A/N: Here's another quick update! Thank you guys so much for the reviews, it was great to read your responses! To heartland-fan, don't worry, next chapter will be in the present day. It's going to be an important one, so I do want to take some time with it and not rush the writing process. Hope you understand ;) And the Katie story is definitely something I will consider; it's an awesome idea! Thanks for sending in a request!

Amy frantically searched for a pulse, bringing her fingers to Lou's wrist. After a long few seconds, she felt a slowed beating sensation. She carefully tilted Lou's head back to try to open up her airway. Was she doing it right? Would this even help? Amy didn't know.

Lou's phone suddenly rang, and Amy's head turned to the the lit up device by the foot of Lou's bed. Amy scrambled to reach it and she saw the call display had just a number she didn't recognize. She quickly pressed decline and instead rushed to dial 9-1-1.

Once on the phone with emergency services, she was even more crazed and panicked, but she vaguely heard the person on the other end of the line ask if Lou was breathing. "Breathing…um, hold on…" Amy trailed off, looking for a sign of movement. As she narrowed her focus, she finally saw her sister's chest rise and fall. Looking for a few seconds more, to make sure she hadn't imagined it, she said,"Yeah, yeah, she's breathing. Okay, she's breathing…oh god…" Amy was beyond relieved.

Over an hour later, Amy was pacing back and forth in Lou's cubicle in the emergency room. Stopping a minute, she turned and forced herself to look at her sister. Lou looked deathly pale, and she lay almost completely still. The only sign of life was from her chest rising and falling ever so slightly.

Paranoid, she looked to the monitor that Lou was hooked up to. The signals were going up and down and the consistency of their movement made Amy feel a lot better. As long as they were going up and down, she thought.

When Lou finally began to open her eyes, Amy breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to her side. "Lou? Hey, it's me."

"Amy, what's—" Lou broke off, looking around the small space they were in. "Where am I?"

"You're in the ER."

"What…? Again?"

Amy was taken aback. "Again? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Wait, what happened to me?" Lou was still clearly disoriented.

"I found you on your bedroom floor. Lou, you were unconscious."

The look on Lou's face went from lost and confused to frantic and worried in a split second. "My phone—I need my phone."

"What? No, absolutely not. The only thing you need to think about is resting."

"No, I need to get a hold of Georgie. She wasn't answering my calls before." Lou's voice sounded desperate as she tried to get herself up.

Amy moved to get Lou back down again. "Hey, just calm down. She called you back a while ago with Jade's phone. She left a message saying her own network doesn't work all the way out there, so you're going to have to call back on that number if you want to talk to her."

"Georgie called back? You're absolutely sure?"

"Yeah, and you know what, she sounds like she's having a good time. Let's just not interrupt that for now."

Lou exhaled heavily, her head hitting the pillow. She shut her eyes tight a moment.

"Don't tell me that Georgie not answering her phone is what put you in here."

Lou slowly breathed in and out, still reeling from the sudden panic. Instead of saying anything to Amy, Lou figured she'd just let it be. Besides, Amy wasn't completely wrong. Lou really had been trying to get a hold of Georgie when she went down.

Amy wasn't entirely sure what instinct overcame her, but she brought her hand to stroke Lou's hair.

Amy was quiet for a few minutes or so, but after that, she spoke. "You scared the hell out of me, you know that?"

Lou tilted her head back to look at Amy. She paused a moment before responding. "I thought you didn't give a damn." Lou's voice was quiet and weak.

Amy's throat went tight as she leaned down and kissed Lou's temple. Smoothing out her sister's hair, she quietly spoke. "Don't…"

Amy's loving touch ignited Lou's tears. It had been so long since they'd spoken to each other like this. Lou realized just how devastatingly she'd missed her sister.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I was mad, and it just came out. I didn't mean it, not in the least. God, do you have any idea what a mess I'd be without you?"

Lou was quiet, not in the mood to talk about this.

"When I saw you down on the ground, I—I don't know, I thought that you'd done something to yourself, that you were gone."

Lou stole away from Amy's gaze. Trying to distract herself, she began to stare at the pale green gingham curtain that enclosed her cubicle. It was a really ugly piece of cloth, Lou thought to herself in horror.

"I tried waking you up, and I gathered you in my arms…I was—I was just shaking. But you were so still."

Amy's words eventually came through to Lou and it took her a second to register what her sister was talking about. Lou's heart shuddered at what Amy was describing.

Amy brought her fingers to her quivering lips, aiming herself not to begin crying in front of Lou. Her eyes did well up, though, and she felt her sister's eyes on her.

Lou looked at her, feeling awful about what she had put Amy through. "I really scared you, didn't I?"

Amy nodded.

Surprising herself even, a moment later, Lou smirked. "Well, good, I'm glad. Serves you right."

A chill ran through Amy's spine as the images of Lou's unresponsive form came back to her. "Lou, this isn't funny."

"It kind of is, you know. Just a little."

