Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review, it means more to me than you will ever know. I also appreciated your responses to my authors note. It wasn't geared towards any one specific person, but the responses seemed to be positive, so thank you for your support.

I had hoped to get this chapter out sooner, but it required a lot of research, which took quite a bit of time. It's a bit of a hard read, but I hope you enjoy it just the same.

Love to each of you!

Bekah-Thank you.


Beca and Jesse enjoyed quiet evenings at home, especially nights like this one. The sky was clear, the moon was full, the weather was mild, and the stars were twinkling beautifully. It was by all accounts, a beautiful night.

The truth was that they both had very busy, demanding careers, making quiet evenings at home all the more enjoyable. Considering the weekend they'd had, they needed to just relax and enjoy some time together. But the best part about the night was that it was the perfect ending to a not so perfect weekend.

"Admit it, you like the way I work it." Jesse jokingly sang as they laid in the hot tub together.

Beca rolled her eyes as she laughed at Jesse's antics. "You're full of yourself, you know that?"

Jesse scooted closer towards her as he began to lightly kiss her neck. "I certainly don't recall ever hearing you scream stop. You scream many things, stop, however, is not usually one of them." He reminded her, flashing his trademark smile. No matter how many times Jesse had Beca, it was never enough. He always found himself wanting her again and again.

Beca shrugged her shoulders as she took a drink of water. "I have a high sex drive. You just happened to be the first guy to come around."

"Oh! You wound me!" He said as he dramatically grabbed at his chest.

Off in the distance, Beca's phone began to ring. Jesse glanced over at her.

"Is that your booty call?"

"Probably. So many men wanting to satisfy my needs, so little time." She deadpanned.

Jesse chuckled, Beca never, ever missed a beat. She always had a comeback for everything. His smile quickly faded however, when he saw Beca's face.

Furrowing her brow, Beca looked down at her phone in confusion as she saw who was calling. If Luke was calling at ten o'clock on a Sunday night, then something was definitely wrong. It was odd for him to be trying to get in touch with her, especially at this hour.

"Hey Luke." Beca answered.

"Beca...are you busy?"

She could hear the strained attempt to keep his voice even and calm. Luke took a deep breath as he tried not to erupt into panic at any second. Beca listened to the silence coming from the other end of the phone, then briefly looked over to Jesse, who was quickly becoming concerned. She was eerily quiet, and the look on her face was one he wasn't familiar with.

When she finally found her voice, she very quietly and calmly asked, "What's wrong?"

Her body stiffened, as if to protect herself from the news that was coming. But there was little that would soften the blow. Even Jesse's attempts at rubbing her side weren't helping.

"I'm...uhh, I'm at Yale-New Haven." He managed to choke out. The next part was going to be even more difficult to tell her. "Chloe's been in a car accident."

"What?" It was all she could think to say. So many questions ran through her head after his statement, but all she could think to say was 'what'.

Luke tried his best to maintain his composure. His wife was in critical condition and having emergency surgery, and his parting words to her had been 'Yeah well, you're a bitch, so why don't you just go.'

"Chloe's been in a car accident. Things are not good right now." He explained, trying to compose his thoughts. "The car flipped over, she was bleeding internally, and right now she's in surgery to find the bleed. Her spleen ruptured and needs to be removed if she has any hope of surviving."

Beca grabbed Jesse's hand and squeezed. She felt like she had just been kicked in the stomach and had the wind knocked out of her. All of the color immediately drained from her face and she started mumbling to Luke that she was on her way. When she hung up the phone she felt like she was going be sick all over the concrete, yet Jesse was still completely clueless about what was happening.

"Beca, what's going on? What the hell just happened?"

Beca paused and looked at him before grabbing her towel and standing up.

"That was Luke. Chloe was in a car accident tonight, um...everything's fine. She's in surgery so they can remove her spleen. I have to go be there so..."

Jesse could tell she was in a complete state of shock, and that there was no way she would be able to drive. Even with the hospital just twenty minutes from them, she was in no condition to be getting behind the wheel.

"If she's in surgery, everything's not fine."

