"This situation has gone from bad to worse, Jill." Beck said, pacing back and forth in the hospital hallway. "Bad to worse."

"Do you want anything? I can run down to the cafeteria and get you something."

"No, thank you."

Jill nodded. She just sat down next to Beck and grabbed his hand. "Okay. We'll just sit here and wait."

"Jill, you need to go home. It's too early in the morning for anyone to be in a hospital willingly."

"I am a morning person. And for the past four years, I have gotten up at six in the morning to be at the office with you. I don't think I can handle not being with you every day."

"You've developed an unhealthy codependency to me, Jill."

"I guess I cannot live without your controlling, egotistical, neurotic behavior."

"Ouch. Right for the jugular."

Jill chuckled at her own joke. She wasn't really used to this type of stress, and she didn't know how to comfort Beck.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, genuinely concerned for her friend's well being.

"I don't know."

"Don't lie to me, Beck. How are you feeling? And don't bullshit me and tell me that you're fine, because no normal person should be fine. If you say you're fine, so help me God, I will kick your ass, and send you to the psych ward for an evaluation."

"My wife was in a car wreck. My wife was a car wreck and now she's in surgery because she might die. She's lost a lot of blood. And guess what?"

"What?"

"A few days ago, I told Diana I wanted a divorce. We're supposed to be getting divorced and this happens."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Beck shrugged, "We've been unhappy for a while now. We don't spend any time together, and when we do, we argue."

"Have you guys tried counseling?"

"No."

"Why not? Why rush into a divorce without even trying? You're quitting."

"I'm not quitting." Beck argued.

"You're quitting."

"Do you want to know one of the reasons we're divorcing?"

"You don't have to-"

"I'm in love with Jade."

"Jade West? Our Jade?"

"Jade West." Beck parroted. "Our Jade."

"I know."

Beck turned to face Jill. He raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"It's the way you look at her. You look at her like she's the only other woman in the world, and she's the only one you see. Any person with eyes can see that you are head over heels for her."

"Diana knows."

"You told her?"

Beck shook his head, "No. She's known for some time now apparently. She just kept it to herself. Why would she keep that to herself? It's such a passive thing to do, and Diana is not a passive person."

"What do you want her to do? Kicking and screaming won't solve anything, will it?"

"No."

"Maybe it was just too hard to talk about. Would you feel better if she confronted you?"

"I don't know. I don't think so."

"Okay, so there's no need to try to shift some blame on to Diana."

"I'm not-"

"Yes, you are." Jill cut in.

"What am I going to do?" Beck asked.

Jill looped her arm through Beck's and put her head on his shoulder. "What you are going to do is stop being a passive aggressive jerk who's too afraid of conflict to do anything."

"Excuse me?"

"You're one of the most ruthless businessmen I know. Your company is one of the best in Los Angeles. Despite all of this, you just shrink when it comes to your marriage. You are willing to fight for everything but Diana. Now Jade is my really good friend, and she deserves more than just being your mistress. She's nice, she's funny, she's intelligent, and she deserves more. And I don't know Diana that well, but she's a woman, and no woman deserves to watch her husband fall in love, and have an affair — physically, emotionally, or both — with another woman. And you didn't even have the common decency to tell her about Jade yourself. She found out some other way. That's not fair. You at least owed her that. Both of these women deserve more than fifty percent of you."

Beck didn't reply. He knew everything Jill said was the truth and he didn't have a rebuttal.

"That was harsh." Jill sighed. "I'm sorry."

"No, I needed to hear it. You're right."

"Oh. Well okay."

"The reason I keep you around is because you are always willing to give me a swift kick in the ass if needed."

Jill nodded, "That's true. I'm here for you, you know."

"I do. Thank you."

"What's got you in such a tizzy?"

Jade looked up from her laptop and turned to her brother. "Huh?"

"You're distracted."

"Yeah, I have a lot on my mind right now." Jade stuck her thumb nail in her mouth and bit down on it. She hadn't bitten her nails in over thirteen nails, and now she was being reduced to the twelve year old girl she used to be. Fucking stress.

