We have finally reached the end of this particular plot, and the nurses will be returning soon. Look for more frequent updates as the pace picks back up in the upcoming chapters. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with this for so long!
Jill and Kelly both looked up as their door barged open.
"Guess what I found out." Sabrina panted by way of greeting. She let the door swing shut behind her and, still in a rush, dragged a chair over to position herself between her two friends' beds.
"Don't know." Jill piped up immediately, but decided against adding don't care. "Guess what I found out."
Sabrina looked annoyed, had she forgotten the whole reason they were stuck in the stuffy room? Or that Sabrina had been out gathering all the evidence she could from around the city just for them? She sneered, "Later, Jill. So I went over to my dad's-"
This, however, couldn't be contained.
"Alan's not the father. Max is." It left Jill's mouth so fast that even she looked surprised to hear it out loud. That, just saying it, made it official. No take backs. No more lies.
"Hang on, Jill." Sabrina huffed. "Let me tell you-" Her face suddenly went blank. "Wait… what?"
Jill mustered enough energy to smile innocently, avoiding the murderous glare Kelly was giving her. "Alan wasn't the one that got Kelly pregnant. Their break up was the real deal, they never got together again. But she did get with someone else soon after..." She gave a slack-jawed Sabrina a moment to comprehend this before clarifying further. "Max, it was Max.
Sabrina stared at Jill in shocked silence before her gaze slowly trailed to Kelly, on the adjoining bed, her face now buried in her hands, muffling the curses she was muttering about Jill under her breath.
"But... what?" Sabrina said quietly. Her blank stare slowly melded into outrage. "Kelly… how-what? Max? You slept with Max?"
Even Sabrina couldn't put it together. She managed to miss this? This one huge, major detail? Kelly and Max acted like casual friends at best, and that was usually Jill's doing. Their shared interest in joy riding with those stupid motorcycles - that she swore would get Kelly killed - seemed to be all there was to their relationship. Max wasn't a bad guy, he was nice looking and easy going and she didn't know why she kept repeating his name. The more she said it the more it left a sour taste in her mouth.
Why not Kelly and Max?
Why... how had she missed this?
Kelly looked pained. "Sabrina, I didn't want any-"
"No!" Sabrina cut her off, waving her hands. "We can't do this now! We need to talk about what I found out from my…" She suddenly slammed an open hand against Kelly's bed. "Jill, you're not fucking with me are you?" It was good to make sure she wasn't part of a joke before she committed murder. When Jill gave her oath, Sabrina filled her lungs with air and felt her face flush with anger. "You mean to tell me, all this time we've been acting like jerks to Alan who not only knew nothing about this but wasn't even the fucking father?"
Jill nodded simply. "Yeah, sums it up about right."
Kelly groaned, sounding miserably defeated by her own actions and the lashing by her friends. "Bri..."
"Don't Bri me!" Sabrina shouted at her, rising to her feet in the heat of anger. "Kelly, you lied to us! You... we... Alan and Max were both standing right there, right in front of you and you laid there and you lied! To both of-" She stopped, a sudden fury sweeping through her dark brown eyes as she snapped her head to Jill. "Max, he wasn't in on this, was he? He didn't-" Before Sabrina could work herself up any further, Jill shook her head quickly.
"No, no, Max had no idea about the pregnancy. He wouldn't try to get out of being a dad, Sabrina." Jill said softly. "You don't know him like I do."
She supposed she didn't. Though, she didn't know Kelly as well as she thought either. If things weren't as serious as they were, she might even have felt tempted to walk away from Kelly, from this lying mess she had brought on herself. Who was she kidding, she was tempted to do so now. But she stayed, God only knew why, but she stayed despite Kelly's best efforts to kick anyone meaningful out of her life.
Sabrina took in a delicate breath, then mentally pushed forward.
"Later." she said quietly, in a quavering voice. "No. I... we can't do this now." With hands that shook - that wanted to strangle her best friend - she dug into her pocket and produced the rolled up picture she'd stuffed in there earlier. "Okay, listen. I talked to my dad and he said that the stuff in Jill's blood can only be bought in Czechoslovakia. It's legal there, only it goes by another name. It's sold as a pesticide just like Alan said."
She very much had Jill's attention now, but Kelly was only halfway listening.
