This was probably going to be a big waste of time on Courtney's part, but, hey, she still had a heart, and whether Amy liked it or not, she still thought of her as her friend. She knew the feeling was probably not mutual at the moment, but after hearing about what had happened to her, she couldn't stay away. It would only succeed in making her feel ten times worse than she already did. After tossing and turning so much the night before, she was lucky if she had even gotten at least an hour of sleep. She simply couldn't fall asleep knowing she had screwed things up, and because of the things she'd done, she was alone. With a bouquet of pink carnations cradled in her arms, she stepped off of the elevator, and turned to her left, making her way down the broad corridor towards the hospital room her friend was supposedly in.

She wouldn't be surprised if Amy didn't want to see her. In fact, she was already anticipating the girl's annoyance. The only thing that kept her hopes alive was one simple fact. It hadn't been her who put Amy in the hospital, so that had to count for something, right? As she neared closer to Amy's room, her heart constricted in her chest. She was four feet away from the door when she paused, saying a silent prayer for an extra boost of confidence before rapping softly on the open door, and finally entering the room. "Amy?"

Amy was still lying in bed when she came into view, still surrounded by the machines she'd been on before, but the oxygen mask she'd had last night, had been replaced by a nasal oxygen tube. The tube rested under her nostrils and around her face. As Courtney stepped further inside the room, it was then she noticed, Amy was not alone. There, sitting at her bedside, holding her hand, was Christian. An irritable sigh escaped her. So much for things ending well. Once she laid eyes on the man, she was tempted to turn right back around and leave, but it was too late. The moment she'd spoken, the pair immediately turned their heads in her direction.

There had been a smile on Christian's face when he'd been looking at Amy, but that smile quickly faded when he saw her standing there. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Courtney's eyes locked on him and narrowed in vexation. "For your information, I came to see Amy, not you."

Christian exchanged a look with Amy, who, looked wearily over at her, as if she had better things to do than talk to her at the moment. Courtney opened her mouth to plead for Amy to hear her out, but refrained from speaking when she saw Christian rise to his feet, leaving his place at Amy's side and approaching her. A determined but stone cold look was fixed upon his face, "look, I don't know how the hell you found out she was here, but I think it's obvious that neither she nor I want to see you. So, why don't you and your black, designer knock off boots start walking, before I have to escort you out myself."

Courtney's eyes narrowed once again. "Go to hell Christian. Look, I know she's pissed at me right now, but my friend works here. They called and told me she was brought in last night. I need to talk to her...alone."

"Forget it. She doesn't want to talk to you. In fact, neither one of us want a damn thing to do with you anymore. Why are you even wasting your time? Shouldn't you be off screwing someone else's father by now?"

Oh she wanted desperately to slap him, right there and then, but she knew she couldn't. She had come here with a purpose, and she wasn't going to screw things up anymore. It was tough as hell to fight her temptation to hurt him, but she took a breath to calm herself. "Oh shut up, you're the one who wanted it. I could tell from the day I met you, you were just waiting to get into my pants. You didn't even care what Amy would think of you when you did."

Christian rolled his eyes. "I didn't care? I think you've got it backwards, sweetheart. If you gave a shit about Amy, or even Matt for that matter, you would have thought twice before you went off and screwed her God damn father. Oh, and incase you're forgetting, you were the little slut that seduced me."

Courtney held the flowers in her arms more tightly against her chest, her fingernails digging into the plastic wrapping that surrounded the bouquet. He was seriously playing on her last nerve, and it wasn't making the situation any better. "I don't have time for this." She cocked her head to see past him, "Amy, we need to talk. Look, I know you're pissed at me right now, and I'm probably the last person you want to talk to, but it's important. Please, you gotta hear me out girl."

Amy stared blankly at her. Crossing her arms firmly over her chest, she sighed wearily and turned her head away to look at something else other than her face. "Leave me alone."

Christian looked from Amy to Courtney. "You heard her. It's time for you to leave so get the hell out."

