Fan Fiction ❯ Love Lasts Forever ❯ LOVE LASTS FOREVER ( One-Shot )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Love Lasts Forever

“Noooo” her voice screamed out as she raced towards the room. It was impossible, this wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be. “Noo” she cried out again as the arms of the doctor reached out and grabbed her, stopped her. Adam was holding her back now too.

“Let go!” she screamed. It echoed along the corridors of the white and yellow walls. “No, no, let me go, let me see him!! Richie!” she continued to yell out as she fought against the arms that held her back.

“Christi, please.” Adam begged. Slowly her screams subsided and she dropped to the floor in sobs. Adam knelt down to her and wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m sorry. I really am” the doctor said as he walked away.

“Oh, Christi….” Adam whispered in her ear gently as she cried. It was that simple, he was gone, forever.


She closed her and let the night in. Sleep was her only escape from the pain she still felt. And then it wasn’t even for sure. Her nightmares were still plagued by that night. When she could sleep she did for days on end. Every morning came like a sledgehammer to her already broken heart. Nothing was the same without him, she hadn’t expected it to be, but this was becoming too much for her to deal with. Everyday it was harder and harder to face the world without him. The one person who knew and understood her was now gone. She tried to put up a happy face, she tried to smile, it didn’t matter anymore though. People could see right through that smile, right through her. It was becoming easier to hide in the bed every morning. Ignore the alarm, ignore the time. Even when her body told her that she was wide awake, it became easier to force herself asleep again then to try and face the world, a world without him. Forget about life outside of her small apartment. Because with out him she had no life. Tonight though she couldn’t even try to sleep. The rain kept her awake. It had been the rain that had taken him. It had been on a night just like this that it had happened, that her life had been forever changed. As the rain beat against her darkened window, she let her own tears fall done for the millionth time. Closing her eyes again and wishing the night to claim her for at least a few hours more.


The summer sun beat warmly down. Castings its rays of heat in all directions. He had surprised her when he showed up on her doorstep an hour ago. Carrying a picnic basket and a smile that begged her to skip class.

"Come on, who honestly takes summer classes seriously?" he whined as she tried to push aside his invitation.

"You have classes too, that you should be at now." she told him, trying to argue a point that never had any backing to it. He pouted and put on his best puppy dog face. He didn't really need to though. She would go with him, and they both knew it.

"We both can’t fit on the back of your bike with a picnic basket Richie." she pointed out in a last attempt to ward him off. His smile shown brighter then even the sun as he grinned, and held up a set of keys, his roommates keys.

"That’s why I talked Adam in to letting me borrow his car." he told her, grabbing her hand and heading out the door. Knowing that he had won long ago, and now there was nothing left to stop them.

"Fine." she told him, trying to sound angry, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. They drove for what seemed like hours, but every time that she asked him just where they were going he'd just shake his head and tell her, 'You'll see when we get there.' And she did.

The park was so far away from the rest of the crowed life in the city that no one else was around. The cliff stood out over looking the warm ocean waters below. From under the tree where they sat you could hear the rush of the waves crashing against it. The day was more then perfect, it was border lining on magical. Ever second their skin touched, every millisecond that passed, she placed it locked away forever in to her memories.

"Oh Richie, its too beautiful. I never want this to end." she told him as he packed away the last of the picnic supplies. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her closer to him, so that she fell in to his arms where he could hold her best.

"So are you." he whispered out gently to her. His lips so close to hers she could feel every breath he took. She could feel herself falling forever in to the endless sea of his eyes. But she didn't care, she let herself fall. Only to be caught in the end by his love for her. She parted her lips to say something, but never made it as they were captured by his own. Passion and love swirled around them as they kissed. They were lost in each other and content to stay that way. Finally as they pulled apart they could feel the first drops of the warm summer rain on their now overheated skin. He broke in to a large grin and laughed. His laugh continued to warp itself around them both as they rushed back to the safety, and dryness, of the car.

"It always rains on us doesn’t it Cha?” he asked her simply. Using that name for her that he himself had coined. She smiled at him in that shy way that made him love her even more.

“Yeah, and it’s a good thing. If not for the rain then we would have never ended up where we are now.” She told him in an almost whispered tone. They then met once again in a kiss so passionate it took not only their own breath away, but any who would be happening to watch them as well.

The drive back seemed faster then the one there. For only the reason that they knew it meant they’d have to part each other after it was finished. As he again stood on her doorstep sadness filled both of there eyes.

“You could always stay.” she told him, hoping that it could be made true.

“I know. I would, if Adam didn’t need his car tomorrow morning.”

“Let him miss work.” she said, with a smile that was trying to be light, but instead was weighed down by the heavy heart she always had when they left each other.

