Chapter 1: Not There

The heavy rain poured down onto the windshield as she pulled up to the stop light. Emily didn't mind though. It blurred the view from the outside, hiding her tears.

It wasn't so much that her boyfriend didn't care about her, she thought that maybe he just didn't get it. Roger McNeil was always the man to take the most critical of situations and go on as if they were the most unimportant things ever. He had this nonchalantness about him, something that she had found appealing when they first started dating. She had loved the way that he could always remain calm, the way that he could take any problem and make it seem like it was nothing. It would calm her, ease her nerves.

On the other hand though, there was a subtle cruelness to his indifference. It went unnoticed by her until she needed his support. The one time while they had been dating that she had an actual problem, and he told her that it was no big deal. This wasn't something silly like she was having a bad hair day or she couldn't find the right shoes and her eyeliner was missing.

"So? If we get married, we just won't have kids then." Those were the words that cut through her. How could he have been so insensitive? She had walked in the door to his apartment ready to cry and he waved her off as if it didn't matter.

Once she got back to her apartment building, she pulled into the parking lot and turned off the car, not bothering to leave. Instead, she sat there and allowed herself to cry. Tomorrow, she went into the hospital. Today, she just wanted to try and get over the fact that she would be alone through all of this. She just couldn't see him thinking her important enough to come see her in the hospital. He would probably just tell her that he would see her when she got out, and that all he would be doing is keeping her from resting anyways. He would laugh off her fears and tell her that she was being silly. Most of the time, that would work, but now, all it did was hurt her.

Oooo

Bob walked down the hallway with flowers in his hand. He kept his eyes on the room numbers marked on the doors. "Ellen?" he called, opening the door.

Ellen lay on the bed with stitches on her forehead and shoulders. There were bruises covering various parts of her. "Hi Bob," she weakly replied. As soon as she spotted the flowers, she smiled. "Thanks."

"Don't uh, don't mention it," he replied, trying to get used to the image before him.

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"That was the first thing I thought when I saw the stitches," he remarked.

Ellen softly laughed. "Did they tell you what happened?" she implored. From the way that he was looking at her, she thought they had to of over dramatized the whole thing to him.

"They, they told me you uh, you got in an accident," Bob explained. It was still hard for him to get used to seeing his baby sister like this. He remembered it was weird for him back when she was ten years old getting her tonsils out. He just didn't like seeing her in a hospital bed.

"Bob. I'm fine. Really," she assured him. "I was conscious the entire time. I remember everything. Nothing was broken, there's no permanent damage. I was told that I was actually very lucky."

"If, if you're so lucky, then uh, why, why are they keeping you here?" Bob questioned.

"They just want to make sure," Ellen replied, softly laughing. Really, they wanted to make sure that there was no internal bleeding. Bob didn't need to know that though, not right now. She did lift her arm though to show him the IV. "I also lost some blood."

"That usually happens when you get cut," he stated.

Ellen smiled. It was sweet that he cared, but she felt like he was about to start scolding her on her driving. Telling her about how badly she really could have gotten hurt. There were times where he was over protective of her.

Sometimes though, she felt it might have been because he had no one to watch and protect. He needed to have someone to care for, and he just didn't have it. There was no one in the picture. Sure, he had patients that needed him, Elliot Carlin was always there. She figured that was part of he reason he became a psychologist, to be able to help people. He liked doing that.

"Do mom and dad know yet?" she inquired. She figured that they did, they just weren't there yet. Besides, it was a way to change the subject from her current injuries.

"They're uh, they're actually on their way right now," Bob answered.

"Wonderful," Ellen sarcastically remarked.

Oooo

Emily stood over the open suitcase on her bed. As she was packing her pajamas, she heard the phone rang. It caused her to stop and look over her shoulder out to the living room. There was no questioning who it was. Roger.

Anytime in the past when her and Roger would get into an argument, he would wait two hours after she left and then would call and apologize. She of course, would answer it and accept his apology.

This time was different. She couldn't do it. She couldn't go out there and talk to him, acting like she actually believed his apology. After everything that had been said between the two, it just wasn't possible anymore. He wasn't the same man that she thought she knew a little while ago.

As far as she was concerned, they were done. It might have been a little rash, but that was the only direction she could see going from there.

The phone finally stopped ringing and her head lowered. Her eyes were rimmed with the unshed tears of frustration.

Maybe this was a good thing. It revealed to her how truly uncaring and mean he could be to her. It wasn't the best time for that sort of lesson, right now when she needed someone, but it's better now rather than later. That was the excuse she told herself.