Michelle-Note: I know it was horribly ghetto for me to do a crossover and the two main pairings be with people from the same shows...so there was no real crossing over in that area. I couldn't help it. It was not what I originally intended, but I cannot bear for them to be with anyone else, and I felt dirty doing it different. Alas.

Chapter 23: Scratch The Terminal Illness Part

Tawny: Hospital Emergency Room, Sacramento: 11:22pm: 15 June

I had no idea how emergency rooms worked. It was disheartening. Lizzie came to on the way there, and just kept mumbling incoherently as we carried her in. No one could make out what she was trying to say. Kate checked her in and said we thought it was her appendix, then a nurse came and looked at her, and told us all to sit down. Then they gave us a bunch of forms, which Matt and Kate took to the phone and filled out with the help of the McGuires. Matt spent a lot of time reassuring them that she was going to be fine, and he was remaining extremely calm. It turned out that he had managed to take a sip of beer, be disgusted, and not drink any more, which was good, seeing as he was having to talk to his parents in the middle of the night about his sister going to the emergency room.

Then we all sat there for what seemed like forever until they came and got her, and actually took her back to see what the hell was wrong with her. They asked Kate to go back and tell them exactly what was going on with her, but she freaked out, and made me go. She was hyperventilating and twitching. I thought they might have to look at her too. She was ok at first, and very composed, then she freaked. She didn't handle pressure well. All they did was ask me a bunch of questions, and I had to tell them that she was drinking, and I didn't know how much, and I asked if they would tell her parents or anything, and they said it was confidential, and it was overall, a generally traumatic experience for me, and I tried my best to remain calm and all that good stuff, but it didn't work out so well. I did better than Kate would have done.

Now the four of us were sitting in the waiting room. Silently. Giving me plenty of time to mull over everything over and over. Everything. Everything with Ren, seeing as it led up to us being here in the first place.

I sat with my arms crossed and stared at the green carpet. It was stained darker in places, and I wondered if it was blood. That was creepy. They should clean it better. I bet other people thought it was blood too. It was probably just stuff people spilled in their panic. Drinks and things. Speaking of which, Gordo spent a great deal of money on food from a snack machine, and he was eating it all nervously, making a lot of noise, but no one said anything. Why was I thinking so much about the carpet? I suppose it was so to not think about other things. The carpet was distracting, the nasty bloody carpet.

I looked over at Kate. She was sitting in the corner next to Matt. He looked at her too, then quietly said, "You don't hate my sister, do you?"

She sat quietly for a long time, "Not at all, and I never really did."

"Why…why did you treat her like you did then?"

She turned away from him, and I could see that she was trying not to cry. She wiped her eyes quickly, and apparently didn't see me looking at her, "Sometimes people do stupid things…"

He stopped talking.

Gordo reached over Matt and offered her a Frito, shaking the bag at her. She shook her head, then he turned and offered one to me. I declined as well.

"When are we supposed to hear from someone back there that knows something?" He asked.

"Well…they said it was a routine operation…" I told him, again, for the fifth time.

We should have thought about bringing pillows and blankets. There were two other people in here that had done so, but it never occurred to us. It never occurred to Ren either as she sent us off on this quest. She wasn't accustomed to emergency situations of this sort. Neither was I, or anyone, except for emergency personnel, of course. It was going to be fine though. Routine operation and all.

I felt like this was taking entirely too long. There was no clock in this damn room. I think they did it on purpose. I wasn't wearing a watch, and no one else in our little group was either. Something must have gone wrong. No. Routine operation. I kept telling myself that over and over. It probably just took a while. It wasn't like they were heating up a Hot Pocket in the microwave. They were chopping her open taking out an internal organ then sewing her back up. They needed to take their time and be careful.

I wondered how Ren was doing back at Ruby's. Damn Ren. I looked back at the carpet. There was trash under a lot of the chairs. These chairs were crap, and plastic. No cushions, no nothing. Cheap plastic chairs. This damn hospital could afford better, and Ren could do so much better than Ethan. That guy was a complete idiot. By better, I also meant, not me. I messed up, then messed up again. I never realized how stupid I was. I probably ruined everything for Kate and Lizzie too. That was the dumbest idea, ever.

