Chapter 100:

Doug about died when he heard her say that. Even if she meant it as a friend he didn't care. Hearing that had made his day then and there. He just smiled and stuck his hand up to wave at her. "You're something special Anna..." he let out a deep sigh as he got into his car."I just wish you were mine." he said as he started his car and made his way home. Once he got there he found a message on his machine from Lynn asking him if they could go to a bar for some dancing and darts. It sounded good to him. He was supposed to pick her up in about an hour so that gave him enough time to get dressed. He smiled again as he set his lab coat on his couch. Every time he saw that he would think of her. Doug went through his new clothes and pulled out a new pair of jeans, and white undershirt and his new green button up Anna had picked out for him. He left his shirt undocked and the buttons down enough that a little of his chest was visible. After rolling up the sleeves to his elbows, fixing his hair, and putting on some cologne Doug slipped on his shoes and grabbed his car keys. He still had 30 minutes to kill before he had to pick up Lynn and wanted to spend some time down by the lake. He drove down and, after parking, found a good bench right on the edge. The sun was setting and it looked beautiful. 'If everyday was like this' he thought to himself 'my life would be perfect'

Anna pulled into her apartment parking lot and bounded up the stairs with her new found treasures. She closed the door as she headed to the bedroom. She pulled out the jean skirt, tank top, and shirt and put them on. She threw on her nylons and put on her boots. She was smiling when she looked in the mirror putting the cowboy hat on her head. She almost laughed she looked so good. She walked into the bathroom and fixed her make up. She fixed her hair so that most of it was up under the hat with little wisps down around her ears. She had just finished getting ready when there was a knock at the door. She bounced out to open it. Jack looked pleasantly surprised. "Wow Anna you are something else." He said holding out her arm for her to take. "I must be graced to have an angel like you on my arm." Anna blushed hearing that. She followed him down to his car. It was a really nice Lexus. He opened the door, "let's go paint the town red my little cowgirl." She slid in as they drove down to a bar. She climbed out when he parked the car and took his arm once more as he led her inside. She felt like she was on top of the world right now.

Doug looked at his watch and saw it was time to go and pick up his date. It didn't take him anytime at all to drive to her house. She was waiting outside for him since the weather was so nice. He smiled at her as he pulled up. "Waiting long?" he asked as she opened the door. "Nah just seems like forever waiting for you." he said as she slid in. "you look nice tonight." he said placing a kiss on his cheek. "Thanks. Anna and I went shopping. You look nice too." he said pulling away. "So where are we going?" she directed him to a small bar a few minutes away. "Buzzy's huh?" Doug said parking the car and opening the door for her. He held her hand as they walked in. Doug looked around; the place seemed nice enough, not too loud. He walked over with Lynn and set her stuff down by a table. He had to look twice at a man standing at the bar. "Hey Lynn come here. I want you to meet my friend." he stood standing up. "Jack Brandon!" Doug yelled throwing up his hand. "How the hell are you?"

"Hey there." Jack said patting Doug's back. "I'm doing well. Just out for a night on the town." Jack leaned back patting Anna's arm, she thought she heard Doug's voice, "Sweetheart, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine Doug Ross."

Anna about fell over when she turned around. To see him standing there all dressed up, with another woman. "Jack darling." Anna said, "Doug and I have already met, we work together at county."

Doug's heart almost stopped when he saw Anna standing there. "This is kind of funny..." he said looking down at his shoes. He quickly looked over at Lynn. "Lynn this is my good friend Jack. We've known each other for...almost ever huh?" he said as he patted jacks arm. "And Anna Del Amico. She's the other peds doc at county. Guys this is my...girlfriend Lynn" he had to almost choke out the word. Lynn stuck her hand out to shake jacks hand and then waited for Anna to do the same. "Nice to meet you both" she said with a smile

Anna smiled her best smile to let him know that she was happy for him even though she had green jealous monsters dancing in her blue eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you Lynn." Anna said turning her attention back to Jack quickly so that her heart wouldn't break any further. As the band started to play, "Honey you promised me a dance. I like this song, why don't we join Doug and Lynn after the song." She said pulling him towards the dance floor.

Jack looked at Doug, "hey we'll be right back and then you and I can catch up Doug." He said. As he took Anna out on the dance floor. It was Lee Ann Womack's I'll think of a reason later...Anna could think of a million reasons to hate Lynn, but she just let Jack swing her around the dance floor.

