Elmer looked at Lona, she didn't look right. She didn't flinch when he came near her, the way she usually did, instead she allowed him to speak to her and ask her if she was ok, but the moment didn't last long and as he attempted to put his arm around her, she snapped at him, and they were back to square one. But to him, she still didn't look right; she looked upset, or worse angry. He could only hope she wasn't angry with him as that would kill him. He only wanted to get near her, to love her and feel her love back but he knew it would never happen so he sighed and went on his rounds. He saw her, saw her talking to a newly transferred doctor, Doctor M. Tolburn. He listened to her laughing and watched her flirtatious manner, making him sick to the stomach. So much that he knew he was gonna throw up so he began to ran to the bathroom, passing his father and Dr Hook, but as he turned to go into the bathroom, Dr Stegman got in his way so he ended up vomiting on him instead.

"Wh-Wh!" Stegman couldn't quite choke out the words but Elmer could see his face going red and knew he had to get out of there.

"Sorry, sorry!" he apologized and headed back down the hall.

"Who was that twerp??" Dr Tolburn asked and she sighed.

"That is Elmer; he is one of the med students here." She sighed again.

"What an idiot!" Mike Tolburn laughed but Lona did not join in. how could she? Elmer had followed her around from day 1, always trying to get her to talk to him, his crush on her becoming something else slowly every day.

Elmer sighed as he slid into the library seat, opening one of the many medical books that were housed there. He opened the page to sleep psychology. "Yes Elmer, lets get some good reading done." He told himself. But every sentence seemed to say Lona and Mike! Lona doesn't want you! She wants Mike; she thinks you're an idiot! She doesn't love you, and she never will. Mrs Dr Lona Tolburn!

Slowly Elmer began to repeat what he was seeing, quietly at first but gradually getting louder.

"She doesn't want me!" he whispered. "She doesn't want me! She doesn't want me!! She doesn't want me!!! She doesn't want me!!! She doesn't want me!!!!!" he yelled.

"Who?" Someone said. The voice from behind him brought him back down to earth.

"Erm, Dr Hook, Hi." Elmer stuttered and Hook sat opposite him.

"Please call me Nick." He simply said.

"Oh ok, Nick." Elmer once again stuttered.

"Now, who doesn't want you?" Nick hook asked.

"Erm doesn't matter." Elmer looked down.

"I bet its Lona Masingale, yeh?" Nick asked but Elmer didn't answer. "You got the hots for her?" Elmer nodded gently. "Well I hear she loves red roses."

"Really?" he perked his head up.

"yep." Nick winked and walked away, leaving Elmer much happier.

As Elmer left the library happier, he decided to go to reception and ring up the local flower shop, but his jaw hit the floor when he rounded the corner; a big bunch of red roses, being handed to Lona, by none other than.......mike Tolburn. That was it! Elmer was not going to have a chance and he would never get in before Mike. He needed to put his little crush to sleep, or better still kill it. He needed to find something else to occupy his mind first of all; his studies would do the trick.

"Now, she doesn't want me! I don't want her!" he repeated to himself over and over again as he walked down the hall towards them.

"hello Elmer, this is mik-" Lona began but he cut her off.

"I'm busy!" he snapped and she glared at him. He had never snapped at her before, he was always gentle and caring around her, but something had changed.

"Doing what?" Mike asked.

"Well it's none of your business for a start!" he snapped.

"Elmer!" Lona frowned.

"What!?!" he growled. This was definitely NOT the Elmer she knew.

"What is it you are busy with?" she asked, trying to sound nice but being firm at the same time.

"Killing it!" he simply answered and she glared at him, confusion sweeping across her face.

"Killing what?" she asked but only got silence in response.

"Killing a crush I have!" he finally replied before pushing past her and walking away.

"he's a little messed up, you don't have to worry about him." She lied before excusing herself and going off to find Elmer.

She found him on the roof, with no coat in the freezing cold, wrapping his arms around himself tightly.

"Elmer, whats going on?" she asked gently, sitting beside him.

"you know what." He simply mumbled.

She sighed slightly before slowly standing up. "you gonna come in? it's freezing

out here."

"Like you care..." he mumbled under his breath. "no, I'm staying out here."

"Ok, have it your way." She replied, watching her breath come out in wisps of

mist.

"Don't I always?" he mumbled.

"Before you come back in-" she started but he interrupted her

"Before I come in what?!" he snapped, but seeing the hurt on her face he lowered

his head and looked at the floor.

"You're gonna adopt a better attitude and you are gonna go in there and

apologize to Dr Tolburn!!!" she yelled and he looked at her stunned.

"What?" he asked, not believing what he had just heard.

"You heard!" she snapped. He looked away, breaking eye contact with her

enchanting green eyes.

"But I-" he began but she held up her hand.

"Save it Elmer, now get it together and do as I say!!!!"

She walked away from him, away from his reach, her eyes glaring and her anger

rising through the roof. He didn't follow; instead he got up and looked over the

edge. He watched as cars and people walked on the side walks. Before he knew

what he was doing, he had leant over too far and dropped his stethoscope over

the edge. He was too high up for him to see it land and it was at that point he

realized just how high he really was. He wanted to get up onto the edge and just

jump freely, wait til the end when he fell to the ground after flying through

air. But could he kill himself over one girl? To him Lona wasn't just another

girl, she was THE girl. He could do it and then she'd be sorry. But he didn't

wanna hurt her, he cared about her too much to hurt her, but would she really be

hurt over him? She probably wouldn't care and still live on to marry Dr Tolburn

and have his children. It was at that point Elmer began to cry. It was all too

much for him, he was only 24, he couldn't possibly know what love was, but at

the same time he thought he did and that love came in the form of Dr Lona

Massingale. He had to jump! He climbed steadily onto the wall, his eyes firmly down the whole time.
Lona arrived back in the ER later that hour and was greeted by Dr Hook and the 2 paramedics who obviously had another nut case to bring in. Hook looked at her, sympathy crawling all over his face.

