Good Friends

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 everywhere?" 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? 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."

The nurse announced that she was ready to clean Kathy up and give her a sponge bath. Elliot got up and headed for the door.

"He needs to stay," said Kathy to the nurse. "He is my husband. He's already seen and touched every inch of me. We have two kids and we've never been apart."

"Ma'am, I'm fine with him staying, but don't you think he needs some time to get himself cleaned up or maybe to get a bite to eat? He has never left your side for more than 20 or 30 minutes in the past 8 days. Even your parents come and go, give him a break."

"Promise me that you'll be right back," said Kathy. Elliot just nodded.

After taking a shower in the visiting family members' cramped accommodations, Elliot felt better. He'd brushed his teeth and shaved and changed his clothes. He couldn't believe how well he felt after doing things that he normally took for granted.

When he went back to Kathy's room she was sparkling clean. He noticed that she had a sad and far-away look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Kathy looked at him and noticed the concern written on his face. He took a quick step towards her bed as he spoke but suddenly held himself back.

"They cut off all of my hair," she said sadly. "And until a couple of seconds ago, I thought that was a problem. I now see that I have a bigger one."

"What's that?" he asked. "Is it your two broken legs, the pin in your shoulder or the cracked ribs?"

"None of the above," she said. "It's the heart, yours, specifically."

"There's nothing wrong with my heart," he said. "I'm fine."

"Elliot, you came into the room and you could sense that something was wrong with me. No matter how silly it is, or how unimportant, for as long as I've known you, anything that made me unhappy has always been your primary concern. When you saw that look on my face, you asked what was wrong and you leaped towards me, because you love me so much that I've always been able to feel it. But then when you got close to me, it was like you hit a brick wall. You stopped very short, as if things had changed and you no longer wanted to even touch me." A single tear made its way down Kathy's cheek.

"When I woke up a little while ago, you were holding may hand and despite the pain I felt good. Nothing mattered to me because you were with me. When I found out you'd been here the whole time, I knew that you still love me and that made me feel even better. But then as soon as you realized that I was awake you pulled your hand free and you haven't touched me since. It's like you're here out of duty or something. As I look at you Elliot, I can read in your face that things are different between us. I can sense that you're just counting down the seconds until you can get away from me."

"I told you that I wouldn't..." began Elliot.

"I know that you won't leave until I'm better," she said. "So Elliot, I'm never going to get better. I'll lay my ass here in this bed forever. I won't get up or even try to walk. I'll do anything it takes to keep you with me. I know that you said that we'd talk when I'm better, but Honey, we need to talk now."

Kathy noticed that when she said "Honey" Elliot winced. How could he have developed so much hatred for her in so little time?

"Elliot, I love you. I always have. No, wait a minute, I'm not being truthful. It took me about five minutes after talking to you to realize it. But of course I didn't think that you'd be interested in me," said Kathy. "Elliot you were so shy, I was sure you didn't like me and my heart was already bruised. But once I heard you talk about me...Mark tricked you into telling him how you felt about me way back when. What you didn't know was that when you told him, Sally and I were right around the corner listening. After that, there was no way that I'd let anything separate us and we've been together ever since that moment El. There's no way I want us to be apart now. We belong together. Can't you just listen to my side of what happened? If you want to leave me, you could at least let me explain what happened."

"Go ahead," said Elliot. "If you have something to say, I'll listen."

"Elliot, before I met you, I thought I was in love once. You know all about James. Except for him there had been no other man in my life. After meeting you, I found out what love really is. The thing with Mark only happened one time and it was awful. We didn't even go to completion, it was just too wrong. Even as drunk as I was, I pushed him out of me. The thought of someone other than you touching me, sobered me up really fast. You know how my temper can be. Usually I react to protect us, but that day I was afraid about my parents coming. I didn't know if they were ready to accept me again or not. I didn't know if they were going to like you or not. But that didn't matter because if they didn't like you, I wouldn't have allowed them back in my life."

