A/N: See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer. I also want to say that I really am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I've been sick these past few months, which in turn has made writing quite difficult. I want everyone who's out there in cyberspace reading my work to know that I do appreciate you so much and I have not forgotten about you. Because of illness, I do need to ask for your patience. As I said, though, I have not forgotten you. Please don't ever think that I have. I thank you very much for stopping by. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter. ((HUGS)) to everyone out there who needs one. God bless you all and happy reading.

Chapter Summary: George becomes terribly disturbed when doctors are unable to get Louise's heart rate under control through intravenous medication.

Chapter 7: Arrhythmia

Forty minutes after Mark and George arrived at the emergency room in the hospital in Boston where the ambulance had taken Louise, a nurse came out to the waiting room where they were sitting. Both men looked like they were worried sick, and that was putting it mildly. Mark and George looked terrible.

"Mr. Moore?" the nurse, a tall, slim young black lady, called, and both Mark and George immediately rose from their seats.

"I'm Mark Moore," Mark told her as she approached them. "How is our friend doing? How is Louise?"

"Yeah, how is she?" George anxiously asked. "Is she alright?"

"Well, due to all of today's 'excitement,' so to speak, Ms. Wood's heart rate is much higher than normal. The doctor on call tonight, Dr. Brighton, has started her on an intravenous medication to try and get her heart rate under control. The most important thing now is for us to try to keep Ms. Wood as relaxed as possible, and relaxation isn't exactly easy when you're in a room all by yourself in the E.R. She very much wants to have you with her now, Mr. Moore," the young nurse explained.

"Of course. Lead the way," Mark told her.

Just as they were about to head out of the waiting room together, though, George said, "Hey, wait a minute. I'm…I'm also a friend of Ms. Wood's. My name is George Jefferson. Did she say anything about me? Does she want me there, too?"

"I'm sorry, sir. She hasn't mentioned you," the nurse replied. "She was very emphatic, though, that she did want Mr. Moore with her now."

"Don't worry, George. I'll come out here and give you an update just as soon as I can," Mark assured him, and then he quickly followed the nurse back to the exam room where Louise was. Meanwhile, George just sank back down into the chair he'd previously been sitting in, and he buried his head in his hands.

A couple of minutes later, Louise was sitting up in a hospital bed in an exam room with an I.V. in her arm. There was also a heart monitor in the room, but the sound had been deactivated so it didn't make the typical beeping sound with every heartbeat; it was also turned to the wall so Louise couldn't see what her heart rate was. Obviously, all of this was done to try and keep Louise from getting more anxious about her heart rate and to try to help her stay as relaxed as possible. Louise's eyes were closed now, and she was trying to take slow, steady breaths and calm herself as much as possible as her heart pounded away inside her chest. It was then that there was a gentle knock at the door. In the next moment, the door opened and Mark stuck his head inside, and Louise opened her eyes and turned her head, and her face lit up the moment she saw him.

"May I come in?" Mark asked in a soft voice.

"Please," Louise replied, and then Mark walked inside and sat down in the chair beside Louise's bed and took her hand in his. "I'm so glad you're here, Mark. You really are a sight for sore eyes tonight."

"Of course I'm here, sweetheart. I'm right here by your side, right where I've always been."

"I don't know what I'd do without you."

"George is here too, you know."

"He is?"

"He sure is. He came here with me. He really is very worried about you."

"That's very sweet of him, and I appreciate him coming here, but can you just tell him I'm alright and send him home?"

"Why do you want me to do that, honey?"

"George is a very nice man and I do like him, but it's not that easy to deal with him right now because I don't have the same feelings for him that he has for me. George is always acting as though he's ready to get married to me tomorrow, and you know I don't share those feelings. And in case you haven't noticed, I've really been through a lot today," Louise told Mark as tears filled her eyes. "I've had my bakery invaded by a madman. I shot a man twice in cold blood and I might have killed him and I might have to live with his death on my conscience every day for the rest of my life. My heart is about to beat itself to death. No matter how hard I try to stay calm, my heart won't slow down for anything. Furthermore, I've got a man out in the hospital waiting room that I've only known a few weeks, who's acting like he's ready to profess undying love to me. I really don't need to have to worry about his feelings when my heart is literally about to explode out of my chest. I just need everything to go away! I need Hugh Brock to go away! I need all my memories of today to go away! I need George Jefferson to go away! I need my whole life to just go away!" Louise said as she broke down into sobs.

