Why is it so bright in the office?

That was Jade's first thought as she opened her eyes. When did they get fluorescent lights? They were awful.

She tried to sit up, but to no avail. Turning her head slightly to the left revealed an ugly plastic chair and a sink. Where on earth was she? Because this was not Beck's office.

A door opened and in walked a lady in light blue scrubs. Was that a nurse? The woman didn't even notice that Jade had her eyes open, but when she did, she was startled.

"Miss West! Oh it is so nice to know that you're awake."

Jade opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out except a dry croak. The nurse grabbed a plastic cup and went to the sink to fill it.

The nurse ripped the plastic off of a bendy straw and put it in the cup before rushing it over to Jade. "Drink this sweetie."

Jade craned her neck to put the straw in her mouth. She winced as the water went down because her throat was so dry and sore.

The nurse paged Jade's cardiologist. In the meantime, she checked Jade's vitals.

Moments later, a doctor entered Jade's room. "Hi Jade, I'm Doctor Morgan. I'm so glad that you're awake now."

"My mom?"

Doctor Morgan turned to the nurse. "Kate, can you please find Jade's mother? She was just in here a few minutes ago, so she couldn't have gone far. And page Doctor Simmons for a neuro consult."

"Of course." The nurse quickly walked out of the room, leaving Jade alone with the doctor.

"Jade, I want you to stay put for a few minutes. No sudden movements. You've been in a coma for the past few days. You went into cardiac arrest the day of the earthquake. And once we hear back from Doctor Simmons about how you are neurologically, and once your parents arrive, we can discuss treatment options, okay?"

Jade blinked and gave the doctor a slight nod.

"Do you remember it?"

Jade closed her eyes. Everything was a bit foggy and all Jade could remember was her screaming match with Diana. So she just shook her head.

It was at that moment that Richard and Karen walked into Karen's room. Karen, having the worst poker face on earth, couldn't contain her shock and excitement as it was written all over her face.

Karen stopped dead in her tracks and just stared at Jade. She put her hand over her face to cover her ugly sobs. Richard kept a hand on the small of her back because he was afraid she would fall over.

She quickly took a seat next to Jade and reached for her hand. "You have no idea. I've been yearning to see your eyes for days now. I'm just so happy to see you."

Richard looked around the room until he spotted a tissue box. He picked it up and gave it Karen.

"Thank you."

Doctor Morgan cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "I'm glad everyone is here. Now that Jade is awake and appears to be stable neurologically, I want to talk about the next step. Now earlier, I know I said I wanted to put a defibrillator in Jade's chest, but my colleague suggested surgery."

Richard crossed his arms over his chest. "What type of surgery?"

"We would cut out some of the nerves in Jade's heart that cause these erratic heartbeats." Doctor Morgan explained.

"And that would cure my daughter?"

"No, but it would decrease the risk of this happening to Jade. About a ninety percent decrease."

"What are the risks?" Richard asked.

"Well there is always a risk of death when you put someone on the operating table. And Jade did just come out of cardiac arrest, so we don't know the conditions of her heart at the moment. We'll do a full work up first, but I am just throwing out the suggestion. You should still take a minute to think about it."

Jade sat up a bit straighter. "Thank you."

"Now Doctor Sullivan is going to come in, and he's a neurologist. He's going to take you to radiology to get a CT and an MRI, okay."

Jade nodded. "Okay."

"I'll give you guys a minute." Doctor Morgan gave a slight nod of her head and walked out of the room.

Karen turned all of her attention back to Jade. She ran her hands through her daughter's hair. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

"I'm just tired."

"Understandable."

"How long has it been?"

"Since the earthquake? It's been four days."

"Four days." Jade couldn't believe it. She had really been out for that long? "Am I okay?"

Karen shrugged and wiped her eyes. "I think so, I don't know. We'll just have to wait for the doctors to clear you. But the fact that you're up and coherent is good enough for me right now."

Jade hadn't seen her mother cry since the divorce. It was trippy, and that was putting it lightly. And there wasn't much she could do because her entire body was stiff.

Richard uncrossed his arms and dug into his pocket. "I should call Tyler. He should know about you."

"Just leave a message." Jade replied. "He's in class right now."

"Okay. I'll be right outside if you need me."

Richard quietly stepped out of the room clutching his phone to his ear, leaving the mother/daughter duo all alone.

