It was late at night that evening, and all three of the Greene daughters were asleep with Elizabeth in her bed. Elizabeth was lying awake staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore the increasing pain in her pelvis. Suddenly a sharp pang caused Elizabeth to let out a moan which woke up Rachel.

"Are you alright?" Rachel asked as she looked over to see Elizabeth grimacing.

"I'm fine." Elizabeth lied. "Honestly… I'm…" She tried again before the pain increased immensely.

Rachel shook her head as she took Amanda from Elizabeth's arms. "You're burning up, I'm going to go get the thermometer." She said softly as she set Amanda down gently in the cradle next to Elizabeth's bed. She gently took Ella out of Elizabeth's bed as well and took her to her room, before running to the bathroom and grabbing the thermometer.

"I'm fine Rachel… I just…" She tried before she moaned once again and grabbed onto her stomach, clearly in pain.

"Here." Rachel handed the thermometer to Elizabeth. "I'm going to call Carol." She said quickly as she picked up the phone and took it into the hallway. The phone rang several times before a tired voice yawned on the other side of the line.

"Hello?" Carol asked tiredly.

"Carol it's Rachel." Rachel said, the panic evident in her voice.

"What's wrong?" Carol replied, immediately sounding more awake.

"I think Elizabeth has a fever and she's having some sort of severe pain in her abdomen… I don't know what's going on but I think something could be very wrong with her." She explained quickly.

"Did you take her temperature?" Carol asked, the sound of shuffling sheets in the background of her voice.

Rachel quickly went back to Elizabeth's room. "Uh… It's at 102.2." She replied in a panic. "I don't know what to do." She said sounding very scared.

"I'm on my way there." Carol said quickly.

"What should I do?" Rachel asked nervously.

"Just do your best to keep her as comfortable as possible." Carol instructed gently. "Don't worry, she should be fine. I'm going to hang up so I can drive over, alright?"

"Yes." Rachel said quietly.


Rachel finally heard the knock she was waiting for at the front door. "She's getting worse." Rachel said, looking terrified as soon as she opened the door.

"What's changed?" Carol asked as she kicked her shoes off and peeled off her coat.

"She started vomiting, and she hasn't stopped." Rachel said, feeling genuinely concerned for Elizabeth's health.

Carol nodded. "That's what I thought." She said with a sigh as they ran up the stairs and into Elizabeth's room. "Elizabeth what hurts?" Carol asked her gently as she carefully felt her forehead, and the obviously growing fever.

"Everything." Elizabeth admitted quietly.

"Alright I'm going to drive you to County." Carol said gently as she grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie from the closet so that Elizabeth would stay warm. "Rachel can you call the ER and let them know we're coming in, and I think that Elizabeth has a puerperal infection?"

Rachel nodded before quickly running down the stairs to the phone. She quickly dialed the number of the ER, and Frank answered the phone. "County General ER." His voice said tiredly.

"Frank, it's Rachel Greene." Rachel said quickly. "Elizabeth isn't feeling well and Carol Hathaway thinks she has a puerperal infection. Carol's brining her in and wanted me to let you know so you'd be ready." She said, with all the courage she could come up with.

"Alright I'll give the message to Doctor Weaver, she's just coming on shift." Frank said importantly.

"Thanks." Rachel said before she ran back up the stairs.

"Rachel will you get your sisters ready to go, my guess is Elizabeth will be in the hospital for a couple of days." Carol said quietly as soon as Rachel reached the upstairs hallway. "Usually these infections aren't very serious, but Elizabeth's temperature is very high…" She muttered to herself.

Rachel nodded before moving to Ella's room quickly.

"Mummy." Ella whimpered softly in her crib.

"Hey sweetie." Rachel greeted her little sister. "Mom's not feeling very good right now, so we're going to go visit the hospital." She said softly.

Ella looked up at her with tears running down her cheeks. "Is mummy gonna go away like daddy?" Ella asked through her tears.

Rachel was taken aback and she gently pulled her sister into her arms. "Of course not honey. Mom's going to be fine." She assured her as she gently patted her back while attempting to gather some clothing for her.

"Why are we going to the hospital?" Ella asked sadly.

"Because… Mom's just not feeling well, like when you feel sick. Mom's not leaving you any time soon." Rachel assured her. "We've got to move quickly." She told Ella as she gently put her down and handed her her Dora the Explorer backpack and grabbed her hand so she would follow.

They quickly moved down the hallway to Elizabeth's room where Carol was helping Elizabeth change, very gently as not to increase her pain. "Mummy!" Ella said, clearly panicked, as she tried to get past Carol.

"Mum's fine." Elizabeth said through gritted teeth, trying to keep the tears in her eyes.

"You're crying!" Ella cried, her voice full of accusation.

