Chapter 85:
Doug rolled his eyes. "Yeah id like to see how no one will notice me... i don't feel that bad. It's just my back is all."
She smiled as they headed towards the entrance. "Don't worry." Everyone scattered when they saw Kerry come in, she turned to Doug, "that's how no one will know you were here." She took him down to the hall to an empty exam room. "I'll get x-ray in here to do a quick film." Kerry pulled the door closed behind her and called the techs from the hallway before she headed down to the drug lock up to grab him something for the pain. She returned, "Here I got you a couple of percocets for the pain." She said handing them to him. "I'll be back when they have your films ready."
Doug downed his meds and lay down on the table so they could take some x-rays. After the techs left Doug unbuttoned his shirt and set an ice pack on his back. The room was dark and quiet. God how he was glad it wasn't busy tonight. He closed his eyes and thought the situation over with an open mind. He had to go and talk to Anna...even if she never wanted to see him again, he had to apologize.
Kerry sat down at admit waiting for the films to come back. Finally they did. She was going to have to take it up with radiology tomorrow about how slow they could be. She threw them up on a board and looked at them. She knocked on the door and walked in, "well I've got good news, and you didn't break anything. But looks like you just have a concussion and a couple of black eyes. Go home take it easy for a little bit, get some sleep. Do you want me to give you a lift home?"
Anna couldn't sleep she was too wound up now. She went into the bedroom and slipped into her pajamas and sat down as she flipped the light on by her desk. She put on her reading glasses and turned the stereo on low. What was this, one minute she was drop dead tired and the next wide awake. She picked up a book and started in on her presentation.
Doug looked up. He was glad there was nothing wrong...but never thought there was. "No i can get home...but thanks Kerry. I really appreciate everything." he said standing up with a grimace. He threw on his jacket and went to leave. He needed to get out of the hospital. Doug jumped onto the el and made his way to his house. It had started to lightly rain as he walked from the station to the front door. Doug grabbed some ice and slammed it on his face. 'Boy i bet i look sorry' he thought. He lay down on his couch but his mind was racing...he would never get to sleep unless he talked to Anna. After quickly changing his shirt Doug left his house and caught the el again to Anna's apartment building. It was raining harder now as Doug waited outside for someone to let him in. he was afraid if he buzzed up to her room Anna wouldn't talk to him. After giving some line to an old lady about losing his key Doug got in...Wet and cold. He went painfully slow up to her room. Once he stood outside her door he debated whether or not he should turn and leave right now. 'No i need to do this' he told himself. After taking a deep breath and running his hands through his wet hair Doug knocked twice on her door.
Anna heard a knock and put her glasses and book down before she made her way over to the door. Who would be out there this time of night? She opened the door, "Doug." She said surprised to see him standing there. Her heart started to pound inside her chest. He looked awful; it was obvious that they continued to fight after she left, "uh come in." She said stepping away from the door. Was here there to yell at her some more? Did he not say enough to her earlier that was hurtful? She noticed that he was wet so she reached into her bathroom tossing him a towel to at least dry off his head. Anna knew she needed to stay calm and level headed. She tried to keep her distance from him. Not that she was scared of him hurting her, but it was easier than being close to him. Her hormones had already gotten her into enough trouble the last couple of days. She knew that this wasn't going to go well, especially if he was still mad at her, which he had every right to be. Her best friend had kicked his butt. She sighed, "What do you want? I don't want to fight with you anymore tonight please." The tone in her voice was colder than she wanted it to be, but they had just had a huge argument and she didn't want to get into another one here.
Doug stepped in and closed the door. He took the towel and held it in his hands. He heard the tone in her voice...he had to force himself to stay. Doug stared at his hands. "Thanks for the towel." he said softly, calmly. He just stood by the door, unsure if she wanted him to sit or not. "No i don't want to fight either. I just umm...I'm sorry for handling things the way I did. I was angry and hurt...but I didn't have any right to yell at you like that. I just thought that maybe if...maybe things would be easier if we talked a little tonight. That's why I came, just to talk...and to say I was sorry." Doug spoke soft and low only looking up at her for small periods of time. He almost felt like he was rambling speaking so quickly but he couldn't help it. That's how he talked when he was nervous. He wanted to keep his voice soft to make sure she knew he wasn't going to yell or scream. He just wanted to explain.
"We can talk." Anna said, 'I don't know how much more we have to say to each other,' she said to herself, "Come sit over here and warm up. You look like your freezing." She said as she sat down on one end of the couch. She pulled the blanket around her shoulders and pulled her legs up under her.
Doug looked down at his wet clothes and kind of smiled. He sighed and walked over to sit next to her. He closed his eyes as he sat down, now feeling the pain again in his back and chest. After a minute or so he started to talk. He tilted his head so he could see her out of the corner of his eye, but didn't have to look at her. "So umm...what do you want to do...I mean" Doug shook his head, that's not what he meant to say. "I mean, how do you feel about having a baby...or not. We never really talked about it. I know now isn't exactly the ideal time to have these sort of conversations but I'm interested in how you feel. I'd really like to know if you want to share it with me." Doug spoke almost in a whisper, trying to be very polite. He really did care and want to know. After all, he did care for her...he was just too proud to say it.
Anna got up off the couch and walked down to her bedroom, "I don't know." She said as she dug thru a box, "I'm adjusting to it." She walked out back to the living room tossing a pair of sweats and shirt onto his lap. "If we are going to talk about this, I am not going to have you getting sick cause you are soaking wet. It threw me for a loop at first but there's not much I can do about it now. I can't say that I am ready, cause I've never done this before, but I shrugged off my responsibility once and don't want to do that again."
Doug looked at the sweats and smiled. "You just don't want your couch wet huh?" he said with a grin trying to lighten the mood. "Be right back" he said as he walked into her bathroom to change. He took off his shirt and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He hated what he saw. He wasn't going to end up like the man his mother saw when she looked at him. He wasn't going to leave Anna with some baby; he would make it right if it killed him.
She curled back up in her spot on the couch. "Yeah no getting my furniture wet." She said as she watched the flames dancing in the fireplace.