Elizabeth found herself enjoying watching the race through Ronnie's eyes. His excitement and continual banter reminded her of herself at his age. Like him she had been full of questions and soaked up every bit of racing knowledge she could get.

How much simpler her life had been at the age of 10 she thought. She hadn't yet been smacked in the face with the realities of her father's world and her place in it, or lack thereof.

"Look, look," Ronnie's excited voice pulled her from her thoughts. "The lead car just lapped the car in second for the third time. AWESOME!"

Elizabeth couldn't prevent her lips from curling into a broad smile. She watched as Jason's steely blue machine glided by Billy's thundering black car for the third time. She looked at the bottom of the television screen searching for Jason's stats. His lap time was incredible. The pride she felt suddenly was uncontainable. "Yes, it is," she agreed with Ronnie's assessment. From the looks of its Jason had a first-place finish for this feature all wrapped up.

Even though initially she hadn't wanted to watch the race today, she was so happy that Ronnie pulled her into his room and compelled her to do just that. There was no denying that no matter how angry and hurt she was, she still loved Jason and deep down she knew he loved her as well.

She had let those old wounds, wounds that Jason had had no part in causing, cloud her judgement. Fears of being made a fool of again had allowed her to take Theresa's bait rather than doing what both Leo and Melanie had been telling her from the start – 'kick her ass'.

Elizabeth wasn't about to let Theresa Kennedy take one more thing from her. And it was high time she took her place by Jason's side where she belonged. "Hey Ronnie, I need to get going, but I will be back."

"Okay," the young boy said. "Thanks for visiting and playing checkers with me."

"You bet," Elizabeth said ruffling his hair gently.

She turned her head one last time to check on the race and instantly felt her stomach drop. Right away she could tell something was off about the way Jason was handling himself on the track. His car all of a sudden seemed squirrely to her, like he had no control over it. Without realizing it she was holding her breath, eyes riveted to the screen.

Elizabeth could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she watched Jason's car careen into the wall before flipping onto its roof skidding towards the infield. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the red flag drop but not before another car clipped the back end of Jason's causing it spin more.

"WOW! Did you see that? Do you think he's hurt?" Ronnie asked wide eyed.

"I don't know," Elizabeth said her voice clear and calm yet nothing about her felt composed. Her mind raced with worst case scenarios. She had seen crashes like this before and she knew the outcomes and none of them had ever been good. She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat that grew larger by the minute. Concentrating on that was the only thing that was stopping the tears that were about to cascade from her eyes. "I have to go," she announced without giving Ronnie a chance to say anything before darting from his room.

Melanie stood rooted in place watching the events unfolding before her eyes. There was Jason's car upside down sliding toward the infield gasping when she saw another driver crashing into the back end of the car, unable to maneuver around the crash fast enough.

At once Melanie's thoughts went to Elizabeth. She had no idea where her friend was or if she had been listening or watching the race, but Melanie knew she had to be found. She couldn't even imagine the state she might find Elizabeth in if she knew what happened and if god forbid she didn't already know, Melanie was certain that she needed to be with her when she found out.

Leo saw the red flag come out and heard his crew chief talking about the accident over the headset. He was slowly bringing his car to a stop when he realized that the driver the voice on the other side of his ear was discussing was actually Jason, Leo's head shot up and into his line of sight popped Jason's mangled blue stockcar perched on its roof.

Without thinking Leo immediately directed his car toward pit row every muscle in his body rigid as he climbed out of his car sprinting toward where Jason's car sat. Leo could see the fire crew soaking the car down with flame retardant foam on the off chance it might spark. In the background he could hear the wailing of the ambulance siren, a sound that only served to hasten his pace.

"Jason! Jason, man can you hear me?" Leo shouted as members of the Ryan Racing pit crew held him at bay. "Jason!" he yelled again.

"There's nothing you can do, man," one of the crew members announced holding Leo by his shoulders as he attempted to wrangle out of the man's grasp.

"Like hell!" Leo wasn't sure if Jason could hear him, or if he was even conscious but the last thing he wanted was for his friend to think he was alone.

Leo stood and watched as the fire crew assisted the paramedics in extracting Jason for the car. "I'm going with him!" he hollered tearing off in the direction of the ambulance. He could hear Pat Ryan's bellowing voice through his head set. Pat was yelling at him to get back in his car and finish the race, but Leo had no intentions of doing that. Ripping off his headset, Leo threw it to the ground as he climbed into the back of the ambulance.