"Yeah, it's hilarious. I thought you were dead." Amy let out in anger, masking her feeling of helplessness. "I thought I lost you, and…"

Lou stole a glance at Amy as she struggled to find her words.

"I can't." Amy finally said, her voice pained. "I just can't lose you."

Lou was quiet a moment. "You'd be fine without me, I know it."

"Okay, I know I hurt you when I said what I said, but—"

"No, I'm not saying any of this to get back at you."

Amy looked at Lou. She seemed so distant, so lost in her thoughts somewhere. Her words seemed completely sincere.

"I'm saying…you never know what life is going to throw at you. What if something ever does happen? What are you going to do then?"

"Well, I don't want to think about that. Why should I think about that? Just drop it already."

Lou's head turned to Amy. "Why should I drop it? Maybe you should be thinking about it!" Lou let out, getting visibly upset.

Alarmed, Amy put a hand to Lou's shoulder, trying to keep her still and calm. "Okay, okay. Don't get yourself all worked up."

The older sister exhaled, her head hitting the pillow.

Before Amy could say another word, an ER doctor stepped into the cubicle. He had lab reports ready that he wanted to talk to Lou about.

Lou tried listening in on what he was saying, but she just couldn't care less at this point. When he was finally gone, Lou's vision zeroed in on Amy, who looked relieved, a lightness about her.

"Hey, you're okay. He said they didn't find anything wrong, that you were probably just under some sort of strain."

"Did he say when we could leave?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Amy trailed off, nodding her head toward the IV. "I'm guessing when that's emptied out, I can take you home."

"Right."

"We do have some time until then. Did you want me to go get you something?"

Lou shook her head in response.

"Okay, if you're sure." Amy said, quieting for a moment. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

Lou looked to her, waiting for her to continue.

"When you woke up, you asked me if you were in the ER again. What did you mean—when were you here before?"

Lou sighed. "Amy, where do you think I went that night?"

Amy moved back suddenly, inhaling sharply. "Are you kidding? What—it was that bad?"

Lou nodded. "But I just couldn't bring myself to bother anyone at home. You guys didn't need that."

Amy fell silent, lost in her thoughts.

"And in the rush, I left my phone in the car."

Amy looked up at that.

"I wasn't ignoring your calls. You know I would never do that."

Amy groaned, putting a hand to the back of her head, flustered. "Lou…why wouldn't you just tell me?"

"I was just worried you would run into Georgie and she'd get it out of you somehow…And maybe some weird part of me just wanted you to hate me."

"Why would you want that? That's just…" Amy trailed off, confused by Lou's words. "What's going on with you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I—I don't know. Are you sick? Is that why you're acting so differently? Is that why you're distancing yourself?"

Lou laughed derisively. "What, you think I'm dying…?"

"Because the way you've been acting these past few weeks—"

"I wouldn't hide something that big from you."

"Okay, but…you need you to tell me what's going on with you, what's bugging you so much. So that I can try to help. I have just never seen you like this before."

"This is just the way I am now, there's really nothing to do about it."

"That's not good enough. I don't believe you for a second."

Lou exhaled. "Amy, I found out my husband was cheating on me for who knows how long. Maybe a year, maybe more. He doesn't love me anymore, probably never has. He was just so quick to bring up the divorce papers…"

Amy didn't say anything, and instead waited for Lou to go on.

"Even when I said that we should wait, that I needed time to get over what happened…that we still stood a chance—He threw me to the side, like I was this…thing stuck to the bottom of his boot. He didn't even think twice before drawing up those papers."

"Just forget about him and move on. You owe that to yourself."

"It's hard to get over someone you've been in love with for so many years."

"He broke your heart, so how can you still be so in love with him? Just forget about him already." Amy demanded her sister listen to her.

Lou shook her head. "Seeing where we are now, I guess he never loved me…not the way I loved him."

"Look, you have your kids who think the world of you. You have Dad and Grandpa, and you have me. You know we're all here for you…"

Lou looked to Amy.

"You don't need that man's love to get you through this. Lou, what about us? What about me? You know I love you so much."

Lou laughed a little incredulously.

"What?" What the heck was so funny this time? Amy thought to herself bemusedly.

"It's been so long since I've heard you say that, and mean it." Lou said, a sad laugh escaping her lips, which slowly turned to tears. "If you'd kept this up any longer…"

"Okay, hey…" Amy moved to wipe her sister's tears. "None of that, alright? I'm so sorry about everything. We've been so messed up lately, and I just don't want to be like that anymore."

"I know you don't. And it's okay, I know that I've been really difficult. I'm sorry too."

Amy paused a moment. "Don't freak me out like that again. Please, Lou."

Lou smiled a genuine smile for the first time in long while. "I won't."

A/N: Me again, just wanted to say that even though not much happened plot-wise this chapter, I did want to explore Lou's internal struggle and the effect it had on people around her, and even the effect it had on her. Like Guest said, Lou's family situation definitely changed the way she saw herself with Warren, and vice-versa. Great insight!

Again, next chapter should be something to look forward to! Thanks for reading! :D