"What?!" She exclaimed.

"I'm sorry." He breathed as he pulled back the sheet on the gurney to reveal Elmer's young, but devilishly good looking cute face and she gasped.

"But I was just with him!" she breathed, shaking her head.

"Um we were just out side when we heard something thud on the top of the roof of the ambulance." One of the paramedics reported and her voice caught in her throat.

"He jumped Lona." Dr Hook told her and she suddenly couldn't breathe.

"It's my fault!" she finally managed to choke out.

She sat beside him in the morgue, not sure whether to go or not. Gently, she picked up his hand and began to rub it affectionately.

"Why did you do it Elmer??" she asked softly. She got no response as she expected "I never even got to tell you-" she began to say but as tears rolled down her cheeks, she found herself unable to speak for the lump in her throat. "How much I cared!" she finally choked out before sniffing and wiping her tears away, only so they could be replaced with fresh ones.

"Elmer..." she breathed before standing up and letting his hand lay lazily on the bed and leaned over him, kissing his cold forehead gently.

She let her tears fall onto his skin before turning around and walking away. She had barely made it to the door when she heard her name being called.

"Lona!" he called and as she turned back to face the morgue beds, she saw him, sitting up, very much alive.

"NO!" she yelled. "No you are dead!! I saw you, you were as cold as ice, you weren't breathing and your heart wasn't beating! You were dead!"

"I don't know what happened, I was dead, but then, lying there I felt as if I was given a new lease of life, as if someone wanted me to do something." he explained and she looked dumbly at him.

"Elmer, you died!" she repeated as if she had not heard a word he had just said and he sighed.

"Where are my clothes?" he asked in a matter of fact tone.

She screamed when he got off the bed and progressed towards her. "God! I'm not gonna hurt you for Christ's sake!!"

"I can't deal with this!" she shook her head and almost ran up the stairs before turning the handle and pulling the door open.

"Fine! Leave me like every other time you decided to ignore whatever I did!" he yelled and she stopped dead in front of the door before slowly turning around.

"What?" she whispered.

"Oh come on, you've always denied anything I said, or dismissed it. Like the time I said I had a crush on you! You laughed it off and went and had dinner with Dr Phillips!!!" he yelled and she began to cry again. Normally he would run to her and attempt to put his arms around her when she was in a state, but this time he wasn't going to, he was sick of being made a fool.

"Elmer!" she cried taking a step closer towards him, before abruptly stopping.

"Elmer nothing Lona!!" he glared at her. "I am sick of the way you treat me!"

"Don't shout." She pleaded but he wasn't about to listen to her.

"Don't tell me what to do!" he snapped back at her, making her jump before taking a step away from him.

"I'm sorry." She breathed but he continued to glare at her.

Suddenly he gripped his stomach tightly, yelling out in pain as something appeared on his morgue gown...blood. She heard a maniacal laugh and looked over at Elmer, paralysed and unsure of what to do. Elmer was lying on the floor and a young ghost boy was standing in front of her.

"hahahahaha!!" he laughed before nodding his head side to side and disappearing, leaving Lona and a half dead Elmer. She ran to his lifeless body and dropped to her knees, flinging her arms to his abdomen.

"Elmer!!" she cried, placing her hand on his face, gently stroking it, hoping it would bring him round. After a few minutes nothing happened and she was in a dead silent room, with only the sounds of his shallow breaths and her constant sobs to keep her company.

"Lona!" he whispered and she looked at him, happy that he was now conscious.

"Yes?" she eagerly asked.

"I'm gonna die." He groaned before moving a hand to his abdomen.

"No you're not." She told him, trying to keep her tears back but failing desperately. He saw how strong she was trying to be and raised his hand to touch her face at which point she closed her eyes as she indulged in his touch. His hands were soft and gentle and she liked that.

"I like you a lot." He breathed as he felt his life slowly being dragged away from him.

"I like you too." She whispered, though she did not know why she was whispering.

"Please remember how much I cared about you." He pleaded and she let out a suppressed sob and shook her head, alarming him.

"No because you can tell me everyday." She told him and he looked at her, the pain in his eyes was evident. "Please don't leave me."

He let out a slight 'Elmer' laugh and tried to turn onto his side but it was too painful to do so. He looked at her again, noticing how much she had changed in the last half an hour. She had gone from strong 35 yr old woman to broken down, scared 5 yr old child and that scared the hell out of both of them.

"I'm so, so, so, so sorry." She cried.

"Why?" he asked, choking on his spit.

"I'm sorry that it took all this just for me to realise how much I care about you." She breathed before placing a hand under his neck.

"I knew it." He grinned and she tried to smile but couldn't quite manage it.

"And you know what? I don't just care about you, I think I love you." She cried and his smile disappeared.

"You do?" he asked and she looked at him, unable to answer so she laid down beside him, placing her head on his shoulder, allowing him to stroke her dusty blonde hair.

"Yes I do." She repeated after a long silence.

"So do I." he informed her and she scrunched up her face to disable more tears and sobs to erupt, but she failed and she began to sob uncontrollably so she turned onto her side to face him and pushed her face into his body, waiting for him to comfort her but he didn't. This worried her and when she sat up, she looked long and hard at him. He had gone.