As she looked at him from under her curtain of hair which was strewn messily across her face, and her head buried deep in her pillow, Collins pursed her lips tightly together and nodded to Charlie's original question. "I'll probably take Kie, Pope, or JJ, whoever's available and see if we can get a visit in with him. I'm not sure what kind of policies the hospital has or if he's even okay to be released."
Reaching over to squeeze her leg comfortingly from on top of the blanket, Charlie smiled sympathetically at her. "He's probably fine, Colls. You said it yourself, he was breathing and moving, that's all you really even need to be alive, right?"
Pushing her hair out of her eyes, Collins moved to sit up a little more. "Yeah, he was breathing and moving, but functioning? That's a whole other thing. You don't know for sure until they're conscious and he wasn't conscious last time I saw him." Collins grimaced, thinking the worst.
"Will you stop that? He's gonna be fine. You'll see."
"I feel bad." Collins professed. "He's probably gonna wake up all alone. He doesn't have a guardian to take care of him. It's gotta be so scary. He should have people there with him when he opens his eyes."
"Speaking of guardians, how has DCS not caught up with him yet?" Charlie asked with a perplexed expression. "His dad's been missing for about a year now and he's just been living off of beers and peanut butter sandwiches. His Advil is weed. Probably not a can of Lysol within miles of that place."
Shaking her head, Collins shrugged. "I don't know. I just hope that he doesn't wake up to social services at his feet. I don't think he's gonna appreciate their bedside manner." 
"Well, better get a move on it if you plan on seeing him today." Charlie patted her before pushing himself up to stand, heading out to leave before he stopped himself and glanced back at her. "Promise me you'll make time for studying today?" 
Collins wiggled her pinky finger at him. "Promise."
Charlie waved his pinky back at her. "Alright, I'm out. See you later?"
"You know who I'll be with if not."
Charlie threw his head back and sighed. That was going to have to take some getting used to. He made sure to make a note in the back of his brain to start crunching numbers when he got back from work to see if they could scrounge up some money to get her a phone. She was going to need one anyways when she went to college and he wouldn't get to talk to her every day like he was used to. So what if they get it just a couple years in advance?
She heard the engine of Charlie's motorcycle rumble outside, then the revs began to fade quieter as he rode off into the distance. Collins had been in the midst of brushing her teeth when she heard the sound of the motorcycle come again. 
She spit out a mouthful of toothpaste and rinsed her mouth, patting it dry with a towel before stepping out of the bathroom to check the front of the house. When she opened the door, she was startled by the sight of none other than JJ Maybank, standing on her doorstep, leaning against the split wood doorframe with a toothpick hanging off his lip.
A grin immediately spread across Collins's face and she felt her heart go thump-thump-thump in her chest. Since when did it become her reality, that a guy like that was showing up at her house before the day had really even started? And not just for favors, but out of sheer will and desire. Collins felt like every day she was living was a dream and she was waiting for the day when she finally woke up.
"Hey," he said to her, his voice a little raspy, more affirmation that he'd recently woken up and something in his mind immediately told him to come to her. "Sleep okay?"