"What would possess her to do such a thing?"
"Dad, I have no idea. She was dealing with a lot of issues."
"Yeah, like the fact she had a boyfriend almost twice her age that she dropped out of NYU for?"
"Honey, Alicia needs our support right now, not our criticism."
Colleen and her parents sat in the reception area near Alicia's room. They all looked up as Graham came out of the room.
"She's awake," he said, "and feeling a little nauseous. But she wants to be left alone. She's really ashamed of what's she done. We said a prayer together and it seemed to make her feel a little better."
He looked over at Bo and Morgan, who were playing a few chairs down from where they were all sitting.
"I'll take the kids home and wait for you," he said to Colleen.
"OK. Thank you for talking to her, Graham."
Graham kissed her and said, "Of course. Bo, Morgan, let's go home."
Obviously exhausted, the kids sluggishly followed their dad. They kissed Colleen goodbye and then trailed down the hall with Graham. As Graham got in the elevator, another elevator was coming up on the opposite side- Merrill was in it.
"Come on, come on, come on!"
He tapped his fingers against the elevator door with frustration as he made his way up to Alicia's floor. The message that Colleen had left him still echoed in his head: Alicia tried to commit suicide. Finally, the doors opened and Merrill rushed to the reception area where Alicia's family was.
"How..how is she?" he asked Colleen.
"They pumped her stomach in the ER..luckily, she's going to be fine."
"God, what was she thinking?"
Ben looked at Merrill and asked, "Did you know anything about this Harrison man?"
"Actually, I didn't. I was just as surprised as you were. Is she sleeping?"
Colleen replied, "Graham was just here and he said she was awake and didn't want any company."
"I really would like to see her."
Sarah said, "Merrill, you can't.."
Colleen objected and replied, "Mom, let him go. She probably wants to see him anyway."
As Merrill went in, Colleen sat down with her parents.
"Colleen," Sarah said, "what is going on between Merrill and Alicia?"
"They're in love with each other."
"I knew they were seeing each other, but I didn't know it was that serious. Alicia used to tell me everything- why is she keeping so many things to herself?"
"I think in a way, she wants to establish her own individuality and independence. But I still don't understand what drove her to swallow all those pills."
Meanwhile, Merrill opened the door to Alicia's room and carefully closed it behind him. Alicia focused her eyes to see who was coming in. When she realized it was Merrill, she turned her head away from him.
Merrill put his hands on his hips as he stood beside Alicia.
"Enlighten me as to how you got yourself in this situation."
"I don't want to talk to you. You're the reason I'm here right now," she replied, her voice shaky with bitterness.
Merrill scoffed and asked, "Come again?"
"Colleen could've called me a liar and it would've been OK. Same thing with Graham, or Ellen…even my parents. But when you were calling me a liar earlier tonight and you weren't listening to anything I had to say, it hurt so much. I'm falling more in love with you every day and to hear you say those words is like a gunshot. I knew you really meant it when you were fighting with me- I could see it in your eyes. You wouldn't believe me or accept my apology and I was just so upset at everything…I figured this was the only way to show you how sorry I really was."
Tears began to form in Merrill's eyes as he replied, "Alicia, I hate to add fuel to the fire, but that's got to be one of the stupidest and most childish things I have ever heard. If you had given me the night to think things out, I would've been ready to talk to you."
"How would I have known that?"
"You know what? You don't need me. And you're not falling in love with me. You're too much in love with yourself."
His emotions were getting the best of him, and he walked towards the door. Then he stopped, turned around quickly, and rushed to Alicia's side.
"OK, now you have the right to call me a liar. You scared the shit out of me. On the way over here, I kept thinking, 'What if she slips into a coma? I'll never get to say that I forgive her or that I missed being with her, or that I was more in love with her than I had been with anyone in my entire life?' I don't care why you did it; I'm just so thankful that you're OK."
Alicia started sobbing and said, "I'm so sorry. If I had told you the truth about Harrison in the first place, none of this would've happened."
"All that matters is that you're alright. From now on, we're going to talk out everything, no matter how mad we are at each other. I realized on the drive over here that there's no possible way I can consider you just a really good friend. You are everything I think about every minute of the day. I want to work my hardest to be my best for you."
