We can run away, we can run away, until their faces fade to gray.

Lizzie sat across from Roberta, Styrofoam cup in hand, blonde locks falling to shield her eyes. She looked up every so often to see the woman with a notebook and pencil, but never stopped to ask what the elder woman was doing. Instead, the blonde continued to count tiles and wait rather impatiently for the "Surgery" light to go off. They had been there for what seemed like hours. How bad were his injuries? Lizzie closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall, hitting her head softly. "This is all my fault."

Roberta looked up, pausing her hand's movements for a moment. She continued to move the pencil around, ignoring Lizzie's odd look. The elder woman didn't speak for some time, clearly articulating her words to say something. "I wouldn't say that I don't agree, but I highly doubt this is any singular person's fault."

"He was coming to see me," Lizzie murmured, sitting forward again, her green eyes scrutinizing on every small miniscule detail of Roberta's posture. "It was my fault."

"From what I could see, he was answering a text, so that makes it his fault," She answered, looking back up for a few moments, studying the blonde across from her. "Regardless of circumstance, he knew he should have stopped, as did the other man that hit him. There is no fault nor blame in this situation. If he comes out of this okay, able to walk, talk, breathe…be the same boy he was when he went in there, who are we to place blame?"

Lizzie pushed her long hair back and thought about it for a long time. "Why did you hate me, Mrs. Gordon?"

"Call me Roberta, please," She replied. Her sigh was heavy, her words thin. "I hated you for playing with my son's heart for so long. He spent thirteen years loving you, and you looked through him like he was glass."

"But we dated in high school…for four years, actually." Lizzie added.

Roberta shook her head. "Pity dates."

"How do you explain this?" Lizzie demanded, pointing to her swollen stomach. "Was that out of pity, too?"

Roberta's pencil froze on the paper. The woman's gray eyes watched Lizzie's hands move instinctively, protectively, around the child inside her. "Why did you keep the child, even though you knew he wasn't coming back?"

Lizzie's eyes darkened as she moved to look away. "Because somewhere deep inside I wanted to believe that he would come back. We both did our fair share of heartbreaking, Mrs. Gordon, but in the end, it's me who had to suffer."

"How is it suffering if he doesn't even know his child exists?" Roberta inquired, putting her pencil down. She'd noticed she was pressing far too hard on the page. "Is it really you whose suffering if he's the one who decided to let go of the one who hurt him the most?"

Lizzie ignored the older woman and stood to her feet, shooting a glare at her before she left the lobby area. "I hope you can live the rest of your life knowing that I'll be leaving town after David gets better. You won't see me or your grandchild ever again, and you can pretend nothing ever happened." The blonde hissed bitterly. "Since that's what you're so keen on."

Roberta's jaw dropped as Lizzie left the lobby.

Matt stepped into the cafeteria, looking around for his sister. The tall brown haired boy stood on his toes to see over the banister that separated one floor from the next. There was only two steps between the "floors", but he still couldn't see over the wall. He spotted her in the corner and went over to the booth, hands in his pockets, and sat down across from her. "I came as soon as class was over. Roberta told me you were probably down here."

Lizzie twirled the straw around idly in her chocolate milk, listening to Matt talk. "Thanks for coming."

"Liz, why are you down here and not upstairs in surgery?" Matt asked, hesitantly watching his sister's gaze move to the table. "Is this about Daniel?"

"No, it's about Daniel's grandparents," Lizzie murmured. "Roberta kicked me out, she told me she didn't care if I stayed or left," Lizzie looked away, tears threatening to fall. "I would love to be upstairs right now, waiting for him to come out of surgery, but that's not going to happen. She won't let me stay. Every time I go up there, she picks a fight with me. She says she's my friend, then starts an argument."

Matt came around the table and grabbed her wrist. "Come with me."

"No!" Lizzie screamed, pulling her hand away. "I'm not going up there."

"Elizabeth! You could miss your last chance to say goodbye to the only man you ever loved!" Matt screamed back, glaring at the people giving him odd looks. "He needs you right now, and you're going to let him down by not being there?"

"Well, no…I…Matt, stop pulling my arm!" She yanked her hand free and glared at him. "I'll go!"

"I'll be with you, they can't say anything if I'm there. Safety in numbers, you know?" He went to the steps and turned to see his sister slowly catching up. "You are so slow."

"You try carrying around an extra twenty pounds of weight," She mumbled bitterly, going to the steps.

Matt turned the corner and saw Howard and Roberta sitting by themselves in the waiting room. Howard must have gotten there shortly after he went downstairs to collect his sister. Lizzie didn't speak, she didn't move, she stayed by the nurse's station safely out of sight. Matt moved forward and strolled into the waiting room, hands in his pockets, sitting across from the Gordon's. "Any news?" He asked in an attempt to make small talk.

Howard glared at Matt, keeping his mind elsewhere. He had a few choice words to say to Lizzie, but none came to mind. Not in the presence of her soon-to-be-Marine brother. When Lizzie heard the deafening silence, she moved around the corner, letting her presence be known for the first time in several moments. "Matt…?"

Howard stared at Lizzie, his gray-blue eyes scrutinizing the woman's every detail. Matt went to speak, his mind reeling with different possibilities for answers. "Hey, come sit with us. You're welcome."

Lizzie moved closer to the sixteen year old and watched Howard's quiet gaze follow her movements. She sat next to her brother and looked to Roberta and Howard. Evidently no one had told Howard that Lizzie was pregnant.