“Yeah, that’ll happen.” he laughed out quietly. Then slowly as their eyes were still ever trained on to the others he raised his hand and kissed his middle finger, then turning his palm out to her. She copied his movements and pressed her palm against his. Their fingers slid down together until they were holding one anothers hands. It was a corny move they had come up with long ago. But it still symbolized what it needed to to them. It was the way they said, ‘See you again, soon.’ to one another. They decided on it once they realized ‘goodbye’ sounded to much like forever, and a kiss would mean that they never would part. This way the kissed was saved for the hello, and the goodbye never had to be heard. They squeezed tighter still and held it for a brief second. Then he smiled his famous grin and was gone. Heading back out to the car, and on his way home. She turned her hand in to herself and hugged it for a second before going inside and moving to shut the door. Just before she had forever lost sight of him, in that second before the door clicked shut. She heard his voice echo back to her, with words she’d never tire of hearing. She smiled and finished shutting the door.


She sat up in a cold sweat. Gasping for air that wouldn’t come in to her lungs. That dream, she could still see it in her head. It was the last time they had ever seen one another. She could almost hear his last parting words, almost but not quite. They weren’t there, and she couldn’t bring her tired mind and hurt heart to remember them. To hear them one last time.

“No. No, I can’t forget what he said. I can’t.” she all but screamed out at herself. She had to know those last words. She had to. They were the last words he ever spoke to her. She didn’t just want, she NEEDED to know them. She gave a pitiful glance to her calendar. August 15. Exactly one month to the day. Now at this time, more then ever, she had to know those words.

“Adam, Adam would know. If I hadn’t told him, then Richie would have. He has to know even if I don‘t.” she mumbled out as she scrambled out of bed.

She didn’t notice the time, or the rain that was coming down harder and harder, as she grabbed her keys and ran out of her door. All she knew was that she had to get to Adam. She didn’t notice the light either. From the rain, the darkness that the 2 o’clock night had, or from where her mind was. When she finally did notice it, it was much to late. Her brakes didn’t work on the slick pavement. Neither did the brakes of the other car. Her head hit the windshield with a deafening thud. And the last thought through her mind as blackness reached out and claimed her was that of Richie.



Adam Patterson stood outside and watched the night around him. The rain had just stopped minutes ago and the air was cold despite it being August. But nothing was like ice he felt inside of himself. He knew he should go back to bed and try to sleep. He laughed despite himself at that as he reached for another smoke. The open porch was the only place he could smoke. Richie hated the smell and had banned it from the house. And even now he could only smoke out here even though…

“Yeah, like I could ever sleep tonight.” he mumbled out around his cigarette. No, he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. That he knew.

“Wonder how Christi’s handling it?” he asked the stars above him. Then if on cue the phone rang behind him. He had to smile. He knew only one person that would be up at three o’clock and calling him.

“Hello?” he spoke in to the phone, after only the second ring. He could hear his own amusement in his voice. He had wondered sometime ago why she hadn’t called or come over yet.

“Mr. Petterson?” it wasn’t the voice he’d expected. No, it sounded too much like the same voice he’d heard last month in fact.

“Yes.” he said despite the rising panic he felt inside at the moment.

“I’m sorry to disturb at this late hour, but I’m afraid there’s been an accident…” Adam didn’t hear the rest as the receiver dropped and his mind began to whirl. It was happening all over again, and he didn’t know if he could stop it. Or stop himself from being lost for good this time around.


It was only the first day of school. It was only the second time she’d ever stepped on campus. It should be expected that she would have a hard time finding her classes. But as her American History Professor continued to drone on about the importance of being on time to her, in front of the rest of the students, she decided that her expectations weren’t the same as everyone else’s.

“You may take a seat now.” he finally said in a bitter tone that foreshadowed just how much ‘fun’ she’d be having in this class. She fled instantly to the first seat she found open and sat down. She could feel her cheeks burning. She knew everyone had to be looking at her and laughing inside. As she looked over to her right, her guesses were confirmed. The guy was openly grinning at her and lightly shaking his head. She let herself fall further down in to her chair as she tried to hide herself with her notebook. She only moved when she felt a gentle poke on her arm. She looked over and the hand that was poking her was connected to that same guy.

“Don’t worry, he did the same thing to me about 30 seconds before you walked in. And I wasn’t the first either.” he told her, flashing a smile bright enough to blind her. She looked up then and nearly lost her breath. As she looked in to his dazzlingly sea blue eyes it felt almost as if she was drowning. He smiled again and turned back to the front. She knew she should do the same, but she just couldn’t. She was lost staring at him. Those eyes, they stayed with her. They were the most amazing eyes she’d ever seen. And the rest of him wasn’t bad either she had to admit. His blonde hair was fairly short, but shaggy, as if he’d kept putting off getting it cut. He was thin, but still muscular. The type of guy that probably played football in high school, but couldn’t cut it on the college team. But just looking at him she could tell that something like that wouldn’t bother him. That he was one of those few men that didn’t take pride in being a jock. The idea that he was just who he was, like it or not seemed to be radiating off of him. And she did like it.

Class went by fast, and she couldn’t have told you what it was about if you paid her. The entire hour she had been captivated by him. When the Professor finally told them they were dismissed, she didn’t have a chance to start shoving her book back in to her bag before his hand came across her path.

“I’m Richard Johnson. People call me R.J.” He told her, again with that blinding grin.

“Christi MacCormick.” she told him taking his hand, and being overwhelmed by the strength he possessed, even after she thought she’d had him figured out. He gave her a puzzled look.

