back. I straightened, feeling my heart hammer against my rib cage.

                "What's the problem?" the nurse asked, but her question was instantly answered when Daryl's beeping heart became so quick and uneven, that it began to look really abnormal.

                "We need help in here!" the nurse shouted. Nate and I were escorted out while they dealt with Daryl. My hands were shaking and my throat was clogged again.

                Dev came rushing up the hall towards me, slowing when he noticed Nate.

                "What are you doing in here?" he asked, his voice so low it was chilling.

                "Finishing the job," Nate remarked.

                That was when my heart almost stopped and I had to sit down for fear of passing out.  Dev remained standing, talking to Nate. My head was swimming too much, the sounds of doctor's feet and the beeping from Daryl's room was giving me a headache.

                What if Nate intended for me to catch him there? Wanted me to yell and try to give Daryl a heart attack, if he heard what was going on, as far as he was concerned, Ash was dead.

                Dev dragged Nate outside a few moments later, I didn't even notice they'd left. I waited patiently for the news on Ash and Daryl.

                "He's OK," the doctor that exited Daryl's room told me.

                "What happened?" I asked, getting to my feet. The sterile smell stung my noise and the white was making my eyes hurt. It wasn't a hospital, more like a graveyard. Barely anybody was smiling and nobody was looking around them, just solemnly at their work.

                "He had a minor stress induced heart attack," the doctor began. "However, he is OK and we have some good news," he told me. Straightening up, I listened eagerly as he told me that the heart attack and the defibrillator currents has shocked his body out of the comatose state," he continued.

                My own heart leapt, and I started towards the door. The doctor put his arm out.

                "Be gentle. He's confused and understandably frustrated. We're not quite sure how far any brain damage from his accident went, so bear with him." I nodded, brushing past him.

                Daryl was sitting up in his bed, looking around him in awe. He looked at me with a hard and angry look, until I shyly introduced myself. I couldn't help but find it awkward, considering that Ash deserved to be the first one to see him awake.

                "How is my son?" was the first thing that Daryl asked me. His voice was slightly slurred and gruff, but I could understand him well enough.

                "He's alive, as far as I know, but they won't tell me anything," I told him, dropping into the chair. I looked out of the window into the corridor, waiting for Dev to come back.

                "How bad was the crash?" Daryl asked.

                "Quite bad, but it was the blow to the head they're worried about," I said, fiddling with the fabric of my shirt. Daryl sighed, resting his head back against the pillows. He looked tired and haggard, probably from the electric currents that had been running through his chest.

                Daryl asked me a few other general questions, such as the date, the time, how long he had been asleep and how Ash's mother was doing. I answered them all the best I could, but any mention of Ash made my heart lurch.

                "I should've stopped the race," I grumbled, running my hand through my fringe. Daryl gave me a sad look and tried to move to sit comfortably.

                "He loves you, doll, but he would've raced even if I told him not to," he reassured.

                An hour later, and a doctor came in to tell us the news. I held my breath the entire time he was speaking.

                "He's made it through surgery with a large concussion. There was some internal bleeding from the bike crash that we were informed about, but he should be awake in a few hours. Don't badger him too much as we need him to rest," he told me, giving me a stern look. I thanked him and turned back to Daryl, who looked on the verge of relief tears.

                I'd done enough crying for one day, but I still couldn't stop the small tear that escaped the corner of my eye.

                Dev came back in shortly after we received the news, telling me that he'd wait for me until I wanted to come home. He also sat down and had a long chat with Daryl about his life and how Ash has been doing. Although Daryl could hear some of what we had told him, there were a lot of blanks in between. My cousin struggled slightly to understand his slurred language, but the talk about Ash's grades and graduation from college made him glow with pride.

                Dev and I stayed with Daryl for another half an hour before going to the cafe down the road for some food. I went and ordered while Dev got us a table. I sat down with our drinks and shot him a meaningful look.

                "What happened with Nate?" Dev shrugged, twirling his straw around his cup. "Dev," I repeated.

                "I called the police," he admitted. I let out a breath of relief and sighed, running my hand down my face.

                "Good," I said. He frowned and gave me a strange look.

                "I thought you'd be mad," he said. I shook my head and cracked my knuckles, not taking my eyes off my cup.

                "I don't care what kind of trouble Ash gets in, Nate deserves to go away," I replied firmly.

                "What about Sid and Jackson?" He asked. I frowned and gave him an incredulous look.

                "I don't care about Jackson, he started this mess. What did Sid do?" I asked. I had noticed her suspicious behaviour at the track, but tried to pass it off as nerves.

                Dev let out a deep sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. If anything, he just looked tired.

