Hello everyone! Before I start this chapter I just wanted to take a moment to once again thank you all who read this story, you are all wonderful! And also I wanted to say that I personally know how hard it is to wait for a story to update, so rest assured that the moment I have the chapter ready, it is updated on the website. I don't make you guys wait on purpose. Thank you all for your amazing patience and sticking with the story!

Chapter 29

My BlackBerry buzzed again from the bag with my personal effects on the other side of the room. The clock on the wall said it was almost two o'clock, and I could already imagine that it was Lou's picture that was popping on the screen of my mobile.

I'd missed our meeting with Alfred and what was worse, I had never even showed up to work.

I'd been slowly coming back to consciousness for the last hour or so since they were wheeling me out of surgery, apparently.

My mind was less foggy now, and I could recall more clearly a few memories of how I had ended up here.

I remembered walking across the street while on the phone with Jeff. Then I registered something black fast approaching, then pain everywhere.

Someone fearfully asking me if I was alright, then lights… an ambulance ride, I'm sure of it now. Then bright white lights above me as I heard the words 'internal bleeding' a few times, and I made the connection that it must have been me. But above all, I remembered pain, just everywhere.

Then waking up to see a male nurse wheeling me through the halls of a hospital and leaving me in this room.

A different one had come in a few minutes later and talked to me about what happened and checked my vitals.

All I knew was that I had to get word to Lou that I was here. I knew how she must be worrying, and most likely it was she who kept calling.

And then, I had to get out of here and get to work. I'd have to have a talk with whatever doctor was overseeing my case to see how fast we could get me back on my feet. I had three companies that needed me to get working on them right away.

I had no time to waste.

But both my legs were in casts, and so were my arms, in different parts. I scarcely recalled the nurse who had talked to me earlier saying that one of my shoulders was broken, and that so was the arm that I had landed on, once the car had thrown me off…

Said I was lucky to be alive, and that my spine had not broken in the accident. But it was hard to see the lucky part when it seemed like every other bloody bone in my body was broken.

I couldn't even reach the button to call a nurse to come in here and answer my mobile.

I wanted to get angry, but I couldn't even do that. My head was hurting, but like an afterthought. I could tell I was being medicated for the pain, it just didn't quite reach my entire headache.

"Hey!" I called out when I saw the nurse who'd talked to me earlier walk by hurriedly.

"Everything alright, man?" he asked popping his head in through the door.

"Can I get some help in here?" I asked groggily.

"Sure thing. I'll be here in a minute" he said and walked off again.

Great…

He did come back in a few minutes though.

"What can I do for you?" he asked as he clasped his hands together.

He looked to be about my age and I wondered what could have persuaded him to work in a hospital when there were so many better choices out there than being around whiny sick people all the time.

Then again, I should be thankful that he is here.

"I need to make some calls, let people know I'm here" I explained. "Can't really do it myself" I added forcefully while motioning to my incapacitated limbs. "My mobile is in that bag over there. It's been going off".

He walked over to it and pulled it out.

"Yeah, you've got quite a few missed calls and messages…" he said as he clicked a button on the keyboard. The way he said it made me think it was more than a few.

"I figured… didn't exactly show up to work today" I said.

"Mostly from a Clark… oh, it's a girl!" he said surprised as he showed me the screen he had opened when he had selected her missed calls. It showed her contact picture. It was a picture I'd taken myself of us when we had walked in Times Square. Her smile was as bright and lovely as ever in it, and even I was smiling widely, as I rarely ever did in pictures. It wasn't my usual half smile that was meant to make girls swoon but just a genuine wide smile. It brought me back to how much fun we'd had that day as I showed her around New York City. I had gotten sick of myself smiling like an idiot every time she stared wide eyed at something I would point out to her, or a landmark that she'd always seen in movies but never thought she'd see in real life.

"It's my assistant" I replied as I saw him eyeing the picture.

"Oh, really?" he asked and looked back at it with some increased interest. "Pretty" he added as he looked back to me for a second before looking at the picture again.