Courtney opened her mouth to continue to plead with Amy, but before she could get one word out, Christian wrapped his arm around her waist, forcing her to start walking towards the door. "Hey! Damn it! Get your hands off me!" She fought against him, but her efforts were in vain. He was just far too strong for her. "Amy! Come on girl, please! Just give me five minutes, please! That's all I'm asking for is five minutes!" She cried.

Amy shook her head in disbelief, ignoring her pleas, and not bothering to even look at her. She exhaled sharply, slumping down in bed and rolling her eyes.

Christian groaned irritably, keeping her moving further and further away from Amy. "God damn it, did you not hear what she said? She doesn't want to talk to you! She wants you out. I'm not going to bother telling you again, sweetie pie, I'll just call security to escort you out."

Despite Christian's much larger frame, she continued to fight against him. "Amy! Amy! You can't let him do this to me! Come on, I'm just asking for you to hear me out. Amy! You can't stay mad at me forever. I still care about you, even if you don't care about me. Hey, I wasn't the one who put you here!" Christian had Courtney about two feet away from the door when Amy's voice stopped both of them in their tracks.

"Wait!"

Courtney exchanged a look with Christian, "she said wait, now get the hell off me!" She gave him a firm shove in the opposite direction, not hard enough to knock him off balance, but enough to make him take a step or two back. He rolled his eyes, planting his hands firmly on his hips and exhaling sharply. Together, the two of them made their way back over to Amy.

Christian and Amy exchanged a look, his brows arching expectantly at her, almost as if to say "are you actually considering this?"

Amy exhaled sharply, gave him a light shrug of her shoulders and rolled her eyes. She groaned. "Fine, whatever, let her stay. For five minutes anyway."

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. "Thank you girl, really, thank you." She knew there was still a part of Amy that actually cared. It might have been hidden deep down inside, but the fact that she was actually willing to hear her out was a relief. Maybe all hope wasn't lost yet after all.

"That's right, I am a girl. A girl that has a name so stop with the 'girl' already. My name is Amy." Amy remarked.

Courtney sighed softly, her heart constricting in her chest at those bitter words. It never seemed to bother her before when she'd called her that, up until now at least. She stole a glance up at Christian, noticing the exasperated look on his face. He met eyes with her, instantly cocking a brow at her in challenge. Her eyes narrowed incriminatingly, as she waited for him to turn around and leave the two of them alone. "I said I wanted to talk to her in private. Guess what that means. It means you leave."

Christian pursed his lips, looking from her to Amy. With a heavy sigh, Amy nodded her head and once again, rolled her eyes. He brought his gaze back down to Courtney, "you got five minutes sweetheart. I'd make the most of them if I were you." He took one last look at his daughter before turning and heading out of the room.

Courtney waited until he was out of earshot before approaching Amy's bedside. "Look, gir--Amy, I know you're pissed at me right now, and you don't want to see me right now, but after hearing what happened to you, I got worried. I wanted to come and see you, and tell you how sorry I am." She glanced down at the flowers still in her grasp, handing them over to her, "oh, here, these are for you."

Amy took the flowers from her with a small, but somewhat forced smile. Without even bothering to take a quick whiff of their sweet smelling aroma, she set them beside her on the bed. "Thanks," she said dryly, "but flowers aren't going to make up for what you did. How could you go and do that to me? How could you go and sleep with my father? Your best friend's father!"

She dropped down into the chair beside the bed, where Christian had been sitting a few moments ago. "I don't know. I'm really--"

"You don't know?" Amy cried, staring incredulously at her.

She cringed, bringing one of her hands up and running her fingers through her hair. "What I mean to say is that it just happened. I'm really sorry I slept with your dad, okay? But after all that went wrong with me and Matt, I got desperate. I just wanted to find a guy, any guy that could satisfy me. Okay, I know how much of a slut that might make me, but I couldn't help myself."

