A/N I had things to do with my family this weekend so it got postponed until today but I'm back on track. Sorry for the delay, especially after the last chapter!

Chapter 5

"Do it."

"No! I, I can't! Please don't make me do this!"

"I said do it!"

"No!"

"Fucking do it!"

BANG

Carley's eyes opened slowly and she tried to get a look at her surroundings, but her eyes were watery and her vision was blurry. She couldn't make out any details of the unfamiliar location, but could tell that she was in a blue and white room with what looked like a window on the left wall. Her head and chest were painfully throbbing, parts of her arms and legs felt sore, there was some kind of tube in her nose and her throat was dry and scratchy. As she tried to look around more without moving her head, she realized that she was laying in what felt like a bed, her legs covered with a soft cotton blanket, and she could hear a faint rhythmic beeping coming from somewhere beside her.

"You're awake." She heard someone sigh in relief. She tried to sit up but a strong hand gently pushed her back down.

"Don't get up. You're still injured." The deep voice sounded familiar and as she turned her head slightly, she saw the outline of his face, his dark skin, and the muscular frame standing over her.

"Lee?" She tried her best to call out, but her voice was raspy and barely audible.

"Yea, it's me Car."

She blinked furiously, trying to get the fluid out of her eyes. Lee understood what she was trying to do and grabbed the small cloth from the side table, bringing it up to her face.

"Hold still." He said gently as he began to dab her eyes and wipe away the gunk and fluid. When he pulled away, Carley blinked a few more times as her eyes adjusted to the light in the room.

"Thank you." She wheezed out, turning to look back at him. Able to see clearly again, she noticed that his right arm and both of his hands were bandaged and his clothes were covered with black smudges.

"Where am I, what happened?"

"You're in the hospital, there was a fire. To be honest, I should be asking you what happened."

Carley slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position with Lee's help, groaning as she felt moved her sore muscles. "Me? Why me?"

"Because it was your apartment on fire." Lee replied as he pushed his chair closer to Carley's bed and sat down. He grabbed a small glass of water off of the side table and handed it to her. "Here, you're probably thirsty."

Carley thanked him and quickly swallowed the whole glass. Her throat no longer dry, she coughed once before speaking again. "I can't remember any fire. I was sleeping in my bed, I think I remember waking up but other than that, nothing. Was anyone hurt? What happened to your arm?"

"No one else was hurt, they were able to contain the fire before it reached anyone else." Lee looked down at his bandaged arm and hands and then looked back up at her. "You left some news sources at my house and Clem and I came by to return them. I came up to your apartment and I smelled smoke. When I looked through one of the windows, I saw the fire. I told Clem to stay in the car and dialed 911. I was looking through the rest of the windows when I looked through the kitchen window and saw you unconscious. I hurt my arm when I broke the window and climbed in to get you out."

Carley smiled and tears almost came to her eyes. "You saved my life. Thank you. Is Clem okay?"

"You're my friend. I couldn't just let you die. Clem's fine, she's at Kenny's house right now."

"I don't understand it though." Carley said, her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "I went straight to bed after I got home. I didn't do anything or leave anything on that could cause a fire."

Lee shrugged. "The police and fire department are still on the scene, they can probably tell what caused it. Maybe it was a faulty wiring that finally caught fire."

Carley absently shook her head, still suspicious. Lee and Carley looked up as an older man, around age 60, entered the room, wearing a white coat with a tan sweater underneath.

"I'm glad to see you've awoken Carley. I'm Dr. Sullivan, but you can call me Vernon. I'll be your attending physician. Do you understand what happened?"

"Mostly, Lee was just telling me."

"You have some cuts and burns on your arms and legs, but what we need to focus on are you lungs and brain. You inhaled a lot of smoke and you stopped breathing at the scene of the fire. Luckily, your friend knew CPR and kept you breathing until the paramedics came which is why you have the bruises on your chest."

Carley smiled at Lee and he shrugged. "Like I said, I couldn't just let you die."

Vernon continued. "You were diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning as well so we had to give you a face mask with an oxygen reserve bag and then change you to the nose tube you have now. The carbon monoxide level in your blood went down and we'll continue to check it periodically until its low enough to send you home. You also have an increase of mucus in your throat and nose due to the smoke. You just need to rest and get as much oxygen in you as you can."

"Thank you Doctor."

"My pleasure. Call for one of the nurses if you need anything, feel weird or dizzy, or if the mucus builds up too much because then it'll need to be suctioned out. I'll be by to check on you later." And with that, Vernon left Carley and Lee alone in silence.

Carley turned back towards Lee. "You still know CPR, after all these years?"

Lee stretched and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, after that one summer as a lifeguard, I decided to keep getting certified every two years, in case I would need it again."

"Well, it came in handy. Thank you Lee, I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything Car. I already told you, I care about you and I couldn't just let you die. Plus I had to stay by you since I didn't know anyone else I could call."

