Disclaimer: see chapter one
A/N: And yes, I totally ripped off one of the lines from yesterday for this story!
Kendall broke into a run, needing to get away from… those people. She found an empty room and collapsed in the visitor's chair, tears streaming down her face. She looked up when the darkness of the room was broken by the light coming in from the open door.
"Go away" she barked, turning her attention to the window.
Babe took a deep breath and walked across the room, squatting in front of Kendall. "Oh, Kendall, I…"
"I DON'T NEED YOUR PITY" she screamed at Babe, shooting out of the chair. She made her way over to the empty bed and sat down on it. Babe stared at her unwilling partner for a moment before taking another cleansing breath and walking over to Kendall, who currently had her head buried in her hands. Babe pulled another tissue out of her purse and placed it on Kendall's lap. She sat next to Kendall silently as she sobbed. Finally, Kendall's cries started to subside. Kendall wiped her face and glared over at Babe, ready to spew hateful things at when Babe held her hand up.
"Look, Kendall, I know… I know what you think of me and it's more than deserved. I know that. I'm not expecting anything else from you. But I just wanted to let you know that… well, I think Zach is a good man and you seem so happy with him and… well, I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry and that…"
"I can't do this with you Babe" Kendall whispered.
"I understand" Babe said, turning on the bed to look at Kendall. "I don't expect to be your new Greenlee. I would never expect that… but, you don't need to go through this by yourself, you don't need to be alone, not for the next few hours at least. Let me help you right now, for tonight, and you can go back to hating me in the morning once Zach's awake, alright?"
Kendall narrowed her eyes at the blonde sitting next to her, realizing she was right. "You know… and I will deny saying this if you repeat it to anyone else, but you're right. I'm not good at being alone anymore and my family…" Just thinking about it made the tears reappear on her face.
Babe started to rub Kendall's back. "You need to calm down, Kendall. You want to go see if Joe will let you see Zach now?" Kendall just nodded.
They walked down the hall in silence. Babe looked back at Kendall once more before pushing open the doors to the emergency waiting room. Anita Santos immediately ran up to them.
"There you are. We've been looking for you everywhere. Zach's been moved to a recovery room, so you can see him now if you want" Anita said, leading her down another hallway.
"How is he?"
"He's asleep right now, more from the pain meds than anything else. He took a nice deep cut, but it didn't seem to hit anything. It was more blood loss than anything, but we got him a transfusion, so he should be alright. We'll do a couple more tests in the morning and go from there."
Anita stopped and pushed open the door. Kendall gasped – Zach was such a vibrant, exciting man that it was almost shocking to see him lying in this hospital bed with machines beeping around him. Kendall was frozen to her spot, not really knowing what to do.
Babe saw the fear in her eyes. "Kendall, I know it looks bad now, but I'm sure things will be better in the morning. Go sit with him, talk to him, hold his hand." Kendall looked over at her and nodded.
"Is there anything you need me to do, anyone you want me to…"
"Bianca" she whispered, suddenly remembering her sister. "Bianca should know that… oh hell, I don't even know. Jackson may have already called her, but if you could…."
"I'll take care of it" Babe said, pulling her phone out of her purse. "What do you want me to tell her?"
"Tell her… tell her… God, I don't know. Just ask her what she wants to know and tell her that." Kendall didn't wait for Babe's reaction before walking into Zach's room, pulling the door shut behind her.
All she could do was stare. Zach rarely slept, so to see him like this was difficult. She dropped her purse on the table next to his bed and perched on the side. She ran her fingers over his forehead and leaned in, kissing him gently on the lips. She pulled back as her tears fell on his face. "Oh Zach…" she whispered.
"… and then she screamed at Erica and took off. I found her in an empty room. Bianca, I'm worried about her. She seems so alone and… no, putting her in Erica's general vicinity would end in an explosion right now, I promise you that… I don't see how it could hurt, but… Bianca, I don't know if she would want me to… I know… Bianca, I know… it's just that I'm not exactly her favorite… Ok, I give. I owe you that much at least. Just call me when you know your flight info and I'll keep my eye on Kendall. Yeah, alright, I'll talk to you later."
Babe snapped her phone shut and dropped into one of the waiting room chairs. Retelling the story to Bianca had been draining. Bianca hadn't heard word one about this yet. Babe ran her hand through her hair. She leaned back and closed her eyes, hoping to gain a few moments of peace before going back to Zach's room.
He watched her from across the waiting room, waiting for his moment. This had played out perfectly and, for once, he had nothing to do with it. He smiled to himself before wiping the smirk off his face and walking over to Babe.
