~*A/N: Hey, it's me again, the really annoying author. Yeah, Bec, that is why I put Jess in there, I guess, I dunno. And Heather, you will go see Jess, so no worries. I just wanted to give Becky some time to chat with her on her own. And I know that the story veers away from LOTR for a few minutes. But hey, it's my story isn't it? I really ought to have my own little part!*~

~*Visitors*~

Over the next few days, Becky and Legolas stayed at the hospital as much as possible with Jess. Legolas was becoming rather fond of her. Not that he looked at her that way or anything. She was more of a sister-in-law to him, or so he thought after Becky explained all of the in-law business.

All of Becky's friends came in to visit Jess, although Becky didn't see Holly as much as she thought she would. Jess had been in the hospital for a week, and Holly had only been in once, which was weird, because Holly and Jess were pretty much best friends.

"Jess, what's up with you and Holly? She's only been in here once this whole time. I thought you two were best friends?" Becky asked.

"Oh. Well. . ."

"Well?"

"Well nothing. We just aren't getting along at the moment."

"Why not?"

"Well . . She was the one that convinced me to go out with Kailen in the first place. I think that she thinks I'm going to throw it in her face again."

"Again?"

"She came in to see me a couple of hours after the accident. She had just heard from my Mom what had happened. Anyways, I blamed all of it on her. I don't know why. I was angry. But in a way it really was her fault! If she hadn't convinced me to go out with Kailen, I wouldn't be in this mess."

"Okay, true, but it's not anybody's fault. You know that, Jess."

"I know. I need to talk to her, but I can't get her to come in here. And I can't exactly physically make her do anything any more."

For a long time Jess had been a lot weaker than Holly was, but this last year Jess had joined a basketball league and was actually pretty good at it. She was now way stronger than Holly, and could really make her do whatever she wanted.

"I'll talk to her and see what is going on. I can probably convince her to come and see you."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Holly was listening to a little Andrew W K, trying to get her mind off of Jess. She didn't care that Jess had totally bitched her out when she had first gone to see her. Holly knew that she had just needed someone to blame for the accident, so she was alright with it.

The problem was that she felt guilty. She knew that it wasn't her fault, that it was nobody's fault. But she still felt horrible. If she hadn't convinced Jess to go out with Kailen, then Jess wouldn't be lying in the hospital on life support.

How could she do that to her best friend? She had put Jess in the ICU. (Intensive Care Unit). How could she be so horrible?

Luckily, the doorbell rang and interrupted her thoughts. It was Becky. Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh!!!!! It was Becky!!!

"BECKY!!!!" Holly was grinning from ear to ear as she hugged Becky as hard as she could. "Becky, I missed you so much. You left so quickly!"

"I know, and as much as I'd love to chat about that, we have other things to discuss."

"Okay then. What kind of things?"

"Jess. You have to go and see her."

"I can't."

"And why not? She's not going to blame you again."

"I don't care about that. It never bothered me in the first place. But every time I look at her in that bed and know that I put her there, I just die. You know what I mean Bec? I just die."

"Holly, that's stupid. You didn't put her there anymore than Isuldor did."

"Isuldor has nothing to do with this."

"Exactly!"

"Okay, okay, I got your point, but I still feel horrible."

"Come on. Let's go see her."

"Becky, I just can't. She was so strong, but now she can't even move quickly. It's like it's not even her. I can't see her like that. I've got so many memories of her since she moved here four years ago, and I hate that memories of her so weak and in bed like that have been added to them. Remember in science when she was talking about funky-ass clouds while she was writing about mars? And she actually wrote about mars' "funky-ass" atmosphere with out knowing it?"

"Hehe, yeah. Or how about 'are you really grasping the essence of that question' , I loved that one."

"Yeah, or the Super Mario Three showoffs. And the little hand thingy!" With this Holly made a really weird shape with her hand.

"Oh my gosh! I totally forgot about that!" Becky did it too. "Hell yeah for the hand thingies!"

"See? Those are the memories of Jess that I want. Not her lying in a hospital bed, all pale and drawn. God, Bec, she looks like butter scraped over too much bread."

"How can you even quote Lord Of The Rings at a time like this?"

"How can you live in Mirkwood at a time like this?" she countered.

"Alright, you got me there. But still."

"But nothing. We're as deep into Lord Of The Rings as we can get. So why not talk like they do?"

"Okay, whatever, but you still have to see Jess."

"Maybe."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Back at the hospital, Jess had a few other visitors; all bore flowers, of course. Heather, Shakira, Mandi, Katie, and Faye were all crowded in the small room. It had taken a lot of convincing on Legolas' part for the nurses to let that many people in at once.

Holly arrived at the hospital about an hour after her talk with Becky, but the nurses made her wait until the rest of them had left before they would let her in. 'Stupid nurses,' she thought. 'It won't kill Jess to have one more person in the room. Then again, I'd like to see her on my own, so maybe this isn't so bad after all. But these damn chairs are still uncomfortable.'

Fifteen minutes later, everyone (except for Jess, of course) walked out of the room, and Holly went in to see her friend.

Jess looked the exact same as she had the last time Holly had been in to see her. The parts of her that weren't black and blue were as white as the sheets she was laying on, and she had cuts and bruises all over her face and arms; probably all over the rest of her too. She looked like a broken toy. God, Holly hated seeing her like that, but she needed to square things up with Jess.

"Hey Hun, how are you feeling?"

"I don't feel any of it, I'm on some really great pain killers. It's just grand," she joked.

"A joker to the end, ay?" Holly attempted a smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yeah, to the end. . ."

"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I should have let you turn Kailen down."

"It's not your fault, Holly. If I really hadn't wanted to, I wouldn't have gone with him."

"But still."

"No, not but still. Don't you dare try to blame yourself for any of this. There's no blame to be laid. Well, maybe on Kailen, but that doesn't really matter any more, now does it?"

'No, I guess not. Jess, you must have been so scared! I don't know if I could have gotten through something like that."

"Ah, but you see, I have all of you guys supporting me. So it's not such a big deal. Except that it hurts like a sonofabitch."

"I thought you didn't feel anything?"

"I lied."

At this they both started laughing, and all was as it used to be for a minute.