Yes, I knew she was. And she was also not… well, she was available, technically, but not for him and if he thought for a minute that I was going to let him chat her up…

"Call her back please, and let her know what happened… I can't really hold the phone" I said as I tried to remain calm at my situation.

I saw him dial back and hold the phone to his ear. I knew the moment she had answered because even at a distance her voice was loud enough that I could tell she was giving him an earful, probably thinking it was me.

He was trying to explain things to her but I was getting restless with him. He had no experience dealing with Clark, and was barely getting two words in at a time.

"Just put it on speaker and bring it over" I said rescuing him from the overload that this girl could be, especially after a whole day of worrying.

But once I started talking with her, I started to feel guilty to have put her through all this. She really sounded distraught and shaken up.

And before I knew it, she had said she was coming here, and had hung up.

"Do you need to me to dial your mother, then?" he asked me as he held the mobile on his hand close to my face.

"I guess I'd better, huh? Since Clark already spilled the beans…" I said thinking of how my mother didn't need something else on her plate. She couldn't come to see me with Dad still in the hospital recovering, but I knew how she felt about people being on their own in hospitals.

Then again, if Dad had told her about how he meant to divorce her, she might not mind leaving him there too much.

I hated to lie to her, but since she didn't know Alicia and I were over, I'd have to tell her Alicia would be looking after me.

As it stood, however, I was pretty much on my own here.

Which was alright with me. I was a grown man of thirty two. I could handle things on my own.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"When do I get to talk to the doctor?" I asked Nathan as he hung up the call with my mother.

She had been understandably upset, and had asked if Alicia was staying with me. I had hesitated to answer, but lied anyways. I didn't want her to take off and come over here. I didn't need to be fussed over. It all looked worse than it was. I'd be back on my feet soon.

The new companies weren't going to manage themselves. In the meantime, I could tell Clark what to do, and she could be at the helm while I was hospitalized, which I wasn't expecting to be very long, if I had anything to say on the matter, and I planned to.

Then I could take over before anyone even realized. I might need her to work for me here, to answer my calls for me and so I could guide her on what to do. We could make it work. She might even have some ideas of her own. She had proven she could think for herself, too, and do it well.

While I was hurting and my mind was sometimes getting foggy, I didn't want to let this stop me. Alfred had been extremely anxious about my performance at work lately and the last thing I needed was for him to doubt me even more because I had been in this accident and would be limited.

It was just a few broken bones that would mend soon. I always had a good body for recovering from these things. It wasn't my first time breaking something, though it was the first time that it wasn't the result of some stunt or other.

"He should be making his rounds again tomorrow. For now you're meant to rest and let time take care of things" Nathan said as he typed away on the computer in the room.

"What kind of guy is he?" I asked Nathan. I needed to approach this like a business deal, and knowing your opponent was crucial.

"Dr. Stevens? He's a good doctor, don't worry. You're in good hands" he answered absentmindedly as he continued his job.

"No, I mean, is he really uptight? Old? Young? Easy-going? Takes his time thinking about things or goes with his gut? That kind of thing" I specified. I had to go about this the right way if I wanted to get released as soon as possible.

"Why?" he asked, his interest peaked now.

"I need to get out of here soon, you know?" I explained.

"There's no rush, buddy. The important thing is for you to get well" he said as he gave me one of those nurse looks that are meant to look encouraging.

"There is a rush. I am rushed" I said firmly, hoping he understood I didn't mean to stand by as they kept me here as long as they wanted because they wanted to be overly cautious. "I have a job to get back to. And it's not the kind that gives you 'sick time'" I added, hoping I could be more intimidating, but I was wrapped in bandages and casts almost all over- not a very threatening image, I had to admit.

I saw his comforting nurse look morph into an unexpectedly formidable frown.

This would be so much easier if they'd just given me a female nurse.

"We understand that being here is inconvenient for everyone, but it's our job to assure our patients that when we release them, it's because they are fully well. You will be released as soon as that is the case for you" he said professionally firm.

I hoped to be more successful at negotiating with the doctor himself.

