"Lizzie... She... She's in there," JC said, dumbfounded, staring at the closed hospital door just a few feet away from him. He shook his head in incredulity. "She's in there with doctors and I'm not in there with her."

"You need to calm down Josh," Roy said to his son sternly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You need to be the strong one here. You need to be strong for your wife, your child and for yourself."

JC gulped, reluctantly tearing his focus away from the white door and looking at his father. "I don't know how to be strong if something's happening to her, dad," JC whispered. "Why isn't anyone telling me anything? Huh? I'm waiting out here like a damn fool when what I should be doing is being at her side inside there. These doctors aren't telling me if she's alive, if she's on life support, if she's..." His voice trailed off. "I don't know how to be strong here, dad."

"Find it in yourself, son," Roy said. "You're not doing yourself any good worrying about the seriousness of the accident."

JC swallowed, refusing to let the tears that burned in the back of his eyes fall in front of the man he respected the most. "Dad..." he said softly. "The Jeep is smashed all the way in. These doctors aren't telling me anything about what happened."

He turned to look at Emma who sat on a waiting chair with her forehead in her hands while Karen sat beside her, rubbing her back.

"Emma's been here for an hour and she said no doctors have come out of that room since the Ambulance brought Liz in to the E.R. What'd you expect me to do? How would you feel if something like this happened to mom and doctors wouldn't tell you anything?"

His father sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I honestly don't know."

JC shook his head, sitting back down in the chair behind him. "I feel like I can't even breathe right now. I don't know what I'm going to do if..."

JC couldn't even finish the last sentence. "God," he ran a hand through his hair, tightening his grip in a way to almost pull a handful of the hair out.

A few more minutes of silence had passed before a tall, white haired man in a white doctor's coat entered the waiting room with a clipboard.

"Emma Rogers?" the man said.

Emma's head snapped up and she nodded, her face red. She wiped her tears and stood up from the seat, JC and his parents doing the same when the doctor made his presence known.

"Yea, that's me," Emma sniffled.

"And you were called in here for a Mrs. Elizabeth Chasez, correct?"

"My wife," JC said, walking over to where Emma was standing.

"Joshua Chasez. We know who you are," the man shook JC's hand. "I was on call when they brought your wife into the E.R. I'd like to have a word with you, if you don't mind."

"W-Wait a minute," Emma shook her head. "What's going on? Lizzie, is she... Is she okay?"

The doctor looked at JC who had a waiting look on his face, eager to hear the answer.

"I'd really just like to talk to Mr. Chasez in private, since this is his wife."

"She's her sister," JC lied, putting his hand on the small of Emma's back. "She's family and these are my parents. Please, just... Is Liz alright? No one has told us anything since we got her and I would like to get some answers? Is my wife alive?"

"Would you mind taking a seat if-"

"I don't want to take a seat, dammit!" JC exploded, startling the people around him. "I want to know what's going on!"

"I understand," the doctor nodded.

JC sighed, shaking his head. "Tell me."

The man nodded, clearing his throat and looking down at the page on the clipboard. "Elizabeth sustained a broken right arm, where the bone was broken in two places, including the wrist. She's suffering from a severe whiplash from the sudden impact the car experience when she hit the pole and glass shards from the shattered windshield caused scrapes and cuts around her forehead and a few on both arms. There are some bruises to the legs but the crash would have been far worse if she hadn't been wearing her seatbelt. When the car collided with the pole, we think her head banged against the steering wheel because there was no airbag when they got her out of the wreckage. Fortunately, there was also no damage to the spinal cord nor was there any breaking of her vertebral column so it's not likely that paralysis will be a lasting effect during recovery. There are also no extreme injuries to the head where we'd be at the point to contemplate operating but Elizabeth is currently unconscious, and hasn't shown signs of waking up just yet. We're waiting on the results of her MRI."

"A coma?" Emma choked out.

"We're still running a few tests," the doctor said.

"She isn't brain dead though."

"No, she's not and her pulse and heart rate aren't as strong as it should be but we're getting there," the doctor nodded. He turned to look at JC, who wasn't sure whether or not to be happy that Liz wasn't at the point where she needed life support or to be ready to break down in tears because of the serious injuries she had sustained. "I'm aware that Elizabeth was pregnant, correct? You two were expecting?"

JC nodded. "Y-Yea, she's sixteen weeks along. The baby's oka- Wait a second. What'd you mean she was pregnant?"

