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"Hle into his shirt

Minutes later, Andrealks over and holds out his cell "Richter wants to talk to you"

I take the phone "Hello?"

"Hey, kiddo, I appreciate you being observant enough to realize Reid needed help If this had gone overnight, he could have been in big trouble"

"It was more Graham than me" My eyes flick to him and he squeezes my shoulder

"Well, you two possibly saved his life You don’t need to stay, though I’ht" Andrew, jittery, does look prepared to ju

"We’ll be back as soon as he gets out of surgery"

"All right Give me Andrew so I can make sure he kno to reach everyone" I hand over the phone and Andrew strides for the exit, talking Tiarette break

I turn to Graha?"

"Pretty well, actually I still have issues with arette Not sure what to do with the down at the to so at hi hands, until the doctor co schedule isscenes that don’t include Reid; he’ll be out a solid week, possibly two Since he’s one of the two main characters, we do so Reid’s side of a conversation, or one of us fil a one-sided conversation, his portion to be filether in the final cut

Production arranges for us to use the Bennet house again ahead of schedule, and Meredith and I do an euy she loves is gone with no plans to coin fil her recent breakup for emotional effect She tellselse, but she knows her leftover feelings for her ex are the nearest thing to a shared experience with her character

"I talked to Robby last night," she says as ait for the set to be readied

"Oh?" I study her face, and even with the expertly applied ht Red-rimmed eyes, dark circles still visible under the delicate skin

"He says heI know hi for hio, I’ll just die alone and rab her arm, wait until she looks at oing to have to argue with you about not being an idiot"

"I know better," she mumbles I lower my chin and stare at her "I do I don’t want to love him," she says miserably

"Mere, what kind of person expects soive up what she wants to be, what she needs to do? That’s not love"

"Yeah" She’s listening but not hearing, and I want to shake her "You knohat, E sucks"

Chapter 34

REID

I wake up in a hospital roo on the small sofa A few seconds pass while I process what happened yesterday Difficult, because my brain feels nuer glances up when I stir "Reid Going to stay awake for a few minutes this ti you a little sedated, so you won’t move around"

I look at the IV in my arm "What happened?" God, my throat feels like I sed sand

"Your appendix decided it didn’t care for Austin so "

"Nope"

"Jesus I was supposed to file says, "Don’t worry, directors tend to let people off to recuperate fro’s taken care of--private roo filed and paid, so you needn’t worry about that Your bodyguard is outside the door, and Andreill be by in a little while to run errands for whatever you’d like"

I look down at the worn, own "Tell hi else to wear Shorts, t-shirts… I’ this" I pick at one of the stupid ties at the side of the gown "So I guess Dad couldn’t er?"

"What, you aren’t happy to see hted He should win aabout the absence, not the substitution Of course I appreciate you co Why it would surprise me that he’s not here, I have no idea Ideal" My eyes are heavy; I’riet healed up We’ll work on your daddy issues another tie That’s why I like you"

Late afternoon the next day, E a vase of Asian lilies Maybe it’s the drugs, but her face above the flowers ine her as a faery "Hey you," she says Tadd and Quinton are with her