“I'm sure he's going to be okay, he's a strong guy, you know,” Maria said to reassure Corey, and to reassure herself. She and Corey were sitting in the waiting room, they have been there for almost one hour now.

Corey looked back at Maria with a weak smile, “Yeah, he can resist being tickled for a long time...” His voice trailed off as he remembered the usual tickle tortures he gave to Shawn. The latter would always beg and laugh high and loud and then after a while, he would take his vengence.

“It's so funny to see him when he's been tickled, specially when his feet are being under attack, he he!” Maria said to cheer up the atmosphere. It worked as Corey laughed a bit with her.

“He got such a soft skin,” added Corey with a smile. Then, after a short moment, Corey laughed a bit. Maria looked at him, surprised, and asked him what was making him laugh. “I'm thinking that when we'll be able to see him, we should make him pay for scaring us like that, see what I mean?” replied Corey, smiling mishievously. Maria got his point and smiled with him.

Finally, after what seemed to have been an eternity, the doctor came in the waiting room. Corey and Maria stood up as the doctor approached them. Corey and Maria's faces were serious and their hearts were beating so fast that it was quite painful. The doctor cleared his throat.

“He's okay,” said the doctor, with a serious face. Maria took Corey's hand and held it tight as a little smile appeared on her face. “But he's not out of danger, yet. We have to perform a surgery to his heart. There's something which has blocked the blood from going to the heart, and if we don't make it flow, Shawn might have another heart attack, and this time, it might be fatal,” explained the doctor.

“Fatal?!?” Maria asked back, surprise filling her eyes and fear filling her heart. “What do you mean???” added the red headed girl, tightening her grip on Corey's hand. The latter closed his eyes to prevent the tears from running, what was happening to Shawn was such an horror.

“I mean that if we don't make that surgery, he might die.” The doctor answered, trying to be as soft as possible. It wasn't easy.

“Then, what are you waiting for?!??” Maria asked with anger in her voice. How could that doctor stood still while her brother was on the edge of death?

“Unfortunately, we don't have the right to perform such a surgery without the agreement of a parent. So, all we need is the signature of your father or mother.” The doctor explained.

Maria's eyes widened, “But my mother is in Los Angeles for business and I don't have a father!”

“Then I'm afraid we have a problem here...” The doctor sighed.

Maria stared at the doctor for a moment, her pain and her anger doubled. “Are you telling me that if you don't get that fucking agreement, you won't even try to save my brother????” she asked, almost yelling.

The doctor lowered his eyes a bit and sighed. Then he looked at the teary-eyed teen girl and replied, “I'm afraid so. It's the law. If ever we perform that surgery, and that your brother dies, there's a risk that you call the police. It happened a few weeks ago, so, I'm really sorry. Without the agreement of your mother, we won't be able to do anything.”

Maria remained silent, staring at the doctor's face. The latter was a middle aged man, black short-haired, brown eyes, had a thin beard and was quite thin framed. She approached him and slapped the latter hard. “Murderer!!” she said with anger before going to the toilets. She needed to wash up her face.

The doctor rubbed his cheek as Corey seemed to be elsewhere. “You okay, young man?” he asked, feeling sorry for the golden haired boy. “Hope you won't punch me. I really can't do anything without this agreement. Please, try to understand,” he explained, feeling a bit horrible.

“Where's he?” Corey asked. It was the first time he spoke since the doctor entered the waiting room. The latter smiled weakly and replied that he was in the room #18. Corey thanked him and walked towards Shawn's room.

[Song : My Brown Haired Angel]

Corey gently opened the door and peeked inside. There he was, Shawn Rulin, lying unconscious on a hospital bed. Corey stared at him for a moment, tears coming back to his eyes. He took a deep breath and then entered the room, closing the door behind him. He approached the bed and stood still at the right hand side of the bed, admiring the beauty of his brown haired angel. Corey smiled, he took a chair and put it where he was standing. He sat on it and pulled it as close as possible to Shawn's bed.

“Hey, sweet pie,” whispered the french boy lovingly as he took Shawn's hand in his and put his fingers between the latter's fingers. “It's me, your bombshell,” continued Corey, his voice cracking a bit. “When are you going to wake up, eh? I'm already feeling horny.” Corey laughed silently as he imagined Shawn laughing with him.