"Mr. Chasez, I'm afraid that during the time your wife was on her way over to the hospital, we believe that she was miscarrying. By the time the paramedics had gotten to the scene of the accident, the baby had already passed."

Karen gasped, putting her hand to her mouth and Roy had to wrap his arm around her. Emma turned around and went back to sit on the chair and buried her face in her hands. JC stood there, speechless and stunned, uncertain of how to react- How to feel.

"She lost the baby?" he asked, his voice soft as his body started to become weak.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Chasez," the doctor said sympathetically. "It was just too late by the time the ambulance had gotten her here, at the hospital. Her pants that we are going to have washed or thrown out for you, whichever one you prefer, are stained in the blood from the crotch area and straight down to the ankles. They are completely blood soaked."

JC closed his eyes for a moment to absorb the information told to him but the image of Liz being in pain and bloodied trying to get herself to the hospital and then crashing into the pole immediately clouded JC's whole mind.

"Josh..." his father put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. "We are so sorry, son."

JC shook his head. "I should have stayed home with her. I should have made sure she was feeling okay before I left. I should have made sure something like this would never happen."

"You didn't know she was going to miscarry, hunny," Karen said to her son, her eyes brimmed with tears. "You didn't plan on her getting into a car accident today either. This isn't your fault."

"Can I see my wife now?" JC looked at the doctor. "Can I go in now? Please?"

The man looked at JC hesitantly but nodded. "As I mentioned before, she is not awake. And I'd recommend that there be only one or two people in there with her at a time so that in case she does happen to wake up, she won't be startled and the nurses, and myself, can be called in. We're going to have to be monitoring the severity of her injuries for long as necessary. The damage to her head is still unclear and we're not sure about the effects the impact of the accident has on her walking and balance, if there are any. If she wakes up, she may drift back into a concussion."

"Go in, son," Roy nodded. "Your mother and I will stay out here and try to get in touch with Lynn and tell her what's going on."

"Em?" JC called out, walking over to where Emma sat, silently. He looked at her, some fear reflecting in his dark blue eyes. "Can you come in there with me? Please?"

Emma lifted her head to look at him. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she took his extended hand and nodded, getting up silently.

"Take your time," the doctor said gently, walking over and opening the door to the hospital room Liz was in.

The blinds were down and the room was dim. Letting Emma walk in front of him, JC froze when he approached her bed side.

Never in his entire life had he felt as helpless as he did in that very moment.

With a large blanket covering her from the toes up to the waist, she lied there lifelessly. The only sound in the room at that point came from the machine beside her bed that estimated her heart rate.

JC and Emma looked at her. Her right arm was in a thick cast, a bandage cloth was wrapped all the way around her head, separating half her forehead and the top of her head. There were visible bruises on her neck and a few dark red scrapes and cuts on her face. The bruises under the hospital gown she wore were invisible to JC and Emma's eyes at the time.

"Josh..." Emma sniffled, holding his arm.

"Mm?" was JC's only response.

"I don't think I can see her like this again."

JC turned to look at her and put his arms around her, holding her close.

"She's gonna be alright Em."

Emma let a few of her tears absorb into JC's shirt. "Yea, but... Seeing her like that is just bringing up those memories from when... It's like what happened before is repeating itself."

"I understand. I'm sorry."

Emma looked at her friend that was on the bed a couple feet away from her and then back at JC.

"I need to go outside," she said. "You're the one that should be in here with her."

"Hey, you're feeling this just as much as I am. Please, don't leave."

"You're the strongest of the three of us in here right now and I can't stand here watching her lie there in a hospital bed when there's nothing I can do to get her out of it. I have to go back outside."

"Then take these or give them to my dad," JC fished around in the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out his car keys. "He'll take you home so you can calm down and rejuvenate yourself and then he can bring you back here in an hour or so if you like. Now that I've seen her like this, I don't think I can leave her right now in the state that she's in."

"Jace, *NSYNC has a show tomorrow. You're supposed to leave tonight."

"I'll figure something out. Right now, getting my wife back to consciousness is my priority."

Emma nodded, telling JC she's see him later that day after she talked to the doctors more about Liz's condition and then heading home to get something for both herself and JC's parents to eat before coming back to the hospital.

JC took off his jacket and rested it on a chair next to the door. He walked around the bed to drag another chair and bring it right at her bedside. He sat down on her left and shook his head at the person he loved that was in front of him.