Melanie's search for Elizabeth hadn't been all that successful. It would have been far too easy if she had just been in her office. Of course, that hadn't been the case though. Melanie had combed nearly every floor of the hospital and the fact that she hadn't found her friend yet left her with an incredibly uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Has anyone seen Elizabeth?" Melanie asked as she approached the nurses' station in the center of the pediatrics wing

"No," the older nurse answered, "But my shift just started."

"Thanks," Melanie said as she continued down the corridor. "Have you seen Liz?" she asked repeatedly getting the same negative response. "She can't have just up and vanished," Melanie announced, but then again this was Liz she was talking about. Anything was possible.

Melanie stopped in the game room when she noticed a group of kids sitting on the floor working on a puzzle. "Hi kids," she began. "Have any of you by chance seen Miss Elizabeth today?"

"Nope, no, not today." Were their responses.

"I saw her a little while ago," a small voice came up from behind Melanie.

Quickly she turned around to see a young brown-haired boy before her. "You did? Where?"

"In my room, we were playing checkers."

"How long ago was that?"

"Not long."

"Did she say where she was going?"

"No, just that she had to leave."

"Okay, thank you. If she comes back can you tell her nurse Melanie is looking for her?"

"Sure," the little boy said.

It was a long shot but she'd looked everywhere else. Pushing open the door to the ladies' room just outside pediatrics, Melanie heard the sound of muffled sobs coming for the stall farthest from the door. Pressing her hand on the metal door, it easily swung open revealing Elizabeth's tear stained face.

Instantaneously Melanie scooped her friend into her arms. Elizabeth melted into Melanie's embrace sobbing uncontrollably. Melanie felt her own tears begin start to sting her eyes. She couldn't even begin to fathom what Elizabeth was going through. "Shhhh," she whispered tracing circles on Elizabeth's back at a loss for what else she could do. "It's going to be okay." Melanie knew how hollow those words sounded yet she didn't know what else to say.

"I love him, I love him so much," Elizabeth cried, "And he doesn't even know it."

"Yes, he does," Melanie countered. "Jason knows"

Elizabeth couldn't do more but shake her head in dispute her voice swiftly swallowed up by another wave of tears. She was consumed by guilt. She knew with an accident like the one she witnessed Jason could be severely injured or even die and the last thing he would remember about her was her anger and mistrust.

Leo watched as the hospital emergency room entrance came into view. His head was filled with the sounds and voices bouncing off the ambulance walls. He wished he was closer to Jason, but the tight space hadn't allowed for it. Leo tried to take comfort in the thumbs up Jason offered when he initially climbed into the back of the ambulance, yet that feeling was fading fast.

The wail of the sirens finally silenced and the doors to the back of the ambulance swung open hastily Leo jumped down and finally was able to get a better look at his friend. "Hey man," he said.

"Hey," Jason answered through a wince. "What's with the face?" he tried to tease sensing the anxiety in Leo's stance.

"Don't worry about me. Concentrate on yourself."

"I'm," Jason paused as a wave of nausea rushed over him, "fine."

"I'll feel better when a doctor tells me that," Leo joked trying to lighten the mood. He was quite aware of the amount of pain Jason was it. His expressions were the tale tell signs of it.

"Don't talk," Leo began just as the paramedics began rattling off Jason's vitals and other information the emergency room staff needed to know about his condition.

"Sir, you really can't be in here," the nurse stated.

"I want to stay," Leo pressed. He was the closest thing to family Jason had right now.

"I need you to find Elizabet….." Before Jason could finish saying her name he went unconscious.

The sight of Jason all of the sudden so still sent Leo into a tailspin, mind racing with all of the reasons why. In his career as a driver, he had seen his fair share of accidents whose outcomes had been grim. Out of the blue those memories engulfed him.

"You really need to leave." Leo hesitated. "If you want us to help your friend you have to go" the nurse stressed.

The last thing Leo wanted to do was leave Jason's side. He couldn't remove the sinking feeling that had taken up residence in his stomach. Looking at Jason one last time, Leo thought of what his friend asked him to do, to find Elizabeth. That was the first time Leo had thought about her since the accident happened. He had been so caught up in the goings on around him that she hadn't even entered his mind. He wondered if she had been watching the race and had seen Jason's accident. If that had been the case, Leo could only imagine the state she was in at the moment. He knew Liz still was deeply in love with Jason and this had to have shattered her.

