Good Friends

Elliot quickly got up and followed the nurse to the elevator and up to the ward where recovering patients were housed. He went into the room the nurse led him to and looked around. There he saw Kathy, the woman he'd loved for more time than he could even think about. She was totally covered in bandages. Her mother and father were standing beside her bed on one side. Elliot smiled at them. His father in-law just shook his head.

"Elliot, the doctors think you saved her," he said. "It must be a miracle. She was dead. I can't believe this. It's still going to be touch and go though. They have no idea when she might wake up or what to expect when she does."

Elliot sat down in the chair beside the bed. He reached out for Kathy's hand and held it. He felt her fingers squeeze his. He knew that it was more than just a reflex. Kathy somehow knew that he was there with her.

Elliot thought back to when they'd first met. Even then he'd known she was special. He thought about their children and how much they both loved them. He thought back over each and every special memory they'd experienced over the past 10 years. He was almost up to the birth of his son when he felt her hand squeeze his even tighter. Somewhere over the previous three hours, Kathy's parents had left the room.

He looked at her face and saw her eyes looking at him. "Luv oo," she said. "Nu oo'd be here." Elliot pushed the button to call the nurse. The nurse came in. She checked Kathy's heart and lungs. Kathy just stared at her while she did it. Before the nurse left, Kathy was asleep again. She held onto Elliot's hand tightly. Elliot himself dozed off for a few moments. When he awoke Kathy's parents were back. "Are you okay Elliot?" asked his mother in-law.

"I'm fine, I just need to pee," said Elliot. He stood up and tried to gently let go of Kathy's hand and she awoke instantly.

"I'm not leaving," he said. "I'm only going to the lavatory." Kathy looked around and groaned as she tried to move her neck. She had a cervical collar that prevented her from moving it very much. She saw her parents but barely acknowledged the fact that they were there.

"I don't even have to leave the room," said Elliot. "I'm going to use the one right there in the corner of your room." Kathy nodded and moved her neck as much as she could to try and see the room.

Her father asked her if it hurt to talk and she just looked at him. She gave him the barest of nods and looked for Elliot again.

When Elliot came out less than 5 minutes later, she reached for his hand and clamped down on it again. As if waiting for him to come back had taken all of her strength, she immediately fell back asleep.

The doctor came in and looked at her chart. He noticed that Kathy was holding Elliot's hand very tightly. "Let go of her hand for a moment sir," he said. Elliot opened his hand completely to show the doctor that Kathy was clamped onto him. The doctor smiled. "This is good," he said. "She knows that you're here."

Elliot didn't return his smile. "How long will it be...?" he asked.

"Both of her legs are broken. We had to put a pin in her left shoulder. She has hairline fractures in both arms. She also has two broken ribs on her left side from where the car rolled. We had to reconnect her Achilles tendon on the right side and she had a huge bruise on her back. We don't know if there's damage to her spine yet. Besides that she has bruises over at least 80% of her body. We don't know yet whether or not she has a concussion or even brain damage. She could be out of the hospital in three weeks if everything goes well, or it may be years. She seems to recognize you though, so I'm betting her cognitive functions are whole. That's a very good sign."

"Why doesn't she talk to anyone except him?" asked her dad.

"Right now she has very little energy," said the doctor. "She was technically dead. Most of the ER staff thinks that him calling her somehow brought her back or gave her the will to live. She's probably saving her energy for what she thinks is most important."

"That's horse shit," said Kathy's dad. "God brought her back!"

"Sir, is God every where?" asked the doctor.

"Of course," snapped Kathy's father.

"If God was in my ER all along, then why didn't your daughter wake up until her husband called her name? Love can do powerful things sir. I don't doubt your religion. But I have to deal in the facts. And I saw her literally restart her heart when he called her."

"Too much talkin' here," moaned Kathy. "Elliot."

"I'm here," said Elliot. "I'm not going anywhere until you're better."

"Never, leave, never," she said. "Promised."

Over the next few days Kathy was in and out of consciousness. Elliot could tell that even the doctors were beginning to worry. Kathy's parents had begun taking turns staying with the kids and taking them to school and he was grateful for that. Elliot noticed that while Kathy's mom was cheerful and hopeful, she was almost normal considering the circumstances. Kathy's dad was a different story.