"Oh, Lizzie..." he whispered, slipping his hand under hers on the bed and swiping his thumb over the surface of her skin. Her hands were slightly cold so JC let go for a moment to bring the blanket higher up and then went back to his previous position.

"You can't put me through this baby girl," he told her softly, fighting the tears. He knew he had to be strong but he was wishing he could just snap his fingers and take away the injuries and pain her body was in. He wanted to snap his fingers and restart the whole day.  "You need to wake up sweetie. I'm right here. I need to see you open your eyes. The doctor says you're going to be okay but you need to wake up first. Please, Lizzie. You need to wake up."

~*~*~*~*~*

2 hours later

JC sat in the darkness of the room, his head thrown back on the chair and his hands were intertwined and lay flat on his chest. His flight to Los Angeles was leaving in a few hours and he and Johnny still hadn't decided whether JC was going to make the flight or not to be at the *NSYNC appearance tomorrow morning.

The doctors had already come in six times before to monitor her. Nothing new had changed and they couldn't do much besides ensure that nothing was changing in her heart rate.

Emma and his parents had all come back but they were currently outside or somewhere around the hospital probably speaking with more doctors on the team that was helping take care of Liz's injuries. Johnny, Lynn and all the guys had called, frantic, to talk to JC about what was going on in Orlando and how everything had taken place.

JC usually just handed the phone to Emma, his mother or his father because the last thing he wanted to do right now was answer questions when some of his own questions weren't even answered yet.

JC sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment but immediately snapping them back open when what had started off as heavy breathing had now turned into soft whimpers.

JC sat up straight and saw that Liz was struggling to open her eyes, trying to turn her head from side to side but the pain from both the blows to her head and the rest of her body limited her movement.

"Hey, hey, hey," JC whispered, going over to sit on the edge of the bed. He took her hand that wasn't in a cast and he felt her squeeze it weakly, trying to express her major discomfort. "I'm right here baby girl, just relax. Take your time."

The sound of JC's voice instantly seemed to calm her down because she had stopped trying to move around and just focused on getting her eyes open.

She opened them slowly but her eyelids still fluttered.

"Hey, you're up," JC whispered to her, ready to jump for joy on the inside. "Just relax, okay? Don't try to move around too much."

"My... M-... My a-arm..." she whimpered, closing her eyes out of tiredness and pain. "It hurts."

"I know sweetheart, you broke it in the crash."

"My... whole body... it hurts." Her voice was just an octave about a whisper but JC could still understand what she was saying. "E-Even my... My head. My head hurts too."

"You got banged up pretty bad babe."

Liz groaned softly, trying to lift her body to rise up but JC got up and held her hand. He used his free hand to lightly press on her shoulders so that she could go back down onto the pillow.

"Shhhh, I'm going to go get the doctors, okay?" JC assured her. "Don't move. It'll take me a second."

"No," she called out to him softly. "Wait, no."

"What?"

"What crash?" She opened her eyes to look at him but her pupils were small.

JC looked at her, a chill running down his own spine.

"Y-You don't remember?" he asked, shakily.

Liz opened her eyes but then closed them. "I... I remember feeling pain and... Blood. I remember blood and... Lots of noise. Everything else is a blur."

"Baby, you remember who I am, don't you?"

"Josh," she whispered, weakly raising her left hand to show him her diamond wedding ring that had not been tarnished. The doctors had removed all other jewelry from her body except the ring.

JC heaved a sigh of relief and kissed her forehead lightly. "Thank God."

"What crash?"

"Lizzie... You got into a car accident this afternoon."

"I was driving," she murmured.

"Yea," JC nodded. "But you crashed into a pole on the highway. You got hurt pretty badly."

"Have I been... asleep long?"

"A few hours."

She didn't respond.

"God Lizzie, when I got that call and then saw you in here, I felt like I couldn't breathe. You scared me so much babe. I thought I had lost you when the doctors weren't telling me what was going on."

"Our baby," Liz murmured, slowly taking her hand out of JC's loose hold and bringing it over the blanket where her stomach was. "Is our baby okay?"

JC's heart dropped and he suddenly realized that he was going to have to be the one to break the news.

"Sweet heart," JC told her gently, placing his hand lightly over hers. "Do you remember what your body was feeling before you crashed? While you were driving?"

