“Devon—”

She held up her hand.  “Please…just…no.  I can’t talk about it yet.  I need some time.”

Garrett nodded and took a step back.  “Alright.  I can give you time,” he said with a sigh.

Devon turned on her heel and walked away from Garrett, leaving him standing alone in the hallway.

Despite all the terrible things that had happened this week, she felt strong, stronger than she had in a long time.

HADLEY WAS RELEASED from the hospital three days later.  She was required to see a psychiatrist who would monitor her progress.  Her doctors had decided it wasn’t attempted suicide, so they were lenient with her discharge.  If it were up to Devon, she would have pushed Hadley straight into rehabilitation, but Hadley could talk her way in or out of anything.  Once Hadley had regained consciousness, the last thing she wanted was to be in the hospital for any longer than necessary.

Devon had camped out on Brennan’s couch until Hadley returned to Garrett’s apartment.  She hadn’t felt right about going back with just Garrett there.  His hospitality had run its course.  Still, she couldn’t be away from Hadley when she came back, and Devon didn’t want her to know what Garrett had done.  Hadley had too much stress as it was, and adding Garrett’s stupid mistake on top of that would be catastrophic.

Hadley had received a temporary medical leave from work so she could recover.  She slept a lot, which Devon thought was good.  It was better than feeling the withdrawal pains she was experiencing.  Devon didn’t even bother to ask how much Hadley had been using because it was pretty obvious that the answer was going to be way too much.  Whatever the drug use had started out as, it was far from casual now.

While it was a relief to have Hadley alive and back in the house again, it didn’t make the living situation any better.  When Devon and Garrett weren’t taking care of Hadley, they tiptoed around each other.  Devon probably should have been gentler with him at the hospital.  They had both been grieving, and she had snapped, but her pride held her tongue.  She couldn’t admit that to him, but either way, he never should have touched her.

“Hey,” Devon said, walking into the living room.

Hadley had taken up residence on the couch ever since she had returned.  She was back to watching Millionaire Matchmaker and bad Lifetime movies.  At least, some things had remained constant.

“Hey,” Hadley said with a smile when Devon walked into the room.

In the few days that Hadley had been home, color had come back to her cheeks.  The week off was already doing her some good, but Devon knew the battle was far from over.

“How are you feeling?”

“Not so bad today,” Hadley said, staring down at her nail beds.  “It’s getting easier at least.”

“That’s really good to hear.”  Devon leaned against the wall.  She was so thankful that Hadley was alive.  Not everyone was so fortunate.

“What about you?  How are you doing?”

Devon shrugged.  “I’m alright.  No work today.”

“Off on a Saturday?  That’s a shocker.  And here I was under the delusion that Jenn was a slave driver,” Hadley said with a laugh.

It was nice to hear her laugh again.  Hadley was turning back into her friend.

“Don’t let her think otherwise!” Devon said, cracking a smile.

“Hey, Dev.  Will you come here for a minute?”  Hadley sat up in her seat.

“Sure,” Devon said, taking a seat at the end of the couch.

“I kind of wanted to…talk to you.”

“What about?” Devon asked, her heart rate picking up before she even knew what Hadley would ask.

“Well, first, I wanted to say thank you,” Hadley whispered, staring down at her hands.  “You’ve been really helpful here, taking care of me.  Garrett told me that you came to see me in the hospital.  I wish I had been awake to see you.  But also,” she said, looking up at Devon, “ thank you for trying to get through to me even when I wasn’t listening.”

“Hadley,” Devon said, waving the thanks away, “you don’t have to thank me.  I’m your friend.”

“I know, I know, but I really wanted to.  I want you to know…you’re my best friend, and I shouldn’t have done what I did,” Hadley said.

Devon nodded, reluctantly accepting the thanks.  She felt bad taking them, especially after she had taken advantage of their friendship, after Garrett had kissed her, after she had held back all her own secrets.  But what else could she do?  Hadley wanted her to accept the gratitude, and she couldn’t deny Hadley anything.

Hadley cleared her throat.  “Well, I’m glad that’s out of the way.  Now, tell me how things are with you.  I feel like I haven’t talked to you in forever.”

“Oh, things are fine, Hadley,” Devon said awkwardly.  She didn’t want Hadley to know about Garrett or Reid.  She wanted anonymity.  Most of all, she wanted to move on, and right now, moving on looked like Brennan’s handsome face.

“Fine,” Hadley said, weighing the word.

“Yeah.  Really, I’m fine.”

“Look, I don’t want this to come off the wrong way because I know I just majorly fucked up.  But what’s wrong with you?  Not knowing makes me feel even worse because you’re my friend, and I can tell that you’re sad.  I just don’t know how to help because I don’t know what’s wrong,” Hadley said, staring directly at Devon.

“I just, uh…” Devon began.  She didn’t know what to say, but she knew that she had to tell Hadley something.  “Reid and I are kind of on rocky footing.”

“I knew it!” Hadley shot up, immediately regretted it, and slumped back into the couch.

“I think we broke up,” Devon said, finding the reality of that to be truer the more times she said it.

“Holy shit!” Hadley cried.  Forgetting how hurt she was, she quickly moved to sit next to Devon.  “I can’t believe you guys broke up!”

“I know,” Devon said truthfully.

“I thought you guys were perfect together.  What the hell happened?” Hadley asked in shock.

“I don’t know.  I came here, I guess.”

“Wow.  I never thought long distance would be your undoing,” Hadley said, shaking her head.

“Well, I didn’t exactly tell him where I was going,” Devon finally admitted, feeling the weight lift.

“What?” Hadley asked, her eyebrows coming together.  “So, he never knew you were here?  Did you guys break up before you left?”

“Yeah.  Well, sort of.  I don’t know.  Either way, it’s over now,” Devon said with a note of finality.

“Holy shit!  Seriously, holy shit, Dev!  You and Reid are no more.”  Hadley put her hands on her head and shook it back and forth.  “I’m totally shocked.  Sorry.  Give me a minute.”

Devon laughed.  “Take as long as you like.”

“Well, no wonder you’ve been sad!  God, I should have just asked earlier,” Hadley said with a giggle.

“To be honest, Hadley, I’m not sure I would have told you.  I’ve been kind of moping around—”

“Ya think?” she asked, nudging Devon’s shoulder.

Devon laughed and nudged her back.  “But I’m glad you know now.”

“Me, too,” Hadley said with a smile.

She looked healthier in that moment than Devon had seen since she had arrived.  She was happy to have Hadley back to her old self again.  Devon just hoped it was sustainable.

“Well, I have to get out of here.  Sorry to leave you all alone,” Devon said, standing.

“Where are you going?  I thought we could have some girl time,” Hadley said, sticking out her bottom lip.

“I’d love that, but I’m going somewhere with Brennan,” she said, not able to hold back her blush.