They were standing in a place they'd never thought they'd have to stand in again… a hospital. The only difference was, the person in the bed wasn't dying from AIDS.

There had been a wreck. An 18-wheeler overturning on the corner of 6th and 25th happened to land on Joanne's car.

Maureen had left her angrily that morning, stomping off and screaming about Joanne spending too much time with her work and completely neglecting her. Joanne went to work, but when she came home Maureen wasn't there. She knew where to find Maureen when she was upset. Of course, the local sports bar.

She sat parked in the car for over an hour watching Maureen through the window, debating whether or not to go in.

In the blink of an eye, a truck too big to fit in the city attempted to make the tight right turn onto 25th street failing miserably. Joanne's car was crushed, along with Joanne.

The doctors say she broke both her legs and her right arm. She had a collapsed lung and four of her ribs were broken. It is certain that she will be paralyzed for the rest of her life… if there is a rest of her life.

The entire sports bar filed out onto the street after the truck tipped. Maureen felt the blood rush out of her legs as she recognized Joanne's pancaked car underneath the truck. She dropped to her knees screaming, crying, apologizing, and now she found herself back in a hospital, this time, she was the one losing a loved one.

Maureen sat holding Joanne's hand as Roger and Mimi sat solemnly in a corner. Mark and Collins leaned against a nearby wall discussing the accident.

"I'm so sorry. I love you so much," Maureen kept repeating as she stroked Joanne's hair. "Please wake up pookie. I don't know what I'll do without you."

Just then one of the doctor's walked in. He motioned for Mark to follow him outside.

"Mr. Cohen, I figured you would have been the next closest to Ms. Jefferson. I didn't want to say anything to Ms. Johnson seeing as she's quite, well, distraught, but I need to inform you that, by the looks of the tests, it does not look like she's going to make it."

Mark remained silent. He assumed he was going to be the one to have to break it to Maureen.

"We've done all we can, now the only thing we can do is pray."

"Thank you doctor." He said quietly. The doctor put a hand on his shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. Mark watched him walk down the hall until he couldn't see him anymore. He turned around to go back in the room, stopping to wipe a tear from his eye. He put his hand on the doorknob and stopped. "I don't want to tell her!" he said to no one in particular. He needed to tell someone else first. He stuck his head in the room. "Collins?"

Collins turned around "yeah?"

"Can you come here for a sec?" Collins followed him back into the hallway. "So how's Maureen doing?"

"She's crying a lot. Man, I ain't never seen her like this."

Mark avoided Collins' eyes. "The doctor said he's almost positive Joanne won't make it."

Collins gave Mark the same silent treatment that he gave the doctor only minutes ago.

"I don't know what to do. Do I tell Maureen? Or do we just let nature tell her?"

Just then Roger opened the door. "Guys, Joanne's awake."

Mark looked at Collins and smiled. "We should call the doctor."

"Yeah we did," said Roger, "we pushed the buzzer thingy."

Mark smirked. Roger always had the best vocabulary.

The three of the shuffled back into the room to find Joanne awake, and somewhat smiling. Mark came up behind Maureen to say hi to Joanne. "Hey Joanne, how are you feeling?"

She just groaned. She wasn't able to talk properly. Maureen started crying again and placed her head lightly on Joanne's shoulder. "Please pookie, hold on for me. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." Maureen lifted her head back up to see a single tear slide down Joanne's cheek. "No baby, don't cry," she said as she wiped the tear away "it's not your fault."

One of the monitors Joanne was hooked up to started beeping faster and faster. "NO!" screamed Maureen.

Just then the doctors rushed in from the call before. They gathered around Joanne's bed and examined. Maureen was still glued to Joanne's hand.

"Miss," said the same doctor who spoke to Mark earlier, "I need to ask you to please stand back."

Maureen made no attempt to move. Mark stepped forward and pried Maureen from Joanne. She was hysterical by now. Mark gently pulled her into a hug. "Shh, it's okay she's gonna be okay." He hated lying, but he needed to calm her down.