A nurse walked out from the two doors on the other side of the room. I thought was going to the two people asleep in the row of chairs in front of us, but she bypassed them, and came to our group. We all stared at her.

"She made it through the surgery fine, and two at a time, you can go back and see her. We'll be moving her to a normal room shortly, and she'll be well enough to leave by tomorrow afternoon." She said, monotonously.

A united sigh came from all of us.

"I have to call our parents back." Matt said, and he got up, and headed for the phone again.

"Shouldn't you do that after you go back and see her?" I asked.

"Nah. I have to call them again after I see her." He ran back out to the pay phone.

"We can't use cell phones in here can we?" Kate asked me.

"Nope."

"Someone should call Ruby's, don't you think?"

"Yeah."

"You can use my phone after we go see her." She said.

"You two want to go back first?" The nurse asked Kate and I because Gordo was hanging back with his snacks.

I nodded, and we started to follow her to the back, but Kate stopped suddenly. I looked, and she was just standing a few feet behind me, "You coming?"

She shook her head, "I can't…"

"You can. Just walk." I reached out for her, and she backed away.

"No, I really can't."

"Why not, Kate?"

"I just can't, ok?" She reached into her pocket and took out Twitty's keys then threw them to me, "I'm leaving."

"What? You can't just leave. Where are you going?"

"I'm calling a taxi, then I'm going home." She said, turning and heading for the exit.

"Kate!" I yelled at her.

The two sleeping people, bobbed their heads up, and looked around. Gordo ran out after her.

"Sorry…" I whispered. They nodded, and I and started to go after her too, but stopped. The nurse was waiting for me at the door. I turned back around, and followed her in to see Lizzie.

"She's a little groggy right now." She told me.

"Ok."

"Hey, hang on." Gordo said, scurrying up behind me, breathing heavily, "Kate freaked out."

"Yeah, I know."

"No, you don't. She got weirder once she went outside." He sighed, "She kept saying that she had to do something, and had to leave. Then she called a cab, and started being a bitch again."

"I don't know what her problem is."

"Excuse me?" The nurse interrupted. She was cranky, I guess because it was late, "Are you going to go in to see your friend? She's right there. Second on the left." She pointed, then moved on.

We both silently settled on not discussing Kate at the present moment, and walked quietly down the sterile hallway to where they were holding Lizzie. I peaked in, and found her laying still, and squinting at me. She smiled weakly, I guess upon figuring out who I was, and I took this as a signal it was safe to enter and Gordo followed me.

"You feeling ok?" I asked.

She nodded, "Pretty tired."

"Hey, Lizzie, glad you're ok. I was sure you would be fine, but-"

"Bullshit." I snapped, then looked back at her, "He bought everything in the snack machine outside, and ate it all. All of it. He looked like a big squirrel on crack."

"No…I still have some Skittles left."

Laughing a little, she asked, "I could have sworn Kate was with you guys…"

Gordo began, "She was, but-"

"But…they only wanted us to come in two at a time."

"And she-"

"She went to call Ruby's."

"Oh…" She smiled a little, "Who else is here?"

"Matt." Gordo told her.

"He's talking to your parents."

"Ok."

"You seem really tired…want us to go so you can get some rest?"

"Yeah, but you can send Matt and Kate in when they're done calling people…"

"Will do." Gordo said with enthusiasm, catching onto what I was going for with her and the current Kate dilemma.

"Later, Lizzie." I grabbed him, and we headed out quickly.

"She's going to realize it at some point." He said between his teeth.

"I know, but she doesn't need to realize it right now."

We walked back into the waiting room, and found Matt sitting patiently. He looked at us oddly, "Where'd Kate go?"

I shrugged, "Go back and see your sister, and don't mention Kate, and if she mentions Kate, tell her she's on the phone with Ren. She's the second on the left. I need to call Ruby's."

This sucked. My plan-making abilities had gone to shit.