"Anyway, I just got drunk and saw it as a way to get back at you. It wasn't that I didn't love you or I wanted someone else Elliot, it was just a drunken mistake. I've spent the last 6 plus years trying to make it up to you. I've been torn by guilt the whole time. Elliot, whether you know this or not, you're not the best thing in my life, or the most important thing. You're the only thing in my life."

"You're forgetting our kids, our home and all of our friends," said Elliot. "What about your parents? Kathy, you're a beautiful and relatively young woman. You'll do fine."

Kathy started squirming in her bed. She was beginning to let the bulldog out. She tried to hold onto her temper because of what had happened the last time. Also, she had never raised her voice to her husband. But finally she couldn't hold it back.

"Bullshit Elliot," she yelled. "I love our kids, I'd die for them, but I wouldn't have them without you. They are our kids Elliot. Yours and mine, do I need to get DNA tests to prove it to you? Without you there, that house is just a big box to store things in. You being there, makes it my home. Friends, yes Elliot, we have friends but you've always been my best friend. You're the person I tell everything to and the person I have fun with. You've been the person standing there beside me through thick and thin for 10 fucking years. And I am so glad you brought up my parents." Kathy's eyes were almost glowing and she had a really sarcastic smile.

"My parents really love me. They're the same people who threw me away when I got into trouble, Elliot. They helped to break my heart and you put it back together. They love me so much that you had to go all the way to Pennsylvania and kiss their ass to get them to come and see their only daughter's wedding. "

Then she laughed out loud. "Elliot, you look at me differently from everyone else. The first thing I heard you say about me was how beautiful I was. I couldn't figure out who the fuck you were talking about. Everyone I know has always thought that I was as plain as grass. The only thing that stood out about me was all of that hair. Even your buddy Mark, after he got what he'd wanted for so long, he even told me that he never gave me a second look until you and I got together. Elliot what made me special is you. Without you in my life no one will bother to even notice me."

"Elliot, can't you please forgive me one time. It was over six years ago and I had never slipped before it and I haven't since. You're the only man I've ever loved and you love me too. I know you're pissed at me right now but you may as well admit that you love me. Answer me one question...If you hadn't heard me talking with Mark the other day, would we be here?"

"No we wouldn't," said Elliot.

"Would you still love me" she asked.

"Yes," said Elliot.

"This happened six years ago," she said. "In the past six years, have I acted like I didn't love you or that someone else was more important to me than you are?"

"I guess not," said Elliot. "But I could be wrong. I thought I knew you and I never thought that you'd have done this in the first place. Maybe I didn't know you as well as I thought I did. I guess I feel like the past six or seven years have all been a lie and you and Mark have just been laughing at me. The same way that Mark always laughed about fucking Sally behind Bob's back. How the hell do I even know that it only happened that one time?"

Kathy didn't know what to say. She reached her arm, the one that she could move, out to Elliot. She desperately needed a hug from her husband. He slowly shook his head. I'm sorry Kath, I really want to but I have to get used to being alone.

"Kathy, you're awake," said her mother cheerfully. "Why do you look so sad? You beat death girl. You should be on top of the world."

"Mother, you sound like an idiot. How can I be on top of the world when my world is ending? It would have been better if I'd died," said Kathy.

A week later, Kathy's parents were trying to make arrangements for a nurse to stay with Kathy when she went home. They'd thought about simply moving into her house with her, but it wouldn't be enough. They'd need someone who could lift her in and out of her wheelchair and the bed. There were a lot of things that people their age simply couldn't do.

"I'll stay with you until you get the casts off of your legs," said Elliot quietly. Kathy's parents didn't hear him, but Kathy zoned in on his words immediately.

Kathy smiled from ear to ear. "You promise," she crooned. Her voice was silky and she couldn't stop smiling.

"It will give me a way to spend a lot more time with the kids," said Elliot. "After the divorce goes through, with us not living together, I won't see nearly enough of them."

Kathy just smiled because her casts would have to stay on for another month at least. She was sure that given a month, she could get her husband back. Actually nothing had been done in terms of the divorce. She'd refused to get a lawyer and every time Elliot brought the subject up she pretended to need sleep. This was exactly what Kathy had been hoping for.