"Bri," She muttered pathetically. "I didn't want to lie, I mean that. I panicked and I made a horrible mistake. I'm sor-"
"No!" Sabrina cut her off with a frantic wave of her hand. "No, I don't want to hear it, I don't care. We have work to do."
"I didn't think I'd ever see him again!" Kelly went on desperately. "What harm would it have done if we never saw each other again?"
Sabrina looked floored. "What harm?" she echoed back angrily, her voice sounding like a venomous hiss. "You still don't get it do you? You don't get for a fucking second that what you did was horrible, the worst thing-"
And then, for the first act of mercy Kelly was shown that day, Jill finally reigned Sabrina in. "Okay, okay, I think she gets it! Now you know everything. Can we get back to the Cyclone B? You know, the reason I got tubes coming out of my arm?" Exasperated, Jill wiggled her IV drip for emphasis of her pain.
Sabrina and Kelly joined forces just long enough to stop yelling at each other and send Jill identical dirty looks.
Not one to be intimidated, Jill met their glares with one of her own, knowing and not caring how ridiculous it must look coming from someone lying in a hospital bed, looking more disheveled than she had ever been.
Pitiful or not though, it worked. "Fine. Back to business." Sabrina said evenly, through gritted teeth. She smoothed out the picture she'd been clutching in her hand and held it out it to Jill. "So during the war, they used this Zyklon B to, um, everyone knows by now what went on in those Nazi camps. But that's not all they did. Some of the camps had scientists and with all the prisoners coming in and… well, no one really caring about their health, a lot of them were used for experiments. Horrible, insane, barbaric experiments. And I'm not even completely convinced these scientists cared about the outcome of the war. They used it as an excuse to do things in the name of science, to all kinds of people."
"Like?" Jill pressed.
"I just said, horrible things." Sabrina explained. "They tested medicine-"
Jill let out a flustered sigh. "I mean people. What kind of people? Pregnant women?"
At the mention of pregnant women, Sabrina side-eyed Kelly, who wasn't able to make eye contact with anyone, with a withering glare. "Yes, pregnant women. Even lying preg-"
"Oh my God!" Kelly cried, her head popping up to face Sabrina. "Do you want me to get down on my knees and beg for mercy? I said I was sorry."
"Why are you apologizing to me? Maybe you should go apologize to Alan and Max!"
"I am going to apologize to them!" Kelly shouted loudly. "Do you think I really got a thrill out of hurting Alan? I didn't mean for any of this to happen, Sabrina! You're acting like I lied to get a kick out of it."
Sabrina scoffed at her outburst, her dismissal making Kelly's blood boil. "Yeah, well you do it way more and way better than anyone else I know. Who knows, maybe you do get some sort of buzz off doing it." Her face turned to a scowl. "I swear, if you weren't pregnant-"
Kelly's green eyes flashed. "You take that back. Now."
"No." Sabrina dared to stare her down. She wouldn't admit Kelly was intimidating when her temper was flared. Usually Jill could diffuse Kelly's anger with a few light jokes, but in this case she was dead silent. Which left Sabrina to stand her ground on her own. "I won't. And I'll tell you why, too. You listen to me-"
"No, you fucking listen!" Kelly cut in angrily, pushing herself up as if to get out of bed. This was where it was going to get ugly, Sabrina was already mentally noting it. Kelly had a tendency to rant and hurl around words she didn't mean. This was going to be no exception. "Nobody tells me what to do, how to live my life, and how I should feel. I'll tell Max because really, it's only our business. The only thing I'm really sorry for is that you two got involved in it. It's not Jill's business, and it sure the hell isn't yours!"
"Not our business?!" Sabrina echoed in outrage. "What the hell do you mean, not ou-"
Kelly swung her legs over the bed, cradling her injured hand to her chest. "You heard me the first time! This is between me and Max and Alan! You weren't even supposed to know until I'd gotten it figured out for myself, so don't you try to guilt me for having to lie about something I shouldn't even have had to lie about!"
Kelly's own logic made her head hurt, and she rubbed her eyes against the palms of her hands. She let out a small dry laugh. "You shouldn't have lied, end of story. Who the hell lies about something like that?!" She shouted back, then inhaled deeply. "Now sit down before you hurt yourself."
"Don't tell me what to do, Sabrina!" Kelly argued back, rising to her feet in defiance.
