Codependency
by Stephanie Meyer

Billy unlocked the door to his apartment. It had been a long, grueling shift, and he was looking forward
to curling up with his wife and daughter. However, the first thing that greeted him as he walked in the
door shattered that dream. Emily Kronk was proving that she had bother her parents' talents for letting
her unhappiness be known.

"Diane!" Billy threw down his bag and headed for his daughter's room.

"Diane?" Where could that woman be?

Billy picked up his squalling offspring. She was soaking wet.

"No wonder you're crying, sweet pea. Where's your Mamma, huh? Diane!" he called again as he
began changing Emily's diaper. "Diane?!"

Billy's alarm clock woke her. If it hadn't the nuzzling sensation on the back of her neck would have.

"How long's your shift?" she asked as she turned over to face him. He leaned over and kissed her
gently on the lips.

"Hopefully, nine hours. That's if I don't get stuck in surgery."

"Hmm," she mumbled. She was so tired. And achy. It must be the meds. She needed to get up and
take them. She heard Billy start the shower. She crawled out of bed. She stumbled into the kitchen and
downed the medication with a glass of water. Then she tiptoed into the baby's room to check on her.
Satisfied that her daughter was sleeping she fell back in bed. It was her day off, and she was
exhausted.

She woke up when Billy planted a kiss on the top of her head. "I'll see you later. Love you."

"Love you too."

Four hours later, Diane woke to the sound of Emily's cries. She's hungry, Diane thought. She tried to
get up, but the room started to spin. She paused until the tilt-a-whirl was halted and then continued.
She fed Emily and changed her. The little girl wanted to play, but Diane couldn't muster up the energy.
Instead, she put the child in the play pen and watched her. By two o'clock, after another feeding, Emily
was ready for a nap and so was Diane. She put the little girl to bed and then crawled into hers. She
didn't notice how much she was sweating as she fell asleep.

The clock had just turn six when Billy called out to his wife on the way to his crying daughter's room.
After he changed and soothed his daughter, he plopped the now smiling baby in the play pen in the
living room and went in search of Diane.

"Diane," he called as he headed for the bedroom, "are you completely spacing out? Answer...." His
protests died on his lips as he saw her still form stretched out on their bed.

"Diane!" He leaned over and shook her. She mumbled but didn't wake up. He felt her forehead. She
was burning up. She wasn't sweating. This was bad. He pried open her eyes as he began talking to her.
"Come one, Diane, don't do this to me." Glassy. Her pulse was too fast. "We gotta get you to the
hospital. Come on, wake up." He lightly slapped her cheeks. "Come on! Wake up! Wake up!"

It didn't do any good. Billy picked her up and carried her down to the car. Rushing back up stairs, he
grabbed the diaper bag, his keys, and his now bewildered daughter. If there was a record time for
making it to Chicago Hope, he broke it.

Keith Wilkes looked up in surprise to see Billy Kronk, who had gone off shift no more than thirty
minutes ago, burst into the ER, shoving a diaper bag and his daughter into the arms of the first nurse he
came to, rush head long back through the doors, only to sprint back in with his still unconscious wife in
his arms. He laid her on the nearest gurney. By this time, Keith had reached the couple and was
already examining his colleague.

"What happened?"

"I found her unconscious when I got home. She's hot to the touch, but she's not sweating."

"She's dehydrated," Keith pronounced as the staff bustled around them.

"Let's start an iv. Move people!"

"Her pulse is thready and her eyes glassy. She was fine this morning. Her fever's gotta be 101 plus."

"We need to cool her down fast. Grab some ice packs. Any nausea or vomiting?"

"Not that I could see. Damnit! How could she be so stupid! She should have come in if she wasn't
feeling well."

"Doctors are the worst patients, Billy."

Diane was stable, and her temp was down. She was being rehydrated. Billy glanced at the monitors.
They had just drawn blood. As near as they could tell, Diane had a nasty case of the flu. That was
what had Billy worried, the fact that it hit her so hard. Wilkes had ordered a CBC.

"Billy?" Billy looked up to she Kate Austin standing in the cubicle's doorway. "How's she doing?"