Leo had no idea where to even begin to start looking for Elizabeth. He tried her office, the employee lounge area, the cafeteria but nothing. Finally, his own anxiousness taking over he just starting opening every door and walking into room after room until he eventually stumbled on both Elizabeth and Melanie in an empty patient room.

Melanie was the first one of them to notice Leo's entry. Their eyes locked momentarily and before either knew what was happening they were in one another's arms. Melanie let out a deep breath the realization at how easily it could have been Leo versus Jason in that accident hit her hard. Standing there wrapped in Leo's arms, she knew she could no longer deny her feelings for him. She had always found him attractive and enjoyed their playful flirting, but it was different now. She was falling in love with Leo Jorgenson. She knew eventually she would have to admit it out loud but now wasn't the time nor the place.

Elizabeth looked up to see Melanie and Leo locked in an embrace and froze fearing the worst. "Leo," she whispered tentatively.

"He's alive. He's pretty banged up, but he's alive," Leo said carefully leaving out the part about Jason passing out after asking to see her.

"I need to see him," she announced.

"And he needs you." Leo reached out and squeezed his long-time friend's hand while keeping his other arm wrapped securely around Melanie's waist. "He asked me to find you."

Elizabeth wiped the tears from her cheeks as the doors to the emergency room swung open. "Where is he?" she turned to Leo.

"This way." Leo lead her to the triage room where he had left Jason earlier. "We'll wait out here," he said taking a few steps back sure that Elizabeth and Jason could use some time without an audience watching. Melanie squeezed his hand and followed him to the waiting area.

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at her safety net heading in the opposite direction. She all of the sudden she felt utterly alone and more frightened than she ever had before. Taking a deep breath, she pulled back the cubicle curtain steeling herself for the imagine that she was about to see, yet Jason wasn't there.

The fact that she was a patient advocate and she knew the drill; Jason was probably off somewhere having tests that played very little into her current state of mind. She felt her body begin to shake uncontrollably as the worst images flashed before her eyes. She tried catching her breath but nothing was working. Elizabeth knew she was on the verge of beginning to hyperventilate but there was nothing she could do to stop it. She needed to leave, to be anywhere but where she was. She turned quickly to leave but ended up running smack into of all people her father.

"Elizabeth," Pat Ryan said as he steadied his daughter shocked to see her in such a state.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on Jason's condition," he told her.

"Yeah right! Like you give a damn."

"Of course, I do," Pat countered.

"The only thing you care about is your damn racing team. If Jason wasn't producing wins for you – you wouldn't be here!" Elizabeth's voice began to raise.

"How can you say that?" Pat shot back.

"Experience!"

"Elizabeth, you're just upset," Pat said attempting to placate his daughter. "This isn't the time or place for this discussion."

"What am I embarrassing you? Oh, we can't have that!"

"Elizabeth," Pat said through his clenched teeth. "Enough."

"Like hell it is! You want to know how I know you are only here to see Jason because of what he can do for Ryan Racing? Because you have only set foot in the ER department one other time and that's when Billy was brought in. You have an entire racing team dad but you don't give a damn about the bulk of them! You only care about the ones who can do something for you." Elizabeth's voice dripped with such malice for a man she should have loved.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Pat's voice rose to meet his daughter's. "Every member of my team has value. They are part of the Ryan family."

"Family? Did you really just say part of the Ryan family? That's rich dad! I'm part of your blood family and you've never given a damn about me!"

"That's not true. I love you. You're my daughter," Pat said as he reached out to hug her.

"Don't!" Elizabeth turned away from his reach to see Leo standing in front of her.

He drew her to his chest glaring at Pat Ryan. He didn't care if he ever raced for that man again. He had had enough of the pain he watched him cause Elizabeth through the years. "I think it's time you were leaving," Leo said forcefully.

"I'm not going anywhere," Pat asserted.

"Like hell you aren't," Melanie said joining her friends. "You can either leave of your own accord or I will have security escort from the hospital. You're not wanted or welcome here, Mr. Ryan."

Pat stood looking completely dumbfounded then he turned to look at Leo with narrowed eyes. "You do realize what you're doing right?"

"If that's meant to be threat to my racing career, so be bit. I don't give a damn about you or your damn team!" Leo said turning his back on essentially the man that held the strings to his career but not caring a single bit.