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Things have not been going well for either of them, so she thought she should just come out and say it. "Eric, ummm, I have something important to tell you." "What is it?" "Well, I'm a, I'm.....pregnant!" "That's wonderful, Rita!!" "Really? I didn't think you would be too thrilled." "Are you kidding? Of course I'm thrilled! You're gonna have my baby." "There is just one thing I need for you to do." "Sure, honey, what is it?" She knew he had been drinking already, so this was going to be hard.
She took a deep breath and then started.
"I need for you to stop drinking; for me and for our baby." "You're kidding, right?? I can't just give that up!" He turned and walked towards the door. "I need to think," Eric exclaimed. "Eric, wait!! Don't......" SLAM!!!! "go."
Rita tried to be strong, but she felt all of her emotions jumble together. She started to cry. She knew that this wasn't the Rita she knows, but she just couldn't hold everything in anymore. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jillian had asked Chris if she could come over because he had to talk to him about something important.
"Jillian, I know you didn't just come over here to tell me that you love me." "You're right, I do love you though." "I love you too," Chris replied. "O.K. ummmm, I got offered this new job....." "That's great Jillian!!!" Chris exclaimed cutting her of. "Wait let me finish. This job is in Boston and I am taking it. Do you love me Chris?" "You know I do." "Good, because I want to ask you something..........will you come to Boston with me?" "I don't know what to say. I can't just pack up and leave. I have everything here, my job, Rita....." Jillian didn't even let him finish. "I knew it," she sounded angry. "I'm sorry Chris. Don't get mad when I ask you this next question." "O.K." "Do you love Rita?" "Of course I love Rita, she is my best friend." "No, I mean are you *in* love with her?" Chris just starred at her in shock, not knowing what to say. "Chris, I already know that the both of you are in love with each other." "How?? When I don't even know." "By the way that you act together and especially by the way you look at each other. You should have seen her when you got shot; she wouldn't leave your side." "Jillian, I'm sorry. What you say is true. I've just never let myself admit it because I was too afraid of losing her if she didn't feel the same way." "Chris, I understand, you have to tell her before it's too late. True love only comes around once in a life time." "I know, but I'm afraid she won't feel the same way and I'll lose my best friend and anyway she has Eric now." "She love you too, Chris. She loves you more than humanly possible. You have to believe me on this one." *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Eric still standing by the door, can hear her crying. He takes out his pad and pencil and starts to write. "Rita, I'm really sorry about this but I'm just not ready for any of this. I'm really sorry! Eric" He takes the note and the tack out of the door and puts it on the door. One single tear falls down his face. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Yea, Lorenzo." He hears cries on the other end of the phone and knows it's Rita. "Rita??" "Sam....can you....come over?" she manages to get out in between the crying. "Rita, shhhh, breath. What's the matter?" He just hears more crying. "I'll be there in 15 minutes. OK? All she can manage is "OK." CLICK! Chris got this worried look on his face and Jillian saw it. "Chris, what's the matter?" "I gotta go, there's something wrong with Rita. She won't stop crying." "I understand," she says as she is looking at the floor. "I want to thank you for showing me how true my feelings are for Rita." "You would have been miserable in Boston without Rita there." "Jillian, I'm sorry. You know that I love you." "I do know, but not as much as Rita. You have to tell her before it's too late." "I gotta go check on Rita now." The get up and walk out the door. After he locks the door he flashes her the famous Lorenzo smile and dashes to his car. "I love you Christopher Lorenzo," she whispers. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rita stands and goes to sit on the couch, she the see the picture of Eric. She picks it up and throws it at the wall; glass flying everywhere. Chris hears his and her crying, which has calmed down a little. "Rita??" He gets no answer. He then sees the note, reads it puts it in his pocket and under his breathe says "that S. O. B., I should have known he was the cause of this." "Sam??" He calls her a second time. "It's me, Chris." Still no answer. He tries the door and it is open. Rita sees the door opening and gets her gun, hoping it's Eric. "Sammy, put down the gun. It's me Chris." She realizes it's not Eric and falls to the floor and begins crying again. Chris picks her up and sits on the couch with her in his lap with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, not wanting to let go. "Shhhhh, it's OK. Everything is going to be fine, I'm here now. Calm down, tell me what's wrong." After about 5 minutes she stops crying, but is still breathing heavily. "Sam, are you OK," he asks, pushing her hair out of her face and still holding her. "I feel *so* safe here, in your arms; just hold me here for a while." "What ever you want." She slides off his lap and curls up next to him and put her head on his shoulder. Chris pushes her hair out of her face again and kisses her forehead. A few minutes later, she fell asleep. Chris, carries her to her bed and starts to leave but she says, "Sam, don't go. I want you to hold me, I'm scared." "OK." She is laying on her side so, he puts his stomach to her back so she can be held. Rita's phone is ringing and wakes Chris. "Hello?" "Lorenzo? Is that you?" "Yea, cap. what's