Title: Crossroads
Suddenly, Greenlee finds herself locked in an embrace and being kissed by a man whom she had no desire to kiss. He had been gone for months and she thought he was dead. And now here he was, kissing her. The past year came rushing back to her all at once and she felt like she wanted to throw up.
Day in and day out she had to struggle with the fact that her husband was dead and she was a widow for the second time. She had to come to terms with the idea that Ryan was dead. It took her months to say goodbye to Ryan, the way she should have when the search and rescue workers could not locate him. She was finally able to lie to rest his memory when Kendall had lost all four embryos. Kendall was willing to try again with three more embryos. When the six weeks was up they went to see Dr. Madden to start another cycle of progesterone; he gave them the news that Kendall was already four weeks pregnant.
It was a day of acceptance for Greenlee. She never gave herself time to heal, and had decided to put off finding a surrogate for her baby so that she could finally grieve the loss of her husband.
And now here she was with him. She had come home and he was there, like Zach had been all those months ago, sitting in her condo, drinking Courvoisier. Like Zach wasn't welcome them, Ryan was not welcome now. And she stood there, staring at him, in shock. A whirl of emotions gripped her at once. She was terribly happy, happy that she wasn't a widow again after all. She was happy that he was there, alive and well. She was angry. She was mad as hell. She wanted him to be dead right now. How dare he? How DARE he fake his death and then so casually show up in her home, expecting a warm and gracious welcome? How dare he stand up, and smile at her, no worse for wear, and calling her darling. How dare he state that he is back, and is ready to be a family with her and their child? How dare he touch her and pull her close to him, to kiss her mouth. His breath smelling like the cognac in the glass he held. As his tongue invaded her mouth she tasted the caramel and chocolate flavored liquor.
How dare he?
Greenlee struggled away from his kiss and out of the embrace. She made a fist and swung at his face with all the strength that she could gather, landing it on his jaw, with a quick snap of something in her wrist.
"Get the hell out of here!" is all she could say when she could find her voice. He tried explaining himself, but she did not want to hear it. "Get out now!" She screamed again, her voice full of tears, but not because of him, but because her wrist was broken. He tried again to reason with her, and to take the time to explain himself. Greenlee marched to the bedroom and yanked back her bedspread and pillows revealing a gun that David had given her when someone had started breaking into the apartments in her building.
With her good hand, Greenlee grabbed the gun and stomped out into the living room, where Ryan was still there. Calmly this time, she repeated her previous statement. He looked at her as if she had grown a second head. He tried to tell her she didn't really want to shoot him. He couldn't get out fast enough after Greenlee pulled the trigger and fired a round just missing his head. "You wanted to be dead? I'll show you dead," Greenlee said through clenched teeth and fired a second shot. It landed in the door while Ryan desperately ran from the apartment.
Greenlee let her arm down, placing the gun on the coffee table. She thought of all the nights she cried herself to sleep because of that man. She thought of all the mornings she awoke to find that she was only dreaming of making love to her husband. She thought of the baby that she lost and the four that Kendall lost.
She picked up her keys and headed for the door. Her whole arm was screaming; just an extension of how her heart felt. She closed the door locked it. She takes the elevator upstairs and knocks on a door. A moment later she was greeted by Reggie. He gasped at the mean looking black and blue color her hand, wrist and arm were turning. "I think it's broken," she said tearfully. Without a word, Reggie grabbed his car keys and took his sister to the hospital.