Liz blinked a few times as she thought. "I was... In pain, I think. Really, bad pain but I don't remember feeling it now. I just... I can't remember right now."

"You said you remembered seeing blood. Where do you remember seeing it?"

"Between my legs. Before all the noise."

JC nodded, sighing softly. "Lizzie, baby... That blood you saw and those pains you were feeling... They... You were having a miscarriage."

Liz frowned and immediately became more awake than she was before. "A miscarriage? The baby... I... I lost the baby? In the crash?"

 "I'm sorry Lizzie."

"I'm not pregnant anymore? We're... We're not having our baby?"

JC shook his head. "No baby girl, we're not."

"I want to see the doctor," Liz demanded, her voice louder than before. JC could see tears that were stinging her eyes. "Where is he? What'd he say to you about the baby?"

"Okay, I'm gonna go get him, okay?" JC said, rising from the bed but still not wanting to leave the room.

"No, Josh, wait," she pleaded for him to stay.

"Lizzie, I'm going to go get the-" JC stopped mid-sentence when he saw the door open and the doctor poked his head in. "Oh, thank God," JC sighed.

"Elizabeth," the doctor said, closing the door gently behind him. "You're awake, good."

"Baby, this is the doctor," JC said to her. "He's been taking care of you since you've been here."

"I... I don't know him," Liz said, her voice quieted down.

"I'm Dr. Trent," the man introduced himself. "How're you feeling Elizabeth?"

"My baby," Liz said, looking from JC to the doctor. "What happened to my baby?"

The man frowned, giving her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry but before the car accident, you were miscarrying," he said to gently. "You got some serious bruises about your body when you crashed, including in your abdominal section."

"So it was my fault? If I hadn't crashed, then I may still have had my baby?"

"No, I'm sorry. At your stage in the pregnancy, a miscarriage cannot be stopped. Even if you had not been driving in the first place, your pants already had a significant amount of blood which was the fetus and the endometrial tissue. With or without the crash, that would not have changed whether or not you miscarried. The bleeding would not have been able to stop even if you did make it to the hospital safely."

"I... I'm not pregnant."

"Not anymore, no."

JC's heart broke when he noticed that the tears that had formed a few minutes ago in her eyes were now falling freely.

"D-Did I do something wrong?"

JC didn't even wait for the doctor to give a medical-like answer. "Lizzie, no, you didn't. I promise you, you didn't do anything wrong."

"Sometimes," Dr. Trent added in. "There's nothing a woman does or doesn't do that causes you to miscarry. I checked back in your files. There was no alcohol in your system, you don't smoke, you didn't take any drugs... Sometimes these things just happen and the body naturally rejects the pregnancy."

"Sweetheart, this is not your fault, okay?" JC told her. "The doctor says so himself. You didn't do anything. This was all an accident and right now, we just need to focus on your recovery."

"Elizabeth, would you mind lying back please?" the doctor asked but it more sounded like a command. "I'd like you to keep your body rested and try to not move your head too much. Lie flat on your back but we're gonna try to keep your arm elevated."

"W-Wait," Liz shook her head. "Ow," she groaned, a headache like no other overtaking her.

"Lizzie, do what the doctor says, please?" JC pleaded.

More tears had started falling and Liz wasn't ready to let this go.

"Th-That's it? That's it? I lose my baby and that's it? I don't want to lie down, I don't want to do what the doctor says and I don't want to hear that nothing caused the miscarriage because this didn't happen to me for no reason!"

"Sweetheart, please-"

"No," Liz practically yelled out, almost in a sob as JC tried comforting her helplessly.

"Mr. Chasez, her blood pressure is increasing. I'd like you to leave the room please."

Just as he said that, three nurses hurriedly entered.

"Jace, no!" Liz shook her head again. "They can't do this! They can't tell me I miscarry and then do nothing about it afterward!"

JC didn't even have a chance to respond before a nurse ushered him out of the room.

JC was speechless, tears stinging his own eyes now.

"Josh," Karen, touched her son's back. "What's going on? How is she?"

JC turned around, swallowing hard. "Where's dad? And Em?"

"They're in the cafeteria looking for something for you to eat. What's going on in there Josh?"

JC shook his head, letting his mother hold him and he hugged her back, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"The baby... The miscarriage... Lizzie... She isn't taking it well mom," JC shook his head.