Then, tears started to run on the golden haired boy's cheeks. “I'm already missing you like crazy. Sh..Shawn, please, don't go away. You got to be strong, okay? I know it's going to be hard, but you got to fight with all...with all your might. I..I know you can, sweet pie. I know you can. Please, fight...fight so that we can be together again. I..I want to hear you laugh again, I want to...I want to see your eyes again...please...” He couldn't take it anymore. Corey laid his head down on Shawn's stomach and started crying all the tears of his aching heart. As if to increase his sorrow and pain even more, his mind suddenly recalled all the great moments he spent with Shawn. And as all the time he spent with him was amazing, magical and fantastic, there were lots of them.

“I love you so much, sweet pie. I..I love soooo much!” Corey said, crying and sobbing, as his head was still on Shawn's stomach. Then he raised up his face and came closer to Shawn's visage. He stared at it for a moment, remembering how it looked like when it was happy, sad or excited and then, he kissed the lips with gentleness, care and love. Even if his lips just touched Shawn's, it was magical.
“I wish I could help you...I wish I could save you, my brown haired angel...”

He passed his fingers through Shawn's hair lovingly and tenderly, then he caressed his cheeks, his nose. He made his finger run around Shawn's lips, Shawn's tender lips. Corey kissed Shawn on the forehead and then one more time on the lips. “Please, come back to me soon...my love...”

“Corey, I just found out the solution!” Maria almost yelled happily as Corey walked back in the waiting room. She approached the golden haired boy and gave him a little hug.

“The solution to what?” Corey asked back, surprised. Maria broke the hug and smiled wiidely.

“That stupid agreement thing! Remember? I just remembered that I have another parent apart from my mother! My Uncle—”

“Ben!! Of course!” Corey interrupted, a smile appearing on his face filled with sorrow and pain. “We got to call him fast!” Corey said as he was going to rush to the public phone box, but Maria grabbed him by the arm.

“I tried but there's no answer. I was going to head to his house when you came,” explained Maria. “So, now I'm going there, so you wait for me, okay?”

“No, don't go. I will,” replied Corey, putting his hands on Maria's shoulders. Maria asked why, then Corey answered, “It's quite late, so, it isn't safe for a girl to be out. And besides, I need to take some air.”

Maria smiled and gave her brother's boyfriend a big warm hug. “Be back soon, all right? I'll be in Shawn's room...”

“All right,” replied Corey with a smile before going away.

As Corey walked as quickly as possible to the Matthews' house, the memories came back to his mind. Soon his eyes got filled with tears and they started to run like rivers on his red hot cheeks. He remembered all the times they spent tickling each other, making love to each other and having fun all the time. He thought about Shawn's face, Shawn's eyes, Shawn's lips, his chest, his arms, his legs, his feet, his tender and soft feet. Oh, how much fun Corey had tickling those beautiful feet.
“I hope to see you soon, my brown haired angel,” he whispered to himself as tears never stopped running on his cheeks.

Then, he was there, infront of Ben's house. All the lights in the house were turned off though. Corey wiped out the tears and dried his face with his dark blue coloured handkerchief. He entered the yard and approached the door. He pushed the door bell. He waited. Then he pushed the door bell again and waited. But still, no answer. “Something's wrong,” thought the french blond. He tried knocking on the door, but after waiting for a long moment, no one came to the door.

“Hello?” Corey yelled, hoping to get an answer. But in vain. Corey tried knocking again and...this time, he heard something. Like if someone was climbing down stairs. So, Corey knocked again, hoping that this time, the door would open. There was a little moment of silence before Corey heard some more noise.

But after another long moment, nobody came to the door. Corey tried to knock one last time, then pushed the door bell one last time and finally yelled one last time, but still no answer. “I could swear I heard someone in there,” whispered the french boy to himself. “What am I going to do? They need that agreement. Though I know...oh God. I should go back to the hospital. I don't think this door will open.” He stared at the door for a moment, then looked at the house, at the windows to be more precise, but nothing. So, he walked out of the yard and went away.

“I wonder where they are,” Corey wondered, thinking about the Matthews family. It was already 10pm and no one was in the house. “That's really weird.” He continued walking quickly. And then, those memories came back to him as he passed Carlo's Pizza Palace. Once, he and Shawn came here to eat a pizza with Kevin, Tommy and Fox. They spent such a wonderful time that day. “I should pass by Kevin's house to—”

“Hey, blond fairy jerk!” called a voice from behind, interrupting Corey in his thoughts. The latter turned around to face...