Doug just rolled his eyes as the two of them danced.

"So that's her huh?" Lynn asked him

"What?" he said standing up?

"Anna...the one you always talk about. She's cute."

Doug got up and stood behind Lynn, resting his arms around her shoulders as they watched the band. "She's just my friend. One of the only ones I have in Chicago." he said giving her a kiss on her neck. "Except for you of course."

Lynn just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. So how do you know jack?"

Doug sighed as he thought back. "He was my room mate in college. He didn't go to med school though, he was in business. I think he's some big CEO now. I have talked to him since I left for Seattle."

Lynn nodded and wrapped Doug's arms around her tighter. "Well they can both sure dance."

Doug did his best to pretend like he didn't notice Anna having a good time. "Ill take you on the floor in a second. Just let jack and me talk for a second when they get back." Doug hoped Anna and jack were just friends. Jack had been a womanizer in the past but his wife had never found out. He didn't want Anna to be hurt, not again so soon.

Anna laughed as Jack spun her around the floor. He was a good dancer. She held her close to him as they went around his hands firmly on her waist now. She wanted to ask him how he knew Doug, but she'd ask later right now, being there was hard enough on her. As the song came to an end Jack lifted her up off the floor before giving her a kiss, and carried her over to the table where he sat her down on a chair and sat next to her. Anna just shook her head and smiled. As much as she didn't want it to it felt awkward to be sitting there with someone other than Doug. But Doug and Lynn did seem happy to be in each other's company. That was what was most important. She needed to pull herself together.

Anna stood up out of the chair, "excuse me gentleman, but I will be right back." She cringed when she heard Jack, "hurry back love. I wanna dance with you some more." She headed off to the ladies room. She stood stopped in front of the mirror to fix her make up. She wished that she had told Jack that they could sit with Doug and Lynn; it was going to be a long night now. 'Just relax Anna and enjoy you're evening with Jack... you're with Jack not Doug.' She said to herself.

Anna smiled when Lynn said that. "Oh I'm sure he talks about other stuff too." She was trying her hard to be serious now. "He seems really happy with you. I'm glad that he found someone so nice."

Jack looked at Doug, "The kids are fine, they are up at Amy's mother house, Amy had a business meeting in New York she left this morning." He smiled, "Anna's really something special isn't she. If things keep going as good as they have been I might just be getting some more action you know what I mean buddy."

Lynn smiled as she fixed her hair. "Ohm I try to be nice. actually when I met him...I beat him in basketball so I don't know how nice that was." she said with a laugh." no he...really talks about you a lot. You guys must be really close. Sometimes I wish I was his best friend instead of his girlfriend." she said with a smile. Doug hadn't told her Anna and him and dated but she had a pretty good idea that they had some special kind of relationship. "But your jack out there looks nice."

Doug tried hard to keep the smile on his face, as pissed as he was. It seemed like his friend hadn't changed. "Yeah I know...so how'd you meet Anna. I mean you two seem pretty serious. is there a problem with Amy?" he wanted to get the whole story before he said anything to Anna, not letting jack know that he thought there was something wrong with what he was doing.

"He's a good guy. You know, I'm happy for him having you, I know he doesn't have many other friends in Chicago, that's probably the only reason that he talks about me so much." Anna said as she adjusted her hat, "he's been a really good friend thru everything." She wasn't going to get into her past with Doug's girlfriend. "Doug is really giving with his time. I'm still getting to know Jack. New relationship takes time to settle into."

"I got off early and went by the river. She was sitting on a bench there looking really sad, so I made my move. Sad chicks always make the best targets. She seemed happy that I took an interest in her. I sat there and listened to her talk and did my best to make small talk with her, especially after she said that she was some kind of doctor. Intellectual chicks appreciate a guy who can small talk them. A little bit of sweetness went a long way with her, a really long way. Amy and I are fine, there's nothing wrong with having a wife at home, but a little extra icing on the cake never hurt. Anna is a very beautiful woman, fun to spend time with, a nice piece of a on the side never hurt. You were just smart enough never to saddle yourself to one woman. I envy you there buddy. But man tonight is going to be sweet. Why do you have this interest in how I met her, you've got a woman and she just works with you." Jack said to him, "I'm just using her for a little while. You know me; I like my women but don't tend to stay with any one to long. I can trust you not to tell Amy about this?"

Lynn looked at Anna's hat. "I really like that. You have nice style. Come on...we can't leave those boys alone for too long. God knows what they'll do." he said walking out of the bathroom and back over to the table.