                "She kept Ry from turning up at the tracks," he said. My eyebrows knitted together, suggesting he elaborated. "She slept with him last night and kept him this morning. She sedated him and kept him there to stop him getting in the way," he explained.  My jaw fell open and I let my hands fall limp around my coffee cup.

                "What? How do you know that?" I asked.

                "She told me. She broke down when I got back and picked her up to go the hospital. She said she couldn't face Ash," he said. I grumbled under my breath.

                "Is there anyone else I should know about?" I asked. Dev, fortunately, shook his head.

                "No,  I think this is all over now," he said. I nodded in agreement and we sat in a well needed silence. Dev also told me that Ash had won the race on default due to it having to be brought to a halt, and him only being a few metres from the finishing line. I would tell him that, alongside the news about his dad, as soon as I got back into the hospital.

                We also told the staff about Nate and his plan to ruin Ash's life, to make sure that the nurses were watching his room at all times.

                "I don't know how far Nate's conviction will go, though," Dev mumbled and I grinned.

                "He threatened me and told me what his plan was in the hospital, there's CCTV, and we have the notes, he'll go down for it."

                Dev drove me back to the hospital and promised to pick me up later.

                With the help of Daryl's nurse, I managed to find Ash's room and gently prised the door open. He was sleeping and looked so unlike the joking arsehole that I knew and loved.

                There was a drip in his hand and a bandage around his head. He was in a gown and there was a bandage around his wrist. His hair hadn't been shaved, so I guessed they operated on the internal bleeding and tried to sort his ribs out. Apparently, they were sprained and one was broken, again.

                "Ash," I whispered, closing the door quietly behind me. His eyelids flicker ed and I knelt down next to bed, taking hold of his hand.

                "Alex?" he asked, his voice croaky and dry. His eyes were open but he didn't appear to be fully there, probably because of the drugs.

                "Rule 30, don't ever scare me like that again," I whispered and gently pressed a kiss to his scratched up knuckles. He offered a painful sounding snort in return.

                "I'm here fighting for my life and you shove a rule down my throat?" his sarcasm didn't quite have the same effect in the weak tone, but it still made me smile.

                "You're not fighting for your life, don't be so mellow dramatic," I chided and gently reached up to brush wet strands of hair out of his face.

                "What did they say the damage was?" he asked. I frowned and raised an eyebrow.

                "They didn't tell you?" He let out a small sigh through his nose.

                "Too tired to listen," he justified.

                "Concussion, internal bleeding, a broken ankle, bruised ribs, broken rib, sprained elbow and dislocated shoulder," I listed off. He smirked.

                "That all? I am so badass." I rolled my eyes and settled on my heels, running my finger over the skin on the top of his hand.

                "No, you're not a badass, you're stupid for getting on the bike. All my hard work on that tank, shattered!" I said exaggeratedly and he smirked. "I have some good news," I said softly with a smile.

                "Can I have a kiss first? I hurt," he complained. I chuckled and leaned forwards, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. The warm from his mouth settled me, letting me know that he was definitely there. There wasn't much warmth to his hand and seeing him in such a state hurt my chest.

                "You won," I said and he grinned.

                "Good, Dad would be happy with that," he told me.

                "Yeah, he is. He shat himself when he found out about your crash though," I said with a smile. His eyes widened and I grinned.

                "He...?" Ash sounded so choked up that I grinned.

                "Yeah, some 'stupid badass' gave him a heart attack," I replied. Ash winced but smiled immediately after.

                "He's okay, though, right?" he asked. I nodded and continued to caress the top of his hand. He eventually shuddered and gently clasped his fingers around mine, the plastic from his tube grinding against my skin.

                "He's fine. He can talk, they don't know if he can walk yet, but he can remember pretty much everything you told him." Ash settled back against the pillow with a content sigh and squeezed my hand a bit tighter.

                "Good. Please don't go yet." My heart melted a little bit at the soft and vulnerable tone of his voice. With a promise that I wouldn't leave until visiting hours ended, I sat on the chair and chatted with him - more to him than with him.

                I filled Ash in on Nate, what he said and what happened with Sid. I also told him about the police, but he looked less bothered about the police than what Nate said to me in the hospital room.

                "That son of a bitch," Ash growled when I replayed the scene. The side of my mouth quirked at his angry tone.

                "Is going to jail, don't worry yourself. Your mum can get you a damn decent lawyer, I'm sure." He moved his head stiffly into something that resembled a nod and settled against his pillow.

                When visiting hours ended and I was asked to leave by one of the nurses, I leant down and kissed Ash's bruised forehead. He had fallen asleep, and as I had promised him I wouldn't leave, I didn't have the heart to do so until I was told to.

                "I love you," I whispered and gave his hand one last