Amy scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. "Yeah, it does make you a slut. A big slut. I mean, what kind of person--friend would do that? It's bad enough that he's twice your age, but I didn't even want to imagine you having sex with someone, let alone my father. Why is it always about sex with you, Courtney? Why couldn't you just be with Matt and not have sex? Why are you always like that?"

Courtney's brows furrowed incriminatingly at the other girl. Truth be told, there was no easy way to answer her question. She sighed irritably, sitting back in her seat. Propping her elbow up on one of the arm rests, she leaned her head on her hand. "Honestly? I don't know. I've been with so many guys over the years. I've had more than my share of boyfriends, and even though there were guys that wanted the sex as much as me, that's all they ended up wanting. They didn't want to commit to anything else that a real boyfriend would."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Well you can't have the best of both worlds, especially with high school guys. Their arrogant assholes!"

"Uh, yeah, I think I've figured that out by now," she retorted, the sarcasm distinct in her voice. She averted her gaze downward, "it was stupid for me to think that I could have both Matt and Christian, but I figured that if I slept with someone else, someone who actually knew what they were doing, I could get what I was missing out on with Matt. Every now and then."

"And did you even stop to think he'd find out about it?"

"Well, I never thought he'd walk in on me while I was doing it with your dad!"

Amy winced, bringing both of her hands up to her head and pressing her fingers to her temples, "okay, you know what? Just shut up. I don't want to think about you screwing my dad anymore! I want that image permanent erased from my fucking head!"

She could see that she was only making the situation worse, but if she truly wanted to make amends with Amy, she'd have to make the most of the time remaining, which probably was down to two minutes by now. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Look, the point is, it was a mistake. A huge, colossal mistake that I promise I'll never make again. I don't know how many more times I can tell you how sorry I am, and I'm sorry that I neglected our friendship for a guy. I know I kind of have a habit of doing that too, but from here on out, I'm going to stop."

Amy scowled. "I know I neglected you as a friend too, but you really hurt me. It seemed like you cared about Matt more than you cared about me, and then you went after my dad." She exhaled sharply, tears already stinging her eyes. "I want to forgive you, because I don't have very many friends right now, but after what you did, I don't think I ever can forgive you."

She felt a pang in her chest, noticing the way Amy's voice wavered with her last words, and suddenly, she felt as though she might start to cry as well. Sitting up in her seat, she looked intently at the other girl and scowled. "I don't want to lose you as my friend, Amy. I know what I did was stupid and it was wrong, but I cared enough about you to come and see you today, didn't I? You sure didn't end up here over something I did to you, did you?"

Amy looked down at her lap, a single tear escaping the corner of her eye and rolling down her cheek. "No," she said softly. "You didn't do anything to put me here. Someone else did."

"Who is it? Whoever the hell it is, I'll totally go and kick their ass for you because anyone who messes with my friends is begging for some deep pain."

"I'm still your friend?" Amy murmured with a quiet sniffle.

"Well of course you are. I told you that. Even if you don't think of me as yours. I could barely sleep last night knowing you were here." She pursed her lips, holding back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. "I seriously would've lost it if I came in here today, and they told me you were dead. You're my best friend, Amy, and I know that I'm still yours. I know I haven't done such a good job of being that friend, but I'm going to change. At least I'm going to try, for you. For us."

The tears were now streaming down Amy's cheeks. She brought her hand up to wipe them away, and sniffled deeply. "I don't know what you expect me to say."

Courtney wiped her own tears away, and sighed wearily. "If you're worried about me coming near Christian again, I can guarantee you that it's never going to happen. I can't even stand being in the same room as him right now, and considering the way he's been treating me, I think the feeling is mutual."

Amy nodded her head with another sniffle. "Yeah, I kind of picked up on that."

"So, what do you say gir--Amy, are we friends again? Will you give me another chance at being your friend? I'm going to try my hardest not to mess things up this time, I promise." Her heart pounded in anticipation. She didn't know what more she could do if Amy turned her away. Like Amy, she was in the same boat. She didn't have but a few people in her life that she even considered friends, but they didn't seem to have much time for her as it was. They all had jobs, boyfriends, and school.