Beca grabbed her stomach and looked away. The last time she'd seen Chloe was the night before and they'd fought. They hadn't left things in a good place, and Beca was suddenly regretting some of the things she said. Things she couldn't take back.

"Beca?"

Beca turned to face Jesse, trying not to explode, trying in vain to keep her emotions under control.

"Jesse, she has internal bleeding from an unknown source and her spleen ruptured and has to be removed. I don't know if she's going to make it or not." She hissed.

"What can we do?" Jesse asked, not really expecting to get an answer. "Do you want me to call Greta so we can go to the hospital?"

Alex's nanny, Greta, was a gift to their family, and had helped out in many situations when emergency, last minute child care was needed. Even late on a Sunday night, Beca knew if they called her she would be over in a heartbeat. But she was already scheduled to come over early the next morning, and Beca knew she would be in bed already. She didn't want to disturb her unless it was absolutely necessary.

"No, Greta will be here tomorrow at 7:30. Text Damian and have him rearrange my schedule. Call Stacie, ask her if Scott is on call, and tell her to come get me. I have to go get dressed."

She was running on complete autopilot, and Jesse was starting to wonder if Beca even grasped the gravity of the situation.

"Bec-" She cut him off immediately.

"Jesse, I'm fine. Now's not the time. Call Stacie, text Damian. Do it."

Running into the house, Beca stopped in the middle of the kitchen, and suddenly it was like she had lost all sense. Where was her bedroom? What time was it? What day was it? She couldn't move, she couldn't focus, she could barely breathe.

Snapping back to reality, she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other and move up the stairs one by one until she reached their bedroom.

Beca rushed into the walk in closet, and got a pair of denim shorts halfway up her legs before she realized she wasn't wearing any underwear. Huffing, she pulled the shorts back down, grabbed a pair of boy shorts style underwear, and repeated the process. She then threw on a bra and a solid black racer back tank top.

Beca looked up at the board Chloe had made for Beca when they graduated. It was a collage of pictures of them through the years. There was the picture of them on their very first hood night togther, and each subsequent hood night, Beca's 21st birthday where the girls spent the weekend in Atlantic City, Beca and Chloe at her baby shower, the one Beca was adamant she didn't want. There was the picture of Chloe, Beca, and Alex right after Alex had been born. The picture of Beca and Chloe at Beca's wedding, and in the very center, Beca and Chloe right after their very last ICCA championship.

Beca was hurt, and angry at Chloe, but it didn't take away the fact that she still loved her. Chloe was Beca's very first close female friend. Together, they found strength and support in each other. They also found out they had a lot in common.

Both girls had struggled with Anorexia in their early teens. Beca's mother had left her father when she was just nine years old. Chloe on the other hand, had been raised by her mother, who remained single after her father stole half their money and left when Chloe was just two years old. Beca always knew Chloe was a good person. Despite everything she had been through in her life, she still maintained a heart of gold, and saw the world through rose colored glasses. Chloe always made people feel loved, mostly because she knew what it was like to not feel loved. Unable to look away from the pictures, Beca tried not to pay attention to the nagging question in the back of her head, the one that made her wonder if Chloe had been driving drunk. It gnawed at her relentlessly, until it was suddenly all she could think about.

Time seemed to stand still. She wondered how long it had been since Luke had called. She wondered how much longer it was going to take for Stacie to arrive. Beca was desperate to get to the hospital already, but she knew she was in no condition to drive, so waiting was her only option.

Grabbing her blue and yellow Bella's zip up, she walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs where she proceeded to pace back and forth between the kitchen and the living room. Waiting, Wishing, Hoping. She couldn't sit still, and every time Jesse tried to talk to her, Beca's hand flew up. She was in no mood to discuss much of anything. Five minutes turned to ten minutes, which turned to fifteen minutes. Finally at 10:34, thirty six minutes after Beca received the call, Stacie ran through the door.

Beca immediately looked up at the sound. Stacie's hair was pulled up into a messy bun, she wore no make up, her glasses, a pair of black leggings, and her blue Bella's sweatshirt. Not trusting herself to speak, Beca got up and walked over to her, wrapping Stacie, who was already crying, in a hug. Pulling back, Beca made a comment about grabbing her bag and running into the kitchen.