"Oh, Josh, it's going to take a while for her. She's going to need special attention to help her deal with all this. It's okay. You just need to be the one being there for her."

"I don't know if I can do that," JC said, his voice muffled. "I don't know how to get her through this mom, I don't."

"Shh, you'll find a way for you both to cope with this, I promise."

JC pulled away. "But how? How do I get her to accept that a baby we created together and that she's carried around for the past couple months is now nonexistent anymore?"

"You'll figure it out. Your father and I and Emma are all here to help the two of you figure this out. It's not going to be easy for her but she needs to know she has a support system to back her up. She needs time."

"But I-"

"Mr. Chasez," the doctor called out to JC, opening the door. "I think you should come in now."

JC looked at his mom. "Will you come in there with me?"

As much as she wanted to, Karen knew that this was something JC was going to have to dig deep and push all extras aside and do what was right for himself and his wife in this situation.

"I'll go in and see her when you're done. Go on," Karen encouraged him.

The doctor and the nurses stepped out of the room and JC closed the door behind him. He wiped his own eyes and noticed that Liz was just lying there on her back, her left hand over her mouth and she was silently weeping.

"Oh, baby," JC said softly, walking up to her and taking her hand, kissing the surface. "I'm here, don't worry."

Liz tried her best to shake her head. "I-I don't want to talk to a-anyone. I-I don't want to s-see anyone."

"Honey, it's just me," JC told her comfortingly. "Let me talk to you. Let me help you. I'm here for you."

"Josh, I said I don't want to see anyone, okay?" More tears fell and she didn't even bother to wipe them away. "I want to deal with this on my own because nobody else seems to care that I just lost my baby. You're all just focusing on g-g-getting my arm elevated or getting me a neck brace or making sure my head doesn't make any sudden movements or all that crap! I don't care about me right now! I want my baby!"

"Lizzie, I can't give that back to you," JC told her gently. "It's over and I know it's hard but our main concern now is getting you better because you're still here and you're still alive. Do you know how bruised your body is just from that crash? Liz, the whole Jeep is smashed in. You could have been killed and if that had happened, I would probably be asking people to dig out a grave for me right now but you know what? With the grace of God somehow, he didn't take you away from me. You need us to take care of you."

"So God just decided to take away my unborn baby instead?"

"Maybe that's because he wanted him or her up there with him because they deserved better than simply being on Earth. The baby's okay now Lizzie, it happened for a reason. God took our baby away from us but I still have you and you still have me. And I want to help you get through this."

"Josh, please just leave."

JC looked at her, hurt. "Wha-Why? What did I say?"

"I just don't want to see you. I want to talk about what caused the miscarriage but nobody else does. Just leave."

"Babe, we can talk about it but in comparison to what's happening to your body now-"

"I don't care!" she cried out, the tears staining her cheeks. "I don't want to talk to anyone, including you. I just don't want to do this anymore. Leave, please. I just want to be alone for a while."

"Lizzie, I can't just leave you like th-"

"Yes, you can, okay?! Please, just... GO!"

"I want to help you. I want to help you with this."

"You're not helping right now," Liz shook her head.

JC looked at her face and realized that he wasn't making the situation better.

"Fine," he mumbled, shaking his head. "You don't want to talk to me, fine."

JC got up and left the room, Karen waiting outside for him.

"How'd it go?"

"Bad. I think she hates me now, mom. I feel like I'm making things worse for her in a way."

"No, Josh, she doesn't hate you. This is all so soon and abrupt and painful for her, especially in the situation she's in. She needs you, even if she says she doesn't."

"I tried telling her that I'm here for her and that my focus now is just getting her better but she's stuck on the baby. I understand that but... Mom, she doesn't even want to talk to me, she doesn't want to look at me, she isn't agreeing with anything I'm saying to her... How am I supposed to be a good husband and help her through this if she won't let me in?"

"This is hard for her Josh," Karen said gently. "You got to give her some time to deal with it."

"I don't have that kind of time," JC muttered.

Karen pulled back, a surprised look on her face. "What?"

"I wasn't going to do this but by the looks of it, it seems like the reasonable thing. I have a job to do."

"What does ‘I have a job to do' mean?"

"Tell Lizzie I love her and I'll talk to her soon. I got to go. I can't... I just, I can't with this right now. I can't deal with it."

Karen's eyes widened. "Wha-... Joshua Chasez, where are you going?"

"Los Angeles."