"So let me get this straight, she got knocked up by some guy who clearly doesn't care enough to marry her?" He paused and went to speak, but Lizzie cut him off.

"I would think very carefully about how you speak about your son." She hissed rather bitterly. Matt put a hand on top of hers.

Howard stood to his feet to say something bitter, but Roberta's hand stopped him. "Howard…she isn't lying."

Howard's eyes got wide as he fell to his seat again, glaring at Lizzie from across the hallway. "I thought David had more respect for himself?"

Lizzie growled something before speaking again. "Do you want to know what he told me just before we went home at prom? It felt right. He did it because that's what he wanted. I wanted it just as badly. We were together for three years, Howard. Do you know what happened when he got his acceptance letter? He left me…we all knew he wasn't coming back for me. I didn't want to burden him with the added worry of a child. I did him a favor."

Howard went to speak again, his words harsh and sharp. "My son is eighteen years old, Elizabeth. He is not old enough to be a father, certainly not old enough to be married, and he will never be ready to marry you!"

This time it was Matt's turn to speak. He stood to his feet, never wavering, never faltering in his words, strong and steady as he spoke. "Mr. Gordon, with all due respect, you need to remember something right now, and don't you forget it. My sister is carrying your grandchild. Likely the only grandchild you will ever get if he doesn't make it. He's already been in surgery for nine hours, that's five more longer than scheduled. Don't ignore that fact. She's six months along, do you know what stress does to a pregnant woman?" When Howard didn't answer, Matt continued. "Stress can cause miscarriage, injuries to the mother, and if the child is born in a stressful environment, a very colicky child. My sister is the best damn person I know. Obviously your son agreed, or he wouldn't have nearly died trying to see her. Right now, all of us need to remember we're here for a common denominator; our love for Gordo. So if you're going to be such heartless people and tell her that she can't see the father of her child, then so be it, but I'm sure he'd feel differently."

Lizzie watched her brother, he green eyes full of tears as he spoke. "Matt, you're going to make them hate me more."

"No," Roberta quietly added before Howard could speak. "He's right."

Howard nodded. "I suppose I got so stressed out with everything going on, I forgot to remember that for nearly a lifetime, my son loved you without falter, without question, without demand…he never gave up on you."

Lizzie touched the charm on her wrist and nodded. It was a promise ring he'd given to her before he left. She couldn't wear it anymore, so it just dangled on the chain on her wrist. "I never meant for it to be this way, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon. I just wanted him to know he had my support forever and always…even if he didn't feel it."

"Roberta, what are you working on?" Howard inquired, looking to his wife's notebook with a pencil still in her hand. She held the notebook out so that Howard could see the sketch of a sleeping child. He recognized that child. A soft smile crossed his lips. "Is that David?"

"Daniel," She answered. "I fell asleep for a few moments, and I saw this little boy playing in the yard at our house. He fell asleep in the yard on a blanket. He looks just like David, of course. He has his mother's hair color and facial structure, but he has his father's eyes and smile. I suppose this is the common denominator, isn't it? We all want to see David be okay…and while the damage wasn't that drastic, it's still daunting, isn't it? Knowing that he may not wake up…may not remember us…"

Matt stared at his sister and frowned. "Lizzie, don't get upset, it's okay. Remember what I told you about faith?"

"I'm not a Christian, Matt. I'm not like you." Lizzie replied quietly.

"It doesn't matter what you believe in, just believe. Believe in him. Believe you can be happy. Believe that he'll be okay for you and Daniel." Matt added, clutching his sister's hand tightly. "Don't give up on the one person in this world that never gave up on you. Not when he needs you."

It was then that the doctor came through the large double doors, his gloves were gone, but his scrubs were pushed up to his elbows. The graying man looked between the four characters in the lobby and turned to Roberta and Howard first. "Your son's injuries are far worse than we expected. When we got inside there was a lot of internal bleeding, but most of it has been stitched. He'll likely make a full recovery if the swelling in his brain isn't too extensive," The man spoke calmly, quietly, clasping his hands together. "The witness said that he was walking around after the accident, perhaps from momentary amnesia, or adrenaline, but there is a possibility that it made the healing process much worse." The doctor looked away for a long time. "The body goes into shut down to repair itself, much like most of your healing happens in your sleep. There's nothing saying he can't hear you, but he can't respond. If the swelling is to damaging, we will need to medically induce a coma until it goes down. We've done the best we can so far. Now it's a matter of surviving the night."

Howard pulled Roberta close as the doctor walked away. Lizzie looked up when the doctors wheeled a pale-faced, dark eyed, masked Gordo from the surgical room. She stood to look at him, gingerly touching his cheek. "Get better for Daniel, okay? He needs his daddy as much as his mommy and grandparents do."

As they moved him to ICU, Lizzie turned to look at Howard and Roberta. "He's going to die, isn't he?"

"Didn't you hear what the doctor said?" Roberta asked.

She shook her head and frowned. "I didn't…I'm sorry."

Howard whispered something to Roberta and nodded to Matt to hint not to say anything. For the first time that night, they realized they needed to be there for this girl. She was the key to their son's survival. "He's going to be just fine."

AN: Ages are slightly off. Lizzie would be just turning 19 (I went with September 24th, her real birthday), and Matt would have just turned 16. They're three years apart in the show (Matt was 10 when Lizzie babysat him at 13). So, yeah…I'm ripping a page from the season finale of Chuck here…don't expect anything really drastic. Also, the sentences at the beginning are all lyrics from the same song (the title is the name of the song) It's by Jade Valerie.