Jesse hugged Stacie tightly, and thanked her for picking Beca up.

"I tried calling Scott, but he didn't answer." Stacie explained. Beca and Jesse nodded their heads, knowing this were more than likely chaotic in the Emergency Room at the moment. It made sense that he wouldn't answer his phone.

Beca grabbed her things, kissed Jesse, and told him she would call when she knew anything. With that, Beca and Stacie were out the door.


The drive was painfully silent. Neither of them was in the mood to listen to any kind of music, and finding words to say was proving to be a difficult task. Finally, ten minutes into the drive, Beca sighed. She could no longer keep the thought to herself any longer.

"God, I hope she wasn't drinking tonight." She whispered, her head pressed up against the window, not looking at Stacie.

Instantly, Stacie whipped her head to face Beca briefly before turning her attention back to the road.

"What?! Why the hell would Chloe be drinking and driving?!" Stacie demanded to know, feeling totally confused.

For a moment, Beca forgot that outside of Luke and Chloe, and she and Jesse, none of their friends had been brought up to speed on that drama currently unfolding in Chloe's life. Beca knew it was important for Stacie to know about the infertility, the drinking, the isolation, and the fear Beca felt knowing that if Chloe didn't get her ass in gear soon, Luke was not going to able to stand by any longer.

"Beca!" Stacie yelled. "Why am I just now hearing about this!? We have always had a cardinal rule in our circle that if one of us is in trouble, were all in it together. Scott is an ER doctor, and my father is a Psychiatrist. We out of everyone had tons of resources to pull from. Scott could have gotten Chloe set up with the best fertility specialist this side of the east coast!"

Beca knew where Stacie was coming from, and knew her anger was completely justified. She had reacted the exact same way when she found out about the situation.

"Stacie, I just found out myself last night. After everyone left last night, I went to Chloe and Luke's to confront them. Only then did I find out what was going on. By the time I got home last night, it was after 3am. I was in New York all day today with Jesse and Alex, and then when we got home, Jesse and I spent some time in the hot tub. I was planning on talking to you over lunch tomorrow, I'm sorry." Beca explained.

Stacie sighed. "It's not your fault, I'm just frustrated. We always have supported each other in the good times and the bad. Chloe could-"

She couldn't say the words. She refused to say out loud that there was a chance Chloe could die tonight. Saying it out loud made it a true reality.

"Chloe's in surgery right now, and this whole mess could have been avoided." She cried, shaking her head.

"I know, I'm just as torn up about it as you are." Beca sympathized.

Stacie pulled into the Emergency Room parking lot, and put the car in park, trying to compose herself before they got into the hospital. Beca got out of the car, and waited for Stacie to come around to the other side. As they made their way into the hospital, Stacie took Beca's hand in her's. Beca looked down at the gesture.

"We've got each other, no matter what happens tonight, we'll get through this together. I promise."


Luke paced back and forth, unable to sit still for more than a minute or two. Every door that opened, every doctor that appeared, provided a small glimmer of hope. A glimmer of hope that was dashed each time he wasn't approached.

He had called her a bitch. Those were the last words she had heard before leaving the house, and if she died tonight, Luke was going to have to live with this fact for the rest of his life. He couldn't understand how they had gotten this bad in the first place. Luke had never even raised his voice to Chloe before, let alone cursed her out. He had nothing but respect for his wife and the woman that she was. But lately, all the fighting, or the lack of fighting really, had gotten to him. He was frustrated, hurt, angry, and above all, Luke felt totally and completely alone.

Part of him blamed himself for the loneliness. They had a huge support system he could have utilized, but he chose not to. He chose to go along with what Chloe wanted, and that decision may very well be what kills her.

Finally having a seat in one of the chairs outside of the operating room, Luke pressed his hands to his lips as the tears rolled down his cheeks and he begged God not to take Chloe from him, not now, not yet.

Scott walked out into the waiting area and sat down next to Luke, putting his hand against his back. Not moving, Luke continued to sit as he stared straight ahead and allowed himself to finally release some of his pent up emotions.

"She made it through surgery." Scott informed him. Luke stopped, and slowly turned his head to face Scott.