“That’s not what the old geezer stumbled through during attendance.” he told he as he motioned the professor. She looked at him for a second, nearly ready to ask ‘He took attendance, when?’ before she realized that, yes he had, but during that too she had been focused on R.J. instead. Finally she smiled back and shook her head.

“No, the names actually Christa. But everyone just goes with Christi. Its easier on the tongue.” she told him, ending with another shy smile. R.J. just looked at her for a second. That shy smile, the blush that was almost ready to capture her pale cheeks, the way her honey brown eyes seemed so open to the world, had they not been partly covered with chestnut bangs. She was enough to take his breath away. If asked he’d tell you that his type was the blondes with the goods, but right at this second he was willing to reevaluate his thinking process.

“Well, then Christi it is.” he told her finally. They walked with each other to the door, then through the twists and turns of the building to the outside exit. Learning that they were both freshman, she was coming here from out of state, and lived on campus, while he was from the area and had an apartment with an old high school buddy. And neither one of them would have been taking American History 102 if it had not been for the general education requirements they needed.

Once they did reach the outer door, he held it open for her and they walked outside in to a downpour.

“Just great.” she laughed as she covered her head the best she could with her backpack.

“Yeah, I know.” he told her, pulling his jacket closer to his neck to stop the rain from coming down the back of his neck.

“Well, I gotta go find my next class. See on Wednesday?” she asked as she began to head away.

“I’ll be here.” he called out to her. She smiled again, that same shy smile she had, before she ran off in search of her next class. He just stood in the rain and watched her. His mind trying to convince a heart that already knew different, that love at fist sight didn’t exist.

The rest of the semester passed in a blur. They were both always off doing one thing or another, and didn’t have much time to spare. Even at that, somehow both of them always managed to be at least a half hour early to American History. And they spent that time talking, laughing, and getting to know the other better. It was nearly finals week now, and both approached it with a heavy heart. Knowing that after that, they wouldn’t have classes together anymore, and a great friendship that always was bordering on something more would be gone. Christi was lost in those thoughts as she stared down at her history book. So completely lost in thought, she never even heard the phone ring. It wasn’t until her roommate shoved it in to her hand, complaining that she’d miss it if the building came down around her, that she came out of it.

“Hello?” she asked, curiously wondering who would be calling her. She still didn’t know very many people around this area.

“Hey Christi.” her heart about leapt in to her throat as she recognized R.J.’s voice from the other end.

“I was wondering if you would like to come over and study together. Lame, yeah I know, but I’ll order a pizza. And who knows, together we might be able to pass.” she couldn’t remember the rest of the conversation. The next thing she could remember was standing on R.J.’s doorstep waiting for him to answer it. It opened, and she fell in to the sea of his eyes again, and she let herself fall too. Until his puzzled expression brought her back.

“Um, why are you soaking wet?” he asked with a light laugh in his voice.

“Cause its pouring outside, so can I please come in?” she asked, letting her own laughter float through her voice. He moved the door farther open and gestured for her to come in.

“Thanks.” She said as she moved in to the apartment.

“Here, let me go see I have a shirt that might fit you, that’s ones drenched.” he told her as he motioned her to sit down in the living room and he passed behind her in to one of the other doors. She sat down and smiled yet again, while her mind worked on telling her heart to shut up.

It was three hours, one pizza, and two T.V. breaks later that the front door opened.

“Hey Adam, how was work?” R.J. called out without even diverting his attention from the scribbled note page he was trying to decode. Christi stared up at him and smiled gently before turning back to her own papers.

“Not bad. Hello?” he tried as he looked in to the living room at the two.

“Oh, sorry. Christi this is Adam, my roommate. Adam this is Christi, we’re in history together.” R.J. said as he looked up. Adam just nodded his head slowly and let a small grin form on his face.

“Nice to meet you Christi. And, a, pardon me for asking, but isn’t that R.J.’s shirt your wearing?” he asked as the grin broke out even farther on to his face. Christi went beat red and looked down. She had forgotten all about wearing his shirt, but it was obvious to tell. It was about two sizes to big on her small frame, and had his old high school name printed across it.

“It was raining.” she finally said, trying to smile over her embarrassment. Adam just smiled bigger.

“Hers was soaked Adam, that’s it.” R.J. told him with a smile of his own. Adam nodded.

“Yeah, I believe you. No way a jerk like him could get a nice girl like you anyway.” He said with a smile as he headed out to the kitchen. Christi just blushed a little harder and turned back to her papers again.

“Hey, R.J. man, come here a sec.” Adam called out from the kitchen a moment latter. R.J. rolled his eyes but got up and went to see what he wanted anyway. When he got in to the kitchen he was met with stony gray eyes and a more serious expression then he could ever remember seeing Adam wear.

“That’s the same Christi you’ve been talking about all semester, right?” he asked in a whisper so the girl in question couldn’t hear.

“I haven’t been talking about her all semester.” R.J. tried to protest, but was cut off by the look in Adam’s eyes. “Well, yeah, I guess.” R.J. told him, puzzled over his friend’s reaction.