"You're biting your nails again? You freak." Tyler shook his head. "What's eating you up?"

"My life is fucked up." Jade deadpanned. She pulled her hair out of face, twisting her hair up and sticking a pen from her coffee table into it.

"Tell me something I don't know." Tyler's blue eyes lit up in amusement and he chuckled at his joke.

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Why is your life so fucked up, Jade?"

"Beck's wife is in the hospital."

"Your boyfriend's wife is in the hospital."

"You see how crazy I sound? I sound like a crazy person saying that. Hi, my name is Jade West, and my boyfriend who is almost eight years my senior, is married. And his wife is in the hospital, and right now, he's sitting vigil at her bedside."

"Why is she in the hospital? Is she at UCLA? Do you want me to keep you informed?"

"Car accident. And she's at Cedars-Sinai so you can't find out anything for me."

"Is she dying?"

"She's not dying." Jade clarified. "Critical condition, but she's not dying."

"You look like you could use a drink or something."

"I could."

"Can you drink? Beta-blockers aren't supposed to mix with alcohol."

"I can drink. My doctor told me I can drink, I emailed her yesterday, she says I can drink."

"Wine?"

"I like vodka."

"You're going to have a glass of wine."

"Fine."

Tyler rolled off of the chair he was sitting on and walked to the bar. "Red or white?"

"Red. Is that even a question?"

"I just needed to make sure." Tyler noticed a bottle of scotch sitting on the bar. "Since when do you drink scotch?"

"I don't drink it. Beck drinks it. I bought it for him."

"I'm not a fan either."

Tyler grabbed a bottle and two glasses. He handed Jade a glass. He uncorked the bottle and poured Jade a glass. "That's not enough."

"Jade-"

"Stop acting like we're sneaking alcohol out of mom's liquor cabinet and pour me a real glass. My life is shitty. I deserve a glass of wine. Stop acting like a doctor, and act like my cool brother."

"You know I can't turn off the doctor part of me. It's innate."

It got quiet. Tyler kicked his feet up and put them on the coffee table. He grabbed the remote and changed the table.

"I didn't want her to die."

"Mhmm?"

"I didn't want her to die. I would never wish death upon another person, even if I'm in love with her husband and it would be easier if she was dead, God forgive me for saying so. I don't want her dead. But at the same time, I don't want her alive. Does that make sense?"

"Not really, no."

"As long as she's around, she has a chance. Am I a bad person?"

"Absolutely not. And Beck loves you."

"I know, but I feel like I'm hanging on a ledge, and I'm in limbo. I'm slipping, but I haven't lost my grip. And I'm just waiting Beck to pull me up, or push me off the building."

"He's going to pull you up." Tyler said, confidently. "Let's not think about that anymore."

"It's all I think about."

"I'm going to take you out to dinner tonight. Then we're going to come back here and watch trashy reality television. If you're lucky, I might let you make fun of of Tiffany."

Jade scoffed, "Yeah. Let me."

"Are you going to stand out here all day?" Patricia asked, placing a hand on her hip and glaring at Beck.

"I thought you might want to spend some time with Diana alone."

"I'm sure she wants to see you."

"Okay." Beck got out of his seat and walked across the hall to Diana's room.

The only noise heard in the room was the beeping of Diana's monitor. She looked up at Beck.

"I'm still in the hospital."

Beck nodded, "Yes. I suggest you get comfortable. How are you feeling?"

"What happened?"

"You were bleeding in your stomach. You were crashing and they had to rush you into surgery to stop the bleeding."

"Am I okay?"

"Yes. You're okay."

"Good."

"Can you feel any pain? Should I call someone?"

"I can't feel much."

"Good. Your pain pills must be working."

Beck sat down and stared at Diana, not really wanting to blink.

"Why are you staring at me like I'm an attraction at the zoo?"

"Do you remember the day we met?" Beck asked.

"Why?"

Beck shrugged, "I'm curious. Do you remember? Besides, I was under anesthesia so I can't really remember."