"What?" He questioned, not believing the words.

"I just spoke to the surgeon. She's in pretty serious condition, Luke. They had to remove her spleen, she's got three cracked ribs, a broken arm, and some pretty bad lacerations on her arms and face, but she made it through the surgery. The worst is over."

Luke was overcome with emotion after hearing the news. Openly sobbing, he put his head in his hands. He had nearly lost his wife tonight, but by the grace of God she was still with him.

Scott sat next to him, trying to do whatever he could to comfort Luke and give him time to let the news sink in. As Luke blew out a breath and wiped the tears from his eyes, he turned to face Scott.

"I have to know what happened. And...and I need to know if she was drinking." He explained.

Scott nodded his head. "From what I know from speaking with the cops, witnesses placed Chloe at a stoplight on Main at Oak. When the light turned green, Chloe began rolling slowly. At the same time, a nineteen year old kid driving on Oak in a pickup truck blew through the red light at sixty five miles per hour and slammed into the right side of her car. Witnesses say her car flipped twice before landing in the culvert in front of Walgreens. When EMS got there, the car was upside down and filling with water through the broken window. Luke, I don't even know how she's alive right now. The force of the crash should have killed her instantly." Scott's words painted a vivid picture in Luke's mind, and he wondered what some of Chloe's last thoughts must have been. He wondered if she even saw the truck coming.

"The kid? The kid driving the truck?" Luke asked, wanting to know about his condition.

"He died. After the truck hit Chloe's car, he flew through the windshield. He was killed instantly. We do know however, that he had a blood alcohol concentration of .14. With a BAC that high, he had no right being behind the wheel. There would have been severe impact of vision and coordination." Scott informed.

"And Chloe?"

Scott sighed. "Based on the samples of her blood, Chloe's BAC was measuring at .06. Which indicates that she most likely had a drink or two recently, but she was still under the legal limit."

Luke nodded his head, feeling grateful. He knew it could have so easily been her causing the car accident.

"Look, Luke, I gotta ask, man. You and I are friends, and we've known each other for over four years. Stacie and Chloe have known each other even longer. Chloe doesn't drink and drive, I know that. She was under the legal limit, but it was close. Friendship aside, as her attending physician, I need to know if she's okay."

The doors opened, and Luke was distracted by the sight of Beca and Stacie running in.

Stacie ran straight into Scott's arms and hugged him tightly as her tears stained his scrubs. Knowing she was scared and confused, he held onto her tightly as he stroked her back and whispered words of assurance in her ear.

Beca stood, unable to move, as she stared at Luke willing him to tell her that Chloe was alright. . She was trying to prepare herself. If he was about to tell her that her best friend was dead, she was going to need to be strong. She wanted so badly to speak, and to ask questions, but every time she tried to open her mouth, nothing came out. She stood in the hall, and stared, as tears fell silently.

"She's gonna be okay." Luke finally whispered, unable to speak any louder. Beca's eyes closed at the sound of the news, and she finally felt her lungs open up which allowed her to breathe easy for the first time since she got the phone call. Her body began to shake as she gave into her emotions and allowed herself to cry. Walking over to her, Luke hugged her tightly.

"She's gonna be okay." He reassured her. "They had to remove her spleen, she's got three cracked ribs, a broken arm, and some lacerations to her face and arms, but she's gonna be okay."

Beca nodded and pulled back from him, wiping the tears from her eyes. She and Stacie looked as miserable as Luke felt and they had only just arrived.

Luke excused himself to talk with Scott privately. Together they were going to figure out the best course of action where Chloe's medical care and recovery were concerned.

Sitting down in a corner of the waiting room, Luke began to explain everything.

"Chloe and I will celebrate our third wedding anniversary in three weeks. We were married in September of 2014, and by January, she was ready to start a family. More than anything in this world, Chloe wants to be a mother. She loves Alex, that little girl is her absolute joy. Chloe wanted a child of her own that she could love and care for. It was going to be tight, my practice was just getting off the ground and Chloe had just started building her client list. But I knew that we would do fine, and we would make it. So we bought a four bedroom family house. I come a big family, two sisters and three brothers. Chloe grew up as an only child. We both agreed we wanted a big family, we dreamed of the day our home would be filled with the pitter patter of little feet."