"I'll have a shot of tequila please. And a slice of lime."

The man behind the bar looked at Diana, a bit skeptical. It wasn't everyday a small, blonde woman came into the bar asking for tequila shots. They usually wanted something cute and girly like a martini or mojito.

"Any kinda of tequila?"

"Don Julio Blanco if you have it."

"Coming right up, darling."

A few seconds of silence passed between them as the man made Diana's drink.

"I've never seen you around here before. Are you new to town?"

Diana shook her head. "I was born and raised in Chicago, but I've lived in California since I was eighteen."

"Really?" Diana nodded. "The first time I left Chicago was to go to school in New York." He slid the shot glass across the bar and Diana caught it.

"What school?"

"Columbia University, class of 2005."

"UC Berkeley, class of 2006."

"Look at us, graduates from two of the best schools in the country. What was your major?"

"What's your name?" Diana asked. "I don't want to keep disclosing information to a nameless stranger."

"Justin Reynolds."

"Diana Oliver."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Oliver."

"You too, Mister Reynolds. I was a chemistry major."

"Smarty pants. Economics major."

She picked up her shot glass and downed her drink.

"So I would ask you what your job is, but it's obvious."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're a bartender."

Justin smirked. Diana noticed a dimple on his left cheek. "False. I am an investment banker. This is my brother, Dave's bar and he's sick so I'm here. I'm just visiting for my sister's birthday."

It made sense now. It was Dave's Bar and Grill.

Diana felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "I'm sorry for assuming."

"It's fine. Is it safe to assume you're a chemist?"

"I wish. I haven't worked in over five years."

Justin grabbed a rag and wiped the bar down. "And why is that?"

"Well my husband's rich and he wanted a trophy wife." Diana looked at her left hand's ring finger. The ring wasn't there, but an extremely deep tan line was. It would take her a while to get used to her now ringless finger.

"You're married. What does he do?"

"Well, we're divorcing. That's why I'm out here, I needed to get away from him and Los Angeles. And have you seen a movie recently?"

"Of course."

"Well chances are he runs the production company that the movie was produced by."

"Sorry about your divorce."

"Yeah, me too. It sucks. He sucks."

"So do you plan on drinking away the pain?"

Diana scoffed. "I'm not drinking because of him." She had already polished off a bottle of vodka while crying over Beck. She didn't want to do that again. "I'm drinking because I need a slight buzz before I face my family. They're loud, they hover, they talk too much, and I'm not in the mood to deal with that right now."

Justin laughed. "Would you like another?"

"No thank you. I have to be able to drive to my parent's house. I just want to sit here and think."

"Fair enough."

Diana didn't want to talk about her impending divorce, especially to her nosy, gossipy family. They weren't going to leave her alone until they learned every single detail. And Diana wasn't going to give them any. It was way too humiliating. What was she to say? Hey family, my husband dumped me for his younger assistant. He only got back with me because I had a near death experience. Oh and by the way, I'm infertile. Sorry I never told you guys. Absolutely not.

"You okay down there? You got a little melancholy."

Diana looked up from her empty shot glass. "I'm sorry, I just got caught up in my thoughts."

Justin bit his lip. "You want a plate of hot wings?"

"Hot wings?"

"Or mini grilled cheeses? Instead of slices of cheese, we use macaroni. You look like you could use some comfort food."

"I haven't had hot wings since I was in college."

"Well you haven't had these hot wings before. It's my brother's own recipe. He even makes his own ranch. To die for."

"What the hell?" Diana shrugged. "Okay, I'll take a plate of hot wings."

"Good. Because I wasn't taking no for an answer."

"Mom and dad are being nice to each other." Jade said, messing with the bottom of her hospital gown. Tyler was flipping through the channels on her television, but the hospital didn't offer much. "When did that happen?"

"When you got admitted."

"Well it's weird."

Tyler shrugged. "Yeah, but it's nice. Mom doesn't have the intense urge to stab him in his throat anymore. Besides, I don't feel the urge to drink or swipe a Xanax whenever they're in the same room."

"True." Jade sat up a bit. "I'm starving. I would kill to have a cheeseburger right now."

"You're having surgery tomorrow morning." Tyler pointed out. "You can't eat, so just enjoy your IV."

"You gonna sneak up to the gallery and watch?"