"Yeah, I remember. I was a dental hygienist and you came in to get a root canal treated. You came in with your Gucci shirt, Gucci loafers, and your Rolex. And all you did was flirt with me."

"I did not."

"Did to."

"How are you feeling Mister Oliver?" Diana asked, removing a bloody gauze from Beck's mouth.

"I don't know how I'm feeling." Beck replied, truthfully.

"It's just the anesthesia. It should wear off in a few hours. Do you have someone to take you home?"

"My brother."

"Okay."

"He's sixteen and he just got his license, so pray for me."

"I will."

Beck's head lolled to the side. He laughed. "It would really suck if he crashed my car. I just got it."

"Oh yeah? What kind?"

"A Rolls Royce."

"Color?"

"Black."

"Phantom?"

"Yup. I bought it a month ago as a birthday present."

"Nice. I'd be sad for you if it crashed, so I can't imagine how you would feel. How old are you?"

"Twenty-five."

"Happy belated birthday, Mr. Oliver."

"Call me Beck."

"Happy belated birthday, Beck." Diana corrected.

"What's your name?"

"Diana. Diana Holloway."

"You're very pretty, Diana."

"Thank you."

"Would you like to have dinner with me?"

"Excuse me?"

Beck reached back and grabbed Diana's hand. "You don't have a ring."

"Just because I'm not married, doesn't mean I'm not taken." Diana took her hand out of Beck's grasp.

"I'm sorry. Are you?"

"No."

"Good. Come have dinner with me."

Diana smiled and lowered Beck's chair. "You're persistent."

"Oh, you have no idea."

"How about we compromise. Come back when the anesthesia has worn off, and ask me again. You probably won't even remember."

Beck sat up and swung his legs around. He stood. "Oh, I never forget a pretty face. I'll be back bright and early mañana."

"And you actually came back, much to my surprise."

"I told you I never forget a pretty face."

"Where did you take me again?" Diana asked.

"I don't know. I was trying to impress you, so we went to a Thai restaurant. And it was really, really bad Thai food."

"Oh yeah. I got food poisoning." Diana tried to laugh, despite the fact that she just had surgery on her stomach. "I threw up like ten times."

Thinking back on it, Beck had to laugh as well. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine now, six years later."

Beck wiped his eyes tiredly. He smiled.

He almost forgot what it felt like to laugh with Diana. They hadn't done it in so long. When did they stop laughing?

"Try to take it easy, Diana. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"I'll be fine."

"I know, but for my sanity."

"Okay. For your sanity."

Beck stood. "I'll be right back. I'm going to find your doctor."

"I said I'm fine."

"You said that hours ago and your doctor practically waved off your stomach pains as just part of having abdominal trauma, and you almost died. So please just humor me while I find your doctor."

"Okay."

.

Beck pushed back the cheap plastic cafeteria chair and sat down. He sighed as his body came into contact with the chair.

"You look like you could sleep for a week." Tori noted.

"I could."

"How long have you been up?" Tori asked.

"Two days." Beck answered. "I slept maybe an hour."

"You need sleep."

"You can say that because André isn't in the hospital. I'm tired, but my brain won't shut off."

"This isn't healthy."

"Please, I've been up longer than this. I could go days without sleep in college."

"Over ten years ago."

"Are you calling me old?"

"Yeah, I'm calling you old. And you need your sleep. Being tired is the same as being drunk. Going twenty-four hours without sleep is like having a 0.1 blood alcohol level."

"I know, I know."

"Get some sleep. I'll stay with Diana if you want. Get a few hours out of this hospital before you lose your mind."

"I have to-"

"Go home, take a nap, eat a sandwich, I don't care. Just get out of here."

Beck shook his head. When did all the women in his life get so bossy? Was there a meeting he missed?

"Fine, I'll go home."

"Thank you."

When Beck finally got into his bed, he didn't expect to feel so relieved. He didn't realize just how long it had been since he'd been in his house. It's been days.

He kicked off his shoes and took off his jacket, tossing it onto the chaise at the foot of the bed. He flopped down face first on the bed and closed his eyes.