Doug did his best to bite his tongue. This wasn't his place to break up another relationship. He didn't want Anna to think that he was jealous and trying to ruin her night. "No I won't talk to Amy." he said flatly taking a drink of his beer. "It's just...Anna's my friend so..." he cut off his sentence as he saw Anna and Lynn come back. He knew he had to tell her. "You know what, never mind jack." he screwed on a fake smile. "Hello ladies."

Anna smiled as she sat back down next to Jack, and nodded at Doug. She felt Jack take her hand under the table. She was having a nice time with a seemingly nice guy. He was treating her really well. The only person who had ever treated her any better was sitting across the table with another woman right now. "Did you two have a nice chat while we were gone?" It was going to be a nice night after all. "Honey could you get me another beer please. And then we can dance some more." She smiled as he nodded and left the table.

Doug felt like he was going to be sick. Anna didn't need this crap and he needed to tell her, he just didn't know how. He rubbed his face and held his head in his hands staring at the peanuts on the table. He didn't even respond when Lynn sat down next to him. 'God how life was unfair for her.' was all he could think.

There was silence at the table. Conversation, they needed conversation and fast. Anna looked over at the two of them, "so Doug, Lynn tells me she beat you at basketball." She laughed, "You are going to have to find some new sports there buddy." She tried to keep it casual like she was talking to her best friend.

Doug barely looked up at her. "Yeah I know right." he said flatly. "I was hurt that day though." he gave a small smile Lynn's way. He could see jack coming back and let out a sigh. 'Should I tell her now or later? God I don't want him to sleep with her again.' he couldn't get the thought out of his head. He knew he must look like something was wrong so he sat up straight as jack came back and tried to smile.

"Thanks baby." She said as he sat the beer down in front of her. She took a drink from the bottle smiling, happy as she could be on cloud 9 right now. "I think I'm ready if you wanna dance again." She wasn't sure what was wrong with Doug. She could usually read him so well, but the look that was on his face had her confused.

Doug heard a slow song come on and jumped up. The band started to play 'I'll Be' and he about lost it. "Actually Anna, could I dance with you for this song?" he knew he probably didn't make a whole lot of sense but he didn't care. "You don't mind dancing with jack for one song do you Lynn?" she looked up at him with a confused look. "Oh uhm no it's fine...if it's fine with you." she said to jack. "Good" Doug said awkwardly. He grabbed Anna's hand and pulled her up. He couldn't stand the thought of jack touching her again. 'Maybe I can find a way to tell her while the songs playing' he thought. 'I have to do it now' he pulled her to the dance floor and kept one eye on jack while he put his hands on Anna's back. This was going to be hard.

Anna was really confused now. But she started to dance with Doug. She smiled her best smile, as they danced, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you I was seeing someone."

Doug let out a sigh as he started to dance with her. "No don't...worry about it." he went over the words in his head almost fifty times. It still sounded bad to him. Just thinking about how upset she was bound to get made tears come up in his eyes. He sighed again as he pulled away from Anna a little. "Do you really like him Anna?" he finally asked after much silence.

"He hasn't given me a reason not to. He's treated me like a queen; he's been nothing but a real gentleman." She said softly, "I mean," She sighed it wasn't coming out right, "you know I just want to find someone who treats me as good as you did. And well so far he has."

Ohh hearing that hurt. Doug squinted and looked at her again. He knew the pain he was feeling was showing up on his face. "Anna...I've known jack for a long time, and it looks like he hasn't changed much." he whispered to her. God. He couldn't believe he had to be the one to do this. He took a deep breath and decided just to say it. "Anna he's married." he said in a whisper again. "I was the best man at his wedding nine years ago...he's just using you and I don't want to see that happen...please believe me. I wouldn't hurt you like that if it wasn't true."

Anna bit her lip as she let her words sink in; they hit her like a ton of bricks. "I see." She said softly it hurt a lot more than she thought it would. How could he do that to her. "I believe you I do." She tried her best to fight back the tears but it hurt knowing that she had been used and used hard. "Thank you for telling me." She was going to do some serious ass kicking as her hurt shifted from pain to anger. Softly she added to him, "Don't let go of me until the end of the song." She glared over at Jack with pure hatred in her eyes.

Doug felt awful for ruining her night. He decided it was best not to say anything else. He just pulled her a little closer while the song came to an end.