"You were with him," Taylor answered, almost above a whisper. Silence fell over. A tensed silence this time.

"You mean...Corey?"

Taylor's eyes started to be filled with tears. "Yeah...him..." He said, his voice breaking a bit. Shawn felt a big lump in his throat, he took Taylor's hands and held them in his. "Sorry. Didn't mean to get all teary like that. It's just that...you know...you and him it..."

Then Shawn gave Taylor a kiss. A kiss made of love.

"...I don't...I don't understand..." was all that Taylor could reply after such a breathtaking kiss. Shawn smiled back, it was such a sweet and angelic smile, it melted Taylor's heart all over again. "Shawn?..." Taylor was lost, completely lost.

"Were you there when I asked to see Corey?" Shawn demanded, his visage covered with serious. Taylor nodded in agreement. "I see. I suppose you were hurt when you heard that...right?" Taylor sighed and nodded again. "I'm sorry about that." Shawn gave Taylor a quick peck on the lips.

"Shawn...I don't understand..." Taylor was lost, completely lost.

"If I wanted to see Corey first, it was because I wanted to clear up things with him. Talk. And then, decide," explained Shawn as he nervously played with his fingers.

"Decide? Decide what?"

Shawn's eyes locked with Taylor's eyes. Then, after a soft sigh, Shawn said, "We broke up."

Taylor's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open and he said, as reply, with a voice weakened by the shock, "You...broke up?" Shawn nodded with a little smile. "But...I thought you loved him...what happened?" Taylor remembered when Shawn chose the french dumbo rather than him, it had hurt his heart so much that day, and that's why he was so curious to know why Shawn changed his mind.

"When I was in that 'dreamworld', I revived some of my memories too," Shawn replied, looking deep in Taylor's eyes, "and all of them involved you. I revived the moments when you saved me in one way or another. I even...I even revived the moment we...we first kissed...the moment when you gave me what you had the most precious...your love..." At that point, Taylor's eyes were filled with tears all over again. "Taylor, you saved me so many times, you were always there when I needed you and...what I did...oh god..." Shawn's eyes copied Taylor's eyes at that point, "Taylor, I realized all the pain and all the hurt you've been through because of me. And...now...I know exactly for whom my heart really beats...and...it's for you! Can you forgive me?"

"DONE!!!" Taylor instantly replied as he gave Shawn a huge and deep kiss. Shawn laughed a bit. "Am I dreaming? Or is this for real?" Taylor asked, his heart being filled with bliss and sudden storms of extreme happiness. Shawn smiled and poked Taylor in the stomach. "Hehe, what did you do that for?"

"You wanted to know if this was for real, so now you know!" Shawn replied, with a boyish smile. "I love you!"

"Aww...you damn asked for it!!!" Taylor said with a mischievous laugh as he jumped on Shawn, crawled his hands under the brown haired boy's 'hospital shirt' and digged his fingers in the latter's moist armpits. Shawn, of course being the very 'sensitive to the tickling' kind of boy, bursted out laughing madly. "Oh! How I missed these laughs!" Taylor commented with his mischievous grin. But then, Taylor stopped the torture, he didn't want the nurses to come in and demolish this special moment. He lied down on the side and faced his sweet dolphin. He wanted to cry as he was so high at that moment.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry Taylor...so sorry..." Shawn whispered as he sticked himself to his childhood friend and best friend. Taylor pressed Shawn close to him, kissing the latter on the forehead and passing his fingers through the brown headed boy's hair.

"I missed you so much," Taylor whispered with love sculptured with
infinite passion.

"I missed you too..." replied Shawn as he went into a peaceful sleep in the arms of his lover. Taylor smiled as he closed his eyes with a deep sigh. If the latter had to pick the best moments of his life, that very moment would be one of them. Taylor stayed with Shawn until early dawn, he silently sneaked off the bed and out of the room, but he would be back as soon as the visiting hours come by.

"C'mon, did you think I would have died without at least meeting your new boyfriend?!?" Shawn was laughing. Maria stared at him with frowned eyes. "I'm kiddin', sis!" He tapped gently the nose of his twin sister with a spoon. He had his breakfast infront of him. Something which looked like jelly. But it was quite tasty.

"Wow, it seems like the coma gave you a really bad sense of humour," Maria threw back at her brother before sticking her tongue out. Shawn just giggled back. And a warm smile appeared on Maria's face.

"Hey, you know what?" Shawn asked, whispering. "Me and Taylor...we're back together!" He smiled widely. Maria's mouth dropped wide open.

"You and Taylor? How? When? Why?" Maria sat on the edge of the bed and faced her brother. The latter widened his eyes due to Maria's reaction. She was surprised, all right.

"When he came to see me...he was so adorable...so cute and so...geez...I never loved him more than now, you know. I told him I broke up with Corey and that...I wanted him in my life again. And this time, it's going to last!" Shawn explained with eyes filled with love and passion. He looked like a boy who just had his first big crush.

Maria was speechless. Amazing how many things can change in just a few...HOURS! "You broke up with Corey? But, why? What happened?" She couldn't understand. Everything seemed fine between these two yesterday and Corey didn't look like someone who had just been dumped. And besides, Shawn chose the french boy over Taylor a while ago. What changed his mind?