“If you don’t ask her out, on a real date, by the end of this night, I will beat you, and then take her for myself. She’d too good to let get away.” and with that he walked out of the kitchen and in to the living room to get better acquainted with the girl who had so captivated his best friend. R.J. stood shocked in the kitchen for another minute before he realized that Adam knew stories about him that could put his mothers baby pictures to shame and rushed back out.

It was less then a week later that R.J. and Christi found themselves finishing up a meal at the restaurant a block from R.J.’s apartment talking about the movie they had just seen. As they started the walk back to the apartment it began to rain. By the time they were at the door they were both soaked. R.J. stopped in mid air from putting the key in the lock and looked at her. Her hair was wet and looked nearly black in the dimness from the streetlight. It fell around her face, and clung to her cheek. Her smile was evident in her eyes as much as it was on her lips.

He felt his own grin melt away as he brushed the lock of hair that was stuck to her cheek away. His hand stayed there, resting lightly on the curve of her face. Her own smile melted away too as she stared in to his forever deep eyes. Neither could tell you who was the first to move closer, but it didn’t matter. As their lips met for the first time, all the passion and emotion that they had been holding inside all of that time surfaced. In that mere second of first contact both knew for sure what their hearts had been telling them all along. Never again would they be whole without the other.

The next morning as Adam walked in to the kitchen the first thing that he noticed was Christi sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal. The second thing he noticed was that she was again wearing one of R.J.’s shirts. He just smiled in that way that said he knew something as he sat down across from her.

“R.J.’s shirt again huh?” he asked with laughter in his voice. She smiled at him with no embarrassment or blush. Just a smile of true happiness.

“Well it was raining.” she said as she turned back to her bowl.

“And R.J. is…”

“Still sleeping.” she told him in a very satisfied tone. Adam’s laughter rang out though the apartment, followed shortly by Christi’s.



The weeks and months blurred together then. School went by in a daze and it was surprising either of them passed. Every second of their lives seemed to be consumed by the other. They never seemed to part for longer then they had to. In such a short time that had become so intertwined by one another’s love that trying to live without the other was like a fish trying to breathe out of water. It just couldn’t be done. And somehow in the mess of their lives, Adam also became entangled. Acting like a big brother and a true friend. They had become almost like a family. Living, loving, laughing, and learning together. Finally the summer sun blazed in the sky. Signaling an end to classes.

“Okay Christi,” R.J. grunted as he walked up another flight of stairs with an overly heavy box in his arms, “When I said we can now spend more time together, helping you move wasn’t what I had in mind.” Christi just laughed from the landing where she was holding the door open to her new apartment.

“Yeah, I know. Sit that down over here.” she told him with a laugh.

“I still don’t get why you just didn’t move in with me.” he told her as he sat the box down, and grabbed her hand, pulling her in to his arms.

“Because we both have to finish school first. If we lived together neither of us would ever make it. We hardly do as it is. Besides this place is only two blocks from yours.” she told him as she wound her hands up around his neck and pulled him closer to her.

“There, that’s the last of it.” Adam said as he entered the apartment, sitting down the last box. He looked up at the two he had been speaking to, though it was more then evident that neither had heard him. They were lost in each other as they kissed deeply, not caring if he was there or not. He placed a mock frown on his face and leaned against the still open door.

“He might be getting paid like that, but I was promised take out.” he told the two as they finally came up for air.

“Is that jealousy I hear Adam?” R.J. joked as he stayed right where he was, holding the girl he would without a doubt spend the rest of his life with, and losing himself in her.

“No. Its hunger. I mean, I would tell you two to get a room, but you might take me up on it. Then I’d never get to eat.” he told them smiling.

“Whys he here anyway?” R.J. asked to Christi, placing that blinding grin on his face.

“Cause the boxes wouldn’t fit on your motorcycle.” She told him, smiling herself. She managed to tear her eyes off of R.J. to look at Adam finally.

“We really need to hook you up. Then we could all go on a double date.” she told him with a laugh. He just shook his head and smiled.

“Whatever. Can we go eat now? Seriously, I’m starved.” he told them as he motioned to the door.



“I got it!” R.J. called out suddenly, his voice echoing in the still partially empty apartment and almost causing Christi to drop the box she was carrying to its appropriate room. She turned and gave him a more then puzzled look. They had been trying to unpack her things since they got back from lunch with Adam. And now it was going on one in the morning and they still had hardly done anything. She didn’t have the energy it took to try and decode what he was talking about.

“Huh?” was the best she could manage to even ask.

“You. Ever since I met you I’ve been trying to come up with a name that fits you better then Christi. Something that sounds more exotic, like your real name, Christa. Without using that, cause I know you don’t like it. And now I got it.” he told her excitedly. Too excitedly given the time.

“And what is that?” she asked as she sat down next to him on the small couch. Which at the moment was her only furniture, besides the bed.

“Cha.” he told her with a grin. “What’d ya think?”

“I kinda like it.” She told him. Knowing that the only reason she did like it was because it was R.J. that was using it. “But if you call me that, I get to call you Richie.” she told him with a smile. He gave her a hard look for a second before falling back against the cushions and taking her with him.