Despite the ridiculous exhaustion, Beck couldn't fall asleep. Something had to be wrong with him.

He groaned and rolled off the bed and walked into the bathroom. Hopefully Diana had sleeping pills.

Beck opened Diana's medicine cabinet and searched for something, anything that would make him drowsy.

She didn't have Ambien or Lunesta, but Diana did have NyQuil. And that would be just fine. He pulled it off of the shelf and in the process, knocked over a few things.

There was a box of Band-Aids, some Chapstick, and a bottle of pills. His curiosity got the better of him and he picked the bottle up and read it.

"Prozac." Beck muttered under his breath. "What is Prozac?"

Beck reached into his cell phone and pulled out his cell phone. He quickly typed Prozac into a search engine and scrolled through the results. The first few words that jumped out at him were 'depression', 'obsessive compulsive disorder', and 'panic disorder'.

He walked out of the bathroom and out of the room. Patricia had to be around somewhere, hopefully to give him some answers.

He found her cooking in the kitchen. She must have felt his presence in the room because she turned around.

"How long have you been here?" Patricia asked. She opened up a cabinet above her head and rummaged through it.

"Not that long. I came home to get some sleep."

"Why aren't you sleep, then?"

"I tried to find a sleeping pill and I found these." Beck put the bottle down on the island so Patricia could see it.

"Why is Diana taking antidepressants?" Beck asked.

"I didn't know Diana was taking those." Patricia said, picking up the bottle.

"You're her mother."

"You're her husband and you didn't know either, so don't berate me."

"You told me you know Diana. You said you knew something was wrong. You just didn't know it was a depression? Now Diana doesn't tell me anything, so can you please tell me what's going on with my wife."

"Your wife." Patricia scoffed. "Beck, don't insult my intelligence."

"I get it, I'm not your favorite person. I'm not my favorite person right now either, but don't do this to me. Please."

"I noticed a decline in Diana about a year ago. She just wasn't herself. She's...colder. She's more withdrawn. Diana wasn't always like this. She was the woman you married three years ago. Witty, funny, charming, a little materialistic and vain, but she was a good person. You know she was good person."

"Yes, but what happened to her? You know something that I don't, so can you please tell me why Diana needs medication, or at least why you think so. Diana and I haven't talked to each other in a very long time, now she's hiding pills, we're getting divorced, and I have not slept in a few days. I'm running on pure freaking adrenaline and I just want you to stop beating around the bush and talk to me. Can you talk to me?"

Patricia nodded, "Okay. We'll talk."

"Your vitals are looking good, Mrs. Oliver."

"Good. Will you make sure I don't have another bleed? I don't want to lose a kidney or spleen because of this hospital's incompetence." Diana snipped at the nurse attending to her.

"If you want we can schedule you a CT scan and an ultrasound."

"Thank you." Diana smiled as the nurse walked out of the room and Beck walked in. "Well that was a quick nap."

"I didn't sleep."

"Obviously."

"Where's Tori?"

"She had to leave." Diana looked up and looked at Beck. He looked nauseous. "What's wrong with you? You look like someone ran over your puppy."

"You didn't tell me."

"Didn't tell you what?"

"You didn't tell me. You didn't tell me, you didn't tell me."

"You aren't making sense."

"I found your Prozac."

Diana's head snapped up and her eyes got wide. "You went through my medicine cabinet."

"I wasn't snooping. I was trying to find a sleeping pill and these fell. How long have you been taking them?"

"I took them for a few weeks and stopped."

"You took them before or after you lost our baby? The one I was in the dark about."

"Did my doctor tell you that? Because she had no right."

"Your mother told me."

"I told her not to. You are the one person I didn't want to know."

"How dare you?" Beck snarled. "How dare you? What gave you the right to keep this from me? You don't get to keep this from me, Diana!"

"Beck-"

"Do you hate me that much? Do you hate me that freaking much?"

"Last year, I found out I was pregnant. You were all over the east coast. I think it was Boston, then Manhattan. My mom was visiting. We got into a big argument before you left. Huge argument, and I found out I was about six weeks along. And when I found out, I waited a few days before I tried to tell you because I was so angry. I don't even remember the fight, but I do remember how pissed I was."

