Thank you all so much for your reviews! I am glad you guys are liked your prologue, hope you enjoy this chapter as well. I still own nothing you recognize, although Zoey is mine… This chappie occurs five years before the prologue…

ZOEY

Chapter One: How it all began

“Johnny, honey, could you please just sit down - stop wearing yourself out… and let me help you with your injuries…”

Johnny stopped him pacing and turned to give Frankie a strange look, “I killed her, I killed her…”

“No, don’t you dare think like that,” Frankie scowled, making her way over to place a hand on Johnny’s shoulder, “No one blames you Johnny, there was nothing you could have done - you did not kill that little girl… you weren’t the one that caused that explosion…”

“I may have well have though… I didn’t do anything to, to… I should have done something…”

“Yeah, and gotten Sue killed in the process,” Frankie’s voice had a hint of disbelief in it, “You saved Sue’s life Johnny, there was no time to do anything else.”

“I could have gone back in…”

“No one expected you to,” Frankie led Johnny into the bathroom where she ran some hot water and helped him to take off his shirt, “You could have been killed if you did that…”

Johnny flinched as Frankie ran a hot flannel over the numerous, still bleeding cuts over his upper body, “She was so young though - so, so young, I, I just can’t help but blame myself.”

“No one else blames you Johnny,” Frankie whispered, stopping what she was doing momentarily to look up into Johnny’s eyes as she added, “her parents don’t blame you, no one there blamed you… and Zoey herself doesn’t blame you…”

“She must have been so scared, all alone,” Johnny shock his head, wincing as he tried to stand up, “Zoey must have been scared, waiting for someone to come help her…”

Frankie stood up and placed her arms around Johnny’s neck, “I was scared… I waited for you Johnny, and I have no idea what I would have done if you never came…”

Johnny gave her a small smile before kissing her softly on the lips, “I don’t know if I could ever forget this one, I could never forget Zoey…”

“It’s okay… I’ll be here, through it all, I promise,” Frankie gave a tired sigh, “But you can’t let this eat you up forever…”

“I know… I know….”

x-x-x

Johnny woke the next morning with his arms around Frankie - sunlight was spilling into the room, catching on her soft blonder her, which was falling all over her face. Reaching out, Johnny brushed the hair away and kissed her softly on the cheek - he was so lucky to have her - the past year had been amazing. The time spent with her magical, she was such a support for him, she was his strength when he needed it most. Like last night…

Johnny winced as he shuffled in the bed - yesterdays injuries catching up to him as an explosion of pain ripped through him - he knew that he would be feeling the affects of this for weeks. Hissing through his teeth Johnny managed to get out of the bed and to the bathroom before he completely collapsed at the basin - the small walk from the bed to the bathroom had been exhausting, maybe he was worse off than he first thought…

“Johnny?” Frankie’s voice floated softly from the bed to him, “Are you alright… Johnny?”

Johnny could hear her make her way out of be, he heard her footsteps as she came to the bathroom. But at that precise moments the only thing he was concentrating on was the throbbing pain in his head…

“Johnny? Say something, honey, you’re really freaking me out…” Frankie placed a hand on his shoulder - Johnny could see her in the mirror - concern filled her eyes, “Johnny, talk to me please…”

“Spinning…” Johnny managed to mutter as the room spun in his mind, “everything… spinning…”

Then, Johnny took a deep breath, before passing out completely…

“Johnny!” Frankie managed to catch Johnny as he became unconsciousness, collapsing into her arms, she lowered him carefully to the floor, checking his breathing and his pulse. She immediately knew something was wrong, his pulse rate was too high, his breathing too harsh and irregular, “Johnny, Johnny, please…”

Frankie looked around worriedly before rushing out of the room and screaming down the halls, “Help! Help! Sue! Reed!”

It wasn’t long before doors of the Baxter building burst open and Sue and Reed appeared.

“What’s going on - what… Frankie?” Sue blinked, surprised to see Frankie in the building, “What are you doing here?”

Frankie gave Sue an “isn’t it obvious loo” before shaking her head, “it doesn’t matter, quickly, something’s wrong with Johnny!”

As soon as Frankie said “wrong” and “Johnny” in the same sentence Sue’s eyes widened and she rushed towards her, “What’s wrong?”

Frankie rushed back into the room, closely followed by Sue and Reed.

“He… he just collapsed and… I, I don’t know… his pulse..” Frankie mumbled incoherent sentences to herself as Sue knelled down beside her brother, “I think its from yesterday…”

Sue nodded, knowing full well how much Johnny had over exerted himself yesterday, “Reed - Reed can you do something, or are we going to have to call an ambulance…”

“I don’t know,” Reed knelled down beside his wife, frowning as he felt Johnny’s pulse, “that doesn’t fell good though - we shouldn’t risk anything, call an ambulance…”

Frankie was just about to dial when Johnny let out a moan and opened his eyes, causing Frankie to drop the phone in shock, “Johnny?”

Johnny blinked and looked around at the three faces staring down at him in worry, “Where’s the party?”

x-x-x

“Frankie - stop looking at me like that, you’re worse than Sue…”

“I’m sorry - I’m just not use to my boyfriend collapsing on me… you scared me half to death Johnny, I was worried…”

Johnny sighed, moving with discomfort in the bed that Reed and Sue had “banned” him to, “I’m sorry honey, I just didn’t know how bad it truly was… but its what I do, it happens…”

“I know, I know, its just I don’t think I could go through it again, the last year its just been one disaster after the next and I…” Frankie sighed, “I don’t want to lose you…” She slumped down onto the bed next to him, “just be careful please, promise me?”

“Okay, okay…” Johnny smiled, taking her hand in his, “I promise, I’ll neve scare you like that again…”

x-x-x

I use to be really paranoid about my word count - I was like, no, each chapter has to be more than one thousand words… but this time, I think I’ll just stop where I want… some chapters may be short due to not wanting to ramble too much… I hope that made sense…. Anywho, hope you liked this chappie, please review with any comments of any kind, God Bless, Kylie xx