After a long hesitation, Amy exuded a heavy sigh but gently nodded her head. "Yeah. Well, we can work on it at least." Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug.

She nodded in understanding, a small smile appearing on her face. "I can live with that. Look, would you mind doing something for me?"

Amy's brows furrowed in consideration. "What?"

Courtney opened her mouth to reply, but once again, she was rudely interrupted by the sound of Christian's voice.

"Time's up, get out." Both she and Amy turned their heads as Christian appeared at the foot of the bed, his hands firmly planted on his hips. He was looking directly at her, but when he stole a glance over at Amy, his forehead wrinkled in bewilderment. "Why are you crying sweetheart?" His cold gaze shifted back to Courtney, "what the hell did you say to her?"

Amy quickly wiped the excess tears from her eyes, shaking her head. "She didn't say anything bad." She exchanged a look with Courtney before looking over at him, "look, just give us five more minutes, okay?"

He looked from Courtney to his daughter, cocking an questioning brow at her. "You're kidding me, right? You actually want to give this little slut five more minutes of your time? If you want her gone, all you have to do is say the word and--"

Courtney's jaw went slack at the words, "little slut," and her eyes once again began to narrow in fury. Was he actually begging for her to kick his ass? Well, she'd take kicking him in his crotch over his ass any day. She was tempted to utter some kind of snide remark, but didn't get the chance.

"Christian!" Amy cried suddenly.

"What?" He answered.

"Stop! Just give us five more minutes, please."

His eyes shifted back to Courtney, who held his gaze for a moment, almost challenging him to keep talking trash about her. He exhaled sharply with a roll of his eyes, "fine," lifting his hand, he pointed a finger at her, "five more minutes and then you're history." Turning on his heels, he left the two of them once again in peace.

This time it was Courtney who rolled her eyes. A weary sigh escaped her, hoping Christian wouldn't be rude enough to interrupt them again. Well, either way, she knew she had to cut to the chase or she might just hurt him the next time he walked into the room.

"What did you want me to do?" Amy inquired.

"I need you to talk to Matt for me," she replied. Amy's brows furrowed questionably so she went on. "He won't talk to me, and there's probably no chance of us ever getting back together, but I still really like him. If we can't be boyfriend and girlfriend, the least I want is his friendship. I know, it's a lot to ask for, especially after what I did, but I still want him in my life. I need him in my life. Please, Amy, you're the only one who can do this for me."

For a long moment, Amy didn't say anything. She just sat there, appearing as if she were mulling it all over. Courtney stole a glance at her wristwatch, watching the seconds tick by. She bit down on her bottom lip and waited rather impatiently for her to utter some kind of reply. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Amy exhaled sharply and spoke, "okay, I'm not making any promises, but I guess I could try and talk to him."

Well, it was a good thing Amy wasn't as hard-headed as her father. If she was willing to try, that was good enough for her. Courtney sighed softly. "Oh my God, really? Thank you. I would so appreciate you doing this for me." Amy shrugged her words her off, almost as if they meant nothing to her. Courtney scowled and shook her head in disbelief. So much for her not being much like Christian. She stole another glance at her wristwatch, "well, I should probably get going."

Amy nodded in agreement. "Probably, Christian will be coming back again soon."

She rolled her eyes at her last words. Oh, she knew perfectly well what would happen if she wasn't gone by the time he came back. She would get kicked out on her ass. It was better this way anyway. If she stuck around any longer, she might just have to leave with a security escort after all, because being in the same room as Christian Troy, well, there was only so much more she could take before she snapped. She rose to her feet, looking down at Amy with a forced smile. "You know, for what it's worth, I hope you feel better, and I'm sorry again...for what I did. For all of this. It was a stupid and honest mistake."

Amy pursed her lips, nodding in regard. "Thanks."

"All right, well, I guess I'll see you around then."

"Okay."

"See ya." Whirling around on her heels, she headed for the door.

Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she saw Christian. He was standing just outside the door, his hip against the wall, and his arms crossed firmly over his chest. Her eyes narrowed incriminatingly. She was partially tempted to say something to him, but instead, decided it was better not to get him started. She scoffed, shook her head and turned to head off in the opposite direction of the hall, muttering the word "asshole" under her breath. As she started walking away, she thought she heard him utter some kind of reply back, but she wasn't entirely sure. Well, even if he had, she didn't care to hear what he had to say. Besides, it was probably just some snide and arrogant remark anyway. Definitely not worth wasting her breath over.

She had faith she would get her best friend back, but as far as Christian Troy went, well, she'd feel better never having to look that asshole in the face again. Even if he wasn't necessarily that bad to look at. He was amazing in bed, but other than that, he had an ego twice the size of his head, and was nothing more than a cocky, smart-ass prick.

"Your heart and lungs sound fine, blood pressure is fine." Christian removed the stethoscope from his ears, and the blood pressure cuff from Amy's arm, setting it back on the roll-away cart beside him. He brought his eyes back up to her face, "how are you doing sweetheart?"

She smiled softly. "Much better now that I'm here with you, and not in that God forsaking hospital," she replied, with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

Shortly after Courtney had left Amy's room back at the hospital, Christian had entered with a wheelchair, alerting her that he had talked to Dr. Salvio, and the man had approved her transfer to McNamara/Troy that afternoon. Christian had definitely been on top of things. He'd even been smart enough to bring her an extra set of clean clothes. Obviously, some clothes she had left over at his apartment when she'd been spending the night there. They'd taken his car over to the clinic, and had arrived almost two hours ago. It didn't take them long to get her settled, and it was a definite relief that she didn't have to be on so many machines as she had been at the hospital.

Amy was currently lying in bed in one of their cozy recovery room suites. Christian sat on a stool beside the bed. She wore a hospital gown beneath the white robe that covered her up -- in addition to the soft bed linen -- and the only machines she was hooked up to were a heart monitor and an IV. However, there was still a nasal oxygen tube in her nostrils as there had been previously. Christian insisted that she still remain on two liters of oxygen, just as a precautionary measure. Truth be told, she still had some healing to do.

Christian returned her smile with one of his own. "I'm glad. Whatever I can do to make you feel more comfortable." He sighed softly. "At least this way I can keep an eye on you. You're my patient now so relax."

She nodded her head with a smirk, reaching out and taking his hand in hers. He gave it a soft squeeze, allowing the pad of his thumb to caress the top of her hand. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." He stole a glance around the area. "Is there anything special I can bring you, sweetheart? Can I get you a drink? A snack?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine, but thanks. I'll let you know if I get hungry or thirsty." Her brows furrowed in thought. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Shifting in bed to get more comfortable, she sank down a little farther beneath the covers. A weary sigh escaped her. "I need you to be honest with me about this."

His brows stitched together inquisitively. "About what?"

She exhaled sharply. "Would you ever consider...sleeping with Courtney again?"

Christian rolled his eyes, sighing in frustration. "If you're asking me because you think I have feelings for the little slut, I'll tell you right now, she's not even worth a second screw. She seduced me into screwing her, which, as a result, ruined my relationship with Matt. At this point, I wouldn't bother giving her the time of day, much less my dick." His brows arched expectantly. "Does that answer your question?"

She cringed but nodded her head. "Yeah." She sighed deeply, "but I guess I'm going to give this whole friendship with her another shot. At least I'm going to try. I know I probably shouldn't even bother, but a part of me, a very small part, feels somewhat guilty. Is that stupid?"

"Frankly, I'm surprised you're still talking to her." He exhaled sharply, "I may not think so highly of her right now, but you're free to do whatever the hell you want. As long as she doesn't get you involved in the same shit Kimber did, I could careless whether you talk to her or not. It's up to you, but if it were me, I wouldn't want anything to do with the bitch anymore."

