A/N: Ok I hadn't planed on doing anymore with this story, but since my reviewers asked so kindly for more and I vaguely had an idea for another chapter I gave in and wrote this one. This chapter won't be as dark and depressing as the other two since I pretty much seem to be over what ever it was that possessed me to write this story in the first place, but hopefully it still works with the other chapters.
John held Elizabeth as she finally let go of some of the emotional strain she had been carrying for so long. When she finally cried herself out and fell asleep against his chest John gently picked her up and laid her in her bed, pulling the covers over her. Once he was sure Elizabeth was out cold a pissed-off John stormed out the door headed for the infirmary.
He couldn't believe that they had allowed this to happen, that they'd allowed things to get so bad with Elizabeth. They were supposed to be her friends, her family they should've been helping her. How could none of them have seen what was happening? Elizabeth had obviously been in need of some help, so why hadn't anyone been there to give it to her?
Storming down the corridors John glared at anyone he came across, brushing past them without sparing them so much as a second glance; he was a man on a mission and nothing was going to stop him. John was beyond thought, beyond caring about anything but Elizabeth.
Entering the infirmary John found Carson and Rodney – the two people he was currently blaming the most out of everyone – in Carson's office. Later, John knew he would realize he'd been an ass laying all the blame on Rodney and Carson, but at the moment he didn't care the two men were supposed to be Elizabeth's two closest friends next to him and they hadn't done a damn thing to help her.
"How the hell could the two of you just stand by while things got so bad?" John demanded as he burst into the office, thinking the door closed behind him, wishing he could actually slam the door shut. Shocked by John's sudden appearance and the anger in his voice it was a minute before either answered.
"What are you talking about?" Carson questioned, getting over his surprise first.
"What am I talking about? I'm fucking talking about the fact that Elizabeth is a complete wreck and that her supposed friends obviously didn't try or even care enough to help her!"
"Hey what the hell gives you the right to just barge in here and accuse us of not caring, of not trying?" Rodney answered this time. He knew John was probably shocked by the state Elizabeth was in, but that didn't give him the right to make the accusations he was.
"We tried, we all tried, tried to get her to talk, tried to get her to show even the slightest hint of emotion, but she wouldn't, not to any of us." Carson stared John straight in the eyes.
"Well you should've tried harder." Every molecule of anger John had felt since he'd walked in on Elizabeth cutting herself, had reached the boiling point. "There's no fucking excuse for any of you letting Elizabeth get this bad!"
"Fuck you John! You don't have a damn clue about the hell Elizabeth's been going through because she thought you were dead." Rodney was pissed as hell now. "Do you think any of us like seeing her this way, do you think I like seeing her this way? I mean shit John I've been in love with Elizabeth since I met her, but for some unfathomable reason she chose you, chose to give her heart completely to you. And I'll admit at first I wasn't happy about it, but I got over it, I've accepted it, that doesn't mean I've stopped loving her any less."
"We tried our best to help her pick up the pieces but you have to realize the only person she wanted to do that was you. She wouldn't accept our offers of help no matter how much we wanted her to." Carson interjected hoping to keep John and Rodney's tempers from flaring out of control.
"If Elizabeth wasn't so completely head over heels in love with you things never would've gotten so bad." Rodney continued as if Carson hadn't spoken. "So if you wanna place blame, try looking in a mirror!"
That was the last straw, before anyone had time to react John's fist connected with Rodney's jaw. Instead of stumbling to the floor in a heap like John had expected, Rodney simply stumbled back a step then shot back with his own damaging swing. It connected soundly snapping John's head back with the force of the blow. For a moment neither man moved then like a crack of lightning Rodney found himself pinned viciously to the wall, two hands gripping at the sides of his shirt. Blood dripped from the corner of both men's mouths, going unnoticed.
Sliding the back of his hand across his face, Rodney wiped at the trickling blood and broke the tense silence. "Elizabeth loves you more than I've ever seen some one love another, she would do anything for you and you really have no idea the power you have over her, do you?"
For the slightest of seconds empathy and guilt reigned clear on John's face; yeah he knew exactly what kind of power he had over Elizabeth because she had the exact same power over him and it scared the shit out of him to think what either of them could do with that power. Shoving off the man John burrowed his hand in his unruly hair. Rodney didn't dare move, his world already tilting to one side.
"You both claim to care about Elizabeth so tell me how could you just sit idly by as she became self-destructive?" John, his anger fading slightly, his energy depleting, and head swimming, questioned both men pleadingly. "I've seen the damn scars you can't deny their existence, can't deny that something more should have been done!"
"What scars?" Carson felt a sense of dread as he asked the question. Carson's question caused John to pause and just stare at the doctor, stunned. "John what scars?" Carson asked again with more force.
"The ones all over her palms and arms…" John paused at seeing the momentarily confused looks on Rodney and Carson's faces. Something suddenly clicked in John's head; they didn't know, they had no idea what Elizabeth had been doing. "You have no idea what I'm talking about do you? How could you not know? I mean fuck the scars are right there if anyone actually cared enough to look."
Watching the emotions play over Carson and Rodney's faces as understanding settled in about what he'd just said the last of John's anger and energy drained away. Shoulders slightly slumped John moved over to the small sink in the far corner of Carson's office, turning on the water and gently running his hands under the cool rush of liquid, splashing it against his face.
Swiping the last of the blood off his face John turned back to the others, a pained expression playing across his face. "I'm sorry you guys didn't deserve to have all that thrown at you. It never crossed my mind that you might not have known, if it had I might not have gotten quite as pissed, but seriously how could you have not known what Elizabeth was doing?" John didn't wait for an answer before stalking out of the office and the infirmary headed back to Elizabeth's room.
A/N: Alright I'm thinking one more chapter and this story will be done. Let me know what you think of this story so far.