"Hey Babe" he said, plopping down next to her.
Babe cracked open her eye to see Josh sitting next to her. "Hi Josh."
He looked nervous – she caught that immediately. "What's going on, Josh?"
"It's just… I really shouldn't say anything but… well, I thought I saw you with Kendall earlier and…"
"Yeah, she's in with Zach. I'm assuming you heard?"
"You could say that. Look, I kind of need to talk to her."
"About what?" Babe asked, looking at him skeptically. Josh took a deep breath before launching into his story. As he wove his tale, Babe's eyes got larger and larger.
"… and I thought she should know."
Babe shot out of her chair. "Absolutely. I'll go get Kendall. Meet us in the sun room in 5."
Babe pushed open the door slowly and peeked in. Kendall was sitting on the edge of Zach's bed, just staring at him.
"Kendall" she said from the doorway. Kendall turned and looked at her. Babe waved her to come out of the room. Kendall sighed and kissed Zach on the head before heading out of the room.
"What?" she demanded as the door shut, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Kendall, Josh Madden is here. He told me… well, he needs to tell you something and you really need to hear it. He's down in the sun room."
"Babe, I really don't want to leave…"
"Kendall, please. It won't take long and you really, really, really need to hear what he's got to say."
Kendall looked back at the door and sighed. "Fine, but the two of you have 10 minutes."
Josh stood up as the two women entered the now deserted sun room. Kendall glared at him as she took a seat across from him. Babe leaned back against the wall and motioned for Josh to sit back down.
"Babe said you've got something to tell me."
This was Josh's first real face to face encounter with Kendall, but he knew she was a spitfire, much like her mother. "Look, Kendall, I'm not trying to upset you anymore or anything, but I just thought that…"
"Out with it Josh. I need to get back to Zach."
"Right. Ok. So, I was with your mother at the casino today, working on the show. We were talking about the next interview when she saw Zach walk past. I swear, Kendall, it was like something inside her snapped. She told me she would be right back and took off. I followed her, trying to figure out what was wrong. By the time I caught up with them, she had him cornered. The knife was already in her hand and he was back up against the wall. I could tell he was trying to calm her down, but she was… well, it seemed she was a little crazy in that moment. Zach made a move to get the knife from her, but she lunged and… Kendall, I ran in there immediately. Zach was lying on the floor and Erica was just staring at him, like she was in shock or something. I pulled my cell phone out and called 911. She tried to stop me, but…"
Kendall's face was like stone. Babe could feel the anger and hate radiating off of her from across the room. "She tried to stop you?" Kendall spit out, doing her best to take in everything Josh was telling her.
"Well, not like threatening me or anything. She asked me what in the world I thought I was doing and I said trying to save Zach's life and…"
Kendall held up her hand. "Stop. I don't need to hear anymore." Kendall pushed herself out of the chair and made a beeline for the emergency room. Josh looked over at Babe, who shrugged. They immediately followed.
By the time they caught up to Kendall, she had cornered Derek Frye.
"Kendall, Jackson said that it was a pure accident. Joe Martin said Zach was going to be fine, so…"
Kendall whirled around and glared at Josh. She pointed at him. "Derek, I've got an eyewitness who will beg to differ." She motioned for Josh to come over. "Tell Derek what you just told me."
Josh looked at Kendall. "Kendall, are you sure that you want me to…"
"DO IT!" she yelled at him. Josh launched into his story again while Derek took notes. "That's all?" he asked when Josh finished the story.
"Yeah, that's all."
"I want Erica Kane arrested for the attempted murder of Zach Slater, Derek, and I want it done now." Kendall didn't even wait for Derek's response. She whirled around on her heel and headed back to Zach's room.
Kendall wasn't around to see Derek arrest Erica, but Babe and Josh were. Erica and Jackson appeared not long after Kendall had headed back to Zach's room. Erica was speechless when Derek started to read her her rights. Jackson tried to explain to Derek what a mistake he was making, but Derek merely told him that they had an eyewitness that tells a different story. Derek took Erica away in handcuffs as Babe called Bianca again to let her know what had just happened and as Josh just smiled at the way this had suddenly worked out.
While her mother was being arrested, Kendall had gone back to Zach's room. She took off her coat and pulled a chair up next to his bed. She sat down in the chair and grabbed his hand, wrapping both of her hands around his. She placed a light kiss on the top of his hand and laid her head down on the bed, willing him with all her might and energy to make a speedy recovery.
TBC….