up?" "What are you doing there at 6 in the morning? You know nothing physical between partners!" "Cap. it's nothing like that. Rita called me last night hysterical." "Chris, is she all right?" "I don't know what's going on; all I know is that it has to do with Eric. Last night she called and when I came over she was crying." "That bastard! He didn't touch her, did he? I'll kill him!!" "Cap. calm down. I don't think so but I know it's serious. You should have seen her cry; it was breaking my heart, I've never seen her like that before." Rita rolled over and rested her head on his chest. "Cap., I gotta go, Rita's waking up." "OK, tell her to feel better for me." "Will do. Cap. what did you call for?" "Oh, yea, well, we have a DB at 316 Oceanville Drive. But, forget it Chris." "OK. I don't want to leave her alone." "Good. Take very good care of her Chris." "You know I will." "I'm in a good mood today, so take tomorrow off too." "Cap. are you....." "Chris, be happy and just say OK." "OK." "I'll call you later to see how she's doing." "Sure. Bye." "Sam, are you feeling better?" "Yea, a little." "OK. I'm going to make you breakfast, then your going to tell me about it,OK?" "OK." "Just lie here and rest." As he is walking to the kitchen, he says, "Don't worry about work, we have today and tomorrow off." He hears no answer so he guesses she's sleeping again. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Eric didn't expect for Chris to stay all night. He needed to do it now. He climbs in Rita's bedroom window. He takes out his gun and points it at Rita and whispers "I'm so sorry Rita, forgive me, please." Chris hears something so he goes to the bedroom. He sees Eric about to pull the trigger and jumps on the bed to cover Rita. BANG!! "Chris!!!" Rita cries out and starts crying again. She hesitates pulling the trigger when she sees Eric. Why, Eric, Why?" "I can't handle what you said last night." She sees that he is drunk and pulls the trigger and shoots him in the chest. She stands up and shoots again and again. "I should thought of that last night," she think to herself. She runs to the phone and dials the cap. "Cap. it's Rita, I need an ambulance. Chris is down and I think Eric is dead." "Rita, calm down, I'll be right over!" She runs over to Chris. "Sam, talk to me," she says while crying. "Rita.....I....love.....you." "I love you too Chris." At that moment Chris becomes unconscious. "Don't leave me Chris, I need you, I can't do this on my own." *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Rita is pacing back and forth in the waiting room. "Rita, sit down. Your going to wear a whole in the floor!" Harry said. "I can't cap. I'm scared. It's all my fault, he was protecting me." "Rita listen to me! It's not your fault! You couldn't have known about any of this." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeep!! "Doctor, we need you in here, stat!" Rita hears this and runs to Chris' room and realizes it's not Chris it's the room after. She pulls the chair over and held Chris' hand. She took her guardian angel pin and pinned it on his gown. "Sam, you gotta come back to me, I can't do this by myself. Sam, I'm pregnant. I need you, I love you, I want you to help me raise this child. Please wake up. *When* you wake up, I'm gonna kill you for putting me through this again," she laughs. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Fran, come down to the hospital. Chris has been shot again." "How??" Fran asked worried. "Protecting Rita from Eric." "Is he OK?" "He's in critical condition." "I'll be there as soon as possible. How's Rita?" "She's not doing well, she blames herself for all of this; she'll be glad to see you." "OK, I'll be there as soon as possible. Bye." CLICK! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chris squeezes her and hand and Rita gets excited. She hit the call button 3 times. "Harry!" she yells. The nurse and Harry come in at the same time. "Rita, what is it?" Harry asked, getting worried. "He moved! He squeezed my hand!" "I'll go get the doctor," said the nurse, with a big smile on her face. "Sam, if you can hear me squeeze my hand again." "C'mon, Sam, I know you can hear me!" she says with tears in her eyes. He squeezes. "Yes! I knew you could do it Sam! I love you!" Frannie heard this just as she got to the door. "I knew it," she thought to herself and put a huge smile on her face. Harry heard it too, but immediately put that on thought in the back of his head, "no, she didn't mean it like that," he thought "best friends kind of love." But there was a piece of him that wanted it not to be best friends love. The doctor walks in and says, "Ms. Lance, I heard you have good news for me." "Marry me, Sam?" Chris mutters. Even though it was said so low, every heard it. The doctor looked baffled and Harry and Fran looked at Rita. "He must be delusional," Rita said with a smile. "Who's Sam?" the doctor asks. "Oh, that's me. We call each other Sam after the great golfer Slammin' Sammy Snead." "Oh, OK," the doctor laughs. "So he's not *that* delusional." Chris' eyes open and he asks, "Where am I?" in a raspy voice. Rita hands him the glass of water and says, "Sam, your at the hospital, you were shot." "Again??" They all smile and laugh, "Yes, again," Rita says. Rita, I have these vague memories, of you talking to me, about you wanting me to come back and not laving you alone, you can't do it all yourself...." he looks around and sees Frannie, Harry and the doc in the room, "and other things. Did I dream it?" Rita got a relieved look on her face that Chris didn't say much more. "No, that was me talking." To lighten the mood, Harry says, "I want to you back at work on Thursday, I only said you and Rita can have 2 days off." They all smile and laugh at the comment. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