"I called you and I didn't want it to be a phone conversation. I wanted face-to-face time. No surprised that we got into an argument. But I didn't care. I just asked you to come home. I begged you to forgive, forget, and just come home. You refused. You said you didn't really want to be around me and we needed the space."

"A few days later, I lost the baby. I collapsed on the kitchen and I couldn't move. I think I was there for half an hour before my mom found me."

"I didn't-"

"All I wanted was for you to come home. You should have come home because your wife asked you. But you didn't. So don't you come in here and yell at me, because you couldn't do the one thing I wanted. You didn't show up for me, you didn't want to talk to me, you didn't want to be there for me, so you don't get to stand here and demand answers. Call me petty, but I don't care."

"You should have told me. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you notice?" Diana snapped back. "I was a zombie. I slept all day, I had no appetite, I wasn't speaking to you. But you didn't notice." She laughed. "I had a miscarriage right under your nose, and you didn't notice. You didn't notice me. And you still don't. But I bet you notice whenever Jade fucking West gets a goddamn paper cut."

"You know."

"The wife always knows, Beck. You always underestimate me and my intelligence, my perception. I've known for some time now."

"How?"

"You smell like her. No, you reek of her. Her scent is in your clothes, your hair, our sheets. You look at her like she's your prey. You're pathetic."

"I'm sorry." What else could Beck say?

"You're always sorry." Diana said, rolling her eyes. "You're a sorry person. A sorry excuse for a husband, a sorry excuse for a man. The man I married was not a passive aggressive, lying, manipulative, shell who needs a twelve year old to make him feel alive. The man I married would not cheat. The man I married would actually come home when his wife was practically begging him to. The man I married would notice if his wife practically fell apart at the seams. And he wouldn't be weak and try to find excuses for leaving his wife, and he wouldn't nitpick to give himself absolution. You're a coward. You don't get to abandon me, ridicule me, cheat on me, and then yell at me."

"I love you, contrary to popular belief, but I am as tired of you as you are of me. If you want to leave, be honest with me." Diana continued. "Don't beat around the bush and treat me like shit."

Beck stood, speechless. That definitely wasn't how he expected that conversation to go. He didn't have an expectation, but this wasn't in mind. None of this was in mind.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Jade dug under her bed in frustration. In never seized to amaze her just how far her shoes could travel. And it wasn't like she was flat enough to slide under her bed just grab them. Having boobs was not always that great.

"Screw this." Jade mumbled. She got up and walked to her closet. "There are other shoes."

She opened her closet door and pulled a pair of red heels out. She tossed them haphazardly into her room.

The clock on her wall read 6:35. She needed to be out of her condo in twenty-five minutes so she could meet Tyler in Beverly Hills for their 7:30 reservation.

There was a knock on the door. Jade groaned and walked to the door. "I'm coming!"

She made it to the door and pulled it open, seeing Beck. "Hi!"

"Hey. Can I come in?"

"Of course." Beck moved in, closing the door behind him. "I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I know you've been really preoccupied."

"Understatement of the year." Beck kissed Jade's head.

"How are you?"

"Tired. Very, very tired."

"What are doing here? Is Diana okay?"

"She's going to be fine."

Jade smiled, "Good. That's really good to hear."

"Yeah." Beck smiled back at Jade. How many women were happy about a situation like this? Jade was too good of a person.

"You came all this way to tell me that? You could've just called."

"No, I couldn't have just called."

"Okay. You're right, you couldn't have just called. Or you just wanted to see me."

"I had to see you."

"I like the sound of that." Jade checked the time on her watch and started fleeting around the living room, picking stuff up. "I have to go because I'm meeting Tyler for dinner."

Beck reached out and caught Jade's arm. "Wait."

"No, I don't have time to wait, if you think I have a thing for punctuality, then you have not seen OCD until you meet Mister Med-School."

"Jade, stop!"

"What?"

"I need to talk to you."