“Deal, but only you.” he said.

“Same thing goes for you.” she mumbled to him as she made herself more comfortable against him and began to drift asleep. She could feel his chest move, and his jaw as it brushed the top of her head. He was telling her one last thing before she fell in to her dreams. It was the one thing he always told her. But again the words were lost in the memory. They wouldn’t come to her ears.




It felt as if someone hit the fast forward button on their lives for the next two years. Everything went by in a blur. All either one of them could do was try and hurry the time until they were done with school. Knowing they couldn’t move in together, or get married, until then. Or it would never happen. They both agreed to take summer courses. That way they would be out of school early in there senior year. But it meant that the summers became harder in-between. Another hurdle to jump over as they tried to make their way. But it was the only thing that could be done. All they could keep telling each other was that it meant soon they could be that much closer together, forever.

It had only been two days since Richie had shown up with the surprise picnic. But for her it was an eternity without him. This was the last summer they’d ever have to spend apart though. Thinking that was the only thing that got Cha through the day. And today had been a long one. Two thesis presentations in the morning and a three-hour long boring as hell class in the afternoon. And it hadn’t stopped raining all day. Or the day before. It was turning in to one of those dreary weeks that you just dread, and want to stay inside curled up under covers all day. And if you weren’t allowed to you became very irritable. And that’s just how she felt now.

As she struggled with the old lock on the front of her apartment she growled. She really needed to replace it she knew, but up until now it hadn’t pissed her off this much. She was wet and tired and cranky. All she wanted to do was take a nice shower and sleep for the rest of the day. As she finally managed to get the door open and just begun to move towards the bathroom the phone rang. She stopped and just stared at it for a moment. Debating on whether she should just let it ring, or answer the son of a bitch. She finally decided to answer it now, and then take it off the hook while she did take her shower.

“What?” she spat in to the receiver. She wasn’t in the mood for calls right now.

“Sorry to disturb you. Is this Ms. MacCormick?” an overly sweet voice asked from the other end.

“Look, I don’t want to buy…” she started, assuming it was another salesman trying to get her to buy aluminum siding again or something else so useful in an apartment.

“No mam‘. This is St. June’s Hospital calling.” the voice on the other end cut her off. Panic instantly washed over and fear ran cold in her veins.

“What happened?” she desperately asked in the receiver.

“There was a car crash mam‘. There was no identification on the driver, but the car was registered to one Mr. Adam Petterson.”

“Oh my god! Adam. Is he okay?” she asked in panic.

“I can’t give out that information on the phone. I’m sorry. But we ask if you could please come down here.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in too seconds. Someone has to call Richie.” she said then, more to herself then to the nurse. But the nurse took it as if she was still talking to her.

“That’s his roommate correct? Someone else is contacting him right now.” Cha didn’t hear anything else. She hung up and flew out of the apartment. She no longer wanted a shower. She just wanted to make sure that her friend was okay.



She ran at top speed in to the emergency room, almost colliding in to the front desk in her hurry.

“Excuses me, can you tell me where…” she began to ask the woman behind the desk. She never finished though as the sound of her name being called caught her attention.

“Christi, over here.” she whirled around and saw Adam. Standing without even a scratch on him. Relief flooded her like nothing else. She flew to him and wrapped her arms around him as tight as she could.

“Adam, your okay, but they said you were in an accident…” she started mumbling as he gently pried her away from him.

“No, I wasn’t.” he told her simply, as if he couldn’t keep any more words coming out.

“But your car, and…” she looked at him puzzled. His face was awash with emotion and more tired looking then she could ever remember seeing it.

“Christi, it was raining today…” he was trying to tell her something, that much she understood, but it wasn’t making sense, of course she knew it had been raining.

“R.J. had class this afternoon…” She was getting more confused.

“Yeah I know that, what does that have to do…” his eyes, there was something about his eyes that hurt her to look at them.

“He didn’t want to get drenched on his bike Christi.”

“I don’t get what your saying Adam.” she told him as her breath began to stick in her throat and her mind began to make sense of things.

“He borrowed the car. He was the one driving. They made a mistake Christi…and…and…” his voice didn’t go any father. It couldn’t say the last words. It couldn’t tell her the truth. He just turned and looked down to the room that R.J. had been in.

“No.” she said as she backed up from him and looked down the hall at that room. “No, this isn’t happening.” she whispered out again. And then rational thought stopped working.

“Noooo” her voice screamed out again as she raced towards the room. It was impossible, this wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be. “Noo” she cried out again and again as the arms of the doctor reached out and grabbed her, stopped her. Adam had come back to her now as well. He was holding her back now too.

“Let go!” she screamed. It echoed along the corridors of the white and yellow walls. “No, no, let me go, let me see him!! Richie!” she continued to yell out as she fought against the arms that held her back.

“Christi, please.” Adam begged. Slowly her screams subsided and she dropped to the floor in sobs. Adam knelt down to her and wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m sorry. I really am.” the doctor said as he walked away.