But then I heard a loud female gasp behind the nurse.

Lou was here!

"It's not that bad" I said as I tried to look around Nathan to see her.

He finally moved out of the way and it was my turn to gasp.

She looked… different. But not different in the way she usually did, or in the way she had dressed for our public functions.

I took in her entire image from head to toe. I couldn't help myself.

She had styled her hair in soft waves, not like her usual side braid or funky hair dos. She was wearing metallic pink lipstick and a pearl necklace with a blue butterfly pendant. She had on a white button up shirt with embroidered flowers along the chest and it was tucked into a black high-waisted pair of black trousers with thin spread out white stripes. And she had on matching metallic pink pumps.

But the most awe worthy part may have been the way her large brown eyes sparkled under a thin layer of moisture, as it pooled around her lower lids, and knowing that that look was for me.

"Well, you've dressed up! And here I am looking like wreck… literally" I said trying to joke as I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Will…" she said lifting her hand to her mouth before stepping closer and taking in all of the damage that had been done to me. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she stood by my bed.

"Great! I'm under all kinds of medications so I'm all good" I said smiling at her, pleased that she was here.

"What's the extent of his injuries?" she asked, turning around to face Nathan, who had been giving me an insinuating thumbs-up a second before. But as her body shifted towards him, he straightened up and proceeded to go into full medical terms as he explained the extent of the brokenness of my body.

She just nodded as he spoke. I couldn't see her face but I could just imagine her eyebrows furrowing as she focused on every word he said.

"How long do you expect recovery to last?" she asked, but as Nathan began to speak again in his overly complicated fancy terms, my mind began to wander to pleasanter thoughts, like the way her bum looked in her new trousers, as she faced away from me.

But my ears perked up when I thought I heard him say something about '6 months'.

"Pardon me, do you mind saying that again?" I asked, trying to sit up unsuccessfully.

"I was telling Miss Clark how your full recovery is expected to last 3-6 months. Of course, you won't spend all that time here, but you will need extensive therapy and a modified lifestyle till all the affected parts have healed fully" he said but I was sure I was hearing him wrong.

"I've just broken some bones. Never heard of that taking that long" I said menacingly, as if my demeanor would change the outcome.

"Your knees were severely damaged by the crash. You had to have surgery done. And it wasn't just broken bones, you've got torn ligaments… it's more complicated than that. But the doctor will be in tomorrow morning to explain everything fully" he said growing anxious and turning his attention back to Lou and beginning to step away. "Excuse me" he finished, and with another nod, he was out of the room. All the better for him.

I felt my chest constrict and my head began to hurt again. I let it fall back against the pillow, which in turn rubbed a scrape on the back of my head, sending a jolt of pain through it.

I hissed as I tried to contain the scream that wanted to escape, and closed my eyes. I couldn't bear to look at her right now.

"I can make this work. He's just a bloody nurse. Doesn't know what he's talking about. I don't know why you even bothered asking him" I said to Lou, more angrily than I meant.

"Of course, we'll make it work" she said smiling, kneeling by the bed as her eyes looked for mine.

I was so angry, so disheveled by what he'd said, by the possibility that I'd be made to put my life on pause for 6 months… I just couldn't.

Finally, I let a breath out and turned my head to look at her.

"Go to work tomorrow, do what you can without me there. I'll get back to you with a more accurate return date, and you can give that to Alfred. I'll be back to work very soon, I promise you" I said, more intensely than I meant. This bloody headache was making thinking, feeling, hard… "Then, I'll guide you as to what to do and you can carry the companies… Don't say you can't do it, because I know you can, Clark!" I said before she even got a word of complaint out. "I'll see about you getting paid more for covering for me" I added pensively. If she would take over my position for the time being, then she needed to be compensated properly.

"How can you be thinking of work…?" she asked as I noticed her baffled look. "I thought you were dead, Will!" she added sentimentally, as she wiped a tear that fell down her cheek, and something in my chest tugged at seeing it, and I cursed so much inside me because I couldn't move my arm to wipe it away.