"Of course. I'll watch from start to finish, because it's not a really long surgery. An hour at best if everything goes according to plan."

"Okay. My chest isn't going to be all open and exposed for hours on end."

"The surgery is going to be a success. I know it. I can feel it in my bones."

"Good. Because I'm am so over coming to the hospital."

"Not a fan of the gowns, the gross food, the lighting, and the loud machines?"

"No, this is your comfort zone, not mine. I like my job just-"

Jade stopped herself. Work was something she hadn't even thought of. Was she going to go back to work? It wasn't like she could pretend everything was still okay. The shit had finally hit the fan.

"Jade? Are you okay?"

Jade snapped out of her thoughts. She stared at her brother. "I'm sorry. I got distracted by my thoughts for a second."

Tyler dismissed the apology with a shrug. "S'okay. You should probably get some rest."

"I'm not tired right now." Jade argued. "I'm actually kind of restless."

"You should be getting as much rest as possible. Cardiac arrest is a serious matter-"

"Tyler, I know how serious it is. I'm the one in the hospital bed."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Why did you do this to yourself?"

Jade raised her eyebrow at her brother. "Excuse me?"

"Why did you go back to work after you and Beck ended things? Why couldn't you just quit? You didn't need to work there."

"It was bad enough that I dumped on my ass, and I wasn't going to hand my job over."

"And look at where we are, Jade. Your incessant need to prove something landed you in the hospital."

"Ty-"

"You died." Tyler said bluntly. "I don't know if you knew that or not, but you did die. You flatlined and the doctors here had to bring you back to life. Do you know how serious that is? And now you have to have heart surgery. And for what? A stupid argument with Beck's wife?"

That made Jade's throat tighten. She died?

"Wh...what?"

"I don't want to scare you, but you need to start taking this seriously. Is Beck worth it? Is the drama that this love triangle caused worth your life? Because to me, it's not."

Jade stared with wide eyes at her brother. He just dumped a lot on her and she wasn't sure how to process it all.

"You're just so impulsive, and I just wish you would think long term about some of the things you do. For me, at least. Because I'd lose my shit if you died and the doctors couldn't bring you back to me."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize how much of a toll this has taken on you."

"Whether you want to believe it or not, you're spiraling. And you've been spiraling since Beck told you he was staying with his wife. Don't you think so?"

Jade felt a tear roll down her cheek. She wiped it off. Thinking back now, Jade did have to admit to herself that she doing things she wasn't necessarily proud of.

"Yeah." She replied weakly.

"And it's okay. I love you whether you're sane or crazypants." Tyler had to crack a joke. It was getting way too deep. "I just don't want you to self-destruct."

"I love you too."

"Now get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow."

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah. Visiting hours are almost over. But once you're moved out here and into a regular room, you won't be able to get rid of me."

"Promise?"

Tyler nodded. "I promise."

"Are you sure you'll be able to work in here?" James asked, surveying the damage done to Beck's office. It was still a mess.

"I'm just grabbing a few things out of here, and I'll set up in the board room for the day. I called someone to get this mess in order and fix the damage." Beck unplugged his desktop computer and lifted it off of his desk. "Let's walk."

James got of the doorway to Beck's office so he could move through.

"How's your office?"

"Fine. I have to buy a new desk and picture frames, but nothing major. My secretary already placed an order. Your office is a disaster."

"I know." His office was the smallest disaster in his life right now, so he couldn't even worry about it.

Beck stepped out onto the main floor and almost all activity ceased. All of the employees stopped to look at the father-son duo, but mostly Beck. And he didn't like it.

But instead of saying something, Beck continued walking down the hall to the board room. Jill was already in there waiting for him.

"Good morning guys." Jill greeted brightly. She was always in a good mood.

Beck smiled. "Good morning, you big ray of sunshine."

"Well aren't you a sweet talker." She slid a coffee cup across the long table. "For you."

"Thank you." Beck grabbed the cup and took a big gulp. "Lord knows I need coffee."

"I figured."

"Since the earthquake was such a disaster, production has been stalled, and that means work for me." Beck groaned. He didn't want to work.

"But even more work for me." James chimed in. "And I have to get back to it. Good luck in here."

"Thanks."

James stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Beck sat down and sighed. "Do you have any Advil?"

"I'm pregnant. I'm not allowed to take Advil for the time being, but I can get you some. You have a headache?"