“Oh, Christi….” Adam whispered in her ear gently as she cried. It was that simple, he was gone, forever. Adam felt his own tears well up in to his eyes and cascade down on to her soft hair as he held her there crying. Knowing that as much as it hurt him, as endless as the pain that was flowing through his body and soul, it was nothing compared to what she was feeling. She had come in to see a hurt friend, and ending up losing the only thing that was her life, her love, her Richie. Even though he knew it might not make it any better, he promised he would tell her those last words.

“Christi, the last, the last thing he said, it was to tell you, tell you that…” and for one last time the words never made it to her, especially when she needed them the most.


“NO!” She woke up with a scream. Adam’s words dying before they reached her. Once more not hearing them, once more not being able to know those words that he always told her, that always made her smile, those words that even in the hospital that day dug in to the unending sadness and lifted her just a little, trying to make it better. Still she was without memory of them. She was still in the panic of not knowing those words, words that so badly needed to be heard by her heart, that it took her a minute to realize where she was.

The first thing she did notice was the mattress under her. So soft it was like lying on a cloud. And white. Everything was so brilliantly white that it made her feel like the first person to ever see this, much less touch it. The sheets, the blanket, the pillows, and the thin lace curtain that hung around the four-poster bed were all the same extruding white. She just sat there a moment and tried to take it all in. Blinking feverishly at the brightness before she became accustomed to it. Then as she looked out in to the rest of the room through the thin lace, she thought she saw something moving. A dark shadow walking past. But as she tried to see it better it vanished. Then it was there on the opposite side, no now in the front, no the left again.

“Agh!” she cried out as she squeezed her eyes closed and held her head in her hands. This was too much, she couldn’t make sense of anything. She couldn’t figure out what was going on. Or where she was for that matter. The last thing she remembered was being in the car on the way to see Adam, and this wasn’t Adam’s place. Then as she thought about where she was, or why for that matter, she realized she didn’t care. There was just something about this place the relaxed her, calmed her, and made her feel like the whys, where’s, and how’s didn’t matter.

“Christi…” such a small whisper she didn’t know if she really heard it or if it was just her mind. She looked up once more and the shadow was there again. But it was still this time, standing just in front of the foot of the bed.

“Hello? Who’s there?” she called out, her voice sounding so small and scared in her own ears. Silence was her only answer for the longest time. She slowly started climbing to the front of the bed, intent on finding out who that was.

“Christi…” again the so nearly silent whisper. She could make nothing out of it, except that it was her name. With a shaky hand she parted the curtain at the end of the bed and peered out. She had to blink at the first bust of light that hit her eyes undulated by the lace curtain. It was such a bright light at first glance it hurt her eyes, yet as she looked out again it wasn’t nearly as bad. It was as if in that brief second it had been dimmed. It now fell in just the right way to illuminate everything around perfectly. No more, no less. It was a small room, painted in such a soft blue that one might have mistaken it for white had the bed not been there to contrast it. The carpeting too had that same blue to it, and as she lowered her feet it was like putting them on cotton. It was so thick and deep in its make, like nothing Cha had ever felt before. While the details of the room may have been enough to hold most anyone else’s attention, it wasn’t for her. Instead she was focused on the man who stood no more then four feet from her, peering out a slightly open door the opposite direction of herself.

There was something that was too familiar about him. The way he stood, the color of his hair, the way he would tip his head just so as he watched what was beyond the door. The way she felt so sure that she could tell you just what his eyes looked like with out ever seeing him.

“Hello?” she called out in nearly a whisper. The man slowly started to turn around to face her, a grin becoming evident on his face as he did so. And before he was even halfway around, Cha knew.


“…and other then a few bruises and cuts, there isn’t anything else physically wrong with her.” the doctor told Adam as they stood outside of the room Christi was now in.

“Then why isn’t she awake?” Adam asked the older man, the stress and emotions that were inside of him pooling out in to the words that he spoke.

“I can’t say. I said there was nothing physically wrong with her, but sometimes after a traumatic accident there are mental issues that linger. Is there anyone else that could be called?” the doctor asked, knowing that this poor kid in front of him shouldn’t be here alone.

“No, her family is two sates away. The earliest they could even get here wouldn’t be for another 2 days.” Adam told him, while choking back a large lump in his throat.

“Is there anyone we can call for you?” Adam just shook his head slightly. He didn’t have anyone else. He’d had R.J. and Christi, and he’d already lost R.J., now he was in danger of losing Christi as well.

“Can you tell me when she WILL wake up?” his voice was so strained that he could barley get the words out anymore.

“No, and I’m sorry, but at this point we don’t even know if she will wake up at all sir.” the doctor told him, trying to make it sound as caring as he could. Again Adam just nodded his head. For a second the doctor thought that he might have gotten lucky and found a person who was willing to except the facts as they were and not try to hold on to false hope, but only for a second.

“Then there is someone I need to call.” he said simply.

“Who is that?”

“My work. To let them know I’m not going to be in. I’m going to be here when she wakes up, and she WILL wake up.” he told the doctor as he bored his stone gray eyes in to the man with more determination then the old doctor had ever seen in his life.