Amy was tempted to defend Courtney for his last remark, but decided not to. Truth be told, Courtney was still a bitch to her. She might not have said it to her face, but there was still a very big part of her that felt that way inside. She nodded her head in regard. "Okay."

There was a light knock on the door just then. Both Amy and Christian turned their heads towards the door to see who it was. "I'm sorry to interrupt," Liz spoke, looking between the two of them. Her gaze then settled on Amy, "but Sean just informed me that you were here."

Christian looked from Liz to Amy then back to Liz. "Amy, you remember our anesthesiologist, Liz, don't you? Liz, I'm sure you remember my daughter." He arched his brows expectantly.

A smirk crossed Liz's face. "Of course. How could I forget?"

Amy nodded and looked over at Liz. The woman approached the end of her bed and sent her a friendly smile. "Yeah, I remember her too. Hi." She forced a cordial smile.

"Hi," Liz greeted her. "It's nice to see you again, Amy."

"You too." Well, to be honest, Amy didn't know if the woman actually did want to see her again, considering the awkward conversation they'd had when they'd first met, and Liz had mistaken her as one of Christian's former one-night-stands. The thought repulsed her then and it still repulsed her now, but it was forgiven and forgotten as far as she was concerned.

"I'm assuming Sean has already informed you of Amy's condition. She's going to be staying here a few days as she continues recovering." Christian spoke up.

"As a matter of fact, he did." She looked down at Amy and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry honey, you're in good hands. We're going to take good care of you."

"That's right, but if Sean and I get tied up in surgery or in a consult, Liz will be here to take care of whatever it is you need." Christian added with a small smile. "Don't write her off before you've gotten to know her. She can be awfully friendly, but that doesn't mean she won't bite your head off either."

Amy's brows furrrowed in consideration. "Uh, okay."

"I don't bite people's heads off, Christian, but if you're not careful, I might just start with the first plastic surgeon who's arrogant enough to make a false assumption about me." Liz remarked testily.

Christian's brows arched expectantly, and then furrowed incriminatingly. "Lighten up there, Lizzie. It was a joke."

At that moment, a petite and unfamiliar blonde woman peeked her head in, "Dr. Troy?" Everyone turned their heads at the sound of her voice.

"Yes?"

"Your five o' clock is here." The blonde informed him.

Christian nodded his head. "I'll be right there." With that, the petite blonde turned and left. He turned his head back, looking over at an expectant Amy. A soft sigh escaped him. "I need to go, but I'll be back to check on you later, I promise." He rose to his feet and leaned in to place a kiss to the top of her head.

Amy scowled, but nodded her head in understanding. "Okay."

He straightened up, his gaze settling on the other woman, "Liz..."

Liz held up a hand to silence him, shaking her head. "You don't have to say it, Christian. I will take special care of her until you get back." She looked down at Amy, smiling softly. "It should give us a chance to get to know each other."

Christian gave her an affirmative nod of his head. "Thank you." He took one last look at Amy before turning and leaving the room.

Amy sighed wearily, looking up at Liz. For a brief moment, the room was quiet. She tried to think of something to say to Liz, but nothing was coming to her. Then, as the woman began examining the IV bag, which hung on the rod beside the bed, she broke the quiet and spoke to Amy.

"So, you and Christian have gotten pretty close, huh?" Liz inquired.

Amy nodded her head. "Yeah, we really have. I know it might seem fast, seeing as how we've only known each other a few weeks, but after all that's happened, I feel like I've known him my whole life."

Liz nodded. "Well, I certainly hope he's been treating you well, honey. I know he can be quite thoughtful at times, but more often than not, his arrogance and his ego get the better of him, and he can turn cruel in the blink of an eye."

She sighed woefully. "I know. He hasn't been so much like that to me though. In fact, he's been more thoughtful than ever to me. Well, except for that one thing, and we do fight sometimes, but he's done so much for me. He's saved my life twice already. I know he truly loves and cares about me. He protected me with his life when my..." She averted her gaze downward, her voice wavering slightly as she continued, "my abusive, adoptive father went and...hurt me."

