Aurora didn't even register Charles presence, much less his questions. She just kept crying and shaking ever so slightly, all the time mumbling incoherently about Rosalie and amnesia and death and bikes and cellos and family. It was clear that she was taking it very hard, because Aurora felt responsible. She felt that is she hadn't had such a lousy reaction, Rosalie would still be there.

Charles slipped down into a sitting position beside her and then just stayed in silence. He felt the best he could do was offer her his presence until she was ready to talk. He did not want to push her or make her more upset. If that was possible. He hated seeing her like this. Feeling helpless was not something Charles often felt and it was one of the emotions he disliked the most.

Aurora instinctively leaned towards the person who had slid down next to her. It was a huge comfort for her to know that there was someone around, that there will always be someone around. She was still sad and felt responsible and still not really back to normal but she was also very tired. And very sleepy.

Most of her shock and hysteria had been replaced by a numbness that was both welcome and slightly disturbing. Slowly, as she felt spreading warmth of comfort wash over her, she started to drift into sleep. “It is my fault she died. How can I ever live with that?” She mumbled just before she fully fell asleep, right on the shoulder of the person she yet had to recognise.

"How the heck was it your fault ..." Charles replied, but it was in a soft whisper because he could see she was going to sleep and he did not want to wake her. Deciding she needed sleep. He could suffer, for her sake, through a period of time in what felt like one of his worst nightmares. With everything he hated in one place. Except Aurora - he did not hate Aurora - and she needed him.

Later:

Aurora's sleep was fitful, she had vague dreams but not clear enough to qualify as nightmares. They did keep her mind from fully resting though and as a result she wasn't very refreshed when she woke up. Blinking as she tried to make sense of everything around her, she ignored the shooting pain in her brain and instead focused on Charles. "I thought you hated hospitals." She remarked, looking up at him. It was a moment before she realized how close they were and uncomfortably clearing her throat, she leaned back so there was a larger distance between them, immediately missing the warmth.

"I could not just leave you here, alone" Charles replied simply as he flushed slightly at her reaction to there close proximity and silently denied his own thoughts that he had liked her leaning on him. Rubbing his arm where pins and needles were warning him they had been sitting there a while he added "you seemed so distressed, I could not leave you ..."

"You could, but you didn't." Aurora corrected simply, shaking her head slightly as she shifted her weight around to be more comfortable. The hospital floor wasn't exactly the most comfortable place in the world to fall asleep on and as Aurora rubbed her groggy, slightly swollen due to her tears, eyes, she winced as the sensations returned in most of her numb body parts. "I guess I owe you an explanation."

"You don't owe me one, but you can give me one if you wan't" Charles corrected right back before nodding for her to continue. Happy to patiantly wait for her to be ready. Just wanting to be needed, to feel he could help her.

"Has anybody told you that you are very sweet?" Aurora asked with a strained smile. 'I think I should talk about it. Talking is supposed to make things easier, right? Sharing problems makes it easier to cope up with them." She mused with a sigh, staring blankly at all the people rushing past them without a second glance.

"I assume you were talking crazy because you were distressed, but what did you mean it was your fault?" Charles asked carefully as he looked at her, not wanting to upset her, but wanting to know how he could at least try and help her.

"It was my fault, yes. I was there with her. I should have taken better care. I guess I am just lousy with responsibility." Aurora explained in a blank, emotionless sort of dead voice. This blankness was much more disturbing than her crying, it made her seem much more distant.

"It is not your job to look after her. It was the hospitals. You have enough facts in that beauitful head of yours to know the difference between the responsabilities of medical staff and the ones of a casual aquaitance who dropped into wish her the best. Plus I have heard that she siezed for pretty much every visitor that went in there. It was going to happen sooner or later, and you being there made no difference. It is just a tragic coincadence that this time it was fatal." Charles simply replied, his logical brain not understand how she felt.

"You don't get it, do you?" Aurora questioned blankly, shaking her head. "I should have taken better care of her. Notified her family faster. Made the nurse do more than just ramble." She added, frustration seeping into her voice. Failure, in anything wasn't acceptable to aurora. SHe expected way too much out of herself and if she ever failed, she was prone to long downward spirals in self loathing.

"Well as she did not want you to notify her family, doing it at all was an extra let alone fast enough, and the nurse did everything she could. Just as you did everything you could. Blame the girl who beat her up if you want to blame anyone!" Charles defended.

"How do you know that she wouldn't let me call her parents?" Aurora asked blinking in confusion. Her mind was repressing the exact details of what happened until she could cope with it better so her own account would have been foggy. "Did I ramble about that too?"

"I am room-mates with Jake, I worked out from his phone call that Rosalie put him down as her next of kin and not her parents, and then when he lied about being her fiancee on the phone ... well I just guessed" Charles explained with a half smile and a shrug.

"What all did I say when......you know, before I passed out?" Aurora asked haltingly, a rising dread growing in her mind. What had she told Charles? Had she rambled about him too? Now that would be embarrassing, especially since she was trying very hard not to let Charles know that she liked him as more than a friend.

Charles mouth twitched and he replied "you said quite a lot. You were very informative. Though that is hardly surprising as you make a habit of being informative most of the time. In fact it is rather sweet that your personality does not change even when you are busy passing out. I made a note of it."