On her bed a few feet away, Jill laid in a wide eyed stupor, Sabrina's explosive reaction to her news making her feel immediate regret for ratting Kelly out in the manner that she had. Kelly and Sabrina butted heads every so often - usually over which way to handle a case, bickered occasionally, but never had Jill seen them fight to this extent. Never had they been at each other's throats the way they were now and terrified at the thought of something said in the heat of the moment causing rift between the two, Jill made a desperate attempt to referee.
"Whoa! Hey, you two," she chanced, in a much calmer voice. "...maybe this should wait, okay? Let's just all calm down and listen to what Sabrina found."
Her first attempt at refereeing between her two arguing friends went ignored as did her second and third attempt to get their attention. She'd started the ball rolling and it was clear that no matter what she said, no matter how she flailed her arms to get their attention, neither Sabrina nor Kelly was going to let up on the other.
"Oh, what are you doing now, Kelly?" Sabrina groaned, upon seeing Kelly rise to her feet. "Sit back down before you fall and break your other hand."
"It's a hairline fracture, not broken." Kelly shot back heatedly.
While the girls were arguing, it was impossible for them to keep the same kind of careful vigilance about the door and eavesdroppers that they had been since arriving. The two determined sets of footsteps rapidly approaching their room went unnoticed until the hospital room door blew open.
"What do you think's going on in there?" Kris asked for what surely must have been the fiftieth time.
Max looked away and for the fiftieth time, gave his shoulders a non-committal shrug.
"Who knows?" he grumbled, frustration very much evident in his voice. He'd started caring less and less about hiding just how irritable he was getting as the day wore on. It was too much. Seeing Kelly again, rushing to save her and Jill's life, finding out she was pregnant, and now caught up in the whirlwind that was her relationship with that damn doctor who was supposed to have been out of the picture over a month ago. He'd been trying his damnedest to give Alan space, to step aside and keep his feelings to himself just out of respect that there was a chance that Kelly was indeed carrying Alan's baby like she'd said she was. But as the day wore on, he began to believe it less and less. So what right then did that Alan guy have kicking them out of the room every ten minutes?, Max began to fume to himself. That baby wasn't Alan's, it couldn't be. Not with the way Kelly was acting around her doctor ex-boyfriend, not the way she'd been acting with him, so distant and cold, pushing him away as hard as she could, refusing to admit the truth for some reason only she knew. Alan had probably done some quick first grade math after the initial shock had worn off and had figured it out for himself. That was what had him so mad.
Because it was his baby, Max knew, and the thought of it made him so jittery, he couldn't sit still. Every minute that ticked by had Max more and more certain of that fact. The baby was his, it had to be his and a part of him had known ever since Sabrina had let the cat out of the bag hours ago. The way Kelly acted around that doctor, the way Alan reacted upon seeing her, as if it had been the first time since their breakup. A rebound fling was definitely out of the picture. No, there was no way she'd gone back to him between Jill's party and now, they'd clearly had seen each other for the first time since their breakup there in that hospital room. And no way Kelly would have jumped into bed with someone else. She wasn't like that.
The timeline lined up in his favor. The baby was his and the time for hiding in the shadows and waiting for Kelly to admit it herself was over. He glanced at the nearby clock on the lobby wall. They'd been alone for nearly twenty minutes now. Plenty of time. It was his turn to have a word with Kelly. No more waiting around in silence.
"We should go back." Max said, suddenly popping to his feet. "Let's go back, I bet he's gone. I bet they're done for good."
Kris gave him an odd look, but rose to her feet as well. "I… I hope not. I mean, they can't be... that's his kid, right?"
Max heaved a frustrated sigh. "No! No, it's - I need to talk to Kelly. Let's go back."
He started forward and, not wanting to be left behind, Kris had no choice but to limp along after him, cursing under her breath at her normally placid friend's sudden attitude change. "Alright, alright!" she griped, struggling to keep up. "Jeez, what's gotten into you?"
"Nothing's gotten into me." Max answered irritably, though he slowed his pace so Kris wouldn't hurt herself. "I just want to talk to Kelly, that's all."
"She's talking to Alan though." Kris warned. "You wanna walk in the middle of that? I sure don't."
"I'm already in the middle of it." Max groaned. "Can we ju- What?!"
Kris had stopped short, snatching at the tail of Max's t-shirt to stop him. His momentum nearly bowled her over, but he was able to stop before yanking her off balance and dragging her down the hallway.