“Taylor??” Corey asked back, amazed to see him at such a late time in the night. “What are you doing here? And at this time??”

“Oh, excuse me, are you my mom? I don't think so, dumbass! And what about you, monkeyass faced dumbo? What are you doing here at this time?” Taylor replied with eyes filled with disgust and hate.

Corey lowered his eyes as he felt the tears coming back. He thought about his brown haired angel. The latter was on a hospital bed, unconscious.

“Did you lose your tongue? Or maybe I wasn't supposed to see you?” Taylor asked, with some mixture of mean-ness and anger in his voice. “Does Shawn know you're out at such a late time?” He asked with an evilish grin.
He hated Corey more than anything else.

The french blond sighed deeply and sadly, as he thought about his dear boyfriend, before replying. He tried to break the news to Taylor softly, the latter was Shawn's ex after all. “Taylor...listen...” started Corey but Taylor interrupted him by laughing a bit. The french blond, amazed and surprised, asked, “What's so funny?”

Taylor stopped laughing and looked at Corey with eyes full of hate and repulsion, “You're already cheating on him, huh? I can't believe Shawn dumped me for a bitch, a whore, like you!”

Corey looked back at Taylor with concern in his eyes. He had hurt the latter deeply. He didn't want to. He never wanted to anhilate Taylor's heart. “No, it's not that. I went to the Matthews' house to talk to Ben. I had to tell him something really important,” the french boy paused for a second, “it concerns Shawn.”

Taylor's eyes immediately kicked away the hate and repulsion for the love and care. “What happened?”

Corey remained silent for a short moment to reunite enough energy to tell it. “Shawn's at the hosptial, he got a heart attack.”

“WHAT?!?!?!” Taylor yelled back, completely shocked by what the french blond boy just told him. “A..A heart attack?? Is..Is he okay???”

“Yes, the doctors were able to save him,” Corey said. Taylor sighed of relief. “For now,” added the french boy, almost above a whisper.

Taylor's eyes widened as fear entered his heart, “For now? What do you mean?” Corey then told him everything. Taylor leaned against the wall of Carlo's Pizza Palace builiding, he couldn't believe what was happening. He was looking down, at the pavement. His heart started to ache. He closed his eyes for a moment, then, “MOTHER FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!” he yelled, as he turned around to give the wall a hard punch. It resulted in him getting a bruise on his fist but it was also a way to avoid a breakdown. He stayed there, tears running on his cheeks, facing the wall.

Corey approached him and put his hand on the latter's shoulder. “He's going to be okay,” whispered the french boy. He had teary eyes too. “Let's go to the hospital...” Corey proposed with a weak voice. His heart was filled with sorrow.

“But...what about that agreement?” Taylor asked, turning his face to Corey.

“There was no one at the Matthews' house so we can't really do anything about that agreement. And besides, I'm sure they won't let him die. They're doctors. And Maria's there too, she could sign their fucking piece of crappy shitty document!” Corey's heart started to get filled with anger.

“I hope so...” Taylor replied, almost whispering before heading to the hospital with Corey. They didn't talk during the whole 15 minutes it took to get there. And when they arrived, a surprise awaited them.

Maria was in the waiting room, sitting with her hands covering her face. She was crying and sobbing heavily. Corey and Taylor approached her. “Maria? Did something happen?” asked Corey with concern as he sat next to the red headed girl. Maria didn't answer.

“Is..Is Shawn okay?” Taylor asked, his heart filled with worry.

No answer.

Corey and Taylor exchanged a look of confusion. “Maria?” Corey said softly as he put his hand on the shoulder of the girl.

After a short moment, Maria lowered her hands and looked at the two boys. “S..Shawn is okay. Nothing happened to him,” said Maria, her eyes all red and teary. Corey and Taylor remained silent, thinking she was feeling desperate. They understood. “It's...” started Maria, sobbing, “Y..You will never believe what happened...It's..It's so horrible...”

Corey's heart as well as Taylor's heart were suddenly filled with extreme fear. They waited for Maria's explanation. What crual dilemna did destiny provoke again?