"Me, dead? …You won't be rid of me so easily, Clark" I said smiling to her, knowing what she didn't, that I meant much more by my words than I let on.

Seeing her here, crying over me, worrying over me as no one else would have done… it made me realize one thing.

Who cared if Rupert had turned out to be such a worthless excuse for a friend? Or that Alicia had left me for him?

I had something so much better in front of me. And she was all that mattered.

She took my hand as it laid on the bed and held it. I couldn't lift the arm but I could hold her hand back, and being able to at least do that, released a pressure inside me and lifted something off my shoulders, even if it was minimal.

Her face came to rest on the bed, her forehead resting on my hand and I took advantage of her not seeing me, and just closed my eyes and enjoyed her touch.

And as much as my heart ached to tell her everything it wanted to, and to relieve itself from all it had been suppressing, I knew that to turn to her now, when I had no one, would only make her think that I was taking her as my last resort, as if I had waited till there was no one else left.

And she needed to know that even if I had everything in the world, I still preferred her.

I may not be in that place right now but I would soon be back there, and when that time came, I wouldn't let anything get in my way, not again.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Clark, how'd it go?" I asked, desperately into the phone, not caring if Nathan was seeing me react this way.

It had been actual torture to wait the last two hours.

I had spoken with the idiot of an excuse for a doctor that I had been assigned- a guy who hardly looked a year older than me, telling what I could and couldn't do, and what I had to do.

Arguing had no effect, but argue I did.

He was unmoved.

I demanded to get a second opinion, only to be spoken to like a bellicose child, and told if I didn't follow his instructions to the minimalist detail, my recovery would only take longer.

I fumed, as I waited for the useless excuse of a day nurse that was that idiot Nathan to deign himself to come see me, so I could ask for him to call Clark, like I was some worthless invalid.

Then I had to explain to Clark, in front of him, how everything he had said the day before had, in fact, been accurate.

I refused to look at him as I spoke, but I expected he must have sported a very proud look as he held the phone on speaker to my face while I validated all his words.

Thankfully, he said nothing, and just asked if I needed anything else.

I wished I could have waved him away, but once again was demoralized by having no choice but to actually use my words, the only bloody thing in my body that seemed to be working right now.

The idea of months of therapy, being taken care of… oh, yeah, there's talk of me even needing a bloody care-taker like a bloody two-year-old, the idea of it all was maddening.

How could I expect to be anything to Clark when I was at my lowest? How could I suppose that no other man would snatch her up in the meantime?

I was such an idiot to think of her as I did when I first met her. I thought her so little, so insignificant, so unremarkably common and simple, unknowledgeable and lacking in any depth…

I thought myself so high above her, so far as to think her the least dangerous prospect from again dividing my attention from my girlfriend.

It was humiliating to think of that time, of how the idiot was me, not to recognize what was in front of me, not until I had nothing to offer.

Why hadn't I broken things off with Alicia before? I knew I felt nothing for her. And I couldn't deny I didn't begin to see how special Lou was with plenty of time to let Alicia go.

But no, my pride was boosted by knowing I had a girl like Alicia quivering in fear that I was going to leave her, and how could I let that go? What a prat…

And now she was free, free to choose anyone. Why, even bloody Nathan thought her pretty from only a picture. Who was I to say he wouldn't ask for her mobile number the next time she came by?

He'd better not ask for it in front of me, that's for certain, or else I can't say I'd stay quiet. I don't know what I would say, but I don't feel like I could stand by as she gets chatted up by some other bloke.

I could only hope to be out of here and back to myself sooner, rather than later, and that she'd still be unattached by then.

I could do it. They wanted me to do therapy? I'd throw myself into it. It could be another challenge for Will Traynor to tackle.

"Hey, Will" Lou waved as she popped by the door.

"Hey, you" I replied with a smile. It was a surprise to see her again today. I thought she would call with Alfred's response, not come again. She had sat with me till very late the night before, after all. "I see you are wearing your own clothes again" I said, noting the familiar outfit- red jumper with cat faces, and white skirt with large blue polka dots, accompanied by her yellow pumps and navy blue tights. And she'd paired it all with a red headband.