In that instant, Mark immediately got up out of his seat, laid down beside Louise in the hospital bed, put his arms around her, and just held her. "Shh," he whispered as Louise continued to cry. "Shh. It's alright, sweetheart. It's alright. It's alright. Listen to me. You don't have anything to worry about. I overheard one of the paramedics say that Brock's injuries were not life-threatening. He's going to be okay. You don't have to worry about having anything on your conscience. You've done nothing wrong. Now you just forget all about him. Forget about Brock. Forget about the shooting. Forget about George. Forget about everything that happened today. Just put it all out of your mind right now. It's just you and me now; nobody else," Mark said soothingly, and then she just easily leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "That's it," Mark whispered. "Just rest now. Just close your eyes and relax. Forget about the rest of the world. It's just you and me now. I'm right here with you."

"Don't leave me, Mark. No matter what happens, don't leave me tonight."

"I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart. You know that. We're in this together, just like we always have been."

Louise then opened her eyes again, looked up at Mark, and told him, "The doctor said that if my heart rate didn't come down soon, he would have to sedate me and shock my heart back into a normal rhythm. I don't want them to shock me, Mark. I'm scared. I'm really scared."

"Don't be scared, honey. Don't be scared. I'm right here with you. Don't worry. Your heart rate's going to come down and you're going to be fine. Just fine. Just rest and relax right now. Don't think about the hospital or the doctors. Don't think about today. Just close your eyes and relax. I'm right here with you and I'm not going anywhere."

Again, Louise rested her head on Mark's shoulder and closed her eyes, and then she said, "Oh Mark, I really would be lost without you."

"Believe me, Louise; the feelings are mutual," Mark assured her. He then lovingly kissed the top of her head and continued holding her close.

"I'm terribly sorry, Ms. Wood," said Dr. Brighton, a tall blonde man with glasses, to Louise and Mark an hour later. "We're just not seeing any improvement. The intravenous medication doesn't appear to be working." Mark was now standing at Louise's bedside, and as soon as he heard the doctor say that, he took Louise's hand in his.

"Oh God," Louise gasped. "I don't want to be shocked."

"Don't worry, ma'am," the doctor said in a kind voice. "We're going to sedate you. You'll be asleep and the procedure will be over before you know it."

"I want Mark with me. I can't do this alone."

"Mr. Moore can stay with you right up until the moment you fall asleep from the anesthesia. And then the next thing you know, you'll wake up in the ICU and it'll be all over."

"ICU?" said Louise.

"Yes," Dr. Brighton confirmed. "Given your heart condition and your overall medical history, I want to keep you in the ICU for the next twenty-four hours. I want to monitor you very closely. After that, I'll have you transferred to a private hospital room and keep you there for probably the next couple of days or so for observation, just to be safe."

"Three whole days in the hospital?" Louise complained.

"You've got to remember, Ms. Wood, that your body has been through an awful lot. Given your medical history, we simply cannot be too careful."

"He's right, Louise," Mark concurred.

"So, I'll be back in here in a few minutes with the nurse. We'll administer the anesthesia and get this fast heart of yours to slow down."

"If you say so, doctor," Louise said doubtfully, and then Dr. Brighton left.

"I'll be right back, sweetheart. George is out in the waiting room and he's worried sick about you. I told him I'd give him an update."

"Well for heaven's sake, don't take too long. I need you here."

"Don't worry. I'll be back before you even notice I'm gone," Mark assured her, and then after given her a quick kiss on the cheek, he went to find George.