Luke sighed as he stood up and looked out the window, admiring the city lights. Those early memories had been incredible.

"We started trying in February. There was no pressure, no charting or keeping records or anything. Chloe went off the pill, and we waited for it to happen. Her periods were just awful after she stopped birth control. She had been on it since she was fifteen to help with her cycle, and I quickly understood why. She would have cramping so bad it would cause her to throw up. For four days out of the month she was pretty much incapacitated. I suggested she go to her doctor to see if there was anything they could do, but she refused. She was convinced she would get pregnant soon and it would no longer be an issue. But she wasn't pregnant. February turned to March, which turned to April, and by August, we still weren't pregnant."

Scott listened quietly, knowing that this was a topic Luke hadn't had the chance to discuss with many people. He wanted him to know they had all the time in the world, and there was no rush to explain everything that had happened.

"In September, she finally went to her gynecologist to see if there was something wrong. Because we had only been trying for seven months, they said there wasn't much they could do. They don't start recommending infertility treatment until you've been unable to conceive after trying for a year or more. They did an internal exam on Chlo, and they did an ultrasound on her uterus. It was then that they discovered the scarring. She had endometriosis, and it explained why her periods were so severe. They told us that having a baby wasn't impossible, but it wasn't going to be as easy as they had hoped. But Chloe was getting her period every month, which was a good sign."

"Chloe," He sighed. "is always so positive and easygoing. She tried to not let it bother her, but I could tell, I could tell she was devastated. It was June of last year when we finally agreed it was time to look into other options. We met with a fertility specialist, and both of us went through extremely invasive testing. Testing that just strips you of your manhood, and leaves you wondering what the point of all of it is. I wanted a baby with my wife, and somehow I found myself in a private room with magazines and videos to help produce a sperm sample."

All of the memories of the previous Summer came back to him, and he closed his eyes, trying to block the memories. Those three months had not been a highlight in his marriage to Chloe.

"We found out in July that Chloe's endometriosis was even worse than what the gynecologist had thought. Additional testing revealed a blocked fallopian tube. The sperm wasn't even getting a chance to meet with the egg. The doctor sat us down and explained that based on the results, we had about a 5% chance of ever conceiving naturally. I watched as Chloe just fell apart. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to witness, especially knowing I couldn't fix it. Once we got home, she didn't come out of our bedroom for five straight days. There was nothing I could do for her and it killed me. I just held her while she cried and tried to remind her constantly that I loved her. That no matter what happened, she was always going to be loved."

He swallowed the lump in his throat as the tears returned. That week after the initial diagnosis had been one of the hardest weeks of their lives. Chloe was getting sick to her stomach and could barely keep her eyes open. He did everything in his power to make sure she didn't slip back into her eating disorder. As he stared out the window, he allowed the memory to sink back in.

"Chlo? I'm home" Luke announced after he walked into the kitchen and set his briefcase down. Chloe had been home alone for first time since they received the news, and Luke had been on edge all day. He would have preferred to stay home with her until she was more stable, but he had been working on a big case, and he couldn't exactly tell the courts to put things on hold.

Knowing neither of them was going to be in the mood to cook, he called in for a pizza and salad for dinner, and headed up to their bedroom to change.

He heard the noise as soon as he walked in, and it froze him in his tracks. The sound of Chloe throwing up was something Luke had prayed and wished for many times, as it would have signaled possible morning sickness. But as he stood there, he sighed, this wasn't morning sickness.

The toilet flushed, and the sink quickly turned on. He sat on the bed and waited for her to finish up.

Opening the door, Chloe jumped in surprise, not expecting to see Luke. "Jesus! Don't do that to me!" She groaned, her hand clutching her chest. Her bloodshot blue eyes was the first thing he noticed as he looked up at her.

"Chloe...I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me. Did you just make yourself throw up? Or is it because of the stress?" It wasn't an easy question to ask by any means, but he needed to know.

Chloe folded her arms across her chest and turned her head to the side. Luke knew instantly. Chloe could never look him in the eye and lie to him.

