AN: Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well! Thank you guys so much for all the support recently! I really appreciate every one of you! As always, feel free to leave a comment to let me know what you think!

Scotty

Today was the big day, and Ellie's nerves were palpable as we rode the last few miles in an uber to get to Las Vegas Adolescent Rehab Center (LARC). It had been almost an hour drive, and the last few minutes, we were driving on more and more rural roads.

Eventually we pulled up to a plain gray building. It contrasted sharply with the outlandish splendor of Vegas, but it matched Ellie much more. We thanked the Uber driver and stepped out of the vehicle. As soon as we were both on the same side of the vehicle, she looked at me, an odd bit of fear in her eyes.

"You're about to learn a hell of a lot more about me today. Are you ready for that?" She asked, picking at her shirt.

I caught her hand, and brought our hands between us, "I'm ready for anything, Princess."

We walked hand in hand towards the entrance. When we went in, we walked through a metal detector and then went to the front desk. Ellie's grip tightened on my hand as the woman looked up at her. She was young and didn't look to pleased to be there.

"The kids are asleep," she said, her voice nasally, "You'll have to come back later to visit."

Ellie's voice came back quiet, "I'm not here to see the kids. I'm a former patient, I'm here to visit some of the staff."

"Oh," she said, going back to tap on her keyboard, "They'll send someone out here for you shortly."

Ellie and I took a seat in some uncomfortable chairs while we waited a few minutes. Soon, the door let out a beep, and a large, chocolate skinned man came charging through it.

"Ellie Rose!" he cheers as he nears us. Ellie stands up and begins to walk towards him, sticking out her foot to tap his shoe with hers.

Once their little ritual is done, he pulls her in for a hug. "You look so good! I can't believe it!"

She smiles softly, and he turns back to the door, swiping his badge so the three of us can go back in.

"I'm so happy that you came to see me, little girl. I can tell that you're getting better and better out there. I will say, I'm a little surprised about him," he says, cutting his eyes toward me with a laugh.

She laughed a little too, "Charlie, this is Scotty."

I extend my hand to the man as she continues to talk, "Charlie was the first man that I really bonded with after everything that happened to me."

"That's right," the man added in, "Touching her foot to my foot was as close as I could get to her for years after she came in."

We continued to walk through a series of hallways, until we were outside a room with bright yellow walls.

"This," Ellie says as she walks in, "Is a day room. We weren't allowed back in our rooms after we woke up, so we spent a lot of time in these rooms. This was actually the one I was always in."

As I take a look around, I see that the walls are littered with pictures, stuck up with tape. As Ellie and Charlie talk, I take a look around. None of the faces mean much to me, until I see one of the most heartbreaking things.

It certainly looks like Ellie, but her body is terrifyingly thin. She has dark circles around her eyes, and a tube that's passing through her nostril to her stomach. She's dressed in a red, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts, sitting on a fancy velvet chair next to a festively dressed service dog.

I turn to look at her, a little shocked, and her eyes follow my line of vision. She stands up, and comes to stand beside me. "That was the first Christmas I spent here. I had only gotten out of the hospital like a month ago. Every year, they bring Santa to take pictures with the kids. There was no way in hell I was sitting on a random man's lap, so this was our compromise."

Charlie stood up, "I'm going to gather up some of the others that can come see you. I'll be right back."

As soon as Charlie left the room, I had to pull her into my arms in a tight hug. It was hard facing the reality that she was that sick at some point, and that she had been through so much pain and hardship in her life.

We broke apart from our hug and went around the room, looking at various pictures, with her explaining the context of all of them to me.

When other people came into the room, there were lots of hugs and introductions.

The woman with the long blonde hair and kind eyes - her old therapist.

The man with the curly brown mop - her music teacher.

The small woman with a dark braid - one of the nurses.

Generally, all of the people here seemed nice. With the exception of the lady at the front desk, all of these people seemed very proud of the progress that Ellie had been making.

Eventually, her music teacher, Theo, pulled out an acoustic guitar and handed it to her. She blushed and hid her face in her hands, but after he said, "Come on. For old times sake?" she agreed to whatever they were going to do.

He pulled out another guitar, and began playing the starting chords to a song I wasn't familiar with. She began playing as well, and they dove into singing a duet to a song I realized was 'Universe and U' by KT Tunstall.

I was shocked again, but this time in a positive way. I had never heard her do anything relatively musical, and I'll be the first to admit, it wasn't something I expected out of her. Her voice was high and clear. It was incredibly beautiful, especially on the bridge of the song, where she was able to showcase an incredible range.

Not long after this, we had to leave, as the kids would be getting let out of their rooms soon after their midday nap. Ellie bid everyone a slightly tearful farewell, and we slipped out of the building.

When we arrived back at the hotel, we were both dead tired. I ordered postmates for us while Ellie napped.

While I waited for the postmates, I couldn't help but look at the beautiful girl asleep on the bed in front of me and think. She had shocked me in so many ways today. She was even more of a fighter than I initially thought. She went from being a tiny, scared little girl to being a beautiful woman. She was so strong. So very strong.

My phone dinged, letting me know that I needed to head down and pick up our food. I found myself leaning over her sleeping form and pressing a kiss to her head before walking towards the door. Before I opened the door, I turned and looked at her.

"I love you." I whispered before opening the door and leaving the room.

AN: What do you guys think of all the things Scotty learned about Ellie? Would you have guessed any of it?