When Mark did come back out into the waiting room where he'd left George over an hour before, he saw that George looked even worse than he had when he first arrived at the hospital with him. It was painfully obvious that the poor man was worried sick about his wife, and seeing him did make Mark feel terrible inside. He knew how unfair it was that George had basically been locked out of his own wife's hospital room and denied the opportunity to be by her side now. Mark knew how much it would have meant to George to be able to be the one to give Louise comfort in her hour of need, and he did feel guilty about it. But he also knew that these were special circumstances and that there had basically been no choice.

Naturally, the instant George saw Mark, he practically jumped out of his seat. "What's goin' on? How is she?" he asked.

"Bad news, George. The intravenous medication they've been giving Louise to try and bring her heart rate down isn't working. The doctor's about to sedate her."

"Sedate her? Why?"

"Because in order to get her heart back into a normal rhythm, the doctor's going to have to shock her."

"Shock her?!"

"I'm sorry, George. I'm afraid there's just no other way. But like I said, she'll be under sedation. She'll be asleep. She shouldn't feel anything."

"I can't believe this. Weezy's already been through so much. Now this."

"Well we really don't have time to just be standing around talking about it. They're about to put her under and I told Louise I'd be back with her just as soon as I could."

"Well I ain't stayin' out here while they're gettin' ready to shock my wife. I'm coming too," George insisted, and then he followed Mark back to Louise's room.

"Ah, Mr. Moore," said Dr. Brighton as Mark and George came into Louise's room together. "You're just in time. I just gave Ms. Wood an anesthetic a couple of moments ago. She's been asking for you. You and your friend can stay here with her until she falls asleep."

"Mark," Louise called softly, and Mark took her hand.

"Don't be afraid, Louise. I'm right here. So is George. Don't be scared. You're going to fall asleep any moment now, and the next thing you know, you'll be awake again and your heart rate will be back to normal and this will all be behind you."

George quickly walked around to the other side of Louise's bed, took her other hand, and told her, "That's right, sweetheart. This will all be over before you know it. You're gonna be just fine."

Louise gave George a weak smile, and then she let go of his hand and held onto Mark's hand with both of her hands. It was painfully clear that it was Mark she wanted by her side now; that it was Mark she was turning to for the comfort she needed now. And that drove George mad on the inside.

Louise fell asleep about a minute later, and then the nurse ushered George and Mark out of the room. The two men were now standing together outside in the hallway, anxiously watching the scene unfold through the window of the door to Louise's room, filled with dread. In the following moments, the doctor administered the shock. Louise's body jumped with electricity and she let out a moan.

In that instant, George panicked and yelled, "SHE FELT THAT! THAT HURT HER!"

"Easy, George. Easy," Mark said quietly, trying to calm him down. He then looked at the heart monitor through the window and saw that Louise's heart rate, which had been over two hundred, had now come down to one hundred ten beats per minute, and was continuing to decrease. "Take it easy," Mark told him then. "It's alright now. Her heart rate's come down to normal. She's alright."

George said nothing in the following moments, but Mark could easily see it on his face that he was just about to lose his mind inside. That night, it took every ounce of self-control George had to keep from punching a hole in one of the hospital walls.

As if Louise, Mark, and George had not already been through enough drama, early the next morning, there was a swarm of reporters at the hospital. More importantly, out of the swarm, there were a handful of reporters who had done a much more thorough investigation of Louise than all the others and had managed to piece together all of the puzzle pieces of her life. They now knew that Louise Wood of Haven Lake, mother of two, survivor of the Forty-Niner's hellhole, baker, and businesswoman, was actually Louise Mills Jefferson of New York, wife of millionaire businessman George Jefferson, and they were anxious to tell her story to the whole world. George met with them in private that morning, and he quickly paid them all a very handsome sum of money to kill the story. He also managed to pull some strings with some people he knew in high places and get rid of all the other reporters so that Louise could continue her recovery in peace.