He was brooding and had taken to reading his bible more than was normal, even for him. He had casually asked Elliot about the biblical story of Jezebel several times. Elliot had put it out of his mind.

One morning as Elliot sat by Kathy's bedside, holding her hand while he surfed the internet on his iPad, she awoke. This time was different. She was fully conscious and aware.

"I love you Elliot," she said. It was the first complete sentence she'd uttered since the crash.

The nurses had removed some of the bandages from her face. There was still swelling around her eyes and across one cheek was a scrape mark. The biggest change though, was the fact that they'd hacked off almost four feet of hair. Her hair was now cut very short barely reaching her collar.

Kathy of course didn't know about her hair yet and Elliot wondered how she'd take it. She was lucky to be alive.

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"Eight days," said Elliot. He tried to move his hand away from her, but she held onto him fiercely.

"How long have you been here?" she asked.

"Eight days," he said. "I take showers and change clothes while you're asleep."

"But where do you sleep?" she asked. Her voice was choked up and concerned. Her husband's face was drawn and his eyes were red.

"Right here with you," he said. "You parents are watching the kids until things are better."

"You haven't been home?" she asked in surprise. She saw his face change and his expression hardened.

"I don't have a home right now," he said. If it was possible, Kathy's face grew even paler. As she heard his words, she realized that it hadn't been a dream. She remembered the entire reason why this had happened.

"Elliot, please don't do this. We have to talk," she said. A nurse came in because Kathy's vitals had climbed rapidly in the past few moments and she needed to know why.

"I'm fine," said Kathy angrily to the nurse. "Leave me alone."

"Honey she's only doing her job," said Elliot. "She's just trying to make sure you're healing and healthy. That's a good thing."

"Oh yeah, you just want to get me all healthy again so you can leave me. You hate me because of something from almost 7 years ago." said Kathy. "Elliot, if you leave me, I'll die. I remember some of what was going on over the past few days. I remember you promising not to leave me."

"I remember you promising to be faithful to me," hissed Elliot. "Look, let's just concentrate on getting you well for now. I promise that I won't think about it or make any decisions until you're well enough to leave the hospital."

Over the next few days Kathy's condition rapidly improved. Soon she'd be well enough to leave the hospital and continue healing at home. She wasn't looking forward to it though, because she was sure that Elliot would leave her.

Kathy looked down at where Elliot slept. His head was on her bed while his lower body still rested in her bedside chair. He had stayed with her the whole time she'd been here, regardless of how uncomfortable he was. He thought that she needed him so he was here. How the hell could she have cheated on someone who loved her that much?

The fact that she'd been drunk and angry was no excuse. Deep down, a part of her had just wanted to see what the fuss about Mark was and that was why she felt so guilty about it. Kathy knew that she was a human being and human beings make mistakes, but hers had been exceptionally selfish.

She would do anything she had to do to keep Elliot in her life. As she gently rubbed his cheek with her good hand, his eyes popped open.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Do you need something?"

"Only you," she said, realizing that it was probably too late.

A few days later Kathy left the hospital with her parents. Her mother was very cheerful and upbeat, telling Kathy how she and her father would move in and help take care of Kathy until she was on her feet again.

"Between us and Elliot, everything will be fine," said her Mother. Kathy had been trying not to cry the whole morning but that was all she could take. Her body slumped in her wheelchair and tears flowed freely, as a series of deep, soul wrenching sobs escaped.

"What's wrong?" asked her mother.

"Elliot is gone," said Kathy's father. "Can you blame him?"

"What are you talking about?" asked his wife. "Don't tell me that he's angry because she wrecked the car?"

"Oh, he's not the one who's at fault," snapped Kathy's Dad. "I overheard him and that guy Mark, the shifty one, talking. Apparently your daughter has done it again. She has a knack for pulling good men down. This time she didn't corrupt Elliot, like she did James, she fucked his best friend."

Kathy's mother looked at her in horror. "Kathy, please tell me your father is mistaken," she said. "How could you do that to Elliot? He loves you so much." Kathy just continued to sob.

