She Needs You

Gates ran through the ER doors with Neela in his arms.

"Oh my god. Is that Neela? What happened?" Sam asked as she helped Gates put her on the gurney.

"I went over to her apartment and saw her passed out with an empty advil bottle laying next to her and 5 empty bottles of beer."

"How long has it been?" Sam questioned.

"I don't know," Gates responded as he examined her and tried to get her to wake up.

Morris came rushing in asking the same questions Sam just asked and Gates filled him in.

"I don't know if she's ever going to wake up, " Morris whispered after he took a look at her.

"What do you mean?" screamed Gates. "We have to fix her!"

"I know man, I want to fix her too. I just don't know what to do, she's got too much alcohol in her system mixed with Advil."

"I'll call Dubenko. He'll know what to do," Sam said trying to ease the tension.

After he got the call, Dubenko rushed down to the ER to try to fix his student, and friend. Dubenko decided to pump her stomach. After they did this, she still didn't wake up. He said that there was still a chance that she could wake up and until then everyone was supposed to keep a close eye on her. So they all did their part, not wanting to lose another friend and colleague.

The next morning Neela still hadn't woken up. Sam was in the room when Gates walked in.

"How's she doing Sam?"

"Not any better than last night," she said. "Maybe you should go to her apartment and get some of her things, so that if, I mean WHEN she wakes up she'll feel a little more comfortable."

"Ok, I'll go now," Gates replied.

When Gates got to her apartment he packed some of her things into a bag. He saw her cellphone on the table and as he was fixing to put it in his pocket, he realized there was a message from Ray left on it, so he listened to it.

"Neela, it's Ray. I have to say I was very surprised when I got your message. I mean, you haven't tried to contact me in a year and now all of a sudden you leave me this message not even thinking about how it would affect me. That night of my accident I do take some of the responsibility, but it wouldn't of ever happened if you had been honest with your feelings instead of stringing me along while you screwed 

that good for nothing Gates. And I'm so glad that you just realized how much you needed me after everyone else in your life is gone. That's just great Neela. For all I care just do what you've done for the past year and don't call me anymore. As far as I'm concerned you can go to hell! And by the way, I am doing much better and I have a girlfriend now."

When the recording was finished Gates couldn't believe what he had just heard. All this time he really did think Ray was a nice guy and wouldn't be so cruel, especially to Neela. He knew he had to erase it and he did because he couldn't risk having Neela hear it.

When Gates went back to the hospital everyone was in a much better mood.

"Morris, what's going on? Why's everyone so happy?"

"Neela woke up. She's asleep now, but atleast she woke up once," Morris replied.

"Did she say anything?" Gates questioned.

Sam butted in and said, "Yeah. Right when she woke up she said Ray's name. She asked us to call him."

"No, you can't!" Gates yelled.

"What? Why not?" Sam asked. "You don't still have feelings for her do you?"

"No, of course not. We're just friends now." Then he went on to tell them about the message.

Around 7 in the afternoon Gates went in to check on Neela and she was still asleep. As he watched her lay there he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. The man she loved was so bitter at her. He decided he would do as she wished and tell Ray what was going on because he was certain that after he found out what had happened to Neela he would forgive her. So he went to the doctor's lounge and dialed Ray's number from Neela's cell.

Ray picked up and said, "Neela, I told you not to call me!"

"It's not Neela," Gates said in a stern voice.

"Gates, why the hell are you calling me? I don't want to talk to you!" Ray said angrily.

"Well that is just too damn bad. Look you bastard, Neela is in the hospital."

"So what's new, she's a doctor, isn't she?" Rap replied.

"Just shut up and listen to me. She is the patient this time because she overdosed on some Advil, while she was drinking a bunch of beer. She was upset with everything that was going on and not keeping in touch with you. And then I guess she tried to call you and since you didn't pick up she started drinking. She barely made it man."



There was silence for about a minute before Ray said, "Well, is she ok now?"

"I guess, physically she's alright, but emotionally she's definitely not. She woke up earlier today, but she's been asleep ever since then. She needs you man."

"Where was she when I needed her? Of course I'm glad she's ok, but I don't want to talk to her or see her ever again. Infact, eventually I'm hoping to forget all about her and the past 4 years of my life. So if you don't mind I have to get to my physical therapy session," Ray concluded and hung up the phone.

Before Gates had left for the night he went to check on Neela again. She was awake and when she saw him she immediately asked, "Did you call Ray?"

"Yup."

"Well, is he coming?" Neela asked.

Gates shook his head.

"Did he atleast want to talk to me?"

Gates didn't want to lie so he shook his head again. "I'm sorry," he added. He started to head out the door because he could tell that Neela needed some alone time and as he walked he could hear her starting to cry.