Unfortunately, the ICU of this hospital was very strict, and because they were unaware that George was actually Louise's husband, he wasn't allowed to see her for the next twenty-four hours that she was in intensive care, and every second he was separated from Louise was agony for him. It was just as painful for Mark, who also was not allowed to see her because, as far as the hospital was concerned, he was "not a member of her immediate family." Mercifully for both of them, Louise was moved into her own private room the next day, which was in an area of the hospital that wasn't so strict about visitors and visiting hours. And on that morning at nine o'clock sharp, George was standing outside the door to Louise's hospital room, knocking.

"Come in," her lovely deep voice called, and George walked inside, carrying a huge bouquet of pink roses. Before George could say anything, though, he saw that she was on the phone talking to someone, with a pen in her hand, writing things down in a notebook that was spread out on her overbed table. "And when do you think you'll be able to take a look at the damage and give me an estimate of the cost of repairs?" Louise asked the person on the other end of the line. In that moment, it hurt George's heart a great deal as he realized that even though Louise was lying in a hospital bed, her first concern was repairing her bakery, not taking care of her health. "Thank you very much," said Louise a few seconds later. "You have a good day, too. Goodbye," Louise said, and then she hung up the phone and turned her attention back to George. "I'm sorry about that, George," she told him. "As I'm sure you recall, that maniac shot several holes in the ceiling of my bakery and I want to get it repaired as soon as possible. Anyway, thank you so much for the flowers. They're beautiful."

"Don't mention it," said George as he looked around for something that could be used as a vase to put the flowers in.

"Oh, here, George," said Louise as she handed him a thermos that had been sitting on the overbed table next to her notebook. "Frank sneaked some coffee in here for me earlier this morning," she explained. "You can rinse it out and put some water in it and put the roses in there."

"Oh, thanks," George responded, and then after rinsing out the thermos, filling it halfway full of water, and putting the roses in it, he set it down on the nightstand beside Louise's bed. "Is it okay for you to have coffee?"

"No. According to Dr. Green, my cardiologist, I'm not supposed to have any caffeine. That's why I had to get Frank to sneak some in for me. I had to go a whole twenty-four hours without coffee yesterday, and I wasn't about to have two coffee-less days in a row."

"Louise, if your doctor's tellin' you that you're not supposed to drink coffee, you can't be drinkin' it. You've got to think of your heart."

"Oh, come on, George. You're a business owner, too. You know how it is. You wake up every morning at an un-Godly hour. You're sleepy. You're groggy. And although you would give almost anything to spend the morning in bed, you know you've got a business to run. Customers and employees to take care of. Mountains of paperwork facing you. Inventory. Bookkeeping. And when you're lying there in bed, thinking of all that work you've got ahead of you, you know darned good and well that the only thing that's going to motivate you enough to get up out of that bed and face the day is that glorious first cup of coffee. Tell me I'm wrong. I double dog dare you."

George chuckled and admitted, "No, you're right. You're absolutely right. But I can handle all that work and stress and hassle because I have a healthy, strong heart that doesn't have any problems. Your heart has been injured. And it needs special care. You need special care. You shouldn't be worryin' about the bakery right now, Louise. You should be takin' it easy. You should be resting."

"Oh, please. You make me sound so fragile, like I'm a piece of china or something. Need I remind you that I was the one who faced Hugh Brock and shot him a couple of days ago? I'm not as weak and fragile as you make me out to be, George. And besides, I got plenty of rest when I was in the ICU yesterday. Today, I'm ready to start getting my bakery fixed and I'm ready to start getting my life back."

"Louise, honey, please don't worry about the bakery. Please. I'll take care of everything. I'll get the bakery fixed. Don't you worry about that."

"I appreciate your offer, but I'd rather take care of this myself."

In the next moment, there was a knock at the door, and the door opened and Mark stuck his head in.

"Hello," Mark said softly.

"Mark!" Louise said happily with a big smile on her face, and then Mark walked inside holding a big bouquet of tulips from his garden that were inside a big crystal vase, and he gave her a big hug.