"She's stable."

"Lisa's watching Emily. They're setting up a bed for her in Peds. Do you need anything?"

"No, thanks. I'm waiting for her test results."

"White count?"

"Yeah."

"Billy, don't jump to conclusions. This doesn't mean....."

"It could, Kate. I hope to God it doesn't but it could." He gently caressed Diane's cooling forehead. "I
can't loose her, Kate. I'd go insane. I can't watch her die."

Kate walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's not going to die."

"We don't know that! Any minute, poof! It could be over for anyone. The thing about this, that sucks
the most is I can't do a thing about it! When Emily was born, I almost lost her. But you and Dennis,
you saved her. Now there's nothing we can do."

"You can be here with her, Billy. You can be here with her." She squeezed his shoulder and left.

Billy pulled up a stool and sat, holding his wife's hand. Memories began to flood back. He remembered
the times he and Diane used to bait each other before they were involved. The leech incident. The virus
culture. He remembered her trauma over Alan's death, her angry outburst in the ER. He remembered
that first kiss in her lab. The time she accidentally shocked him with the difibulater, and her indignation
when her research was canceled. He remembered her skepticism when he'd gone to Africa with her
and her sadness when he'd left. He also remembered her right hook when he'd returned. He
remembered her finding his little black book, her concern for him during the convenience store incident,
and her fright when he'd first asked her to move in with him. He also remembered her proposing to him
in the scrub room. He remembered when she'd told him when she was pregnant and when she'd
tearfully recounted how she'd nearly been raped while he was in South America. He remembered
when she thought she'd found a lump in her breast while she was pregnant. He also remembered his
fright when she'd abrupted during labor. He'd come so close to losing her then. He couldn't lose her
now.

"Billy?"

Billy looked up to see Wilkes, lab printout in hand. "Well?"

"Her white count falls within normal parameters. She's just got a nasty case of the flu compounded by
lack of aspirin and fluids."

"She's still negative?"

"She's still negative. Her white count shows no indication."

"Thank God," Billy sighed as he planted a kiss on his wife's forehead.

"Billy, this doesn't mean....."

"I know, Keith. Long term, it means nothing. But for now, it means she's going to be OK. For now it
means that I still have her."

Keith smiled and left his friends alone.

The first thing Diane noticed was the constant beeping. Why didn't Billy shut that stupid alarm off?
Then she realized it was a different tone. It sounded like a monitor. What the hell?

She opened one eye. Light flooded into her pupil, and she squinted. She did make out the sleeping
form of her husband by her bed. Then she noticed that she was hooked up to an iv.

This time she voiced her surprise.

"What the hell?"

Billy stirred at his wife's exclamation. "Hey, baby doll," he soothed as he kissed her.

"What am I doing here?"

"You had a nasty bout with the flu. I came home to find you passed out from fever and dehydration.
You scared the hell out of me."

"Where's......"

"Emily's in Peds playing with all the fun, new, different toys."

"How long?"

"Two days."

"Did you draw blood?"

"Your white count's in normal parameters."

Diane closed her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Hey, hey, don't cry."

"Hold me."

Billy climbed into the hospital bed with his wife and held her. He kissed her hair, her lips, her cheek.
"Don't you ever do this to me again, capeish?"

She tightened her hold on him. "You won't get rid of me that easily."

"Thank God for small favors."

They fell asleep in each others arms.

Aaron Shutt sat on Philip Watter's office balcony and exhaled his cigar.

"Did you hear about Diane?"

"The whole hospital's heard about Diane."

"She scared the hell out of Billy."

"She scared the hell out of me."

"Yeah, me too." Aaron contemplated his smoke ring. "I worry about Billy if she tests positive. I mean
granted, yes, Diane would be my main concern as far as physical health goes, but Billy's mental state
would worry me almost as much. It could make the situation rougher."

"You could say the same if the situation was reversed. If anything happened to Billy, I don't know how
Diane would function."

"It's rather frightening that two rather volatile, otherwise unstable, somewhat self-destructive, intense
people draw stability off of each other."

"Isn't that what love is? Codependency?"

Aaron nodded. "I guess it is."

the end