Shawn sighed lightly, his smile was still there though. "In a few words...we were never meant to be together. I realized that. And so did he. Then, of course, we decided to split. It's as simple as that!"

"I thought you loved him more than everything else. And I thought he loved you the same way. How can you suddenly realize that you don't belong to each other?" Maria couldn't understand her brother, and Corey too. Didn't they mean the words they said to each other? The 'I love you' and so on. It didn't mean anything?

"Maria..." Shawn was exasperated now. Of course, he knew his sister wouldn't understand, nobody can except he and Corey. "Please, just forget it. I'm with Taylor now. Okay?" Shawn didn't want to go further in this discussion. And Maria got that.

"Okay. I still don't understand you guys, but it doesn't matter. As long as it makes you happy and makes you stop annoying me!" Maria poked Shawn in the ribs. The latter nearly made his plate of jelly fall on the bed.

"Stop that, you devil woman!" Shawn shouted back with a laugh. But it didn't stop his sister.

After Maria, Tommy came to see his cousin. He was so adorable, always asking how Shawn felt and so on. They talked a lot. Tommy told Shawn everything that happened to him, from his problems with Fox and his new friendship with Corey. Tommy didn't know Shawn and Corey had broke up. So he smiled. Then, it was time for Shawn's cousin to go. But he said he would be back soon, with some 'candies'. The two boys shared a good laugh. Then, Shawn stayed alone for a while. He watched the tv in his room, listen to some music with his walkman (that Maria brought earlier) and slept a bit. He wondered where Taylor was though, he promised he would be there as soon as the visiting hours would hit the clock.

Taylor didn't show up in the morning. Neither around noon. Shawn started to worry. He wanted to call him but he forgot the number. Probably due to the coma. Grr! Shawn didn't have the choice, he had to wait. But shortly after lunch time he got a visit. A visit that he would have never expected.

"Kevin? What are you doing here?" Shawn asked, bewildered. The blond haired visitor had a few magazines with him, game magazines to be more precise and two comic books.

"Wow...ahem...didn't expect such a reaction," Kevin said softly, he lowered his eyes a bit. "I wanted to check how my friend was doing. But if I'm bothering you..."

"No, no! Of course you're not. It's just that...I wasn't expecting you to visit, after what happened...I suppose you know what happened...right?" Shawn straightened up on his bed. Kevin approached.

"Yeah, Corey told me. I'm sorry. Really sorry," Kevin pulled on a chair and sat next to Shawn. "I know how painful it must be for you."

Shawn sighed as sadness poured into his heart. "I've been thinking of that all the time. That's amazing. It goes beyond imagination. Was I...was I so depressed and desperate?"

Kevin's eyes showered the brown haired boy with compassion. "Shawn, you were so hurt. You had no one else. Everything's so different. Now you know that, right?"

"Yeah. I wanted to scream all the time when I saw it." Tears were coming to Shawn's eyes. "And what I did to Taylor...oh my god...I'll never forgive myself for that!"

Kevin promptly stood up and sat on the edge of the bed, he placed his hand on Shawn's shoulder. "Hey, it's not your fault. Well...okay...you are the one responsible for what happened here but...it isn't really...oh...I'm lost..." Kevin sighed. He wanted to help Shawn so bad.

"Don't worry, I understand," Shawn whispered back. With a smile. "May I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

Shawn seemed to hesitate. Just at the thought of it, made his heart ache all over again. "When...when is it going to happen?" He asked, his voice broke. Kevin's eyes lowered at the instant.

"I see. I understand. But...um...I don't know. Well, I don't know exactly when. It's supposed to be one week after...you know..." Kevin answered.

"So early?!??" Shawn was shocked, disgusted, his heart was being fed with sadness. "So early..." he repeated, whispering. "So early..." He felt his throat being pressed or something. He was hurt. Badly hurt.

"If you want..." Kevin's voice cut through Shawn's muddy thoughts. "If you want," he repeated, "to know more...you should talk to..."

"Corey. I know." Shawn finished the sentence with a sigh.

"Yeah. You shouldn't be mad at him, you know. It's not his fault. He's just a puppet in the whole story. And, he's suffering too. If only you knew how painful it is for him. I mean, you two are suffering lots, I know. That's why..."

"Kevin. I'm not mad at him. Promise. It's just that...seeing him reminds me of what brought him here. It's too difficult for me, right now. But after what you said...I'll have to talk to him as soon as possible," Shawn explained. His fingers were trembling. His heart was pounding in his chest. Kevin smiled back weakly. "By the way...if you could ask him to come...today...that would be..."

"No problem. I'll go right now," Kevin replied as he gave the brown haired boy a big hug. "Be strong, okay?" He whispered in the latter's ears.

Tears began a journey on Shawn's cheeks. It had been such a while since water ran on them. Kevin tightened the hug, helping Shawn in making the sorrow come out. The brown haired boy had to lighten his heart. What he would have to face soon...might rip it all apart. All apart.

Written by Cloud Angel
Copyright © 2002 by Cloud Angel,
All rights reserved