"What does it matter anyway?" She mumbled as she climbed back into bed, her back facing towards him.

Luke's heart broke at the sound of her words, and he immediately scooted closer to her, wrapping his arms around her and planting soft kisses against her back and shoulder.

"It does matter. You matter, your health matters. Baby, I am not going to let you go down this path again. I know you're hurting, but this is not the answer. Don't do this to yourself baby, don't." He begged. Chloe began to sob, and he swore he could feel her heart shattering into pieces.

Luke held her tightly as he reminded her over and over again how very much he loved her.

"Maybe I should call Beca. She's been through this too, she knows what it's like." He suggested.

Chloe was adamant. "NO!" She yelled out. "You're not calling Beca, or anyone else for that matter. I don't want anyone else knowing. You have to promise me Luke, promise me you won't tell anyone. Not about the eating disorder, not about the infertility. Promise me."

"Okay, I promise, I promise won't say anything." He assured her. Chloe nodded her head, seeming to calm down slightly. He kissed her forehead and held her in his arms. He knew he shouldn't have made the promise, he was in over his head.

"I let her decide what happened next. I'm a flexible type of guy, so I was ready to adjust accordingly. I always envisioned myself having a big family, but I was okay discovering new dreams if I had to. I would have been totally fine traveling the world together and spending time with our nieces and nephews. We've all become a family to each other, and between the eight other couples, and my five siblings, I knew we would be plenty busy. But Chloe wasn't ready to give up that easily. We agreed we would take a little break, and in September, for our second anniversary, we spent ten days in Italy. It was by far the most phenomenal trip we have ever taken, and we had an incredible time together. After we got home, the holiday's were in full swing, and so we decided we would start fresh in January."

"The doctor put her on three different types of drugs, and it was basically the beginning of the end. Everything became extremely regimented and planned. She had downloaded an app on her phone that told her when she was ovulating, there were injections she needed to take, we could only have sex on certain days." He shook his head, feeling defeated.

"Everything became cold and calculated. We weren't making love because we wanted to be with each other, we were having sex for the sole purpose of making a baby. And yet, despite all of our efforts, she still wasn't getting pregnant. By April, she was on a downward spiral. Those fertility drugs are no joke, and they took quite a toll on her body. She started gaining weight, she was constantly moody and on edge, and she began having trouble sleeping at night. They suggested IVF as the next step. Come to find out, one cycle was going to set us back $30,000. With that kind of price tag, we had one shot to get it right. The chances of it working were only 25%. The odds terrified Chloe and after that, she just shut down on me. She didn't want anybody to know what was going on, and she stopped going out. She started drinking wine...lots and lots of wine. Of course it didn't start out that way. At first, it was just an extra glass or two at dinner. But slowly, I began notice that anytime I tried to have a conversation with her about the infertility or tried to get her to talk to me, she instinctively would ignore me and pour herself a glass."

"I have watched the collapse of my marriage over the past four months and it's killed me. I love her, God, do I love her. She has put me through hell this year, but I never once stopped loving her. I know the woman I married is in there somewhere, and I will do whatever it takes to get her back. Somebody just tell me what to do, tell me what to do, because I can't keep going through this anymore." He cried. Luke had shouldered the pain of the last year privately, but he was done. He didn't want to deal with this alone anymore.

"You don't have to deal with this alone anymore."

Luke turned at the sound of Beca's voice.

"What do you want me to do? What can I do to help?" Beca asked, needing to feel useful.

Luke ran his fingers through his hair. "If you and Stacie could, run by the house and pack her a bag of clothes. A toothbrush, soap, shampoo, deodorant. And as hard as this is going to be on her, I think we need to end the hormone treatments, so don't pack those. In fact, flush them, please."

Beca nodded in agreement. "Chloe's body needs time to heal, the drugs need to stop immediately if she's going to get better. It may not be what she wants, but I agree, it needs to happen. I support your decision."

"What about counseling? My dad's practice in New Haven is always accepting new patients. They offer everything from individual counseling to marriage counseling to intensive outpatient programs for those struggling with drug and alcohol problems. I don't think Chloe's an alcoholic, but she's definitely using alcohol to mask her feelings. She needs to learn better coping skills." Stacie suggested.