From the moment they got home, Kathy worked tirelessly with only one goal in mind. Letting her husband know exactly how much she loved him and how much she wanted him back. Her first words when she woke up every morning and her last words before she went to sleep were to tell him that she loved him.

If he dozed off and she could reach him or maneuver her wheelchair within reach, he awoke to find her touching him. If they were alone or not in danger of discovery, it was worse; more than once, Elliot awoke to find Kathy giving him a hand job or trying to get his dick into her mouth. Elliot usually pulled away from her, but it was harder and harder to do it every time.

One Sunday morning, when the in-laws decided to take the kids to church, Kathy asked Elliot to put her back into her bed. Elliot thought it was strange, because Kathy usually spent most of her waking hours in her wheelchair except for an occasional nap.

As soon as Elliot lifted her, he was in a vulnerable position and Kathy knew it. She wrapped her good arm around his neck and kissed him as hard as she could. Elliot resisted at first and then he just let her do it. Finally he opened his mouth and she pressed her advantage. Her tongue sought his and soon they were kissing passionately. Elliot put her down on the bed and started to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going Elliot?" asked Kathy. "We're not done. You can't leave an invalid in a dangerous situation."

"The least you could do is clean up the mess from that leak. Suppose I slipped and fell?" she asked.

"What leak?" asked Elliot. "There's nothing wet around here. Is this a trick?"

Kathy still had one of her arms in a sling and casts over both of her lower legs but she was determined to get her man back. With her good hand she pulled her robe open and pointed to her pussy. "This is very wet, Elliot and it's leaking all over everything. I think you should come over here and clean it up."

Elliot despite his anger was mesmerized. He couldn't look away as Kathy rubbed her velvety folds in front of him. He closed his eyes hoping for the strength to just walk away from her, but it wouldn't come. He felt his feet moving close to her.

"Kathy, I don't think I should do this," he said. "It won't change anything."

"Elliot, Honey, I think you very much should do this," she said. "It might change everything."

Elliot felt himself going down to his knees and Kathy spread her legs as far as her injured muscles and the casts would allow her too. She held her breath in anticipation, as the man she loved lowered his face to her throbbing vagina. "Oh yeah, Baby, lick it," she hissed and Elliot ran his tongue along her puffy outer lips. "It's been so long," she said. She threw her head back and gave in to the pleasure that Elliot's tongue provided as he licked and nibbled his way deep into her opening. She began pushing her hips towards his mouth after a moment and the movement hurt her right leg, but she couldn't stop.

The two feelings fought for dominance, on one hand her right leg ached, Kathy ignored it because her pussy was on fire. There was also the fact that she knew that Elliot loved giving her pleasure nearly as much as he liked getting it himself. Why couldn't he see that there was no one else for her and there never would be?

When she came it wasn't a huge balloon bursting or an explosion, it was a gentle series of ripples that started in her vagina and flowed outwards over her entire body as if she was a lake and someone had thrown a rock in her.

Her legs closed around her lover's neck and she pulled him up close enough to her face that she could kiss him again and lick her juices from his face.

"Sorry Honey, I couldn't help it. It's been a long time. We've never ever gone this long without each other," she said.

"It's fine," he said. Kathy couldn't be sure but he wasn't looking at her. Was Elliot crying?

Kathy refused to let him go. She grabbed his belt and undid it, then pushed both pants and boxers as low as she could get them. She grabbed for his dick and found that it was already hard.

"Some parts of you know where they belong," she said. It was the most wrong thing she could have done. Elliot's hard on deflated so quickly it was almost audible. Kathy was sure she heard it shrinking like a balloon with the air rushing out of it.

"It's too bad that your parts don't know what belongs in them," he said. Then he pulled his pants up and walked away. "If you need anything for real, call me," he said. "Otherwise please don't bother."

Kathy started crying and didn't stop. She felt lost and empty. She'd been so sure that she'd be able to get her husband back in her bed and begin the healing process for both of them. It was a really bad situation because Elliot had just found out about what had happened all of those years ago. He was still dealing with his anger and his resentment and his trust issues. They were fresh to him and raw and open.