"We need to go the ER." The doctor said quickly as the nurses prepared to roll Joanne's bed out the door. "You folks can sit in the waiting room, we'll let you know when anything happens." He walked over to Maureen and Mark on his way out and put a gentle hand on Maureen's back. "We're doing the best we can."

"Thank you." Maureen whispered barely audible in combination with her sobbing.

Suddenly everything seemed so quiet. Roger, Mimi and Collins stood with their heads down as Maureen reverted to silent tears in Mark's arms. Mark looked at Maureen and tilted her head to meet his gaze. "Let's go sit in the waiting room. I'll get you some water okay?"

She nodded.

"Come on," he said motioning to the others.

By now it was almost ten thirty PM and the doctors still had not informed them of Joanne's conditions. Mimi and Roger had left an hour ago because Mimi felt weak, and neither of them had taken AZT all day. "Call us," Roger said before they left.

Collins was asleep sitting up on the floor against a wall, and Maureen was sleeping on Mark's shoulder.

Joanne's doctor walked out motioning to Mark. He got up gingerly so as not to wake Maureen. He didn't say anything to the doctor, he just walked up to him trembling slightly.

"We were able to stabilize her about an hour after we took her into the ER. We kept her there to keep watch on her. About another hour later, it happened again, but we couldn't do anything else this time. I'm sorry Mark."

Mark heard a sob come from behind him. Maureen and Collins were both awake and had heard every word.

Mark turned back to the doctor and shook his hand. "Thank you for everything doctor."

He smiled back a warm smile. "I'm sorry for your loss."

He turned back towards Maureen who was clinging to Collins like a lost child to their mother. He walked over and put a hand on Maureen's back, rubbing gently.

"Shhhh," Collins said to her, "I know it hurts baby. Believe me, I know." He rocked her back and forth once again resembling a mother and child.

"I can't believe she's- she's- gone…" said Maureen through a sob.

"I know… I know…" said Collins still rocking her.

"Come on," said Mark gently patting Maureen on the back, "let's get you home."

He and Collins helped Maureen up and out into the streets of New York where they waited for a taxi.

The ride home was silent as death. Maureen held onto Mark's hand as if she were afraid that he was going to leave somehow. She let her head droop into the crook of his neck. After about five minutes, she whispered to him in a frightened voice.

"Mark, I can't sleep alone tonight. Can I please stay at your place? I'll sleep on the couch."

He squeezed her shoulders. "Sure."

On their way up the stairs in his apartment building, he handed her his key and said, "You can go on up, I'm just going to tell Roger and Mimi what happened."

"Okay," she said weakly heading up the stairs.

About five seconds after he knocked, Roger opened the door in plaid pajama bottoms with his hair messier than usual. "What happened?"

Mark just shook his head.

"Ugh…" Roger said covering his eyes.

"I know…" said Mark. "Listen, Maureen's gonna stay with me tonight. She couldn't go back to Joanne's alone."

"Well I don't blame her… I've never seen her like that before. I mean she was hysterical. She's usually so strong you know."

"Yes," there was an awkward silence, but Mark decided to end their conversation, "well, I'd better get upstairs to Maureen, make sure she's okay, you know."

"Yeah."

"Goodnight."

"Night."

They shared an awkward hug, but, they both knew each of them needed it.

When Mark got back to his apartment, he found Maureen on sitting on the couch wrapped in a flannel blanked crying hysterically.

"Hey…" he said sitting next to her taking her in his arms, "take it easy, you're going to dehydrate!" He tried to crack a joke, but to no avail, she just kept on crying. "Okay, okay," he said, "shhh," he rocked her the same way Collins was earlier. He knew he wasn't going to get much sleep with her crying like this, but he also knew she needed him desperately. He stroked her long brown curls and dried her tears for what felt like hours, but she eventually cried herself to sleep. He stared at the ceiling as she laid her head on his shoulder with her breathing finally even, and he subconsciously held her tighter, almost as if he were afraid he'd lose her too.