“Richie!” thought stopped going through her head as she flung herself the rest of the way off of the bed and towards the only man she had ever loved. His arms opened up to her and she was instantly enveloped in a wave of love. She just held on, tighter and tighter, and he held her back. This is what she’d wanted, needed, to have. Wrapped up and safe in his arms. That was all she could think of ever since, ever since he…

“NO!” she screamed out louder then what should have been possible as she flung her self away from him. Her whole body was shaking as she wrapped her arms around herself and nearly started crying.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked her, hurt flooding his voice. Richie’s voice. But it couldn’t be. Richie was gone.

“Your not him.” she finally said, words shaking with her torn emotions.

“Christi,” he said with an almost laugh on his lips as he took a step towards her turned back.

“Stay away!” she yelled out as she half turned to him. “Your not real, Richie’s dead.” tears were forming in her eyes, but from what she couldn’t say. There was too much emotion wrapped up in side of her for anything clear to come through.

“You just held me. Didn’t I feel real?” he asked her. Asked with that voice he always used when she was been stupid. But it wasn’t his voice was it?

“So, your not dead?” she asked as she turned to face him again, still not understanding anything.

“No, I didn’t ask if I felt dead, I asked if I felt real.” he told her, the beginnings of that bright grin forming on his face like it always did.

“So, your dead, but real?” she was getting even more confused now.

“Yeah.” A simple answer, a simple shrug. Just simply Richie.

“Your not him you can’t be, he’s gone.” she sobbed out as she fell to her knees on the cotton like carpet. Her heart wanted nothing more then to believe that that was Richie, her Richie, but her mind had always been more practical. He just stood above her for a minute, letting her cry, and figuring out how to convince herself that he was who he was. Finally, he knew.

“Cha,” he finally whispered out, getting her to look up in time for her to see him kiss his middle finger and extend that same hand out to her then. She looked from his hand to his face and back again. Her tears stopped and finally she even kissed her own middle finger before bringing her hand out to met his. His grasp was firm and strong as he pulled her to her feet once more. Her eyes stared desperately in to his endless blue ones, losing herself, her fears, and her confusion.

“Richie?” she let out in a soft whisper. His face broke in to a solid grin, blinding her with it if she still hadn’t been drowning in his eyes.

“It’s really you, it is.” she sobbed out, this time in pure tears of joy, as she fell again in to his arms. The one place she had been longing to be all this time.

“Yeah, it is.” he whispered back in to her ear as he held her closer.


Adam sat at the bedside tossing an empty Styrofoam cup back and forth. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her on that bed though. It was too hard, it hurt him too much. If he did he knew it would only result in breaking down again, and he didn’t know if he could come back from it this time. He was so lost in pain that he nearly jumped when a nurse’s hand gently touched his shoulder.

“Didn’t mean to startle you, just thought you could use a refill.” she said with a strained smile as she handed him another cup.

“Thanks.” was all he could manage to mumble as he took it from her. He raised it to his lips and took a long swallow of the foul brew. Burning off a large part of his mouth, and killing all taste buds for life, but not succeeding in washing away the pain and fear and worry like he wished it would.

“Just wake up Christi, please.” he all but begged the near lifeless girl before him. “I can’t lose you too, I just can’t”


“Richie, this is all I ever wanted!” Cha said as she backed up just enough to look again in to the man she would always love eyes. She was just about lost, floating away in the blue depths of them when he spoke.

“I’m glad to. I never meant to leave without saying goodbye.” He told her, his voice taking on a heavy tone, deepened by a sadness she couldn’t explain.

“Goodbye, you’re wrong, this is hello.” she told him. Her smile beginning to fade as she tried to understand his words, but she just couldn’t. He shook his head slightly as he backed up from her a little more.

“No Cha, as much as I want that to be true, its not. Not yet anyway. This, all this,” he said as he motioned the room around them, “its just so that we could have what fate deprived us of last time. Our goodbye.” Sadness swept in to his eyes as he spoke, but still he managed a small smile. As much as it would hurt him to say goodbye, at least he could say it.

“No.” she said again as she once more turned her back to him. “I am not about to go anywhere else. You’re here, so this is where I’m gonna stay.” she was sounding as sure and as stubborn as she ever did. He came up and wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her tightly against his chest.

“You can’t. As much as I want you to, you can’t. You have to go back to your life. Your not meant to end now.” he spoke in to her ear, tickling her hair as he leaned his head down on her shoulder. She just shook her head.

“I can’t,” she told him as she turned her head just enough to see his face. “You were my life. Without you there is nothing else to live for. You were all I ever had.” she told him, with the dull simplicity that meant she believed it.

“That’s not true. You had a lot to live for, and still do.”

“Like what?” she asked him in a know it all voice, with sarcastic undertones floating through.

“Him.” Richie told her simply as he nodded his head forward. She followed the path of his eyes and watched as right before her the door that she had noticed what seemed like forever ago swung all the way open. He felt her gasp more then heard it as the sight on the other side of the door became clear.