"You're talking like you're in love with me."
"That's because I am in love with you."
Alicia smiled and replied, "You're not just saying that to be saying that, are you?"
"Why would I joke around with something like being in love?"
He carefully embraced Alicia, afraid that he would break her.
Then he kissed the side of her face and whispered, "Don't ever, ever, ever do this again, you hear me?"
"I won't."
The door to Alicia's room opened and her parents came in.
Merrill stood up and said, "Hi. I'll leave you guys alone."
As he left the room, Ben stood in front of Merrill and extended his hand to him.
"Thank you for supporting Alicia and offering to help her through this."
Merrill shook his hand and replied, "I'll do anything for the person I'm in love with."
He opened the door, and as he did, Ben said, "Oh, and Merrill?"
"Yes?"
"There's no other man I can think of that I would rather see Alicia with than you."
"Thank you, sir. That means a lot."
Merrill left the room and Colleen met him outside.
"You were in there for a while, huh?"
"Yeah, we had a little talk. But everything's fine now."
"So did you get an explanation out of her?"
"Somewhat. She's extremely sensitive to criticism and rejection- negativity in general. So she figured that attempting to kill herself would help all of us see how sorry she was for her mistakes. Also, I don't think she intended to end her life. She knew she would overdose on the pills, but I think that the way her body reacted was a little more than she expected and it scared her."
"I think so too."
"You dad said that there was no one he would rather see with Alicia than me. Now I feel like I have to live up to that standard."
"It won't be that difficult. You seem to know Ali pretty well. Just love her for who she really is- her imperfections and her perfections. Once you really dig into her soul, you'll see that she's one amazing person. I've known that from the time she was able to talk."
"How old were you again when she was born?"
"13. I was so shocked when Mom said she was pregnant. I had always thought that I'd be the only child forever, and then came little Alicia. And what made everything worse was that she was such a good baby and toddler. She only cried when something was really wrong and she was always dancing and so happy. But deep down, I loved having a baby sister. It's kinda like how you and Graham are, only your age difference isn't as steep."
"I remember that I wanted to be Graham so bad. I didn't care about Superman or any other heroes- Graham was it for me. I'm sure that's how Alicia looked up to you- I know she still does now."
Colleen glared at Merrill and then giggled.
"What?" he asked.
"You look so…happy and satisfied. Like you just played a great game."
"I am happy. I think I finally found someone I can be truly content with."
"This is so crazy…but a good crazy. I would've never imagined my sister and Graham's younger brother in love. But I love the idea."
Ben and Sarah came out of the room, looking more at ease than they had been all day.
"She's about to fall asleep, but she wants to see you, Merrill," Sarah said.
"OK."
Merrill went into Alicia's room and said, "Any room in that bed for me?"
Alicia moved over and Merrill sat next to her, putting his arm around her.
"So, can I call my teammates and tell them that I have a girlfriend?"
"Yeah, but couldn't you have done that before?"
"Well, technically we never said that we were a couple..just that we were seeing each other, remember? But I want to make it official."
"OK, so now it's official. Let's seal it with a kiss."
"My pleasure."
Merrill leaned over and gently kissed Alicia. Then he stroked the side of her face.
"I'll keep you company tonight if you want."
"I'll be fine. But it would be nice if you stayed here until I fell asleep."
"You got it."
Merrill got up and turned off some of the light in the room.
As he sat beside Alicia, he stroked her hair and held her tightly in his arms. He felt her breathing became more relaxed and then she finally fell asleep. He kissed her forehead and then left the room.
He approached Colleen and noticed that Ben and Sarah were gone.
"Where are your parents?"
"They went home. They wanted to say goodbye to you, but they didn't want to interrupt your time with Ali."
"I see. Well, Ali's asleep. You ready to go home?"
"Yeah. What time is it?"
"Almost 3:45."
"Yuck. I haven't been up this late in forever. I'm exhausted."
"What time can Ali check out tomorrow?"
"9:00, I believe. I had to convince the doctors to let her go without a psychiatric consult. She's not clinically depressed- she just had a lapse in judgement."
"I agree. Now let's go home. Can I sleep in the garage house tonight?"
"Of course."
They headed down the hallway, into the elevator and out of the hospital.