There was a brief moment of silence before Liz spoke. "I want to apologize for the way I acted to you before. I'm sorry I ever doubted you sweetie. Frankly, I never anticipated Christian even had a daughter, but I believe it now. You really are his daughter, I can tell he really and truly loves you with all of his heart."

Amy lifted her chin and looked up at Liz, who's face was filled with compassion and understanding. She smiled tenderly, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "It's okay."

Liz smirked. "I hope we can still be friends."

She nodded her head. "Definitely."

"Look, don't take this the wrong way honey, but I had my doubts about whether or not Christian could be a father." Liz sighed softly. "To tell you the truth, he's never commited to anything in his life, much less a child, but from what I've seen, and what you've told me, I have more appreciation for him than I've had in years. He protected you with his life. He did what any suitable father would have done in the situation. That right there shows me just how much better off you are with Christian, than with the abusive man who raised you."

Tears were already welling up in Amy's eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She couldn't allow herself to break down in front of a woman she barely knew. It would be embarassing. "I know. I just wish, you know, that he could have been there for me growing up." She looked sadly down at her hands. "It would have definitely helped to have a father that actually...loved me." There was no way she could hold back the single tear that rolled down her cheek.

"I understand, but the important thing is he's here for you now, and he's actually taking responsibility for his mistake." Liz scowled, gazing at her intently. "Hey, you okay?"

Amy nodded gently. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."

"No, it's okay." She took a breath to compose herself once again, quickly wiping away her tears. "They're tears of joy, not sadness."

Liz smiled sympathetically down at her. "You know, I think you might actually be the first female Christian has ever had a positive impact on."

A smile played at the corners of Amy's mouth. "Really?"

Liz nodded. "Really. You may be his daughter, but as far as I can tell, he didn't pass on a single one of his negative attributes to you."

She exhaled sharply, looking up at her with a lop-sided smile. "Well, you haven't really seen that part of me yet. I can be a total bitch sometimes. I can be just as cruel as him, if someone pushes me far enough."

"We'll, if there's any cruelty or even the slightest bit of arrogance in you, you certainly don't show it honey. You might actually have been lucky enough to obtain Christian's better qualities."

Amy smirked. "You're probably right." Suddenly, the sound of someone clearing their throat caught both she and Liz's attention. The two of them turned their heads towards the open door, and there stood Matt.

"Hi Matt." Liz greeted him with a friendly smile.

Matt stepped further inside the room, stealing a glance over at Liz. "Hey."

"Matt, hey." Amy shifted beneath the covers, pushing herself up a little more in bed. She looked over at him, her brows furrowing in consideration. "What are you doing here?"

"My dad called me up. He said you wanted to talk to me about something?" Matt stared inquisitively at her.

"Oh, oh yeah! I did want to talk to you." Amy looked from Matt to Liz and then back to Matt. His eyes also shifted in the woman's direction. "Can you excuse us for a few minutes?"

Liz looked between the two of them, smiling softly. "Of course. Excuse me." Turning on her heels, she headed out of the recovery room, leaving the two of them alone.

Matt gradually approached Amy's bedside. "I heard about what happened to you. How are you doing by the way?"

She smirked. "I'm feeling better, thanks. Being here is definitely ten times better than being in the hospital. Christian wanted me to feel more comfortable, and I couldn't sleep over there so he brought me here instead. You can't really escape the smell though." She chuckled softly.

Matt nodded his head. "Yeah, it really doesn't smell any different, but I'm glad you're at least doing better. So, uh, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Amy hesitated before speaking the words. "I wanted to talk to you about...Courtney."

It was then that Matt's features turned cold, his gaze filled with vexation. "What's there to talk about? You told me pretty much all I needed to know about her. Or was there something you left out? What are you going to tell me? That she's carrying my uncle's baby?" He shook his head, waving his hand in the air. "No, you know what? I don't want to know."