Her body was stretched out on a hospital bed, IV’s and machines attached everywhere on her. The cheery yellow walls which were designed to try and make people feel better were just nauseating to look at. And next to the bed, in an uncomfortable plastic chair was Adam. He was tossing around an empty cup, next to him the wastepaper basket was already brimming with many of the same. You could see the tears he was fighting so hard to keep back trailing down his face. A face that at that very second held more pain that it should have been humanly possible to have in a single person.

“Don’t leave me too Christi, please, not you too…” his words echoed up and through the door and all but bit at Cha’s ears with there desperation and pleading. She flung herself around and buried herself in to Richie’s strong chest.

“No. I’m sorry, I don’t want to hurt him, but I don’t want to hurt either. And for that I need you.” she sobbed out. Richie pulled back from her and held her shoulders sternly as he looked in to her eyes.

“You can make it though, you can go on and live again. And Adam can help you with that. And you can help him in turn. But if you leave too, then what Cha, then who is he going to turn to?” she just kept shaking her head. She couldn’t even raise her eyes to his.

“I love you, more then anything I want to be with you, but damn it all, I don’t want you to die before your time just so that can happen!” he all but screamed at her. Trying to make her see, to realize just what she was saying. Just what would happen.

“No, I just can’t leave you.” she sobbed out. He turned her around again to face the door, and the scene she didn’t want to on the other side.

“Then just look at what will happen.” he told her.


Adam was still trying to decide if he dare leave Christi’s side long enough to get his ninth cup of horrid coffee when the first machine started buzzing sporadically. His eyes flew up to it, and her, and in that same second of time the other ones stared going off as well. He was on his feet and nearing convulsions as the doctors and nurses began to rush in to her.

“What’s going on? What’s happening to her?!?” he yelled out frantically as he watched three more nurses and another doctor come flying in to the room.

“I’m sorry sir, you need to leave, NOW.” one of the nurses told him as she all but pushed him from the room and shut the door behind him. The last words that he heard before it clicked shut were ‘She’s crashing.’

In a blind stumble he moved towards the chairs in the hallway, but before he got there his legs gave out on him. He crashed in to a heap in the middle of the hallway. Sobs rattling his whole existence.

“No, no Christi, no, GOD DAMN IT DON’T LEAVE ME TOO!!” he screamed out. Though his last words never really made it through his throat as the power of his sobs took them away. He didn’t even have enough in him at the moment to crawl to the chairs less then a foot behind him.


Cha all but threw herself in to Richie to get away from that sight, to get away from seeing her dearest friend like that. She couldn’t handle it, she felt all but ready to hurl right there.

“Is that what you want? Can you really do that to him Cha, and then make him go on with no one?” Richie asked her as he held her. She shook her head feverishly against him, trying to work up enough anything to talk around the lump in her throat.

“No, but, but I can’t leave you either. Not now, not when I have you back. How could I?” she asked him as she looked up in to his face with tear stained and hurting eyes.

“You can because you have to. I will always love you, and I will always be here waiting for you to one day come back to me again, but he needs you now Cha.” He told her. Again she fell in to him and held him closer then ever before.

“Okay. I love you so much.” she mumbled against him. The last time she would be against him she knew. Even as she said it she could feel him beginning to slip away from her.

“Goodbye Richie!” she called out to him as she began to lose contact with his body and fall back in through that door behind her.

“Goodbye Cha, and always remember, remember Cha, my love for you will last forever and then some.” he called back to her. Using those words that he always used, the words that meant the world to her twice over, and this time, she heard them.

Adam had somehow moved to the chair in the hallway, though he really didn’t know when. He was still sobbing out, though the tears themselves had ran out long ago. He didn’t even hear the door open and the staff come out. He didn’t want to hear what the doctor had to say. It hurt him too much to even think about what those words would bring.

“Mr. Petterson?” the doctor called out to him. Adam looked up despite everything. The last thing he wanted to see was this old mans sad face as he told him the same ‘I’m sorry, there was nothing we could do’ speech that he had heard only a month ago. As his eyes met the mans face though he realized that, that, that the guy was smiling.

“Christi…” Adam attempted to ask, hope flooding him like there never was before.

“Is awake, and asking to see you.” the smile broadened on the doctors face as he motioned to the door. Adam felt as if he was in a haze. He couldn’t focus on anything as the doctor led him to the door. He just kept staring in open-mouthed shock at the man as he ushered him inside of the room. His eyes followed him back again as the doctor left the room. He was still in that daze, staring off at the open doorway when he heard it. Heard what he had been waiting to hear ever since that phone call hours ago.

“Hi Adam.” her voice was stiff and subdued, it hurt for her to talk, but still as she watched Adam slowly turn around and look at her, with a loving, sweet, and thankful expression flooding him, she knew it was worth it.

“Oh Christi!” he called out as he all but flung himself at her, holding her tight as if he thought if he let go she would vanish. “I thought I lost you too.” he told her, again tears streaking down his face, though tears of pure joy this time.

“I’m not going anywhere for a while yet Adam. Not anywhere.” she told him smiling, and letting her own tears come down her face as she returned his hug, holding him just as tight back. And from somewhere else, as clear as a church bell on a winter morning she heard the only words she needed to drift back to her.

“Remember Cha, my love for you will last forever and then some.”