Elliot did everything he could to make the divorce as painless for the children as possible. He bought a condo near the house to make his visitations easier. He made sure that Kathy had more than enough money to live on, and that neither she nor his children would want for anything.

Elliot and Kathy alternated nights, since neither could handle being without their children. They also alternated the days of the weekend. If Elliot took the children on Saturday, they spent Sunday with Kathy.

The most unusual thing about the arrangement was that over time the two of them saw less and less of each other. Kathy was too aggressive in her attempts to get back with Elliot, which led to him becoming equally aggressive in pushing her away. If Elliot spent time with his children, he wanted to avoid Kathy so badly that he picked them up from her parent's house and dropped them off there when he was done with them. That way he didn't have to deal with those awkward moments or conversations with his ex.

It actually hurt Elliot for the first few years to even see Kathy. Though he wouldn't admit it, he still loved her deeply. Kathy on the other hand went out of her way to see Elliot. She often sat in her car with binoculars watching Elliot pick the children up or drop them off. She spent hours asking them about what their father wore, or things he talked about. For his birthday and Christmas she sent him presents through the children. To avoid hurting the chidren's feeling Elliot put them in larger boxes unopened and mailed them back. Every year on their anniversary Kathy invited him out to dinner. Elliot always politely declined.

Her heart turned into just a lump in her chest the day the children started talking about Claudia.

It was a casual conversation with her kids that sent Kathy into a depression. Steph hadn't understood what her words could do to her mother. "Daddy and Claudia took us to ride the ponies in the park," said Steph. "Daddy and Benny went off to do stupid boy stuff while Claudia and I rode the ponies and talked. She's so pretty mommy."

Until that day, Kathy had never entertained the possibility that Elliot might find someone else. He was hers. The fact that they were apart was simply one of the things they had to go through until their relationship could heal and they got back together. Kathy had brought them pain by her actions and when they'd suffered enough, they'd get back together.

She was so distraught that she called him that afternoon. She had a phone number he'd given her to use in emergencies.

"Elliot," she said as he answered the phone.

"What's wrong?" he asked, hoping that whatever it was had nothing to do with the children.

"Uhm, Steph told me that you'd brought a friend along on your outing," said Kathy.

"Kathy, I gave you this number to use in case of an emergency, it's not a chat line. You had me all worked up and afraid," he said.

"Elliot, this is an emergency. You can't do this, you just can't," Kathy started crying.

"Kathy, I am allowed to date. So are you. We're divorced. We have to move on with our lives. Just because we aren't together doesn't mean that we have to give up on living," he said.

"But Elliot, I don't want to date," said Kathy. "And I don't want you to either. I want you to stop being silly and come home. It's time for us to move on with our lives like you said and we belong together."

"Goodbye Kathy," said Elliot very gently. "I hope in time you find someone to make you happy, since I couldn't."

Kathy just sat there feeling numb. How could he think that? What made him think that he hadn't made her happy? If she hadn't been happy for all of those years, their being apart now wouldn't hurt so badly. All Elliot's kind words had done, was to bring about a fresh set of tears and something new for her to cry about.

A couple of days later Kathy was watching for Elliot's Mustang near her parent's house. Another car pulled up in front of the house. Kathy didn't know much about cars but she could see that it wasn't Elliot's Mustang.

The door opened and a woman got out of the car. She walked around and opened the door and Kathy's babies jumped out of the car and walked up to their grandparent's door. The woman sat on the porch and spoke to Kathy's parents for a while. Kathy didn't know what to do. She wasn't sure whether or not she should go and confront the woman or not. Deep in her heart she sensed that this woman was her rival for her husband's heart. But what if it wasn't her? If she attacked someone who was just doing Elliot a favor, she could make things worse.

Kathy waited for the woman to leave and then went and picked up her kids. On the drive home the kids' excitement spilled over. It was Claudia this and Daddy that until Kathy couldn't take it anymore. She cried herself to sleep that night, dreaming of the life she'd ruined.

The next week was a stressful one for Kathy. The next afternoon she heard a knock on the front door as she was trying to clean a bunch of leaves out of the pool. Kathy went to the front door and saw Mark standing there. She remembered his part in her downfall and started to slam the door in his face but something told him that he was as miserable as she was.