"I know but you didn't have to stay with me this whole time. How long have I even been out?"

"Not long, just about twelve hours. It's only 10 in the morning." Lee said as he looked down at his watch.

"You've been here the whole time?"

"Well, not the whole time. I went to call and make sure Clem was okay and I slept a little as well."

"Good. I didn't want to occupy your time completely." Carley leaned back against onto her pillow. "Goodness, what am I going to do? I bet you all my stuff is burned up, I need to get a new everything with barely a paycheck and a little bit of savings and to top it all off I still have to work and figure out what the hell I'm going to do for the things I can't replace. Goodness, I'm back for a month and a half and already-"

"Whoa, calm down Carley, you heard what the doctor said. Heal and get some rest and then you can worry about what you're going to do."

"Thanks, I'm thanking you way to much today. Where's the real Lee and what did you do with him?"

Lee laughed and stood up. "Sorry, this is the real deal. I'm going to go pick up Clementine. Get some rest Carley, I'll come by tomorrow."

"Thank you Lee."

Lee stopped walking towards the door and turned to smile at her. "You don't have to keep thanking me Carley."

"I know I just..." She paused. "I don't know, thanks."

"No problem."

"I swear to god when I get my hands on him I am gonna ring his neck!"

"Are you sure you're okay Carley?"

"I told you, I'm fine. I just have to rest here for a few days."

"I know it was him, what else could it have been?! Choking is too good for him; he needs to be tortured first!"

This conversation had been going on for over an hour now, and despite Carley's best efforts, she can't stop the constant cycle of Molly asking her if she's okay and Lilly walking around the room shouting threats to the air. She had waited until the evening to call Molly and Lilly to tell them what happened as she didn't want them to leave work for her. As expected, both women came rushing down, happy for the lack of traffic on a Saturday, and have been with her for the last three hours. Carley used the first hour to explain everything that happened and after the initial outrage and worry, they used to second hour to explain Carley's past with Michael to Molly after Lilly had first accused him of having a hand in the fire. Ever since then, Lilly has been cursing Michael's name while Molly, surprisingly, has been at Carley's side, constantly asking her if she's okay. She took the news about Michael well enough, channeling her anger at Michael into concern for Carley.

"You need to tell the police so they can lock this son of a bitch away for good."

"No. I don't even know if he knows that I'm back. Plus, what am I supposed to say to them? How am I supposed to tell them everything without implicating myself?"

"You shouldn't be charged with anything with your story. It wasn't your fault." Molly said as she sat next to Carley, grabbing and squeezing her hand.

Carley sadly looked down before shaking her head. "No. I just need to put all of that behind me. He didn't do it, I talked to the police. They said it looked like a natural cause, no foul play. If he's not after me then I'd rather just forget and move on with my life."

Molly wrapped her arms around Carley and the smaller woman leaned her head against Molly's arm. Lilly stopped her ranting and joined in on the small hug.

"I'm just worried Carley. This guy chased you away from us once; he's not going to do it again." Lilly said gently as she pulled away from the group hug.

"Thanks, you guys are the best friends I could ask for. He could never chase me away again." She said with a small smile while Molly rubbed her back.

"Yea well, if he tries, I'll help Lilly with her torture chamber." Molly joked, shaking her fist.

All three girls laughed.

Carley shuffled through multiple papers, trying to get herself back in order while still in her hospital bed as Lee sat down next to her. The doctor told her to get rest but for the last two days she's been busy, much to the nurses' chagrin. She never liked lying around just waiting to heal and she had to find a place to stay and arrange for storage to take her things (well, what was left of her things) until her apartment is fixed or she gets a different one. Lee had stopped by again today, bringing along her cell phone that was recovered and some things that Doug and Steve left her.

"Why don't you stay at my house for the time being?" Lee suddenly chimed in. Carley looked up from her papers in shock.

"Stay with you? I don't want to put you out in any way Lee. Its fine, I can find a cheap enough hotel and stay there."

"It's just me and Clem in a three bedroom house. You can have the extra room, it's no trouble. You shouldn't have to find some cheap hotel if a friend can let you stay for free."

Carley chewed her lip in thought. He had already done so much for her, she couldn't ask for this.

"Are you sure you don't mind? I could go somewhere else."

Lee laughed. "It's fine. I really don't mind. It gets lonely with just me and Clem."

Carley sighed and smiled. "Fine, I'll take you up on your offer. I'm saying thanks for what, the fifth time now?"

"Sixth, but who's counting?" Lee said with a smug look.

"Shut up." She joked as she whacked him with her pillow.

A/N Now that I added Vernon, I think I have included everyone except Chuck and Larry which I don't mind since I hate Larry. Christa and Omid will come in soon so I think I reached my goal! Yay! I have a set schedule so I'm going to update every Saturday from now on unless something with my family happens again. Thank you for the reviews and don't forget to review this chapter!