"He's right in here," the nurse said as she led Ria into a hospital room. Her eyes quickly fell on Dupree, who was lying on the bed in the middle on the room. Ria quickly rushed to his side. This isn't going to be easy, Ria thought. She had to choose between Loker and Dupree, and she really didn't want to hurt either of them. She already knew who she was going to choose, but breaking the news was always the hardest part.
"Hey," Ria said, glancing at all of Dupree's bandages before returning his gaze. "How are you feeling?"
"Well, my head hurts like hell," Dupree said, "but other than that, I'm fine." Ria could see the pained expression across his face even as he managed a smile. "I heard you helped find the terrorist who was responsible for the bombing."
"Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that," Ria said, remembering everything about the case and her anger at Lightman for keeping the news about Dupree from her.
"Is something wrong?" Dupree asked after another silence. He might not be an expert in reading people, but he could tell something was up. Ria normally looked confident, unlike the unsure look she wore now.
"I, uh, I have to tell you something," Torres replied. She really didn't want to do this, especially since he just woke up from a coma, but it was too late to go back now. Dupree gave her his attention, and so she continued; "Well, you remember Loker, right?"
"Don't tell me he let you in on another job-threatening secret…" Dupree said, recalling the stress he had put Ria in the last time Loker had told her about his lie to his boss. He would seriously have to have another talk with Loker if he did that again...
"No, he didn't," Ria said with a small smile. Although she didn't like having to lie about what she knew about the Hollin case, she still felt glad that Eli had trusted her enough to tell her. She also remembered that one night when Eli had called, and her little chat with Dupree about how keeping secrets was sometimes better. "While you were, well, unconscious for the past few days, we had this…interesting case together. It involved a murder of a kid and a suicide of his brother, and so we went to see if we could find who did it." Ria could tell she was stalling, she really needed to get the point. "What I'm trying to tell you is, Eli and I, well, we're sort of, uh, together now."
"He's your new boyfriend?" Karl asked. Ria hated the look of disappointment that lingered on his face.
"I guess you could say that. I'm really sorry. These past few days showed really showed me who he was, I mean, there was this nurse involved in our case who tried shooting me, but Eli pushed me out of the way and he got hit instead…I'm really sorry…" Ria watched as the sadness stayed glued on his face. She really hated this, she really did, but she wasn't in love with Dupree anymore.
Eli, who had given up on looking for a magazine to read in the hospital's small selection, looked up to see Ria coming towards him. The first thing he noticed was the sad look on her face.
"How is he?" he asked, wondering if Dupree was still in a coma, despite what the nurse had said.
"He's fine," Ria answered. "The nurse says he'll probably be able to leave on Friday."
"That's good news, isn't it?" Eli asked. If Dupree was healing, then wouldn't Ria be happy?
Ria nodded. "I told Dupree about what happened while he was unconscious." That must be why, Eli thought.
"And everything means…?"
"I…broke up with him."
"What?" Eli thought she would definitely go back to Dupree, but she dumped him instead?
"Well, since we sort of, well, went on a date, I thought you'd want to continue along that road."
"You gave up with him to be with me?" Eli asked, shocked. He had always liked Torres, from the moment he first saw her. He never knew she would ever return the feeling.
Ria nodded again. "What, you didn't want me to?" Ria joked. She knew that he was just stunned at what she did. Hey, she was shocked herself.
"No, I just never thought that you would do that."
"Should we get going now? We've been here all week."
"Sure." The two left the hospital and walked out into the night. Ria stopped for a second and looked back at the hospital. Eli came towards her.
"Sorry, I was just thinking," Ria said, slightly shaking her head.
"Yeah?" Eli said as they continued walking.
"How's your shoulder?" Ria asked, suddenly remembering Eli's injury.
"Oh, it doesn't hurt so much anymore. That pain medicine must be working."
"That's good," Ria said, coming to another stop in front of the car. She turned to face Eli. They looked at each other for a moment, and then their lips pressed together in a kiss. Unlike their previous attempts, this one didn't have anyone, or anything, to interrupt them.
Author's Note: There's only one chapter(more like an epilogue) left, and I'll try to get it up soon so you guys can read it. I hope you liked this chapter. I thought it was a little boring, but... maybe you'll like it better then I did. Please review like always; I really like reading what you thought! :)
