"Holly?"

"Michelle? Where are you? Your dad and I are worried sick."

"Um, don't be mad, okay?"

"No one's mad at you," Holly lied.

"I'm at the hospital."

Holly almost dropped the phone.

"Are you okay?"

"I am. But Mr. Thorpe isn't."

She had a million questions but forced herself to not ask any of them. She could learn everything when she got to Michelle.

"I'm leaving now. Can you call your dad and tell him where you are? I'd do it, but he's going to want to hear for himself that he's okay. Even if I tell him that you're fine, he's not going to believe it unless he hears it from you."

"I think Mrs. Raines called him."

"Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can."

She hung up and grabbed her purse. She was almost to the door when she stopped suddenly.

"Damn it," she muttered.

She turned around and went back to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Ross? It's Holly. Is Blake there?"

"Yes. Why?"

She was going to be sarcastic and ask why exactly he thought she was calling if she didn't want to talk to Blake, but she realized that this was actually better. Blake needed to know but she could hear it from Ross instead.

"I'll just tell you. Apparently Roger's in the hospital. I don't know why or what shape he's in, but I'm heading over there now. Could you tell Blake? I don't know if she'll want to meet me or if she'd rather I call back when I know more."

"Okay, hang on; I'll tell her."

"I don't know anything else, Ross. If I don't see her, I'll call back when I know more."

She hung up.

The drive to the hospital seemed to take forever. She hit every red light and finally arrived as Ed did.

"Do you know anything?" she asked.

"I can't believe you," he seethed.

"What?"

"Why was she with Roger? I told you I didn't want him anywhere near her. She spent the night with you and now she's somehow in the hospital because of him. I think you'll understand why I don't believe that's a coincidence."

She stopped, stunned. "I haven't talked to or even seen Roger in months. I don't know what happened with Michelle and I'm as curious as you are, but whatever it is, I didn't cause it."

"I don't have time for this conversation. I want to see my daughter and I don't want to hear any justifications or denials from you."

They walked into the waiting room and Michelle ran over and threw herself into Ed's arms.

"I'm so sorry, Daddy," she said, crying.

"I'm just glad you're okay," he said.

"So what happened?" Holly said.

"Actually, Michelle, we're going to go home. Tell Holly goodbye."

"But Dad…"

"No, I don't want to hear it. You need to rest and we can't do that here."

Michelle gave Holly a hug. "I'm sorry I scared you, Holly."

Ed looked over at Holly and she could tell he was still furious.

They left and Holly walked over to the nurse's station.

"I'm looking for Roger Thorpe."

"Are you family?"

It was a simple question that had a very complicated answer.

Before she could say anything, Lillian poked her head out from a room. "He's in here, Holly."

She came out and closed the door behind her.

"What happened? I didn't get a chance to talk to Michelle."

"From what I could gather, it sounds like Michelle was about to get hit by a car and Roger managed to get her out of the way."

Holly was stunned. "He was hit by a car?"

"It's not as bad as you're thinking. It's mostly superficial; there are a lot of bruises and scrapes. The bigger problem is the ankle; it's going to be very hard for him to move around for a while."

"Could I see him?"

"Of course. Just to warn you, he's on some painkillers right now, so he might be a little loopy."

Holly went in and closed the door behind her. Roger had a bandage over part of his face and as Lillian had warned, there were already a lot of bruises and scrapes.

"How do you feel?" she asked softly.

"Like I was hit by a car. But it turns out that's what happened so I guess everything's fine?"

Holly sat on a chair by the bed.

"What happened? Lillian didn't say much."

"I was out walking and I saw Michelle. She wasn't really paying attention and I saw that she was about to step into the road. There was a car coming and I just…" he moved his hand in a shoving pantomime.

"I can't believe you threw yourself in front of a car for her."

"Don't tell anyone. You know how I like being the town monster."

Holly chuckled. "Your secret's safe with me."

He reached for her hand. "I'm sorry, Holly. I didn't go to Ed's to cause trouble that day. I liked Maureen so much and I just wanted to tell him that. But he acted like I was a leper and it just made me angry. He's got everything and he wouldn't let me have a couple minutes."

"Roger, his wife had just died. He wasn't thinking straight."

"It doesn't matter now and you know I've never cared about the good doctor's opinion of me. I just promised myself I'd apologize for how I acted the next time I saw you."

"You've been going out of your way to not see me, though."

"Well, yeah. I hate apologizing."

He grinned and she squeezed his hand.

"You look good, Holly. And congratulations on the baby. I guess I never said that, right? I want you to be happy and I hope you are. I'm happy for you and Ed."

Holly looked at him skeptically.

"Okay, I admit it. That's not true, but I'm trying to be happy. Whatever I think about him, he's a great dad and I bet he doesn't poison everything he loves like I do."

Oh God, Holly thought. Speaking of conversations we put off…

"Roger. About that…"

He yawned. "These drugs are amazing, Holly."

"Sit up for a second so you can stay awake. I have to tell you something about the baby. And remember please that I tried to tell you at the funeral. And yes, you're right, I could've tried to tell you again. I could've called or stopped by or even written you an actual letter. But the baby isn't Ed's."

He was already asleep.