"What do you want Mark?" she asked.

"Kathy, I just came by to check on you," said Mark. "Well actually I came to ask if you could get Elliot to do me a favor."

"Mark, Elliot and I don't even talk," sniffled Kathy. "I agreed to the divorce but I never thought that we wouldn't get back together. And now it seems he's found someone else."

"I'm sorry Kathy, I didn't know," said Mark. "I just came by because...well I got fired yesterday and I was hoping that Elliot could..."

Mark just sat there for a while. Neither he nor Kathy said anything. "I guess we got what we deserved huh?" he said. Kathy nodded her head.

"God Mark, I miss him so much. I know I hurt him badly, but I feel like I'm not even alive. I feel like a fucking zombie. I'm just going through the motions," said Kathy.

"I tried to go back to my normal life after he found out," said Mark. "I discovered that Elliot was my only real friend. Most of the guys I know don't want to have anything to with me. They even kicked me off of the bowling team after all of these years. I decided to get back into the swing of things. I saw this new woman at work. She's one of those female executives. Boy is she fucking hot...Sorry Kath, but she is. Anyway, I decided to go after her. She shut me down so fast I couldn't believe it."

"I can't believe you gave up that easily," smiled Kathy. "You kept after me for a long time."

"Yes I did," said Mark sadly. "I wanted you so badly that you became an obsession. If I'd known that my obsession with you would be the first step in ruining my life, I never would have done it. And to be truthful Kathy, it wasn't you that I wanted. I guess it was what you and Elliot had together. I just wanted to feel what that was like. Not only did I not get to feel it, I fucked it up for you guys too." Mark shook his head and couldn't meet Kathy's eyes.

"I'm really sorry about that part Kathy. "If I could take it back, I swear I would," said Mark.

"That's the first thing that you and I have ever agreed on," said Kathy bitterly.

"Anyway I didn't give up on her either," said Mark. "The weird thing about it is that there have only been two women that I can remember having to work so fucking hard for, this one and you. I pursued her night and day. In my heart I started feeling like this one was supposed to be the one I fell for, like Elliot fell for you. I used all of my best tricks and lines on her and guess what it got me?"

"A disease I hope," said Kathy. "I'm sorry Mark. I shouldn't have said that. I guess I'm still blaming you for my misery, when I'm equally at fault. So go ahead and tell what happened after you had sex with this woman."

"Sex?" said Mark. "What sex, the bitch turned me in for sexual harassment and got me fired. I didn't even get to as much as squeeze one of her boobs. After working for this company for over twenty fucking years, I'm canned for something I didn't think twice about. The bitch recorded some of my phone calls to her and some of our conversations that I thought were just jokes. She even saved a few of the emails that I sent her just to break the ice. With all of that evidence, they fired me on the spot."

"I'm sorry Mark," said Kathy. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm miserable too. Elliot may be dating someone. My children have come home a couple of times talking about some woman named Claudia, who spends a lot of time with their Dad."

Mark leaped up from where he was sitting. "Claudia! not Claudia Reynolds? That's the cunt that got me fired. I really hope for your sake that it's not her. She is one evil bitch."

Mark was so upset that he left a short time later. Kathy had noticed that Mark didn't look good. His face was drawn and he seemed nervous and jittery. She assumed that it was just the stress of losing his job.

Kathy made it through the rest of the week and the day before Elliot was supposed to see the kids again, she got a phone call. She picked up the phone and answered it.

"Hi Kathy," said a female voice that Kathy didn't recognize.

"This is Claudia Reynolds. I was hoping that I could take you to lunch today so we could talk," she said.

"Why would I want to talk to you?" asked Kathy.

"Because we're probably going to be a part of each other's lives for a very long time," said the woman. Her voice wasn't mean or snarky it was actually very quiet and very kind. "Also, because I asked you so nicely."

"Okay," said Kathy. The two women agreed on a time and a place and then hung up.

Sometime later, Kathy was sitting in the same small restaurant, near the plant where she and Elliot used to work, that they'd first had lunch in. Kathy was nervous but she didn't know why. She looked around and noticed that things hadn't changed very much in the little restaurant since she'd first had lunch with the man who'd become the love of her there over ten years ago.