"Oh, you brought me some of your gorgeous tulips," Louise said, still grinning ear to ear. Just the presence of Mark and the sound of his voice was enough to make Louise light up like a Christmas tree, and George definitely noticed it, and it really made his blood boil with jealousy. George knew that it was only because of Mark that Louise was alive today, and he knew he owed Mark a debt that could never fully be repaid. But even though he was deeply grateful to Mark for everything he'd done for Louise through the years, he couldn't help being overwhelmed with jealous anger.

"Now would I deny you tulips?" asked Mark. "I know how much you love them."

"You're right. I do," Louise said.

"Well now that I've brought you the tulips, it's time for me to get down to business. Louise, I've got a bone to pick with you."

"Uh oh. What is it?"

"You and I have been best friends for years. We've been through so much together. We've even survived the hellhole together. We never keep secrets from each other. We trust each other with everything."

"That's true."

"So why didn't you tell me about the extra gun you had in that drawer? Had I known that it was there, I would have been the one to go out there and get your gun and take care of that manic. I should have been the one to go out there and deal with that maniac. Why didn't you trust me, Louise?"

"Oh Mark, it's not that I didn't trust you. I would gladly trust you with anything. You know that. It's just that I didn't feel it was right to ask you or George to deal with the situation. Both of you were in my bakery, under my roof. That made your safety my responsibility."

"Well listen, I'm old school. The way I was brought up, it's the man's responsibility to protect all the women in his life. The way I see it, it wasn't your responsibility to protect me; it was my responsibility to protect you. Now if you ever pull a stunt like this again and put your heart at risk, I'll expose you to even worse torture than what we went through in the hellhole. I'll lock you in the same room with Estelle and force you to spend the rest of your natural life with her!"

Louise laughed, rolled her eyes, and said, "Ha, ha, Mark. Very funny."

"Louise…no more heroics. I'm serious. You really scared us."

"Amen to that," George heartily agreed.

"No more heroics," Mark repeated. "You promise?"

Louise then gave Mark a soft smile and said, "I promise, Mark. No more heroics."

"Thank you. Now onto the next order of business. I've got two pieces of very good news for you."

"Well I sure could use some good news right now. What is it?"

"Well first of all, when I was in the hallway on my way to your room a few minutes ago, I ran into Dr. Brighton, and he told me that since you're doing so well, he's probably going to let you come home the day after tomorrow."

"At last! I can't wait to get out of here. What's the second piece of news?"

"You don't have to worry about getting the bakery fixed. I've taken care of everything. Some repairmen are coming to fix your ceiling today. Everything should be completely repaired by the time you get out of the hospital. It's my personal welcome-home-from-the-hospital gift to you."

"Mark, I appreciate that, but I really wanted to take care of everything myself."

"You already took care of a homicidal madman and saved our lives. The way I see it, taking care of the repairs is the least I can do."

"Oh Mark, you are always so sweet and thoughtful," said Louise as she squeezed Mark's hand and looked up at him with another big smile. But while Louise was happy and smiling, George was steaming inside. Louise didn't notice it because she had so many other things on her mind, but there was a definite uncomfortable tension in the room between the two men. Mark could tell in those moments that George was angry. After Mark and George engaged in a bit of small talk with Louise, they said goodbye and left.

Two days later, Louise was released from the hospital according to plan, and both George and Mark brought her home. Louise quickly returned to her normal routine and continued working hard to run her business – much to George's dismay. George made no secret of the fact that he felt that Louise was returning to work far too soon. He felt that she needed much more time to rest and recover from all the recent trauma she'd endured, and he made it crystal clear that he thought Louise was pushing herself too hard. Mark, however, understood that Louise getting back to her normal routine was in fact the best thing for her. She enjoyed her career very much and she found it therapeutic to focus on the bakery and not on Brock, who was now sitting in a jail cell and was most likely going to go to prison for a very long time.

