Elisha let his hand drop and released his breath on a sigh. "You aren't the reason anyone's unhappy, Hadyn," he said. "You've never failed anyone." Though, perhaps, Elisha thought, he'd failed Hadyn. He hadn't been able to cope with the responsibility several months ago, when they'd broken up, and at the time it had felt like a responsibility. Like he needed to fix Hadyn, and he knew damn well some things couldn't be fixed.

His hand reached out, though, at Hadyn's next words, and he couldn't stop a certain sharpness in his voice. "You are not a mistake," he said, and then words spilled out that he'd thought when Hadyn appeared in his own hospital room and they'd nearly reconciled - but Elisha hadn't been able to get past his own pride then. "I need you," he said, softer now. "If you were gone, really gone..." Well, it wasn't just Jordan who would fall over the edge. Elisha might take longer about it. "I don't want to be the person I am when you aren't around."