A/N – Here's chapter eight! Go me...It's short, but…you forgive me, right?

Enjoy and leave me feedback, please.

---

Chapter Eight – Is it over?

---

Tom sighed and glanced down the hallway, then up at the nurses' station. Standing, he walked over to the nurse who had spoken to him earlier. "Hi, excuse me. Can you tell me where to find the bathroom?"

She looked up at him, that sad look still in her eyes. "Right down that hallway, young man. Third door on the left." He nodded his appreciation and strolled away, a plan hatching itself in his head. Glancing over his shoulder, he slipped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Tom sighed. All he wanted to do was see Jude and make sure she was okay. Now, he had lowered himself to hiding in bathrooms and sneaking in to see her. He cracked the door open a little and peeked out. The entire hallway was clear and the only thing he could hear was the steady, rhythmic beeping of all the monitors.

Raising a silent prayer to someone up above, he slinked into the hallway and moved stealthily along the wall. His eyes darted from glass window to glass window until they froze on the last one on the right.

Mere feet away, Jude's pale body was resting on the stiff hospital bed, barely even recognizable. Her face was littered with scratches and bruises and her arms and legs were the same. A gauze bandage was wrapped around her head and an IV was strapped to each of her arms. Monitors and machines were sticking out of her everywhere, each of them a reminder that yes, she was still alive, but for how long?

Tom watched her chest rise and fall in time with the beeping green line and his heart sank. He reached up and rested a hand on the glass separating the two of them. It broke his heart to see her like this and to know that it was his fault.

"Right this way, Miss Harrison," the elderly nurse's soft voice startled him and he panicked. Glancing around, he crept into Jude's room, making a beeline for the closet across the room. Closing the door quietly, he held his breath and hoped to God that the nurse had no reason to go in here.

"Oh, Jude…" Sadie's voice drifted over to him and he heard her soft sobbing.

"It'll be okay, Sade," he heard Kwest reassure her.

"I'll be back later to check on her. Please, don't stay too long. She's not quite strong enough for too much," the nurse reminded them. Tom waited a little while before opening the door slowly. Kwest was holding Sadie's shaking body on the other side of Jude's bed. The nurse was nowhere to be found. He let out the breath he had been holding in.

Kwest's eyes darted over to him and he gasped. Sadie followed his gaze and choked back a scream. "Tommy, what are you doing here?" she scolded in a hushed whisper.

"Same as you. I needed to see for myself if Jude was okay."

"Why are you hiding in the closet, man?" Kwest asked, still holding on to Sadie.

Tom edged out of the closet, a sheepish look on his face. "The nurse said Jude couldn't have any visitors. But I needed to see her."

Kwest set Sadie down in the chair and walked over to where Tom was standing. "Why is she here?" he asked, making sure Sadie couldn't hear him.

Tom ran his hands through his hair. "I told her that I was staying here with Portia and Brigitte. She didn't take it very well." Kwest threw a look over his shoulder at Jude's still body.

"You could say that." He gave Tom a stern look. "You're staying here? Even after all of this?"

He looked his best friend in the eye. "Kwest, man. You remember my father. I have to prove I'm a better dad than he was."

"That's not what being a parent is about, Tom. If you think that, you're clueless and you'll be an even worse father than yours. Because at least he knew enough to stay away." Sadie coughed nervously.

"Is there a problem?"

Kwest turned back to her and smiled warmly. "No. Tom was just leaving." The older man started to protest but Kwest silenced him with a look. "Go home. Back to your family. Let us take care of ours," he growled, voice low.

Before Tom could respond, Kwest moved back over to Sadie's side, wrapping an arm around her. He whispered something in her ear and she smiled at him gratefully. Tom sighed, admitting defeat.

"I love you, Jude," he whispered to her pale body before walking out the door.

---

A/N – Woohoo! Another chapter! Chapter Nine is in the works…Here's your spoilers…

"He's staying here? But what about Jude?"

"Mommy, is Daddy mad at me?"

Does it really matter? Does any of it really matter? "Not without Jude," he muttered, picking up his glass and downing all the contents.

CHAPTER NINE IS CALLED "Can't See Past You and Me"