Chapter 5

Joe's POV

It has been two weeks since Stephanie's accident, and I have never felt worse. It has been the longest and darkest time in my life. I lost my girlfriend and my baby in one night.

My girlfriend… I know that I will never be able to call her that again… hell I didn't deserve to call her that again. I betrayed her love; I made a fool of her… and all for meaningless sex. What am I going to do? I need to see her. I hope she's going to be ok. She'll never forgive me, I don't expect her to… she'll probably hate me.

Just then there was a knock on the motel room door where he had been staying for the last week or so. He had checked in and only gone out to buy beer and on occasion food. No one knew he was there… it must be housekeeping.

"Yeah, hold on" he struggled not to stumble. Four days of heavy drinking do horrible things to your balance. He opened the door and saw the last person he needed to see. Terry Gilman stood there wearing a business suit and fancy shoes and a leather purse.

"How's it going stud?" she purred. "It took me a while to find you, but here I am. You miss me?"

"I don't want to see you or anyone at the moment, so you can just leave the same way you came" He barked at her.

"Woooo look who's in a bad mood" She said as she pushed herself into the room. "I bet I can make you feel better."

"Listen Terri I really am not in the mood to play games or have sex right now…. You know what? I don't want to see you ever again."

"OOhhhh you don't mean that, you always say things like that but then you always came back to me." She cooed.

"Not this time Terri, this has gone far enough!" He yelled.

"Are you still upset about Stephanie?" She asked with disgust.

"Upset? What the fuck do you think? I screwed up royally!"

"Listen if you really want her I'm sure she'll take you back, she always does."

"Listen, I don't know why I'm even talking to you about this, but yes I want her back, even though I'm sure she won't want to ever look at me again… and to be honest I know I deserve that." He sighed.

"She'll get over it… it was hardly that much of a big deal."

Joe shot towards her and closed the gap between them, towering over her, he grabbed her by her arms and started to nudge her towards the door.

"You listen to me and listen well. You'll never be half the woman Steph is, and that's all I'm going to say about that. And regarding her pregnancy or the baby… If I hear you even utter a syllable about them, I'll make sure your family knows about a few of your dark little secrets… understand?"

"You have the nerve…." She was interrupted by the door slamming in front of her. She practically ran to her car and peeled out to the parking lot.

Crap. That bitch! I need another beer. He went to the small fridge, grabbed another beer and went to the phone.

"Carl?" he asked in a panic tone.

"Yeah… Who's this?" Costanza was puzzled; he recognized the voice but was stunned by it. No one had heard from Joe in about a week. And even before he disappeared, he just sat in a corner of the waiting room all by himself and never spoke to anyone.

"Its Morelli, how's it going?"

"Fine, what can I do for ya?" He tried to be cordial but cold at the same time. It was Morelli's fault that Steph was laying in that hospital bed.

"Listen, I really need to know how Step is doing. Has she woken up yet?"

"As far as I know she woke up for a bit yesterday afternoon, but she passed out again and hasn't woken up since." His tone was crude.

"Does she know?" he whispered.

"Yeah, Ranger told her. He was the only one in the room when she woke up?"

"Ranger? When did he get here?"

"About a day after you stopped going to the hospital, hasn't left her side." He barked. Joe could feel the anger in Carl's voice.

"Ok. Well thanks for the info, man. Later" and he disconnected.

Ranger is there and I am not. Well at least I know she's surrounded by all those she loves. Except me. I love her, but I cannot bear to be near her right now… I hate seeing her in that bed all bruised up and unconscious, all because of me.

What have I done? My baby… Oh God. I've wanted to have a baby with her for the longest time, and now that we had a chance… he's gone. He sunk in the arm chair that faced the rest of the room and took another long sip of his beer.