Rachel panicked as she finished packing the diaper bag for Amanda. "Alright Ella let's go get in Carol's car." She said as she gently placed Amanda into her carrier.

"No I want to go with mummy!" Ella insisted, finally reaching her mother and grabbing onto Elizabeth's legs.

"Go with Rachel Ella." Elizabeth instructed softly. "I'm sorry… I should have dealt with this earlier… But I can't hold you right now."

"Come on sweetie." Rachel said gently as she picked up both of her sisters bags as well as Amanda's carrier. Ella looked at her older sister reluctantly before nodding and grabbing onto Rachel's free hand and going down the stairs.


"Alright Elizabeth I'm going to run this IV and then you'll just need some rest." Kerry said gently as she finished her examination.

Elizabeth sighed. "I've been having pains since… well since a few days after Amanda was born… I just… I should have done something sooner." She said tiredly.

"Don't worry about that." Kerry reminded her gently. "You need to heal. There are three very lucky girls depending on you getting better as soon as possible." She said with a smile.

"I'm not sure how they could think they're lucky…" Elizabeth said quietly.

"Hey…" Kerry said gently as she sat down next to her. "To Ella and Amanda you're their entire lives. You should hear the way Ella talks about you, and Amanda is always happiest when she's with you. And think of where Rachel would be if you hadn't come into her life. You've made all three of their lives the best they could possibly have."

Elizabeth sighed. "It certainly doesn't seem that way." She admitted quietly. "If Mark were still here…"

Kerry shook her head. "There's really no sense in…" She tried to stop her.

"I wouldn't have hesitated to see a doctor as soon as I noticed something was off. Rachel never would have gone home, and she would be safely in bed right now. Ella wouldn't be worried that I'm dying, and Amanda might actually be spending some quality time with a parent right now." Elizabeth cut her off.

"What about how much Rachel's learned from you over the last several months?" Kerry suggested. "She's changed so much as a person. And Ella knows how valuable life is, and she'll never take that for granted. And Amanda is a wonderful blessing that you still have the chance to get to know." Kerry said gently.

Elizabeth sighed sadly. "There's just so much I haven't been able to give them that I wish I had." She admitted.

"I know… I know…" Kerry comforted her. "Is there anyone I should get for you?"

Elizabeth thought about it for a few minutes before looking up. "Robert." She said quietly. "Could you ask him to come down when he has time?" She requested, not meeting Kerry's eyes.

Kerry's eyebrow twitched a bit in confusion. "If you're sure…"

Elizabeth nodded without looking at her.

"Alright… I'll get him the message." Kerry said quietly before heading out of the room, leaving Elizabeth alone once again.


Nearly an hour later there was a rough knock on the door and a quiet voice requesting entry. "Lizzie?"

"Come in." Elizabeth said quietly.

Robert opened the door and closed it behind himself quietly. He gently pulled up a chair and sat down next to Elizabeth's bed. "Are you alright?" He asked her quietly after sitting through several moments of comfortable silence.

Elizabeth bit her lip trying to hold back tears that had been threatening to fall for quite some time.

"I'll take that as a no." He said quietly as he reached to hold her hand gently. "What do you need?"

Elizabeth sat in silence for several minutes before looking over at him. "I need Mark to be here…" She admitted quietly. "But I know he can't be… And so I just need someone to help me. I don't even know what it is that I need help with… I just know that I can't do what I've been doing forever."

"Hey… it's okay to not know what it is that you need right now." Robert assured her. "I'm sorry that you have to live with everything that's happened to you. No one should have to do what you've been doing, and no one could have done it with more dignity and passion than you have." He told her honestly. "If it's alright with you I'm going to jump the gun a bit here and offer to take your daughters home. You don't need any added stress right now, and I'm sure that Ella wouldn't mind spending the night over at my house again, she did enjoy herself last time."

"Robert." Elizabeth said quietly, this time the tears actually falling. "Thank you so much."

"Any time Lizzie… Just… Don't let it get around the hospital that I'm actually helping someone out of the good of my slightly decent heart." He said sarcastically with a smirk.

"Why do you insist on hiding the fact that you're a decent human being?" Elizabeth asked curiously as Robert stood up and put the chair back where he got it from.

"Why do you trust me Elizabeth?" Robert asked rhetorically, expecting her to understand the point of the question.

Elizabeth thought about it for a second. "Because when I'm in serious need of something you help me figure it out, whether you do that by being a complete jerk or otherwise. It's almost like you're a jerk because you care…"

Robert smirked once again. "Good night Elizabeth, I'll bring the girls back in the morning." He said with a smile before closing the door once again behind him.

Author's Note: I'm really sorry about the lack of updates lately, and while I have fairly valid excuses they're slightly personal so I'm just gonna ask you all to forgive me for the lack of updates and keep reading! I hope you're enjoying! Please review!