"What do you mean?" she asked with a shy smile as she came and sat by me.

"You're going to tell me yesterday's outfit came from your closet?" I asked skeptically.

"As a matter of fact, it was" she said defiantly as she picked up her chin higher against my snub.

"What was up with it, honestly?" I asked, still curious about it. Not that she didn't look good in her usual, but yesterday she had almost made my jaw drop.

"Well, if you must know… I wore it thinking of the meeting we had with Alfred, and how he's been giving you a hard time lately, and I thought I should try and look more traditionally professional" she said sincerely.

I nodded understandingly.

"You don't need to do that. You don't have to excuse yourself for who you are to anyone" I replied after a moment.

"I know. I just wanted to do anything I could to make it better" she said apologetically.

"Sorry I didn't show" I said after a second.

I was expecting something else of a reply from her, but her eyes dropping to her lap bore an expression that made me uneasy.

"What did Alfred say then?" I asked. "You didn't have to come all the way here to tell me. A phone call would have been fine. It wasn't in the job description that you have to visit your boss in the hospital, you know?" I said jokingly.

"I know" she replied with an earnest look. "Will…" she began again, but stopped mid-open mouth. "Alfred doesn't want to wait for you" she said, swallowing hard afterwards.

"What do you mean? You took all the paperwork to him, didn't you? What? He doesn't think I can do it from here? Did you say you'd be doing most of the work that I couldn't do?" I asked, my voice becoming more desperate with each question.

"He hardly listened to a word I said after I said you'd need a few weeks at the minimum before you could come back to work, and even then, you'd be limited. He didn't care. He almost got up and left the room at that point, I…" she stopped as her face constricted with guilt. "Perhaps, I should have worn yesterday's clothes, again" she said as she began to tear up.

I wasn't used to all this crying from Lou lately. It made me uneasy and anxious, as if it was my sole responsibility to make sure she never had a reason to cry again, and I just kept failing.

"What does he want from me?" I asked, still confused as to what it all meant.

"Nothing, from you or me" she stated. "We're… dismissed" she added.

I chuckled.

"You're joking, right?" I asked, not totally amused.

"Will, I don't think… I don't know what happened, I thought he'd do anything to keep you on. You're so valuable to his company" she said, but stopped as I looked away.

I knew the words she'd said. I knew what they meant in the literal sense, but it was like being told that two plus two was three. I could hear the words and understand their meaning but it couldn't register or make sense in my head.

What could it mean then?

"Clark, let me see if I heard you right. When you use the term dismissed you are referring to…" I said inviting her to continue.

"Indefinitely" she answered simply.

I closed my eyes. This couldn't be. If this girl was joking with me… she wouldn't be, not about this, not my Clark.

I wanted to run my hands through my hair, rub my eyes, throw something… and I couldn't even bloody do that.

I breathed in and out, in and out, it was all I could do to manage the rage that wanted to rip me apart.

I prayed for her hand in mine at least, and it was as if she was reading my thoughts, as within seconds she was giving it a reassuring embrace.

And that was what grounded me, brought me back in the moment, and reminded me she had just lost her job as well. Without me to assist, she had no position there. She had been my hire and along with getting myself fired, I'd gotten her dismissed as well.

"I'm sorry, will you be alright?" I asked, looking at her.

"I'll find something else" she shrugged, her eyes glued to mine as if she wanted to transmit something that she wasn't saying.

"I'll keep your number for when I'm hiring for my new assistant" I said trying to sound chipper, but already feeling the hole of her absence.

"Or partner" she said with a raised eyebrow. "For your own company, of course" she added as if she'd realized how that statement could be misconstrued.

"My own company?" I asked, slowly, out loud, then looked up as I felt as if a spark was lighting up above me.

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A/N: And so our story keeps moving forward (: I hope you are continuing to enjoy it. Thank you for reading! Please let me know your thoughts!