Author's Note:

This story was just something that I couldn't get out of my head after watching Cliffhanger and the preview for next week. It takes place sometime during/after Postcards From the Edge. I wondered how Megan might feel or react to Walter being injured in the wreck, especially after finding out everything leading up to it. I have a younger brother to whom I am close, and I was trying to think of how I would react if I were in her place. This is what resulted from my musing.

This is my first fic in over 12 years. I wasn't that good at it to begin with; so, if it's terrible, please try not to flame me into oblivion. Constructive criticism and encouragement are equally welcome.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own any of the characters mentioned in the story. I wish I did, but, sadly, that is not the case.

Megan hobbled through the hospital corridor. She cursed her crutches. They always slowed her down, but she couldn't afford the delay. Walter was injured, and no one would tell her how severely or how it happened. Toby's explanation was brief, telling her only that Walter was injured and that she needed to get to the hospital quickly.

When she entered the waiting room, Paige and Ralph were sitting just inside the door. Paige looked almost as though she was in prayer, and Ralph stared numbly into space. Sylvester was sitting a few seats down from them staring at the opposite wall. Much like Ralph, he looked miles away and on the verge of tears. At the far end of the room, Cabe was pacing the floor, worry written clearly on his weathered face. She saw Toby and Happy sitting across from Paige and Ralph. They weren't speaking. Happy's expression was unreadable as she sat with her arms crossed over her chest. Toby just looked tired. They all looked up when she entered the room.

"He's in surgery," Toby said. He then placed his head in his hands and said no more.

"What happened?" she asked desperately.

Toby looked back up and spoke. "Walter was driving at a high rate of speed in the Hollywood Hills when he lost control of the vehicle, and it went over a cliff. We're not sure how it happened. We won't know until he wakes up. He was severely injured in the crash, and he was unconscious when the paramedics loaded him into the ambulance. That's all we know right now."

Megan knew the situation was bad when Toby called her, but she never thought it could be this bad. Thoughts scrambled through her head in such rapid succession she became dizzy and sank into the nearest chair. When he saw her teeter, Cabe ran across the room to steady her. She thanked him, and he returned to his previous spot and began pacing again.

The dizzying thoughts continued to buzz through her head as she sat with the team. The one unifying thought that could not be drowned out by the others was:

"How? Walter's an excellent driver. Even if he was driving fast, it would take a lot for him to lose control."

She didn't realize she had spoken her thoughts aloud until she looked up to see everyone looking at her with guilty expressions painted across their faces. She instantly knew that there was something important, something big, that they weren't telling her.

"Toby," she said in a steely, calm tone that surprised even her, "I want to know everything that happened, every little detail. Do I make myself clear?"

She paused for a breath. Breathing was becoming difficult through the flood of emotions she was feeling

"I want to know, now, or so help me..." She trailed off through gritted teeth.

The rest of her companions sat completely still, some with expressions of apprehension on their faces, others with barely muted horror.

"I don't know where to begin," Toby sighed, clutching his hat between his shaking fingers.

"The beginning," Megan stated with a finality that left no doubt that she would not let this go until she got to the truth.

Toby sighed and looked around the room before he began. As Toby told her the events of the day, her heart began to sink. Her steely gaze flashed briefly to Cabe when Toby relayed Cabe's betrayal and the scene in the command center. Cabe avoided her gaze and continued pacing.

When Toby told her about Ralph's stunt in the incinerator shaft, Ralph shifted uncomfortably in his chair but said nothing. Megan really felt for Paige; she had no idea how she would have reacted in the same situation.

Then, Toby got to the argument between Walter and Paige. He shifted uncomfortably and clutched his hat a little tighter in his grasp. It was then that Megan knew that this was the reason for the guilty expressions. This was what they did not want her to know.

As Toby relayed the argument, Megan's gazed shifted to Paige. Paige shifted guiltily, knowing that the next few sentences would change everything. Any sympathy Megan felt for the young mother was burned away in anger as she pictured Walter's broken expression as he asked Paige, Is it so awful being me? Being around me? Her expression turned cold when she heard Paige's reply.

Toby continued his explanation of the events leading up to her entrance into the waiting room, but Megan wasn't listening. It didn't really matter anyway. She pictured her baby brother hurtling down the road at insane speeds trying to outrun the pain he was feeling. She imagined him losing control and crashing over the cliff, and her blood ran cold.

"...and that's when I called you," Toby finished, snapping Megan back to the present.

Everyone in the room waited for Megan to speak. The tension in the room was palpable. She sat in silence until, at last, she calmly spoke.

"I see."

Toby and Happy looked at each other. Considering their slightly stunned expressions, Megan's reaction was, obviously, not the reaction they were expecting. Paige and Sylvester wore similarly confused expressions. Cabe stopped pacing and looked on darkly from the other side of the room. It was obvious that he knew this wasn't the end of it.

Turning to Ralph, she plastered a cheery smile on her face and asked him, "Ralph, sweetie, could you do me a favor? Could you go with Sylvester to the cafeteria to get something to eat for me? I haven't eaten anything since this morning, and I'm starting to get really hungry. Would you do that for me?"

Ralph, sensing the tension in the room, looked to Paige.

"It's ok, sweetie. Go with Sylvester," she said running her hand through his hair.

Once Sylvester and Ralph turned the corner at the end of the corridor, Megan shifted her hard gaze to Cabe and Paige, but, when she spoke, she spoke to Happy and Toby.

"Would you excuse us? I'd like to talk to Paige and Cabe alone, please?"

Her hard tone left no room for argument, but Toby, toying with his hat, spoke softly with a hint of fear in his voice.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he said hesitatingly. "I really think we should stay. Just to make sure things don't get out of hand."

Happy nodded and then visibly cringed when Megan's voice came out icily.

"As you wish."

Happy leaned toward Toby and whispered, "Not good."

Megan stared down Cabe and Paige. Cabe remained guarded but, seemingly, unfazed. Paige, however, fidgeted in her seat until she could no longer take the silence.

"Megan, I-"

Megan's glare stopped her dead in her tracks. Paige leaned back in her chair as if trying to put as much distance between herself and the seething woman in front of her.

"You're not going to talk. You're going to listen," Megan bit out.

"Megan-" Paige tried again.

"I. DON'T. CARE. ABOUT YOUR REASONS!" she seethed. "Your reasons will mean nothing to me if I have to bury him!

"I understand that Ralph is your son. I understand that he is the most important thing to you, but your actions"-she looked between Paige and Cabe-"may cause me to lose the most important thing to me!"

Megan rose from her chair, and, as the tears she had been holding back started to spill over, she continued.

"I have watched over Walter, loved him, since the day I first held him in my arms over thirty years ago. Ralph may be your baby, but Walter is mine, and I may lose him because of your deceit"-she glared at Cabe-"and your thoughtlessness"-she moved her glare back to Paige-"So, I don't care about your reasons. They won't mean anything if he's gone. Not to me!"

At the end of her speech, Megan was shaking so badly she could barely stand. She burst into heartrending sobs, and Toby and Happy rushed over to ease her back into her chair.

Cabe sat down abruptly and put his head in his hands. Paige, her own tears streaming silently down her face, looked at the heartbroken woman in front of her. Neither she nor Cabe said anything. What could they say in the face of pain like that?

What is there to say?

Nothing.

I think that Megan would recognize Paige's reasons for doing what she did, but I think that, in the end, it wouldn't matter to her because Megan could losing someone she loves every bit as much as Paige loves Ralph. It's easy to be sympathetic until it's your loved one. That was just my take on it. I hope I got that across.