"Tell me what's gotten into you!" Kris asked again, her tone getting slightly angry. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Max groaned and rubbed at the scratchy stubble on his chin in frustration before finally raising his head. It was out already, wasn't it? The big secret was out in the open. Alan knew. Jill was in the room with them and if he knew, then she now did too. Kris would just be the next.
"Kelly's baby." He started wearily. "It can't be Alan's. It… the dates don't match up. They broke up in February. She'd be farther along if… I mean… she isn't even showing yet..."
Kris looked utterly baffled. That hadn't at all been along the lines of what she was expecting to come out of his mouth. "What the hell are you-"
"The baby is mine." Max finished, a little louder than he intended. His announcement raised a few heads and feeling every bit like he was now the star of the worst soap opera imaginable, his face flushed a bright red. "It's my baby. Not Alan's."
Not a shred of understanding crossed Kris's features. Still confused, she shook her head and started to laugh. "What? You said you hadn't even dated, how could you have -"
"How do you think?" Max answered her with a piteous look. He looked around, still very aware of the prying eyes from the small audience their drama had managed to gather. Embarrassed, he took Kris's arm and led her to a less populated section of hallway.
"At your sister's birthday party." He explained in a hushed whisper. "We talked, we had some drinks and loosened up, we were having fun. Then we went back to my car to listen to some music and… proceeded to have more fun."
Kris was speechless.
"It was weeks after she'd left that doctor guy." Max continued, unasked. "I… I was so happy she was finally paying attention to me. We were both so drunk. I felt so… I mean, she was finally with me! In my car! We were making out, she seemed like she wanted to be there and I just felt like I was on top of the fucking world! I got… I got carried away. I shouldn't have. I know I shouldn't have, I knew it then. She'd just broken up with Alvin-"
"Alan."
"Whatever. They'd just broken up, it was too soon for her and I knew it but… but I couldn't… I wanted to be with her and she didn't stop me either." He let out a sarcastic laugh. "And… and I don't just carry condoms around with me, I didn't go to Jill's party looking to get laid, I mean… ugh, that's not… I didn't plan for it to happen. You know me, I'm not like that. Except that one time. With Kelly. And then I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone and we'd just go back to being friends, even though I really wanted more. But... I got her pregnant. It's my baby. And it's my responsibility too. I need to talk to her."
Still stunned, Kris stared at him in silence, before finally fumbling together a coherent sentence. "I... okay, yeah. Yeah, you… you probably should talk to her." She said stupidly.
Realizing they were once again gathering a small crowd of curious onlookers, Max swore under his breath and again took Kris's arm. "I should. I will. Come on."
"Mhm, yup." Was all Kris could manage as her friend pulled her along behind him. The pair walked in silence towards the elevator and after the doors didn't immediately open upon Max slapping at the button, continued their silent trek up the stairs.
Kris gripped the banister hard, struggling against the pain in the leg to keep up with her companion's frenzied pace. "What, um, what are you planning to say to her?" she ventured.
When Max didn't answer after two attempts at getting his attention, Kris decided she'd find out when they got to the room. He was too much on edge to converse right now. At least with her anyway.
With another two floors to go and no one to talk to, Kris began to nervously hum to herself, her wordless humming soon giving way to soft singing.
"Well, it's you girl and you should know it. With each glance and every little movement you show it."
Max cast a sideways look at her, momentarily pausing both their walk and her song.
"What?" Kris snapped defensively. "You're dragging me right into you and Kelly's mess, I should be able to sing whatever the hell I want to."
Without comment, Max shook his head, and continued dragging her up the stairs.
Kris tagged along right behind him, irritated and nervous now, and purposely began to sing louder as they made their way from the stairwell onto Jill and Kelly's floor.
"Love is all around no need to waste it. You can have a town why don't you take it-"
Max's quick pace had them at Jill and Kelly's door within a few moments, and without bothering to pause for a moment to gather himself like he normally would, he pushed the door open and blew inside, pulling Kris right along behind him and putting an end to her song.
"You're gonna break it if you fall." Came Sabrina's warning voice before her attention snapped to the pair that had just burst into the room.
Three heads turned to see Max and Kris stumble right into the middle of what could only have been an argument between the three girls. Kelly was out of bed, facing Sabrina in the middle of the room, both women looking worked up and furious with each other. To the side, Jill lay in her bed, both hands up as if caught trying to either pacify her two friends or measure an especially large fish.