She cringed. "Okay, ew, no! Please, don't even put that image in my head." She exhaled sharply, wishing she could just avoid the situation all together and tell Courtney to handle it herself, but she knew she couldn't. "Look, Matt, I know this is going to sound like a longshot, and to be honest, you'll probably say 'no' anyway, but Courtney is genuinely sorry for what she did to you."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Really. Well, that's just great," he remarked vapidly, "but you know, it's kind of hard for someone like her to be geuninely sorry, especially when she gets off doing this sort of shit to countless other guys."

Amy sighed wearily. This was not going to get her anywhere. "She wants to be your friend, and I know that's a lot to ask after what she did, but she still wants you in her life. Can't you just try and forgive her or at least try to be her friend?"

"Why are you even doing this? I mean, she slept with your dad! I would've thought you'd be just as pissed about all this as I am, and now you're asking me to be her friend? Why are you defending her?" He held her gaze for a brief moment, his brows furrowing in question, "did she ask you to talk to me?"

She scowled, averting her gaze downward. There was no way she could skate around the truth anymore. She gently nodded her head, speaking softly. "Yeah, and honestly, I don't even know why I'm doing it." Slowly, she lifted her gaze back up to his face. "I'm just as pissed as you are about the whole thing, and yet, I'm still making an effort to be friends with her again. I don't know why I'm giving her another chance, but a part of me, as small as it is, actually misses her. She was my best friend."

"Yeah, well there's no way in hell I'd even consider being her friend again. If she was a real friend, maybe she would have thought twice before sleeping with my uncle. You know, I gave her more than enough chances already, and she blew every one of them."

A bewildered expression crossed her face. "Uh, your uncle?"

"Christian. You know, the promiscuous asshole you're calling your 'dad?' He's my Godfather, or at least he used to be. He's not much of anything to me right now."

She grimaced. The words 'promiscuous asshole' struck a nerve with her. Even if Matt had spoken them out of anger, they were still true. She couldn't deny that to herself. "You know, I really thought that you and Courtney made a good couple. I know that my dad does a lot of stupid things, and he has the habit of sleeping with practically everyone, but..." Her voice trailed off, her shoulders slumping in defeat. She didn't know what else to say. She was both physically and emotionally exhausted, and this was the last thing she needed right now. Her eyes fell shut as she exuded a weary sigh. "Oh who am I kidding? I can't do this anymore."

Matt sighed softly. "I don't know why you even bother. It's not like anything you say or do is gonna change anything. Look, it's over between me and Courtney. I don't ever want to see her again."

"And Christian? You can't hate him forever, right? I mean, you have to talk to him sooner or later. Do you ever think you can forgive him, someday?"

He rolled his eyes at the question. "Well it's definitely going to take some time, I'll tell you that much. If you think I'm just going to wake up tomorrow and act like this whole thing never happened, think again. He slept with my girlfriend!"

She scowled. "So you're not going to forgive him?"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Matt stole a glance over his shoulder, "listen, I'm gonna get going. You look like you could use some rest. I'll uh, I'll see you later." He turned to head towards the door.

A woeful sigh escaped her, watching sadly as he exited the room. She shifted beneath the covers, sinking down farther in bed and getting comfortable. Grabbing the remote from beside the bed, she pressed the red button on it, lowering the top half of her bed a few inches. She went on and shut her eyes, intent on finally getting some rest.

She had been tempted to ask him to stay with her, but she knew that was probably an impossible thing for her to be asking at the moment. Although she didn't know Matt as well as she might like to, she had a feeling he didn't want to be there anymore than he had to be. Obviously because of Christian's presence. It had been rather stupid to try and ask him to become friends with Courtney again, and to be honest, she didn't blame him for not forgiving her. Or even Christian for that matter. Still, she appreciated Matt stopping by and his concern for how she was doing.

She'd agreed to give Courtney a second chance at being her friend, but if by some sheer twist of fate, she blew it a second time, she knew she at least had a friend in Matt. Not only Matt, but Liz too. Suddenly, she knew that from here on out, she would no longer be alone. There were enough people in her life now who would always have her back, no matter what.