Normally on a Tuesday morning, Elizabeth would be at school, but this morning she was lying on the couch, after she had fainted from exhaustion and lack of sleep. She hadn’t slept much since the day Anna was brought to the hospital three weeks ago.
            “She’s resting right now.” Justin was on the phone, talking with Chris, who was staying with JC, who was pacing the waiting room. He was trying to get the nurse to let him see Anna, but apparently Anna didn’t want to see him.
            “How is she doing?” Chris asked. He knew how close Anna and Elizabeth were since the whole Thomas thing. Anna had been like her rock when Liz thought she was losing Justin.
            “Physically, she’s okay, but emotionally this whole thing with Anna is taking a huge toll on her. She’s had to withdraw from her classes for the year,” Justin said. He was sitting at the kitchen table in his and Elizabeth’s apartment. He was worried about Anna a lot. He had grown to love her as a sister, since he’s known her for almost six years. He didn’t want to lose her, but right now he had to worry about Elizabeth. She needed him right now more than ever.
            “I’m sorry to hear that,” Chris said. He looked across the room at JC, who was still trying to persuade the nurse to let him in to see his wife.
            “How’s JC? Please tell me he didn’t go to another club last night.”
            “No, thank god. I found him here early this morning. He’s been here since we all left the studio yesterday.” Chris watched JC’s face fall and he slumped into a chair. “I better go help JC. Anna doesn’t want to see him.”
            “I honestly don’t blame her,” Justin said. “I mean he’s been totally distant. I hate to say it, but these could be the last moments he has with her.”
            “Look, I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” Chris hung up his cell, then walked over to where JC was still arguing with the nurse. “What’s going on here, JC?”
            “This…nurse won’t let me see Anna,” JC replied in a cold tone. He wasn’t in the mood to stand here arguing. He needed to see Anna.
            “She does not to wish to see her husband, sir,” the nurse said to Chris. “And he just won’t listen.”
            “But he is her husband, and who knows how much longer she has? I think he has the right to see his wife before anything bad happens,” Chris said, coming to his friend’s defence. “Why don’t you let me go see her and I’ll talk to her,” he said to JC.
            JC just shrugged his shoulder and gulped down yet another glass of water. He had been sitting in the waiting room for almost twelve hours. He knew Chris was trying to help, and he appreciated it, but he was so emotionally drained that he barely cared anymore. All he knew was that he was going to lose his wife, and he didn’t think he was going to get the chance to say goodbye.
            The nurse left, and Chris walked up to JC. “I’ll go talk to her. JC, try not to worry. Everything will be okay.” He placed his hands on JC’s shoulder for a few seconds, then walked down to Anna’s hospital room.
            When he knocked softly on the door, he could hear Anna humming quietly to herself. He couldn’t recognize the song, but could tell by the words, it had to be a song JC had written for her.
            At first, she didn’t hear the soft knock on the door. After telling the nurse not to let JC see her, she had managed to get up and walk over to the window. Then, on the floor, she found a box. There was a card inside, that’s when she found out it was from JC.
            “What the----“
            She opened the box and inside was a cassette tape and a red rose. She picked up the tape and opened it. She took the tape out and put it into the tape player beside her bed. The moment she heard his voice, she had to sit down on the bed to keep herself from getting all choked up. It wasn’t just his voice, but the words. The words showed her exactly how sorry he was, and how much he loved her.
            She placed the red rose on the table beside the bed, and continued to listen to the song for four straight hours. By now she knew the song off my heart.
            “Anna?”
            She stopped in the middle of the chorus, and turned to see Chris standing there. “Can I come in?” he asked.
            “Um… Yeah, sure,” she said. Her face was getting more color, he noticed, and she seemed to be walking alright, cause she was walking over to him. He smiled.
            “You’re looking better,” he said.
            “I’m feeling a little better,” she said. She almost cried when he pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “I..um..better turn that off.” She walked over to the tape player and turned it off.
            “I see JC sent you a present, even though he can’t get in here to see you,” Chris said, which caught her attention.
            “Have you seen him?” She sat back on the bed, feeling her legs starting to give out again.
            “Yeah. He called me this morning crying because the doctor’s won’t let him see you,” Chris said. “He’s out in the waiting room now. He’s a real mess.”
            Tears clouded Anna’s vision. “I’m sorry I did what I did, but I was so angry at him. Joey told me he was going to clubs every night while I’ve been waiting for him.”
            “JC understands, but he needs to see you. So I thought I’d come in…”
            “You thought you’d come in here and try to persuade me to see him?” Chris thought she was mad at him, but when she smiled, he knew that wasn’t the case. “I need to see him,” she said.
            “Are you sure about this?” Chris said.
            “Yes.” Anna couldn’t bear another moment of not seeing JC. “Chris, I don’t know how much time I have left, but I know it’s not very much. I need my husband with me.”
            “I’ll go get him.” Before Anna could say anything, Chris was out the door, rushing to the waiting room.

(Elizabeth and Justin’s apartment)

            “No! No! Don’t leave me.” Elizabeth was talking in her sleep again, and it was really starting to worry Justin. The last few hours she had been in and out of consciousness.
            “Baby, wake up.” He shook her gently. He placed a cold washcloth on her forehead to try and relax her.
            “Justin?” Her eyes opened slowly, and the first thing she saw was Justin, sitting there with his hand on her shoulders. “What happened?”
            “You fainted, sweetie,” he said. “Do you want to try and sit up?”
            She nodded. Trying to sit up wasn’t the hard part, but looking into his eyes and seeing sadness, was. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” She reached up and cupped his face in her hands.
            "I hate what this is doing to everyone, especially you. I hate just sitting around and watching all of this happen. I just wish there was something I could do.” It wasn’t easy for him to be all emotional in front of someone, but with Elizabeth it was always different.
            “You are. You are helping by being here with me, and being there with Anna. She needs us all right now.” She sat up all the way and pulled him into her arms.
            “Elizabeth…I----“
            “You what?” When he just sat there, inhaling and exhaling air, she pulled him closer. “Are you okay? Lately you’ve been acting strange.”
            “You know it’s not easy for me to express how I feel. Sometimes I think about what would have happened to us if something had happened….”
            “You mean if Thomas had actually raped me?” she interrupted, knowing that’s what he was thinking. The memory of Thomas was still in her head, and sometimes at night, she would have nightmares of him and what damage he could have done to her.
            “I know it’s been a year, but I still can’t forget what he tried to do to you. I can’t imagine what I would have done if he had tried to hurt you. I mean, I’ve never been in love before. That was another first I got with you.” The way she was looking at him now, made him believe that this was a good thing, getting all this out.
            “And it was a first for me, too. Sure, I’ve been in a few relationships before, but you were the first I ever really loved. After my parents died, I locked myself up to everyone but Anna. But then you came into my life…and everything changed. You made everything better,” Elizabeth said.
            “Let’s just promise each other that no matter what, we’ll always be there for each other. That we’ll never lose what we have.” He reached for her hand now, clasping it in his own.
            “I promise.” Then she sealed the promise with a kiss.