"Yes."

"What's wrong?"

"It's been a long couple of days for me, Jill."

Jill pulled out a chair and sat down. "Okay, tell Doctor Jill all about it."

"Let's start with my personal life. Diana and I are officially done."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she filed the day after the earthquake. And I'm currently staying with my parents."

"Are you okay?"

"I think so. I truly did love my wife and I don't want anyone to think otherwise. When we were good, we were really good. Diana has her faults, but so do I. And I never went into this marriage, thinking I would get a divorce. I took what my vows seriously."

"But?"

"But this last year of our marriage has been a disaster. And I couldn't ignore the obvious. Jade. She's like, this hurricane that came barreling into my life."

"You're in love with her." Jill said.

"Yes, I'm in love with her. But we're in a bit of a pickle, because Jade's in the hospital. And you want to know why?"

"Cardiac arrest brought on by her pre-existing heart condition." Jill answered. "I talked to her mom."

"Technically, yes. But what triggered the cardiac arrest was an argument with Diana."

"Are you blaming Diana?"

Beck shook his head. "No. If anything, I blame myself. I made a huge mess."

Jill nodded in agreement. "Hindsight is twenty-twenty. You didn't know things would be like this a few months ago. No one did."

"But now here we are. I'm getting divorced, Jade's in the hospital, Diana's gone. It's crazy."

"Yeah, that's putting it lightly."

"Have you gone to see her? Jade?"

Jill shrugged. "I wanted to see her yesterday, but her mother said she was going into surgery. I decided it was best if I come on a different day."

"Jade had to have surgery?" Jill nodded to answer the question. "Why?"

"I didn't get all the details, because the name of the surgery is really long, and Jade's mom was talking really fast, like she was nervous, so I didn't get much. They cut something out of her heart, I think."

Beck bit his lip. Jill was awful at explaining things and it wasn't helping his nerves.

"Do you know anything else?"

"No. I'm sorry."

Beck pushed himself out of his seat and stood. "Hold my calls, I'll be back okay?"

"Where are you going?"

"Just hold my calls."

He opened the door to the boardroom. Everyone looked back up at Beck again. He was now the topic of the office gossip. But he was getting annoyed by it.

"Keep staring and I'm firing you all!"

That got everyone's attention. They bowed their heads to avoid eye contact with the boss.

"Thank you."

.

.

Beck wandered around the expansive halls of the hospital in a hurry. He didn't know where to find Jade and he wanted to see her. Jill's explanation of Jade's surgery didn't do anything to help him.

He knew it was a really dumb idea to show up here, considering Jade's brother threatened him a few days ago, but Beck didn't care. He just needed to see Jade with his own two eyes.

Beck turned to the front desk. "Excuse me?" A receptionist looked up from her computer and smiled at Beck. "Hi."

"Hi, how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a patient. Her name is Jade West. Can you tell me what room she's in?"

The receptionist didn't say anything in reply. She just went back to her computer and typed something in. "Room 335. That's on the third floor. Once you get off the elevator, you make a right and a nurse will be able to direct you from there."

"Thank you so much." Beck flashed the woman his charming smile and walked off.

After following the instructions he was given, Beck found Jade's hospital room with relative ease. She wasn't in the ICU anymore, so that had to be a good thing. Right?

The room wasn't too bright. The lights were dimmed and from where he was standing, it looked like Jade was sleep. Or was this a coma?

Beck took a step forward into the room. He didn't want to touch anything in fear of messing something up. He didn't even want to breathe too hard.

He slowly sat down in the uncomfortable chair and stared at Jade. She looked the same. Her hair was still the same long, dark brown that it had always been. Her skin was pale, but Jade was almost always pale so he couldn't tell if it was because she was sick or not. Everything from her eyelashes on down was perfect.

Beck grabbed Jade's hand and ran the pad of his thumb along her skin before bringing it up to lips to kiss.

"You have no idea how much you scare me."

Unbeknownst to Beck, Jade was not in a coma, but just sleeping. And she wasn't able to sleep well in a hospital, with the lighting and all of the hustle and bustle around. And as soon as heard a voice, she started to wake up out of her light sleep.

Jade turned her head slightly and opened her eyes. When she saw that Beck was the person in the room, her eyes got as wide as saucers.

"What are you doing here?"

Thanks for the reviews :)