Chapter 20

On their way to the hospital, Mark tried his best to comfort Susan, who was crying softly in the passenger seat beside of him. She kept her gaze focused out the window, seemingly lost in her own thoughts as the scenery passed her by. Mark reached over and took her hand in his and squeezed it gently.

"He's gonna be alright darlin'. He's a tough guy. You know he doesn't hurt easily." he said softly, trying to keep her hopes up even though he was as concerned as she was. He couldn't stand the thought of losing his best friend.

"I hope you're right." she whispered, looking at Mark for a brief moment, before turning her gaze back to the window.

She prayed that he wasn't hurt badly. He had to be okay. It was only a few more weeks until the baby was born and she needed him now more than ever. There was no way she could ever make it through it on her own.

Don't you dare leave me like this Glen, she thought to herself as the tears began to fall again. You have to be alright!

Once they reached the hospital, Mark tried his best to keep Susan calm, while they tried to find out what had happened to Glen. They finally found a nurse who talked with them briefly before escorting them to a waiting room and assuring them that she would send a doctor out to speak with them shortly. Mark took a seat in one of the empty chairs and watched Susan who began pacing nervously back and forth across the floor.

"Sit down darlin'. It's not gonna do Glen any good if you wear yourself down like this." he scolded gently.

"I can't help it Mark." she replied, even as she continued to pace. "I'm worried about him. I mean…we don't know what happened. We don't know how bad he's hurt. How can you expect me to just sit down and be still?"

Mark stood up and went to her, wrapping his arms around her as he tried to comfort her.

"I know you're worried about him but I told you he's a tough guy. I'm sure he's gonna be just fine. Now, come on over here and have a seat and try to relax. The doctor should be out here real soon and then we can find out what's going on." he replied, as he escorted her to one of the chairs.

Susan relented and finally took her seat, fidgeting impatiently as they waited for some news on Glen's condition. Finally, they spotted a doctor coming toward them and Susan jumped up from her seat and went to meet him.

"What happened? Is he okay? Is he hurt badly?" Susan asked frantically, as Mark came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"He's fine." the doctor replied. "He took a nasty bump on the head and he's got a mild concussion but other than that he appears to be fine."

"Where is he? I want to see him." Susan demanded as she pulled away from Mark's embrace.

"Of course. Follow me." he replied as he lead the two of them down the hall to Glen's room.

Susan entered the room first, stopping for a brief moment when she saw Glen sitting on the edge of a gurney, his gaze fixed on the floor beneath him. Then she was on top of him, nearly knocking him over in her haste to get to him. She climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she began to cry. Glen looked at Mark in confusion for a moment before returning her hug.

"Hey. What's all this about?" he asked softly, noticing how upset she was.

"Susan? What's wrong?" he asked again after a minute, when she still hadn't answered him.

Reluctantly pulling away from him, Susan looked up at him through tear-filled eyes as she raised her hand and gently fingered the edge of the bandage on his forehead.

"You scared the hell out of me! What happened? Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine baby. I've got a splitting headache and the whole right side of my face will probably be black by tomorrow morning, but other than that I'm fine." Glen replied, still trying to comfort her.

"What the hell happened to you man? Don't tell me you forgot how to drive?" Mark asked, teasing his big friend.

"Some idiot ran me off of the road." Glen replied. "It was on a stretch of highway just outside of town. He came up behind me and bumped into the back of the car. The impact forced me off the road and the car slide down an embankment."

"Somebody intentionally ran you off of the road?" Mark asked, his curiosity suddenly peaked.

"It seemed to be intentional. I don't know. Maybe the guy was just drunk and didn't know what he was doing. All I do know was that he didn't bother to stop and see if I was okay. I guess he was afraid if he stopped, the police would show up and arrest him."

"You said he." Mark asked. "Are you sure it was a man?"

"Pretty sure. From what I could tell through the rear view mirror, it looked like a man."

"Did you get a good look at the car?" Mark asked.

"Kind of. It was a blue four-door sedan of some kind. Maybe a Toyota or something similar. Unfortunately, everything happened so fast I didn't get a tag number."

At the mention of the car, Susan froze and looked up at Glen again.

"A blue sedan? Are you sure?" she asked, feeling that familiar pit starting to build in her stomach again.

"Yeah. I'm sure. Why?" Glen asked, looking down at her in confusion.

"David drives a car matching that description." she replied. "Glen…you don't think that he…"

Glen looked back up and met Mark's gaze as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"Of course. David." he thought, shaking his head.

"Why would David come after you? I thought he didn't know about the two of you." Mark asked.