The next month flew by and before Louise knew it, it was the first week of September. She'd been anxiously waiting for the girls' return for so long, and when the day of their return finally arrived, she was thrilled to say the least. Unfortunately, Louise's van broke down the day before and it was now at the local mechanic's garage being repaired. When Louise's van broke down, Mark agreed to pick up Leah, Melissa, Angie, and Leah's daughter and granddaughters at the airport for her, and Louise knew there wouldn't be enough room in Mark's car for all of them and for her, so she and Mark agreed that Mark would bring the girls home. Naturally, George was at the bakery with Louise all day that day, and he was just as anxious for the girls' return as Louise was. He'd wanted to meet Louise's daughters for a long time now, and even though Louise was unaware of this, George had already made up his mind that Melissa and Angie were going to be his own children just as much as they were Louise's children. He hadn't even met them yet, but he was already passionately devoted to them, just as much as he was to Louise.

Finally, at one minute after four that afternoon, Melissa and Angie came bouncing into the bakery, and Angie's adorable little voice called out, "Mommy!" And of course, the instant Louise heard it, she lit up like a Christmas tree, as did Heather, who was now seven months pregnant and standing at her usual place behind the cash register. Frank was there too, of course, but he was back in the kitchen working on a birthday cake for a customer.

Louise immediately hugged and kissed them, and then Angie said, "Guess what, Mommy?"

"What, sweetie?"

"There are tons of horses at Miss Marie's ranch and I drew you a picture of every single one! All the pictures are in my suitcase."

"I can't wait to see them," Louise told her, and then she spotted George standing on the other side of the bakery's dining area, grinning ear to ear. In that moment, she motioned for George to come over, and she told him, "George, I'd like you to meet my beautiful little girls. This is Melissa," she said while touching Melissa's arm, "and this is Angie," she said while touching Angie's arm. In those moments, anyone could look at George Jefferson's face and tell that he was already head over heels in love with both of them. "Girls, this is George Jefferson. He's a new friend Mommy made over the summer."

"Your mother's told me a lot about you two. I'm so glad to finally meet you."

"Hi!" Angie said happily while Melissa simply waved.

Mark then came inside carrying the girls' suitcases, and he asked, "Do you want me to take these upstairs for you, Louise?"

"Yes, I'd appreciate that, Mark. Thank you."

"Sure thing," Mark responded as he started heading towards the elevator.

"Hey Mark, where's Leah?" Louise then asked.

"Oh, she wasn't feeling well, so I took her and her daughter and granddaughters home first," Mark explained.

"I hope it's nothing serious."

"I don't think it is. I think she just ate something on the flight that didn't agree with her," said Mark, and then he took the luggage up to Louise's apartment.

"Mommy, after we go upstairs, will you braid my hair?" asked Angie.

Louise smiled and said, "Of course I will."

"And will you play Chutes and Ladders with Melissa and me after supper?"

Louise smiled and said, "Yes."

"And will you let me sit on your lap when you go upstairs?"

Louise chuckled and said, "Yes."

"That's what I love about you, Mommy. You always say yes," Angie told Louise with an adorable smile, and again, Louise laughed.

"Come on, love. Come aboard," Louise told Angie, and then she hopped into her mother's lap.

"I'll push your wheelchair for you, Louise," said Melissa.

"Thank you, sweetheart," Louise said lovingly. "You're always so thoughtful." Louise then turned her head to Heather and told her, "Heather, just turn the sign to Closed and lock up for me at five o'clock, okay?"

Heather smiled and said, "Sure thing."

"And say goodnight to Frank for me."

"Will do," said Heather.

"And you and Jeremy have a good night too, dear," Louise said with a smile.

"Thank you. You guys too," Heather responded, returning the smile.

"I'll see you later, George," Louise told him, and George responded with a simple smile and a wave, and then Louise and the girls disappeared into the elevator. And while the reunited mother and children went off to enjoy the rest of their day together, George just stood there in the bakery for several long, quiet moments. Louise, Melissa, and Angie had no idea about any of this yet, but the fact of the matter was, the instant George Jefferson laid his eyes on Louise's daughters, that was it. From now on, for every single day throughout the rest of his life, he was their father. Their protector. The man on earth who loved them the most. Those dear little girls were now his. Forever.