Luke knew it was the truth. Chloe wasn't an alcoholic, yet. But if things continued on the same path, it wouldn't be long before there was another car accident. He knew that in order for things to get better, they would both benefit from individualized therapy, as well as marriage counseling.

"Can you set that up?" He asked.

"Absolutely, I'll make a call first thing in the morning and let you know when they have openings. I know she'll be in recovery for a few weeks, so I can see about someone coming to you guys at first." Stacie offered.

"You know Luke, I'm not saying it would have been easy to come to us with something so personal, but we never would have judged you or Chloe. We would have done everything possible for both of you. This all could have been avoided with one phone call. You had countless resources."

He hung his head and sighed, knowing she was right. I know that now. Hell, I knew it then. I've been beating myself up for days for being so stupid. I should have said something a long time ago." He said, feeling immense guilt for not reaching out.

"We'll help you get through this just the same, were family."

"Thank you." Luke gave her a hug, thankful for her help and for Beca's. It wasn't going to be easy, but at least there was a plan starting to come together.

"Dr. Ramsey?"

A nurse approached the four of them as Beca and Stacie were getting ready to leave.

"Yes?"

"Chloe Barnes, the patient you brought up from the ER? She's awake now."


He wasn't at all sure what to expect when he walked into the room. He was nervous, timid, exhausted, and yet overjoyed, knowing she was still with them.

Slowly, he pushed the door open and walked into the room, unsure of what he was going to find.

It was quiet. The only noise to be heard was the beeping of the machines, signaling that Chloe was alive. Pulling back the curtain that separated the two beds, he gasped when he saw her.

His heart ached for her. In a hospital gown, Chloe laid in the bed, looking almost unrecognizable. The bed made her look even tinier than she already was.

Her curly red hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail, out of her face. Her skin, normally giving a soft tanned glow, suddenly looked pale and cold. Above her right eyebrow, was a piece of gauze that has been held in place by two bandaids.

Her eyes were dazed and distant, and she had trouble keeping them open. She was just barely awake. Luke looked down to see her right arm in a sling, and the many bruises covering her arms. He could only imagine what her legs looked like.

She was a mess, there was no doubt about it. But she was a beautiful mess, his mess, and despite it all she was alive and no matter what, she would always be beautiful. Luke had never been more thankful for her than he had in that moment.

"You're here." She croaked, her mouth dry, her body aching. Everything hurt, her face, her arms, her chest, her legs. Everything from the top of her head to her toes was in pain.

Luke nodded his head as the tears rolled down his face. "I'll always be here." He said as he pulled the chair by the window towards the bed.

"Luke...what happened?" Chloe asked, not sure if she wanted to know or not. She knew there had to have been an accident, she just prayed it wasn't her fault.

"What's the last thing you can remember?" He asked.

Chloe closed her eyes as she began to cry. Whether from the pain or the memory, she wasn't exactly sure. "You were telling me how you remembered the first time we met. You told me you could still remember the dress I wore that night and you remembered every detail of how I looked." She whispered, trying to think back on happier times.

"You were in a car accident Chloe. A drunk nineteen year old kid ran a red light. You've just had emergency surgery to remove your spleen. You've got a broken arm and three cracked ribs but you're going to be okay." He explained as he took her left hand into his.

"I didn't...Was I..." She could hardly get the words out. Luke shook his head.

"No, you didn't cause the accident. You had alcohol in your system, but you didn't do anything to cause it."

Chloe shook her head as the tears continued to flow. This wasn't the type of person she was, this wasn't how she dealt with her problems and she knew. She didn't want to hurt anymore, she didn't want to be alone any longer.

"Luke...I don't want to be alone in this anymore." She cried. Luke squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes.

"I don't either." He whispered as he kissed her cheek.

Sobbing, Chloe held onto him tightly. "Please help me."

"Always, I will always be here to help you and support you. You don't have to be alone any longer, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

With tears streaming down their cheeks, Luke bent down to kiss Chloe lightly.

"I'm not going anywhere, I love you."

"I love you too."