Something was going on, something they'd just interrupted. But, good timing was just a luxury, Max couldn't afford today. "Kelly," he started, in an agitated voice. "- I need to talk to you. Right now."
Sabrina, hands on her hips, turned to face him as if he was a child intruding on an adult conversation. "Max, we're busy. What are-"
"I don't care." Max interrupted her. "I need to talk to Kelly."
He met Sabrina's stare and refused to back down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kelly slowly sink back into a sitting position on her bed. Max made a point not to look at her just yet. If he looked at her, he'd lose all his nerve.
"The baby isn't Alan's. It's mine." He announced and was slightly puzzled when his announcement only brought on a barrage of eye rolls and blank faces.
"We know." Sabrina sighed.
Max's features twisted in confusion. "You… you what? You know?"
"Yes, we know." Jill snapped.
"How… you knew the whole time and none of you said anything?"
Sabrina was fighting the urge to explode. Too much was going on and Kelly's little sideshow soap opera was very much distracting them all from the grave situation at hand. "No, we didn't know the whole time. Kelly just told us."
"I… I was going to tell you. I wanted to tell you." Kelly offered feebly after an awkward moment of confused silence.
All the wind gone from his sails, Max stood dumbly in the middle of the room for a few beats before straightening to his full height, trying to make himself look as commanding as possible to salvage the situation. "So, I'm the last one to find out then. I get that. But, still. Kelly, I need to talk to you alone."
"Okay, fine." Sabrina sighed finally. "But, later. Look… we need to figure something out. Can you and Kris come back in a few minutes?"
More than grateful for the escape, Kris turned to go and let out a groan when Max took firm hold of her wrist to stop her.
"No!" he said firmly. "I'm not leaving. No, I'm tired of being kicked out of here every ten minutes so someone else can have some privacy. I need to talk to Kelly alone, so could the rest of you please excuse us?!"
Sabrina shot Kelly and then Jill an incredulous look. She halfway expected Kelly to refuse to look at her, to start making excuses as to why she couldn't talk to Max right this second, to take her side and help convince Max to leave and come back later to avoid the conversation both needed to have. Instead though, Kelly met her gaze for a moment and then looked away, her features a calm mask of acceptance.
"Just go." Kelly said quietly. She looked utterly defeated and ashamed. "We do… I mean… please, just go."
"Are you serious?" Sabrina replied, half laughing. "Kelly, there are people out the-"
"And they'll still be out there in five minutes." Kelly said firmly. "Please, just go."
Sabrina stared at Kelly, dumbfounded. Her gaze met Kelly, then Jill, who offered a helpless shrug in response, before finally resting on Max. "Fine." She said finally, "I cannot believe we are stopping for …you know what? Let's take a coffee break. Fine. But, when you two are done with… whatever you're about to talk about, can we please get back to keeping you and Jill alive, Kelly? Is that too much to ask for?"
Kelly refused to meet her gaze again, instead staring stubbornly at the wall beside her.
"Great. Have fun." Sabrina sighed, before slipping out the door.
Kris watched her go before letting her blue eyes flit uncertainly between Max and his hand, still gripping her wrist. "So….can I go?"
Max stared at her for a moment before realizing that he was holding her arm. He hastily released her and took a step back. "Oh…" he stammered. "Uh, yeah. Please. Sorry, Kris."
"Right." Kris replied in an odd voice. "Good luck."
She, too, disappeared into the hallway with Sabrina, leaving Max alone with Kelly and Jill. The agitated young man stared at Jill for a moment, unsure about what to do about her presence.
"Well, don't look at me. I can't go anywhere." Jill grumped at him, slouching down into her bed. "You might as well go ahead, unless you plan on wheeling me out into the hallway."
"Jill…" Kelly sighed, rolling her eyes.
Despite himself, the sight of Jill's scowling face amused Max. "Ah, no." He chuckled nervously. "Uh, I guess you can stay. Um, I'll just grab a chair and sit with... with Kelly."
"Hey, I'm not even here." Jill insisted, covering her ears. "Now hurry up before Bri kills her and you lose your chance."
Max acknowledged her advice with a nervous smile and, eyes fixed on Kelly, herself occupied with sending Jill a dirty look, grabbed up the chair Sabrina had vacated and pulled up a seat at Kelly's bedside.