"As far as I know he doesn't." Glen replied. "But if it was him, I don't think he intended to hurt me. He saw Susan's car and just assumed that she was driving. He thought it was her that he was trying to get rid of, not me."

Glen looked back down at Susan again, as he hugged her tight.

"My God, if you had been driving that car, he could have caused you to lose the baby or worse." he stated, the anger already rising within him. Before this was over with he was going to find this useless piece of trash and make him pay for everything he had tried to do to them.

"I just don't understand. Why is he doing this? Why does he keep trying to hurt us?" Susan asked, still finding it hard to believe that the man she had been married to for the past ten years could possibly stoop to something so low.

"I don't know what he's thinking. I guess he's just angry with you for leaving him like you did. But I do know that I'm not letting you out of my sight again until I know he's behind bars. I'm not going to give him another opportunity to try and hurt you." Glen replied, still holding Susan close to him

"I'll call Vince and explain the situation. Maybe I can convince him to give you some extra time off." Mark stated, as he stood to leave.

Glen nodded his head in agreement. "We need to contact the police too and let them know about this. If they know he's still around, maybe they can find him."

Once Mark had left the room, Glen looked back down at Susan who was still clinging to him tightly.

"Everything's going to be okay baby." he stated, as he bent to kiss her on top of her head. "I promise he's not going to hurt either one of us again."

Mark headed back outside to call Vince, while Glen talked with his doctor again and instructed him to contact the police. He asked for the same detectives that they had talked with before, so he wouldn't have to waste time explaining the whole situation to them all over again. Once the detectives arrived, Glen told the men what had happened and informed them of his suspicions that David was behind the wreck. The detectives informed him that they would step up their efforts to catch him and they would let him know if anything turned up.

Once they had taken their notes and left, Glen got his doctor to sign release papers so he could leave the hospital. He had noticed that Susan had grown considerably quiet and she looked exhausted. He wanted to get her home so she could lie down and rest.

He got Mark to drive them home, and once inside, Glen ordered Susan to the bedroom, determined to make her rest for a while. She hadn't said one word to him or Mark since they had left the hospital and he was growing more concerned about her by the minute. Mark had told him privately that she had been extremely concerned over his condition, but Glen couldn't help but wonder if there was something else wrong with her. He knew he would have to talk with her later and find out.

Once they were in her bedroom, Susan sat down on the edge of the bed and he removed her shoes before helping her under the covers. Once she was settled, he sat down on the edge of the bed and reached over to gently brush the hair out of her face.

"Get some rest baby. It's been a long morning. Take you a nice long nap and I'll talk to you when you get up okay?"

Glen watched as she closed her eyes and turned her head away from him.

"Susan? Are you okay?" he asked after a moment, when she remained silent.

"Please stay here with me. Don't leave me again." she whispered, as she began to cry again.

Seeing how upset she still was, he removed his shirt and his shoes and climbed into the bed with her, pulling her into his arms.

"It's okay baby. I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay right here with you if you want me to. You just go to sleep and I'll be right here when you wake up, okay?"

Susan turned toward him and wrapped her arms around his waist, trying to pull him closer to her.

"I can't believe I almost lost you today. I don't know what I would do without you." she whispered.

"You didn't really think you were going to get rid of me that easy, did you?" he teased, as he squeezed her tighter.

Susan closed her eyes as she snuggled closer to him. As long as he was here with her, she knew everything would be alright. Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation that she had with Mark and the question that he had asked her right before she had gotten the phone call about the wreck. He had asked her if she was in love with Glen. She had to admit, his question had completely caught her off guard. Even with their history, she had been so caught up in trying to deal with her own problems that she had never really thought of him that way. Or maybe she had and she was just too terrified to let herself linger on it. Either way, after what had happened today along with the added knowledge that she could have lost him for good, she realized just how much she had grown to care for him over the past few months.

"Promise me that you'll never leave me again." she whispered, clinging to him as if her life depended on it. "I can't do this on my own Glen. I can't raise this baby by myself. Promise me that you won't leave me alone."

He reached down and hooked a finger under her chin, raising her head so she was looking up at him.

"You've known from the beginning that I wanted to be here with you Susan. After everything we've been through, there's no way that I'd walk out on you now. I promise that I'll never leave you alone."

Susan smiled up at him faintly before snuggling into his chest again. They laid there together for a long time in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. He caressed her back tenderly as Susan absently traced patterns across his stomach with her fingers. She thought again about the question that Mark had asked her. There was no doubt that she had feelings for Glen. She'd known that for quite a while now. But love? It just seemed so unrealistic to her, especially since she was just coming off of a failed marriage.

Well, unrealistic or not, it definitely gave her something to think about. Maybe it wasn't so impossible after all.