The last time?

"This is the last time you will ever see me!" shouted Diane as she left Sam and Cheers forever. Sam started to go to door but hesitated and resisted. Diane stopped on the stairs, about to turn back, then remembering how Sam had hurt her, fled into the road.

Sam heard a screech of car brakes outside and sudden screaming. He ran out of the bar and up the stairs, to see a lifeless body lying in the middle of the road.

It was Diane.

"Diane!" he screamed, running towards her.

He knelt down beside her, studying her face and body. She was so still, he thought. He slowly put his hand to her head, from where blood was seeping, forming a red pool around her.

"Diane? Diane, honey can you hear me?".

No response. He dared not move her, he remembered her once telling him that moving someone with a head injury was one of the worst things you could do to them.

"Keep them still and warm". Her words echoed around his head. Still and warm.

He looked around. A bystander was calling an ambulance, the car driver was shell-shocked into silence and stillness, barely able to stammer the words 'I'm sorry'.

"We need to keep her still and warm" said Sam "Do you have a jacket or a blanket?" he asked the car driver. The driver returned with a picnic blanket, which Sam quickly wrapped her in. he also took off his jacket and folded it, placing it under her head. He tried to stop the blood with his hands, covering them desperately, staining them red.

Sam could hear the sound of sirens blazing. The ambulance stopped and two paramedics came out, rushing to Diane, moving Sam out of the way.

All he could do was watch, he thought.

As the lifted Diane onto the stretcher, Sam asked if he could ride with them.

"She's my girlfriend" He said, although if truth be told, they had just broken up.

"Okay. Jump in"

Sam did so and did what they said. The paramedics checked her breathing and tried to stop her head bleeding. Sam watched all of this, tears rolling down his face. He remembered telling the bar flies that he would never ever cry over a woman. Diane wasn't just some woman to him though, she was Diane, the love of his life, and he wasn't prepared to let her go.

As they arrived at the hospital, Sam had to step back again. he let them through. Diane was hooked up to an air bag and had bandages on her head. She looked so different, so broken.

He ran to try to keep up with the paramedics as they rushed her to the ER. Two doctors suddenly joined the paramedics and they explained the situation.

"Diane Chambers, 34 years old. Hit by a car. Head trauma, possible internal bleeding"

Internal bleeding, they hadn't told him that. He tried to go inot the ER, but was stopped by a receptionist.

"That's my girlfriend! You have to let me through!"

"Sir, you can't got in there. You'll have to wait in the relative's room. We'll keep you informed, she's in good hands"

"Diane! Diane!" He started screaming, before breaking down in the corridor. The receptionist signalled a young intern over, who picked him up and took him to the waiting room".

Sam had fallen asleep on two chairs in the waiting room. A cup of coffee that the young intern had brought him hours ago was stone cold. The hospital was pitch black now, part from a few lights in the distant hall ways.

The young intern came back, as she closed the door, Sam stirred from his sleep. "Mr Malone. We managed to stabilise Miss Chambers and we've moved her to a different room. She's still unconscious but she's doing much better. I can take you there now"

A sleepy Sam nodded, getting up and following the intern. As she led him through the corridors, Sam couldn't begin to think about what he would say to her, or what he would do if she didn't pull through.

The young intern stopped at room 243 and pointed to Diane, letting Sam go in. "Call me if there's any problems".

Sam slowly opened the door. He saw Diane, hooked up to a monitor, stitches in her head, tubes going in, helping her breathe. Arm in a cast, leg elevated, clearly broken. He picked up her chart and read what was wrong with her. Broken ankle, fractured wrist, head injury, cracked left rib, punctured lung.

My Diane, he thought. She had been broken like a twig...

Sam made himself comfortable in the plasitc backed chair next to Diane's bed and began talking to her.

"I'm so sorry Diane, so so sorry"

Sam looked down, tears just spilling down his cheeks.

"Sam?" whispered Diane, her voice tainted with pain

Sam cupped his hands around hers and held them tightly. They were still as soft as a feather.

"Where am I Sam?"

"The hospital. You ran out of the bar after we had an argument and were hit by a car as you were crossing the road. I shouldn't have let you leave, I was so scared that I was going to lose you"

"What were we fighting about?"

"Philip Semenko"

"I'm so sorry about that Sam. I shouldn't have lied to you"

"I shouldn't have told you what to do, it's your life after all"

They sat in silence, Sam still holding Diane's hands. a couple of lonely tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Sam, are you crying?"

Sam wiped his eyes, not dignifying her question with an answer, but that simple gesture was answer enough for Diane.

"I thought you would never cry over a woman" said Diane, a hint of laughter in her voice, met with an tearful half sigh.

"You're not just some woman to me. You're Diane, the love of my life" he paused, wiping another stray tear "I love you so much Diane"

"And I you Sam" She whispered, her voice thick with emotion "So much"

"Whilst I was waiting for you, I was thinking, 'What if she doesn't make it? What will I do without her?', and I couldn't answer because I don't think I could live without you"

"You stayed the whole time, despite us having a huge fight beforehand?"

"I heard the screech of brakes and I ran up to the road. I didn't know it was you as I was running up, but I heard screaming so i went to see what was going on. Then I saw you lying in the road and I ran to you, I've been with you ever since, except in the ER, they wouldn't let me in"

"Oh Sam."

"Well I wasn't exactly going to leave you was I?" he replied, half jokingly, half crabbily

"I'm sorry Sam, I didn't mean to doubt you, I just had no idea you were so...loving" Catching a look at Sam, she quickly retorted with an apology "Oh Sam that sounded horrible. I'm sorry"

"Why? It's true. I mean, I was horrible to you sometimes, but I really did, I do, love you"

Diane fell silent, passing out, her machine started beeping furiously

"Diane! Diane! Oh my God! Doctor! Doctor!" He screamed, panicking

A doctor soon ran in, calling the crash team and getting Diane prepared.

The crash team rushed in, forcing Sam into the corridor. He watched, terrified as they tried to resuscitate her.

Sam stood there crying as they pumped higher and higher amounts of voltage into her body. Such a lifeless body, he thought.

"Diane, please, Diane, come on" he whispered, praying that she would pull through...